Happy Christmas To All...

And to all a good night!

 

It's Christmas Eve and the boys are snuggled in their bed fast asleep! 

 

We've read my favorite The Night Before Christmas book. 

 

 

Will and Ben check NORAD's Santa tracker before going to bed.

 

 

Cookies and milk have been left out for Santa. 

Can you tell that Ben is a little tired?

 

They are ready for bed because in the morning it will be Christmas!

 

 



Kindergarten Christmas Musical

The kindergarten Christmas musical was on Wednesday.  Will was chosen to play the traffic cop for the song, "Frosty The Snowman".  There are 3 sections of kindergarten and all of the classes sang some songs together and each class sang a song individually.  One class sang,"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", another did "Jingle Bell Rock" or maybe it was "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", I can't remember.  Will's class performed "Frosty The Snowman".

 

Will proudly wore his traffic cop uniform. 

 

Getting ready for his big moment. 

 

Remember the song lyrics to "Frosty"?

He led them down the streets of town, right to the traffic cop;

and only paused a moment, when he heard him holler, "Stop!" 

 

Will nailed it.  He yelled  "STOP!" loud and clear!

 

I love this photo.  He's my sweet little boy.

 

Immediately following the musical, the class had their Christmas party.

We brought the cupcakes. 



InstaDecember

 It's the most wonderful time of the year.

 

That's the hashtag you'd see with most of these photos.  Christmas is special, but once I've had kids it's even more magical.  Most of the month of December is spent making special memories with my littles.

 

The mini Christmas tree in my kitchen makes me happy while I wash dishes.  It's decorated with special cinnamon salt dough ornaments that the boys and I made last year.

 

Our tree

 

Another view

 

 

Let me geek out for a moment and confess that I'm addicted to the Hallmark Channel during the holidays.  I can't get enough of the "Countdown to Christmas".  I'm a sucker for a happy ending.  My husband just walks through the living room and rolls his eyes when he sees the TV.

 

I may have cheated and thrown in this photo from November.  It's just too darn cute.  Ben is usually wearing this Captain American costume.  You should read the cute story about Ben calling Jesus a superhero, here it is.

 

 

 One of my favorite things about the holidays is sending Christmas cards to friends and family.   

 

Another favorite thing is receiving Christmas cards. 

We have a lot of beautiful people in our lives. 

 

We started a new Christmas tradition with Will and Ben.  We wrapped up 24 Christmas books and each night they unwrap one and we read it.  They have loved it!

 

At the beginning of the month we had two birthday parties in one weekend.  This one was in Tyler, Texas.  The boys love a good party with birthday cake! 

 

The second party that weekend was for my adorable cousin's daughter, Harper.  Her mom, Laine, made the cutest cupcakes with the most adorable cupcake toppers.  Laine outdid herself.  The cupcakes were so yummy and looked precious. 

 

And, this is what Ben looked like after two birthday parties in one weekend. 

Exhausted! 

 

 

Will wrote his letter to Santa all by himself. 

 

How precious! 

This letter was printed in our small town's newspaper along with all of his other letters from students in his class. 

 

The ladies of our church had our 3rd annual Holiday Cookie Exchange party.  I baked snickerdoodles. 

 

The snickerdoodles I took to the party. 

 

Look at all of those cookies!

I love the ladies in our church! 

 

Just because they are cute and I wanted a photo of them in front of the tree. 

 

The weather was finally cold enough to wear boots and layers.  One day my coworkers and I showed up to school wearing leggings (jeggings) and boots.  It was a total coincidence that we had similar outfits.  Aren't they gorgeous!?!

 

Our faculty Christmas party was catered by Babe's Chicken. 

The banana pudding was out of this world! 

 

Well, this was taken the day of the tragedy in Newtown, CT.

No words other than the heart of every mother broke on that day when they heard the news.  I honestly can't think about it much or I sob.  My prayers are with all of those who are affected by this horrific tragedy.  I hugged and kissed my babies extra that night.  This smile is a smile of relief and a sign of a grateful heart to be home with my boys in the comfort of our home. 

 

This was pretty good for low fat. 

 

 

Fun surprise!

I was at a special ceremony for my preacher who had graduated from preacher training school that's in a city 75 miles away from where I live.  At the end of the service/ceremony, Kacie, a blog friend came up and introduced herself.  It's really a small world!  It was so cool to meet her in real life.

 

Tis' the season to get fun gifts from friends. 

Taylor Swift + Starbucks gift card = winner!!! 

 

I baked cupcakes for Will's class Christmas party.

Funfetti all the way!

My niece, Maggie, saved me because she decorated the cupcakes.  (By the way, she did a way better job than I ever could have done!) 

 

Maggie's masterpiece. 

 

Ahhh!  Red holiday cup, I {heart} you! 

 

Follow me on instagram @redbirdblue

 

InstaFriday @ Life Rearranged

Jesus is a Superhero

 

Well, that's according to Ben.

 

Let me explain...

 

A couple of days ago, Ben told us that Jesus was the King.  We told him that was right.  Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We're almost sure he learned that from one of his favorite Christmas songs,

"Hark the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King"

 He learned that song from watching

A Charlie Brown Christmas

so many times.  (Let me confess that the boys have probably seen it dozens of times.  We LOVE Peanuts at our house!)

 

We thought that was so sweet that we asked him yesterday, "Who is Jesus?" and he answered, "Jesus is a superhero!"

 

It's not exactly the answer we were expecting, as you can imagine, but after I thought about it for a minute I couldn't help but think it was sweet.  In Ben's innocent 3-year-old mind, being a superhero is probably one of the greatest things anyone could ever be. 

 

In the spirit of the Christmas season, what a good reminder that Jesus is the greatest thing, our Savior.

 

Luke 2:10-14

 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord. 

And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"



Our Christmas Card

Our Christmas card this year is my favorite that we've ever sent to friends and family.  The photos were taken at our land where we hope to build our future home so the location is special.  The boys were extra cooperative and happy to have their photo taken, which is very unusual.  It's normally a challenge to get them to pose and smile for photos, but this time they did such a good job.  (Maybe it's a Christmas miracle, ha!)  We actually had a good problem because Lauren took so many good photos of the boys that I had a hard time deciding which ones to use.  Here are a few others that were my favorite.

 

I know that brown is typically not a Christmas color, but it seemed to coordinate best with what we wore.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  Shutterly didn't disappoint.

Here's the front of the card.

Here's the back. 

 

 Sharing our Christmas card at the 5th annual
Christmas Card Carousel at Walk with me by Faith

If you made your way here from the Christmas Card Carousel,
thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!!!

Third Annual Cookie Exchange

The ladies of our church had our 3rd annual Cookie Exchange party on Sunday evening.  We had some new faces and missed some of our regulars, but all in all it was a fun night of fellowship.  I always say one of my favorite things about the cookie exchange (other than swapping delicious cookies) is the mix of young and old ladies.  One of the special things about our church is the elderly members who are still faithful.  Their example is an inspiration.  The cookie exchange is the perfect thing to bring the young and old together.  Who doesn't love cookies?

My mouth is watering looking at all of that cookie goodness! 

We all had a great time eating yummy food, playing games and exchanging cookies.  

Look at all of those yummy cookies! 

(By the way, our gracious hostess, Jami, has a gorgeous home.  Her kitchen is amazing!)

Our first cookie exchange and second cookie exchange were lots of fun, too.

Giving Thanks

 

Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with gratitude?  Sometimes I look at my life and feel undeserving of all the wonderful blessings I've been given.  Mark and I try to instill the value of gratitude in Will and Ben.  One way we are trying to teach this is every night we pray together as a family before we go to bed.  Typically Will prays, then Ben, me, and Mark is last.  If you were to listen in, this is what you'd probably hear, from Will and Ben

 

"Dear Lord, Thank you for our family, mommy, daddy, Will and Ben. In Christ name we pray, Amen."

 

My prayer is usually this,

 

"Dear Lord, Thank you for this day.  Thank you for all of our many blessings.  Thank you for our family, mommy, daddy, Will and Ben.  Thank you for our friends.  Thank you for the church, the Bible, for Jesus, for loving us and forgiving us.  Thank you for our home and providing us food.  Thank you for school and for mommy and daddy's jobs.  Thank you for watching over us and protecting us.  Please keep us safe.  Help us to always do what's right and be good examples to others.  In Christ name we pray, Amen."

 

Lately Will and Ben have been praying more lengthy prayers and including some of the things they hear us give thanks for.  It makes my heart happy.  It's that feeling of overwhelming gratitude that I mentioned earlier.  I feel like Will and Ben might be getting the importance of being grateful for all that we've been given and being mindful that all of those things are from the Lord.

 

Each night one of the first things I thank God for is my little family.  About a month ago, we met Lauren at the land we own in the country for a photo shoot.  She is so talented and these are my favorite family photos we've had taken.  The boys were extra cooperative, and it's special and sentimental because they were taken on the land where we hope to build our future home.  I'm thankful she captured these images at this special place.

 

 

 

 

Give thanks with a grateful heart!

xoxo,

Michele

 

 

{Photos taken by Lauren}