Boxing Day Blizzard

It stared to snow before the kids went to bed on Christmas Day.  This is what we woke up to...

Notice the forked tree just to the right of center.  This will be important later...

It snowed all day and we ended up with about twice as much as this
- about 2 feet of snow I think was the final result!



This is the same swing set that I had taken photos of less than 24 hours ago! 

Of course the kids wanted to go out to play in the snow...


 



Sliding

Swinging

Somewhere under all that snow is the airplane!

I took this in the morning.  Remember the forked tree? It is in the middle of the picture.

Now look at the same tree a couple hours later - part of it broke and crashed!

The poor squirrels used that part of the tree to get through the yard without having to get down on the ground.  Looks like he is praying to have his tree path back!

I did find some color among all that white!

Christmas Morning

I am not sure why, but I really didn't take all that many photos of Christmas this year.  I didn't even take one of the kids little trees or of the big tree!  Anyway, it was a fun day - here are some of the photos and videos from Christmas morning. 

First we opened our Christmas stockings.  Last year I took a long video of this and it was so fun to watch for those who would like to be with us Christmas morning but can't.  Anyway, I did it again so that you could see how much fun they have tearing into these stockings filled mostly with everyday stuff.  The first one is only a few seconds long and is about how long it took Ben to take out all the stuff.  The second one is much longer - about 10 minutes! Took Carlee alot longer to take everything out!!!

One of the things that didn't get on the video was that there were mitts in their stockings.  I asked them why they thought Santa would put mitts in their stockings and they gave the typical answer "to keep out hands warm".  So I had to make a big production about going outside to get some wood and of course I saw why Santa thought they needed new mitts...

Here Carlee is reading who it is to and from.  I had asked Ben if he was ripping the paper - this is his "nope not me I would never do anything like that" look HA


I hope that they are always this happy to get simple things like bathrobes and shampoo!

This was my favorite gift.  Our babysitter took the time to do these with the kids - how special is that! 

Baking Christmas Cookies

I am sensing a theme, apparently we think it is okay to do certain things while sitting on the table haha...anyway, here was our Christmas cookie baking adventure.

They used a lot of sprinkles!



Did I mention they used a lot of sprinkles?  In case you don't believe me watch this...



too funny - folding laundry

Daddy took this video.  I guess Ben was helping me bake something and I had my back turned so I didn't notice where they were folding the laundry. But they really are being very good about helping, so I really don't know what to say about this.

SisSue Christmas

This year we had a real blessing! We got to have SisSue Christmas!!!  Gramma SisSue is hubby's aunt, but she is much more like Grandma to the kids and she was able to come visit for a few days.  Of course SisSue loves nothing more than to spoil everybody completely rotten and her time there was soon called SisSue Christmas!  And SisSue is so special that she got to talk to Santa and convince him to let her get the things that the boys had asked him for.  Remember that the boys had asked for a police motorcycle and a search and rescue helicopter... Anyway here are some of the photos from SisSue Christmas!

Can't have SisSue Christmas without new Christmas jammies

Matching jammies for the whole family!

Everyone gets a SisSue stocking filled with goodies

And everyone is so grateful and gave SisSue lots of loves!
If they only knew what was coming!!!

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Carlee was tough to buy for because she didn't even know what she wanted for Christmas.  Apparenty a video game was the perfect choice because she said "it is just what I always wanted"  I guess she didn't know that until she saw it haha

A search and rescue airplane big enough for everybody to play in!

And what would we need handcuffs and convict costumes for?

because Policeman Sam needs someone to chase and put in jail!

and he can chase them on his Police motorcycle!!

as long as we take turns :-)

WOW SisSue Christmas was so much fun!

too funny - learning letters

What happens when you have three homeschooled 4 year olds in the same room with a pen and a notebook?  Why you teach each other the letters of your names of course! 

And who really cares if the windows are not clean, they need to be replaced anyways!

Please can we read it again Mama?

Little Star by Anthony DeStefano



This children’s book is simply delightful and incredibly moving. It will be read in our home at least a million times. The illustrations are beautiful and the message is love. Through this book my children are starting to understand that everything about Christmas, including the tree, the giving of presents, and even Santa are ways to celebrate the birth Jesus.

The first time I read this book to my children I had a hard time getting the words past the big lump in my throat! Then the words were difficult to see through the tears pooling in my eyes. When we were done my kids eagerly asked “Please can we read it again Mama”!!! Need I say more?

Disclosure: WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their BloggingForBooks.org book review program.

The Prophecy Answer Book by David Jeremiah

The Prophecy Answer Book by David Jeremiah

This book is designed like a handbook or a FAQs guide and each chapter is set up as a question and answer format. There are several topics starting with current events and then go through all the main end times themes that you would expect: rapture, tribulation, antichrist, second coming, millennium, and the new heaven and new earth.

It was easy to read and is a great start to a study of prophecy and end times. If you have not studied any end times themes then this book is perfect for you. It will give you a fantastic summary of all the topics.

However, the format of the book left little room to answer the questions in depth. I recently completed a very in depth study of Daniel and so I already knew the answers to most of the questions and I was left wanting more on the topics.

In the end, I was reminded that Satan is trying “to take as many people to hell with him as he can” (pg112), but because of my salvation through Jesus I can look to heaven despite all the suffering to come. “When you believe in Jesus Christ, you receive the free gift of eternal life and make your reservation in heaven” (pg 162). I pray that you will be there with me!

Disclosure: Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.

Santa!

Every year Santa makes an appearance at the TurkeyShoot supper.  He even gets a special ride on the local firetruck with ALL the lights flashing!  Very exciting!  I was impressed with my incredibly shy and bashful kids.  They all willing went and sat on his knee!!  I also think they knew that is what they needed to do to get the candy Santa was handing out. 

Sam did awesome with Santa. He was very nervous as you can see by his hands, but he spoke clearly and told Santa that he wanted a police motorcycle - no kidding!  He got police cars for his birthday and now he all he wanted was a police motorcyle!

Ben was also nervous, again you can tell by the hands!  I don't think he actually looked at Santa, but he did tell him that he wanted a search and rescue helicopter, although it was barely audible and I only know that is what he said because he had been saying that's what he wanted for weeks!

Then it was Carlee's turn and she was too scared.  A few more kids had to go before she was brave enough, but finally did it and she got up there. She never spoke to him - probably because she had no idea what she wanted for Christmas! Every time I asked her what she wanted for Christmas she would sigh and say "I just don't know yet." 

Nervous - again with the hands!   In this photo you can see she is looking over at his sack of candy and I am sure she is wondering how long she will have to sit there before he will give some to her.



She didn't have to wait too long, and she didn't have to talk to him.  But the moment he handed her that candy she leaped off his lap.  I barely had time to snap even this photo.  But just look at that grin of satisfaction HA!