Decorating the Christmas Tree

Most of us have been a little under the weather this weekend, but we did manage to get our Christmas stuff out of the attic and set up.  We just did everything in little bits at a time.  Shepard was soooo anxious... he has been waiting for the Christmas dvd's all year and then, finally, today we got the decorations on the tree.  Will keeps saying "look at the crisscriss tree"!  I tried a new setting on my camera and I need to work with it a bit more, but I love how it captures the glow of the lights from the tree kinda like it really feels.  There is just something so "magical" about Christmas lights. 

I really do love how the kids decorate the tree.  Most of the ornaments are at the bottom and then up as high as they can reach with the stepstool, but the top of the tree is bare.  I just think that is so sweet and I love how they enjoy the fruit of their labor.  One day we won't have "little" boys and there will probably be decorations at the top of the tree...  but isn't it wonderful how it is now?!

Oh, this is so cool!! I just figured out how to blog from my cell phone! So, this is my test. Seriously, this is cool. :).

Thanksgiving 2010

It was so different this year...  small and quiet, but it was restful and fun!  Is there really anything better than going to Mom's?!  It was just my Mom and my little family this year.  Dad and Josh were in Florida at a car show trying to sell Josh's hotrod, so Joy and Caden were in Chicago and Robin and Grant were in Texas at his grandpa's funeral.  After all these years of BIG family gatherings (with my mom's whole extended family) this was a small group to cook for.  Soooo, Mom took this opportunity to teach me how to bake a turkey!  Yes, I'm 40 years old and I've never baked one!  Hard to believe...  but there has always been someone else who is making the turkey and I guess I've never had the idea of making one any other time...  turkeys are for Thanksgiving. :)  I should have taken a picture of my bird - it turned out beautiful.  Really, with mom there to teach me I know it couldn't have turned out bad.  We even tried a new recipe - the turkey bakes for only one hour and then sits in the oven until the oven is cool.  Very nice!

While the food was being prepared we had a wonderful surprise...  SNOW!  It made the day feel so cozy!  I had to snap a picture of the boys enjoying it from the window.

Here's Will and Grandma visiting...

Our Thanksgiving Feast...

Late in the afternoon the view across the front yard was so beautiful - see the ice rings around the trees?

After we were back home and unpacking, Will decided to try on John's shorts.  It reminded me so much of a picture we have of Josiah in John's "big" clothes when he was little. :)

Individual Pictures of the Boys

I snapped a few individual pictures of the boys while we were trying to get a group shot... these are my favorites of those:

Some more pictures of the boys

I found a really fun new place to take pictures - thank you, Renee!  So, I took the boys out there one afternoon to try to get a picture of the three of them together.  UGH!  Actually, Josiah and Shepard tried VERY hard to cooperate, but Will was, shall I say... frustrating!  Josiah and Shepard would hold their smiles as long as they could while we were trying to get Will to cooperate, but by the time Will did anything I could get a good picture of, the other two were just barely hanging in there.  See...

Here are a few more of my favorites from that day:

Here's Will by the end of the photo shoot...  and this is how we all felt!



Will's basketball clothes

Will has been raiding Shepard's closet lately...  because Shepard has the shirts with a basketball on them.  Will doesn't seem to mind that the shirts are a little big.  He's just so happy to have a basketball displayed there.  Here is a picture of Will in Shepard's shirt (and Shep's tennis shoes that Shep has outgrown but that are still too big for Will):



Shining the Light

It's time for trick or treating and our family chose to make this a ministry night by sharing "THE light" with all those who would come to our door.  What an opportunity!  Lots of kids and families came knocking on our door tonight to get some candy.  Along with the candy, we handed out gospel tracts.  We told the boys that even though some who come to our door may already know the Lord, there would be many who don't know Him.  The boys dressed up in costumes from their "dress up" box (picture below) and it was so neat to see them serving others on this night as they handed out the candy and tracts.  And they had a blast doing it!  They stood at the door just waiting for the next trick or treaters to come and the excitement grew with every visit.  It was such a joy to me to hear their friendly conversations with each guest.  Later we prayed for all those who received the tracts tonight. 

Here are the boys in costume:

Shepard/ King, Will/ Clone Trooper, Josiah/ Prince Caspian

Remember this line from Star Wars - Princess Leia talking to Luke:

"Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?"

hehehee

Earlier today on the "jump-o-line"  (as Will calls it)

A little trampoline hair:

A lot of trampoline hair: