After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! We were able to celebrate Christmas with the Frazier family this past weekend. I can honestly say this was one of my favorite Christmases yet! :) All the kids played so well. It was really great to see everyone again. We are looking forward to celebrating on the Mathew side on the 26th.

Alex, Josie and Emma hiding. :)

Alex, Ashlyn, Emma, Josie and Solomon watching "A Muppet Christmas Carol".

I just liked this picture of Josie.

Addie opening her first gift of her first Christmas! (I think I was more excited than her!)

A quick pose for a picture on our way to church.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We woke up Sunday morning to a snow covered ground. Emma and Josie were thrilled! It continued to snow all day! We were all so excited. Snow is a favorite in our family. :)

Just out of bed. They didn't even want breakfast!

The first shoveling of the day. Within an hour, you couldn't even tell where he had shovelled.

Look what Josh found crawling across the snow...a BAT!

This is a picture outside my kitchen window.

Emma makes an angel while Josie just tries to walk. :)

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning...(sung in your best "Oklahoma" voice)

Saturday morning was lovely, and do you know why? Josh took Emma and Josie out, and came back with TIM HORTON'S! We just had one open up this week. I am very excited, as you can tell. :)

Yummy goodness!

Please pray for Emma

Sunday we noticed that Emma's right eye was turning inward slightly. I didn't think much of it. Tuesday morning, one of Emma's teachers came to my office to talk with me. She said that they were concerned with Emma's eye. I right away remembered Sunday. Josie had a doctor's appointment that day, so I called and asked if they would see Emma as well.

After the doctor took a look at her yesterday, she was very concerned because it seemed to just come up so fast and out of nowhere. She got us an appointment for the next morning at an optometrist in Chelsea.

This morning they did another eye exam and told us the same thing that we heard yesterday. Her right eye is 20/40 and it turns inward. What we do not know is why she has this problem. They have referred us to the U of M Kellogg eye center's pediatric ophthalmology office. The earliest possible appointment was January 2nd. They first said April, but after speaking with the doctor, he was able to move it up to their first available appointment.

We are just asking you to pray with us. We are praying that this isn't nearly as serious as our first doctor let on. Also that this is something we will be able to correct soon. I feel so bad. She holds her right eye when she is tired. She mentions how things look blurry to her. It is very obvious when you look at her. Someone asked me why she was making a face, and I felt so bad. This may sound so shallow, but I don't want her to be stared at, or look different than other kids.

We will keep you updated when we here more, but it will probably be in three weeks, after she has her appointment. Thank you.

Children's Christmas program

Today was the Children's Christmas program. We knew Emma was going to be singing, but we were surprised to see Josie up there! She never told us she was going to sing. Completely different than her sister Emma who has been talking about it since October!

They both did two songs with there Sunday School class. It was really cute!

Here is a picture of Emma and Josie before church. Addie was more interested in her morning bottle than a photo shoot.

Josie was one of the only kids actually singing! So cute!

She loved doing the motions too.

Emma sang really loud. I could hear her eight rows back. :)

I cannot believe how big she is getting. Look at this kid! She used to be a little baby not that long ago...

Let those Merry Bells Ring!

Emma and Josie's Christmas program videos, courtesy of my lovely husband Josh. I am thankful that he, with the other proud dads, squatted in the front of the church to get these! :)

Emma

Josie

Christmas Light Display

Last night we got the girls dressed in their jammies and bundled them up in their coats and blankets. We took them and two students (David and Kristi) to the Jackson county fair grounds for their lights display. We have always wanted to go, but each year we never get around to it. We are so glad we went! The girls aren't the only ones oooh-ing and ahhh-ing. It was so much fun!

NTBI Student Christmas Party

We just had the Christmas party last night. Josh and I have been working on this all year, along with our Campus Life students. I would say it was a huge success. Our goal was to make an enjoyable evening for the students and staff to get all gussied up, and have fun together. That definitely happened! After the party, we played the movie "White Christmas" in the auditorium to finish the evening.

It would have never been possible without all of the students and staff who spend their free time putting it together, not to mention the student babysitters, and my parents who drove to Jackson so we could spend the nine hours to decorate, and then have the party. :) Thank you everyone!

I love this picture!

This was the center of the gymnasium. (Some crazy sneaky students took this to our house after the party and snuck it in our back door in the kitchen. The girls flipped out this morning when they saw it!)

This was taken with a flash, so it doesn't look as pretty as it did, but I wanted to get the full effect.

This is the archway they walked in to get to the gym.

I took this picture of me and Keisa. I don't have any of me and Josh. We were so busy making sure everything was running, that we were running in opposite directions most the evening. I know someone has pictures though!

Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

I just realized I never actually posted a picture of the tree with the lights on! :) After we put the lights on, Emma and Josie each picked out an ornament and hung it. After that, they had to go to bed (because it was getting way too late!) but they were super happy to wake up to a fully decorated tree!

I-ah-'ll ha-ave a-uh blu----uuuuue Christmas....(in your best Elvis voice)

Emma picked Gus Gus from Cinderella to hang.

Josie pretty much just picked the heaviest one she could find!

I just like this cheesy grin (all except the hair in her face!)

Rockin' around the Christmas Tree...

Josh and I had a bunch of students over to decorate our Christmas tree last night. Somehow we wound up decorating each other instead!

Don't mind my dorky laughs in the background. This was totally a spontaneous dance move and I am a nerd who laughed through the whole thing!

Parade of Lights!

We love to go to the parade of lights in Howell. They have it every year on Black Friday as a way of kicking off the Christmas season. This year we watched it with our friend Jenna. Her parent's house is right on the parade route so they had a great spot roped off for us to watch the parade. Afterwards we came in and had a huge assortment of delicious cookies, along with hot chocolate, hot cider, and coffee. We also got to see some friends from the church I grew up at. I hadn't seen them in 13 years! We had a great time!

All bundled up for the parade with Jenna! Josh was camera man that night and got some neat shots of the floats.

This is kind of dark, but here is a pic of Addie watching the parade. She absolutely loved all the lights!

Round #2! Bring on the bird!

Friday we made the rounds in Howell for the Frazier Thanksgiving. It was a lot smaller this year because Tomesia and Joe were just up this month for my mom's birthday, and Jason and Shanna made other plans. We had fun though. Yummy food, and fun family. It was a really relaxing weekend.

I had to add this picture of Addie so you know she was there. I guess because of the times we ate both Thanksgiving meals, she was napping. :)

Thanksgiving: Round #1

This year, the Mathew family spend Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. They had a beautiful dinner in their basement. It was really nice to be together. We all missed Emily and Ben very much, but it sounds like they had a good Thanksgiving together. To read more about that, go to:

www.bemilymathew.blogspot.com

I will tell you that I am really bummed that I didn't get that many pictures. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment instead of running off to get the camera so you can "capture" it. We had a good day though. :)

Here are some turkey cookies that Chris and I made for the kids.

The lovely place settings. I think Sarah set this up. This is Josh's great-grandmother's china. WOW!

Here is one of the only pictures of people I have! Chris and Sarah working on bracelets with the older girls.

Can't forget the food! This is just some of the spread.

Visit to Charlotte

Sunday we were able to get to Charlotte to visit some great friends of ours. We also were able to see Grandpa and Grandma again. It is so crazy how close we can be, and not visit nearly enough. We all had a great time, and we are really looking forward to being there again Thursday. There will be sixteen of us there on Thanksgiving though!

Here are the girls loving on their grandparents. Don't worry about little Addie. She got plenty of love, I just forgot to bring out the camera until we were leaving! :)

A hunting we will go...

Josh was able to go up north with my dad and our friend Lucas to go hunting for the first time. He did great! Josh got a deer on opening day! We are all so proud of him, and can't wait to eat some yummy venison. Here are some pictures he took. I made him take the camera so I could post about his trip. :)

Here is Josh standing with the deer that the three of them got.

Josh on the ride home. Looks pretty scruffy to me!

This is a picture of the cut river bridge somewhere in the U.P. He has so many great shots of bridges! :)

Here is one of the Mackinac Bridge.

Here is a closer view.