Decking the halls

Heading out to the bus stop....

My snuggle bug loves it when his big brother gets home from school. He smiles, dives for Christian and immediately starts slobbering all over him and pulling his hair. Christian loves it too. It's one of my favorite moments of the day.

His First Christmas

He's so sweet. I love watching him discover all the splendor of Christmas. He loves the tree. We have a few ornaments he's allowed to play with. Thankfully he hasn't touched any of the lights. He is ALL OVER the house these days, so there will be no presents under that tree until Christmas morning.

Her Duck

McKenna was running around quacking like a duck and waving this paper in Will's face. Then she whipped it around and showed it to me. It was a duck. A duck that actually looked like a duck. A duck that my 3 year old drew all by herself. Crazy girl...I never know what she's going to do next.

The Out Takes....

 Getting a decent picture is never easy.

There's always a little drama behind the scenes.

Date Night

The night before Thanksgiving Christian took me out on a date! He got a coupon for a free meal at Olive Garden as part of a reading contest. So we headed out on the town. There really aren't words to describe how much I cherish time with just Christian. He talks and talks and talks when he's by himself.

I learned a lot:

1. Being good at school is really hard. Staying on "green" all day pretty much makes him miserable because there are tons and tons of rules. Some of the hardest rules are; don't call out and keep your hands to yourself. Oh the challenges of kindergarten.
2. His best friends all seem to be girls because they don't get him in trouble.
3. The highlight of every school day is playing kickball at recess.
4. He thinks reading chapter books is going to be exciting :) He can't wait to be able to do that.

5. Mrs. E says using the word "Indians" is bad. You should call them "Native Americans." I guess I'm not very PC.                    

6. Eating at a real restaurant is fun. It would be better if we knew some people there.

7. His learning partner at school is annoying because he doesn't listen. (hmmm...I think I could have made a point with that one).

8. Word searches are one of his new favorite things now that he knows how to do them (thanks to the kids menu).

What a great time we had! I love having a 6 year old! I think I might like my kids more and more as they get older. Not that I don't adore them now, I just think my personality is geared more towards older kids so I love this age.

I Changed my Mind

Ryan is such a good sport. I mean really.

We have a few Christmas trees that we put up.

Since this is only our 2nd Christmas in this house I'm still figuring out what I'm doing.

So I started putting up this lovely 9ft beauty. It is gorgeous when it's done, but it is pretty much the world's worst tree to assemble. I got half way done with the lights on it too, and decided that it was NOT going to work in the living room. It had to be moved to the dining  room. 

But look at the height of the tree compared to the height of the doorway. Things got a little interesting, but thankfully that's behind us now and all the decorating is done. Well, almost.

December 1st - Make his NAME KNOWN!!!

Check out this verse......

Isaiah 12:4
In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted."

When I read it, I get excited!! That verse is going to be my focus for this month. My job as a mommy and daughter of Christ is to "make known what he has done." It's especially important to do this in my own home. I've got to make sure my kids "get" that December is all about Jesus and what HE did for us by coming to earth to be our Savior!!

I am totally running behind. I am not ready for Dec. 1st, so I've got to scramble today. I've got big plans, I just need to make them happen! I need to get the Jesse Tree up and we're going to start something new that I'm calling "Love Jesus, Love Others." It's been brewing in my head for a few weeks now.....It's pretty much the same thing as what Courtney's doing with her 24 acts of Kindness with her kids. My goal is to teach my kids that Jesus did something HUGE for us and the way we can thank him is by loving and blessing other people. That if we love Jesus our love for others should naturally flow out of our hearts. But they're 6 and 3 and there is a serious lack of love sometimes. If I were being honest, I'm 33 and I have a serious lack of love sometimes.....so we're working on it :)

How are you "making his name known" this month????