Believe

Christmas is such a special and fleeting time in a child's life and we try to make it wonderful, if not a little magical. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes not as much. I'm chalking this up to success.

Jesse was loving some Christmas festivities and looked at me and said, so only I could hear, "When I get bigger, I'm not going to believe in Santa. But I'm not big yet, so I still believe."

I said, "Good!" and hugged him tight.

Childhood is so fleeting!

Merry Christmas!

I'm so behind on posting...

Hope you had a Merry Christmas! From our family to yours!

This is in the porch that we remodeled this fall. It's our "wood porch" so as soon as this picture was taken we filled the whole room with firewood. It's a shame since the room turned out so beautiful, but then again, having firewood stacked and dry right next to the living room is priceless, at least when you heat exclusively with wood!

I'm also not sure why this picture is so small, when I make is larger it gets blurry, so small it stays!

Hogwarts

Santa brought the boys the two Hogwarts Lego sets to share. And since they were in and out during the week, I made them wait until they were all home on Friday to put the sets together. They were beside themselves with excitement. However, they had been playing and building Legos all week and towards the end of the day did get a little burnt out on building-one of the sets had 10 bags of Legos! But they pushed through-troopers they are!
We had also gotten Eli "Hagrid's Hut," which he is pointing to here. It is a neat set and has a light up brick for the fire. He did a great job putting it together and has had lots of fun playing with all of the creatures and pieces.

We got Noah "The Burrow" which he needed only a little help to put together. And it has some really neat features that he is enjoying, like the drawers and plates in the kitchen. Noah is pointing to himself, he's a little bit "gangsta" you know.

Here are the two Hogwarts sets put together, with all of the people. I knew we had to take a picture quick, since once they started playing and dividing things up it would never be the same!

Oh the fun they are having! I'm so glad we get to enjoy it with them. They divided up all of the minifigs between themselves to "own" and there was one extra, so it was determined that I should get one too. I said I would just take what was left but that I didn't really want a dementor. Guess what was left? Yep, I have myself my very first Lego minfig, and it's a dementor. I keep him on top of the Castle!

And then Hogwarts with the additonal two sets for the full effect of Harry Potter's life.

 It's a regular wizarding world around here!

Handsome Man

Tim sang at church on Christmas day and it was requested he wear a suit. Which is not his norm, he's a jeans and long sleeves kind of guy. He looked really nice, which I appreciated, so he decided to just wear his suit all day. Kind of like when I keep my work clothes on in the evening so Tim can see me in nice clothes.

The boys got him a shoe for his blackjack table for Christmas so after he opened it he went in the library to check it out, and I had to laugh. He looked like a dealer, so I had to have him pose.

I love it!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

May your day be filled with family and love, may your new year be filled with God's grace!

Love,

Tim & Janelle

Eli, Noah, Simon, Jesse

Gingerbread House

The boys love to put together a gingerbread house every Christmas season. I'm just glad they make the kits you can get for $5. I did pick up some extra candy to decorate with since this year there are four boys who are all very interested in getting in their fair share of decorating.

Here they are busy at work. There was a little frustration as eight hands wanted to work at the same time. They are learning compromise and kindness. Especially since I wouldn't let anyone quit!

They made it through, and were asking to eat it as soon as it was done, but no eating until Christmas Eve!

We added a small bag of M&Ms, some gummy Life Savers, and a pack of tic tacs. Seemed about right.

School Christmas Projects

Eli made this in Art class at school. So very cool, and time consuming to make. Each branch is cut and glued individually. When they get Eli's age, it's fun because they have some skills to do harder projects and they still think making stuff is fun. Love this age!

Up on the Housetop

Jesse is our musical child I think. He's always been such a dancer and it sure seems like he can keep a beat.  He knows all the little songs that we sing, and he's learning new ones at preschool. We love to have him sing for us. It's highly entertaining. Well, it's Christmas so they are learning Christmas songs at preschool of course. They have been working on "Up on the Housetop" lately.

Here is my favorite part:

Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down thru the chimney with Saint Good Nick!

See him, it's Saint Good Nick!

Caroling

I've never been caroling, have you?

Noah's school set up a caroling night for one of their "family nights" at school.  The boys and I went and stood with some friends so when they broke us into smaller groups we'd be with them.  Our group got the first side street next to the school so it wasn't a long walk and boy it looked like no one was home on the whole street.  I asked one of the teachers if they had set houses that we were going to.  Nope!  Just see who would answer the door to a mob in the street!
There were kids who would run up to the door and if someone answered we would sing them two songs, wish them a Merry Christmas. Then kids would run off to ring the doorbell at the next house.  My Noah was dying to be one of those kids ringing doorbells.  He made it on the last house, which looked dark to me, but they came to the door and we sang. Noah was quite pleased.  I was just glad he had a good time.

I imagine we looked a little bit like this:

I do not have the photographic proof myself because I felt like a purse, a hand each on a three and five year old, plus eyes on the seven and nine year old while walking down the middle of a street with no sidewalks would be enough for me, and thus no room for the camera.  Maybe next year!

After caroling we went back to the school for sitting on Santa's lap, a Christmas craft, and a cookie with scalding hot chocolate.  It was a very fun night.  By the end of the night I even managed to find the mitten and glove that I dropped as I was getting them out of my purse for Simon and Jesse when we got there.  Kind people picked them up and put them in the lost and found, and we were able to get them.  Yay for that!  I hate losing gloves!

We all enjoyed it, and I think the neighborhood did too! Now the boys and I are wondering who else we can go caroling to?  We'd need Tim with us though, we need a deeper voice in the mix than what the boys and I can offer.

Have I mentioned lately that I love the ages of my boys? And the fun we are having? Partly why my blogging has been sparse, there's just so much we are doing, learning, and experiencing. So glad I get to be their mother and share in forming who they become.  Love those little men!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Apparently the boys' bus driver is doing a little Christmas trivia with them to pass the time. She tells them what it will be about and then asks for the answer the next day. They came home wanting to know about the Twelve Days of Christmas.

While I think that song is a wonderful Christmas tradition, I'm not about to sing it, it's horrible! The repetition drives me up a wall. However, I was more than happy to sing the final verse, starting at twelve. I was singing it and trying to get the boys to join in and act out what was happening so they'd be able to remember it better. Eli was excited to be a Leaping Lord, Noah and Eli would both be Ladies Dancing, they would all do "swimming" motions for Swimming Swans. They pointed to my rings for the Golden Rings, Jesse would fly like a bird for any of the birds, Simon would act like a turtle crawling for the Turtle Doves (which cracked me up by the way).

The VERY best one though was when we came to Geese. I wasn't sure how to do a goose laying an egg, so I figured I'd see what they came up with, I mean, why should I be the one with all of the ideas? I will document below:

"Noah, be a goose laying an egg!" I encouraged. Noah thought for a second and before he could act, Simon came over and sort of sat down, as one would to lay an egg. It worked for me. I was ready to head to the Golden Rings.

"Wait! Wait!" Eli yelled. He ran over to the center of us, sat kind of on his knees and ripped a BIG fart. Then he laughed and laughed. All the boys laughed and laughed. I laughed and laughed while shaking my head.

Bet you'll never think of "Geese-a-laying" the same will you?

Merry Christmas

May we all remember the true gift of Jesus Christ we receive on Christmas and to pass it on to others, not just at Christmas, but all year long.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!


Love,
Tim & Janelle
Eli, Noah, Simon, Jesse

NOEL

The boys and I were getting out the Christmas decorations for their room to decorate. We put up a small tree and a chunky, child safe nativity set and just a couple of other knick knacks they have accumulated. One of the other decorations is a wooden sled that says "NOEL" at the top. Eli read it and then turned to me, "What does 'NOEL' mean?"

"Well, Noel is a Christmas word that means.....um, gosh, what does it mean? Let me think." As I'm dusting off a part of my memory where that would be stored he responds.

"Oh I know what it means!"

"You do? What?" I'm glad he remembers, he can refresh me.

"It means: Noah Eli. NOEL. Yeah, this one goes in our room!"

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is enjoying the season! We've had a lot of fun at our house over the last week.

We've joined the land of Wii, which is Eli's favorite to beat me at things. Noah's interest is a little less-he'd rather just watch a movie; we'll have to watch that boy!

We have Hot Wheels coming out our ears and the boys are loving it! They so enjoy them.

We also got lots of games to play and it is wonderful to finally be able to play some board games with the boys--other than Hi Ho Cherry-O or Chutes and Ladders or Candyland.

The boys were all very pleased to realize that even though Tim and I are headed back to work that they are still on Christmas Vacation.

Merry Christmas!

1 Cor 13 Christmas Style

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls but do not show love,
I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas Cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love,
I'm just another cook.

If I work in the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity but do not show love,
It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ,
I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those that can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearls will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the Gift of Love will endure.

(emphasis mine)

The Aftermath

Does anyone else's living room still look like this, or am I the only one?


It's a wonder Simon didn't choke on all the small pieces of packaging and twist ties from the toys. Although he did manage to eat a small bead over our Christmas break. I didn't know he ate it until it was diaper change time.....

Christmas Decorations

Okay, here are some pictures of our Christmas decorations. It's mostly just the trees, we're still collecting enough Christmas things to fully decorate the house. The front door:


We put up a lot of trees since we have a big house to fill. Before we lived here Tim wouldn't help with putting up a Christmas tree at all; I had to do everything. So when we moved here and bought a large artifical tree, I was skeptical he would decorate, but I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised at his willingness to carry boxes from the attic and getting on the step ladder to put ornaments on this tree in our Library:


I pretty well do this tree by myself (living room):


These are pre-lit with the pincones and stuff, so all we do is bring them down from the attic and plug them in--easy peasy (hallway):


This one we have in the dining room this year, we have had it in the hall previously, but since we got the two above trees for the hall last year, this one found a new home. We have had this one decorated with antique ornaments, but this year I went with a silver and gold theme.

These are on a table top in the dining room, and we actually keep them up all year. We do have a box full of minature ornaments that we can put on these if we want. I didn't feel like it this year, but next year I think the boys will be up to the challenge of doing that for me.


Speaking of the boys, this is their tree and they help with it:
Here is a shot of the staircase, it's hard to get it all in.

My sister has a tree up in her room:

This is the first year for having a tree in our room, but I think it's nice. I won the tree at my old work in a raffel. Can't beat free!

In case you are wondering, we have a large walk-in attic so we keep the smaller trees intact and just carry them down. It is the advantage of having a big house. We have a trunk in our room I keep the ornaments for our tree in, the boys have a high shelf in their closet that I keep their tree and decoration in, and Mary keeps hers in her closet, so I try to keep from carrying as much stuff as I can up to the attic. We have a few other decorations around, but mostly it's the trees.

Christmas Traditions

We have some Christmas traditions, and are adding more this year. Eli's four and will be remembering things from here on out, so I figure whatever I want to be traditional Christmas memories for my kids, I better get the move on to get the tradition going.

One thing Eli wanted to do this year, was string popcorn. I think he saw it on a commerical, but he asked about it several times, so I figured that was easy enough. Except that I have never done it. My sister was home Friday night and she helped Eli pick the ones that already had holes through them, and after a little while he got the hang of picking them himself. He worked on it for probably an hour. He used popcorn, raisins, and cheerios. Someone at work suggested using cheerios, so it would be easier for Noah. Turns out Noah didn't really have an interest in stringing anything, he mostly just ate all the food. And Simon too, it was my job to keep them out of the popcorn, and away from Eli which was a feat in itself.

Here is his "action" shot he asked me to take:

• I want to start a Jesse Tree, but don't have all the stuff for this year, and am not quite organized enough for that just yet, but I am gathering things so we will be ready for next year.
• This year I made Peppermint Bark, thanks to Jenn at Frugal Upstate, and I think that will be my "thing" to make. I've been looking for something and I think that's it. Plus it was a big hit with my family. I'm still tweaking the ingredients so it is just right, so that's fun.
• We have started reading "The Night Before Christmas" so that the boys will know it when we read it on Christmas Eve.
• We do leave cookies and milk for Santa, but we thought this year Santa might like some Christmas cupcakes. They have the funfetti Christmas mix at Aldi for cheap so we might do that. The boys think the colors are fun, and it would be nice to have something else on hand for the people that will drop by on Christmas day.
• We stay home on Christmas day, usually Tim's parents come over and sometimes my mom is over (depends since she doesn't drive) and with my dad it's always a guess as to what he will be doing.
• I usually roast a turkey on Christmas day so we have it to eat on all day and it will feed whomever stops by. Tim gets one from work every year after Thanksgiving, so that's the one we use.
• Christmas Eve is at Tim's parents house with his grandparents, brothers and their families, so it's a good time. Our kids are the youngest by a lot and the older kids have a great time with them, so it's a lot of fun. We enjoy it too, I think that's more fun for Tim and I than probably anything else we do over Christmas. For me it's because I've been a part of that for a long time (13 years this Christmas) and it's been more stable than things with either my mom or dad.
• My Dad's family gets together the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's and it's a crazy house. My grandma doesn't have a real big house and she has 11 kids plus spouses and over 40 grandkids and now over 20 great-grandkids, not everyone comes of course, but boy does it get crowded. Mostly we just eat and hang out. Grandma makes a mass of one thing and everyone gets to pick. Last year she made pillows, she's done pot holders, doilies, ceramics, rosaries, soap, ointments, you name it.
• I take a picture of the boys in front of the same fireplace in our house every year on New Year's Day and it's fun to see how much they grow each year.
• The boys make presents for all of their grandparents (I would say what they are doing this year, but I know some of the grandma's read this blog!) This will be Noah's first year making something. I want to instill the importance of giving and giving handmade gifts are always treasured.

Well, that's mostly all of our traditions as of now, but more will be added, like stringing of popcorn and the Jesse Tree as time passes. I look forward to making rich memories for my kids as they go through childhood.

Letters or Not?

Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer brought up the debate of sending Christmas letters or not. So I thought I throw my thoughts out there. I like to get them, especially from people that I don't keep in close contact with so I kind of know what's going on in their lives. I have never written one and don't know that I ever will though. Here's why...

Tim and I were talking last night about how a lot of times all he wants to do is talk about me and the kids and say how great we are, but he doesn't really want to brag, so lots of times he just says nothing. How sweet is he that he thinks we are so great?

Well, I'm pretty much the same way-how would I write a whole page about our family and our activities without it sounding like I'm bragging? I don't know, so I don't do it. I think my kids are the funniest, cutiest, and smartest ones around. Ever read my blog?

I do send out a family picture and will handwrite a note in the card to people I haven't talked to in awhile, but most people just get a cheery Merry Christmas and some other sentiment that I have picked for the current year and the picture. I also really like the personal touch of it being handwritten when people send them to me, so that's what I send. The pictures people send to us are displayed on the refridgerator until we get replacements the following Christmas (or sooner as the case may be).

The cards we receive all get displayed on the door to the pantry in our kitchen, and you can't really do that with the letters. It cheers up the kitchen to have them hanging there and I hate to take them down come January. The boys love Christmas cards too, since there is mail they get to open, and that is the highlight of their day. So, I'm sticking with the Old Fashioned Handwritten Christmas cards, but I do enjoy reading the letters of others.

Christmas Picture

We’ve sent out a Christmas picture with our Christmas cards for the last several years and I get pretty worked up about pictures. I love pictures and I want to have nice pictures. But of course this is the first year with three boys. The first obstacle this year was getting everyone together. I like to do it the weekend of Thanksgiving after we get the tree up. This year the Friday after was when the boys made Christmas cookies with their cousins and Tim’s parents so they were gone (well Eli and Noah, Simon’s too little to make cookies), then Saturday Tim was gone doing stuff at the rentals and Sunday he was gone all day at rehearsal for our church’s Christmas musical. Then he has been working late or nights and it’s been crazy.

So Tuesday, even though it is dress rehearsal week they had the night off, and my sister was home early so I determined it was family picture night. I had to cut Tim’s hair before he would be in the picture and Simon was grumpy so I put Simon down for a nap and cut Tim’s hair. Then we got the boys ready and got Simon up from his nap. By this time it’s about bedtime, which, as a mom, I know is a recipe for disaster, but we press on. Noah keeps playing with his hair (he sucks his thumb and twirls his hair when he’s tired) and Tim is getting very frustrated in re-combing it and yells at Noah, and Noah cries. I’m trying to get him to stop crying so his face isn’t all red and yucky. We get him calmed down and Eli is mad that he has to stand; he wants to sit. Then he takes his shoes off and Noah wants his off too.

Meanwhile I’m starting to lose my patience since I know the clock is ticking; it’s time for Simon to nurse and he won’t last much longer. Tim and I each take a little one and my sister starts taking pictures. I had told her to take some without the flash and some with the flash, but in trying to get everyone at least facing the camera at the same time we forgot about the flash. Then Simon had enough, so we stopped and hoped we took a good one. I quickly got the boys in bed and nursed Simon. My sister uploaded the pictures to the computer so we could see them better, and not a single one of them was clear; since we hadn’t use the flash the shutter speed was slow and blurred all the pictures. With all of Tim’s rehearsals we aren’t going to be able to take a picture again until at least Saturday, then I still have to order the pictures…..I’m not happy.

While Simon takes a break from nursing I’m complaining to Tim and we decide to do re-takes, right now, which means pulling the boys out of bed. So I give him Simon and run up and see if they are still awake. I ask them if they would get up and do pictures again. Eli said, “No, I’m pretty tired.” Noah said, “I can,” and slid right out of bed, that Noah, he pulls through for me in a pinch! Then Eli jumped up and I had them back in clothes in less than five minutes, and we used the flash this time and got several nice pictures, and here’s the one we picked:


Then I took the big boys back upstairs and got them in their jammies and back in bed in just a couple of minutes and went and finished nursing Simon. Ahh… Don’t we have a beautiful herd of boys?

Christmas Lights

We were on our way to my Mom’s house this weekend and it was dark so I was calling out which side the boys should look for Christmas lights. There was a house that had a ton of lights, all around the roof, windows, deck, shed, garage, fence, bushes, trees, you name it, they had lights on it. They also had lights in the yard on figurines of Santa and the like, and more lights in just the shape of Christmas trees. The boys really enjoyed that one. Then Eli says, “The must have a lot of room for all those lights. That’s a lot of work to get them out of the attic.”

Can you tell we recently carried down our Christmas stuff from the third floor and in Eli’s mind it was a lot of work, and since these people had more decorations than us, how much more work it must be for them? Tim and I cracked up that he sees the beautiful display and then thinks of the work behind it and the storage space it must take. What have I done to that child? I think he’s old before his time. Note to self: play more games with Eli so he knows that life is fun...