Our Little Elves

My little elves wearing their new Christmas hats. Just three more days til Christmas!!! I love these guys so much!

Sweet Moments :)

Sometimes it's not easy being a Mommy.  Sometimes there's more dishes and laundry and toys to pick up than time, and you can't find the library book and the left glove and the right shoe...and school started five minutes ago.  Sometimes you're up all night long with a toddler/school age kid who just wants some extra attention becuase they don't feel well, and you can be so tired that you forget where you are.  Sometimes you (I) flip out over the smallest thing (i.e. the aforementioned left glove...) and then feel like the world's meanest person.  Sometimes it's not easy.

Then there are these moments:
When my little Bella twirls in front of me, and says, "Mommy, do you like my dance?" and then smothers me with kisses...

When my little Andrew tells me that I am "the best Christmas present ever!" and "the beautiful Mommy he always dreamt of", and then I tell him he has a heart of gold and he says that I have a heart of pink :)

When my David asks his karate instructor if he can lead the class to bow out and then does it right, and looks right at me to see if I saw, and has the proudest, shiniest smile ever. And you just think, "He's so confident and I helped make him that way!"

When I don't feel great and lay on the sofa and my little angels rub my feet and hug them.  "All better?"  "Yes, indeed!"

When my little Bella sits on the sofa and says, "Mommy, do you want to 'nuggle me up?" "Yes, indeed!!"

These moments make it more than worth it!

I am so thankful for these beautiful children.  I am so blessed to be their Mommy, and I love them so much! Thank you, Lord, for the moments like these that make all the hard work worth it! You are so good!!

Advent

The Advent season is upon us.  We have been enjoying it very much! We have three cute little advent calendars from church "Come to Bethlehem and See!" that has a little Bible verse and explanation and a sticker the kids get to add to the Nativity scene each day.  The children love it!  We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and decorated it on the first Sunday of Advent.  The kids couldn't wait! It was so neat watching them look at all the ornaments and talking about memories with them.  Yesterday the boys and I popped popcorn and made popcorn strings to add to our decorations.  It was so much fun, and a first for all of us :)  So the house is decorated and the shopping is just about finished, and we are eagerly awaiting our Savior!  I love this time of year!

Kindergarten Cafe: Andrew's turn :)

It's Kindergarten Cafe time again! This time Andrew's turn :)  I really enjoyed getting to do this with him!  We made snowman face cookies and the kids loved them!  Andrew and three of his kindergarten friends helped me roll the dough, bake them, and then decorate them! They loved eating their supplies, too :) It was such a sweet time. Bella joined us too, and behaved beautifully.  Afterwards, the children had to give a little presentation to their classmates...a step by step of what they did! Mrs. Cole is such a fantastic teacher! I am so thankful for the elementary school in our neighborhood and for opportunities like this!

Santa Parade

Andrew and Bella waiting for the fun to begin :)

David and some of his Cub Scout buddies in the parade!

The Cub Scout float

Sean and Molly Spence with the Lions

SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!

We love the Grosse Pointe Santa Parade! This is the third year we've taken the kids, but the first year we've had a chid in the parade. David is a Cub Scout and there is an annual Cub Scout float. Joe helped with the building of the giant "D" for Detroit. It was lots of fun! Mom (Nana) came with us to watch, and then afterwards we were off to Kalahari to celebrate Andrew's birthday! What fun!!

Andrew is Five!!!

It's hard to believe that I'm writing these words, but it is true. My baby boy is five years old!! His birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, which just makes it extra sweet.  We are so thankful for him!  He is so sweet, with a heart of gold, and some of the best hugs ever given!  He loves to play, especially superheroes :) and is so amazingly smart! He's a great big brother and a great little brother!  Watching him give generously and do things for his siblings challenges me to be a better person! We are so thankful for you, Andrew and we love you so much!

Andrew asked me to make him a tiered cake for his birthday ("with flowers on it").  I haven't taken that cake decorating class yet so I was a little nervous, but it turned out great and he loved it!

Uncle Kevin gave the kids horsie-rides.  Who needs to hire entertainment?

The day after Andy's birthday our family headed to one of our new favorite spots: Kalahari Resort and Waterpark in Sandusky.  We had a great time celebrating together!

Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving tree---for the month of November we put leaves of thanksgiving on this tree!

Andrew's turkey :)

David and Andrew's turkeys decorated our door :)

David's pilgrim and indian :)

I love Thanksgiving. I love the whole idea of it! We had a great Thanksgiving season, getting into the practice of talking about one thing we were thankful for each night at bedtime. I called it "thankful bedtimes" and then writing them on our "leaves" for our tree! We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner, and since it was also Andrew's birthday, we followed dinner with cake and ice cream (and presents of course!) A wonderful day :)

Fall Cleanup!

So our house was previously owned by people who really neglected it...and this year, Joe cleaned out the gutters for (according to neighbors) the first time in 15 years.  THERE WAS A SAPLING GROWING IN THE GUTTER!  He let David climb up on the roof to help out, and David loved it! I, however, took a picture or two and then went inside... I just couldn't watch!   Bella and Andrew helped with leaf clean up, but we kept them off the roof :)

My Lovely Sister and New Brother-In-Law :)

Jessie and Kevin wanted to have a "family photo" with their beloved adopted childen (dogs) for Christmas, and so I got a chance to practice with my camera.  We had fun, and some of the photos turned out well.  (It's not easy getting dogs to look at a camera :/) These are some of my favorites. :)  Aren't they cute? Such happy newlyweds!!! So happy for my little sis :)