whew...what a week

last saturday we were very pleasantly surprised by my lil sis. she wasn't supposed to join us until tuesday the 23rd and she got here last saturday adding three full days to her visit. very much enjoyed by me (and everyone else) but especially by me. 

we started off the week by going to the omniplex. great fun had by all. jakob loves going there and we usually end up seeing something we haven't every time we visit. we enjoyed the pirate exhibit...jake is all about pirates, and there are two giant tree houses that they love to play on every time we go. my brother in laws son got to come and visit for Christmas this year so we enjoyed time with my older sister and her family as well. 

it was nasty, cold, and sleety on tuesday so we stayed indoors and watched a movie, on a big screen at church. that was fun for the kids, they got to run around and act crazy, eat pizza and sugar cookies, they enjoyed themselves. on wednesday the day was much nicer and rightly so because we got to go horse-back riding. my cousin was generous enough to take the kids around on the horse, and yes, i enjoyed riding the horse myself. everyone took a turn, it was lots of fun. jakob has ridden the horse before but it was with me so i wasn't sure how he would handle it....like a pro. he rode by himself (with my cousin leading of course) ella wasn't so sure at first and took two rides with me, then at the very end ventured out and rode all by herself. she looks itsy bitsy on the big horse!

on Christmas eve we just hung out at the house, did some last minute grocery shopping, which was madness....glad i had everything else done. we baked cookies for santa that night, oatmeal chocolate chip and began preparing for Christmas day's events. another fun filled day. we ended by reading "the night before Christmas" and b had a little fun of his own with the kids. he took a ring of jingle bells and shook them outside the kids window (they were sharing a room b/c of my sis) and jake jumped up the first time believing someone was stuck in our chimney, b convinced him to go back to bed before santa changed his mind and he was in the room and out like a light in less than five minutes. ella heard the jingle bells the second time and started calling out santa...too cute. 

we had a great Christmas and now get to enjoy a few more days with lil sis. tonight we have a date night planned with my dad (us three girls and him) and then tomorrow we're having lunch and enjoy a mexican food feast on saturday night. sis will leave us on Sunday...not looking forward to that but so thankful for the time she got to be here! 

it's been a great season. the Venable's are blessed by the Lord and His continued favor. hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!