Busy busy busy!

It's been kind of busy around here....

My birthday was Thursday. I'm now moving more into the 30s....kind of sad, but it was a nice day. It was the kids' last day at school, so I dropped them off and killed some time at the mall. Then, I had the best massage EVER! It was so wonderful!

After some lunch with Chris, we headed to Caleb's class Christmas party. It's hilarious to watch the semblance of order with a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds! The director of the Mother's Day Out read a story. Then the kids got to open their presents (a book each parent sent for their kid). The kiddos of course were going nuts opening and enjoying their gifts when Mrs. Lindsey (director) tried to calm them down to read the Christmas story from the Bible. Not happening with that crowd!! They were too busy to slow down and listen to a story! I'm so glad Caleb likes his school. I got to meet some more friends and parents, so that was nice. The one he talks about most is "Camel" (Campbell). I met him at Halloween but got to meet the folks this time. Apparently, Campbell talks about Caleb just as much at his house!

We had our Sunday School party that night, too. It was fun....lots of gift stealing going on there! I'm glad to have some great friends up here. They're becoming more like family. For a while, it seemed like all we were encountering were problems and more problems, but God is good, and things have been looking up!

Now we're gearing up for Christmas. Our sweet church family gave us Christmas gifts yesterday morning. They are an incredibly generous bunch. Then we went caroling to some shut ins and nursing home residents last night before meeting back up for some yummy soup and chili! The kids enjoyed it, and I think those little old ladies enjoy seeing the boys. They are cute! But I'm biased...

It's fun having little ones. You can work on their gifts right in front of them, and they never know it! Chris is building a table for some hot wheels stuff and Caleb's Diego train, and they have no clue what it's for! So innocent! Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and get to spend some great time with family and friends. We'll be up here, our first Christmas not with the rest of the family. I think it'll be good, but I'm sure we'll be missing the fam!

Surviving the Ice Storm

We have spent the last 2 days covered in ice. Everything basically shut down yesterday, and NOBODY was out. Today was a bit better; at least it got above freezing! Caleb wanted to go outside and play in the snow. He was a bit disappointed to find that it was just lots of hard ice, but once Chris found a "sled", all was right in the world! I have a long rubbermaid box that holds all my gift wrapping materials, and Chris decided that looked like a great sled! All 3 of my boys loaded up on it and off they went.

We started out on the small hill that goes out of the front yard onto the road we live on (a very low traffic road). That was fun for a while, but my dear sweet husband needed more adventure! We live on the corner of our road and a very busy road. Our house sits up a bit, and there's a HUGE hill leading down to the busy road. Granted, no one was out hardly yesterday. The whole time we were out, I saw less than 10 vehicles. But, my husband felt the need to conquer the big hill. He went by himself first. Of course, Caleb has to do everything Daddy does, so Chris took him down next. He took both boys down also, but Joshua wasn't a big fan! I don't have any pics of the big hill, but I'll post video once I download that. It was hilarious! I was a bit nervous, of course, but I'm the momma! I have to learn to let my boys explore that adventurous spirit, I guess! Here are a few pics from our fun time yesterday.....

Christmas Play

Our church's Christmas program was Sun. night. Both my boys were in it...and were absolutely adorable! It was sort of like It's a Wonderful Life, but with Jesus taken out of the picture of Christmas. It was really good, and it had some great music, too. Caleb was an ornament. At first, he wasn't sure about going out on stage, but he finally went for the first song and ended up waving at me. He also went out on the last song, and by that time, he was hamming it up and dancing around with Joshua.

Joshua was "Mighty Machine Man." It was the toy one of the boys in the play talked about, so every time he was mentioned, Mighty Machine Man went out on the stage. So cute! Here are some pics of them that night.

Now I understand why my mom was always wanting to take pictures of me before all those plays. Proud parents always want pics of their precious children!!

pics

Here are some pics from our trip to TX and our decorating fun for Christmas. Enjoy!

This is at Chris's parents'...Joshua loved playing on the lawn mower! Most of the time he was laughing, though....

Christmas early with Chris's fam....I love my boys!



Why can't everyone smile and look at the camera at the same time????

This was taken on an impromptu hayride at my parents' house.

Mom bought the kids pajamas....aren't they cute?

Cheesy grin!

Back in Arkansas decorating our tree. Caleb was so excited to put the star on top! I think I had more fun decorating than ever this year because Caleb can help now! So sweet!

Welcome, Frosty! Aren't these kids just adorable!?

Christmas Moments

Well, we're back in the swing of things up here in Arkansas. I'm wrapping up the semester and posting grades.....

I only had one student appt. yesterday, so I was able to pick the boys up from school (which never happens!). Afterwards, I called Chris, and he was at Lifeway, so we headed there, too. We had to hit the Veggie Tales/Kids section of course. But, up in the front of the store was a kids nativity set. It comes with a book to tell the stories of all the characters in the nativity. Each character comes in a little box. Caleb proceeds to take each person/animal out of the boxes and set up the nativity. As he does, he's singing Silent Night. How sweet! I didn't even know he knew that song yet! He learned it at school. It was so adorable!! The final box is "what God wants for Christmas." It's a box with a mirror in the bottom, so it's you. Caleb asks why that box is empty, and I tell him it's what God wants for Christmas and show him the mirror. In his 4 year-old wisdom, he looks at me with that silly grin and says, "Mommy, I'm not a Christmas present!! That's just a mirror." You gotta love that logic!

We spent the day Monday cleaning up around here and decorating the outside of the house for Christmas. We have a huge "Frosty" in front this year. The kids love the lights and the snowman. Caleb was a great helper (haha) for his daddy while I took care of Joshua and made us some yummy hot chocolate! I'll post some pics later!