Christmas sing

The older girls were a part of the children's choir at church this year and this was their big Christmas performance.  They did great and Hannah even had her first speaking part.  They performed 2 nights and on the 2nd night I noticed during the singing that Gracey wasn't closing her mouth all the way.  The whole time, she had a bit of an Elvis snarl on her face.  Afterwards, I realized that "backstage" they had put blush and lip gloss on all the girls (see photo)...Gracey was afraid that she'd mess up her make up if she touched her lips together!  Singing to Jesus is great while keeping her make up straight!  :)

Jingle Bells

Here's our sweet Gracey May singing Jingle Bells.  Once I pulled out the video camera, everyone was a star.  I just love their sweet voices. :)

Starfish

Claire was sprawled out on the floor like this the other night...perfectly still.  When Ken asked her what she was doing, the answer was simple.  "I'm being a starfish."  Well, of course.  This little girl has the most amazing imagination.  Notice the leotard on inside out...she dresses herself too.  :)

ABCs

Here's little Jake, singing as usual.  His favorite song at the moment is  "Adelvise?" (from the Sound of Music...I have NO idea how to spell that).  But since I haven't caught that one on tape, here's a rendition of the ABCs....for the grandparents, of course.  :)

Warning: Belly pictures

My apologies to all that are offended by belly photos, but at the request of a few this is what big mama looks like at 30 weeks.  By the 6th pregnancy my body seems to know what to do and is getting bigger by the minute.

Only 9 weeks to go before we welcome the next and newest McNeill into our clan.  We are thankful that he seems to be doing well.  Actually, according to my MD he seems to be doing a little too well.  At our last ultrasound he was measuring in the 97th percentile.  He looks to be another big boy and if he continues at this pace, we may have another early induction.  We're continuing to pray for a healthy baby and can't wait to meet him.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We finally have our camera fixed, so I feel like I can dive back into family updates.  It's just not the same to post without pictures.  We had a  wonderfully relaxing Christmas.  We stayed home and just spent the day as a family.  After a record breaking bad holiday for us last year, it was so nice to redeem to the season!  For those of you who weren't with us last year, Christmas involved a house full of the stomach flu and losing our 5th baby.  This year was much more joyful and made us so thankful for all of God's provisions for us over the past year.  

On Christmas Eve, we spent the day baking fudge and Christmas cookies.  Everyone decorated a cookie especially for Santa.  We sang Christmas carols and read Christmas stories.  One good book that we read this year is , "Santa, Are You For Real?" by Harold Myra.  It does a great job of explaining who Saint Nicholas was and why we still do "Santa".  The kids especially enjoyed the Advent season this year with the candles and candy. :)

Here's Jake enjoying one of his favorite toys while wearing his cool new firefighter outfit.

A word about Moonsand: just don't do it.  It was something our kids have wanted for quite a while and loved.  However...this is the messiest stuff EVER.  It is a very cool toy, however it would be a great toy for the spring when it can be played with outside.  For every 5 minutes of fun at the kitchen table, plan for 10 minutes of cleanup.  If your up for that, then, by all means, go for it.  But don't say I didn't warn you.

           

Jake loved all his new hot wheels and race track and the girls favorites were ponies, pet shops and a great doll house from Bumpa and Grandma.  Thanks, too, to Nana and Pa for all the goodies...the Tinkerbell make-up was the favorite for Claire by far.