Christmas Eve/Morning

Christmas Eve day we finished up all our gift wrapping and preparations for the evening. We then prepared dinner and enjoyed a nice meal. Afterwards, we had the children dress up and act out the Christmas story as Derek read it from the scriptures.

the Angel (Samantha) bringing news to Mary (Jamie)

Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus

Later in the evening we went on some secret gift deliveries and had a lot of fun doing that. We didn't even get caught! We then drove around a bit in San Jose and looked at Christmas lights. We saw a street that had super tall reindeers (looked 8 to 10 feet tall), about 4 of them hooked together by strings of lights and a sleigh at the end. This display ran in front of 4 or 5 houses since there was one reindeer per yard. It's amazing what people will do to decorate for Christmas!

Once we got home, we got everyone ready for bed, and because we had all our wrapping done, we were able to put things out under the tree and be in bed by 10pm. It was great!

Christmas morning didn't start too early, which was a really nice gift! The children had fun going through their stocking gifts which they had given to each other. We had a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, bacon, eggs, juice and egg nog. Yummy!

Christmas morning

Katelyn was our little elf this year. This outfit was given to Hannah as a baby, by her Great Grandmother O'Dwyer. Ever since, whoever is having their 1st Christmas, has gotten to wear the elf outfit. Thank you Grandma!

Katelyn, almost 3 months

After breakfast we opened our gifts and enjoyed the thoughtful presents we had been given. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading, watching new DVDs, and playing games. It was a nice break after such a busy month!

We love the Christmas season and have felt the great joy that comes from sharing time and gifts with others. We have also felt love and support from family and friends. The Christmas Season truly is JOY.

Caroling

We've had an annual tradition for a few years now of going caroling to about a dozen families and individuals. We usually take a small gift and sometimes stop in for a visit when they invite us. This year we ended up having many people not at home when we stopped by, so it took us 3 nights of going out. Even then we didn't see all that we had planned. Oh well, we had a good time anyway and more of the children joined in singing.

This was taken at a home of friends who we caroled to.

Then a few nights ago we had some good friends over, the VanDams, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and some visiting. Before we ended our evening together, we sang some Christmas carols together. It was really nice.

Christmas dinner with our friends

Laurel singing along with us.

Hannah's Blog

Hi! If you didn't get my email, I now have a blog! Visit 'The Life of a Bookworm'!

www.hannahlovesbooks.blogspot.com

Don't worry, I will still post on this blog!

Hannah

Katelyn beginning a new skill

Katelyn is now starting to roll over by doing a body curve. She get onto her sides and curves. Here is a video and picture. Such Sweetness!

Christmas Pictures

For the first time ever, I think, all our girls are wearing matching dresses. Well, actually, Hannah's doesn't match exactly, but there wasn't one in her size of the dress, so we got a different one. Anyway, we got a red tie for Adam, and then thought we would take a nice picture of the children for Christmas. This was the Sunday before Christmas. Unfortunately, none of them turned out just right, but a few got close. Here they are.

Jamie, Mackenzie, Laurel, Adam, Katelyn, Samantha, Hannah

Just the girls

In front of the Christmas tree
The girls with Derek

Cathy and Derek

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Parties

This week has been full of parties! It started with Hannah's Piano party with all the students of her piano teacher. They gathered to hear each student play a couple of songs and then enjoy treats. Derek took her and Mackenzie to the party (while I took some of the little girls to a doctor appointment at the same time). Hannah played Pachabel's "Canon" and "Believe" from The Polar Express movie. Mackenzie joined Hannah in singing the song Believe.

Then a few days later we had a party with our homeschool Co-Op friends, enjoying food and sharing gifts. That night we attended the Santa Clara Ward christmas party. It was a lot of fun to visit with all our friends there.

The next night we attended the Steven's Creek Ward party and had a nice time there. They told the Christmas story through acting (Katelyn was baby Jesus) and then we ate cookies and milk and visited.

Katelyn's acting debut

Katelyn was asked to be Baby Jesus for a live nativity program for a youth activity and for our ward christmas party. The first night was for the youth. Katelyn was such a sweet Baby Jesus. She was perfect in everything. As Mary stood at the front of the stage holding Katelyn and singing a beautiful song, Katie just looked out at the audience so sweetly, and then she would look at Mary and give a little smile.

A few days later when it was time to have the ward party, Katelyn was not feeling as well. She had gotten a cold in between performances. She still did very well until the end, when her coughing was just too much and she didn't want to endure the situation any longer. Mary had to sing her song without a baby in her arms. But everyone just loved the little baby Jesus and thought it seemed a little more realistic with the baby crying.

You'll see Katelyn as Baby Jesus, but also Hannah as one of the angels

The rest of our month....

Here are some things that went on in our month--

-Derek taught an NCCS seminar in Salem, OR.
-Mackenzie and Hannah sang in the choir for Stake Conference
-the kids enjoyed some playdates and park days
-we visited and got to know a new "grandma" from church
-Katelyn continued to practice her smiles. She's also sleeping 7 to 10 hours a night. Yeah!

Here are some photos

Mackenzie reading to Katelyn

Adam is often found here at the computer, working on Google sketch up,
or programming his NXT robot

Katelyn and Samantha

Laurel

Katelyn sleeping on a chair

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. During the morning Derek and some of the children went to play Ultimate Frisbee. Hannah and Adam really enjoyed it and each made some good catches.

By noon we had a good crowd at our home. Since we aren't able to be with family out of state, we invited over friends and "family" from church. We invited over 3 families this year. One happened to be Derek's cousin, David, and his wife Gina. We were excited they were in town and could join us. We also had two families we know from church, as well as a friend of one of the families. Our house was filled up! We enjoyed wonderful food, game playing and visiting. The weather was nice as well and the children enjoyed some outdoor play including raking and jumping into leaves.

This month we had put up a Gratitude Tree on the wall and it was great to see how full of leaves it was with things that our family members are thankful for. When Hannah took down the tree to prepare for Christmas decorations, she made a list of all the "blessings". There were 117 leaves! She said the one that was repeated the most was "Daddy".

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 136:1

Bookmark Contest

Last month Hannah entered a bookmark designing contest at our local library. The theme was "Libraries Change Lives". She drew three scenes that showed how books helped a girl choose a profession. A few days after the contest deadline, Hannah recieved a call from the library saying she won the contest in her grade level. Hannah was thrilled! Her prize was a free book and $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble (her favorite place to shop). The library also made many copies of the bookmark for her and others to enjoy. Way to go Hannah!

click on the picture to see the details closer

Concert Pianist In Training

Knot-A-Quilt

Hello!

For my Birthday, my friend gave me a really fun kit called a Knot-A-Quilt. I LOVE tying quilts, so it was the perfect gift. First I designed it. Then over the next couple months I began tying it together. I finished it recently and below are pictures.

Here is another quilt I tyed.







Love,
Hannah

Growing Katelyn

Katelyn has been such a good sleeper! She is now sleeping for 5 to 8 hours a night. She also has some good naps during the day. However, as she gets older, she is waking up more and loves to be held. It is fun to watch her watching everyone and everything. She doesn't seem to be bothered, either awake or asleep, by the "awful din" going on around her. Also, between 4 and 5 weeks old she gave us her first smile, and continues to do so once in a while. So sweet!

Katelyn wearing a dress Cathy's visiting teacher made for her, 5 weeks old

Getting some tummy time

Adam loves to hold his little sister. He calls her KatieCat because the noises she often makes reminds him of a cat (6 weeks old)

Katelyn has gotten more vocal when she is unhappy, going quite red all over when she screams. She also has quite a cute pouty face as she starts to work up to the scream.

Katelyn's Blessing Day

Today Katelyn was given a name and a blessing at church. Derek gave a special blessing to Katelyn and she was so quiet too. She also looked so pretty in her white dress.

Derek, Cathy and Katelyn

Derek and Katelyn (who's not too happy about taking pictures)

Katelyn Jane--4 weeks old

Babies are so cute when they yawn!

Halloween

The kids had fun dressing up this year for our homeschool Co-Op and a party at Derek's work place. Here are some pictures

Hannah as Eowyn from Lord of the Rings

Mackenzie the princess

Jamie the yodeling cowgirl?

Samantha as Snow White

Laurel the not-so-cowardly lion

Katelyn, our little pumpkin

Adam decided not to make an appearance this year in a costume. He doesn't enjoy dressing up as much as the girls do.

Derek also dressed up again and got very creative in copying the SQL fairy. The SQL fairy is the mascot of sorts for a software program that he was using at work for a long time. They had a picture of the fairy up in the office ( see the picture on this page http://sqlfairy.sourceforge.net/) He won the vote from his co-workers for the best costume again this year.


Halloween night we started a new tradition. No trick or treating! Derek and I love this, the children are trying to get used to it. We stayed home and had dinner, followed by treats the kids chose--donuts! We then had "lights out" all evening and they played hide and seek with flashlights. We also watched some of the World Series baseball game and a short movie. It was nice to just stay at home with the family, not answer the door for trick or treaters every two minutes, and especially not fill out home with mounds of candy!

Grandma's

With the birth of Katelyn, we were blessed to have visits from both of our moms. My mom came first and stayed a week, and then later Derek's mom came and stayed for almost a week. We enjoyed both of them visiting and they provided some needed service. It was fun for the children to have extra play time with them as well.

Grandma O'Dwyer enjoying Katelyn

While Grandma O'Dwyer was in town, we had a big rain storm. The wind was quite strong and took off branches of many trees. Across the street a smaller tree was snapped in half (in picture above) The top part is lying on the ground and the trunk left in the ground. (behind the stop sign)


While Grandma Taylor was here, the girls were always asking to have their hair braided. Grandma was kind enough to accommodate their requests. Here they are showing their braids off.

Grandma Taylor with Katelyn

Grandma Taylor with Laurel, Adam, Mackenzie, Samantha,
Jamie, Hannah and Katelyn

Lots of Moms

With so many siblings, Katelyn has many "moms". Everyone wants to hold her and help with her. Samantha and Laurel go so far as to copy what Cathy does, and they nurse their baby dolls.

Katelyn, Samantha and Jamie

Mackenzie and Katelyn

Samantha and Katelyn

Laurel and her "baby"

Samantha and her "baby"