December... Full, Full, Full!

It's a pretty wonderful time of the year... :)

 The view out our front door... we got our icicle lights up quickly!  

Thanks, hon!

 Yes.  Aron got his finger stuck in a toy.  :)

Unfortunately, for him, it really, REALLY got stuck -- and scraped up his entire finger in getting it out!  [He wasn't smiling after Joel removed it... ouch.]

 Ready to go outside and exercise!!!  In Mom's stuff, of course...

 Richard Simmons?!?

Nope... just Baby Eric!  :)

 Time to break out the Santa hats!  

I think Ithan wore his hat most of December... ;)

 Aron turned 12!  And getting a basketball was the greatest thing ever.

Like, totally, man.  :)

 Grandpa Jeff came down to visit and had a helper for most of his jobs...!

 Candi and Grandpa playing cards; the Richard Simmons look was apparently big in December.  :)

 Attack, Grandpa!  Attack!

 Inveigling someone else into helping him skate...!

 Well... the sideways, awkward-looking cake was for Aron; I had the wrong kind of mascarpone cheese for the tiramisu, but he still liked it!

 Playing chess with the birthday party invitees!

 It's kind of become a yearly tradition to have supper and decorate gingerbread men with the Wulfs!  Lots of fun... :)

 Grandma Janice got here partway through Dad's visit, so Dad, Eric and I went to pick her up at Aunt Jakie's!

 Mom and Eric hanging out on the couch...

 Notice the huge smile on Ithan's face?  Probably because of...

 ... flips by Grandpa!!!

I have no idea how many times Dad flipped him, but the number was up there!

 We had an ugly sweater contest one night... this was Katie's entry!

[I think she was too cute to be called anything even approaching "ugly!"]

 Our "ugly sweater" participants -- we might need to work on this.  :)

Seth ended up winning, chosen by an Anonymous judge!!!

[I still think Joel's sweater takes the cake!!!]

 Squishing Ithan against the window... a perfect spot to do this!

 Game-time on the floor with Grandma Janice -- she's great at this!!!

 Wii-time, which also means "entertaining-Eric-time" for me... :)

 Our Christmas spread -- pork-loin, cheesy-olive bread, wine-soaked mushrooms, cheesy potatoes and two kinds of pie!!  We were "no longer hungry"... ;)

 Ready for Christmas dinner!  

[No, thankfully I didn't fall off the stool taking this shot... but Joel definitely thought I was going to!] 

 I'm so glad he got into the spirit of the season... ;)

 Holding the GI-NORMOUS stockings from Grandpa and Grandma!!!

 Hmmm... do you think somebody wanted the sweets from Christmas?!?

 Oh yes... our Santa Claus likes peppernuts and Dr. Pepper.  :)

Watching White Christmas and drinking egg-nog in our new, Savers-purchased, Christmas glasses!

hehe.  :)

Merry Christmas... six months later!!!

And a video for your viewing pleasure:

A Massive November Recap

Before I get into the montage of photos, a quick update on our adoption:

Praise the Lord, the taking away of parental rights is at its very end!  We have two more weeks to wait for publishing, but then the actual adoption can start -- yippee!  At this point, Joel and I are getting all our documents prepared and making sure we know which time-sensitive ones we will need to complete quickly.  

Thank you for your prayers up to this point and we ask that you would continue to pray for this next step -- all our paperwork!!!  :))))))))

Ideally, the paperwork can take 2-3 months here in Mexico... and we'll see how God leads after that point!  We are thankful to still be on the journey!

Now... photos!  :)

[I finally figured out that my complete NON-DESIRE to blog was because I hadn't cleaned off my camera memory since... well, October.  oops.]

November, like every other month, was packed.  

Here are the photos and captions:

 Aron got into this really funny mood one night and danced for, seriously, about thirty minutes.  :)

And yes, we have the pics to prove it one day!!!

 Probably not as easy to work with someone sitting on your panza.

 I... don't know.  But I still think they're both cute... :)

 Dressed up in cowboy duds for Fede's birthday party!

 Using the brooms as horsies... what else?!?

 We also did a quick one-day trip down to the zoo in Hermosillo with just our family... and it was so much fun!!!

[funny to look at this photo with our coats on and then walk outside into our 100+ June weather... yuck.]

 He thought it was cool.  

Mom thought it was cool... that it was behind glass.  :)

 Our four oldest!!!

 The monkeys were a hit!

[notice Ithan's "aping"... we stayed here for awhile!]

 Jumping around on the rocks outside the bird cages!

Thank you, Hermosillo Zoo... :)

 His two little boys like to "lounge" just like he does after lunch... ;)

 "Melmo, too.  Melmo, too."

Well, of course, Melmo should eat your food, too... :)

 The kids had another celebration day for Mexico's Revolution; always fun dress up!

 Our three participants!!!

[with Dad's pellet guns... :)]

 Somebody else wanted a gun just like his brothers!

Mom, being a mom, said "No way, Jose."  :)

 Oldest and youngest!

 The two boys LOVE being pushed around in the laundry baskets by their older siblings!

The only problem?

It eventually has to stop... and then there are tears and wails and tantrums.  :)

 Awwwww... :)

 Oh, reading time... I love you!

 There's this wonderful thing that happens in November at Dairy Queen -- it's called a pecan pie blizzard and i. love. them.

yum.  :)

Joel managed to get one all the way back down from Nogales for me without it melting!!!  What a guy!!!

 We had some gorgeous days for flying kites in November... 

Days that make your spirits soar...

... even when your kites plummet. ;) 

The inevitable outcome of kids being in charge of their own kites for any length of time!

Wanting so badly to be a big boy like his brothers... it'll be awhile before he gets this down!!!

Thanks for sticking around and reading... happy Saturday!