Madison oh Madison!

Come home my dear Madison! It seems like you've been gone forever our sweet girl. You can't live with Grammy and Poppy. Sorry. Your turn is over. Come home soon. We miss you. :0)

Madison oh Madison!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We've had a wonderful morning! I'll post more later but that's at the forefront of my mind. Emma was thrilled to be the one to put Baby Jesus in his manger this morning. She kissed him and passed him around before placing him in there gently. I love it. I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends. I'll try to post photos later.

Advent Workshop

The children and I went to the Advent Workshop at our church last night. We had a grand time again. It is such a fun event! I remember going to the same function as a youngin. I still have a wooden reindeer that I made at one. I also remember making wreathes out of fresh greenery. I also made Chrismons, which are "Christmas Monograms". They are Christian symbols that adorn our Christmas tree in our church. I know if I looked hard enough I'd find some on there that I made as a child.

It is a family event where the fellowship hall is set up with different tables and stations. Each area has a different craft or item to make and then take at the end of the night. Last night, the gingerbread houses were a favorite. They also made birdseeded bagels, frootloop and cheerios garland, cranberry ornaments, Chrismons, ceramic tile trivets, Christmas cookies, hot chocolate mix gift jars, decorated gift bags, cards, to name a few. I love seeing my kids so comfortable at church. As tired as I was, I love the fact that they never want to leave. They always seem to be some of the last ones there. That's a good thing. Merry Christmas all.

Time is flying

We went to mom and dad's for Thanksgiving and came back late last night. I found out this trip that I like traveling at night. We went down on Tuesday evening after school and visiting with Nanny and Granddaddy for a while. It was around 5:20 when we left so it was dark very shortly after we got on the road. We drove for about and hour and fifteen minutes and stopped for dinner. After that, the children were full and ready to sleep. They were very subdued and the ride was great. I decided to do the same thing on the way back.

We celebrated my brother's 40th birthday on Thanksgiving Day. The children were very excited to present him with a scrapbook that we made for him. I must give big "thank yous" to Stacey B. and my Mom for helping with that project! It wouldn't have happened without your help, you're both the best! The last page was a happy birthday page that was mainly from the children. I think he really liked the book. It had pictures from as far back as when our Mom was pregnant with him! It pretty much covered the gammut.

Here's a first: my Mom and I went shopping on Black Friday! We were at the Wytheville WalMart at 4:40 am! I was specifically looking for some electronic items for the children and hoping for the $198 laptop for Mom. We did really well working together and splitting up. I decided right off that I wasn't going to attempt the laptop when I saw the hoard of people lined up around the items and cordoned off with police tape. I finished my shopping and went to checkout. I struck up a conversation with the couple behind me about their laptop in their cart. The lady said that it was crazy getting it and that she had gotten up at 2:30 am to get in line for it but she was thinking of not buying it; she already had one and didn't really need another. I told her I was hoping for one for my Mom for Christmas but had given up when I saw all the people... Next thing I know, her husband put it up on the counter in front of me and said, "Tell your Momma to have a nice Christmas"!!! I couldn't believe it! They were there for that long and they gave it to my to buy! This just made my day! It made my mom's too! Great people- that was my experience on Black Friday... :)

Boo!

Scared ya! We're back! Our computer finally went the way of the dump and we've been offline for a while. I bought a new desktop today. It was a good buy for a great price. So we're back and will be figuring out the new Windows 7 I guess.

The kids are doing really well. Mason will have his last flag football game on Saturday. He has absolutely loved playing. He's bummed that the season is ending. He'll be counting down to next football season. I guess I have two guys in the house like that now... :0) We're going to have him play one more season of flag fb so that he can really get the hang of the fundamentals of the game before moving on to pads and tackle. (Did I say anything about putting on a little bit of size too?) giggle giggle Boy, did he get aggressive once he got the concept of the game. He reminded me of myself when I played field hockey in school. They'd all size me up, and underestimate me of course, because I was the scrawny one. Then I'd let 'em have it! That was my boy too!

Madison is navigating her way through second grade. She seems to be having an easier time of school this year. She's not so caught up in her clothes. Last year I felt she was self conscious and always worried about everything being just so. Horrible for a 6 year old! It really had a lot to do with a group of girls in the class I think. This year, she doesn't really worry about things so much. I'm glad. She seems like she's happy being her, comfortable in her skin, perfect in God's eyes and her own. Just the way I want her to be. :)

Emma Grace is loving kindergarten. She is just writing up a storm! It's like she's just taking off this week! I love seeing those developments happen right before our eyes! She rounded the corner tonight and spelled out "I'll s-e-e you in the morning". She's writing all of our names in the family, love, and see. This all happened in two days! Well, it just came out on paper! I love it!

Tracy and I will be going to Belvedere Farm with Emma Grace tomorrow for her kindergarten field trip. It will be a special treat for all of us. I'll try to post some photos tomorrow. We'll see how that goes with this new computer.

First day of Kindergarten!

Emma Grace had her first day of Kindergarten yesterday! She absolutely loved it! She woke up raring to go and as happy as she could be. To beat it all, she woke up the same way today too! She loved the bus, she loved her class, her teacher, the whole nine! She said she made two friends, Olivia and Paige. She checked out her first library book and had it in her hand to show us as she got off the bus! She couldn't be more pleased.

Mason and Madison came home as pleasant as they could be too. They said that they ate lunch together and filled us in on who's in the class and how everything goes. They seemed like they really enjoyed it too. I'm really hoping that they continue to grow closer with this new setup. They've even all seemed to be closer since they've all been back from Mom and Dad's.

I'm thrilled with both the teachers that we got this year. They are both seasoned teachers and it's very noticeable that they love what they do. Emma's teacher has been teaching for 20-some years and the twins' teacher is in her 36th year! I'm pretty sure that's what she said. I'm very excited for all of them. It feels like they're all good matches. God is good!

BTW: I'll post pictures later. Just having a little trouble with the camera lately.