Gigi

My Grandma, who is "Gigi" to my children, flew in for the holidays. We haven't seen her in 1 1/2 years, so our visit was long overdue! She wanted to make some good memories with the kids while she was here, so she bought the board game Checkers and taught G some of the main rules. They had the best time playing together!



I am so happy that she was able to spend some time with them and get a little glimpse of their personalities that she only hears about during our phone conversations. The three weeks that she was here just flew by and we look forward to her next trip!

Christmas Day

I woke up around 5:30 Christmas morning to get some breakfast casseroles in the oven and get showered before the kids woke up. They stayed asleep until after 7 and then came to see all their loot that Santa delivered. G didn't really notice her gift, a karaoke machine, and went to play with brother's tool bench. When we explained to her what the white box was, she finally got excited and sang us some songs. B loved his tools right away.




We enjoyed our time together before J's family arrived at 10:00 for Christmas breakfast. What fun to gather together!



We ate and opened gifts and the kiddos played on this huge floor piano that Nathan and Carrie got for Emmett. It reminded me of the movie Big. The kids had such a blast. We don't get together enough, but when we do we make each minute count.



We all rested a little after our family left and then we went to my parents house when the kids woke up from naps. We had a traditional Christmas dinner- traditional to us is turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings! My Grandma flew in for the holidays, so we were able to enjoy her for a few weeks. My kiddos were able to make some memories with their Gigi and that warms my heart.



B had some pretty cute expressions on his face when he opened gifts this year-- it didn't matter if it was a pair of socks, that boy loved each present he got!

I made a cobbler for dessert and we sang happy birthday to Jesus before digging in. G understands, and B will eventually, that Christmas is more than gifts, Santa, decorating our house, and finding our elf, Shelbie. We celebrate the birth of a King...a King who was born to die on a cross for our sins, so that we may have eternal life with Him.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had Christmas Eve at my in-laws. It's a tradition- we eat, open gifts, and attend our church's Christmas Eve candle lighting service. We usually draw names for the adults' gifts and buy each child a gift. This year each family chose a charity to donate to, rather than buying the adults gifts that no one really needs. I loved this idea and hope it becomes tradition for our family.
In October, we began sponsoring a child through the Christian organization Compassion. Our sponsored child, Keila, is three years old and lives in Mexico. For a very small amount each month, we are able to provide clothing, health care, educational needs, and Bible lessons for Keila. We knew right away that we wanted our Christmas charity to be Compassion. The "extra" money goes directly to Keila's family for whatever they may be needing at the time. Just a couple weeks before Christmas we received our first letter from Keila and her family. It was precious seeing her little hand drawn and colored in and her asking for prayer for her little brother who had the flu just really tugged at my heart. We are so very blessed. My only regret for sponsoring a child is that I didn't do it sooner.

Before opening presents, J read the Bible story. It is very important to us that our children know from an early age the true meaning of Christmas.
It took a lot longer to open presents than we anticipated and we were very late for the church service, so our family did more visiting and the kiddos got to play together a little longer.

When we got home, G and B sprinkled some reindeer food on the lawn and Daddy brought out his iPad to show them where Santa and his reindeer were at that very minute. They were so stinkin' excited!

We changed into jammies and Daddy read The Night Before Christmas , a tradition we began when G was four months old.
We put out sugar cookies and milk for Santa and the kiddos were asleep quickly because of our busy day. More fun awaits them in the morning.

Making Santa's Cookies

We enjoyed making sugar cookies for Santa tonight! I have found the easiest, no fail sugar cookie recipe and the cookies turn out great every time! The kids took turns decorating them and they iced a cookie for themselves to eat! Christmas traditions are so much fun!

Preschool Christmas Program

G participated in her first Christmas program this year! Her preschool classes practiced so hard for their program. She only attends preschool Mondays and Fridays, so she had to go a few other days during the week of the program so they could work on songs and practice individual lines.
We were so excited because G had a little solo singing part. When the preschool director told me that G had a solo, my first response was "really.....does she know that?" G's personality is a lot like mine now and when I was her age...just really soft spoken and shy. I was nervous that she may freeze up when she saw the audience, but she never got nervous. She was excited about her solo...."He is the King of Kings!" We practiced it over and over again and I explained to her that her classmates' families would be there watching and she was totally cool with it the whole time.

When it was her turn to sing her line she did it just like we practiced. We were all so proud of her! She may have a career in theatre. Ha! After the program, the families were invited to the activity center of the church where Santa was waiting to meet the children. My kids passed on that offer! We haven't got a descent picture of the kids with Santa yet. They don't mind seeing him from afar, but there will be no sitting on the lap. Instead of the meet and greet with Ole Saint Nick we opted to participate in the snowman activities at the tables.
This definitely won't be the last time our hearts swell with pride because of our children's accomplishments.

Shelbie comes for a visit...

Our elf, Shelbie, made many appearances around the house this Christmas. The kids love finding him each morning. I thoroughly enjoy watching them look for him and hearing their giggles at what Shelbie is doing or where Shelbie is hiding. We can't wait for his return next Christmas!

Edible Christmas Trees

Every year in my kindergarten class we make edible Christmas trees, using ice cream cones as the base and vanilla icing dyed green, along with coconut, m & m's, marshmallows, sprinkles, etc. My class always loves making them. I bring home the extra, unused cones/materials each year so my kiddos can make them. They LOVED it.


Daddy had to help ice B's cone. Neither of my children particularly enjoy getting sticky. It's in their genes. They really enjoyed making their tree and especially eating it!

Homemade Ice Cream!

One of G's many birthday presents this year was an ice cream machine from her Uncle Nathan, Aunt Carrie, and cousin Emmett. It took me the longest time to remember half and half at the store so we could make our first batch of ice cream. But I finally did!

Daddy was the ice cream maker with the occasional help from G and B to turn the ice cream. They had fun and thoroughly enjoyed the end result!

Christmas Parade

We watched the Christmas parade in the rain, in the truck, in the nice dry weather, in the rain again.... the weather was not cooperative. But the parade was nice- good floats this year, a band, and horses for the finale...typical small town parade!

Decorating for Christmas 2011

This is our first Christmas in our new home. I was so excited to decorate this year. Last year we were in our rent house while we were building and everything was in storage. J was able to get to a Christmas box to get out our stockings and we used a 3 foot Christmas tree without ornaments! I know that's not what Christmas is about, but it just wasn't the same and I kind of felt like a scrooge.
I was more than ready to get out our holiday decorations this year. I had everything up before Thanksgiving because we were going out of town for Thanksgiving and I wanted it all done when we got home. And I loved it that way-- may do it like this next year too! I only bought a few new things this year- a "wreath" for our front door and some tree toppers. I kept it very simple. I don't like clutter and am not into snowmen and villages and just randomness.

This is the first year I have decorated my tree with deco mesh. It was so easy to work with and I love the look, but I had no idea how many rolls I needed and I didn't get the rolls anywhere near where I live. I used 3 rolls and ran out and had to hide the bottom of the tree with Christmas gifts. Those of you that know me understand how devastating this was-- I wanted to pull my hair out, but at the same time I wasn't about to re-wrap my tree. A friend sold me an extra roll that she had lying around. So next year I won't have to stack presents up to hide a naked tree. :)
Our stockings came from Ballard Designs about three years ago and they were definitely a splurge-- I used birthday money to help justify the purchase. :) They are my favorite thing right now and I just love the whimsical, yet classy look.

This is my new "wreath"- totally not traditional and I love it. It really pops against the black door and just goes with all the other decor I have.
I missed taking pictures of table centerpieces and this Santa Claus oil painting that a friend made for me this year! Not sure what I was thinking!