Merry Christmas!

Peace on earth; goodwill to men!

Haircut

I had suggested to Lily that we get her hair cut short. She was scared of the big scissors, so yesterday she decided to take care of it herself. Actually, I was pretty impressed with how well she did. And she did really well at the hairdresser's today too. She told me afterwards that she prayed and asked God to help her, and He did!

Independent Baby

Being the third born child, Abby is learning to fend for herself from a young age. I got distracted from feeding her to help the older two with something this morning, and I came back to find she had figured out how to hold her bottle herself.

Other Abby news: She got her 8th tooth last week, she's eating some "real" food now, and she says Dada, Mom, a-da (all done), yeah, and hey/hi pretty consistently. She seems so much older than 9 months!

Making Coffee Bread

This month we are learning about family trees and heritage as part of our study of the patriarchs. Last week we made pizzelles with Grandpa R. Today we made Finnish coffee bread with Grandma B. Yum! Now the trick will be to not eat it all before Christmas...

First Snowman of the Season

The kids were so excited that the snow hadn't melted when we got home from church. They sang, Frosty the Snowman as we built our first snowman.

Child Labor

We came home last night to snow, and wow! the kids were excited. While Eric tried to get the snow blower going, the kids got to work shoveling. They had a blast, and they cleared most of the back driveway. What a big help!

Gingerbread House Disaster

I was impatient and didn't wait for the walls to harden before adding the roof this year. When I first discovered the disaster, I was afraid the kids would cry. But Lily said, "Oh well, I guess we'll have to eat it!"

Visit with Santa

Every year at preschool, Santa pays a visit to the kids. This year my kiddos were super into it. They remembered Santa and were shaking with excitement.

Please Pray for Bingley

Our dear Shitzu, Mr. Bingley, has been walking funny and favoring his one back leg for the last few weeks. He saw the vet today, and the diagnosis wasn't good. He said that he's not positive, but he thinks Bingley may have a serious and painful condition called Legg-Perthes Disease, which involves a spontaneous degeneration of the head of the femur bone. Poor Bing! Please pray for him.

I already found a clinic here run by a rescue that does orthopedic surgeries for a greatly reduced cost. I'm hoping to have them take a look at him next week to confirm the diagnosis and give us their recommendation on how to proceed. Praise God for that provision! But miraculous, complete healing would be my preference, of course!

Rockets

One of William's new interests
Lily asked hers to be attached to a kite string.

Playing with Daddy's New Tablet

Decorating the Tree

Advent has begun!

Advent and Christmas are larger than life this year. The kids are so excited about each part- the lights, the Jesse tree, the Advent candles, and especially the Advent calendars (felt and chocolate). Wednesday we "helped" Grandma and Grandpa B decorate their tree. Auntie Jenn is coming this weekend to take our family Christmas picture. It's so fun to see them thoroughly enjoy each activity.

We are taking a break from the Beginner's Storybook Bible (my favorite) to read The Jesus Storybook Bible this month. It doesn't have as many of the details, but it captures the wonder and anticipation of waiting for the Savior.

I'm hoping to have the kids learn the names of all the Nativity characters this year, and maybe the beginning stanza of Hark the Harold Angels Sing (with the help of the push-the-button Charlie Brown's Christmas book.) Happy Advent, everyone!

Sock Ons

While we were at my parents' house for Thanksgiving, my Aunt Jan and sister-in-law Vanessa showed me these clever little elastic bands for keeping babies' socks on. I ordered some right away. Abby was pretty mad about them for the first hour, but then she seemed to accept them. Not that she hasn't kept trying- but as of yet, she hasn't gotten either of her socks off when these are on. Pretty impressive!