Excitement!

This time of year brings much excitement into our home! We have Thanksgiving and Christmas; Rick doesn't have to work a full week until the 2nd week of January because of saved vacation days; and we have 3 Birthdays!! Our oldest, Kate, will turn 7 on December 22nd, Henry will turn 4 on December 3rd and Jack will turn 2 on December 9th. I always thought it was crazy to have a baby in December and now we have 3! It is a great deal of fun though and I wouldn't trade it.

I get asked a lot about how we handle Christmas gifts. Each year we have done it differently. We don't have a set way that we decide about numbers of gifts, etc that we stick to every year. This year we have decided to give our children 3 gifts each. I'm excited because we are going to make it a treasure hunt. Rick and I will write down clues for each gift and the kids will have to go find them. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I have 15 clues to write so I better start writing!

We are always looking for ways to continue to point our children to Christ. We strive to do this daily, but there is something wonderful about Advent. What are your favorite ways to do this during the next month?

The weather has been wonderful this week with the highs in the 70s so we've been playing outside a lot!! Here are some pictures of what we've been doing:

What's New

I haven't blogged in awhile so I thought I'd just catch up. A few days ago the kids were asking us to tell them stories about when they were little. I read back through the blog to remember some of the funny things that they each had done. That's why I keep this blog. I hope it is like a family scrapbook.

Up first is Sims. Some have asked what name he goes by and we really do call him Simon and Sims equally. Well, Henry only calls him Sims and Jack only calls him Simon. The rest of us use both. So either one is fine with us.

This is Henry's first dress up costume and he loves its! I feel quite safe when Rick's at work.

Here is Sims rolling over when he should be sleeping. Hmm...

Science experiments:

Keeping warm on these chilly mornings:

Getting to know one another:

Driving to Gadsden: Some people have asked what we drive. This is our 2004 Yukon XL. It seats 8. We keep one of the front seats folded down so the big kids can climb in the back seat easier.

The annual candy sort. Clearly, Jack is enjoying it.

The Stash - I have not had 1 piece today. That's to make up for the 4 I had last night :)