It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

It's December--hooray! and that means that we have only 3-4 months left of winter!!! I know it has been a while since I posted...so here we go.....


Thanksgiving was great! We had a blast with Tim's parents, my parents and Martin! My parents brought some venison for Martin & he was ecstatic- they eat deer frequently in Ghana. Thursday we had dinner, My parents brought an electric roasting pana nd the 14lb turkey turned out wonderful! Ate lots- played phase 10 and watched oodles of football!!! Also, we (my parents, Tim the girls and I) went to Jolly Holiday Lights at Des Moines Water Works Park., asonsored by area business to benefit the Make a wish foundation, AWESOME drive through the park seeing OODLES of Christmas Lights and sceneries! The girls loved it and they especially loved the Pirate Ship! Friday we decorated the house for Christmas, watched football, ate more, napped, more football and more Phase 10! Also on Friday, we did take a little shopping trip to target , THis is VERY dangerous with 3 (my mom, my dad and me) "alley hooters." Saturday evening we took a trip a trip to McD's to eat and play. When we arrived home Maddie wasn't feeling so hot and proceeded to throw up everything from dinner- that was fun! Sunday my parents headed out early b/c of the weather, I taught Sunday school and Tim and the girls stayed home! Sunday night we put up our Christmas tree, but we are not done b/c we are buying plastic bulbs for the tree this year...Evan (my 2 year old nephew) is coming from California and it will just help him out! Also, Morgan might struggle with touching the ornaments- we do not want a repeat of last year's bloody picture taking festivities!

This week has been a good one...Tim is taking a little time off and we are just enjoying some family time! We are working on those "honey do" projects!

Last night we received a few inches of snow and so now I am totally in the holiday spirit! Today and tomorrow are paydays and so we have plenty of grocery shopping and Christmas shopping to do!!! Tonight we bought a small artificial tree for the girls' room and decorated it with purple lights, pink, purple and silver snowflakes and a silver garland, and a beautiful white-lighted star at the top!Maddie's request!

I teach all day tomorrow and then it's the weekend! We have a few more "honey do" projects to complete before Tom, Kristin and the kids arrive in 13 days!!!! And then we get to go Minnesota for Christmas! I will get to see Phil and Heather's son, Zakery, for the first time! Can't wait!

The girls are great! Maddie is going to be in her first school Christmas program on Dec. 15th! preschool is going great! She is sooooo smart! her teachers tell us how she is sooooo compassionate and always a great listener and a great friend! Maddie has a little boyrfriend named Gabe! He went on a trip for Thanksgiving and she prayed for him every night and said, "Mom, we need to make Gabe a card b/c he is home safe! God took care of him!" Morgan's verbal skills are amazing these days! Tonight at Wendy's, Tima sked her to sit own and eat and at first she was not obeying and then a few seconds later (after she had processed Dad's request) she said, "OKAY!" and sat right down! She is growing soooo fast- eating a ton these days! She is in 3Ts now, but rapidly approaching the 4T size! WOW! I cannot believe she will be 3 in 4 months!


Well- time to go to bed- working tomorrow at SEP!
Happy Holidays!
Jonna :)