First Snow for Nathaniel!

Tuesday we got a rare treat for Columbia - snow! It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to make Nathaniel's first time playing in the snow lots of fun. Hannah Beth didn't remember being in the snow, so this was like the first time for her, too! Hannah Beth had to call her best friend from school, Brooke, to tell her that it had snowed. She was very excited to hear that it had snowed at Brooke's house, too (15 minutes away)! :) I love seeing things through my children's eyes!

Sisterly Competition

While my children were decorating their lovely gingerbread house, I really wanted to do one myself. I came up with a great idea to make it cheaper and more fun - I told my sisters that I wanted to go out AFTER Christmas (my older sister and her family didn't get here until the 26th anyway) and see if we could find some on sale and get 3 kits and have a gingerbread house decorating contest between me and my sisters. We found some at Cracker Barrel and got 3 of them for around $10 (including candy and everything). Our husbands and children were to be the judges. We had lots of fun, and it was fun to see how each of them turned out and reflected our personalities to some degree or another. They each got some votes, and to be honest I don't even know who won. Tracy thought I must have "planted" something on my house because as soon as Hannah Beth came in to look at them she went straight to mine and said, "Oh, this one is SO beautiful!!! This one is my favorite!!!" I had no thoughts of trying to woo her vote. I promise! I personally think Heather tried to woo votes with her basketball hoop!

Christmas Activities and Highlights

Hannah Beth's school Christmas party

Hannah Beth and Nathaniel decorating a gingerbread house. I kept all the pieces flat and then put it together after they decorated it. I hadn't ever thought of doing that before, but I think it made the decorating a lot easier for the kids.

Aunt (my sister) Heather decorating Christmas cookies with the kids.

Apparently Nathaniel got tired of decorating cookies and decided to decorate himself.

The finished products. Yum!

Christmas morning, opening stocking gifts (above and below).

Hannah Beth's big Christmas gift this year was a doll house from Grandma and Pop!

Nathaniel's big love right now is Thomas the Train. His big gift from Grandma and Pop was a train set and a number of trains.

Family

My sister, Tracy, and her husband, Dwight, and their three boys (Andrew-5, Zachary-3 and Aaron-16 months) live in Tanzania, Africa. They are back in the US for a few months and came to visit for almost 2 weeks in late December/early January. My younger sister, Heather, was also here over the holidays. It was fun to be all together and let the cousins get to know each other face to face instead of over the web cam and instant messages. Hannah Beth and Andrew got along well, and Hannah Beth did a great job holding her own in the midst of all the boys! Nathaniel and Zachary also had fun together and especially enjoyed playing outside (thankfully it was usually warm enough!). We took them to the mall, out to Thomas' parents house in the country, and to the children's museum in town that we absolutely love!

I'm back!

I'm sorry for any of you who have been checking my blog and found NOTHING new for over a month. I've been busy, busy and sometimes just neglecting my blog. I finally feel like life is getting back into a normal routine and I'm ready to catch up on all those things that have been lagging!



In December, on top of all the regular Christmas preparations and activities, we had an additional project. Since Thomas and I receive monthly support for our ministry, we have over the last few years given a year end "thank you" gift to our supporters. It has always included something homemade from my kitchen. This year I made Cakeballs. I had never heard of them before, but came across them on the internet (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cake-Balls/Detail.aspx) and thought they looked good! They were lots of fun to make, although the process of shopping (for ingredients) and baking and making the cards and packaging and mailing always ends up as a very big and long process! We succeeded in getting them to everyone before Christmas, and hopefully the people we sent them to enjoyed them as much as we did making them!



I will catch up with a number of posts showing the highlights of December and January for us.

No Toys Necessary!

The other night as we were heading upstairs for bed, the kids decided that it was "raining." Nathaniel ran to get under the clothes basket to hide from the rain, and Hannah Beth had to quickly get her "rain coat" - a towel. Apparently all you need is everyday household items to have a great time! :) I love my kids' creativity, and that it doesn't always take very much to entertain them!

Then Hannah Beth decided that she needed to use my camera, and she took a really fun video! Enjoy!

Slowing Down

November, especially the last half of it, was so busy for us with Hannah Beth's birthday, the Nutcracker, Thomas being in and out of town and Thanksgiving. It was all lots of fun, but it just took a lot of extra time and energy. Over Thanksgiving we went to the beach with Thomas' parents. His mother spoiled me by doing almost all of the Thanksgiving dinner herself so I didn't have to do much of anything. Hannah Beth and I did make an apple pie together, which was fun. We were able to have good family time over that long weekend and relaxed a lot. We took the kids to the mall and got to see all the Christmas decorations and they rode a little train through the mall. While we were sitting down eating lunch there, Nathaniel kept asking to go into the bookstore (which was right behind us). I couldn't figure out why he wanted to go in so badly, but I took him in, and as soon as I did he started asking for the Thomas the Train table - I should have known! This is his latest love, and thankfully it was the same bookstore we go to here and it did have a train table! He is starting to remember things so well!

This week has been so good for me. Thomas has been out of town most of the week which has not been good - every two or three weeks this fall he has had somewhere to go for about 4 days. We are actually getting used to the coming and going (although we wish he wouldn't go so much!). I have been pretty productive this week, and as a result feel better organized and in control.

Speaking of control, God has been trying to teach me to let go of my control and let Him control how things go. This is an ongoing battle that I will probably fight until I die. I like order so much that I tend to feel that I have to have everything in order and in control around me (my house) before I can sit down and spend time with Him. In reality, my sense of control, peace and order is going to be so much deeper and more satisfying if I will just stop no matter what things are like around my house or how early my kids get up, and just seek Him first!