Merry Christmas! (Again)

Yesterday we drove up to Seattle for Christmas with our family up there. It is nice to see everyone because we don't get to see them very often. Chris' mom had a very nice supper and there were lots of yummy goodies.

the boys immediately hunkered down in Ben's room to play PS2

When it came time for gifts, a couple of us took turns being Santa and handing out gifts. There was so much going on, I didn't even know most of what the boys got until we put things away after church today! For the past several years, Chris' Aunt Margaret has given the boys a gift of a donation to help a needy family somewhere in the world. It is such a neat gift and is a wonderful way to share the blessings of what God has given us. This year, Chris' mom also gave our "gift" to a needy family right in White Center where she lives.





We also got to see pictures of Aunt Cindi and Uncle Dennis' gorgeous new home by Lake Chelan. It is a beautiful part of the state and I am hoping to be able to take them up on their invitation to visit someday soon. :o)

Bowling Is Fun

Yesterday, a friend of ours came up to visit and we all decided to go bowling. We have this really cute bowling alley in town and we have gone a couple of times before. While we like bowling and it is lots of fun, most of us aren't really any good at bowling. In fact, I STINK at bowling. Chris grew up bowling. He was in a league while we were dating and I would go and watch him bowl sometimes. We really like Wii bowling, and the boys are REALLY good at that. But Wii bowling isn't like real bowling at all.

It probably wouldn't have seemed so bad if everyone in the lanes next to us hadn't been so good. There was a group of five teenagers that all had their own balls (2 each) and shoes and were REALLY good. One of the boys bowled like 8 or 9 strikes in a row! It was kind of intimitading. They never had an open frame.

Don't we look like we're having fun? :o)

Despite how it sounds, we all had a FUN time and enjoyed getting to spend time with Mark while he was in town! Maybe we just need more practice? :o)

Prayer Cards

After Christmas we pray through the Christmas cards we receive. Every night we chose one card and we pray for whoever that card is from. It is one of our favorite traditions and it helps remind us of how thankful we are for our family and friends and to be praying for them throughout the year.

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Ephesians 1:16

Christmas Day

Christmas was a very fun and relaxing day at the Leingang house. We got up, opened presents, ate,played with our presents, ate, watched home videos of Christmases when the boys were little, ate again, played a game, had dessert, and went to bed. It was a great day! We didn't pick up or put anything away, we just relaxed and had fun.



And to top it all off, it SNOWED!!! There wasn't much of it, but I am not sure we have EVER had it snow on Christmas day while living in the NW. It made it even more special!

Christmas Eve

While we're waiting for the boys to go to sleep so we can put out gifts, I thought I might as well blog...

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. Chris and the boys did a little more work on the fort this morning while I worked on food for today.

All of my family came up here for Christmas Eve this year because we can't go south and do our Christmas Eve service at church. It was so much fun! We had a great time having everyone at our place.



Our niece Maggie was sick this past week and had to miss her preschool Christmas program. So she did a private show for us at the party. It was so cute that I had to share...



After our get-together my parents, grandma and sister came to our Christmas Eve service at church. We had 61 people there! We were hoping for 30. It was a beautiful simple service and it was a blessing to us as a family to have so many there to celebrate the birth of our Savior. And after church we came home and had crab cocktails with the crab my parents got on the coast earlier this month. It was really yummy, too!

We did our devotions, said our prayers, wrote our letter to Santa, put out the cocoa and cookies and sent everyone off to bed. Now we just wait for everyone to fall asleep and hope they don't get up too early in the morning. :0)

Christmas Sleep Over

Every year the boys have brought out the sleeping bags and slept in the living room under the Christmas tree. The past couple of years we have let them invite a friend over to "sleep under the lights". This year they invited their friend Nathan and his Donkey Konga game. The boys (actually all of us) had fun playing this game! We also played Whoonu (a really fun family game), watched "Shrek the Halls", and ate Campfire brownies (brownies put under the broiler with marshmallows on top, they are REALLY YUMMY) with milk.

The All-Stars (the name of their "band") playing the game

Getting ready for bed

They had lots of fun, even if they didn't get to sleep right next to the tree! Thanks for coming Nathan!

Christmas Lights

Tonight we went on our annual tour of Christmas lights around our town. There is a really great house up the hill from us and a whole street not too far from here that has lots of beautiful displays. When we are all done, we stop in a parking lot for cookies and cocoa. Except this year we had Tom and Jerry mix with milk. A friend made it for a party and I just had to get the recipe. It is so yummy! (I posted in on the sidebar)

It was a cool, not rainy evening so it was just perfect for our trip around town. Here is a slideshow of some of the best...

Seeking Single Male Bearded Dragon

SFBD seeks a long-term permanent relationship with the possibility to produce offspring in the future. I enjoy climbing on shoulders, basking, and eating crickets. Looking for a male who likes people and won't eat eggs. I am about 18" long and am a prolific egg-layer. See attached photo. Sephira finally laid her eggs. After a week-long fast and LOTS of digging she did it. It took a couple of days to lay them all, but we are glad she is done. We tried to count them when we cleaned out her tank. We stopped counting at 17, but there could have been more! We are toying with the idea of getting her a man, but we'll have to see about that. I'm not sure we're ready for that many babies yet!

Party Season

This is the season for parties and we have been to our fair share this year. Friday was our homeschool co-op Christmas party. It was fun to see friends we hadn't seen in a while. (that was our favorite part) It was also fun eating treats, decorating gingerbread houses, playing games and exchanging gifts!

Andy's house

Zack's house

Will's house (or at least it was before the accident)

Then today Chris and Will and I headed south to my sister's Christmas open house. As usual her place looked so cute and she has the greatest vintage and retro decorations to go with her apartment. Thanks Theresa we had a great time!

After the open house my grandma took us to dinner at this great Balkan resturant that Theresa recommended. We had the greatest food! If you are ever in Portland I highly recommend Two Brothers on 39th and ? (I just blanked!).

Zack and Andy couldn't come down with us because they were up in Olympia at a youth group Christmas party. They had a great time, too!

Ladies' Christmas Party

Last night was our church's WMF Christmas party. We chose to have a Scandinavian theme and had lots of treats. Although I don't a Norwegian bone in my body, I lived in Minnesota, so I really like most of that stuff. There were lots of good things last night and the boys were so excited that I brought home a big plate of goodies that were left over.

Other than the treats, we also enjoyed singing carols, choosing our Secret Sisters for 2008, making origami boxes, and a gift exchange. There were lots of really nice gifts to "steal" this year and it made the choice really difficult. But I finally decided that I would swipe this one...

I just love it! I can't wait to have a tea party so I can use it! Thanks to my friend Renee for so graciously giving it up. I promise to invite you to my first tea party. :o)