Christmas at Home

On Christmas Eve, Lydia was very happy to be wearing a fancy dress. For some reason, when she poses for pictures, she leans over a little. Here she is standing up straight beside of Wesley. We went to the children's Christmas Eve service at our church. At the end when everyone sings Silent Night, they pass out glow sticks instead of candles. The kids love the glow sticks!

We invited two families from our neighborhood to join us for dinner. I put beef barbeque in the slow cooker in the morning and macaroni and cheese in the oven on timed bake before we left for church. We also locked up the cats and set the table (for 12) for dinner. This made everything go very smoothly when we got home. One family brought Asian coleslaw and the other family brought a spinach salad. It was a wonderful dinner.

I made Old Fashioned Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing for dessert. After singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, we let Wesley and Lydia each blow out the candles. The other two kids (who are younger) weren’t interested in blowing them out.

It was so much fun having company for dinner on Christmas Eve. I hope to make it a tradition. Hopefully the military won't move our friends away next year!

For Christmas breakfast I made homemade Cinnamon Rolls. Yummy! I think this is the start of a new tradition.

We had to wake Lydia up a little after 8:00. She almost never sleeps in! My dad said that Christmas morning was the one time a year that he and my mom always had to wake me up.

After breakfast, I read the nativity story from the second chapter of Luke. We let the Little People act it out. Afterwards, the kids wanted to play with the nativity set a little before opening presents.

I ordered the kids new hooded towels for Christmas. I am tired of them always arguing over who gets which towel. I let Lydia pick out the towel she wanted from the website and she really wanted to get Wesley the shark towel which is perfect for him. Both kids were happy to get their towels and wanted to put them on immediately!

Here is Wesley with his favorite gift - a $10 box of plastic sea animals.

Here is Lydia dancing to the music from one of her gifts - a dancing flower. She kept telling us that she wanted a flower that played music and danced. This was all she ever said that she wanted. Thankfully, Amazon sells such a thing.

She also received some princess dress up costumes. She loves the movie Snow White.

Here is Lydia in another dress-up outfit working on her alphabet train puzzle.

Wesley really likes the Tag reader. It was great on our road trip.

We were blessed to have my parents with us for the Christmas week. I missed getting very many photos of them on Christmas day though. This one is from the Gaylord National.

It was fun to spend most of the day just playing with the kids.

Our Jesse Tree Tradition Gets Some Help from the Veggie Tales

One way we attempt to keep our focus on Jesus during this time of year is by having a Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree allows us to trace God’s promise of the Savior and Christ’s ancestry throughout the Bible. The name is based on Isaiah 11:1: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Every night during the month of December we read a Bible passage and the kids put the corresponding ornament on the little tree. Last year our kids were 3 ½ and 21 months when we did the Jesse Tree. They loved placing the laminated ornaments on the tree but they didn’t always love listening to the Bible passages. Sometimes it seemed like an act of futility but this year Lydia said something that let me know that we are establishing a meaningful family tradition. When we started talking about getting out our Christmas decorations, she said, “And we will have the little tree that we put ornaments on every night.” I couldn’t believe that she remembered that and seemed to be looking forward to it! That was the encouragement I needed.

This year, Wesley is doing a great job listening the to Bible stories every night (for the most part) but Lydia often wanders away or tries to sing or talk during the story.

Both kids were excited about the ornament for day 19. They love the story of Jonah and they love whales. The story about Jonah is long. As Chris and I were discussing the fact that we would not be able read the entire first two chapters of Jonah (the suggested reading) to the kids, we had a brilliant idea. We decided to watch the Veggies Tales’ Jonah movie and the let the kids put the ornament on the tree.
We all really enjoy the Veggie Tales’ movies. The night was a huge success. The kids have seen the movie before but it was a great way to remind them of the details of the story and about how God wants us to show other people compassion and mercy.

Do you think that by next year, they could have a movie for every night of the Jesse Tree or at least most of them?

Fun in All that Snow

We got snowed in during the record storm for our area. Yesterday the kids didn't love playing in the snow as it was still snowing 1 to 2 inches an hour at the time. Today they loved it.

Here is Wesley and our next-door-neighbor on top of a huge pile of snow.
The boys had fun sliding down the other side.
Here is another picture of the same mound of snow.
Wesley climbed on top of the snow that Chris piled up.
Then he climbed on another neighbor's pile and then he slid down the lamp post like it was a fireman's pole.
Lydia even got in on the shoveling action.
The kids loved using the big sand shovels in the snow.
One of our neighbors let them play with this "scoop". The kids pretended they were making pies and cakes.
They also made snow castles with their buckets.
It was fun to be outside today. I have never seen so many of our neighbors outside at the same time. Almsot everyone on our street was out today.

After Wesley was outside for over two hours and Lydia was out for an hour, I had to bribe them with hot chocolate to get them back inside.

Neighborhood Holiday Party

Our neighborhood had a holiday party last Sunday afternoon. Last year, the clubhouse was double booked and we didn't get to have the kids' party. This year the email notifications never went out about the adult party, so it had to be canceled. The people on the recreation committee keep trying to have these parties because we love getting to see our neighbors.
There were three crafts for the kids to do. This was an easy mitten photo holder. We also had a snowman picture frame.

Chris helped our kids glue the snowman banner together. I wish I had taken more photos at the party. I think everyone had fun.

After the party, we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. The kids love watching the tortillas being made.

Whine Time Trees

One afternoon a week, I get together with a few neighbors and their kids. We call it "Whine Time". The kids whine (and have fun playing) and the moms have wine and cheese and dips and desserts. It is always a good time and the kids look forward to it as much as the moms do.

Today, we decided to do one planned activity for the kids. We let them decorate Christmas Trees. We turned sugar cones upside down, iced them, and decorated them with M&M's. We also talked about the fact that the Christmas tree represents the tree Jesus died on (for our sins), which is why he was born in the first place. Yummy! Lydia didn't really eat any dinner after this.

Elena proudly displayed her tree before eating it.

Olivia enjoyed M&M's for the first time.

Wesley made a huge mess! But he had a great time!If we get snowed in this weekend, I hope to do some more of the Christmas projects from this

fun book.

Star of the Week

In November Wesley was "Star of the Week" in his class.
This meant he got to take a favorite toy to school to show his classmates. He took his platypus. He also took in a picture of his family and a picture of the family pets. He so enjoyed talking about our cats that the teacher "couldn't get him to stop talking" until she threatened to take Star of the Week away from him. He LOVED being the center of attention.

He also got to put a toy in The 20 Question bag. He put his green snake in the bag. He said his classmates were unable to figure out what was in the bag.

As I thought about Wesley being Star of the Week at school, I remembered a Bible verse that had been a MOPS theme one year. I memorized this verse because I needed the reminder to not complain about stuff. As I thought about Wesley and how much he enjoyed being the center of attention, I was reminded to pray that one day people will see the light of Jesus in him.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold on to the word of life. Philipians 2:14-16

Nothing Like Some Extra Sugar to Keep the Craziness Going

Michele took this photo-documentary at the Baby Jesus' Birthday Party.

Wesley and Evan were running around the perimeter of the room at the end of the party.
Michele said Wesley looked around the room for me...
When he saw that I wasn't looking at him, he took a swipe of the icing. (He had already had a piece of cake.)

When I looked in his direction, he and Evan dove under the table.

My Little Drummer Boy

Last week I went with Wesley's class to see a Tiny Tots Concert at a local high school. He was lucky enough to get to go on stage and play the drums before the concert started.

Of course, riding the bus is always exciting for preschoolers.

Wesley also got to play the xylophone.

I think Wesley's favorite character was Rudolf. We also saw Mickey Mouse and lots of other Disney characters.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Today we had a Baby Jesus' Birthday Party with MOPS. The kids did beaded necklaces and learned the meaning of the candy cane. ( A great book about this is J is for Jesus: The Sweetest Story Ever Told.) They also decorated foam Christmas trees and learned the meaning behind the different colors of Christmas.
The kids also did nativity scenes with stickers.

This is the best group shot I got today. I counted 30 moms but I couldn't count all the kids. We had a great turnout for the party.

Monica prayed with the kids before telling them the Christmas story. It was so sweet to see all the kids with their heads bowed.

Monica did a great job telling the kids about Jesus. She used a felt board which helped keep their attention.

We sang a couple of songs and then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake.

Here the kids and I are finishing our packed lunch. My friend couldn't get either one of them to look at her and smile nicely at the same time (and this was before they had cake).

Lydia is holding Cubbie Bear in the above picture. Both kids are so excited that they got to take him to the party.