A Few of My Favorite Things

Handmade Christmas cards, and yes, I'm obsessed with Polka Dots. If it's a phase, it's been going on for several years now so I'm not sure when I'll grow out of it.
I have so many favorite homemade Christmas ornaments, but this is definitely one of my favs. I mean, it's hard to beat Jared's 3-eyed snowman made when he was about 3 yrs. old.
I just love this nesting Nativity set that my mom made for me before I got married. It has held up through many years of play from the children. Our favorite story about this set is when we were doing school one day and Amber was off playing, we suddenly saw baby Jesus go flying through the air. Amber had discovered that if she put him on top of her flip top toy and then opened it, Jesus became airborne. We had a good laugh about it, then encouraged her to use a plastic bear instead.
Also handmade by my mom is this Nativity quilt. This is the first quilt that she hand-quilted. I love the colors and sometimes leave it up year round. This also has a story. One day when Clarissa was probably about 5 yrs. old, she felt she had been unjustly corrected by Mom and Dad and went up to this quilt and started talking to Jesus, something to the effect of, "Jesus, my Mommy and Daddy are being mean to me, but I know that you love me."
I love my Victorian decorations for the tree. The rose lights, the gold beads and ribbons, and especially this red snowflake given to us by our friends, the Stewarts. It reminds me of our cold Christmases up in Wisconsin filled with the warmth of good friends.
Speaking of Wisconsin and cold, I bought this snowman from a neighbor in Wisconsin from her annual craft sale. I fell in love with it and so have my girls. Most of the time, it is not to be found where I put it, but wandering around the house as the star of their latest make-believe play.
I can't remember where we got our gold angel from, but she has been the pinnacle of our Christmas tree decorations for years and will be for years to come.
I love our mismatched stockings. They might not match, but they represent each of our individual personalities and our family in all it's quirkiness.
I made both of these plaques with friends. The wise man tile picture was made with friends in El Paso and reminds me of them and the Joy was made with friends here in Virginia.
As much as I love our mismatched stockings, I also appreciate some funky coordinating wrapping paper.
All these things are just a few reasons why I love Christmas.

A Busy Weekend

Making gingerbread houses with the Hales and Brames

Amber creating

Krystal's masterpiece

Jared's house complete with garage, car, slide, and swimming pool

Clarissa, the interior decorator

Friday 10th - Gingerbread Houses
Took kids to Sonic for ice cream reward for reading charts
Jared went caroling with Central United Methodists

Saturday 11th - Church Primary activity, wrapping gifts for Social Services and a visit with Santa
Attended Snow White dance performance
Jared had Rank Advancement/Playing Risk with the Scouts night
Invited Lindsey over to watch "Dear John"

Sunday 12th - Drove out to church in Floyd, church cancelled because of weather
Drove to church in Blacksburg, attended church there
Drove to airport in Roanoke to pick up Chris, coming home from India
Attended Jared and Clarissa's piano recital

Chris is having a hard time adjusting to being back in the States. He still has jet lag and comes home from work to just crash. Amber tucked him in on the couch and gave him her stuffed animal. This picture was taken on Tuesday evening.
He brought us gifts from India. All the girls got pretty scarves. He also brought some spices to cook with and some Chocolate from Switzerland.
Jared's one request was some Indian art. Chris couldn't find any at the market, so one of the guy's sons let him have a piece from his personal collection. It's in 3D too!

Monday 13th - Homeschool Christmas party
Dance class for Clarissa and Krystal
Couponing at Kroger (yes, it's a verb!)
Watched "Amazing Grace" and had Egg Nog flavored ice cream for Family Night

Jared and his friends are having a blast playing "Apples to Apples"

Bird feeders

Clarissa is getting ready to shop at the Christmas store

What a great turnout this year, it was cold, but the snow held off long enough for us to enjoy a really nice Christmas party.

Look at us Daddy!

Since Chris is in India, the kids wanted to show him some pictures of them in the snow. This one is just Krystal being silly, nothing new, but way cute!
Amber is resting after several sleds down the hill. Apparently snow kept landing on my lense, making for some fuzzy spots in the pictures.

Here I come!

Head first

Snow angels

Angels We Have Heard on High

On Monday night, Clarissa and Krystal had their Christmas dance recital. They danced a little ballet mixed with modern number to Angels We Have Heard on High.
Clarissa just loves being the center of attention.

The girls with Miss Hannah, their instructor. We just love Miss Hannah, she is so talented. Not only does she dance, she also sews, she made the costumes too.
After the dances, we had a surprise visit from none other than Santa! Clarissa is all smiles, but Amber is not sure what to think of Santa.
He did not even hesitate to pick her right up and cuddle her. I agree with Santa, she's irresistible.
Jared gave each of his sisters a bouquet of handmade flowers. Isn't he sweet?

First Snow

Yum!

Cold and wet, but happy!

Beautiful.

November Nothings

One sunny Sunday morning we were all getting ready for church when we noticed that by chance we were all wearing matching/coordinating clothes. What a perfect opportunity for a photo shoot.



In an effort to keep the house clean we came up with a new incentive system. For every thing that the kids clean up or put away, they get to pick an M&M or a skittle out of a jar. At the end of the week if the house has been kept clean, we will have a fun family activity. The week of Thanksgiving was the first week we tried this system. It worked beautifully so on Friday night we went bowling. We had a great time.
Math with Skittles. We did sorting, counting by 10's, 5's, and 2's. Adding, graphing, dividing, etc. It was fun and worked for all ages, plus was yummy too.
Our history group is studying Ancient Civilizations. This unit was about Ancient Asia. Since we knew that Chris would soon be going to India for work, we chose Ancient India to study. Jared did his project about the Indian art. The colorful piece on the bottom right is his own creation based on the Indian techniques. Clarissa made an ancient dwelling from clay and Krystal made a bracelet to present to her brother as part of an Indian celebration.

It wouldn't be November without the annual playing and jumping in the leaves!

My calling in the youth program at church keeps me busy with meetings and activities. Chris is always so good about being home with the kids while I'm gone and having fun with them. The above two pictures were taken on two different nights while I was gone. One was with friends over and the other spaghetti night (Yes, he cooks and babysits other people's children while I'm gone.)
The first weekend in November we went to Charleston, West Virginia to visit Grandma Mattson, Chris's sister, her husband and their baby, James. Little Jimmy is just adorable and the kids just love their chubby little cousin.

Halloween...the extended version

This year, Halloween began on Monday the 25th with a trip to get pumpkins and even though it was just at Wal-mart, Amber thought it was just great to climb all over the pumpkins. We brought them home to gut them out and roasted the seeds. Clarissa loved the messiness of course.

We didn't have time for carving yet, but we finished off the evening with making caramel apples. YUM!!
Thursday, Amber had a Halloween party at Preschool, so I made mummy cookies for the kids.

Amber dressed up for Preschool as a cheerleader.

The kids finally got their pumpkins carved and painted. This is Krystal's pretty pumpkin.

Friday night the whole family got dressed up for Trunk or Treat at church. Our theme this year was a sports theme. Amber, the cheerleader, Krystal the dancer, Clarissa is a soccer player, Jared, a Notre Dame baseball player, Jen, a hockey player and Chris our coach.

Chris passed out candy from the back of the van. Jared's Frankenstein pumpkin is in the background.
Our county voted to do Trick or Treating on Monday since Halloween was on a Sunday. So, Monday we went to our friends house to meet with all our friends for a party and some Trick or Treating.
Also on Monday, our little dancer lost her second top tooth. So, now that Halloween is over she can start thinking about Christmas...all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...