Happy Birthday Jesus

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manager."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"  

Thank you, God, for sending your one and only son to be our salvation!

We are trying to instill the true meaning of Christmas in the girls hearts from an early age,

 but we do enjoy Santa and gifts and stockings, too.  

Christmas Fun

Decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas has become a highlight of the season and one the girls look forward to.  I was amazed to watch Adair decorate her house completely independant of our help this year.

As much as Emalyn wanted to do it herself, she and Hank worked as a team.  They came up with a pretty neat design, too!

Myla Grant and I worked as a team...I decorated and she ate the gumdrops.

We had fun with the Hassenfusses and Halcombs at the Homewood Christmas Parade, another highlight of the season.

Zoo Light Safari is also something the girls look forward to each year.  They love all things with Christmas lights.  In addition to the zoo lights, we also love going to see the lights on Barry Avenue where a Homewood resident decorates his house with lights set to music.  His effort is such a blessing to all of the kids in our community!

On Christmas Eve, we baked cookies with Nona.  The girls had so much fun mixing up the dough, rolling it into balls and then in sprinkles.  They were delicious, but certainly not germ free.

On Christmas Eve night, we celebrated Christ's birth at our church.

Visiting Santa

Once the girls get to a certain age, visiting with Santa is a highlight of the Christmas season.  Adair and Emalyn loved whispering in his ear this year, but Myla Grant couldn't get out of his lap quickly enough!  

Fall Leaves

Adair has been begging to rake our leaves into a pile to play in, so once they finally got crispy enough, we decided to go for it.  All three girls had so much fun jumping in the leaves and hearing them crunch!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year...people, things, freedoms!  Our marriage, our three precious girls, our parents and extended family and, of course, our new addition expected in June!  We are also incredibly grateful for shelter and food and the means to provide for our family. Above all else, though, we are thankful to serve a loving, grace-giving God and for our salvation.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' house this year.

A Pioneer Halloween

Pumpkin carving is always a favorite activity at our house.  The girls love sticking their hands into the pumpkin to pull the gooey insides out.  They also love helping design the carving.

We tried to get creative with our carvings this year and used a pineapple corer to make polka dots and cat eyes.

Adair and I read our first American Girl, series, Kristen, this Fall and she decided she wanted to dress up as Kirsten, the pioneer girl this year, so, of course, her sisters followed suit.

The girls had funshowing off their costumes at their Halloween parade at school.

The parade was followed by a fun Halloween party in their classroom where they painted and decorated pumkins, dug for prizes in oily noodles and decorated cookies to eat.

After school our family headed to our community group's Halloween party for games, face painting and trick-or-treating.

Fun at the Fair

We decided to take a last minute outting to the fair this weekend and the girls had a absolute blast!  They loved playing the games, winning prizes, and riding the rides.  They also had their first corndog.  It was such a fun day and they can't wait to go back the next time the fair is in town.

First Day of School at Hilltop Montessori

Adair and Emalyn started school today at their new school, Hilltop Montessori School.  We are so excited for this new learning environment.  We know it will be a great year for both of them.

They are in the same class, as Montessori groups children in multi-age groups.  Their teachers are Ms. Marcia and Miss Roopa.  They are a wonderful team with lots of experiences and lessons to share with our girls.

Emalyn is in 3k and will go to school everyday until noon.  Adair is starting Kindergarten and will go everyday until 3 pm!  She is so excited and I know that she is ready for "big" school, but it is hard for this mommy to let her go.  She is most looking forward to learning to read and write better and doing math.

We know it will be a great year for both of them!  We look forward to watching them learn and grow this year!