Every Year since I don't know when, for a long time now, all the Bredenhofs and "imports" of course, all get together to go ice skating, and then have a potluck, simple lunch at the end. 
The traditional hockey game. 
A totally typical Danielle shot. Looking at books, all dressed up.
Timothy was behind the drums, they were a set of Gerard's from his band days.
I look huge... I AM. I just say I am super curvy. That sounds a lot better. 
She got herself a dance partner... and a good-looking one at that. 
Sunday we had Christmas dinner again, this time at my sister-in-law's place. Yum yum, it sure was good. The kids had a fantastic time. Here Timothy is with his cousin trying to make the longest train out of connect it. 
And of course clean-up. Here we are putting all the books back on the shelf that Danielle and her little cousin took off. 
Sitting around the table at the end of the evening...of course, I forgot to take pictures again of all of us eating dinner. And didn't even remember to take any pictures at all till Timothy asked me to take one of the trains they made. Well, that's the way it goes. We had another wonderful evening. 
Is it too late to cancel the baby order?... I still have one...and she is adorable at that. She loves having the older kids home and has even been calling Niessa's mom as they play house with her a lot, and she is the "baby". We are all getting really excited to have a new weee little baby around.
and he is intently listening as Dad explains how it all works. (I absolutely love the picture)
Danielle using the new liquid paints that I bought for the family.
Timothy and Dad putting the new Play mobile together. I tell you if I was a single mom I don't think my kids would be getting any of that stuff...I wouldn't have the patience to spend hours putting it together. It took Gerard HOURS to put the hospital together for the girls. It is interesting, that they showed hardly any interest in following the directions and putting it together and Timothy on the other hand was "in there like a dirty shirt" putting his set together.
They loved playing with it though. 
And still an hour later. 
And later still. 
Danielle playing with her "new" toys, a Fisher Price castle and house. I scoured these at a second-hand store, now I just have to get rid of all the old mismatched little people. 
And playing right till bedtime. I hope this big shared gift works out well. We thought about two smaller gifts, but at some point, it is nice to get something bigger that all the smaller pieces can complement. Hopefully, they will get lots of use out of this.
Friday morning it was off to do some errands and then picked up two of Timothy's friends to play with. He had such a fantastic time doing all kinds of boy things. Here they are playing "hockey" with the bowling set. 
The in the evening it was Christmas dinner at my parent's house. It was lots of fun and the evening went way too quickly or I spent too much time going through all of Grandma's extra second-hand finds. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, in fact completely forgot until the end...here Sharleen and Alexis are practicing their "sewing".
This morning was off to the Doctor's Office for a regular baby appointment. My doctor asked how things were going which of course I said "everything is fine"... and "he said Everything is fine"? kinda of unbelieving, while my feet are a bit swollen, my hands go numb when I lay in bed a certain way, and some nights I don't sleep much, just normal stuff that I don't really have to talk about...he also said you also sound a bit out of breath...I said that's normal one daughter had to go the bathroom and I saw him going into the room, and didn't want to keep him waiting then when I got back the one in the Doctor's room had to go grrrr, thankfully the older two I can just leave in the waiting room now. Fewer people in the room always make for a calmer visit.
Then after it was off to Dickens Sweet Shop to look at their Christmas Display. It is small but is something I do every (almost?) year with the kids. It is a really beautiful display...music playing lots of moving dolls/animals/stuffies. While worth going to.
The girls loved looking at the dolls and Timothy knew pretty well how many cars were in/under the displays. It is part of a museum so there were really old cars that they decorated around. 
Niessa reading the sign.
I got my money's worth...this ride was a quarter and I only had one...so they all got a ride together. I think it was actually more fun for them since they were all squishy and got banged around together. 
Wednesday morning after a late(er) breakfast since I didn't sleep well and was a bit feverish all night the kids started the day with a church service, complete with an immersion tank for their dolls for baptism. I quickly put that away as it was just calling to soak my floor with tons and tons of water. The church service after a while disbanded due to arguments in the order of worship and continual disagreements with the organist over the choice of songs. So on to other things. 
In the afternoon Auntie Theresa comes by to spend some time with them this holidays and take them out. You can see them sitting outside. On the grass outside is the bike trailer that Timothy made over the course of the week from the old crib that I threw out. It is an illegal crib so my second-hand store can't sell it and the local Pro-Life office can't give it out...so I figured he might as well get some fun out of it. It did work, a bit, but now the wheel is having some issues. The time for pick-up was one o'clock so the whole day they were eagerly looking forward to "the time," the thing is now they can tell time so at the appointed hour Timothy made the announcement that Auntie Theresa would be here any minute... 
...well they patiently waited outside for half an hour. I should have told them it would be on Auntie Theresa's time.
She took them to her favorite store (BFM)where they were able to pick something out. I did give very firm instructions that no junk would be allowed to enter the house. (the last thing we need is more cheap stuff to clutter the house) So the girls each got a bag of ponies, yup a bag, we now have TONS of ponies...thanks.
Sharleen with her "new" puzzle.
The girls did some painting while "patiently' waiting for Mom to make tones of hamburger patties. (another easy meal for when babe comes) Today was the day to decorate the cookies. 
Then the long-awaited time was here...time to decorate the gingerbread cookies. The kids absolutely love doing things like this...On the other hand, it is fun, it's just icing gets EVERYWHERE and I know I shouldn't complain, it is "fun", just don't wear white socks or tights in my house right now. 
YUM, YUM, you can see the enjoyment in eating them. Everyone got decked out in their aprons, most of them were gifts from birthdays.
He sure looks like a BIG bunny here. Gerard said the other day that "he is becoming part of our family", to which I replied, "If I had no money and no food he would be rabbit stew". (our neighbors down the road raised bunnies to fill their freezer so that's maybe why the idea is not that far-fetched to me.) Pets are fine, but I definitely don't spend my time cuddling the bunny. I do save him the carrot peelings...to make him fatter for the stew??...lol.
Monday morning it was time to clean out one of my freezers...and it's a bit hard to reach the bottom right now, so I got my little helper, he was so willing but being only six is just not that able, although he did the best he could and was a huge help. Now the freezer is all de-iced and squeaky clean and the best part...full and organized. 
Then in the afternoon, it was off to the library for the Christmas special. I told all the kids going in "One video and only two books each as we still have books at home", but I am such a sucker for books so every time the kids said "But mom...this book looks soooo good too" I let them put it in the bag till the bag got two full, and then two of the kids had to carry the rest to the van. Can one ever have too many library books? my hubby says "yes" as we pay way too much in fines...I just look at it as paying a bit for a service that we all enjoy. (speeding tickets on the other hand...) 
The kids got to learn Hawaiian Christmas songs and got to dress up in the part. 
Then it was dressing up for a reindeer song. 
He was one of the two that got the flashing Rudolf nose. The kids all had a really good time and so did I as I even fell fast asleep during the first bit...hey, I missed my afternoon nap with all the kids home so when I sit I fall asleep. 
