We hope everyone's Christmas was filled with light and joy and surrounded by loved ones!


(Previous years' pictures here and here.)

 So the big kids and I have been working hard getting Christmas cards ready and in the mail this week.  Today the last big stack of them went to the mailbox, hooray!  I know there will be a few stragglers, but for the most part we are done.  But I realized that in the note on the back of the card, I give the blog address and say that "Katie tries to update the blog a couple times a month."  Since its almost been a full month since I've posted anything, I made myself take 30 minutes today to get something up (though it actually took 45 before I hit publish).  Here we go!

Just like his sister before him (maybe Nathan too, but Brian and I just clearly remember Sarah doing this), Andrew is enthralled with the dishwasher.  Which presents some logistical challenges since I usually do three loads a day.  He usually doesn't climb up and stand on the dishwasher like this, but we do always have to pull out the utensil caddy so he doesn't get a sharp knife and we try to keep the door closed when there are dirty dishes so that he's not playing in the leftover food remnants - yuck!


Sarah got her first Lego set for her birthday, a little car from Aunt Karen.  Nathan enthusiastically helped her with the directions so she could put it together.


Trouble, right here!  (Notice the pop-sickle stick... of course after I bought a whole pack of them from the craft store they somewhat lost their appeal.)


A typical scene from homeschooling these days.  Nathan and Sarah do their work on our old console table to try and keep it away from Andrew, while Andrew desperately tries to grab their pencils/crayons/papers anyway.


Some friends from church gave Brian and me tickets to the Vols homecoming game, so we gladly dropped the kids off at Nana and Granddad's house for the afternoon.  We were a bit concerned about how Andrew would do since it was in the midst of his teething grumpy/fussy/ANGRY phase, but he took a good nap and ended up doing great. We had a good time, but ended up overdressed for our seats in the sun!


These are the weird knobs on our master bedroom furniture that all the kids (especially Sarah and Andrew) have found enormously entertaining.  In fact, Brian and I used to joke "Sarah's been here!" when all the pulls were pushed up instead of down.  But I finally couldn't stand the things anymore and replaced them, but not before taking this one last picture to commemorate all the fun they gave the kids. 


The three kids and I try to drop by Grandmother's house for a visit a couple times a month, and Andrew is just in love with her.  This day he just went right to her and grinned as I pulled out the phone for a picture.  How sweet!


Nathan's Mozart poster for school, which I talked about in greater detail in another post.


Like I said, TROUBLE!  Andrew's the first of our kids that has been into the toilet-paper unrolling.  We have to keep all the bathroom doors closed now to keep him under control.


The big kids were digging holes in the woods in our side yard, and Andrew decided to blaze a trail through the leaves and brush to join them... except he didn't stop near his siblings but just decided to just keep on going!  There is just no stopping him!


This is my typical view at some point during the day, either as I'm trying to get a meal on the table or trying to clean up before nap or bedtime.