Merry CHRISTmas!!

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Full Swing!! (part three- wrap up!)

My Mom's class has recently read and watched the polar express. To wrap up the book the children all dressed in their PJ's and the Lions Club took the kids on a train ride. Of course Miller was VERY overwhelmed but I think he really enjoyed it.

After a C O L D train ride we headed inside to read! The Children brought blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals and were allowed to lounge around and read until Lunch. Some of the students were taking AR test and Miller thought he needed to also.

We enjoyed a YUMMY hamburger and fries with baked apples and then it was time to head home. To say my Mom's class was excited about Christmas would be a understatement! The excitement was a little too much for Miller so we headed home before they enjoyed some Hot Chocolate and cookies.

That wraps up our BUSY week! Only ONE more week till CHRISTmas day!!

Merry Christmas!

Full Swing!! (part two)

Last week I took pictures of Miller's class for Christmas frames that we gave each student at the Christmas Party! On Monday their class made homemade play-doe and used rolling pens and cookie cutters to make ornaments. Since I was taking pictures for the frames I decided to stay and help his class make ornaments. We had a great time and I was able to capture some great pictures of his classmates.

We began the Christmas party activities with Music. Miller's class LOVES playing instruments. It was fun to see them in action.

After a very quite Lunch we headed outside for a snow ball hunt.
It sure was C O L D!! They loved getting to go outside.

After we found all the Snowballs they enjoyed playing. Due to bad weather they have not been able to play on the playground in several weeks so today was a real treat!

After warming up, the class opened books from Mrs. Misti.

They LOVE books!!
Mrs. Misti read them several books while we prepared to celebrate Jesus' birthday with juice and cookies!







We had a blast celebrating the TRUE reason for CHRISTmas!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!

Full Swing!! (part one)

CHRISTmas is in FULL swing at our house. This week we have made a Gingerbread house, Gone to Botanical Gardens to view Galaxy of Lights, had Miller's Christmas party, and went on a train ride. WHEW!!! What a great time we have had but I have to be honest I am looking forward to staying in on this cold rainy day to catch up on some blogging and a little housework!

We began the week of Christmas activities by going to the Botanical Gardens to view Galaxy of Lights. Miller LOVED all the lights!! Actually we all really enjoyed the lights. We went with my parents and sisters. It will defiantly be a yearly tradition. It was the PERFECT night!! The temps were in the low 70's- high 60's so we were able to leave the windows open. Miller's favorite part of the light tour was hanging out the sun roof.

On Tuesday my Sister helped my Mom's first grade class make Gingerbread houses. She brought the left overs to our house to help Miller make his very first Gingerbread house too. It was very simply to construct. She took a small milk carton and attached graham crackers to the carton using icing. Once the house was constructed they used icing to attach candies until they had achieved the look they were after. At first this is all Miller wanted to do....

Then he realized it was fun to help decorate.





The final product!



Check back soon to view pictures from the rest of our BUSY week!!

Let it S-N-O-W!!

This morning we woke up to a blanket of white. Since this is likely to be the only snow of the season we went out early to enjoy it before it melted.

"Two" Much Fun!!

We are so blessed to have been able to celebrate Miller's Second Birthday with Family this past Saturday.

The theme was BALLOONS!! Miller lit up when he saw my sisters walking up with 24 balloons. I wish I could have seen his face, I was in the other room and could hear his excitement. We had a wonderful meal together followed by lots of presents.

Of course he had to play with each present right then.

Then it was time for the highlight of the party...C A K E!!

Miller had his own cake. He was more interested in the balloon shaped candles coming out of it than anything. He thought they were suckers so we had to give a real sucker just so he would cooperate. He picked at the cake a little but was not interested in digging in. Luke had to force him to dig in but all he wanted was to wash his hands.

Then it was on to the family cake. My sister found the idea on a blog she regularly stalks {found here}. It was not a hard cake to make but I will warn you it was very time consuming. It took me 3 days from start to finish, but I was extremely satisfied with the results.

We had a GREAT time with family and can't wait to celebrate many, many more!

Halloween!!

We started Halloween day by carving pumpkins. It was Luke and Miller's first pumpkin carving experience. Miller was very curious and even helped clean out the pumpkin.

After carving Pumpkins, we ran some errands, had a long nap, and then it was off to meet Me Me and Grandpa Don for Trunk or Treat at their church. Miller was VERY overwhelmed by everything he saw. His expression did not change much the whole time we were there.

At the first car Miller wanted to immediately eat his candy and we had to explain that he needed to leave it in his bucket and move on to the next car because he was going to get more. It did not take long for Miller to figure out what was going on. Before we knew it he was pulling us to the next car instead of us pulling him. It was TOO funny. His favorite part was getting to pick his own candy!!

Some people really went all out and dressed their animals up to match the theme of their vehicle. Of course Miller could not move on to the next car without giving them some attention! He LOVES ANIMALS!!

Miller was able to add to his costume at one of the vehicles. One family did not give out candy but painted faces. Miller was very apprehensive as you can tell but I think it made him even cuter.

After filling our bucket we met up with Grandpa Don who was giving away popcorn and then headed inside for some games.

Once Miller was done he loaded himself up in his car as to say let's go. So we went to grab a bite to eat and then headed home to light our pumpkin and greet any trick or treaters that ventured down our way...which none did.

We had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN and hope you did too!!