Merry Christmas!

 Well, it has been a whirlwind of the last few days, so my post is brief and only has 3 pictures....I promise many more to come!  We had a great Christmas Eve at mass with my family and followed up with dinner and presents at mom and dad's house.  This morning the kids had a grand time, and more festivities happened here with my dad's side coming over with the Hollingsworths and Kathmans joining shortly after. We are so blesssed.  The kids loved all their gifts.....they even managed to remember the reason we celebrate today in the first place!  Merry Christmas and more to come soon!

Love, Gretchen

Christmas Joys.......

 Well, we've just been so blessed these last few weeks to have been able to spend it with friends and lots of family!  Here were all are at my Grandpa's home celebrating Christmas last weekend. Great times!

 Here the kids had a blast at Lily Grace's Annual Christmas Celebration at her home with friends Elliot, Blake, and Lily.  This year we were joined by siblings Addison and Beckett, and Jesse!

 The girls having lunch.....in dress up attire of couse!

 We celebrated Christmas with Lance's parents and sisters last weekend at a great restaurant, followed bu snacks and presents at The Hollingsworth home..It was great to all be together again!

 Jesse and Claire with their craft from Lily's party......gotta love those keepsakes!!

Winter Fun!

 Well, Claire's school had their 1st annual Father Daughter Dance this weekend, so Lance and Claire went and had a great time.....so that's what I've been told.  They had dinner together at Pei Wei, and then "rocked it out" (to use a claire term) at the dance!  Jesse and I spent some time together eating sushi out, then a movie.  Great times!!

 Also, Thursday the kids were out for a Holy Day, so I decided to take the kids ice skating.  We about had the entire rink to ourselves, and the kids were skating wonderfully!!

Christmas parties and programs coming up this week, so promises to post again soon!

Love, Gretchen

Breakfast with Santa and more!

 To say the very least, we have had a whirlwind of a week.  My dear friend Margaret came in from South Florida to visit for 5 days, my sister in law had a sweet baby boy, Claire went to her 1st Nutcracker, we had breakfast with Santa, and Jesse won the Christian Witness Award at school (see last post)!  We are tired, but so blessed to be surrounded by such great people and experiences!! Enjoy some of the pics!

 My brother in law Ryan with his 2 adorable children, Gracie and George.

 All ready for Christmas!

 About to head out for our 1st Nutcracker together!

 Margaret and Claire, ready to hit the town for the Opheum.

Claire after arriving at the Orpheum.....she loved the nutcracker, and especially enjoyed all the little children in the ballet!! Well, lots coming up soon, so promise to post again soon!

Gretchen

Way to go Jesse!

 Well, we were informed last week that Jesse was chosen to be the recipient of the Christian Witness Award for his classroom this 9 week period.  He, according to his teachers, has shown Christian behavior above and beyond what is expected of him. We were so very happy and had to keep this a secret from him until the ceremony after mass yesterday.  It was truly a high point as a parent seeing him walk up there in front of the school and staff so proud and genuinely surprised!  We are so proud of Jesse and hopes this continues on!!

 Jesse and the other 5th graders being pinned by their homeroom teachers.

 Boasting Jesse

 Proud Mom

 Jesse and his sweet teacher, Mrs. McQueen