Christmas at our house

We opened our presents Christmas Eve morning after we had a Nativity activity that told the story of Jesus' birth. The girls had a lot of fun with their presents. Rylie was super excited to get a zhu zhu pet and Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon). Anna most loved her night vision goggles and her makeup!

Dancing Queen

My friend, Kayla, just sent me some pictures of Anna dancing at her wedding this past summer. I love them and had to post them!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

This year was a lot of fun decorating the Christmas tree because Anna was old enough to be into it. We really decorated it as a family this year. You can see from the picture that Anna still needs to improve her decorating skills, but she enjoyed it and that's all that matters!
The picture of Ryan and the girls is him showing to them a large nail like the kind that pierced Jesus. It reminds us that Jesus did not just come into this world as a little baby, but He came with a purpose, to die and to be our Rescuer!

My Christmas Girl

http://www.mdmgames.net/npnWalgreens/?v=r4RFxr27bdoV6xnb%2fZjuWw%3d%3d

http://www.mdmgames.net/npnWalgreens/?v=r4RFxr27bdoV6xnb%2fZjuWw%3d%3d

Getting our Christmas Tree

Last Monday we got our Christmas tree with my parents and brother and sis in law. We have a man in our Church who owns a fruit stand that also sells trees. We have a tradition of getting our tree from him every year. We also like to get some fruit while we're there. Rylie got the biggest apple I've ever seen!

Update

I haven't been doing a very good job updating this 'lil 'ol blog of mine lately.
I feel like we are the house of the plague lately. I broke my toe (still can't wear a shoe),Anna was sick, Rylie got Fifth's disease, then I got Fifth's, then Rylie got another ailment, now Anna threw up tonight! It just seems like it's been one thing after another. Two of my friends just had babies and I haven't been able to see either one of them yet because we've had too many germs!
I think God just wants us to stay home for awhile!
Because of the nature of Ryan's work schedule, we have made breakfast our main family meal. This is when we do family devotions and now I'm starting to make a little bit more of a meal than just a bowl of cereal. I was pleasantly surprised that my first attempt at Eggs Benedict turned out pretty good. I would love to hear if you have a favorite breakfast recipe you would like to share!
Rylie got her hair cut the other day. She got a lot cut off. She has been asking to get it cut for a while so when Ryan was on his way to get his cut, she begged to go with him to get hers done as well. It looks really cute on her!
My sweet friend gave me a Christmas present of paying for me to get my haircut at a great salon! I did that today.
Tonight we had a Christmas program for the Homeschool "co-op" (Classical Conversations) that Rylie is a part of and that I teach at. Each class presented something they have been learning. My class sang the "Eight Parts of Speech" song and also recited two history sentences. One about William the Conqueror and one about the Protestant Reformation. I was so proud of them! They did such a great job!
There's a brief update on the last few weeks. I have lots of pictures to post, we got our Christmas tree, had a North Pole breakfast. . . etc.

Daddy Bear's Birthday

Daddy Bear is Rylie's absolute favorite stuffed animal and best friend. He is named "Daddy Bear" because her Daddy gave him to her when she in my tummy for her first Valentine's day.
The other day she decided it was his birthday (he turned 18!) and so we had a party! We had brownies, pumpkin ice cream, candles, and even party favors. She also made a few birthday signs for him.
I love my sweet girl!

What sort of man are you?

Show me a man’s books and show me a man’s companions and I will tell you what sort of man he is. —William Tiptaft

Lil' Pumpkin Baby Shower

I meant to post this last month in case anyone was looking for ideas for a fall themed Baby Shower.
My friend Lyndee and I threw a Lil' Pumpkin Baby Shower for our friend Rachel. We had so much fun planning it and were so happy to give Rachel and baby Brighton a special day.

My Creative Girl

Sometimes I just give Rylie the craft box and let her go. I love to see what she comes up with, she has such a creative mind. On this day she made a key chain with a key, and some beautiful flowers for me! She is such a sweetie!

Count it a privilege

I found this on a blog hop tonight, it's by Steve and Annie Chapman. I have been struggling with the sin of impatience with my children the past few days. I have been feeling tired, overwhelmed, and like I'm getting sick, but that's no excuse to not count it as a privilege to be a Mom to these precious little girls. This song was a good reminder to me tonight.

I count it as a privilege
I count it cause for praise
to kiss my children goodnight
at the close of everyday
for I know too soon they're off and gone
and walkin' out the door
and I'll never have a child to kiss
goodnight anymore

It's very strange how times have changed
from the present to the past
when did they grow so quickly
the time has flown so fast
for it seems that only yesterday
I helped him with his shirt
or pat my baby on the back
or kissed away a hurt

tell the story read a book
wipe a nose or tie a shoe
they never ask me to rub their back
the way they used to do
once it was a bother
just a troublesome kind of chore
now I would give anything
to do it just once more

mommy bounce me on your knee
daddy flip me in the air
throw a rubber ball to me
and help me comb my hair
mommy tickle my tummy
daddy hold me high
let's go outside for awhile
or make a kite to fly

I count it as a privilege
I count it cause for praise
to kiss my children goodnight
at the close of everyday
for I know too soon they're off and gone
and walkin' out the door
and I'll never have a child to kiss
goodnight anymore

And I'll never have a child to kiss

goodnight anymore...

Veteran's Day

(I'm clearing out all my old posts that I forgot to post!)

Here is our late Veteran's Day post. Rylie made a card for my Grandpa and dressed up as an Army woman. We found her hat for .20 in the after Halloween clearance at Walmart!

Indian Corn Craft

(I just found this post that I had forgotten to post. A little late! )
In honor of Fall, my favorite season, we made Indian Corn. I had pre cut the corn shape (used a paper bag for the stem) and let them glue the "kernels" on. We had fun with this. Anna liked that she could do it all by herself and Rylie liked pretending to eat it!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! We had my side of the family, Ryan's side, and Pam's side. Later in the evening our friends, the Coulter's came over for desert. My sister, Jen came up the night before and stayed with me and helped me get ready. Everyone brought something yummy to eat, we had more than enough food.
I made activity packets for the kids with coloring pages, mazes, word searches, etc. We also put butcher paper on the kids table as a tablecloth so they could draw right on the table. They had fun with that! We also hid turkeys around the house that the kids had to find, as a prize, they got jars of "turkey toes" aka candy corn.
Poor Rylie got a bad case of Fifths disease and had a horrible rash and lowgrade fever all day, but still managed to have a great time with her cousins. She had all her cousins there except for two that live in Arizona, so she was in heaven! (She still has a fever and her hands and feet are swollen and painful, but her rash is looking much better.)
I have a lot more pictures that I want to share, but I won't overwhelm you! I posted them on facebook if you want to see.

Turkey Feathers

(this post is a little late, but I didn't want to forget about these pictures for my own memories)