Merry Christmas

Chesson keeps asking me what comes after Christmas. We have been looking forward to Christmas day for 26 days, counting towards it every day with our Jesse Tree book. Now, it has come and gone. -- I read, Ann Voskamp's blog today. The part below, particularly, made me smile.

“Mama?” Shalom walks beside me, holding my hand. “Will tomorrow be Christmas too?”

I know that feeling. Not wanting any of this wonder to wander away — or me from it.

“Well, I’m thinking… ” I stop, look out across the fields and the white and the stars. “I’m thinking that it’s Christmas now forever.”

Her laughter rings all around us.

“Yes, Mama, yes!” She spins around in snow, in the halo of the barn light, us all under stars.

“It is Christmas forever now — because Christ is always with us.”

Ann Voskamp www.aholyexperience.com

Amen to that!!

Advent

My heart desires for this season to be about more than "what are you getting for Christmas?" Don't get me wrong. I really love Santa and reindeer and finger plays, but I want our hearts to be in the right place. Last year I heard about the Jesse Tree. I couldn't find much concrete info, just that you read a verse each day and hung an ornament on your tree. This year, I did some more research...found 3 ideas I really liked and I put them all together.

This is our Jesse Tree book. Our book has 26 devotions. Starting with Isaiah 11:1-2 (This is where the name of the book comes from). I used Ann Voskamp's devotions from her blog, A Holy Experience. I love her. I bought the graphics online (for less than $2). So in our book, every devotion has a graphic and correlating ornament.

Each day has scripture, a part we read aloud, a prayer, and an action. (Many of the stories are in Chesson's Jesus Storybook Bible, so we use that when we can.) The final part of the devotion is Chesson's favorite....finding the correlating ornament and putting it on our Jesse Tree.

Since I was a teacher by trade, I made our tree out of felt and we stick the ornaments to it (elementary school teachers love felt). The tree hangs in our kitchen.

What I really love about this is that as we read through the old and new testament, we can clearly see how every story points to the coming of Jesus.

This year, more than any other, I wait hopeful, for the King born in a manger to rescue us! I am thankful for His promises, His sacrifice, and His love.

These two....

....I love 'em!

Christmas at Preschool

All the 3 year olds were shepherd in the preschool Christmas program. According to his teachers, Chesson just couldn't decide if he wanted to participate. In the end, he said he would like to sing, but not wear the shepherd's hat. Ahhh, he's a master negotiator at 3. I'm doomed;o)

Chesson is in the bottom row on the far right. Look how many other boys took their hats off. Let's just call him a leader, surely he's too young to be a troublemaker...right?

Thankful for his Christmas cookie to decorate and, of course, eat!!

Every time Chesson looked away from his snack, Anna Corbin would sneak a bite. Funny girl!

Patches

Patches came to visit. Chesson brought him home from preschool on Tues and we kept him until Thursday. I took pictures of the fun Chesson and Patches had together. Then, we put those pictures into a journal and wrote a letter to his class telling them about Patches adventures.

Chesson wanted to teach Patches how to play basketball. It took Patches a few minutes to get the hang of it. :o)

Chesson said that Patches only eats bananas, but it turns out he really like eggs and yogurt too.

No stay at our house would be complete without a lesson in trucks. "Patches, this is a dump truck. It carries things and dumps them."

Anna Corbin even got a brief moment with Patches. She was memorized.

A little afternoon coloring. Patches supervised.

We ended our day at Jack's house. Chesson could not wait to take Patches to meet Jack. I think we wore poor Patches out....he slept great!

Crafty Crafty

Okay, so in all honesty, I'm not really crafty. But, I do love crafts that Chesson can participate in (I guess it's the teacher in me). I also love simple crafts...3 steps or less.

All we needed was clear glass ornaments, glitter glue, and glitter.

We're not afraid of a glittery mess.

After I put the string on this gold ornament, Chesson was 'swinging' it over the the tree. Oops!! Now we have a sparkly floor. :o)

The tree, the tree,

The tree is in the house. Chesson just can't believe we get to have a tree, in our house. ~~ I love, love, love picking out a Christmas tree. I don't care how tall it is, I just want it to be really really fat. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

This year I was determined to reign in my desires and get a tree that fit in our living room.

But, as usual, I lost perspective at the tree lot. I honestly thought this was a reasonably sized tree. It was significantly smaller than the trees around it.

It doesn't look so big here, right?

Daddy's little helper. But, don't let him hear you call him little. He will let you know in a hot second that he is a "big boy." (You'll be pleased to know the pumpkins are gone now.)

Daddy's other little helper.

Gra-Gra is reading to Chesson about Santa's little helper:o)

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by dear family. There were more than 50 of us gathered in a sweet family cabin, tucked in the woods, in Tallahassee. The weather was perfect. The food was delicious. The company was delightful.

All the "Corbin's." Uncle Corbin, Callie Corbin (she's double name girl...love it), Great-Aunt Marion Corbin, Anna Corbin, & Corbin. How fun is that?

Uncle Corbin was a red head. As is his daughter, Aaren. Yay for red heads!!

Betty Ann made coordinating outfits for the kids. They were a-mazing (as usual). Anna Corbin and Weslyn had dresses that went together beautifully. (Can you see Weslyn's shoes? She made those too.) She also made Chesson's pants: corduroy with a striped cuff. Love, love, love it all!

Who's surprised Chesson found a train? I have to admit, even I wanted to play with this train.

Anna Co - 18 months

We gave her a double name, that's 4 syllables long. We know nicknames are going to happen....most folks still call her Anna Corbin, but others like to find ways to shorten it, A.C., being the most common. It doesn't really matter to me, but last weekend, one of her great-uncles called her Anna Co, and I thought it was pretty cute.

Anna Corbin is turning into such a little girl. She loves to wear shoes, boots especially. She like bracelets and bows (she's often wearing two). She is a happy girl who loves to play and be chased by her brother. -- Every morning she happily sits on the bathroom counter while I wet, comb, and wrangle her curls. I'm pretty sure that if we didn't comb out the tangles daily, it would only take about 3 days before she had dreads.

Speaking of her hair, can you see the ringlets? As it gets longer, so do the ringlets. It's pretty much amazing. I cannot make it through the grocery store without at least 6 people stopping to tell me how much they love it. I have mastered the "push and smile." I say thanks as I'm walking by. Seriously, strangers will just talk and talk and talk (sometimes while touching her hair)...and let's be honest, we're usually in a hurry:o) Anna Corbin is a growing girl. She's still in the 95% for height and in the 34% for weight. She is tall! She doesn't talk much, but communicates great with the 'point and grunt,' as Corbin and I call it, or with her baby sign. Chesson does so much talking these days, none of us can get a word in:)

Head band victory! We have been working on different hairstyles lately. It's usually just clipped back with a bow, but the bows seem to fall out. I found this great headband, and brought it home for her. She HATED it. She would not put it on her head. I tried to put it on her baby doll, to demonstrate how it works. Nope, she hated it. When I wasn't looking, she put it in the trash can. She's a hoot I tell ya. But, this picture proves that persistence can prevail;o) I'm also trying to get her to tolerate the ponytail. It's a slow process.

Windy Gap

Ahhhh - Windy Gap. It's a place that soothes my soul. I have decades of memories from this wonderful camp. I have been a camper, a leader, a wrangler, a work crew boss, a head leader, and an intern. Living there the summer after college is a highlight of my life. Amazing.

Get this....Corbin and I stayed in the adult guest lodge. We didn't have one responsibility, and it.was.wonderful. Gra-gra, Papa, and Aunt Becca kept the kiddos, so we could have a weekend away. Thanks so much!!

Curly

Corbin's Granddaddy Curly was an incredible man. He served in the Army before playing basketball at Duke. Of course, after that he was an accountant (it's what folks in Corbin's family do.) He was a wonderful father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. His smile and joy for life will be missed, but we are thankful he is reunited with Nana!

4/6/26-10/23/11

NC State Fair 2011

If you know me well, you know that I'm kind of obsessed with the state fair. I just love it!!

This year was especially fun because Chesson rode some rides. We let him choose 4. He was so excited!!

1st ride: The Caterpillar.

2nd Ride: A roller coaster. I was nervous....Chesson and Corbin were excited! (I suppose I should get used to that combination.)

That's them in the front. Hands in the air. Lovin' every second of it! 3rdRide: Of course, it had to be a train.

4th Ride: I tried to get him to choose the carousel, but nope. That could never be cooler than a pirate ship. Ahoy Matey!

"Mama, I'm trying to feed the goats. If I look at the camera will you give me that carrot?"

We did let her out of the stroller:o)

Princess Lion

I was finally able to get to Anna Corbin into her halloween costume. Last Halloween she was in the hospital, and this year she stayed home with a runny nose. Fortunately, she has no idea what she is missing:o) --- Gigi, of course, made both the costumes. Anna Corbin is wearing the Chesson's lion costume from 2 years ago, with an added tu-tu and pink bows.

Chesson looked at Anna Corbin and said, "She's a princess lion." So, there you have it!

Trick or Treat

Cold weather and rain couldn't stop the spider, panda, lion, and Thomas the train from getting their candy. Chesson and Jack didn't care one bit that it was raining. Chesson was loving the puddles! We went to 3 houses...yep, 3. They loved every minute of it and really thought they had hit the candy jackpot. Today Chesson loved reminding me of his candy corn and trick-or-treating on "Miss Settle's Street." Anna Corbin was home with Gra-Gra. We'll try to get a pic of her in costume soon. She was also a lion...with a tu-tu of course.

Happy Halloween

Pumpking Patch Field Trip

If you ask Chesson if he had fun at the pumkin patch, he'll tell you there was a sandbox and trucks and a tractor. If we never saw a pumkin, he would have still had an awesome time!

The night before the field trip. My sweet, sweet friend Settle asked me if she could keep Anna Corbin, so I could go alone with Chesson. I nearly cried with joy at her thoughtfulness. Everyone needs a friend like her:o) So, Chesson had my undivided attention...I just loved it!

Chesson even smiled for the camera -- It's a miracle!!

This was a REAL pumpkin patch. We were able to pull our pumkin off the vine! This was a first for both Chesson and me!!