Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Time to slow down and Reflect

Here is a few pics from this weekend!

Here is us at my in-laws. Ready to open some gifts.


This is Mark's First time in snow. It was great until he got it on his hands. Then he was done!


Christmas Eve, they get new PJS


Making cookies for Santa


My Nanny, Owen, Mark, and my mom


Here in Oklahoma we got a major blizzard on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful and for once not a lot of ice. Once Nathan got home we were home bound for Christmas. Luckily we didn't have any plans. It was the best Christmas ever. And I think after reading a lot of posts on Facebook unless you were stuck in the snow you had a great Christmas too. I think it made everyone slow down and reflect on what is really important. Your family! Its not about seeing how many places you can go in one day, its not about pleasing others, its not about a mountain of gifts. Its all about spending time with the ones you love and remembering the ultimate gift that was given to all of us! Jesus. I know since we really don't know exactly when Jesus Birthday is some try to avoid making Christmas about Jesus' Birth. They state that we should celebrate all year long. But, when it comes down to it do we? I know I didn't. It was easy to say the words but in reality and looking how others celebrate his birth we fall short. One day we were in the car listening to K-Love. There is a song "Happy Birthday Jesus" sung by a little girl. Owen said "Mommy is she singing Happy Birthday to Jesus?" I told him yes. Then he said, "is today his Birthday?" (This was on Wednesday before Christmas) I told him that the Bible doesn't tell us his exact birthday, but a lot of people choose to celebrate it on Christmas Day. He thought on that and then said, "I think I am going to celebrate on Christmas night!" He had me thinking of the reality that we need to be more vocal about the great gift that was born humbly in a manger. This year we read the story of the Birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. I had pulled it up on my computer on Biblegateway.com. I was settled in and about to read when Owen said, "Mom, where's the Bible?" I was like it is right here on my computer. No, The actual Bible. Oh, once again he sat me on the right track. So, I went to find my Bible and read to him. It dawnd on me how we have let technology take over. And, I felt like I had lessoned its value by not reading it straight from the Bible. I forget to do that in Bible class. I need to remember that our kids need to know everything comes from the Bible given to us by God. My first graders made paper wreaths that had the nativity scene in the center. We wrapped them in class and they were to give them to someone so they would know the gift we have in Jesus. I found out last week that several of the kids took this very serious and went home and placed them under their trees. I can't wait to find out if they shared the story with their families. I hope everyone was blessed this holidat season!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Owen was beggin to go out in the snow. So, Nathan and I agreed he could have 15 minutes.



He fell a few times


and a few more


He ran all over

But he had fun!

And was ready to come in after 5 minutes! Hahaha... Hard lessons sometimes have to be learned by experiance! Happy Christmas Eve!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Dear Santa....

Owen's Friday Folder had his letter to santa in it. I thought I would share.




My name is Owen and I am five years old. I think I have been really good this year. I should get a lot of toys. I want a Spiderman scooter. I also want a Batman movie. I want a Batman toy with the Joker's bombs. Also I want a Lego Batman Video game. I want a batman pillow case with Batman sheets. Wolverine bouncy ball. I would like a dinosaur that if my brother touches it it will spray him with water. I want LOTS and LOTS of computer games. And a G.I. Joe memary. Scooby doo by doo games.

From your Sweetist boy ever

Owen.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Children's Art

I just love Tip Junkies blog. She always has such great ideas that she has found. I asked her the other day for great ideas on how to display my Son's artwork because he is always asking me to hang it up. So, today she did! If you would like to see her ideas go here. After reading this I thought of a great idea I saw once on one of those decorating shows.

Do you have a stack of your childs art that you are too afraid to get rid of? Is it over taking your drawer? Well, here is your solution....

Take a picture of them. Or if you have a scanner you could scan them into your computer. Now they are saved FOREVER. Here are a couple of my sons work.




This is the first thing he brought home.



These are his circles. I know I am bias but he is really good for his age. I need to share on of his drawings of people sometime. His teacher says he adds more details than most kids his age! ***Proud mommy moment*****

So, get out your camera and then feel no guilt when throwing them away!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Thanksgiving

I had lost these pics and couldn't figure what folder I put them in. Anyways, Nathan had to have a pumpkin pie for his works Thanksgiving party. So, I let Owen help. He is good at dumping ingrediants into the bowl.



Stirring.....

More stirring.....


Completed product


and cooking. He did a great job!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Cooking with kids

I love cooking with Owen. I hope one day to make a scrapbook with recipes and pictures of everything we made. This week we made trail mix. Here is the recipe.



You get a big bowl



1 1/2 Cups of Chex Cereal




3 cups of pretzels (recipe said stick but I used the small knot ones)






The recipe calls for 3/4 cup of pecans and 1/2 cup of cashews. But I just used mixed nuts




1/2 cup dried cranberries



12 ounces of white chocolate (melted) and then poured over the trail mix. Toss until the chocolate has coated the mixture




Pour out the trail mix onto wax paper and let cool for 20 minutes



Finally break into bite size clumops. I am making this for my sons school party!