It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

 

Christmas really did sneak up on us this year, and I don’t feel prepared at all! We normally don’t get our tree so early, but we realized there are no other free weekends that we’ll have time, so we went ahead with our annual Tree Decorating festivities the weekend after Thanksgiving this year. After a trip to a nice restaurant with Mom & Dad for lunch, they went with us to the tree farm. We easily picked out our 6 ft. tree and took it home.

 

(I have a picture of each of the kids in their car seat at a tree farm every Christmas when they were babies. Abigail continues the tradition - only she stayed in the car because we parked close).

  

When we got home, Leah was so excited to decorate and asked a hundred times if it was time yet—especially when she found a tin of ornaments with her name on it and a Princess one inside! So we tried to keep her busy while Daddy got the tree in place and put on the lights. She loved the Nativity magnet book we have and for a long time kept herself busy by telling stories she made up.

  

Finally when it was time for the ornaments, Leah and Andrew were grabbing them from me faster than Daddy could help them put them on. They wanted all of them in the same place, of course, but we managed to make the tree look beautiful in the end.

 

What I’m Thankful For…

 

We had another great Thanksgiving this year with my family coming to our house for the big meal. I enjoy cooking the turkey, and really didn’t feel stressed about having the meal, especially considering I didn’t even make half the dishes! I am so thankful Mom & Dad and BJ & Jenipher got to come, and that we had a great time playing cards, watching the parade & making memories. I have so much to be thankful for this year (and every year.) I am thankful for my ever-growing family. I am thankful for a husband who works so hard so that I can stay home with my children to teach them and watch them grow every day. I am thankful for three healthy, intelligent children. I am thankful for my own health. And for a roof over our head. I am thankful that God always provides exactly what we need—like an extra job for Brett when we were struggling with our finances. I am most of all thankful for my salvation in Christ, that I have hope for the future.

And now, let the holiday season begin! It totally snuck up on me this year, and now, without even realizing it, we have Christmas activities planned just about every weekend this coming month. I was totally not yet in the Christmas spirit when we decided to go back to see Meadow Lights this year, like we did last year. It’s a light show where you can ride a train through the beautiful displays. Grandma & Grandpa, BJ & Jenipher got to go with us this year, and of course Leah & Andrew were so excited! (Although the lights were just a bonus—they were more excited about the train!) (Jenipher is holding Abigail for me in this picture.)

They also have a carousel, which both of them loved!

And this year was the first year we attempted a photo with Santa. I had no high hopes that all 3 kids would be smiling—I totally expected them to be a little timid, but Leah & Andrew were both excited to see him, and the picture turned out better than I could have hoped! I LOVE that Abigail is screaming in the picture. (Although it wasn’t really so much that she was afraid of Santa, she was really just hungry.) Neither of them really talked to Santa or told him what they wanted, but they love that they got to see him.

Easter Weekend 2011

This Easter, Leah had 2 pretty new dresses: one from Nana and one from Aunt Karen, given to us before she was even born! She wore Nana's last week on Palm Sunday and she thought she was such a princess!!

We decided to attempt dyeing eggs this year with Leah, and she really loved it. She was very careful in choosing her colors, carefully put the egg in the dye, and then took her time stirring it all around with the spoon. She only managed to get a little dye on her shirt and break only one egg.

We also decorated sugar cookies. I wasn't really sure what tools one should use for something like that with kids, so we just used our fingers. Of course, the sprinkles were Leah's favorite.




Even Andrew had a taste of the frosting!!

And the finished products:

Friday night we had our Easter dinner as a family, since the rest of the weekend was going to be busy.

Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt at church. What a great turn-out!! It was so well-run and a lot of visitors showed up! They had crafts tables set out for the kids to work on when they first arrived. (Leah loves pasting!)

Then Brett used the Resurrection Eggs to tell the story of Easter. I really want to get some of these for our family next year!

Then came the hunting! Leah did not run around gathering them like crazy as I thought she would. She carefully picked up a few, and I had to encourage her to get more. I think she was more excited about the book she got after the Bible time than she was about the eggs. She did enjoy the chocolate candy inside the eggs, even though it was so hot outside everything was really melted!

Andrew didn't care what was inside the egg. He just wanted to hold it!

And of course, today we dressed in our Easter best. The bunny came and brought Easter baskets while we were at church. Leah was so excited, especially since her basket had Princess things inside! She really didn't go too crazy over the candy. She daintily ate her chocolate bunny over the course of an hour or so, and a couple jelly beans. I have hidden away the rest, of course, to dole out modestly, but she hasn't even asked! Later, we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard, and Leah even wanted to "hide" them again on her own!

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was unseasonably warm, so we enjoyed some time outside. It was Andrew's first time really "playing" outside without being in a car seat or stroller. He wouldn't smile for any of his pictures, but probably just because he was too busy taking it all in. He does seem to love being in the fresh air.

When Daddy got home from work, both kids got a box of chocolates (Mommy & Daddy enjoyed Andrew's, but Leah is definately my girl and has already eaten almost the whole box!) and opened their cards from both sets of grandparents. Leah seemed to understand at least that it was a holiday, and loved coloring a card for her Daddy-- she was so excited to give it to him.

Brett & I didn't really do much to celebrate, but we'll have some time together on our upcoming trip to the OBX!

Christmas, Round 2

Christmas Day was just the four of us this year, quiet and calm. Andrew was so excited about Christmas he woke me up at midnight to welcome the day! He was up for good about 6:45. Leah got up about an hour later and was so excited to see the presents. We didn't really put any presents under the tree until the day before Christmas, and then we didn't put many, so when the gifts from Santa were under there, she was amazed. She seemed to really get it this year-- we kept telling her all week how Santa would come and bring her presents under the tree and she kept talking about "presents for Leah!" (In fact, for the past week she has been telling everyone "I have a tree in my house!")

Her favorite part was the actual opening of the gifts, rather than the gifts themselves. She would rip into one, exclaim over it for a minute, toss it aside, and move on to the next one, even starting into some of Andrews' and our gifts. We let her do her thing, and then Andrew opened his afterward. Actually, he seemed to almost get it, too! "Santa" got him several different types of trucks & toys with buttons & knobs at a consignment sale a month or two ago. He may not be able to really enjoy them until he can sit up, but he did seem to enjoy the steering wheel! He also got a couple outfits from Nana & Papaw and Uncle Brian, and Baylor jammies from Uncle Johnny & Aunt Karen.

We were pretty excited about what Santa got Leah this year. I think she will be, too, once she has time to play with them and process all that went on! Among the favorites this year: a set of Disney Princess figurines, and a set of Princess books, a "laptop" computer with several games, and a few coloring books. She also got two pairs of jammies, some big girl panties, and two new sippy cups. From Nana & Papaw, she got a piggy bank and some other clothes. Uncle Brian got her the Snow White DVD, which she immediately wanted to watch!

Brett and I decided not to spend any money on each other this year, but we did get some nice clothes from Karen & Johnny (and of course the other gifts from Mom & Dad), and thanks to a generous donation from a church member, we went out on a date Thursday night-- dinner & Starbucks, and we bought ourselves a few things we were wanting. I really can't think of a lot of things I actually wanted. It was so much more fun for me this year to buy things for the kids, especially since Leah understands so much more this time around. I had to restrain myself from buying too much, because I kept seeing more I thought they'd like.

It was such a fun year, seeing the reactions of the kids and enjoying time as a family! We are so blessed to have all that we have.

Things we did this year that I would like to continue doing:

- "Christmas Decorating Day," complete with the hunt for our tree, Pizza Dip & a Christmas cartoon while putting up decorations

- making sugar cookies

- "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity set (one piece of the nativity is placed each of the 7 days before Christmas)

- family photos by the Christmas tree

- Watch the mandatory Christmas movies: The Grinch, Rudolph, Elf, White Christmas, and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Things we didn't get to do that I would like to do next year:

- Go to Christmas parade (it was rainy & freezing on the day we were going to go this year)

- Pictures with Santa (we were going to do that at the Christmas parade)

- read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve & open one gift, like pj's (Brett had to preach at the Christmas Eve service & I didn't want to venture there with 2 little ones)

- advent calendar (probably the kind you can make with activities to do as a family each day leading up to Christmas)

- See some sort of Christmas play, concert, or light show (although we did see a small light display at my parents' over Thanksgiving)

- Make gingerbread houses and some other Christmas tree ornament crafts