December 10

Please pray for my Mom (Nonna). She is having knee replacement surgery this afternoon. It is kind of weird not being with my parents this week when they are both having medical issues, but thankfully they both have great spouses that take good care of them.

Yesterday was a spend-the-day in the car kind of day. And just because you are fascinated by what I do all day (kidding), here goes:
9am - Drop the girls off at piano
9:20am - pick Matthew up
9:30 - drop Matthew and Elliott off at preschool
10am - pick the girls up from piano, run a few errands, do schoolwork
12:30pm - pick Elliott up, feed kids lunch
2:30 - Julia to gymnastics
3:45 - get home from gymnastics, finish schoolwork, make dinner
6pm - Elliott basketball practice
7:15pm - Get everyone home, bathed, and in bed.

Nonna, I remember you saying you felt like a taxi driver when we were kids, shuffling us to our different activities. I understand.

I may or may not have fallen asleep by about 8:30pm myself. I think I am getting a cold. Clay is out of town for work. I CANNOT get sick!  

 Elliott (in tie-dye shirt) is standing between the two tallest players on his team).

December 9

Yesterday at co-op Lucy got to go up on stage so everyone could sing "Happy Birthday" to her and the other kids with birthdays this week. She was quite comfortable up on the stage and even waved to people in the audience. That girl's a mess!

When we got home from co-op I decided to do an easy Christmas activity (I am trying to do one every day). The three big kids had a cookie-eating competition. The first to finish 4 cookies and drink their cup of milk won the prize of staying up an extra 20 minutes. 

 

We made a sun mosaic for our Truth in the Tinsel advent activity. Zechariah describes Jesus as the "rising sun coming from Heaven to shine light on those living in darkness". My windows are getting quite full and are so pretty with just 8 days worth of ornaments. We're 1/3rd of the way there!

Kat also had her first basketball practice of the season. She had alot of fun.

My Dad got released from the hospital yesterday! His stress test results were good. They think his new blood pressure medicine was causing the problems.

December 8

I would appreciate prayers for my Dad (Grandpa Tim). He is in the hospital until they can figure out what is causing him to be light-headed and causing chest pains. His blood pressure meds have been changed. He has a stress test today. Pray the doctors figure out what is causing this. He does NOT like being in a hospital (he hates needles).

 

 

 I got to have a date with Elliott yesterday after church. He picked what we got to do, so we went to a pet store to buy Gus a bone and to play with animals, rode his bike at a park, took cookies to Papaw G, walked around a toy store, ate dinner at Golden Corral, and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. That was his first time ever eating at Golden Corral. He loved it. In fact, he loved it so much that he sang about how much he loved the Golden Corral in between bites. No joke.

Our Truth in the Tinsel activity was to decorate an old cd (we used dried beans) because we learned how Mary sang a song to praise God after she found out she was going to have a baby.

December 7

 

We spent a couple of hours yesterday ringing bells for the Salvation Army. This is so much fun to do with the kids. Elliott and Matthew helped us for about 45 minutes and did much better than I expected. It almost feels a little mean to have cute kids standing there... people can't resist donating (especially older people). 

 

 

 

We had friends come over for the evening to decorate cookies. The kids may have eaten their weight in cookies!

December 6

Last night the kids had a campout in the Living Room under the Christmas tree lights. If you look closely, you can see the four-legged family member.


"Mom, the flash is too bright!" The girls wanted me to take a picture of Gus this morning... looks like he had a rough night.

 

This morning we learned about Mary and Elizabeth and how Elizabeth's baby jumped for joy in her belly when Mary walked into her home (because she had God's Son in her belly).

December 5

 

 Here's our Day 4 Truth in the Tinsel ornaments (the angel Gabriel) made from fingerprints.

Elliott came home from preschool yesterday with this in his bookbag. I asked him about it and he said that he asked his teacher to help him write me a letter that says "I love you Mom." I love it! Merry Christmas to me.

 

 

 For Day 5 of our Truth in the Tinsel, we learned about Gabriel telling Mary that she would have a baby (God's son) and how she obeyed God, even though she was scared.

 We finally have the routine of Truth in the Tinsel under our belt. We found these exercises that coordinate (most days) with our advent activity. Today's exercise was stomach crunches. This helps Elliott and Lucy get the wiggles out before they have to sit still and listen to our Bible story. Then they get a piece of chocolate from our advent calendars for being good listeners... I am not above bribing my children.

December 4

 For Day 3 of Truth in the Tinsel, we read about Zechariah. Here are the kids' Zechariah ornaments.

 

Each kids' ornaments are going to be put in their own window pane. After 24 days of ornaments/crafts, they should be pretty full!

For fun, we had a picnic by our Christmas tree.

We also have watched this movie a couple of times. It is nerdy, which is what makes it charming (done by the creator of Veggie Tales). It has alot of information about why we do certain things at Christmas and it always points back to Jesus. The kids have enjoyed it.

December 3

 Healthy lunch in between picking Elliott up from preschool and Julia's gymnastics class.

 Jonathan? Is that you? Jonathan spent the afternoon/evening with us while his parents were out celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Strawberry Shortcake?

Elliott gets into his Wii games...

December 2

Happy Birthday Aunt Nikole!

Yesterday was co-op.

 Julia and Kat's 3/4th grade Geography Through Art class made masks.

 My Botany classes were so busy that this is the only picture I got. We set up an experiment, made bark rubbings, etc. 

 

Last night was day 1 of Truth in the Tinsel (we made candle ornaments to represent Jesus being the light. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Isaiah 9:2

December 1

 

 

 

 Yesterday was so nice outside we took the kids downtown to a park. Elliott enjoyed watching the bikes and skateboards at the skate park.