Father Daughter Dance

This was the first (and only) year that Josh got to take both of the girls to the Father Daugther Dance!

AND they got to go to The Beef House after the dance!  What a good daddy!

Christmas Time

Leading up to Christmas, we try to pack in the holiday fun.  Each day we draw a card from our Advent Calendar to see what we have in store:

Some of the fun things included The Catlin Lights Parade:

Painting nutcracker ornaments:

Making snowman pancakes:

Making gingerbread houses:

Making s'mores on the fireplace:

Having Grinch Punch:

And so much more!  I love how excited the kids get about all of these things!

Downing Christmas

Downing Christmas was hard this year.  We got some really tough news just a few days before Christmas.  Our nephew Lincoln, the youngest of the Downing cousins, was diagnosed with cancer.  We were all heartbroken and just in absolute shock.  We were all just going through the motions, doing the best we could.  Putting on a brave face for all of the kids and crying when we could.

We got to keep his brothers and sister off an on over break, and it brought us joy to have them:

The other Downings have awesome elves and had specific instructions for our house!  So fun!

We still had Downing Christmas, but it wasn't quite the same.  But here are some joyful moments:

A few days after Christmas we had the kids again and got to Skype with Lincoln:

Here is Lincoln just a few days before Christmas:

And then a couple of months later.

It's going to be a long road, but we're in it together and so very hopeful for a cure.  

Please pray for Lincoln!