Well, I am really behind in some of my posts, so I am going to clump several posts together...
You'll have to bear with me and I'll try to make this as comprehensible as possible!
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Christmas
On December 10th, we celebrated our Christmas early, since we were going to be in Canada for Christmas. We were able to arrange our week so that we were able to treat it just like Christmas Day, waking up at 6:30 and opening presents and then just relaxing, playing cards, enjoying each other's company. Gram and Pop came up to celebrate with us as well!
"Christmas Eve" playing Clue
"Christmas Morning"
Our wonderful grandparents!
Our wonderful parents!
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Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
Our sweet church held our annual Christmas Eve service a week early so that we could be there to enjoy it with them! So here are some pictures of our wonderful service that night!
Daddy
Savannah and I
Ethan (in the gray sweatshirt) with his football players. Noah was supposed to be in this picture, but I don't know where he was when I was taking this!
Mom and Savannah
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Our Trip To Canada
On December 19th, we left our house, headed for Canada to spend Christmas with Jordan, Caleb, the whole Yuck family, and hopefully, Baby Yuck! We had told them all that we would arrive on the 23rd, so we were hoping to be able to surprise them by arriving early! We did! We pulled into Caleb and Jordan's driveway at around 5:30 in the morning, right before Caleb was heading out to milk, so we all piled onto their front doorstep and Dad called their house phone. Caleb answered and Dad asked how Jordan was feeling. Caleb replied that she was doing fine, to which Dad said,
"Okay, great, now open up the door and let us in! It's cold out here!"
They were surprised to say the least!
We were able to be up there to see Jordan with her round baby bump for a few days before she went into labor. As far as timing, it couldn't have worked out any better!
This was our first white Christmas, so that was pretty nice for us! The boys decided to go out and build a snowman.
This is the boy's snowman. Although he looked great, he fell over within two hours, so their Canadian brother-in-law decided that they needed a lesson: Snowman Building 101.
This is the BASE of the next snowman. It was so large that they could barely roll it into place, but....it did stay up for several weeks!
Jordan decorating their Christmas tree!
The kids playing Hand & Foot.
Beautiful snow.
Dad and Mom waiting for Victoria to be born!
Mr. Paul
Waiting...
Soon-to-be-aunties waiting...
All of the kids went down into the basement to wait and watch a movie on the big screen projector!
Melissa, the assistant midwife
Sweetness!
Love...
Can anyone say "Adorable"?
This was Leah, their main midwife. She was excellent! She knew exactly what she was doing, which made us all relax the moment she arrived. It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved. She even prayed over Caleb, Jordan and little Victoria before she left!
These pictures were taken on Christmas Eve.
The Junior table!
Dad and Caleb playing foosball.
Caleb "The Butcher"
Mama and baby!
(Look at how long she is!)
She loves her swing.
Jordan's early birthday party.
Uncle Noah holding his niece for the first time!
Playing Headbanz, a game in which EVERYONE looks silly!
Everyone wears a word on their forehead that everyone else can see but them. They then have to guess the word before the timer runs out. First person to guess three words on their forehead wins!
It's quite funny, really!
Victoria on Skype for the first time with her great-grandparents, Gram and Pop!
Then, the day before we left, we all went to Fun Haven. For a set fee, you can ride all the bumper cars you want, climb the rock wall, slink through the laser beam room, or play as many laser tag games as you can fit in one afternoon! Laser tag has always been a favorite thing to do whenever we get together with the Yuck family, and boy, did we ever play that day! I think we played fifteen games that day and then had to ride in the car the next day for our 18 or so hour ride home! Talk about stiff bones! But we all had a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed our last day together!
After Fun Haven, we all trekked over to Kelsey's Restaurant to finish out the evening.
The food was delicious, the service was great, but the visiting was the best of all!
Mom and Dad
Jordan and Caleb
Savannah and Bethany
Aunt Tracy (Mrs. Debbie's sister-in-law) and me
All the kids!
Mr. Paul and Mrs. Debbie
Three generations
We had a lovely time during the three weeks we were in Canada and hated to say good-bye to them all, but with goat kidding time right around the corner, we knew we had to get back home! Gram and Pop had been graciously holding down the fort and we are so thankful for them!
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Kidding Season
We were praying that the goats would hold off on having their babies until we arrived home, and they did. So far, we have had 5 does kid, giving us 10 babies, 6 boys, 4 girls. We have 8 more does to have their babies, and then the next batch isn't due until late March. Below are some photos of our little bucklings.
The above three bucks were brothers! One of them doesn't quite belong, does it!
What a cute face!
Kidding season is our favorite time of year, though it can be somewhat stressful! We go to bed every night worn out, wake up tired, and usually try to take a nap every few days in the middle of the aftenoon feedings! Ask me again why it is our favorite time of year? I guess I'd have to point to the above photos! ; )
So...there was a summary of our last month. Hopefully I'll stay up with posting a little better in the future!