A Christmas Program and a Party

C. had his first Christmas program at preschool on Dec.10th. As you will see in this video he sang his little heart out. Listen carefully, he is the one who is singing the loudest and a little slower than the others too! ;o)

In the picture below he is with his teacher. We feel so blessed that we found his little school, he is learning so much and he loves his teacher.

M. had his 3rd grade Christmas party on December 19th. Here are some pictures from the party.

Making ornaments (that's his teacher in the background).

This was fun to watch - penguin relay races! They walked like penguins and then without using their hands put a nose on that was on the ground. How did the nose stay on - frosting. Frosting Noses!

He and his classmates were excited because they had nachos. In the past they always had just sweets. They were talking about how cool it was to have real food at the party. Ah - the simple pleasures in life.

I hope everyone is enjoying your Christmas break with your family!

All about Christmas!

I saw these ornaments earlier in the year and thought they would make great gifts. But they were a little overpriced so I started searching the net and found the Tiny Tots and Polka Dots site. Erin's were much more affordable and made great Christmas gifts for the boys' teachers.
I recommend that you check out her site. She has lots of cute items that would make wonderful gifts throughout the year. Erin even hand delivered my ornaments and was sweet enough to put a rush on my order. I will definitely be ordering from her again!

Here is another idea if you are crafty. Leah Belle made some with a friend over Thanksgiving. I am very impressed with how professional they look - these girls are talented!
You can find step by step instructions for the ornaments here. I am going to attempt to make some next year.

A side note...
If you like to do a Christmas countdown with your kids I would like to recommend a great book to you. Last December Lisa Whelchel spoke at our church's Christmas brunch about Christmas traditions. Afterwards I bought The ADVENTure of Christmas book and received a free advent calendar.

I saved it to use this season and we have all learned so much! Lisa writes about the meanings of various Christmas practices and symbols to help us keep this busy season focused on Christ. You can buy the book on Lisa's site and right now get the calendar for free. Definitely a must have! Check out the book here.

I have not posted the boys' picture with Santa this year so since this post has a Christmas feel to it I will do it here.
We love this sweet man! He comes here from Canada every year to play Santa. He is so gentle, patient and makes each child feel special. Over the past nine years one of our boys has taken a picture with him - that is except for one regrettable year. In 2001 I thought I should go to the "other" mall that goes all out in decorating for Christmas. Boy was that a mistake Jeremy will not let me live down! That is the only year that M. cried in his Santa picture. The Santa at that mall was not full of Christmas spirit or maybe he was having a bad day, but we did not have a good Santa experience. When we put the pictures on the mantle each year Jeremy always threatens to photo shop the bad Santa (as he calls him) out. Don't tell him this, but if I knew it would work I would let him do it!

Merry Christmas!

I thought I would share one of my favorite Christmas songs called "I Believe" (by Natalie Grant). For me this is what this special day is all about. We wish your family a very Merry Christmas!



In a land far away
Time stood still
Long ago
There were shepherds in fields
Or at least this is how
The story goes
The story goes
Woman with Child
And a man with no room
Born in a manger
For telling it too
This is how The story goes
But it is more than a fable
And it’s more than a fairytale
And more than my mind can conceive

I believe
The Wiseman saw
The baby born the angels called the son of God Heaven’s child
The great I am
Born to take away my sins through nailed pierced hands
Emmanuel has come

I believe
Two thousand years
Still the story lives on
God’s gift to us Sent to earth Wrapped in flesh
His only son
His only son
And the heartbeat of heaven
Confounded our wisdom
But it’s still the simple truth
That sets me free

I believe
The Wiseman saw
The baby born that the angels called the son of God Heaven’s child
The great I am
Born to take away my sins through nailed pierced hands
Emmanuel has come

And I believe
Precious child
How can it be that God’s great plan
For his story Would send you to The lonely tree
That you would come
For one like me

I believe
In a cross
I believe he came
For one, he came for all Heavens child became a plan
Gave his life for me
In spite of all I am


I believe
I believe
Oh I believe
Christmas lives in me
I believe

A Tree With a Story Pt. 2

For part one of A Tree With a Story click here. Before we can talk about the ornaments, we have to put up the tree.

We have a new tree this year - no stringing on the lights because it is pre-lit - what a bonus! I know we are behind the times, but we now see what all the fuss was about - what an awesome invention.

Now to my favorite part - taking the ornaments out of the boxes. As I unwrap each ornament, memories come charging back and for a minute I am right there in the moment. What an amazing experience and something I look forward to each year. Once all the ornaments are ready to be placed on the tree it is time to go to the hall closet and gather all the goodies we have bought or been given over the year. Here are the 2008 ornaments.

This hard to read Ornament is from our trip in August to Savannah. The buildings are all the major landmarks in Savannah. We actually found this in the airport on our way home.
The CEO of Jeremy's company (my former boss) brought this back to us from her European holiday with her husband. They bought it while in Vienna - the little man painted inside is Mozart.
Ahhh - the sweet moose ornament. Of course we bought these (actually my parents bought them for us) while in Colorado. I chose this one because it reminded me of our trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which we would not have visited if Meredith had not recommended it. Every time I unwrap this for future Christmases it will remind me of meeting my new friend Meredith at Agia Sophia.
This one will remind us of our day in Cripple Creek, our time playing at Focus on the Family, my tea at Glen Eyrie with my mom and our beautiful view of the mountains.
This ornament was on Granny's tree and we asked if we could have it as a memory of her. Granny loved spending holidays with her family and we missed her very much over Thanksgiving and we will miss her on Christmas but it brings me joy to know that she is having the best Christmas ever! I can't even dream what it must be like to have cake with THE birthday boy. It gives me chills thinking about my grandparents and Granny singing Happy Birthday in person to Jesus. Amazing.
My mom loves Christmas and loves to buy ornaments throughout the year. She bought this one for our family at a Craft Fair this fall. What a cute little gingerbread family.
My friend Kim, who I co-lead the Bible Study group with, gave me this for Christmas. It reminds me of her because she is a pillar of strength and she has been through so much in the last five years. The neatest part is that anyone who watches her knows that her strength does not come from within but from her rock Jesus. I am thankful for our friendship.
C. made his first ornament at preschool this year. It was fun to watch him find the perfect spot to place it on the tree.

Well that should have been it for the tour of our Christmas tree but guess what I received in the mail today (which is actually the 22nd)? My Christmas present from my sweet friend Amy! It was full of goodies that she brought back for me from their family trip to WDW this month. Here are the three ornaments that she sent us. Love you girl!

Santa Mickey with glittery ears (M.'s favorite).

She knows me so well! Even though I am not usually a pink girl - seeing this ornament almost brought tears to my eyes. Amy knows that in a house full of men that I could use a little pink because every girl has an inner Princess that they want to let out from time to time. Lastly, our Snowman Mickey - R & C's favorite - they like his Mickey buttons.

Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

Cold weather = no school?

I recently read Mary Beth Chapman's Christmas letter that she posted on her blog. Here is a part that really touched me:

As I anticipate Christmas 2008, I have many thoughts flying through my heart and head. The last several days, my mind has not been able to stop thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Pregnant and scared, knowing that the baby she was carrying eventually would pay the ultimate price of His life. How would I have lived differently if I knew that my time with Maria was going to be this short? Regretfully, I would have lived much differently. I would have purposely hugged and kissed more. I would have tried to memorize and lock away in my heart certain smells and smiles. I would have colored more and worked less. I would have laughed more and fussed less. Bedtime wouldn’t have become a chore to check off the list of things to get done. Instead it would have been more of an opportunity to listen about the day and offer whatever words were needed. The swimming pool wouldn’t have been too cold to swim in. The flowers in the garden would have all been picked, and definitely more ice cream would have been consumed!

Umm - Jesus keep this hurting mother's words close to my heart. Help me remember that each day is a gift with my family. Please continue to keep this precious family on my heart as they continue this journey of healing.

The same day that I read this beautiful letter was also our first bad weather day at school (Dec. 17th). I do not think it was a coincidence that I was reminded of cherishing each moment with my boys. Since it was just cold (high was 25 - cold for us!) and there was no snow to play in (maybe an over cautious Superintendent? But in his defense we did wake up to ice yet it was gone by 10 am.) we enjoyed our day inside. It was a PJ kind of day, where we spent the morning cuddling on the couch watching Christmas movies and in the afternoon made Tiger Butter for teachers and neighbors. We ended the day with a pot of stick to your ribs Texas chili for dinner. Fun, fun day!

Happy Birthday Mom!

On Monday we went to my parent's house to help set up their tree. I love my parent's tree because they have so many ornaments - it is hard to find a branch that is covered! I guess after 37 years you have quite a collection. The boys enjoyed helping - as a matter of fact C. , R. and I are going to work on our tree on Friday.

Mom I hope you have a very special birthday today! Be looking for a package in the mail soon. Love you!!

Thanksgiving 2008

We spent Thanksgiving with Jeremy's parents and his brother's family. It was such a relaxing time and it was nice to just hang out with everyone at Jeremy's parents land in Oklahoma. Here are pictures from our first day.

Our sweet nieces decorated the gate for our arrival! What a fun greeting.

Playing a little horse shoes while waiting for lunch.

Getting ready for our delicious lunch!

R. hanging out with his oldest cousins.

Cameron helping C. pet a neighbor's horse.

A fun activity at Mimi and Papa's land. Papa drives the kids around the land - they loved it!

A lot of what we did - visit and relax. It was wonderful!

R.'s favorite thing while we were there - playing in Papa's truck. C. getting ready to fish with his daddy.

Our family's sleeping quarters for the evening. Thank you Mom and dad for letting us borrow your SUV and Camper! It was nice to have a little extra room and the little kitchen also came in handy. Thanks!!

After a good night sleep, we had a yummy breakfast that Mimi made for us. A Belgium waffle bar with lots of toppings to choose from - so good. Then we began to pack up for our drive home. Before we left we met Randy and Vicki's neighbors, who they have become great friends to them over the last year. They were nice enough to let us ride their horses. It was great ending to our fabulous Thanksgiving in the country.

R.'s first ride on a horse.

Having a little talk with his new friend.

Everyone had a turn - even the adults!

Red - he is the neighbor's dog who comes to visit Randy and Vicki. Most of the kids loved him - he was so sweet and never barked.

Making friends over a little Texas/ OU rematch.

The short 2 hour ride home - perfect for a nap.