can't hardly wait!!

So the preparations have been made,

the presents are wrapped, the cookies are out,

 the children are asleep, the birthday cake is frosted,

 and the Mr. and I are awaiting just the right moment to dash up to the attic (well he will dash!) and get out the Christmas. The season has been awesome, our joy was immeasurable today watching Miss H and Cubby play Mary and Joseph in our Church's family service, with Little Daddy bedecked as the awesomist shepherd you ever did see. Lil bit played her part well as an angel, and a good time was had it seems by all.

Perhaps the best time of this Christmas eve was a last minute visit (no not this one!)

One of these years I'm bound to get a hallmark version don't you think? 

 The visits were to two older members of our congregation, on which both my daughters offered to accompany me. YAY! Both visits were joyful, and reminded me again what a great gift it is to be a mother, to be a mother to wonderful people, and to have so much to be thankful for. As much as I am guilty of delight at things to be unwrapped, I am pleased to find myself contented and grateful for these moments I am able to spend with people, hearing about their lives and sharing their joys. Let us not forgot my family train is generally a circus, and I am always pleasantly surprised at those who welcome it in and embrace it.  I am delighted to have sons and daughters that bring joy to others and to me, children in whom I can see the desire to love others well. It is an amazing gift to be surrounded by people better than yourself, and to be able to claim them!

And little daddy will be four FOUR tomorrow.. can you even believe it!!

Here we are in our Christmas Jamma Finery wishing you the very merriest of Days! May the peace and love that came embodied as a  babe lying in a manger fill your heart and home and may the hope that He brings to this world light your path.

Much love!!

Christmas means crafting...

 We have been crafting and crafting around here.. Miss H received a candlemaking kit from our dear friends and after reading the directions I set her up with a rotary cutting board and tool and she went right to town. She made a selection of tapers and pillars, and then got the brillant idea to make some birthday candles for Little Daddy's number four birthday!

Then she embellished some of her candles.. She made a family of three... and then this..

I know.. it totally looks like it came right out of a magazine! I love her!

Although we have a stack of fabric that needs to turn into pajama pants I have been obsessed with a photo project I discovered around Thanksgiving.. you can see it here.. So obviously I don't have enough cash lying around to just fill my house with these treasures so I did a little google research and have been working on a few pieces.. I am not so pleased with the color transfer method, although I only did a paper version (and nearly rubbed my finger prints off!) but I think I could get hooked on the transparency method... I love the look alot more than simple decoupage, even though it is obviously more time consuming.. but I've not perfected it yet.

here's a sample..

It's beginning to look alot like CHRISTMAS!!

I can't believe that in SIX short days it will be The BIG DAY!!  Little Daddy will be F-O-U-R, and we will celebrate the greatest day of LOVE!

We've been baking! Gingerbread, and some treats that never made their photographic debut but were delicious none the less (Rice Krispy Wreath's especially)

She is not a great "helper" cooperative and enthusiastic yes.. but her output is just about nil.. 

The Mr. whipped up a batch of these... 

Hmm Buckeye Balls!! You'll notice that one is missing in this picture already.. I can hardly control myself around these treats, and The Mr. doesn't even pretend to try. 

 It Snowed!! We celebrated by eating the December snowflakes.. 

And with a freak commuter time  ice/snow storm we got a whole day off school, and was able to remember all the reasons I loved being a stay at home mom. 

We played Wii (did I mention that one day this summer I left the Mr. alone with the kids and when I came home we owned a Wii?)

I also took a hilarious video of Lil Bit and Little Daddy dueling it out in "SwordPlay" Lil Bit loses everytime, but one can't help enjoying her gameplay.

We cuddled in our jammas and opened Santa's workshop and ate homemade mac n cheese on this snow day.. if this post wasn't already so long I would post my recipe.. it's amazing.. but you can't eat it very often because it's terribly unhealthy.  (We usually balance it out with oatmeal at breakfast and collard greens and blackeyed peas for dinner)  Here is Lil Bit mashing up the topping.. She's not angry, her mouth is full of "friend in me" crackers (which is how she refers to Toy Story.  Our Mac n Cheese begins with bacon and is topped off with Cheez-It crumbles... and what comes in between is a cheese heaven let me tell you..

Santa's workshop opened..

The elves put in some serious time sewing pretty with Hello Kitty.. Miss H whipped out aprons, and burpcloths, and placemats in a truly impressive fashion. There was wrapping and singing and gift packing and post-officing as well..

Check out this fine cutting! HE's getting so grown up, although I'm not sure why he's cutting lefthanded. 

Can you guess who this is for? 

If you are reading this Abby, close your eyes.

Finally today at church we lit the 4th candle of advent... I'm sure this is where I should submit a mini talk about the meaning of the season.. but the meaning of the season was more than clear this afternoon watching Cubby, Miss H and Lil Bit caroling at the retirement community for some older members of our congregation. I love that we have found such a wonderful church home that provides abundant opportunities for us to share the Peace, Hope, Joy and Love that is brought into our lives through relationship with a Heavenly Father. 

Here are a few pics.. from the fourth Sunday.. Six more days and we will have four candles of a whole different sort!! 

A new low..

I'm so embarrassed at how long it's been since my last post. Missing, probably forever from our family history.. the school conference that broke the camel's back, the pre-thanksgiving fun! Baby Jack! Thanksgiving, black friday, christmas tree, my new job, the last go deacs game of the season, the first snow, my other new job, the cast came off! Letters to Santa the advent candles, the candletea, the crafting melee, the ornament party, Outbreak at Kindergarten! Lil Bit's new do, so I'll do my best to some it all up and select a few ton of pics..

We are having SO much fun!! Although I am also frequently exhausted and intermittenly quite grumpy from all the fun. Cubby has grown to an enormous height, so much so that I had to buy him new pants and gave him firm instructions to stop growing for a few weeks at least.. also he is writing a book, which is awesome! His arm is all better, and actually he complained about it so infrequently that a few times I forgot it was broken at all, except that he no longer sucks his fingers which is AWESOME. so now I am thinking Miss H should get a cast to end her thumb-sucking. Is there a doctor that would put a cast on a kindergartner for no reason other than I find her thumbsucking and occassional sneaky nose picking to be so annoying my skin crawls?  She continues to be exceptionally helpful and a great big sister, so I am trying to let these joys outweigh the shortcomings.

Little Daddy continues to be a delight and is really thriving with C and H off at Kindergarten (which is not my favortite by the way) He is becoming quite the little reader and has nearly polished off the first sight words box and collection 1 of BOB. He has also been excited because the big FOUR is coming in less than two weeks and you know what that means..  A beard (according to him!) and a Library Card. AWESOME!

Little Bit who we have been calling Pinky and Little Pink or Red Riding Hood finally got over her sinus infection and seems to have the worst allergies of all the family, so she is taking an allergy medicine everyday. Her attitude has improved dramatically, perhaps being able to breathe has increased her tolerance for us. I did have to cut her hair because she refuses to let me wash it or brush it and it was constantly looking tangled and less than beautiful. When wet, her curly top stretched nearly to her little buns, but I tearfully chopped it into a chin length bob. I'm hopeful it will grow back.

Here are three of my favorite pics from the last month and you can watch the slide show to see the rest of our fun.

Slideshow generated with Smilebox

The After party

So we went trick or treating.. awesome fun. Little Bit was so in to it.. except the scary parts. We came home with quite a haul. Couple the 37 lbs of chocolate each child brought in, and the Costco size sugar candy bag we bought to give out, although we did not get a single trick or treater (burned out street light)
means we have 7,429 lbs of candy to each..
Lil Bit said she'll handle all the lollipops.

 see her here in a sugar daze

 This is not her offering to share, it's her telling me to STAY BACK!

you can no have my candy, you need get your own trick or treat.