Merry Christmas Eve!

Who needs Rudolph?


I think *A* finally "got it" tonight and realizes what tomorrow is all about. People all day have been talking to her about Santa and she just looks at them with a strange polite smile. Well, then her Nana read her the Night Before Christmas and we talked about the Nativity story (again) as we drove around and looked at lights tonight. After that she talked about how Santa is going to get sick because of all that up and down chimneys, and then said she needed to be quiet so she wouldn't scare the reindeer. Also, I love that we decided to wait to put Jesus in our Nativity scene because it is the biggest deal to her that she will get to play with Jesus tomorrow! When she sees a Nativity scene with Jesus she gasps and wants to take him out and hold him.


Here we are after dinner tonight celebrating a friend's birthday. After leaving their house, we drove around to look at Christmas lights, came home and put new pjs on, put out cookies for Santa, opened 1 gift each (the kids got new Christmas books), and then Daddy told the Nativity story using our Playmobil Nativity set.


We'll be out of commission for the next few days visiting family and such, so I'll say Merry Christmas now see you in 2009! If you are a loyal blog follower, thanks and I hope to hear more from you in the new year! Comments are ALWAYS appreciated and I'd love to know what you enjoy about the blog. So many different types of people from different aspects of our lives read this blog so I have to cater to many different needs, and I'd love to occasionally know what people think. :)

I may pop in if I get a chance but if not, happy and safe holidays to all!

Weekend Events

Having Daddy home makes us busy busy!
Here's what we've been up to:

Thursday morning yoga lessons:

after doing some basic moves, *A* started making up her own. Don't ask about the shirts, apparently they were doing hot yoga. That night we went to the Old-Timey Music Jam.

Friday *A* and I went with her Nana to the Nutcracker. We went last year and she liked it, but this year we went to the Atlanta Ballet's version at the Fox and she LOVED it! I haven't been to this one in probably 10 years and they've updated it with new dances and costumes, and the story was so well done. We've been spoiled now and can never go back to the community ballet school version.

Saturday I did a little shopping while in civilization and then we met daddy half-way at a chick-fil-a to return home. Man, I miss Chick-fil-a. The kids played, *A* fell between the window and the booth and bonked her head, and then we headed to a really cool music store where ^J^ was in old-time music heaven. We bought the kids kazoos and heard jingle bells kazoo-style all the way home. They had really cool ukuleles at this store so when they got home, *A* wanted uke lessons..




Sunday we cleaned house, did our own Advent service, and made a gingerbread house

Then we headed to a friend's house for dinner with families who are staying on the mountain for the Holidays. ^J^ was asked to go get some instruments (twist his arm), so then we had live carols with banjo, recorder, guitar and keyboard. After the carols we broke into Indigo Girls and Violent Femmes. Good Times! Oh, and *A* bonked the other side of her head on their kitchen table so now she has a bruise on each side of her forehead.

The feeling of Christmas approaching is in the air, and the kids are feeling it too. This morning *A* came to wake me up and looked out the window and indignantly asked, "Why, is it not snowing?!?" I know! It is 13 degrees here and with the windchill it's 1...1! Unfortunately it doesn't look like snow anytime soon but we can still hope right?

We are Family!

^J^ is *almost* done with this semester and it's been so nice to have had him home for extended periods of time over the last 2 days! The house is clean, we've had meals together, time for Advent activities, time to go workout, etc, and it feels so good to have time to enjoy each other and our cozy house.


The busyness of life was starting to get to me, and I'm ready for the break as much as he is. I think the kids are ready too. Yesterday at PMO, *A* kept asking me if school was over and they both have been a little under-the-weather this week. Today we laid around in our pjs until 10am and when we were finally getting dressed, *A* kept asking where we were going...she's so used to us rushing around and going somewhere or having someone over, and it was boggling her mind that we were home with nothing planned! It has me thinking about homeschooling again and how it would work. Would we get tired of being home all day? (No, because we wouldn't be home all day most days) Would my social butterfly child go crazy? (Maybe, but we'd have social time for her with friends) Would I go crazy? (Maybe, but I know those crazy moments would be mixed with wonderful moments too). I don't know what we'll do about it, but I do know that today the kids and I had the time to bake, read books for uninterrupted periods of time, find and sharpen colored pencils and then draw, do puzzles, mop the kitchen (*A* did this), finish decorating the tree, move the tree to a new location (and then sweep), eat breakfast and lunch together, and now, nap. Many of my favorite blogging mommies homeschool and I especially love this blog and the author wrote this post about why she homeschools. It is something I've considered for a long time and I agree with her reasons and sympathize with her struggles. Anywho, this is what's on my mind today.

Pictures by *A*

*A* has gotten really into our camera lately and now knows exactly how to turn it on and take a picture...here's her latest:
Her Daddy:

Our tree(unfinished):

Herself:

And Rudolf!


I think I've finally decided what will be under our tree for her! But is it fair for an almost 4 year old to get a new digital camera and not me? I guess I could always borrow hers!

Sweets for My Sweet

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday and he's hard at work right now finishing up his first semester of seminary. So I've been hard at work making yummy goodies for him to enjoy when he comes home. His birthday cake is coconut, here it is after being attacked:


I also made everyone's favorite Ginger Chocolate Cookies and only if you are very lucky do you get to eat these.
They are high-maintenance and have weird steps like 'dissolve 1/2 t of baking soda in 1.5 t of very hot water'. I felt a little like the little red hen: "Who will help me sift the flour?", "Who will help me grate the ginger?", "Who will help me pour the (slow as) molasses?" No luck, but man are they good. I just wish it made more cookies for the work. I was going to make a double batch but we were out of fresh ginger. Here is the recipe if you dare (or care) to make them. :) Our friend Abby who generously offered to babysit tonight will be getting some of these amazing treats as a thank you. We are lucky enough to be treated to a fancy dinner tonight at this legendary (Al Capone rumors abound) restaurant. Happy Birthday ^J^!

Welcoming Christmas

Remember those sweet voices from the Grinch singing around the tree:
"Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!"

We are welcoming Christmas this weekend by finally getting the house all Christmased up. Decorations are down from the attic, the tree is lit, a few presents are bought and or crafted,
and *some* Christmas cookies are made thanks to my mom who came yesterday to do our family tradition of spritz cookies. We will make more cookies this week and I will of course make my famous ginger-chocolate cookies for ^J^'s birthday on Monday. They are the most labor-intensive cookies I make, but they're his absolute favorite and he's worth it. I Hope your weekend is full of warm feelings, holiday smells and flickering lights.

I Got Skillz!

Here is the lovely fire I made tonight. I was never a girl scout, but I pretended to be one a few years ago and I learned all about what fires need using snack food. Pretzel sticks = logs, potato sticks = kindling, red hots = fire, etc...

Most importantly, I watched my Dad build loads of fires and I know fires need newspaper and air...something dear ^J^ never picked up, and the source of much frustration when he tries to make a fire (he was never a boy scout). Anywho, I'm all about bragging on myself tonight because not only did I make a rockin' fire, I cut my own child's hair! Now, grandmothers don't start screaming yet. I kept some of the curls, it was just a trim. But even a trim turns baby boy into ALL BOY...



Here are some more pics of this momentous event...

::See Gram and Nana, I left some curls::


::He was SUCH a good boy!::


::Checking out the first snips (we kept them of course). When the hair fell to the ground he would say, "bubbles!" Odd, but funny!::