Wigilia

The Chmielowskis celebrated Wigilia (pronounced Vah-lee-ah) on December 8th at Karl and LaQuita's house in Wasilla. This is traditionally a Polish holiday celebrated on Christmas Eve. However, because most of Joe's family are either traveling or working and live so far apart - they pick a weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get together and exchange gifts and have a large dinner. It is very chaotic with 10 children, but tons of fun too!

December mix

Gerek saves Nate & Henry in the "life raft":

The Puzzler:
Nate's wild hair (pre-haircut):

Henry walking:

Henry dancing to the music from the Pooh Bear car:

Family photos

Here are some family photos taken on December 2. Nate is in blue, and Henry is in yellow.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Steve and Katrina's family in Copper Center. They made a delicious spread that included ham and many yummy side dishes. The five kids had fun playing together. H&N were enthralled by their cousins Gerek, Celia and Mathias. After spending the night, we drove up to Joe's cabin in Sourdough. The weather was quite warm and there wasn't enough snow to ski on so we went for walks in the woods. Henry also made great advances in his walking skills that weekend. He has turned the corner, and now he walks more than he crawls around the house. We also visited Jon & Heidi's house in Gakona for a few hours. Heidi and Emily were in Anchorage shopping, but Jon, Steven, Lily and Arah were at home. Again the boys enjoyed playing with their bigger cousins and squealed with delight at the dogs and cats. It was a great weekend!!

Here are a couple shots taken in the car on the way to Copper Center (Jessie & Nate and Joe & Henry):

On Thanksgiving, Joe is surrounded by Mathias, Gerek and Celia who are feeding bottles to the boys: Nathan loves sitting on the toy horse at Jon & Heidi's house: Pictures taken on our walks outside (Joe & Henry and Jessie & Nate):