december 2013

December is always a busy month in our house but it is also one of the most fun!  We had church events, football games, and Christmas, but to start it off, Ellie celebrated her one month birthday.  Although she's only been in our lives for thirty days, we can't possibly imagine life without her.

One month old

December insta-baby.  Ellie is starting to develop such a sweet little personality.  She's transitioning from a cute little blob to a little person that smiles and interacts.

We started a new tradition this year-- we had a "Santa Clause" movie marathon and went to Denny's ("it's always open!") for dinner.  The kids were especially excited because they got to go in their Christmas jammies!

The four big kids participated in our church Christmas program this year.  After several months of memorizing lines and weekly rehearsals, they put on a great show.  Christopher was Gabriel, Nick was Zechariah, Ben was a donkey and Lexie was the star!

Such great cooperation from these two during the program!

We started another tradition to have a candlelight dinner on the longest night of the year.  We planned a sugary-sweet dinner (cinnamon pancakes, noodles with syrup, and bacon) to go with the movie "Elf"!

Through the wonderful donations of the Wounded Warrior Project, we were able to go see "Disney on Ice" this year.  The show was in Fayetteville so we used the opportunity to get together with our Fort Bragg friends.  The kids were so excited to be able to play with each other again-- and the grown-ups had fun, too!  

After church on Christmas Eve we had our traditional pizza and Christmas movie celebration.  The kids really enjoyed watching all of the old Christmas classics.

After pizza and movies, the kids each got to open one present and then it was time for bed!

On Christmas morning the kids waited patiently upstairs until everyone was awake (around 8am) and then were very excited to run downstairs and see what Santa left.

We typically start with stockings, then do presents from Santa, and then do the rest of the presents under the tree.  We have the kids go one at a time so that they are able to see what everyone got and have time to say thank you instead of rushing through the whole thing.

Ben thought he looked cute like Ellie with his headband and Nick was very excited to get the bluray copy of his favorite move- "Castaway".  Ellie even woke up for awhile and joined in the festivities!

Jacob thinks it's fun to make silly faces for the camera ;)

The Albaeck girls

Thanks to the Wounded Warrior Project we got tickets to the Belk Bowl this year.  We went and cheered on the UNC Tarheels to victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats.

We finished the year up with a quiet New Year's Eve at home.  We watched movies, had pizza, and rang in the new year with sparkling cider and the ball drop at midnight!  It was the perfect end to a wonderful year.