O Come Let us Adore Him

May you enjoy spending time with your families as you celebrate the birth of our Savior, who came to "save His people from their sins," (Matthew 1:21).

Christmas decorating and Thanksgiving!

Okay, so the title of this post is backwards, but that is because I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order, and I was too lazy to reload them the right way. Sorry!!!! After we ate our wonderful Thanksgiving meal, we decorated for Christmas. Karis loves opening all the tubs and ohhing and ahhing over all the decorations. There is nothing like playing Christmas music and decorating the house to put us all in the Christmas mood. We added a new Christmas CD to our collection this year.

Karis and Noah by "their" tree. I love to see their little personalities as they decorate. Noah put all his ornaments on the same branch, we finally had to move some of them because the limb was drooping so much. Karis is meticulous and likes to spread all her ornaments around.

The kids decorating the BIG tree! Noah did one ornament and was ready to move onto the next thing. Karis is wonderful helper.

Karis putting on the star with Daddy's help.

My boys in front of a lighted tree.

Some pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot at a friend's house.

Sibling love!


My boys

Our tradition for Thanksgiving is to make a thankful tree. We write something we are thankful for every night after dinner. It is so funny to hear what the kids say. Almost all of Noah's were food, since we usually just ate right before we wrote on our leaves.

Happy Belated 3rd BIrthday Noah John!

This birthday post for you Noah is only nine days late! This year has flown by, sweet Noah. Three, wow, my little "bud" is three. I remember praying for you before you were born, and I remember when I saw you for the first time and how I thought my heart would burst with love.

Noah, you are so sweet, you love playing by yourself and with your sister, your favorite toys are your cars, and you "love" eating all the time! Your first words every morning are, "I want breakfast," even before you are fully awake. What you mean is "I want a cereal bar and a nana." I always thought that I talked a lot, being a girl and all, but your chatter endlessly. Everyday, you talk constantly and cause us all to laugh at your silliness. Sometimes you can be a little too rough with your sister, especially when you two are wrestling! I am so glad that you love cuddling with me and giving me still slobbery kisses! Oh Noah, you are a joy and blessing to our hearts.

My prayer for you is that Jesus will save you one day and that you will be "a righteous and upright man who walks with God," just like both men you were named after, Noah in the Bible and your Papa John.
We love you sweet Noah John!

Happy Belated 3rd Birthday Noah John!

Run Like the Wind, Mom, Run Like the Wind!

Hi. This is Justin writing this post. I highjacked the blog to let you know how proud I am of Jeanna for running a 10k (6.4 miles) a few weeks ago. And, she finished 2nd in her age group! The kids and I were at the finish line yelling, "Run like the wind, mommy, run like the wind."

"Let's Do the Puzzle"

Noah got his very first bike for his birthday:

But, he was more excited about his new Snot Rod and Cars puzzle:

A field trip, a smart board, and the end of soccer season

One Friday in October, the kids and I went on a field trip to our "neighbor Suzie's" library at her school. The kids had a wonderful time seeing where she works and visiting with her in her favorite domain, her library! Karis and Noah loved looking at all the books. Karis was introduced to a smart board, a board that she got to do some of her favorite computer games with. Noah really liked the pointer finger pen that Ms. Suzie had, but he was more interested in the fire truck in the library. Ms. Suzie read Noah books in the fire engine and played with the kids on the smart board.

Thanks so much "neighbor Suzie" for showing us your FUN library.

Karis' soccer seasoned finished at the beginning of November. Her team improved over the season, and we enjoyed seeing her play, learn, and understand more of the game. The experience was good, and we are all looking forward to soccer in the spring.

My little goalie throwing the ball to her teammates.

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving, doing our "thankful tree" every night, reading books and singing songs about Thanksgiving, and getting ready for our Thanksgiving day meal with our friend Joseph. More pictures to come about our holiday, hope you all have a wonderful, enjoyable, Thanksgiving.

I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!

Family night last week was super hero night: The Incredibles came to dinner! After much thought and (trying to be creative), the only thing I made for the night were masks for all of us. We wore them for awhile and it was fun, but the mask gave me a BIG headache! The night started with us decorating our cupcakes with an "I" out of candy corn. We then ate homemade pizza (I figured we could be like the Ninja Turtles) and our cupcakes. After posing for some pictures, we watched the movie The Incredibles, which is one of our favorite ones.

Bob (Mr. Incredible) and Dash

The Incredibles in action! Watch out, we are ready for battle!

Princess Tea Party

Our second themed family night was all for Karis: Princess Tea Party Night. I pulled out all the stops, at least all that I knew of to put on a full fledged tea party for dinner. Karis and I dressed in our princess clothes, and Noah and Justin dressed in nice clothes.

My little princess and me dressed for our tea party.

Thanks to my friend Lori, I made scones for the first time. They were absolutely yummy! I also made my Aunt Barbara's tea cakes which were also fantastic! We had hot tea, a vegetable tray with ranch dip and fruit.

Tea anyone?

Yummy scones, one of my new favorite things.

We tried to get the kids to stick out their pinky while drinking the tea, not so easy for Noah. It was fun being silly and trying to be English!

Family photo!

Up next: super hero night. Family themed nights are so fun. We watched Cinderella after tea and all enjoyed the family classic, even Noah said "that was good Mommy."

Happy Friday!

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Fall is really in the air today, what a beautiful day the Lord has made!

Lions and Cougars and Bears OH MY!!!

Last Monday, we took our first "field trip" to the zoo. It has been almost three years since we went last time because I was pregnant with Noah. The weather was a bit warm, but the time we had was incredible. The kids got up early, ate their breakfast in the car and spent the next two hours in the car in sweet peace. Once there, the journey of walking, walking, and more walking began.

When we arrived in the park, the first thing we saw was a poster with "bigger than life" Dora and Diego. The zoo had a 4-D show playing featuring the duo.




We then proceeded to travel through Africa, seeing lions, bears, birds, and many other beautiful animals.

The kids got to sit in a helicopter and play like they were flying over Africa.

Family photo!

Ostrich eggs are BIG, so BIG that Noah fit in one!! (not really!)

The zoo has a bug playground, and Karis is sliding down the leaf!

This photo needs no words.

My two little bears.

And finally, a collage with all the animals we saw. I didn't think it would be very smart to put all 200 pictures we took. God's creatures are so intricately made, some so strange looking but all made for His glory.

It's PAJAMA TIME!

Family night is one of our favorite nights of the week. We (Justin and I) try to do something different and fun for the kids and ourselves. After my friend, Mandy, did theme dinners this summer with her family, I decided to do "theme family night." Our first was "Pajama Night." We ate breakfast for dinner (which isn't that random in our house, nothing like pancakes or biscuits and eggs for dinner) in our pajamas, then we watched The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, from the Chronicles of Narnia.
I have also discovered that I am not a writer, despite my love of literature (all different genres) and my English degree, my writing skills need help. I love grammar and proofreading but creative words and stories are not my forte. So along those lines, most of my posts will be picture based.

Dinner spread consisting of: honey bun cake, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, and homemade hash browns.

The kids getting comfortable on the blow up mattress for the movie.

A family night in our pajamas, there's nothing more comfortable than that!

Goalie: Game 4

Four games into the season and the Princess Strikers are 0-3-1, but Karis is having a ball playing goalie. She stayed in the goal the whole second half and stopped at least 8 shots and allowed two goals. Way to go sweet girl! Our team did score 2 goals this game and are improving greatly each game.

Daddy's Home!

A Week of School in Pictures

Last week we did school outside a few days, since the weather was so cool, at least at the beginning of the week. Karis started her science/nature journal, drawing a picture in her fort from their swing set. (I am so reminded of my friend Laura's little girl, Bethany).

Karis' finished product, a tree and a pumpkin.

Noah climbed, while Karis worked.

We then moved school inside for our math lesson. Karis made her rectangles, while Noah made triangles and lines.

After school, we made our fall cut out cookies. I decided to let the kids do the whole process, help me mix up the dough, roll it out, and cut the cookies themselves.

Determination written all over her face

Steady hand finding a place for another cookie

The kids iced and decorated the cookies later that afternoon, and we shared some with our neighbors and the child watch ladies at the YMCA. It is a joy to see the kids wanting to share their cookies with others. I so enjoy being able to teach kindness, sharing, and love to others at home. (I also really enjoy cookies of any kind!!!!).