Really Cool gift

Check this out!! It is from TEAVANA . It is one of the coolest gifts. They have these tea balls that "Bloom" when put into hot water. This one is just starting. It got stuck in the top and I just tapped it down and these flowers come out of the "ball" and it is wonderful to drink and amazing to watch. I recommend this to anyone who even remotely likes tea.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! We hope you enjoyed your Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The kids really kept us busy! We went to Christmas eve service, came home and fed the reindeer (top pictures). Thanks to a really cool babysitter (Sara), the kids sprinkle reindeer food in the back yard. They have so much fun and are really getting into it. The grownups stayed up and watched the traditional National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. What a classic!! Shannon stayed the night and when the kids woke up it was pure excitement! Thankyou everyone for the wonderful gifts and thoughtfulness of them. There have been hours of fun! ;) May Christ dwell in your hearts and your lives be filled with His love,

Castruccio's

Braided Princess

When James came home his first reaction was, "She sat still for that!". Yes, Abby sat still for a 2 year old and let me do braids in her hair then we had to admire them in the mirror. :) Then we had to make faces in the mirror and finally we discovered we were on the counter with a faucet! She ended up with soaking pants and some great looking braids.

New Look

James got bored today and decided to give the BLOG a much needed facelift. Let us know what you think.

Jonah's Christmas program

They call me Mr. Donkey

Look Ma! I'm waving

Can you see me now?!!

Jonah had his school Christmas program last night. He was a donkey in the stable. He did such a good job. He made sure he saw us and then sang his heart out. What a kid!

Abby Posing

This AM Abby picked out her own clothes. She cracks me up sometimes. Then she wanted me to take a picture of her.

Taking a ride on a snowy afternoon

We took a beautiful drive today. It was so amazing to see all the beautiful snow. Enjoy the beauty as we did.

We've got SNOW!!!!

We awoke to snow this morning!! The kids had a blast in it.

Photo shoot

This little one I got to shoot when she was around 5 weeks. She is now 9 mon and here we are again doing more pictures. She is so precious and did a great job today! What a girl!

Mary and the Donkey and the baby Jesus

I need to totally explain what is going on before you can laugh. :) Jonah and Abby were playing around last night. Abby gets on his back and then Jonah says, "It's like Mary and the donkey!". After a couple tumbles on the carpet he excaims, "Mary doesn't fall off the donkey in the bible". They were laughing so hard!! Then we have Mary and the baby Jesus on the bottom picture. Abby had wanted to hold Jonah and climbed on him and Jonah said,"It is Mary and the baby Jesus" and they were walking around laughing. O the imagination of children... ok, I should say O the imagination of Jonah. :) So here it is... Mary, the donkey and the baby Jesus. May the story of Christmas be as alive for you as it was for us last night.

PS. I forgot one important part of the story. In choir we sing this song called "Mary Was the First One to Carry the Gospel". So Jonah walked around with Abby singing parts of that song and laughing, "Mary was the first one, to carry the gospel"!!!

A morning of beauty treatments

This little one keeps me on my toes!! I am out of the room for 1 min and it gets quiet. Here I come running into the room and what do we see?!! Liquid lipstick! She says, "Beautiful lips!!" She promptly got a bath after I got the camera (the important things right?!). Yes, by some miracle the lipstick did come out of the white sweater. It had to soak overnight in a variety of stuff (if you need such information later email me...).

Do you have beautiful lips today too?!!

Today's activities

Bob Cratchet, Tiny Tim, Ebenezer Scrooge

2 kids having fun... who do they belong to?! They are pretty cute.

Civil War Santa

Suzy Snowflake

Don't faint on me, but yes there are 2 blogs within a week!!! Today we went to downtown St. Charles and saw the trains on main, and all the old time charaters. The kids collect cards from each one. They had so much fun!