Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Children's Caroling



Chris organized a RA/GA/ Church wide Caroling. We had a great time, and the voices, the children sang so sweetly! We went to the nursing home, where they sang and handed out candy canes. Then we went to see Mr. Sydney. He is sick and we were happy to make him feel better for a little while. It made me appreciate my family a little more!






Friday, December 19, 2008

Christmas Funny's

While we were taking the kids to the library the other day, I was reviewing the rules for whispering, to which Abigail replied "We can just talk in our heads." As if this is an everyday occurrence. Do you think it is a twin thing? Made me wonder.

Caleb started singing Alvin and the Chipmunks song to just about everyone who would listen. It started as a verse and a chorus. But by tonight, he has added the "hula hoop" part, and is swinging his hips to a fro. If I had video capability, I would upload it for all to see, cause it is a riot!!

This year, Abigail and Julia have LOVED their ornaments, and often go over to the ballerinas and just hold them gingerly in their little hands. Touching them with the ends of their little fingers. It really is precious.

As a family we are trying to memorize the genealogy of Jesus. So I love to hear "Abraham had Issac, Issac he had Jacob, Jacob he had Judah and his kin." It makes me smile!

This year, no one ate all the advent calendar's early. So that was a good sign, it means that Abigail and Julia are getting older. And we have really enjoyed chatting about the holidays over our morning chocolate. I am afraid that my kids now think that the advent is their "coffee". Can't make it through he day without my advent!!

Medieval Christmas Program

Chris and I were in the Christmas program at Church. Chris had worked very hard to learn a lot of lines. We were both busy with learning our parts, and keeping up with stuff going on at church, and I really wanted it to hurry up and get here. Well, it finally arrived,and the program was wonderful. I felt bad for being kinda moody about it. We had so much fun spending time with church friends and laughing at our costumes. The kids wanted to wear costumes too, so I decided it would be fun to make our Christmas card picture in costume. Chris actually thought it was a great idea. Isn't my husband swell?!






THANKSGIVING

I was going to share some wonderful Thanksgiving pictures and stories. However, I realized that I didn't have any of the pictures and I was feeling a little behind...so go over to
www.janbscott.blogspot.com

And you can read my mom's blog about the fun weekend!!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mother's Mussings

I interrupt my normal blogging to share a change in my perspective. I realized today in a moment of sheer frustration that I had to change how I was looking at things. Before I take you on a tour of my home, keep in mind that we have just finished this major production at church and things have been more than chaotic. Now follow me through the house:

Walk in our front door and you will see 2 wreaths sitting behind the door waiting to be hung. They are actually waiting on me to go buy some hooks, so they can be hung. It is really annoying me that they are sitting there, no time to run to the store, and when I shift my view I see that one of them is a favorite wreath my parents bought when I was a little girl. It is a painting of Jesus in the hay with the animals all around him and a straw wreath attached to the painting. Now I am not so annoyed, this is important that I get his hung!

In my Living Room you will see books spread on the floor and on the end tables. Why? Well since there are no gifts under the tree, we put all our Christmas books under there and delight in reading them throughout the Christmas season. The books on the end tables are David's new curriculum (thanks to a sweet friend), and Chris has been going through them as they arrive. I am thankful that my kids want to get the books out and read them, and I am thankful for a husband who is investing in our Son's education.

In the Boy's room, from my view, it appears that there are toy land bombs exploding EVERYWHERE. But if I get down on their view I see Robinson Crusoe's tree house made out of Lego's, tomorrow's clothes laid out to be worn, money that was being counted to buy Christmas presents, and all the pillows they keep on their bed. Amazing, my frustration just melted when I changed my view.

In the girl's room, there are clothes on the floor and critters by the bed. WHY? Because they were trying to find matching outfits for tomorrow, when they get to help their brothers build a fort outside. And because they couldn't find the "right" critter, but then when they had touched all the critters they just had to have all of them in the bed (it wouldn't be fair to the other critters if they didn't have a spot on the bed). And then I looked in the bed, and realized how sweet they had been to help me when we had little time this week, or when I was so exhausted they sat and snuggled, or when they cleaned up everything in their room yesterday.

In the den, I was so mad! I mean really MAD! The den was clean yesterday and as we were walking out the door last night, all the dress up clothes were strewn all over the floor. And then I held my tongue, thought about why, and realized that we had panicked looking for a princess hat we needed last night. Julia had been diligent and looked through each drawer until she had found it right before we left. So it wasn't her fault we didn't have time for her to clean it up. However, it was my fault for expecting her to look through each drawer like an adult would.

So on my way to church tonight I realized that I do want my house neat and tidy, but do I really look at the situation or just get overwhelmed by the sheer volume? And I need to take a step back and look at my family. We have all had a crazy week, not just Chris and I, but all of us. the kids spent A LOT of time at the church this week, and they needed to crash, unwind, and be kids! So tonight they are getting a PASS on their chores, and I am loving how God changed my view!!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Caleb's Birthday


When Granny Sue died, I got her mini bundt pan. Caleb has wanted to make these pumpkin cupcakes form the moment he saw the pan in the cabinet (I think he was 3). So this year, he choose these as his "birthday cake". We iced them in orange and added little green dots to make the stems. He LOVED them!!

This year's theme was AGENTS.
So we played "master of disguise" relay race.


The movie producer, David, capturing all the birthday memories



The Laser game in the den! A yarn maze.


Chris reading about the Special Agent Caleb is named for.
I really like to incorporate our faith in their special days.
So reading about Caleb from the Bible just made Caleb smile all over!



About to blow out all the candles.



Enjoying opening the presents!!


A package arrived later int he afternoon. 2 presents and a shoe. This one is for you Grant!!