Snow and Ice

Snow and ice are lovely! There is just something about waking up to a snow covered yard and no tracks on the road yet. The best part about these days is when school is canceled. I love having the boys home the extra surprise days to spend some more time with them. Especially now that I am home I can enjoy all the little things more. Over the past four days we have set up our Christmas tree, wrapped Christmas presents, baked cookies, made meals together, and just spent time together. Who knows what we will get to do today. I REALLY like snowdays!!!

Shepherd's Story

Last night we went to my parents' house for the Shepherd's Story. This is a live nativity that my dad wrote 6 or 7 years ago. Last night we had 12 performers in the production and 2 asleep in the house.
The story tells about Mary, Joseph and Jesus from a shepherd's point of view. It is my favorite thing to do at Christmastime. This makes the Christmas season real for me. We dress in costume and act the story that is recorded on a CD. We tell the story of Jesus' birth and why he came to earth to die for all of us so we could spend an eternity in Heaven with HIM.
We had a special guest last night as well, Santa came. My dad wrote a story of Santa being a shepherd boy that went into Bethlehem to see Jesus as a baby and grew up hearing about all of his miracles and teachings that Jesus did. Also, it explained why Santa wears the colors that he does. Red for the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross. White for the way Jesus cleans us when we accept Him. The warm costume, the warmth that we feel when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Giving of gifts represents the gift that God gave the world in His only son to save us.
Remember that Jesus is the Reason for this Christmas Season!

All Quite in the Henry House

Today I woke up with no voice. The boys gave a collective cheer.
It is amazing how you can get someones attention without talking. Also, I find myself listening more to others when my voice takes a vacation. During Sunday the girls in my class made mention that they listened harder today than they had in a long time. My voice my go out more often, but only on Sundays. :)

Family Pictures

The entire Carl family got together for some family pictures! Amazing how well 11 people can work together to get this done. Here are some of the pictures.

Front: Papa Steve Carl, Arthur Henry, Stephen Henry, Kelton Henry, Granny Donna Carl

Back: Cliff Henry, Stephanie Henry, Isaac Henry, Sarah Carl, Callie Carl, Stephen Carl

The Henry's family picture. We toook this outside at my parent's place. This is the fence around their wedding chapel. We like this picture the best of the ones we took, the boys personalities are shining through!

This picture was a spur of the moment. The boys wanted a silly picture and papa put the camera on a timer and jumped down on the floor with them, so naturally my brother and I grabbed our babies to "dog pile" papa too! This picture will be cherished for years!

This picture was fun. Cliff and I were taking pictures in front of the wedding chapel and the boys were inside staying warm, we stepped away and my dad said to look at the door-we did and then posed real quick while all the boys were looking out the window to see what was going on.

Never knew pictures with four children would be so much fun! I guess that is because we have fun wherever we go and whatever we do.