Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas. Caleb and Elisabeth had so much fun celebrating Jesus' birthday.
The morning of Christmas Eve we had a special breakfast and let Caleb and Elisabeth open one of their presents. The weather was so beautiful that we took the kids to the park to play and have a picnic lunch. We ended Christmas Eve with dinner and presents at the Floyd's house.
We spent Christmas morning at home as a family. We had breakfast and the kids opened the rest of their presents. Then, we went to my parents' house for Christmas lunch and more presents. My sister and her family came into town Christmas evening and stayed for three days.
The song in this video has been special to Todd and I over the course of this Christmas season. We heard it for the first time at church and think it really captures the whole reason we celebrate Christmas. We are so thankful that the King of Kings was born to set us free from sin and give us abundant life in Him.

Luke 2

It amazes us how quickly Caleb and Elisabeth were able to learn Luke 2. We started reading it to them every night before bed. After reading it just a few nights, they began to say it with us. Here is a video of Caleb reciting Luke 2 on Christmas day. It brought tears to the eyes of his great aunt "Nanny".

Caleb and Elisabeth's Live Nativity

Caleb and Elisabeth have been so into baby Jesus this year. They wanted to dress up like Mary and Joseph today. It is so sweet watching Elisabeth play with her nativity scene. She calls them her "Christmas babies". The other day Todd mistakenly told her that after Christmas, Grandma Rhonda was going to have to put up the Christmas babies. Elisabeth would have none of this. In the sweetest, most pitiful voice she could muster she looked at Grandma Rhonda and said "Grandma Ron Ron, please don't put my Christmas babies away." I think the nativity scene will have an extended stay at Grandma Rhonda's this year.

Christmas Eve Eve Eve

We had our families over Tuesday night to celebrate Christmas. The kids had a blast with all of their grandparents in one place.

Florida Oranges

Caleb is a Florida boy through and through. He has recently discovered his love for oranges. He simply cannot get enough of the juicy goodness. We currently have about 20 oranges in our kitchen, because the news of Caleb's new found love has spread far and wide. Friends and family are now picking their trees clean making sure our boy does not go a day without his favorite fruit!

Adam & Eve

The kids did not sleep at all today during nap. They giggled and laughed and played the entire time. As their "nap" was ending, I went upstairs to get them up. When I walked into their room, they were both in their beds shirtless. With much surprise, I asked "What are you doing?!". "We're Adam & Eve" they squealed simultaneously. Caleb followed that up with, "We no obey God... We ate the apple on the tree!" and Elisabeth insisted on being called "Eve" for the next hour.

Christmas Cookies

One of my favorite things about the new house is the island in our kitchen. I have always wanted an island for me and the kids to gather around. It is a dream come true and we are putting it to good use this Christmas season.

The Letter Kk

Last week we worked on the letter Kk. We also did a few Christmas crafts. We will be spending the next week reviewing letters A-K and doing Christmas activities. We are also working with the kids on learning Luke 2 (the Christmas story).

Here are a few of our Kk activities:

Painted and decorated kites.

Kk stamping

Colored kangaroos.

Baked kiss cookies

Our Gingerbread House... is a very, very, very fine house!

We had a blast putting together our gingerbread house with the kids. Well, it was really more of a shack than a house, and the kids were gravely disappointed when they discovered there was not a gingerbread family inside. Caleb was soooo serious about building the best house possible. Elisabeth, on the other hand, was just interested in consuming as much sugar as possible.

I'm sure you will all be disappointed that we did not share some with you!

Decorating the tree!

We had such a great time putting up the Christmas tree this year. The kids had so much fun and were really serious about helping. From time to time, we would say to them, "Be careful with this one! It is very important to Mama!" When we were almost done, Caleb came running up to me with an ornament in is hand and said "Mama! Is this one special to you?!"

Thanksgiving Movie

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. We moved into our new house the day before Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with both sides of our family. Caleb and Elisabeth enjoyed spending the weekend playing with all of their cousins. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for!

Back to School- J Week

After taking a week off for moving and Thanksgiving we were back to learning our ABCs. When we were looking for a new home, one of the things that I prayed was that if God wanted me to homeschool our children that He would provide a space for it in our new house. God provided enough space of us to have a homeschool room in our new house and we are so grateful. The kids were so excited to have "school" in our new school room this week. I have big plans for that room but now I am just trying to get organized.

This week we learned the letter Jj. Here are a few of our Jj activities:

Verse of the week: Jesus said to him,"I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6

Made and painted jellyfish.

Made jello jigglers.

Practice our jumping jacks!

Colored a "Jesus is the King of Kings" picture.

Jj stamping

Glued jewels on a J

We also started doing some fun Christmas activities with the kids. We made Christmas tree cupcakes. Caleb and Elisabeth loved decorating and eating the cupcakes!

What a Week!

Well, we finally did it. We moved into our new house the day before Thanksgiving! At the start of November, we would have never guessed we would be in the house by the end of the month. We kept hitting delay after delay. The Lord worked the timing out perfectly and we were able to have cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast in our dream house.