Joey & Eli at a play area

Joey & Eli have developed a very close relationship while Noah & Abby have been in school full days. They love to play together and especially when they can go to a play area. Here are a few pictures of them right before Christmas. Ah, the bond of brothers!

Abby & Eli

I caught a couple pictures of Abby & Eli playing in the snow. Abby is so good with Eli and Eli reacts to her as his 2nd Mommy. You can really see a special bond between those 2 -- especially since they still share a room. Abby is the one who gets him out of his crib in the morning and on weekends will race me to the bedroom when we hear him wake up from his nap! She loves helping take care of him.

Catching up!!!

I have not been doing well posting pictures on this blog!!! I am sorry about that! My camera was missing for a couple weeks because Eli got ahold of it -- my little climber!! -- and hid it somewhere. We couldn't find it anywhere! One morning, it appeared, of all places, in the middle of the kitchen FLOOR! I laughed out loud all by myself in the kitchen. I still don't know where he had it hiding.

I'll start with the latest adventure for Noah, Abby, & Joey: ice skating lessons!!! For having never been on the ice before, they did great! First of all they were in the wrong class. Who knew that "beginning skating 1" wasn't the first class. But they stuck it out and were determined to stay on their feet. We found out that the very beginning class ("snowplow") was meeting 40 minutes after the class they were in finished. We asked the kids if they wanted to stay and go through another class or if they wanted to just start it next week. They had a unanimous "STAY!!!" Their determination was amazing.

The 1st picture is Abby, the 2nd is Noah, the 3rd is Joey, the 4th is Joey falling -- they ALL fell quite often but I only got a picture of Joey, and the 4th is all 3 of them. It was a fun morning.

Prayers needed

I am asking for prayer for the baby of a blogging friend of mine. By God's miraculous healing power, Stellan was healed from a life threatening heart condition he developed in utero. Right now he has been diagnosed with RSV and is being intubated because he is so very sick. Please join with me in praying for quick healing for Stellan and peace and strength for his family. Please visit her blog to get even more information -- www.mycharmingkids.net

We can't have a messy house for Santa!

I have so much blogging to catch up on but I needed to share the craziness going on in our house right now. It's GREAT craziness, don't get me wrong. All 4 of the kids are currently cleaning up the basement, including vacuuming, because they said "It will be embarassing if our house is messy when Santa comes!" Of course I welcome ANY cleaning help I can get....I don't care what the reason is.....although their reason definitely makes me laugh.

A couple years ago, Noah came right out and asked if Santa was real. Jeff and I had discussed when Noah was born that if our children asked us any questions, we would answer them honestly. This has been a very difficult thing to do sometimes especially when the question is about how babies are born, how did the baby get in my tummy, if I get the flu with a baby in my tummy can I throw up the baby, etc etc. Anyway, I disgress. When Noah asked us about Santa he told him the truth. We said that it was just a story based on a true story of a real man named St Nicholas, the "santas" we see at the mall are men dressed up, that the presents come from Mommy & Daddy, and that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus' birth. He seemed to understand that and we heard no more about Santa. That was also the year we homeschooled him for kindergarten.

Last year we heard a little bit about Santa but mostly songs they were learning in school. Now this year is a completely different story! Noah is in 2nd grade (public school), Abby is in 1st grade (public school), and Joey is in kindergarten (public school). They all want to put out cookies and milk for Santa and Noah informed me that I couldn't eat them! Joey has been writing notes all day about "Joey loves Santa". Noah told me that he hopes Santa brings him something because he's been really trying to be good. Now they are cleaning so the house can be clean for Santa.

Part of me wants to laugh and thinks it's really cute. But another part of me wishes they weren't so focused on Santa and cared more about Jesus' birthday.

I was just thinking about how desperately they wanted to make sure the basement was clean for Santa but how focused am I on asking God to "clean up my heart" so I'm ready for Christmas. I need to take some time this afternoon to do that so I can get the full meaning of Christmas.

Thankful this Thanksgiving Thursday

Try saying THAT 5 times really fast. Anyway, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! On this Thanksgiving morning, I am reflecting on this past year....all of our ups and downs...and we have SO much to be thankful for.

I am thankful Jeff has a JOB! And especially one that he enjoys.
I am thankful I have a husband I am more in love with today than the day we got married.
I am thankful that our marriage has grown stronger through difficulties rather than fall apart.
I am thankful we have a Christ-centered marriage.
I am thankful we have a warm house to live in when so many people are losing theirs.
I am thankful we have parents who love and care about us.
I am thankful our children have wonderful relationships with their grandparents.
I am thankful I am able to be a stay-at-home-mom.
I am thankful for healthy children.
I am thankful for the excellent teachers our kids have.
I am thankful for the piles of laundry I have to do everyday because it means our house is full!
I am thankful for supportive friends and neighbors who are also friends!
I am thankful I was awake at 5am so I had time to reflect on all of our blessings.

What are YOU thankful for this year?

A blog contest

One of my blogger friends is having a "Fryday Contest" that I'd like to be a part of. She is giving away some photography stuff and a customized blog header! Wouldn't that be awesome?!?! Here's the link to her blog so you can check it out for yourself. May the best blog win --- that would be MINE of course! hahahaha

Actually I encourage all of you reading this to go back and read her blog entries about being told her unborn baby was going to die. By God's grace and amazing power her little boy was healed and born perfectly healthy! What an awesome God we serve.