Tree

We got our Christmas tree today!!! We are a week late since we have been busy with the girls ballet but we were all ready to go this morning no matter what. Even a little snow didn't stop us from heading out.

 We didn't make it to the mountains this year to cut our own but we figured we would save on gas and time by staying local.

 We saw our tree right from our car. We did go look around but came back and knew it was the right one for us.

After that the kids had fun running around looking at different trees and enjoying a little bit of snow.

 Peek a boo is always a fun game to play.

Nate getting into the picture.

 The girls talking to the worker making sure he was doing a good job while tying our tree to the roof of my car.

 Two cuties.

Two .....  well boys will be boys.

 Snow flake

 Jo looking at snow flakes on her mittens.

 Time to decorate the tree

 And do not forgot the "Elf". I guess some traditions will never change :)

Christmas Tree

Every year a few days after Thanksgiving the whole family heads out to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree. I have to admit that the last two years we have done our hunting at Home Depot. Hey we get the perfect tree and we were not freezing outside. The down side to hunting in home depot is that some of us get distracted with Christmas decorations like singing chipmunks.

Some of us are more in the Christmas spirit then others.

Jo making sure the tree we picked is OK.

Nate counting how old our Christmas tree is (9 years old).

The joy of shopping with four kiddos.

Now the job of decorating begins.

Over the years I try to add to the kids Christmas tree ornament collection. I try to buy each of them a new ornament every year that they will be able to take when they leave our house. Sam and Nate have a nice collection of trains (Nate) and planes (Sam).

The girls have a little bit of everything. This year Jojo got a little bumble bee for her bumble bee part in our co op play.

And Emma got a little lady on skis since she become our little skier last year :)

Thanksgiving week in pictures

We started Thanksgiving last Saturday by celebrating with our good friends the Laughner's. I do not know what I was thinking about taking a picture of the kids at the end of the day. You can see they got their bellies full and spent most of the time playing outside (that explains Nate's green knees). We had a great time.

I did not take any pictures of the turkey this year but can tell you it was good. The only picture I took of any type of food is this one. We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with our friends from church this Thursday (total of 24 people) with lots of yummy food and great fellowship.

And we ended this crazy week by decorating the house for Christmas including a Christmas tree. I had tons of helpers.

The girls did a great job now if I only can keep their little hands off the tree.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Christmas Tree

Every year after Thanksgiving (and a little Black Friday shopping) we head to the mountains to find the 'perfect' Christmas tree.

Even thought it was raining at our house today it was sunny up in the mountains.

The girls thought the first tree we saw was the one.

I just had to laugh when I saw Jo laying down under a tree. In a way she a gift to us.

The boys took off and were busy running up and down.

Timber.

(As you can see we did find a nice tree).

The kids love going to pick out a Christmas tree. However, they also love to stop in the shop for some chocolate. And since we are all spoiled from Europe we cannot say no to Milka.

Jo would not put down the chocolate until I gave her a piece.

She loved the whole Christmas decorating idea.

Emma had to decorate the tree in a style.

Christmas Tree

We made our annual trip up to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. This has became one of our family traditions and we always look forward to it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is fun to look for the perfect tree for our family. Somehow the kids lose interest after the first few minutes. After that they are busy running around.

Timber



It was a beautiful day even though it was a little chilly. No snow this year.

Fil strapping the tree down to my car.
And here is how it looks at our living room.
It is always fun to snuggle with grandma and read some books (in Czech).