Our Christmas

I pray each of you had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Savior. My little family and I had a very low key day of opening gifts, eating, spending time together and naps! It was wonderful! We missed our extended family but I think this was just what we needed.

Click here to see all our photos.

Snowed In Part 2

Today was MUCH better! We had such fun with our friends from down the street.

Snowed In

Just gorgeous!

Yesterday was the prettiest day. We got to watch snow fall so softly all day long. It accumulated to be quite a bit of snow. Possibly the most snow I can ever remember at one time. (I say remember because when I was little I lived in Iceland...there was bound to be a few big snow storms there.)

Anyway, the snow made it really so gorgeous outside but inside we had a rough day. Quick run down; the sickies reared their ugly head at Zack and I, Levi cried for a lot of the day, Riley ate a poopy diaper (smearing poop all over Levi's carpet) and Moriah puked all over herself and I (right after bath time). So we didn't get to play in the snow as much as we wanted.

Praying that we have a better day today because it is still SO BEAUTIFUL outside! I'll post pictures of our sledding adventure this afternoon so stay tuned for part two of our "snowed in" weekend.

Digging us out. It was up to his thighs and still coming down!

Venturing out

Levi wasn't all that impressed.

Just For Fun

My littles are growing so fast! Levi had his 9 month check up today and is doing well. It is hard to believe that 9 months have come and gone since he was born. His first birthday is just three short months away, CRAZY! Moriah is busy and cute, as usual. Levi has taken to wanting to everything she does (I didn't realize that started this early). Especially if it involves food. He has to eat the same thing as she does. For that reason he is pretty much done with baby food and eats all table food. Enjoy a couple shots from our day today.

Love her smile. She is seriously so fun. I laugh all day at her.

She is yelling "CHEESE!"

Levi has taken to looking outside. He loves to sit in the sun.

Too bad it is too cold to venture out for too long.

My chilled out 9 month old. Love him!

Snow

Our first snow of the season. It was so beautiful watching it fall all day. We went out to play in it after naps but it was already starting to melt and the snow was turning to rain. It sure was fun though!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Reading Christmas books to my kids by the tree.

Smelling yummy Christmas candles lit throughout my home.

Focusing on Jesus in the busy season.

Any thing Willow Tree, but especially their Nativity.

Having a tree that is full of homemade ornaments and ornaments with memories. It doesn't get any better than that!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

It's Not Supposed to be Easy

Disciplining is tough. It is tough for me as a parent to be consistent and it is tough to be on the receiving in. But it never was supposed to be easy, right? This morning I have been pondering on how effective my "methods" of discipline are. Is Moriah learning? It seems that I am constantly battling with her on the same issues. Direct disobedience rears its ugly head often in our home. I am encouraged and take heart that this is not an overnight, one step program of discipline. It is a process of learning (both for me and her). I have been trying to keep the perspective of how does God look at me as His child. How does he rebuke me and discipline me? Am I showing His love to Moriah when I discipline her? A book I am reading that is helping put things into perspective is "Grace Based Parenting." I have found it encouraging and it has changed how I discipline. Some verses I have been reflecting on are:

Hebrews 12:5-6 "My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." Oh, how I long for me and Moriah to be more self-disciplined. In time, in time...

Side funny story of how Moriah has learned that discipline is hard. This morning I was paying bills and she wanted to "color" (aka use my pen to draw on the bills). I told her no and that I would get crayons for her to color with. Instead of obeying she quickly grabbed my pen and started scribbling. Her punishment was that she did not get to color with her crayons. She was CRUSHED. She asked me to spank her and then let her color. Wow. So I guess in her mind a spank would be the easy way out and she would still get her way. I had to chuckle at the way her mind works. I gently told her no. She would not be getting a spank and she would not be coloring this morning. She cried and then went about her business (every once in awhile she asks to color again and I reminder her why the answer is no).

Trying to be a good parent is not for the faint at heart but it sure does account for much laughter and fun.

Standing Solo

I can't believe how time has flown. My little guy is almost 9 months old! He recently has been loving blowing raspberries at everyone (it is really fun when he has a mouth full of food!) and just started getting better balance and standing on his own. I am still loving how fun Moriah and Levi are together. She does the silliest things to him and he still is just chilled and laughs about whatever she does. She brings out the giggles in him often.

So Thankful

I was happy to host Thanksgiving at my house. It was nice for us to be able to welcome my family into my home. It was rare that we are together "just us." After a yummy meal (where Moriah and Hannah said the prayer-ADORABLE!) we packed up the car and headed to a resort in the VA mountains. It was beautiful! We got to take the girls on a horse ride, go hiking, play on the playground, go shopping on black Friday (we went out during naps while Zack stayed with the sleeping kids), visit an indoor water park, and see gorgeous views from the ridge. Not to mention all the cards that were played. It was a sweet time together.

We are a typical family. Just a group of people tied together by the bonds of DNA. We have arguments, rifts, and some tension but we are family. We are forever going to be part of each other's lives. We will forever share in the joys and sorrows of life. We spent this past Thanksgiving weekend together. Just us. It was such a blessing. See we might all be scattered around the world next year. Zack in the AF, Nate is headed for the Marines. Jay has talked about joining up too but nothing certain yet. No matter what arguments occur or how different we each are in the way we live life, one thing will always remain the same. We all love Jesus and we all love each other. I know that if I need them, my family is there and I feel so blessed by that knowledge. I love my family.

Here are all the pictures of our adventures at Thanksgiving. Hope yours was spent enjoying your family too!

Advent

Today marks the beginning of my favorite month. This month we get to focus on Christ's birth! I LOVE Christmas. Since we had Moriah we have been starting family traditions that center our attention on the perfect little baby that came to our world because of His great love for us. It kicks off tonight and I am SO EXCITED! Our decorations are up and our tree is ready. Tonight we will be listening to Christmas music and placing our ornaments on the tree. We will gather as a family and sing praises to our King and read a portion of the Christmas story. Unfortunately we didn't start on Sunday (as is traditional for advent) but we will get on track tonight. We will also be doing the Jesse Tree this year. Something new for us but I am looking forward to teaching my littles about what led up to Jesus' birth. Merry Christmas!!!