Christmas from a child's view

Maria wanted to take some pictures of the family gathering, so here is what things looked like from her perspective.

 a surprised sister

a speaking Grandma...she caught her mid-sentence

 a happy mom

 a serious Joshua

 a silly grandpa

a sulking Zach...he has just gotten reprimanded.

 a joyful daddy

a contented aunt and uncle

Christmas Round 2

Sunday we headed to the Larry's parent's house and had yet another Christmas gathering.  We feasted on Roast Leg of Lamb, and it was GOOD!  The cousins had fun playing as best as 1 and 3 year olds know how!

 Anna "helping" grandma in the kitchen...I am sure she was just there to find something to eat!

 the cousins

 watching present opening in anticipation

 "hiding out" under the piano

 peek!

 hey partner...I forget exactly why they kept saying that, but then they would hand you a green stick and then want it back...the mind of a three year old??

Uncle Justin entertaining the troops

Christmas at home

 trying the new bottle that came with her baby

 opening the gift Maria made us at preschool

 a handtowel with her handprints on it, that form into an angel

 showing off the new pajamas they got from family

We have plenty to praise God for; a real reason to celebrate, Jesus Christ.

a snow day

We broke in the girls' Christmas sled and took a ride around our yard and down the hill at the playground across the road.  It was the perfect size for Maria, and I didn't have to help her up the hill each time.  Anna was having nothing to do with sledding, or in fact much to do with the snow at all.  

 She had a blast!

She looks like she is having fun huh?...not so much!

Here is the video to prove that she was not a fan of snow today!

The girls wanted a tent to play in, yep, fleece blankets are lightweight and work well, but also make a very electrifying atmosphere.

It was a great hiding place from the witch(Daddy).

We have plenty to praise God for; easy ways to entertain.

Merry Christmas to you!

From the Saunders Family!

The Friendly Beasts

Okay, I know Culver is small, but 8 deer in our yard at 10:30pm, seriously.  I was sitting on the couch and our the side window I kept seeing a shadow pass by the window.  I am sure that since we are on the edge of town, by the ball fields, which are the closest thing to the woods on this side of town makes the deer feel a bit safer.  But we did drive down our street the next morning and noticed deer tracks all across town toward the other set of woods.  I had fun watching them out the window, and couldn't believe when I finally counted that there were 8 of them.  They were eating what they could of the community garden corn stalks, a cauliflower plant in our garden and from the looks of their tracks some of our bushes, which shouldn't hurt them too much as they are in need of a good pruning anyway!  It was a nice treat, especially since I grew up in the country and never really saw many deer that close to our house(too far from the woods and too many dogs.)  The videos aren't great(and I wish I had a way to splice them, my software refuses to do that!)...I need a night vision camera or something, but when they went under the street light you can see them better.

Christmas Round 1

We celebrated Christmas early on the Unger side.  Ryan and Easton were sick, so that family stayed at home.    We had a good time and the kids brought home some fun toys.

 Love, love, love this picture of Anna and Uncle Jeff

 Trey and Maria trying to set up the game Mouse Trap...it was a good time occupier till gift time.

 Anna playing the harmonica for Aunt Michele

 Andrew and Therese

 Trey and his tornado maker.

 the cousins: Anna, Maria, and Trey...Easton was home sick as well as Ryan.

 Andrew and Therese

 Mom and Dad, grandma and grandpa

 Great Grandma "G G" and the great grandkids

G G and Anna

a bicycle built for two...in honor of dk

church pageant

Maria really, really wanted to have a speaking part of the play, but we thought that would be a bit too much for her yet.  So, she was part of the choir that sang a few songs.  Can you tell Maria really wanted to stand by a certain girl, she kept moving around.  I did my best to video while Anna was hanging on my leg and getting into lots of mischief, so I apologize for the crazy taping.

Preschool program

Maria had her preschool program last night.  They Junior class sang three songs and then the Senior class also had some songs to sing.  The video is a bit dark, but you can see her really singing.  We weren't sure if she would participate or be shy.  She did have some practice from the pageant at church.

Hi, Elf

Maybe you remember this post 2 years ago when Maria enjoyed looking for Elf?  That video is so funny!  Anna is almost the exact same age and enjoys it just as much, and really likes to run over to where Elf is hiding out for the day and say hi...Larry said one morning it was about 50 times, maybe a slight exaggeration, but still, alot...she has fun with it in the video, he is sitting on the windowsill in the bathroom.