Christmas Week! And our Gingerbread House!

Well, the big week has finally arrived! I've been watching The Nativity with the boys and they have actually been enjoying it and asking a lot of questions. We've all been sick so it's been nice to sit around and snuggle. I've never watched it either so I've been enjoying it.

We did get to make our Gingerbread house, which the boys loved! At first they were like, ah, man, but once we got into it they really liked it! It's not the neatest but we had fun!



This week we need to make cookies, a pumpkin roll, then there's our big Christmas breakfast in which this year we will have my mom, step dad, and mother in law with us. Then we don't eat again until supper and I make a ham dinner. That will be us and my mother in law. We stay in all day Christmas and let the boys play with their stuff. This year we were approved for something that our district does for pastor's who don't make very much money. You fill out a form with your kids' wish list and for the adults where you would like gift cards. Well, the boys got a BOATLOAD of gifts! It brought tears to my eyes! (they don't know yet) I am so excited for Christmas so I can see what they got! I really pray that God would bless the church that cared so much for someone they didn't even know(it's all anonymous).

Anyway, I hope we are all on the mend finally because it's gonna be a busy week!

Tie Dyeing fun!

Well, I decided to try my hand at tie dyeing this weekend! I had been slowly purchasing one item a week from walmart until I had all the dyes they had and some t shirts. The only problem was I did not buy squirt bottles. (like the kind ketchup come in) so I had to search my house and found some medicine droppers. one kept sticking and anytime I used it color would squirt everywhere! Some were really small. (think infant's motrin dropper!) But all in all it was fun. I did realize that I am better at kids shirts than adults. My adult shirts kept coming undone while I was trying to wrap the rubber band around! I had the following colors to work with: black, ocean blue, bahama blue, flamingo pink, and tulip red. Our wal mart didn't have any other colors. I'm going to check JoAnn's next time. But with those colors here's what came out!

Here is one of M's (that's the red, black and ocean blue swirl):


I made T's with a V pattern (red, black and bahama blue)



This is one of B's (bahama blue and black swirl)

N's was the same. Here's the 2 of them together.


My very ugly shirt that I probably won't wear in public! It didn't come out right. I'll try again though!(flamingo pink and bahama blue swirl)


Three of the boys enjoying their shirts:


I also did a cloth napkin. All in all it was a lot of fun!

A big day in our household!

Well, N and B got baptised today!! We talked to them a few days ago as our church was already have a baptismal service. We made sure they understood what it meant and they both decided that they wanted to do it! I was so excited and they were too! And for J I think it was extra special to baptise 2 of his own kids. Our senior pastor is outside the tank and in with J is our children's director. (J is on the left and children's director on the right).

Here's Nolan:


And here's Brayden:


I took some still pics but I need to load them to photobucket and my computer is running so S-L-O-W!

Christmas Memory

I'm trying to think of my favorite Christmas memory. I have so many good memories!
I know that growing up my family did not have a lot of money. I think I was about 12 and I desperately wanted this karaoke/tape player. It was $99 and that was a lot of money for my family. Well, my parents did get it for me and I will never forget that. I think their budget was $100 per kid but I still did get some extra things.

Christmas Traditions

So this year is going to be hard since losing my father in law this year. I'm not sure what we're going to do but I am trying to come up with a new Christmas tradition that will include memories of him. I don't want my boys to forget. And I want T to know his Papa even though he will not really remember him.

As for ongoing traditions, well, we usually have all the boys sleep on our floor Christmas Eve. It is something they all look forward to doing every year! They are always up by about 7am anyway because they are so excited (and sometimes so am I!)

We also always put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving and the boys and I decorate it together. We did do that this year. It was fun!

And we always make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing happy birthday and read His birth story. I don't want them to forget what Christmas is all about!

visit http://www.jollymom.com and http://www.gograhamgo.com for some great giveaways!