Abbie and I had a mother daughter afternoon going to see the Nutcracker. We went with our good friends Tina, her daughter Aislyn and their Grandma Joan. We hope to make this a tradition.
This fall the women's group at our church have been involved in raising money for a charity called The Sheperd's House. This will be a home for women and children. Most of these women are homeless and this housing will provide them a long term place to stay where they are safe and where they can be rehabilitated back into the community. As a group we have been donating things as little as tolietry items to large items such as furniture. After a long few months of getting things together the house will open in a week.
As a family we heard there would be a little boy the age of 10 moving in with his mother. He and his mother have been living in their car for 3 years and have very little. We set out for Wal-Mart last night and the kids were so excited to get Tyler, the young boy all the simple things they take for granted. They picked out fun socks and underwear, their favorite shirts and jeans and a few fun toys. This will be something they will never forget. Hunter said last night as we were driving home that he just felt so good inside and Noah said how much fun it is to know that this will make the little boy so happy. We hope Christmas is a special one for Tyler and his mom.
These are some pictures of the boys wrapping the gifts. They sure had fun!
Today we went downtown to the Bend Christmas parade. This one is our favorite parade all year.
After the fun parade we went and found our Christmas tree. It was a fun day just all being together. Love our family traditions.
This year we went to the High Desert Museum to see Father Christmas. The kids all asked Hunter since he is 10 1/2 what he thought and he being the oldest told them that this one was the real deal. Love that they all still believe.
After meeting Father Christmas the kids got to make ornaments and Christmas cards while sipping on hot coco and eating sugar cookies. It was a special night.
Our little Elf Kirby came back this year to keep an on the the Donaldson kids and report back to Santa.
A delivery came yesterday and it was a box of candied apples from Gigi. The kids couldn't wait to try one and they were out of this world delicious! Thank you Gigi for the wonderful Christmas treats. We ❤ you!
This year we spent Thanksgiving with our good friends the Lovejoys. We have known the Lovejoys since Boise and lost touch with them until we ran into them a couple summers ago at the swimming pool. They have 3 boys the same ages as our children. They live in the community we will be building in. We spent all day with them and into the night. The kids played in the snow and took turns riding the child size snow mobile. It didn't go very fast and the Lovejoy boys towed our kids all over their property. They had a wonderful time.
Here are some pictures of our fun day. We took some pictures on the way to their house of our lot with the pretty snow and deer on the property. It was a cold but beautiful day in Bend. So much to be thankful for. ❤
This year Hunter, Noah and I decided to do the thanksgiving 'I like Pie' fun run in downtown Bend to support the charity 'Neighborhood Impact' for central Oregon families. It was $5 and 5lbs of food as entry fee. With the early snow and frigid temps this year it turned into more of a walk as the route for the longer runs were not cleared. It was a beautiful crisp morning completed with pie to eat afterwards donated by participants. We will make this an annual tradition - next year we will do the entire family.
We may or may not have a white Christmas this year, but we will have a white Thanksgiving. Over a foot of snow fell in Bend yesterday with only highs in the 20's (F) through the weekend.
