We wish you a Merry Christmas!!!!

We had a great Christmas/Christmas season and hope you did too!!!!  We started the Sat after Thanksgiving by putting up our Christmas tree (oh and of course listening to Christmas music which is pretty much on constantly thanks to my Pandora Christmas stations!).  We have started giving the kids an ornament each year so you can see Micah is really excited about his motorcycle! (he also got a train and a hot dog ornament from his grandparents/aunt).  Our tree leaves a bit to be desired but that is ok as neither Corey not I are overly picky about it.  I was just happy to have one up this year!!!  We are still in the phase of trying to figure out our own family traditions as the kids are young.  The biggest thing we wanted to emphasize is that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birthday and when God came to earth.   We did that through reading the Christmas story lots and learning new Christmas songs (Micah knows Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Angels we have heard on high), watching Christmas movies of Jesus' birth, and you have already seen in my previous post how much fun Micah had "playing nativity".  We also did our version of a Jesse Tree for advent by reading and talking about scripture each day and hanging a corresponding ornament on the tree.   (FYI The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy of Jesus Christ. It tells the story of God's salvation plan, beginning with creation and continuing through the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. The name comes from Isaiah 11:1, "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit."). 

We know of course kids are excited about getting gifts at Christmas so we really tried hard to help Micah be excited about GIVING gifts and be excited about Jesus being born. 

 

(This is the Jesse Tree Ornament that represented the first day of Advent and Genesis 1-God creating the world)

Another fun tradition (much to Corey's dismay) is making Gingerbread Houses.

Corey always has quite an interesting design

Nancy's Birthday is right before Christmas so they were all over for dessert to celebrate!

 

Jori came down the Friday before Christmas and stayed thru Christmas Eve.  We had so much fun with her.  She is AWESOME with the kids and they love her and I loved having her around!

Christmas celebration with my dad's side at our place the Sunday before Christmas!

GiGi and Grandad

We will be celebrating Adelyn's birthday when we do Micah's in Feb (she won't know the difference this year) however we still wanted to do something special for her.  I think she was perfectly happy with her chocolate cupcake, birthday balloon, and her present (Scout).

Christmas Eve day we went to Corey's parents and celebrated with his mom's side of the family.

 

Christmas Eve we had a candlelight service at chruch.  Look at how handsome my boy looks (notice the tie--he was not a fan but I told him I bet Corey would wear one if he did and that worked) and how beautiful my girl looks (Corey maybe thought the dress was a bit much but I thought she looked adorable plus its not like she will always let me dress her like that!)

Christmas Morning we read the Bible account of Jesus birth, sang a christmas carol and sang happy birthday to Jesus (along with yet another cupcake) and opened gifts.  Micah had picked out gifts for daddy (a MSU gnome) and Adelyn ( a puzzle) so he had fun giving those and of course had fun opening more gifts as well. 

Late afternoon on Christmas Day we celebrated up at Gull Lake with my mom and everyone.

So thankful for such a wonderful Christmas Celebration!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday

to our little Christmas (Eve) baby!!!!

Our morning (thus far)

We've played bakery (not only do we have to use all Micah's kitchen stuff but we have to use mine too!)

 

 We've tried on shoes (as I'm in the kitchen and the kids are in Adelyn's room I hear "come here Adelyn lets see if they fit"

 

We've played cars/trucks  

And our new favorite--we've played "nativity".  This may just look like a messy toy room (and it is) but upon closer look you will see...

 The shepherd's sheep in the field

Baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger

 The star above Bethlehem

 The wisemen riding their "camels" bringing gifts to Jesus

And the angels signing praises to Jesus

All this already this morning and it's only 930 am! :)

Our typical day...

Here is a look at our typical day (give or take some as there is rarely a typical day:)

• 6 am wake up

• 6:30 am Micah wake up

• 7 am Adelyn wake up

• 8 am breakfast (we've started doing devotions and singing to Jesus with the kids at breakfast which has been really great)

• 9 am Adelyn nap (I will usually let Micah watch a short movie or movie clip after he finishes his chores (which right now is only to make his bed and brush his teeth) so I can finish getting ready or do something like start dinner or unload dishes, etc)

• 10 am -12 pm depends on the day either play with friends, have play group, bible study, get groceries, or on a day when we don't have anything planned we will (well atleast during the winter if it were summer we'd play outside at beach/park) go to story hour or the kids museum or when we are desperate we go to dairy queen or mcdonalds playland

• 12 pm Corey home for lunch

• 1 pm nap (yeah!) (I usually use this time to get stuff done--finish dinner, clean, etc, also work on my bible study, and if i'm really tired nap)

•  3 pm wake up-5 pm play

• 5 pm Corey home and dinner (sometimes we will also go to the carousel or to DQ or do something together in the evening and during the summer we do lots of walks and go downtown)

•  7 pm Adelyn nap

• 8:30 pm (ish depeding on nap or if no nap the he is in bed with A at 7) Micah bed

• 10 pm Corey and I crash (if we aren't already asleep on the couch)

Just when you get a good schedule down something changes--Micah will drop his nap or Adelyn will drop her am nap or whatever.  I would love to be able to stick to a schedule to the T but that can't always happen (I mean I'm not going to stay home from Bible study b/c its Adelyns nap time though granted sometimes we will go late so she can sleep for a few) and that is ok.

So not that anyone besides me cares about our daily schedule...but here are some pics to show you what our days look like!

Our neighbors have a huge pumpkin farm.  Micah loves Farmer Bob and loves his tractors. He is so great and loves having Micah come visit him (which we do a lot during the fall)

The kids favorite fruit--blueberries.  Too bad we have already eaten the 30 lbs we got this summer.  Next summer we will be doing a lot of picking!

Congrats to my sister, Shelby and her hubby, Ty on the birth of their sweet little girl, Anistyn Grace.  Isn't she precious?  I've been able to see her twice and look forward to seeing her again over Christmas.

While Shelby was in the hospital I had Lincoln for a day (he was supposed to stay longer but got sick).  He and Micah love playing together.  I forget though (or maybe just am not used to it) how boys play--they are so rough and were pretty much constantly wrestling!  They sure are cute together though!

Notice Micah eating breakfast and reading his "Go State" Magazine.

Cleaning the gutters with dad

Curious Kids Museum

Micah loves to play football (the drum on his head is a helmet....I've told you he has a great imagination) and he doesn't just play football but reenacts the entire game (complete with the half-time show and the concession stand with hot dogs and popcorn to name a few)

He also likes to play doctor.  Notice all his patients lined to to get their shots!

Adelyn at 11 months

Next month our little Adelyn turns 1!!!  She has taken her first step and now it has turned to steps.  It doesn't hurt that usually we are all cheering her on and she just has the biggest smile and is so proud of herself.  She has 2 bottom teeth and just got two more top teeth (though they aren't the front ones so she looks like she has fangs).  She is still not sleeping through the night but is up at 3 am to eat every night (have I mentioned that in the past 11 months I have only had one full night of uninterupted sleep...grrrr). She is a bit of a picky eater--she loves any type of carb but I can get her to eat her staple fruits (blueberries and grapes and veggies (frozed mixed veggies/peas or green beans).  She loves to play but she also loves to be held. She loves to dump things/empty drawers (read my house is a disaster if you come over unannounced) but it keeps her occupied so mostly I'm ok with that.   It is so fun to see her little personality developing.  I love picking her up after bible study or church from the nursery b/c she just goes crazy (squeeling, huge smile, lets kicking) when she sees me.  This is the same reaction when Corey gets home from work or when Micah gets up from his nap.  She is so sweet and such a cutie!  We love her to pieces!