And then there was the week with FIVE birthdays!

We had one week in December were we had five birthdays - four parties.  It was a lot of fun! We celebrated Anthony first birthday, Luke's 7th, Liam's first birthday, Lila's fourth and Nicholas' fifth! It was a whirlwind of fun.  I remember when Jack was two and we had one kid at his birthday party, my how times have changed. Oh and did I mention that this was the weekend that Jeremey had to work - in Canada... So we had to go it alone. Here are some pictures of the celebrations.
 Luke's party:

 Liam's 'Lil Mr. Man party:

 

Grace caught a quick nap in between...

 And then it was time for Nicholas and Lila's wild birthday bash!

  Happy birthday to all our December birthday friends!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Grace's First Ballet

The Nutcracker and she loved it!

Jack's Big Christmas Show!

This year Jack got to participate in his Joy School Christmas show. He was an Inn Keeper again.  He loves this role because he gets to yell "no room!" Their first performance was at the Retirement Home and their second one was for the dads and extended family.

Here he is with his best bud Nathan.

You may be wondering why the Inn Keeper was sitting between Mary and Joseph... I was wondering the same thing.

But eventually they all came and sat down to sing their songs: Jingle Bells, In a Little Stable and the Best Present is the One You Give Away.

 And then Grace decided that she should perform too.

 I would say that we have a bit of a ham...

After this, they got to hand out cards to the guests that they had made for them.  At the time, I wasn't paying too much attention, but a few weeks later we went back to for craft time. Jack saw Bill in the hall way peeking in the craft room.  Jack moved all of the chairs out of the way and made him a space at the table. One of the ladies said hi to Bill and commented that he never comes in for craft time. And Bill said he had to come in because Jack had cleared a space for him. :) A little later, Bill's daughter-in-law came by and Jack was talking to them.  He told her his name and she said that he still has Jack's Christmas card in his room! How sweet is that? Anyway, Jack ended up helping Bill with his craft and got him all of the supplies and showed him how to make his gingerbread man.

Here's Jack showing off his masterpieces with some of the ladies.

And here are some pictures from the other show.
So many helping hands!

 Again, the inn keeper invited himself in between Mary and Joseph...

 

Decorating for Christmas

Well, Reese's baptism was the day after Thanksgiving (yep, that's how far behind I am). So the next day, we decorated for Christmas.

 

 Jack was seriously a huge help this year.  He helped daddy put the tree together and hung tons of ornaments.

 Grace hung a few too, but mostly she played with baby Jesus.

 Ta da!

Baby Reese's Baptism

First, Jack got to climb in a spot where my brother and I were NEVER allowed to climb!

 Of course Reese was absolutely adorable!

 Even Gracie participated in the blessing.

 What a lucky girl to have such amazing parents and God parents!