66 Club

The boys are officially in the 66 Club at church. The 66 club is when you can sing the books of the Bible to one of the Bible Hour teachers. There is a HUGE poster that you get your name on and you get these ultra-cool buttons! I thought the boys did it last year, but as I was looking at the poster last week, I noticed they had not. They were SOOOOOO proud of themselves and we were so proud of them too!
If you think your child is too young, to start learning Scriptures, think again. In our experience, by their 2nd birthday they can start memorizing God's Word. They can sing the Elmo theme song, so why not teach them a Bible verse song? At this age, they are such little sponges!!! The new memory verse program that our congregation started last January has been such a wonderful tool for all 4 of us. Jason and I have learned all 12 of the boys verses while helping them to learn them. Each verse has a home game and song to help the kids learn it. It is a great program! Never underestimate the mind of a child and what they can do!

GREAT JOB BOYS! :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from us with a blast from the past! This photo was taken 4 years ago on the boys first Christmas. My heart swells to think of what a blessing those two little boys have been to us and we rejoice in their growth since that first Christmas. Hope your Day is wonderful!

The Last Few Christmas Happenings...

A little town just down the road puts on an outstanding light festival each year. It is so well organized and there are probably millions of lights! There are college logos, animals, several nativity scenes, nutcrackers, Santa on an alligator, a man pumping real water, and even a flamingo or two!

This week, our little flock made the trek down to explore the walk thru exhibit and we were all impressed! The kids even got to decorate cookies. It was a great time of family fun!
Jason was out of town, so GPop went with us. What an extra treat! :)
The flock... can you tell that it is about 75 degrees outside? Some of us wore long sleeves out of spite and then sweated all night. Gotta love Texas!
The mommas by our favorite bird...
The kids by the carriage...
Every year our city's fire truck drives Santa through the neighborhoods with the full siren blaring. Everyone runs out onto their driveway and waves to Santa. The COULD NOT have been more thrilled! You can hear the siren for several streets and the anticipation was killing them!

And last, but not least... SNOW!!! At least for a few hours! A local church put on the coolest event last weekend. They brought in an ice company who created snow for our sub-tropical town...and it all was free!

Rylan loved the snow area the best. They had a 5 and under time and an age 6 and up play time. They tried to make snow angels, but it was too packed to do.
Jacob kept slipping and sliding, but he did not care one little bit! This was pure FUN for both of the boys!


Jacob's favorite part was the sledding. They had two hills - a 7 foot and a 9 foot. We did the 7 footer and it was awesome. You could only ride once, but it was worth the wait. Here's Rylan...hair flying, squeal squealing and enjoying the slippery slope!
Seriously, could his smile BE any bigger?!?! Jacob LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, sledding! Maybe someday we'll get to really sled! :)
We've also been baking and crafting, but that's all for another time. On that note, I'll leave you with my new favorite cookie recipe... Merry Christmas!

Sun Catchers

While doing our Dollar Tree Shopping, these little Sun Catchers hopped into our buggy. The boys had SO much fun painting them!!! I had lots of extra brushes, so the green brush only went into the green paint, red brush only in the red brush, etc. It worked well for us. :)

My sweet Rylan is hard at work. And even though green is FAR and above his favorite color, he used several others today!

Jacob was very excited to use all the different brushes. He is so meticulous. He is also in a striped phase and most things he colors have multi-colored stripes. Love it!

Spree!

Last year I read on Deborah's blog that they have a family tradition of taking their kids to a dollar store and letting them pick out gifts for everyone. I took the kids last year and they loved the shopping. The gift choices were so specific for each person and each receipient was thrilled. I think the cheap dollar stuff was everyone's favorite gift! This year, Jason wanted in on the shopping day fun, so we loaded up the car and hit the dollar store!

Here's what Rylan picked...

Daddy - tape measurer for his claims

Mommy - purple bath poof for HU club

Granna - maroon washcloth for CCHS

GPop - green and white football because he needs it to play with me in the yard

Shake Shake - set of a dozen hair combs so he never runs out and I like the number "dozen"

Granny - set of D notecards so she can send me a letter

Jacob - Peter Pan coloring book because of "too-duh-loo-loo-loo" (the crocodile) and a grey horse because he needs his own Cork

Here's what Jacob picked...

Daddy - set of screwdrivers because he fixes everything at our house

Mommy - measuring spoons because she cooks with me

Granna - candle about love because she loves me and I love her

GPop - windshield wiper on a stick because he likes cars

Shake Shake - chocolate covered raisins because they are his favorite

Granny - Charlie Brown pocket tissue 6 pack because I gave her it last year and she loved it

If you do not already do this with your kids, I recommend it. It is so heartwarming to see what they pick and they are so proud of themselves.

Favorite Books

It doesn't matter if it being read by Granna...

or by Daddy...

this book...

makes my boys do this...


Especially this page...

What are some of your favorite Christmas time books?

Pre-School Party Time!

This was the boys first big production! All the kids made antlers and paraded in to put on quite a show. They sang several Christmas carols and had motions to several. Jacob's favorite song was the "Reindeer Pokey." It was super cute. Rylan was kind of hidden behind another darling, so I did not get many photos of him. His favorite song was "Rudloph." Even though it was his favorite song, he did tell the teacher that it was a mean song and he was not going to sing the part about the reindeer not letting Rudolph play with him because it was mean.
After all the songs, a guest arrived from the North Pole! The kids were so excited! Each child got to sit on his lap and give their requests. Then Santa gave them a wrapped gift (each child brought a gift to be given to another child). Jacob hopped up on Santa's lap and told him he wanted a pull-string Woody. He gave a great smile-pose, that my camera was too slow to capture! Jacob's gift was a soccer ball.
Then Rylan hopped onto Santa's lap. He wanted a bike...a green bike. Rylan's gift was a Spiderman target gun and Spiderman lego kit.
The boys were super proud that GPop and Granna were able to come to the party!
And here we are with our little reindeer! :)
And their teacher...she rocks! We love you Mrs. C!

I'm dreaming of a ...

PINK Christmas! Every year we get together and celebrate our friendship with a delightful Flamingo party! This year we were at Robyn's and she had her house all decked out in pink. Since Lacie could only come down during the week, we got to party all day and night instead of just the night!!! We laughed, we cried, we exchanged gifts, made smores, went to the choir concert, had a family dinner at CiCi's and even shopped Charming Charlie. I love these friends so very much!!! Pink Christmas is one of my most favorite times of the year. It is always nice to refresh and be silly making memories to last us a lifetime. It's also such a perfect reminder of the blessing of Christian friends!

UH-OH!!!

As sweet Jason was putting the decoration boxes back into the attic, he had a little tumble. The bottom of his jeans cupped under his shoe and as he stepped on the beam, his foot slipped and came crashing into our bathroom. He was very blessed to not go all the way to the ground. His whole leg was dangling, but he was basically safe. The foot that did not crash through got a hairline fracture and he's been in a boot for two weeks, but we are very thankful that his injuries were small. So I guess everyone now knows what we are getting for Christmas...

Our very Own Tree!!!

My mom passed down my Aunt Ruthie's old 4 foot tree to the boys. That's really all they needed for Christmas! Last year, I let them use my pink tree, but they really wanted their own tree. They have a box of little ornaments that include: Rudolph set, Sesame Street set, lots of little colored balls, a Grinch set and some Peanuts wooden ornaments that my Mom made before I was born. They have decorated their OWN tree about 100 times since Thanksgiving night.
For his very own ornament this year, Rylan picked Cars. He loves, loves, loves McQueen, Mater and the gang!
I was sure Jacob would choose the Buzz and Woody ornament, but he choose the Grinch and Max. One of his favorite Christmas books. (Note: He convinced me to buy the Buzz and Woody for the "family ornament" this year!)
Hours of Christmas tree fun for my boys!

Flashback to 1863

That's right...1863...the Civil War. Rylan wanted to make a Union uniform today from 3 pieces of paper. He had thought it all out and was quite specific in his design...blue watercolor...string over the shoulders and a hat. Jacob was a Confederate soldier.
Just a normal day at our house...in 1863 or 2010!

Chores

Even though it is the holidays, the house still have to be clean. The boys love to help...no sarcasism at all. They get mad if they don't get to use the brush inside the potty. They love to use windex on the windows and mirrors. The love to help push the vacuum and search for pieces the Dyson missed. Today was a new adventure...mopping. I must confess, I don't mop. There, I said it. Jason has mopped every time the floors get mopped. I will scrub a spot, wipe a spill and vacuum the tile, but I don't mop. I will scrub potties anyday before picking up a mop! So today Jacob was thrilled to get to help with a new chore. He thought the head of the mop was TOO COOL! He totally did not get the idea, even after 4 falls, that you cannot run on wet tile...but he survived. I'm so thankful that Jason is helpful and that he is showing the boys that husbands CAN help around the house! :)

Parade!

Last weekend we did something we've never done before...we went to the local night-time Christmas parade. It was interesting... Rylan liked seeing Santa (above). Jacob liked all the high school bands - there were 3. Aside from the smokers that sat near us, it was a nice evening. The bands played great, the dancers were entertaining, the cub scouts were too cute and the lit-up floats were awesome! Even though it was about 80 degrees, it still got us in the Christmas spirit! :)
My three favorite boys in the world!

Happy 34th!

At the end of November I turned 34! Jason was out of town on a claim, but we still had a wonderful day with Mom, Dad, Granny and Popa. After a wonderful worship service, we went to Saltgrass for lunch. In Sunday School that morning, Daesha asked one of our precious souls how old he thought I was. His response...96! I either look terrible for 34 or really good for 96! HAHHAHAHA We both got the biggest kick out of his perspective. By the way, he said his dad is 22 (he's really in his early 40's...).

Last year it kept rollin around in my brain that Jesus died when he was 33...and I was 33. Have I made even a slight impact on people for the Lord? Is my life reflecting my love for Him? Am I teaching people daily about God's Word, His love and His mercy? So here we are at 34...and I still ask myself the same questions. The Lord has been so good to me...I have a wonderful Christian husband, two healthy, happy boys who already love Him, excellent parents, a loving church family, friends who support me in ways that I cannot say, I am forgiven for all the dumb things I say and do, and the list could go on and on.

Thank you Lord for another year...may it bring glory to YOUR NAME!

Dear Santa...

"I want a bike, talking Buzz in the box, Charlie the train and anything else you think I need. Be safe in my chimney. Love, Rylan""Please bring me a blue Bible, a bike, the pull-string Woody and some Cars. I love you. Love, Jacob"