have a blessed Christmas - love the mcmurrays!

we love our cards. . of course http://mangoink.com/ did them. . .they are the best! They were mounted on beautiful green cardstock to match and came with crisp fabulous red envelopes.
Whitney at http://www.flat4photography.com/Home.html took the photo. . she is amazing if you are looking for a photographer.
if you have not gotten a card yet. . no worries I had to order more. have a blessed Christmas with your families!

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

it truly is the most wonderful time of the year! off to walk down to the boy's school Christmas concert. they sang their little hearts out.

emery hanging out with her new twin friends maryn and kehne. . . we love the new Hume babies!

i keep finding emery trying to eat the Christmas tree:)

so happy with my daddy!

lucia wanted to be in the Christmas church program at church. . but was not so sure during the actual program. in fact she stood up there for about 3 minutes total before she saw dad and jumped off the stage and ran to him.

you can barely see the snowflakes hanging . . but janny you would be so proud. . the boys are so good at them now. janny has been doing snowflakes with the boys since they were one and half.

my favorite new decoration. the boy's godmother patty painted this beautiful christmas card for us after seeing a picture of the first snowman the boy's made this winter. when we got it in the mail I ran out got the perfect frame for it and we will have it forever. she amazes me with her creativity and talent!

i love how cute emery's picture looks in this frame KayC made for me a few years back. glad my friends are crafty and cute!

my all time favorite store in the world is anthropologie. . .so on our trip to seattle i got this cute napkin, tea light holder and tinsel tree. . love them!

santa not scary. . he a nice guy!

i love this tradition of seeing santa every year. . and it has even gotten better with cute little girl Christmas dresses and tiny red shoes! we knew from experience that two years old is the hardest age so the whole family has been prepping Lucia for awhile. well it worked she ran up to Santa and said loud and clear "you not scary santa, you are a nice guy!" and jumped up on his lap! when santa asked what each of them wanted for Christmas here is what they said. {

our kids do not know there is such a thing as a "santa list." we have them convinced that santa brings one gift. so they spend all year figuring out what the one special thing they are going to ask for is. . . }

Keagan - webkin (he asked us on the way down if he could ask santa for a trip to the Mediterranean ocean) - he is fascinated with oceans around the world. we told it was not realistic and santa doesn't give trips to the ocean.

Kinkade - electronic scooter

Lucia - a lollipop

ps. . on the way home i was thinking what a perfect day it had been - no meltdowns . . all four kids smiling in the santa picture. . fun church rehearsal prior to santa pic! i was feeling even a little bit proud that we are figuring this four kids thing out. . .. WELL. . . . we proceeded to run out of gas in the minivan in the middle of one of the busiest most narrow roads in Spokane. thank goodness the nicest people on the planet stopped pushed our van out of the middle of the road. then took aaron to get a can of gas while i waited with the kids on the side of the road. nothing like running out of gas to keep you humble:)

so proud of this boy!

keagan started piano lessons in september. we have always known he was extremely musical and has always LOVED music. last weekend was his first recital. it is a huge commitment with practicing every day and lessons each week. keagan has been very nervous for his first recital and we are so proud of him that he played with confidence and did so well. he chose to play "jolly old saint nicholas" and it was awesome. he is learning so much about himself, about grace, about making mistakes, pressure, performing, hard work when you don't feel like it, and music!

everyone was supposed to bring a treat for the reception afterwards. grammy and keagan planned on making snowmen peeps. but as they started (kinkade of course joined) their creativity got the best of them and it became a snow animal peep extravaganza! thanks grammy for making the recital so special.

the tree!

we love to go cut down our tree every year! it is such a fun family tradition. we have been so busy on the weekends that we went during the week this time so it had a didn't feel. . but just as special.

first year the boys were strong enough to carry the tree in!

first Christmas tree outing for emery pearl.

at home decorating. . lucia carried the tree topper angel around all night until dad lifted her up to put it on the top!most of the ornaments ended up like this with lucia decorating. . sitting on the floor:)

keagan took this picture of the final product. Merry Christmas!

our christmas baby

Thank you God for this miracle baby! Merry Christmas Emery Pearl!

Holly & Trevor's wedding

We danced, dined, played, swam, drove a lot, slept a little, spent time with great friends the Jones, ate a lot, and just had a wonderful time as a family! mother and son dance. . . and lucia. . . i loved how they invited all the mother and sons on the dance floor!

having a blast at the wedding!

father and daughter dance. . this melted my heart!

emery pearl was the star of the weekend the best car driver and the happiest traveler! i can't believe what a happy easy baby she is . . praise God!

i love these two pics of daddy and emery. . . he has fallen head of heals for this baby girl. . he cannot get enough of her! we met our great friends the Jones at Rainforest Cafe for lunch. always a hit with the kids.

nothing like driving six hours in your 1998 dodge caravan and then throwing everyone in the hotel pool! I have to admit I was really nervous about our first road as a family of 6 . . but it went so well. . the kids were superstars and convinced us we can still "road trip it" with 6! We even all fit in the hotel room and slept pretty good. I think this family of 6 thing is going to okay after all! Thanks Holly and Trevor for a special weekend away. . . we were blessed to be a part of your big day! Aaron officiated the ceremony and in my opinion knocked the ball out of the park. . I hope it was a blessing to many.

nov. events & thanksgiving

we had 15 people at our house for Thanksgiving! we had to set two tables for the first time. it was tons of fun. i adore these turkeys the boys made in preschool. i hope i have them forever. they are my favorite thanksgiving decoration.

my mom (grammy) is the most thoughtful human you will ever meat. she had a gift on every plate for each person that was at thanksgiving. it was so sweet.

this is what my living room looks like everyday since grampy comes up every morning before school for breakfast and games but here it is on thanksgiving. there is always a game going on in the living room!

daddy and emery! have i mentioned how fun and smiley this sweet baby girl is. . we are all head over heals with this happy baby girl. ready for the turkey bowl. . . aaron plans a turkey bowl for the morning of thanksgiving each year.

maryn and kehne are here!!! our dearest friends Taudd and Mandolyn had their twins. they were huge and healthy and sooooooooo cute! grammy celebrated her actual birthday babysitting for us! she said there was no other way she would want to spend her birthday. she let the kids put 63 candles on the cake she brought. here is the picture i came home to on my camera. i am glad my house was still standing. thank you grammy for celebrating with us we love you! the day after grammy's birthday we all went out to dinner at red lobster and the highlight was when our hostess actually took a real lobster out of the cage since all my kids wanted to touch it. where did we get these kids????? then grammy and i and the boys went to the browdway production of Lion King. . it was fabulous! I highly recommend it. they boys were the perfect age at seven.