pajama party - kind of

Yesterday all the kids, including L had a mini pajama party of sorts.  Actually it was more of a photo shoot.  You see, for Christmas the kids got matching pajamas from their great-grandma

and it just so happens that their cousin L has the same pair of jammies that T is wearing.  We talked about getting a photo with the kids together in their jammies, but with L coming during the day and she's already dressed, I wasn't expecting that to happen so quickly.  I figured we'd wait for a game night or sleepover or something.  But hey, this works too.  Anyway, L came over yesterday and guess what!?  She was still in her pajamas and they were the matching ones!  This wasn't planned at all.  H, T and K were still in their p.j.s and M was already dressed.  M noticed this and asked to get his jammies on so we did and then took pictures.

All sorts of craftiness

My Christmas Present this year was a cricut*!!!

I was so happy the day this got delivered, that I took many pictures of the box.  The best part was that my hubby came home soon after this picture was taken and he let me open it early!!

I got to thinking about my idea for teachers gifts for the kids to give out before winter break and I decided to let my cricut aid in the creation of these little items.  Naturally.  Of course.  I mean I had to use this machine for something.  Oh and Hannah and Timmy helped.

The original idea was to make Hot Cocoa Mix** and put in little cellophane bags and attach a little ribbon and a note.  Then I got my cricut.  I decided that I would make gift tags that say Merry Christmas on one side of the tag, and stick some instructions on the back of the tag.  This is the finished product:

*For those of you who don't but should know what a cricut is, let me tell you - it's the dream machine for scrapbookers and card makers alike.  It's useful for all sorts of craftiness around the home and I have many many plans for this wonderful machine.

**If you'd like the hot cocoa mix recipe, read on.  If not you can be done reading now.  *Warning* This recipe makes alot of cocoa!

Hot Cocoa Mix

You will need:

1 13oz jug of malted milk

1 22oz. container of coffee creamer

1 4 lb box of powdered milk

1 32 oz bag of powdered sugar

2 28oz containers of chocolate milk mix (nesquick for example)

2 1lb bags of mini marshmallows (actually they are about 10 oz)

*don't forget the powdered milk.  I did, and I just realized that now.  Ooops!  It still tastes good, but I'm sure it would've been better had I bought the powdered milk.  As I typed this out I realized that I never had that on the shopping list.  Oh man.  I hope the teachers like their gifts.

Now that you have all the ingredients (hopefully) place all of them in a large plastic trash bag (not kidding).  Firmly hold onto top of bag and turn bag upside down and all around until ingredients are mixed.  Pour into every container you can find because this makes a ton of mix.  (or in my case I just scooped the mix out of the plastic trash bag into the little cellophane bags) When preparing the cocoa mix one part mix with 2-3 parts water.  Enjoy!  Yumm-o!

Where's Micah?

M is on the verge of giving up naps.  Each day is hit or miss.  Some days he absolutely needs a nap, other days he looks at me and adamantly shakes his head no.  I know those days are ones I shouldn't even attempt to lay him down or he will destroy his room.  Usually he'll empty his drawers, rip the pages out of a book or end up taking the closet doors off their tracks trying to get toy boxes out of the closet.  Other days he lays down and rests quietly, and then gets up and plays in his room.

On this day I laid M down and he was quiet.  Soon I heard thumps, and thunks, and thuds of toys landing on the floor.  Then.  All was quiet.  I went to peek at him and this is what I came across:

The three Kings who traveled so far

On Christmas day, we added the baby Jesus and the wise men with their camel to our nativity set that the kids play with.  Kenan was singing over and over "We Three Kings" only it was more like we three kings who traveled so far, we three kings who traveled so far, on our way to see Baby Jesus.  I peeked over at the table where Kenan was playing and this is what I saw:

Yes that is Mace Windu Jedi Master riding on the camel

He has come a long long way, and he is very tired.

I think they are protecting the manger from any possible attack by King Herod.  He was out to kill the baby after all.

Baby Jesus being watched by the shepherds and angels.

Mary and Joseph walking to Bethleham

A Bird's eye view of the whole set up

Merry Christmas!

A busy weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was quite the busy weekend.  On Thanksgiving Day, my hubby grilled a turkey that was marinated in white wine on the grill.  It was sooooo good!

Perfection!

He's pointing out the apple and onion

The next day we began the first stage of the Great Room Redo.   It took the whole day but it was worth it.  On Saturday we rearranged our living room furniture so we would have somewhere to put our tree.  We have a small living room, and big furniture so it was a challenge.  Our options were limited but still challenging to figure out where to put the furniture and what to take out for while.  We knew we needed to put the tree in the corner so as to limit the amount of bumping into it that would happen.

Trying to find just the right tree.

I don't know what they enjoyed more - picking out our tree or the free mini candy canes

No matter what, Micah refused to look at me.  Still a nice picture!

In front of our tree.

You'll have to forgive the blaring sunlight behind us.  The only picture of me with the kids in front of our tree.

Our tree ready to be decorated

For all the decorations you'll go to this post.

Merry Christmas!

Deck the halls

Last weekend we decorated our home for Christmas.  What started out as just rearranging the living room for getting the tree next weekend (this weekend), it ended with getting the tree the same day and decorating that night and afternoon.  It was a wonderful decision.  Since the hubby has the camera with pics of our family picking out our tree, that post will come later.  This post is the decorations.  Enjoy.

These are the mini trees that are in each of their rooms

The tree before it was decorated with ornaments and Kenan getting ready to put the star atop the tree.

Micah putting on his ornaments

Hannah with a handful of ornaments

Timmy so excited to find his soldier that he made one year

Working so hard at making the tree look beautiful

Kenan's beautiful  addition to the tree

Take Joy my King

As I went through my routine this morning, this song buzzed through my head.  Mainly just the chorus of the song I love you Lord.  I'm not sure who wrote the song, but I'm giving credit to whoever did.  These are not my lyrics.  They are so beautiful.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship you, Oh my soul rejoice!
Take joy, my King, in what you hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear

I love you, Lord, and I lift my hands
To worship you as my soul demands
Take joy, my King, in what you see
May I be a sweet, sweet child on your knee

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship you, Oh my soul rejoice!
Take joy, my King, in what you hear
Make it a sweet, sweet sound in your ear

Make it a sweet, sweet sound in your ear

That first verse is what really stuck in my head.  Take joy, my King, in what you hear.  May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

So I began thinking about those words and what they meant to me.  How can I sing that song to God full of truth, without hidden sin?  Not that anything I say or do is hidden from God - but how much of what I say is sinful and it goes on unconfessed in my heart.  Then it takes root, festers, and grows there.  Pushing out room for wholesome and good talk that is useful for building up and encouraging those around me.  I am quick to speak and often say mean, hurtful, and unkind things - mainly to my family.  I want God, my King, to take joy in what he hears from my lips and sees in my actions.  How much of what I say or do does God take Joy in?  Are the words of my mouth a sweet sweet sound in His ear?  What a thought for me to take in and ponder.  I pray that He takes joy in what I say today.  

Bad hearing?

This morning, as we were finishing up breakfast and getting ready to head out the door to church, Kenan and I had this conversation... it went a little like this:

As I am happily putting clean dishes away and loading the dishwasher with breakfast dishes, Kenan gets up to bring me his cereal bowl with the spoon, and his cup.  He struggles to get through doorway and balance the spoon in the bowl.  He's hoping the spoon doesn't drop on the floor, but alas, it can't be helped.  The spoon crashes to the floor and the couple pieces of cinnamon toast crunch that were stuck to spoon are now on the floor.  I help by picking up the spoon and taking the other dishes away and he apologizes to me saying, "I'm sorry mama."  I reply, "it's okay, don't worry about it.  Would you please pick up the pieces of cereal?"  Little did I realize that he was off and running to go play with the manger scene as I said this.  When I did realize this, I said under my breath "thanks for the help Kenan."  As Kenan sits there playing he says to me, "I didn't hear you mama, I have bad hearing."  That made me smile - the things he comes up with.

Extreme Makeover-Spongebob Edition

Before....

After...

The walls still need a coat of paint and we have an ugly floral wall boarder up near the ceiling that needs to come down.  It's almost a joke to just keep it up.  It's been up since before we moved in.

We swapped beds with the boys.  Kenan got Timmy's bed and Timmy got Kenan's bed.  Micah ditched the crib mattress on the floor and now has a bed underneath Kenan's.  He looks so small now on the big twin size mattress.  They slept so good last night though.  It is such sweet moment to watch your little one snoozing on their very first big bed.

Here is a picture of the boys' beds with Micah in the foreground.  We've talked about decorating the walls with spongebob decals and painting the walls blue.  The white part of their bed, we might write something on it to add a little personal touch.  Maybe the S.S poop noop.

Kenan's bed

When we brought home the Spongebob pillow, Kenan went through the house making everyone shake hands with Spongebob and introducing us to him.  Micah was so happy to see "BobBob" that he danced around the living room with him.

Micah's bed

The book nook

Matching dressers and toy storage with colorful cubes.  Micah loves to open the cubes and see what is inside.  Never the same thing.

A view of most of the room from the door way.

Kenan's old bed now in Timmy's room

Another view of Timmy's "new" bed.  He slept in until 8:30 am because he said the bed was so comfortable!

There you have it - part one of the great room redo!