Merry Christmas!

We have been VERY BUSY these last couple days getting ready for Santa and learning the final lessons in our Christmas Journey. Here is Day 21, 22, 23 and 24. Plus a glimpse of ornament tree all filled up!

Day 21 & 22
We made the 3 wisemen and the Star they followed.

Day 23
We made Stars with Cinnamon to represent the incense and myrrh.

Day 24
The final day in our journey!
We made crosses to represent the real reason we are celebrating the birth of Jesus. So that he could die for us and forgive our sins.

After our lesson we read a book of the entire Christmas Story to put all the lessons together and sun it all up!
What FUN time with the kiddos this December!!

We also spent some time baking. We made cut outs and gingerbread and a couple other things.

Carson enjoyed eating the cookies!

My girls love to bake!!

We also spent a lot of time playing games.
Logan and I have been playing this game of monopoly for 4 days now!!

Here is  a glimpse of our Truth in the Tinsel Tree. This is Melina's side.

And this is Logan's side.

All ready for stories by the tree and fire!

Caught Logan sitting quietly gazing at the fire.

And here is our plate for Santa.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!

Day 20 already!

Day 20- Temples.

Randomness....


I CAN NOT believe we are on Day 20 and Christmas is in 5 more days!! 


CRAZY!!!! 


At least I feel good about gifts and that we are done shopping and almost done wrapping.



The kids are now done with school...today was their last day. Melina did some caroling for the parents, but I was to busy with the little kids on my lap to get any pictures. Logan watched 2 movies at school. I guess as long as it counts towards the 180 days. I have to admit these were my favorite days at school too!

I did some shopping at the mall (my first trip to the mall this holiday season) and it was not crowded at all. I actually bought myself a couple of things...and it felt good. All my hard work at 5am is paying off!

Meeka painting.
Carson thinking, "how can I get my
hands on that!"

In other random news Meeka is now in love with painting. It is very cute and she is very intense for about 20 minutes or so, which is a long time, but the mess and trying to keep Carson from the mess....need I go on. 


And speaking of Carson, his new thing is closing doors, which is great until he locks the cat from his food or liter or locks himself in somewhere. Then he gets resourceful and finds things to put in front of the door to stand on to reach the knob even better; but that makes it hard to get in to get him. Its always an adventure at our house.


And tonight we hit a milestone! We now have 2 kids that have said that they hate us. I know you are all jealous! Melina Jo had an epic MELTDOWN like never before; over eating her dinner. It started out as annoying, but somewhere along the line it turned comical and Michael and I found ourselves just laughing. Within 10 min of going to her room she was asleep though. And then Carson started...so we put him to bed too. And now time for the next 2.... good night!

Days 17, 18 & 19

This was a pretty relaxed and laid back weekend. Not tons of running, or really anything. We got to watch the Ohio Bobcats win their first ever bowl game. We got presents wrapped and some baking done, but all on a leisurely pace. It was nice to slow down and take it easy. This morning Michael and I were looking at each other saying, "its almost boring to have nothing to do." Then we thought, what would we tell the kids.... "look at all this stuff you have to do!" And we laughed!!

Day 17

We made sheep and talked about the Sheppards and how the Angel of the Lord appeared to them.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet with Logan and Melina. They were both so excited to see the show! We took them to lunch first and then over to the theatre. Melina ended up sleeping through most of Act 1. Logan on the other hand was on the edge of his seat the entire time! Defiantly a fun afternoon with the kids. This was their first "Big" show.

On Sunday Michael took Logan out for Boys Days. They went shopping and had lunch at Asian Gourmet. Logan ate 2 rolls of sushi and LOVED them! So we missed our Day 18, so we did 18 & 19 together on Monday. 

Day 18 

We made Angels.

Day 19

We made Shepperds. Their arms are up on the air praising God.

Christmas and some BIG news!!

Yesterday and Today brought more Christmas FUN! Melina had jammie and movie day at school and Meeka had her Christmas Party. 

This is the only picture I got from Meeka's Christmas party. She and Carson would not let go of Kacy or I so I could get a picture with Santa. They did not want to sit on Santa's lap, but as long as they were holding on they were interested in touching him. Yesterday evening when Michael got home Meeka told him she saw Santa. Michael asked her if she sat on Santa's lap and she answered, "No. I touch his balls." We just looked at each other and burst out laughing!


After Santa and cookies Kacy took Meeka shopping to the Secret Santa Workshop. The big kids got to shop for everyone else a couple of weeks ago, and since Meeka loves shopping (at Kroger specifically!) I thought she would enjoy it. Kacy told me she had a great time and really thought about what to get for everyone.  I am excited to see what she picked out!

 Carson, Meeka and Kacy (Meeka's teacher)

After school Logan and I made Christmas Popcorn for his class party and we made some extra to take to a playdate we had this morning too! I had never made it before, but it looked easy and semi-healthy, so we gave it a whirl! It turned out GREAT!!

First we air popped some white popcorn.

Next we poured in some melted white chocolate and Christmas Sprinkles.

And here's the final product!

Finally we bagged it up for his class!

Last night for our Truth in the Tinsel Day 15 we made a baby in the manger out of homemade clay, which we baked into ornaments. All 4 kiddos enjoyed playing with the clay! This is a 2 day project though because they had to cook and cool off before we could paint.

All the kiddos making their ornaments.

Everyone's final product before baking.

Melina's final product after painting. Logan did not paint his because he was taking forever cleaning up outside. So we just started without him. Tears followed, but maybe someday he'll learn I have a reason for saying things! Then again....maybe not!


Day 16. 
We made the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Showing off their baby Jesus's.

We have also been very busy making our world famous White Chocolate Chex Mix for everyone. Batch, after batch after batch. Michael decided this week he wanted to give all his managers a tin full for the holidays...so we have made a TON!!

A counter full of Chex Mix!

Also....BIG news in our house!!! 
Last night Meeka said Meeka for the first time!!! She was so excited and so were we!! She kept saying, "more." Meaning, ask me again what my name is! It was so rewarding and so CUTE!!!

Another journey begins

THERAPY
This afternoon we had our first of many meetings with the Beavercreek City School regarding Meeka. At 3 she ages out of the Help Me Grow program that she is attending for speech through the county...then what? That is what they are helping us explore right now. Yes, I said helping!! This FREE program through the county is thinking ahead and helping us plan the next step for her already! Have I said how much I LOVE them?!!!

Private therapy?...we are number 36 on the wait list at the local pediatric therapy place...and they don't accept our insurance anyway, so it is absurdly pricey!!

The local school district offers an integrated preschool program for those with special needs and those without. So, now we have to go through "the process" to see if she qualifies. That means meetings at Help Me Grow program with the city schools, meetings and evaluations at our house, and meetings and evaluations at the preschool and then finally a meeting to see the "results" of all of this. So here we are... another journey begins... where it will take us no one knows yet. But if she qualifies she will have speech therapy in the classroom at school. She will also be BUSSED to and from school. BUT she will go in the afternoon...so we will have to figure out how that will work with nap time. For now we will concentrate on the journey ahead and take it one step at a time.



DAY 14

Today we talked about the stable where Jesus was born. We are in agreement that is was probably stinky and if people knew Jesus was going to be born they probably would have given Mary and Joseph their room.

We made our own stables out of sticks.

Holiday Madness

This week is the epitome of HOLIDAY MADNESS!! 

                 But in a FUN Way!!

I made graham cracker gingerbread houses for Logan's class last night. And Logan and I filled bags of candy to decorate them with. Then this morning Carson and I went into Logan's class and surprised the kiddos with this fun activity! It was awesome to see the kids excitement and to watch their creativity when making their houses! What a great way to spend a couple of hours!!

24 Gingerbread houses

And bags of goodies all ready for the kids!

They are all hard at work!

When I was in the classroom today and talking with his teacher she said she had not heard anything back from anyone regarding  game for the party. So I whipped up a life size Frosty this afternoon for Pin the Nose on Frosty for their party on Friday.

Frosty

My little dancer!! (and day 12)

Melina is taking Creative Movement for the first time this year and she is IN LOVE!!! In fact her teacher told me last week that she could do ballet with the older kids because she is so good and remembers everything. She has been dancing this dance around the house lately. It is too cute!!

Day 8.
We make Sun's for the light of
the world!

Logan's Sun

Meeka got into the action too,
by making a glue picture!

Melina's final sun ornament.

Day 9. 

We made Joseph.

Days 6 & 7

 Day 6

We made pregnant Mary and Elizabeth's

(The kids painted underwear on the dolls under the clothes!)

Day 7

We made CD ornaments to symbolize songs of praise.

This scripture was really hard for the kids to understand today, but they understood about the Songs of Praise when we talked about that.

It has been a busy 2 days...all the normal stuff, plus a couple of birthday parties and all the holiday hoopla that comes with the season! I feel like I am just doing enough to keep up with things, but not charging ahead. My Christmas cards, which I ordered so early are still sitting in in the box. Still working on shopping.... oh well. We are taking time to enjoy the holidays too, not just task our way through them. Hopefully the kids will remember the fun times!

Melina helped me make 6 dozen Oreo balls for my Cookie Exchange Party I am hosting Friday evening.

I love cooking with my girl!

And I made Michael an Ugly Sweater for his contest at work yesterday. His words to me were, "I need to win this thing." And then this morning he says, "Can we just take 1 bow off?" NO!!! 

The Nativity

Truth in the Tinsel


Day 5

A Weekend in Review

We had busy times and relaxing times this weekend...what a perfect combo for 2 days off of the normal routine! I started Saturday morning by heading to the Elementary School where I wrapped presents at the Secret Santa holiday shop for a couple hours. It was a blast listening to the kids tell me about their family and their purchases and what they wanted for Christmas. After wrapping gifts I went and got Logan and Melina and took them to go shopping. They exited with very BIG smiles saying they had a GREAT time shopping.  After shopping they made some puppets and then got to sit on Santa's lap.


What a FUN experience for them!!

This is Day 3 of Truth in the Tinsel. They made Zachariah's with Band-Aid's over his mouth since he could not speak because he did not believe Gabriel.

Saturday night we took the kiddos to Woodland Lights. It was a 1/2 mile trail of lights though the woods. We had a nice relaxing stroll since it was only 50 degrees last night.

This is Day 4 of Truth in the Tinsel. We made the Angel Gabriel.

 After Lunch at Roosters for CHEAT DAY, we played Star Wars Monopoly. This was the first experience for Monopoly for the kids. Logan LOVED it! Melina, was a bit bored.