Graham Cracker Houses

I figure I better finish with Christmas posts before it's inappropriately too late. :)

When we celebrated Christmas with my family, my mom had the kids decorate these cute (and easy!) "gingerbread" houses.

I was so impressed with how well the boys did. They were so creative, and from what I'm told, they didn't try to eat all the candy!

My oldest insisted on having crosses all over his house. When he put the gummy bears on the crosses, he said they were like Jesus dying on the cross.

I was so inspired that when we spent Christmas with my husband's side of the family, we built some more houses for the boys to decorate again but this time with their cousins. It was so fun!

Pig Tails

Pig Tails got a new swim suit and a pretty necklace for Christmas. :)

She's so pretty.

A Big Girl

I've been telling myself that after Christmas I am going to take away the pacifier.

And I did.

And...she's living...but she's sad, which make me sad. :(

Here she is, happily going down for a nap, with a pacifier...pre-Christmas. :)

She's such a good girl.

She's saying "Cheese!" :)

What I Love:

..having 3 (going on 4) little kids.

White Christmas

We're visiting family for Christmas.

It's white. :)

We're stuck inside during a blizzard. It's fun. :)

These photos were taken BEFORE the blizzard....and after the icy fog storm... The heavy ice caused power outages, one of which was on Christmas Eve night. We read the Christmas story, sang Christmas carols, and opened gifts by candlelight. It was romantic. Anne of Green Gables romantic.

Having a wonderful Christmas. How about everyone else?

Catechism

Yesterday:

My ferocious little lion: Mom, why is God everywhere?

His younger sibling, the mean dinosaur: Cuz God's a spirit, and he has no body as we do.

Up until recently, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a catechism was except that the Catholic kids "do it" weekly. However, I have learned that other denominations use catechisms to teach church doctrine to their children. And, our church belongs to one such denomination.

There are different catechisms, and the one we use is based on the Westminster Confession of Faith. Basically, the catechism is a series of questions and answers that give kids (and adults) a means by which they may memorize and understand the truths of Scripture.

There is a children's version of the catechism which I prefer even for me, because it's simple...and I'm simple. :)

I bought a CD with songs written for the first 20 questions of the catechism.

WhoWhatWhyHowWhereWhen

By: Eric Gilbert

Here are the words to one of the songs:

"What is God? God is a spirit, and He has no body as we do."

repeat...

"Where is God? God is everywhere."

...and a lot more repeating.

*Note the striking resemblance between the lyrics of the song and the conversation between my two young boys (outlined at the beginning of this post).

Great music..super catchy...I love it. My baby (18 months old) is already requesting and singing along with the song "Who Made You?" every time we get in the car.

The kids love the music, and the doctrine of God seems to be staying in their minds and hearts in a deeper way than I had imagined.

I'm encouraged. :) You should try it...if you want and stuff. :)

30 Weeks

So...the picture's a little "grainy"...but let's call it "artistic" instead! :) 10 weeks to go!

Reformation Day 2009

Our Littlest One

Here is our littlest baby.

We do not know boy or girl. :)

But...cute, right?

See the little fist up by "his" forehead?

Let's see.....

Who's bigger?

We better start keeping track now. :)

Oh, and Baby is due to arrive around February 12th which puts me...ALMOST at 6 months! Woo Hoo!

Random Fall Stuff

Did you know that October 31st is Reformation Day? That's what we like to celebrate in the Fall. Our decorations and traditions are similar to every one else's...we just like to think of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-five theses on the door at Wittenberg while we're carving pumpkins and dressing in costumes. :)

I love fall colors.

Two of my children were born in May, which means I suffered morning sickness during the entire fall season. As a result, I now associate all the smells, textures, and sights of fall with nausea...which is unfortunate, because I mostly love (or used to) the smells, textures, and sights of fall.

We got 3 pumpkins on our Pumpkin Patch outing: one for each kid. They each told me what they wanted carved, and I carved it. My little girl didn't so much tell me...we just all assumed what she wanted. :)

We roasted some pumpkin seeds...a first. Pretty yummy.

The pumpkins are arranged in order of the "owners' " ages. The first one is suppose to look "kinda mean", the second is a dinosaur, and the third is a butterfly.

Impossible Request

Each morning over breakfast, the boys and I discuss our dreams from the night before...if we remember them.

3 yr. old:

"I had a dream that a baby alligator was biting my arm! I ran away, and I tried to shoot him, but my gun was broke! So Daddy shot him with his gun!"

This dream seemed to be a recurring one, because for the last 4 mornings, I've heard about it.

Last night:

4 yr. old:

"Dad, I want you to come into my dream and kill something."

Ha!

I love my kids.

A Little Field Trip=A Wonderful Day

I'm pretty certain there are no actual pumpkin patches in the state that we live in...

But, we temporarily live very close to a state that CAN grow produce!...so we were able to get to a pumpkin patch that was only about an hour away from our house. And...it was a perfect, perfect day.

We got that pumpkin for $1.

The kids got to play on some hay bales.

My baby took this picture on accident. I had set the camera on the ground, and she started messing with it...and...voila! I think it's a great picture!

The boys. :)

The petting zoo section.

The baby goat that we all fell in love with. He/she was hopping and jumping and kicking all around. So cute!

Somebody fell asleep on the hay ride....