We had our 'Christmas Eve' and 'Christmas' this past weekend. We do stockings and one gift on Christmas Eve along with the Christmas story and the kids are always so excited. Eli was ready with the bible in hand when Daddy got home from work Friday so we could get the show on the road. They decided that they wanted to have pizza, breakfast burritos, chicken noodle soup, apple crisp, and meatballs with bowtie pasta. I was excited about the easy choices and we had a lot of fun.

I felt a little old this Christmas especially as I shopped for Eli. He got a bow which he loves and I got him and Brian a couple of games that they both enjoy - I mean big kid stuff...

The kids were very excited about the gifts that they bought for each other this year - Eli got Kiley a hello kitty gum ball machine and Kiley got Eli a couple of NFL players. (the library got a new series about each NFL team and now Eli is very interested in the NFL)

We had a great little family Christmas and I feel immensely blessed.

On Friday we went to main street Bethlehem. It was a little over an hour away and we stood in line for a little over an hour, but it was so worth it. The kids loved it. There is an actual little town set up as it would have been when Jesus was born. They had the market with people selling things, animals, rope makers, cloth makers, bakers, people just in their homes eating or making butter, black smiths, the jail, the well, the tavern, the inn, and the 'stable' where Jesus was born. Roman soldiers were walking around and everyone was in character. The kids loved it. As we were walking out Kiley asked if we could please just get back in line and see it all again or just go home and sleep and them come back in the morning time. The kids both thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

So today was a big day in the Lehmann household...

Eli has, much to his father's delight, discovered the game Risk and he loves it. Today Brian and Eli finished their first game (it was started on Thursday night...) and Eli was victorious. Now he is hooked. How anyone can enjoy a game that takes that long is beyond me...

Thursday night Mr. Eric stopped by and quickly became Eli's military advisor...

Horrible picture of Brian this morning, but I guess he was just morning his defeat?!

December is here... We started our Jesse Tree and advent activities today and the kids were very excited. This is our second year to do the Jesse Tree it is a daily devotional that takes you through the bible hitting on some of the main characters and stories up to the birth of Jesus. We have a tree that we put an ordament the represents each story on.

We also have a little house with numbered doors on it and each day the kids open a door and it has some little treat in it. Tonight they got a tootsie roll and they were very excited...