Christmas Eve baking....a few days after Christmas

One of our family traditions is baking cookies on Christmas Eve. This year, however, we waited a few more days....Shelby and Aunt Laura came over to Granny's house and joined in the messy (and yummy) fun.

Last Trip to Hands On for 2008

Okay, we couldn't resist one more trip. Laura & Shelby accompanied us for our last trip of the year. Can you tell that I just love this place?? I wish this existed where I live--of course, I'd want the small town population, too!

Christmas Afternoon at the Reynolds'

We spent the late afternoon/evening at Aunt Laura & Uncle Alan's. Of course, Shelby is the real highlight when we visit Aunt Laura! ;) The kids had fun opening gifts and playing fort behind the furniture. I think an old sheet would have been the best gift for that crew of kiddos.

Synchronized Sleepers

Evie had gone to bed early and Jared crawled into bed with her a couple hours later. We didn't know he had done that, but it didn't wake her up and they both slept through the night. Way too sweet!

Christmas Morning at the Brown's

The best part of taking the pictures on Christmas morning is that no one can see what YOU look like that early! :) Okay, so the adults weren't nearly as excited as the munchkins.

More Hands On!

Aunt Nancy and Tonya (with her cutie pie kids) met us at Hands On for some kid-play! The kids had a blast. It reminded me of being a kid and playing with Tonya and her two sisters sooo many years ago.

Jared and Shelby had a great time climbing trees and playing store.

Christmas Cuties

Once again I tried to get pics of the kids on our way to church. It's sad when you get five somewhat decent pictures and are happy with them. :)

Cool...look at my new shoes.

Cornerstone Christmas Party

We attended our first Sunday School Christmas party this past Saturday night. We had so much fun. The gift exchange included reading the story of Christ's birth and passing gifts right and left, as the words "right" and "left" were read. Some of the gifts were good and some were silly. The best gift was Matthew's "Macho Man" shirt that he got rid of after 20 years.

Christmas only happens twice a year??

Yes, we did Christmas early at our house. We decided to spread things out a little bit. The kids will have more to open on Christmas day from Granny & Poppy and Aunt Laura.

Misc Early December Pictures

This wasn't our first snow, but it was the first that needed to be shoveled. Jared was so excited about being old enough to shovel it by himself. We stayed inside and watched from the front door. He did a great job!

Scott and I took the kids to their first Home Depot workshop a couple of weeks ago. They had a blast making an art easel. It took Evie a few minutes to warm up to Santa (way better than last year's experience on the Santa train).

I had to clear things up for Jared & Evie on the way to Home Depot. Jared told Evie that Mrs. Claus was Santa's mommy. I'm sure Mrs. Claus appreciates that!

Blaming Jared while apologizing to him

Last week Jared and Evie were fighting over an empty toilet paper roll....yes, a 2 or 3 day old toilet paper roll. Of course, to them it was a telescope. They were in another room, but came to find me....

Jared: "Evie hit me."

Evie: "I did not."

Mommy: "Evie, did you hit Jared?"

Evie: "Yes." (quick change of plea)

Mommy: "Evie, you need to apologize."

Evie: "Jared, I'm sorry you took my..."

Mommy: "Evie, that's not what I meant."

Evie: "Jared, I'm sorry I hit you because you took my telescope."

Mommy: "Evie!"

Evie: "Jared, I'm sorry I hit you. Will you forgive me?"


Yes, she knew what to say all along, but she took her sweet time getting to the point.

Early Christmas Present

I just went upstairs to get Madison. Evie followed me up the stairs and turned on the hall light.

"I turned the light on! Merry Christmas, Mommy!"

So there you have it, I got the gift of light for Christmas. How fitting.

May each of you receive The Light for Christmas.

Giddy with Homeschool Happiness

I am reading "The Story of the World" to Jared (and Evie, if she happens to be around) for our history curriculum. To say that we are proceeding at a snail's pace is to imply that snails travel as fast as jumbo jets. We've been at it for a few weeks and just finished chapter one today.

Now for the giddy part....we read about farmers today, which led us to talk about walled cities. I asked Jared if he could think of a famous city that had walls.....he, of course, said, "Jericho." Yay! I love it when things stick and can be recalled in reference.

Anyway, he went on to ask me about Jericho and if it still existed, so we launched google earth and went in search of the West Bank. It was so cool to hear him ask if we could go there, comment that he wished he'd been able to see Jesus in Bethlehem and talk about the lack of peace in the Middle East.

It really was like talking to a little grown-up.

A little holiday frustration...

Okay, so my older two kiddos are watching "The Grinch" right now. I recorded it on the ABC Family channel, as part of their "25 days of Christmas" run.

Why, oh why, is it necessary to run the sexy M&M's commercial and Victoria's Secret ads?? I know it's prime time, but weren't they expecting KIDS to watch this??

Cave Paintings

We're reading "The Story of the World" for our history curriculum. In chapter one, we are learning about nomads and the cave paintings they left behind. Well, we made a cave-like atmosphere by using my pantry hallway and taped up some brown paper...add a little washable paint and some imagination....

Jared painted a horse (coincidentally, that's the mammal we learned about in science today).

I painted a sun and stick-man, which Evie told me was "cool." The things that girl says!

Evie added her own blob.

" Don't worry, Daddy, Mommy already cleaned the walls." :)