Around here we have been….

DRESSING WARM and bundling up for the season. The temperatures have dropped significantly over the past month. The ground is now covered in snow, and the thermometer  rarely reads in double digits. In fact, today it is foretasted that the high temperature will be -15! That’s not including wind-chill!

Despite the cold weather, {D} and {L} continue to make an effort to get outdoors and practice their football skills. They are forming a special bond over the sport, which is really fun to see. {D}s favorite is still kicking, while {L} enjoys throwing and catching best.

SINGING in celebration of our Savior’s Birth. {D} performed at Jingle Bells once again, both in a duet with a friend and with the school choir. You can listen to the performances HERE. It was a beautiful evening filled with music and talent, and all for a wonderful cause.

The rest of the kids participated in both the day school and Sunday School Christmas programs. Each of the day school kids had to remember quite a few lines for these programs. They did a wonderful job and it was fun to see them sharing the Christmas story together. {M}’s Preschool had its own program, which was adorable.

ENJOYING CHRISTMAS BREAK at home. We had such a wonderful, fun filled Christmas! With it being {K}’s first Christmas home, we wanted to make it extra special. The house was decorated in bright colors and accented with photos from our year and the special events that took place – including our trip to China to make her a part of our family. You can see all of our decorations in THIS POST.

We kept the gift giving very minimal for the kids again this year. With five little ones under the roof, they already have plenty of toys and games and actually tend to have the most fun playing with one another. We purchased each of them an activity book (paper airplanes, brain puzzles, seek and find, etc). The girls received some fun new things for their play kitchen, and the boys received micro brick sets. They are sort of like Legos, but smaller and more challenging. The largest gift of the season went to {I}, who finally got a ‘high performance’ drone.

REMINISCING on all that has happened in 2017 by watching our family videos. We are thankful that we started the new tradition this year of organizing our family photos and videos each week into mini ‘timeline videos’. Each year in the future, during Christmas break, we will take time to sit down as a family and relive the past twelve months. Since we started in July of 2017, we only have six months to review this year.

If you’d like to see these videos, and get a closer look at all that our family has been up to, you can see them on our YouTube Channel: ARROW HILL FAMILY.

Blessings to everyone for a happy and healthy 2018!