Merry Christmas!

Christmas Fun

We've been filling this season with simple, fun Christmas activities.  We have a number of things that have now become traditions in our family, and it's so fun to know that these are creating memories for our children.

Some of the highlights from this year:

Cuddling up and watching Christmas movies - of course! 

This year a nearby town had a Christmas trolley with free rides around town - so fun! 

We had thought about having a big sleepover in the living room by the Christmas tree, and we did, though it wasn't quite what we planned.  Everyone (except me, thankfully!) got sick with a stomach bug, and to try to avoid having kids throwing up in their beds we all slept out in the living room.  Nobody threw up that night, but instead they took turns throwing up (in their beds) on various nights later in the week.  Anyway, we spent about a week eating juice and crackers, watching lots of movies, and doing lots of laundry.   Once everyone was better, we were able to move on to the fun stuff!

Like making and decorating and eating cookies.....

We've been doing our annual December evening reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible.  We've been reading Christmas stories and we went out looking at Christmas lights.  I tried making homemade Egg Nog this year, which turned out great.  I used this recipe.  We got the house cleaned up this morning and now we're ready for a fun Christmas with our families!

First Snow

We had our first snowfall last night!  It's so fun to wake up to a winter wonderland!  And such a fun way to start the Christmas season!  We're hoping to go get our tree today before everything freezes over as it's supposed to the next couple of nights.

We had to go out to enjoy the snow and build a snowman.  The 15 minutes of play time hardly seems to justify the hour we (I) spend getting ready and cleaning up, but of course it does somehow, too.  Toby only lasted a few minutes this year because he took off his gloves and it all went downhill from there.  I ended up putting him in the living room with a bottle and Veggies Tales while I helped Ben and Jo finish up their snowman.  Then everyone was ready to head in for hot cocoa!

The aftermath!

The chickens were a little hesitant to come out of their coop, and when they did they preferred to avoid the snow.  We'll be bundling them up a bit more tonight to avoid some of the bitter cold!

Giving Thanks

I found the idea for a Thankful Tree online and thought it would be a fun project to do with the kids.  We went outside and gathered some branches and rocks, which we arranged in our jar.  Then we cut leaves out of construction paper.  The kids did most of them.  I have to admit I love their "unique" shapes!  My idea was to hang the leaves with string, but they preferred to just put the leaves straight on the branches.

Then, for the last few nights at dinnertime, everyone chose a couple of leaves on which to write something we're thankful for.  Benjamin and Joanna wanted to write theirs themselves - perfect unschooling writing practice!  =)

Reading their leaves is a bit like unscrambling words - but hey!

I love how this project turned out, but especially just how much the kids had fun with it.  I think it has been really helpful in talking about and encouraging thankfulness in the kids.

I am so thankful for these little people in my life, and for the opportunity to make fun memories with them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Benjamin has been really interested in the
Thanksgiving story, and he wanted to make
a Pilgrim hat!

Six

Still gets excited over new socks!  =)

Benjamin is six today.  So hard to believe six years have passed since that little baby made us a family of three, and yet, of course, it seems like forever, too.

I'm pretty sure he's an extravert; he loves to be with other people, can't stop talking, and thrives on attention - lots of it!  He's generous and always willing to help.  He loves consistency and routine, and he has a huge imagination and an amazing memory.  It has been so fun to watch him grow and develop these past six years, and we can't wait to see how he grows and changes (and stays the same) in the coming years!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

We love you!

Going up....

There are definitely lots of benefits to having older kids along with babies, but unfortunately there are some extra challenges, too....

He can't walk, but he has become terribly good at scaling the bunk bed ladder!  He's been trying for a while, and then all of a sudden yesterday, he did it (and did it again and again)!  And, of course, he's very proud of himself.

Now if we can just remember to keep the bedroom door closed....

Let's run, run, run.....It's time for Halloween fun!

After watching all the neighborhood kids come trick-or-treating at our house for the past couple of years, the kids have been asking if they can go get candy, too.  So this year we decided to do a little something with them and we took them trick-or-treating at the grandparents' houses.  All the stores in the little downtown near Seth's parents' house were all giving out candy, too, so we walked around there for a little while gathering some goodies.  The kids loved it, and we made sure we were still home plenty early enough to pass out candy at our house, which is always a huge highlight to our kids.