A Few More Pageant Pics

A few more pics, taken by others at our church, of the Christmas Eve pageant.

Adelaide with friends from Junior Choir.

Angels (& shepherds & innkeepers) we have heard on high!

The whole cast assembling for "Silent Night" 

Adelaide and I have joked for the last few years that while Daddy is the Pageant Director, I am the Angel Coach.  And I take my job as angel coach seriously, including giving them a thumbs-up for a good performance ;)

The Pageant

It was hard not to feel especially sentimental about this year's Christmas Pageant.  To think, just six years ago, Adelaide held the staring role as baby Jesus.  Just three weeks old, she slept peacefully through the whole thing (for a trip down memory lane, click here).  This year, not only was she an angel but sang beautifully with her fellow members of the junior choir.  And Cora, graduated from the animal section (although she was the cutest cow ever), and made her debut as an angel.

Angels coloring while waiting for the show to begin.

We had so many angels this year!  I lovingly referred to this pew as the "angel holding pen."

The animals, always a special part of the service.  This year, sadly, no major shenanigans to report...

…other than the camel, Herbie, was a bit grumpy because he wanted to lick all the salt off the driveway and his handler was having none of that.

An aerial shot of the junior choir.

Taking their singing seriously.

And finally, the grand entrance of the angels.  Blurry because they flying, of course.

The whole cast assembled, including the director (aka "Daddy").

Early Christmas

Grandma Carol, Grandpa Russ, Uncle Sean, Uncle Chad, Aunt Megan and Colin all came to visit to celebrate early Christmas.  The girls were thrilled to have so many people to play with!  

Star was also ready to celebrate, and made it her goal to snuggle (lay on top of and pin to the couch) and lick as many people as possible.

Grandma Carol & Santa Adelaide

Colin on the piano

Aunt Megan and Grandma Carol

Uncle Sean teaching Cora something…likely some loud, annoying song from a YouTube video. :)

Uncle Sean also delighting us with his "Blue Steel" in the ugly Christmas sweater.

We made some mini gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and icing…not sure whether there were more graham crackers or icing on the houses, and whether there was more candy as house decorations in the bellies of the builders.

And some fun presents…Cora with a puzzle.  You can just tell by her smile how excited she was about this one.  Girl loves puzzles!

And opening their razor scooters from their uncles.

Junior Choir - That Interesting Mix of Nervous and Excited

Addy is old enough to join the Junior Choir at church.  And she was very excited to do so.  But any discussion of a performance would lead to a quick "sssshhhhh!" from Addy.  It was both all she could talk about and everything she didn't want to talk about.  She kept bringing it up in front of people by saying, "Mom, just don't talk about how Junior Choir performs tomorrow."  And gave us specific instructions that we were not to clap for her, lest we draw attention to her :)  But battling her nerves, and standing up to perform with kids that have become good friends, you could tell that she was pretty proud to be a part of it.

Here they are working hard with the music director.

And their Advent performance

Cutting down our Christmas Tree…well, not exactly our tree, but close enough

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed out with some members of the youth group and their families to select and cut down our church's Peace Tree.  We headed out to this quaint tree farm called Sugar Pines and the hunt began.   The tree farm so was busy that day, so looking for a 12' or taller tree had its advantages.

Word Girl & The Fox

Halloween 2013…"Word up" from Cora, as Word Girl and "What Did the Fox Say? [[Insert obnoxious sound]]", from Addy as a fox.  Graham and I were classic but boring in comparison, as a vampire and a witch.

Boo at the Zoo

We went to Boo at the Zoo at the Akron Zoo with a bunch of friends.  Cuteness galore!

Addy went as cotton candy.  A costume she really did help to create.  The directions I found for it on a website said to use spray adhesive to attach the pillow fluff to a t-shirt.  Well, it worked, for a while.  But with any amount of movement and walking, pieces just kept coming off.  Everyone kept picking up hunks that fell off and I'd shove them in my bag or the nearest garbage can.  The running joke among the adults that evening was that she was "molting."  She thankfully seemed to buy into the idea that she was feeding everyone cotton candy.  And by the end of the evening, I was simply stuffed!

Cora went as Word Girl, and was absolutely adorable running around saying "Word up!"

Here's almost all the kiddos…some Lanzes, Longs, Harpers and we're only missing a Campbell.  They are all looking into a tank that has otters swimming around.  The Campbell kiddo did climb up on the ledge with them and it turned into a scream fest that was both hilarious and utterly painful to the eardrums.

Word Girl coming out the slide that goes through the otter tank.  Pretty cool, actually.

Apple Picking

A Lanz family fall favorite…apple picking at Eddy's Fruit Farm.

 We came home with bags and bags of delicious apples :)

Blessing of the Animals 2013

The Feast of St. Francis and Blessing of the Animals is one of those events that our church just really gets into.  Maybe because there are so many animal loves in the congregation, maybe because we're still a church that hauls in a camel, donkey and sheep for our nativity play at Christmas, who knows.  

It was pretty understood that Star simply couldn't go with us.  We love her dearly, and she could definitely use the blessing, but even the girls understood all her puppy energy would just be in overload.  So the compromise - Addy took her fish, and her two snails.  

On this particular Sunday, we happened to have a row full of Addy & Cora's friends from church sitting with us as well.  We all went up together for Reverend Peter to give the fish & snails their blessing.

In recent years, the farm with which we have a longstanding relationship brings in quite the exotica animal display.

Here you can see us from our row staring in disbelief at the yak being led down the aisle.

But more disturbing were the 7 foot python and tarantula.  At least disturbing to me.  Cora and Addy, not so much.  Here's Cora who couldn't wait to touch the snake… (yes, that's our friend Brad they talked into carrying it)

And Addy all smiles looking at the "hairy spider."

All God's creatures, yes, but ick!!!!

Castle Reading

Doesn't everyone think the best place to read a book on a Saturday afternoon is in a castle in the backyard?

Cora & Daddy Adventures

Daddy and Cora found themselves with an hour or so free.  So what did they do?  Go adventuring, of course.   A little hiking and animal watching at a golf course turned metropark.

Boulevard Bash

Beginning of the year celebration.  The Boulevard Bash.

We know Addy is dancing with her new friend Aris, but we have no idea who Cora is dancing with!