preparing for Christmas

This weekend the kids participated in our church's Christmas pageant where they talked about some of the symbols of Christmas.  Jason memorized his part and Elizabeth repeated after one of the older girls.  Here are their performances:

 

They got to get to know some of the older kids at church and made more friends.

 

 

 

Earlier this week I got inspired and decided that Elizabeth needed a cape.  I already had the fabric and it was way easier than I thought it was going to be.

 

I hope she enjoys wearing it!  Are you ready for Christmas?  I am!



On the Polar Express

Last Sunday we surprised the kids with a ride on the Polar Express.  I had been wanting to go for a few years because it is Jason's favorite movie, and I finally convinced Jeff to take us.



They were both so excited to show me their tickets



We had cookies and hot chocolate.



And danced...



A lot!



It was a wonderful family experience and one I hope they will remember for a very long time.



Elizabeth was so excited when she saw that Santa was coming!



Now my house is filled with the music from their silver bells.

Christmas cards fail

So yesterday I was on a bit of a high horse so I decided to show you some of my recent fails.  We have had some gorgeous weather for the past two days, but it is supposed to be getting cold and rainy tomorrow.  So I was trying to take advantage of the warm Texas weather to get some Christmas Card photos of the kids.  They were not as interested!



Elizabeth's look of concern is because I tried to fall as I was taking the photo.


Nice hands Elizabeth!


They were just done at this point, hence the grimaces.

It is looking like we might be using indoor photos for Christmas this year!

No Naughty or Nice

Lately my kids have been less than angels.  I don't know if it is because we have all been suffering from a cold and not had enough sleep or we have watched too much TV because of that cold or some combination of those things, but we have been having a hard time.  If one kid isn't fussing the other one is, or fighting with each other or sassing Jeff or I.  Sometimes I wish I could warn them by saying Santa and his elves are watching, but we don't do that. 


When Jason was young we decided that we weren't going to threaten the kids with the possibility that Santa wouldn't give them any gifts.  I can't imagine a scenario that we would go ahead and return the kids gifts. We try not to threaten consequences we wouldn't make good on.  My mom told me a story about her brother that one Christmas he had been so bad on Christmas Eve that there weren't any gifts for him on Christmas morning.  His parents said that if he was very good at Christmas Mass then Santa may come back with his presents.  He was the best little boy ever and there were gifts when he got home. 

The most important reason we don't focus on naughty or nice is because it really isn't in the spirit of Christmas.  I mean Christ came into the world and died for our sins independent of us being naughty or nice.  God gives us his grace and there is nothing we can do to earn it, no matter how nice we are.  It feels disingenuous to say be nice or else. 

We haven't gone as far as to do away with Santa and we even still move the Elf on the Shelf every day, but we try to avoid saying things like "Santa is watching" or make Christmas morning threats.  Of course we want our kids to be good, we just want them to behave and obey to make us and God happy not to receive presents.  While I will be working with the kids on improving their attitudes they know that Santa will come on Christmas.

Pre Thanksgiving Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesdays

nearly Wordless Wednesdays

I'm going to try something new, Wordless Wednesdays!  Lots of pictures of the cuties, not many words from me, win for everyone!

I'm not trying to exclude Jason, he just didn't want to come out to work on my photography today, so I took the cutie I could get!

Hand update

Since the last two comments have been requests for updates on the kids hands and to encourage audience participation, I guess I will give an update.  Last spring we went back to the doctor for a check of how the kids hands were healing.  The doctors said that they all looked pretty good and that we didn't really need to come back until the kids were much older.  So how did everything shape up?  well their hands don't function like yours or mine do, but they are better than they were.  Most of the issues come with bending the middle and ring fingers.  They are able to bend each hand at various levels.  I was concerned that it would make learning to write more difficult, but Jason seems to be handling it well.  I asked each of the kids to spread out their hands then to make tight fists.  You can see that for the most part they can only make fists with 3 of their fingers, but they make it work.  The doctors said that unless we did some really advanced surgery this was probably as good as we were going to get, which we are okay with.

Jason:





Elizabeth:




And a cute picture of the kids for those not that interested in their hands

Faith, Trust and a little Pixiedust!

Elizabeth with her pixiedust

I'm not dead and I didn't forget about you guys.  I'm sorry I've ignored this blog for so long.  I just keep getting distracted and not posting much.  There are a bunch of things I want to write about and I hope I don't forget anything, but I guess if I do I can always write another post.  Sorry this is a little disjointed.


Poor Jeff had a hard week last week.  He was so sick he came home on Monday and stayed home on Tuesday.  We got a ton of rain last week so when he got back to work the mine was flooded and one of the roads was washed out and a bunch of other issues were going on that he is working on fixing.  He worked so late he almost missed trick or treating with the kids on Halloween and worked most of the weekend.  I've almost forgotten what he looks like!  Poor guy is working so hard!

This year for Halloween Jason decided he wanted to be an Astronaut.  Elizabeth had been telling us for months she wanted to be Cinderella, then about a week ahead of time she saw me get her a pair of dress up wings as part of her Christmas present and decided she wanted to me a butterfly.  I was finally able to convince her she was going to be Cinderella and she happily went trick or treating.  We started at the town's "Boo on the square"  which was kind of a bust because it had been rescheduled from the night before so there was only one person there handing out candy.  So we headed back home to trick or treat around our neighborhood.  Jason practically ran from house to house and I had to tell him a few times to wait for Elizabeth and I.  After we got home Elizabeth was mad that I was handing out candy thinking it was from her stash.  We did finally get them back to bed a little late.


Dressing up has been a theme for Elizabeth lately.  She loved to wear her Cinderella dress before Halloween and is pretty excited for the wings and pink dress she saw me get.  The day after Halloween went to the Target in Waco to get discounted costumes.  I got her Belle, Minnie Mouse, a Doctor, a Cowgirl, a Fireman and some heeled shoes.  All those things are going to make an amazing dress up stash she will get at Christmas.  When we were looking around for Jason's astronaut costume we were in a Halloween store and Elizabeth fell in love with a bag of pixiedust.  She has worn it for about the last month and always wants to know where it is!

I had another stint there where I tried out a bunch of new hairstyles on Elizabeth.  Some looked cute at first then fell out after a few hours and some just didn't turn out the way I thought they would.  At least it was something new to see.



We have been exploring Texas a bunch over the past month.  We went to the Aquarium in Austin and Camping near Temple.  We visited a military museum in Austin with Aunt Michelle and visited the Zoo in Waco with cousins that moved to the area.  One of the most exciting trips was one I took in the middle of the night.  Jeff has cousins that moved to Fort Hood, about 3 hours from us, and the wife, Sarah, was pregnant with their second daughter.  I agreed to watch their older daughter, 3 year old Rachel, when she went into labor.  I got a call in the middle of the night one Sunday that it was happening and I had nighttime adventure picking Rachel up.  We got to meet the new little baby, Riley when we were most recently camping near Temple. 
Waco Zoo with Rachel:




Austin Aquarium:

Jason said this was his favorite

I thought this one was my favorite until I read that it was a Piranha



We pet the stingrays

Military Museum:







Baby Riley:


does he look like he is ready for another one?

I'll try to make sure it isn't so long before I post again.  By the way, it's only 50 days until Christmas, YAY!