Ben's First Christmas Program

Yesterday morning Ben had his first Christmas program. It went well & he remembered the words to all four of his songs like a champ! Thought I would share a little of it with you. . . enjoy!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tonight as Brian was doing our daily Advent reading:

Brian (reading): "Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand."

Ben (interrupting): "What are tablets?"

Brian: "They are large slabs of stone..."

Ben (interrupting again): "Oh! I thought they were like a Kindle."


HA! We don't even own a Kindle! This kid cracks us up!

Some Serious Catching Up!

So A LOT has happened since the last post I made on here & that is precisely why I've not had the chance to post in a while! Instead of writing a book about all the happenings, I'll let all the pictures do the talking.

Our biggest boy turned 5!

How wonderfully God has blessed us with the gift of our Ben. We love him incredibly!

The birthday boy & the cake of his choosing.

Driving the cars in the "mud"!

Decorating his birthday treats for school.
Can you tell that someone likes sprinkles?!

They love Auntie Aubrey!

There is a serious shoe fetish around here!

Evie especially enjoys putting on big people shoes. It happens at least once almost daily!

A Thanksgiving Vacation to Phoenix!

In summary, the kids did amazing on the airplane & thoroughly enjoyed seeing their Uncle Jeff. 

We all had a lovely time & enjoyed our adventure!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

When we first moved into our house a few years ago I made throw pillows for our couches & from the beginning they NEVER managed to stay on the couch for longer than ten minutes at a time. More often than not they would be scattered across the living room floor being crawled over & jumped on by the little people in our house. It is something that has driven us a bit crazy, especially Brian. Well, the other night Ben & Cedric decided to have a pillow fight with these pillows by throwing them across the room at each other & this is the brief conversation that took place:

Brian: "What are you doing?!?"

Ben & Cedric: "We're having a pillow fight!!!"

Brian: "It's not ok to throw those pillows in the house."

Ben: "But I thought they were called throw pillows?"



HA!! We never even thought of it that way!

Why Not Halloween?

I am no theologian, but as a Christian it is my responsibility to think thoroughly about everything in my life & act according to what God says in his Word about it. And as a mother seeking to raise my children in the fear & admonition of the Lord, this responsibility seems to take on more significant meaning, because now it's not just me who is being affected by my thoughts & actions, but the hearts of my children as well. So this brings us to Halloween. I know many people think we're a bit strange & don't understand the big deal about celebrating Halloween, because after all, it doesn't have to be all about zombies & witches & blood sucking vampires, right? But I would argue that even though there are people, even churches, who choose to have harvest celebrations where kids dress up like little lambs & firefighters, they are still taking part in a holiday that was founded on the fear of evil spirits & the worship of false gods and in modern times has become more a celebration of witches, goblins, & demons. We choose to not celebrate this holiday not because we're ultra conservative christians but rather because we strive to be like Christ in every aspect of our lives & we believe Halloween is a holiday that celebrates things that oppose this goal.
Halloween or All Hallows Eve is the day before All Saints Day, a day spent celebrating the righteous saints throughout Church history.  Much like the development of Mardi Gras, a day of indulgence, which is always the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  Interestingly enough, most people in our communities today would probably know more about Halloween than All Saints Day, and more about Mardi Gras, than Ash Wednesday . . . but it wasn't always that way.
Now let me clarify that there are arguments for Christians to celebrate Halloween & we do not "look down upon" or judge others who choose to partake in this holiday & if children came to our door looking for candy we would cheerfully give them a handful, we simply choose not to partake ourselves because of our convictions.  Instead, we choose to celebrate a significant day in our church history, Reformation Day, which falls on October 31st as well.  We do not simply desire for this to be an alternate option for our children to have fun outside of the usual Halloween celebrations, but rather we are seeking to be faithful & desire to celebrate the works of Christ & the faithful Christians who have gone before us. (To learn more about Reformation Day you can go here: http://grantian.blogspot.com/2008/10/reformation-day.html.)

And there you have it! A short explanation of why we don't celebrate Halloween . . .  in case you were wondering. ;)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

As I was sitting on the bathroom floor the other night helping Evie finish up a bath, I noticed the neighbors dogs start barking (which is not unusual) when in walked Ben with one of his random, lovely, hilarious ideas...

Ben (in all earnestness): "You know, Mom. I think every time a dog barks it leaves a bark behind & that's where wood chips come from!"

School & Other Things

Last week, Ben had his very first day of school (pre-kindergarten). He was not nervous & not overly excited, he was just ready. I walked him into his classroom & he confidently yet cautiously walked into the room, hung his backpack on the hook with his name on it, took his snack out of his bag & placed it in the cubby with his name on it, gave me a hug & kiss, & walked into the room & began to play with the toys that were waiting & welcoming him. It was beautiful! He is so ready! After picking him up a few hours later this conversation ensued:

Me:  "How was your day, Ben?!"
Ben:  "AWESOME!"
Me: "Do you like your teacher?"
Ben: "Oh Yes!!"
Me: "What was your favorite thing you did today?"
Ben: "ALL OF IT! I knew school would be fun, but I didn't know it would be this much fun!"


Suffice it to say, he loves school & we are incredibly proud him!

And here are some pics of other recent happenings:

Milk Mustache!

Such a kind brother sharing his fudge bar!

 Riding the Dune Racer (Evie's first ride):

Anyone up for a mud bath?!

A couple weeks ago Evie took two big falls in one day. First she fell off Brian & I's bed (which is quite tall) and hit the side of her face on the base board. In this picture you can kind of see the scrape next to her eye. It also gave her a nice swollen & black eye. Then, later that afternoon she was walking in the living room & stumbled falling head first into the corner of the wall. It didn't quite break skin but gave her a huge goose egg for a while. Can kind of see the mark on her forehead. Poor baby. :(

Ricky & his monkey buddy all belted in for the ride!

A sweet & brief conversation: