Christmas 2012

Our home is filled with sweet little early risers, and, of course, Christmas morning was no exception.  They were up early and ready for a happy day!  We began Christmas morning by sitting around the breakfast table in the candlelight singing carols and reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke.

Singing Christmas carols...

And, Daddy taking it all in...

Blowing out Jesus's birthday candles...

Then, we ate scrambled eggs and homemade cinnamon rolls (Pioneer Woman)! Yum!

Then, the boys opened their presents!  They all got robes!!

Here are a few other gifts...

Fuzzy the Hippo ($10 at Sam's :-)...

It was a peaceful day.  It was rainy and cold, so the boys stayed inside and played with all their new toys!!

And, I sipped coffee in my Christmas mug that I've had since I was in high school!  A favorite!

Erik and I agreed not to buy gifts for each other.  But, somehow I got these...

 So precious!  I loved my presents!!

This was a favorite of the boys...

Lots of Hangman was played...

And, Miss Em still loves here baby doll.  Definitely her favorite present this year!  

All in all it was a beautiful, peaceful day.  We enjoyed each other, playing with toys and games.  We have a good number of friends who are missing loved ones this year.  My heart was heavy for them.  Every holiday we have with loved ones is such a blessing.  Just one more reason to make lots of memories!!!

Madame Alexander

When I was a little girl, my great grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother would often by my sister and I Madame Alexander dolls.  We had a variety of different countries and movies represented in our collection.  We also had baby dolls that were made by Madame Alexander.  But, I had not thought of this in years.  My collectable dolls sit in boxes stacked in an upstairs closet, and my baby dolls have long since been destroyed by lots of love ~ or so I thought!

My sister was so excited about Emery's Christmas gift, and I could not wait to open it and find out what it was!!!  I unwrapped the paper and giggled happy when I saw a pink box!  I knew Em's first baby doll must be inside...

 I told her I had been debating what kind of doll to buy Em, but I couldn't decide...

Then, I saw the side of the box...

Of course!!  Madame Alexander!!  I would never have thought of it, but my sister did!!  Evidently I passed my baby doll down to my sister's oldest daughter when I was a teenager.  So, my sister saw it and had the wonderful idea of getting one just like it for Em!  Here is Emery's beautiful baby doll...

And, here is my doll next to hers.  Mine actually came in a sleeper very similar to Emery's doll's, but it has long since disappeared!  But, other than the clothes and a lot of wear and tear, the dolls are virtually the same. They haven't changed a thing about the way they make the face and hair.  Love it!

Em has 5 older brothers, and before last night she had never seen a baby doll before.  Needless to say, she was tickled!!!!!!  She kept squealing this cute little squeal that I had never heard her squeal before!  She was soooo excited!!!

Love!!!

She was completely enamored with it...

And, here we are with the baby dolls!

I cannot tell you how precious this memory will always be for me.  Kristin and I spent at least 20 minutes reminiscing about our Madame Alexander dolls.  It was like a little piece of my childhood that I had totally forgotten about came back to life!  Like I text her and told her after she left... It couldn't have been more special coming from anyone else!!  It was appropriate that she, who taught me how to play with baby dolls, would give my baby girl her very first doll!

A Sweet Surprise...

I had completely forgotten about this, but when I found it, I remembered.  The other day I ran across this book...

And, when I found it, I vaguely remembered that Erik's sweet mama had bought it for me.  I opened it up to see if there was a note, and I was so unprepared to find this preciousness...

What a gift this was to me!!!

Life + Monday's Gratitude...

These days, they pass so quickly anymore.  A week is over before it really feels like it ever began.  So many things happen all the time, all at once, it seems.  I'm having a hard time keeping up!  So, I realized that I have taken a lot of photos that I haven't posted.  So, today I am backing up and posting a few photos from the last month or two.

See Emery's sweet little head?  They love her so....

About three out of every seven days, I find my Eriky asleep somewhere around the house.  Today it was on the floor in the schoolroom ~ curled up in a blanket. :-)  But, this day back in October, he fell asleep in the middle of the living room.

I was quite taken with his sweet little feet on this particular day...

My boys participated in a homeschool cross country group this fall.  It's a huge group of very committed runners, and the boys really improved their mileage and times over the course of the season. Here they are running with some sweet friends at their last practice...

To end the season with a little fun, their cross country team had a shaving cream party!  The boys had a blast as you can see...

This is my sweet kindergarten phonics class...

I love each and every one of these children so much.  They are so precious.

My guys playing dinosaurs on the kitchen floor...

So, Elijah was doing his morning work ~ Journal, handwriting, and phonics.  I was leaning over him helping him with something when all the sudden he jumped up just like this...

and said, "This is easy, Mom!  Bring out the hard stuff!!! I'm ready for the hard stuff!  Bring out the math!!!!"  I laughed sooo hard!!  Funny little kid.  Love him to pieces!!

One day last week it was super cold, and while the boys were outside playing, I whipped up a quick batch of cookies!!  I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture, but those little hands were bright red and as cold as ice ~ reaching for warm fresh from the oven cookies!! :-)

And, last week Erik and I took Joshua and James to their very first concert ~ Toby Mac with Mandisa, Jamie Grace, Chris August, and a few others...  It was a fun night for Mommy, Daddy, and the big boys!!!

After the concert...

James was nearly falling asleep standing up during the last few songs!

While we were at the concert our babysitter tweeted this picture...

Elijah looks so much like Joshua in this picture!!  Crazy!

Erik and I received this sweet love note from JCT recently....

I thought it was so cute!  Love is Magic! :-)

This little man loves to be read to!!!  If I read four books and go to get up, he will say, "Book! Book!" And, who can resist that!  :-)

And, it still catches me off guard.  The pink.  I wonder if I will ever get used to seeing it?  So thankful for my sweet little Emery girl.  She has added a new dynamic to our family, and we wouldn't trade her for anything!!

Which brings me to my thankful list for today.  I'm so thankful for...

* Beautiful winter sunsets.
* Small town Christmas parade ~ cars and people everywhere camped out over an hour before it starts!
* The simple beauty of leafless trees.
* Finding Jack in Elijah's lap looking at books together.
* Old dog sleeping soundly.
* Morning coffee and afternoon tea.
* Worries making me learn to trust.
* The reflection of Christmas lights in the window.
* A quiet home ~ at least for a few moments.
* Em playing peaceful.
* Days that are long, but are passing much too quickly.