Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!

It was mayhem, madness, and paper flying everywhere!
The kids are all now playing with their new toys all over the house and are as happy as can be, except when Katharine tries to play with Joseph's toys and Joseph tries to play with Katharine's toys.

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are some pictures....

The Snowman

Isn't it a great snowman? Us kids made it ourselves! We did this today. We made the snowman because it was a lot of fun. It was Daddy's idea to make a snowman. We used carrots for the eyes, mouth, and nose. For the arms, we used Christmas tree branches from the Christmas tree that were cut off so we could fit it in the stand. Daddy helped us by shoveling snow for us. Joseph got snow for Grace, too with his small green shovel. After we built the snowman, we had a great big snowball fight. Mommy even came out to play! And, Katharine came out to play in the snow too! After we played in the snow, we had hot cocoa and cookies. After we ate and drank, we played with playdoh.

Love,

The whole family

Us kids & a snowman

This is a very cool piture of Joseph.
He is sitting still!

Rocking around the Christmas Tree!

We got our tree today and even got it decorated. Only 2 strands of lights (sorry Mom!). The kids put on all of the decorations. Katharine got the "hang" of it very quickly -- now to keep her from undoing it all!

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures:

Grace's Birthday

It was so great! I'll let the pictures tell it...

Preparations for Grace's birthday

Preparations are underway! Grace's birthday is tomorrow! Hooray!

Grace is :
eating Cinnamon Crumb Muffins for breakfast and opening her presents!

joining the Children's choir rehearsal at church. She'll be singing in the mass on Christmas Eve!

attending mass, then we'll be going out to lunch, to the library, and other errands in town.

For dinner Grace requested fried shrimp and corn on the cob.

And her birthday cake is Chocolate-Peanut Butter!

I'll post pictures next week of the festivities :o)

Thanksgiving and Christmas

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at home. John had 4 days off!! And even a little sprinkling of snow the next morning.

And now it's on to Advent and Christmas. We've put our Advent wreath out, but we decided not to put out our china Nativity set (Katharine!). So Grace and I made pictures of the Nativity and taped it onto the wall. Creativity!!

Our 2008 Christmas greetings are being written and mailed this week. Our letter goes like this:
2008 was a year of memories for the Densons. Our favorite memories are John's re-deployment from Iraq in April,

and our trip to Disney World in May!!

Since then we've been busy and quiet. John is very close to finishing his Master's degree in Business. (Could Dr. Denson be next? We'll see :o) We'll be staying at Fort Riley for another 1-2 years. It's very likely that John will deploy again, but we don't know where or when.

Grace is turning 7 this weekend. She loves home schooling! And she'll be receiving her First Communion next April.

Joseph is 4 and loves trucks, trains, and tractors. He'll be starting home school kindergarten next fall. (Already?!)

Katharine is 21 months, growing fast and into everything. I am managing home school lessons and our household, along with whatever the Army throws our way.

Love and wishes for a beautiful Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Cyndi, John, Grace, Joseph, and Katharine Denson