Preparing for Christmas

 We've had a great advent season this year so far! The kids have really enjoyed every step of the way. Here they are posing in Seth's new chair.

Hannah joined Erica in making one of the Clark households many varieties of Christmas cookies.  She got a little overzealous on the sprinkles but not bad for a rookie. 

 Eastside Church of God put on a fantastic Nativity celebration that we enjoyed with cousin Jed and the Ringger grandparents.  Before we went in to see the live nativity, Hannah was acting scared and said "I'm scared of Baby Jesus"!  Ha!  She loved it when she actually saw the baby!  She really likes playing with our nativity scene at home.  It is so sweet to hear her talk and be excited about the Christmas story. 

 

We were fortunate to have a beautiful morning to pick out a tree. We knew Seth's instincts would be to pull the tree over multiple times so we thought about the tree below. 

We opted for a baby gate to surround it instead. 

  We had a lot of fun decorating the Christmas tree the first time (not the second or third time after the tree fell).

  And Finally, Seth and Hannah love the idea of a Santa Claus.  They are terrified by the personification though.

So thankful for Family...

Hannah and Seth playing with Papa Jack and Maggie over Thanksgiving

 Since I never posted about our Thanksgiving OR my side of the family's photo shoot, here they are!  Better late than never, right?!  We are so so thankful for our families.  We seriously are so blessed to have wonderful supportive parents and siblings who love us and our kids like crazy.  Can't wait to spend Christmas with them all :) 

The whole Ringger family

Bedtime story with Maggie

Playing pingpong with Uncle Jeff and Josh

Aunt Bonnie's famous manicures!

 And more from the photo shoot with CarisDesign!  We love them!

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Cousins...Hannah, Josiah, Jed, and Seth

Grandma and PawPaw with the grandkids

My sisters and I...Amy, Allison, me, and Lindsey

Seth is 1 !!!!

We have a 1 year old in the house!!!  Seth turned 1 on December 2nd.  I can't believe it has already been a year. His first year was awesome...he is such a blessing.  His sweet natured laid back personality made the transition from 1 to two kids much easier and we can't imagine our family without him!  He is all boy and so much fun! We love you Seth!

We started his birthday with our tradition of bringing in a birthday balloon and singing to him in the morning.  We had to wake him up before Nate left for school, but he didn't seem to mind!

On his birthday, we went and played at the museum and gave him a birthday cookie!

A couple days later we had his birthday party with family.  We had it at the Muncie Children's Museum, which was so much fun!  It was sport themed, since he LOVES balls.

"Picture Pennants" of old and new pics!

My mom made "Seth is 1" cookies!

Playing with Papa Jack at the museum.  He loves to carry things around in his hands.

Grandma Ringger and Seth

Pawpaw and Grandma Ringger at the party

Maggie and Seth

My sister Amy made this awesome football cake! Thanks Amy!

Family pic with the birthday boy!

Usually Seth devours any food put in front of him, so we were suprised when he sat and looked at the cake for awhile.  I think he was stunned with all the people looking at him.  He eventually got messy :)

 Opening gifts...thanks to all our family who came and for the wonderful gifts!