10th Anniversary Trip

Well…my post typically have lots of pictures with my kids..not this time:) My husband I and vowed years ago to spend our 10th in New York City.

My sweet family volunteered to keep our kids for us…and when I say family that includes my mom, dad, brother and sister in law and Baby Colton! All joined forces to keep our kids loved, fed, played with, and bathed!

Travels can cause stress at time, years ago one of our mentor couples gave us the advice to always agree ahead of time, that no matter what happens, you are not going to argue…just make the best of it. This advice is especially helpful with toddlers are in tow…but also proved helpful during this adventure.

We arrived in NYC as planned…with one minor problem. No baggage. We had nothing but the shirts on our backs. Gordon did have his winter coast on his person, mine was packed.  As we are filing our missing baggage paperwork, we also discovered that I had booked our hotel at the wrong location. (First opportunity for my husband to apply the rule! )

We leave the airport and go on into the teen degree NYC weather…again no coat! (First time for me to apply the rule)

The next 3 days were simply magical……no need to apply the rules! We had fun shopping at Macy’s for new clothes,dined at some of the NYC’s best restaurants including the famous Tavern on the Green,and just enjoyed being together walking up and down the streets wandering into stores and “places” that interested us. We had no schedule and no agendas. Our last night in the city….it snowed! We went to see the Tree at Rockefeller Center…and it was just like we were walking through the scene of a Movie….Christmas in New York in the Snow….there is nothing like it:)

This morning, we left our hotel at 4:30 am…and were driven to the airport in blizzard conditions at a high rate of speed in a Taxi…quite an expierence, but also fun! Maybe the Taxi driver had never been prayed for…he was this morning.

Currently…I am making the most of being delayed 4 hours so far at the airport, b.c it snowed so much the airlines are delayed, but I am lucky to be holding a boarding pass in my hand and not waiting standby.

(Continued a few hours later)

4 hours quickly turned into a 6 hour delay in New Jersey. 1.5 hours of that delay was actually on the airplane while we waited for our plane’s turn to be deiced. Ironically, the reason for our heavy delay was not b.c of weather conditions near NYC…but because of a scheduling error on the part of one of the pilots. Gordon has his own theory on the “Pilots Delay.”

Here are a few of our highlights from our trip!

Anniversary Night Dinner

Tavern on the Green

 

Snowing at Rockefeller Center

Amazing Toystore! Brought out the little girl in me all over again!

Amazing Light show behind me at Saks 5th Avenue…

Crazy picture with the Macy’s Santa….this was kinda a “accident” we started “wandering” through an amazing North Pole Wonderland…at first we thought we were just “looking around” at Christmas decorations, but it is a wonderfully master planned path to “wait for Santa” We were there early in the day and simply walked through the exibit..and were ushered to Santa’s lap at the end of our journey. Later in the day, there was a several hour wait to see Santa!

Party!

For Levi’s 3rd Birthday…we celebrated first with a BIG parade in downtown Dallas! It was freezing cold, but we bundled up and went down for the fun.

Levi sees one of his favorite friends….

He must have come to wish him Happy Birthday!

After the parade, we headed to the church for Levi’s birthday party! He invited all his friends to come and drive cars around the skating rink….in the spirit of Lightning McQueen!

Levi was also very glad that his friend Reagan was well enough to come celebrate with him! Mommy’s blog readers have been praying for Reagan for a long time!

Reagan will be 3 soon:) We can’t wait for her party!

Happy 3rd Birthday Levi!

Dear Levi,

Happy Birthday Number 3! I love being your mommy! You make me laugh, smile, cry, and pray… a lot!

The day you were born, God answered a very special prayer and on that day I promised Him that I would do my best to raise you to be a very strong man after God’s own heart! Your Nana sent me a book about “Training Up a Little Guy”

Be Attentive—I love how you can tell me every single Sunday what Mr. Dale teaches you each week!

Be Obedient- OBEY the first time all the way with a happy happy heart. I love how to you try so hard to follow this special rule in our home.

Be Truthful- I love how you tell me the truth when you are not telling the truth:)

Be Thankful- I love how you tell other “Thank you so much” most of the time w.out mommy have to remind you!

Be Generous- I love how you always want to bring Ava a treat when you get one.

Be Orderly- I love how you want everything in the right place…or well your just not happy until it is:)

Be Forgiving..I love how quickly your forget the sins of your siblings.

Be Responsible..I love how you put your shoes away…most of the time:)

Be Patient..I love how you will read a book until its time to do what you want to do.

Be Self Controlled…I love how you are working on this!

Be Creative..I love to watch you play! You are a very creative little man!

Be Diligent..I love how you will work a puzzle until it is complete.

Be Loyal and Loving..I love what a good Big Brother you are to Ava…and how much you look up to your Big Brother Zachariah.

Be Determined..I love how you are just like your mama in this area!

Be Compassionate..so much like your daddy. Loving others…putting others first. Amazing quality.

Be Wise..This is a daily process. Mommy and Daddy will work very hard to give you an excellent example to follow, so that you can grow up to be an intelligent thinker who makes right choices!

Love the Lord Your God With All your heart, and With All Your Soul..and With All your strength!

Gingerbread House Fun

We had so much fun today! A few days ago a friend of mine sent me an email telling me about this quaint family owned bakery in Murphy, Texas, just a few miles from our house. The bakery offers a variety of fun activities throughout the Holiday Season. We choose the Ginger Bread House class.

Step 1: Choose a House…

Ava likes the supply of candy on demand!

They break cookies for their roof.

Ava adds a peppermint stick to the roof.

Levi puts a wreath of frosting over the front door!

Zachariah adds candy to the front door!

Waalaah! The best house created by a 1,2 and 3 year old!

A huge thank you to the wonderful staff at Annie’s Culinary Creations for a fun family memory! The staff at Annie’s was fabulous..they were patient with the children and wanted the children to have fun. They didn’t mind at all…when the candy went into their mouths instead of on the house:)

If you are interested in doing this with your kids…

There are 2 more classes with spots open!

Tuesday 12/8 and Wed 12/9 at 7:00 pm.

Visit www.anniesculinarycreations.com

Houses range from $20-$45.

Teaching the First Christmas…

Its here! The first Christmas that I think the boys really “get it”. I am trying to be extremely careful to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas and not to overemphasize some of the traditions of Christmas. I feel like this is a crucial year to teach the kids the TRUTH of Christmas.

This week is a busy week of “Christmas Activities”, so I felt it very important to start the week by reading to them “The First Christmas”

So I called the children over to the “Reading Rug” and began to read to them about the First Christmas.

After reading the story to the kids, we set our Little People Nativity Scene up…..

Ava is accommodating the guest at the Inn.

Levi is making sure the feed stays on the back of the donkey.

And Zachariah is putting Baby Jesus in place:)

Here is a final view of our interpretation of that special night at Bethlehem.

After we finished putting our Nativity Scene in place the boys noticed some lights across the street, so we piled in the van to go look at Christmas lights. One of the boys noticed Santa right away in a neighbor’s yard. I don’t want to over emphasize the traditions, but I am not going to ignore them either. I just said…yeah, you are right that is Santa…but I sure wish they had Jesus in their front yard..because HE is the Reason for this Christmas Season!

The Wonder of Christmas!

I am so excited to start celebrating Christmas! I took the kids out early Thanksgiving morning to try to get some Christmas Card Shots. We went to a small town close by where the town square was decorated for their Christmas Celebration to begin!

Below are a few of my favorite shots.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we attended the event and got a few more fun shots of the kids so excited for the season of Christmas to begin!

A note on the darling little outfits….a friend “twisted my arm” to purchase Ava’s dress from www.OrientExpressed.com (use Bristow Dallas) if you have to have one too:)

After choosing her dress, she casually says…”Did you see the matching brother outfits?”

Well, since the 3 outfits would require my entire 2010 clothing budget, my sweet mama came to rescue with the understanding they would be passed down to their cousin in a few year. (Colton’s mama is happy about that too) So thanks again Mama!

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us, but I will try to blog as much as possible because I am planning on turning my blog into a scrapbook at the end of the year!

Peace in Desk Time

Well, this is really part 2 of my last entry. Another way that I have found peace is making each child their own space for some quiet activity time during the day. A sweet lady in my church closed down a school and gave me a desk for each of the boys.

As moms…we NEED time to put the dishes in the dishwasher without the kids making another mess for us to clean up while we are cleaning up the dishes.

If you watch 18 kids and Counting Michelle Duggar uses a method called “Chair Time” I think. In this time, she sends her children to a chair to be quiet or do an activity. This is not a punishment.

So, I placed the two desks in different areas in my kitchen/family room. I gave each boy a box of books for the week. I don’t have a rigid schedule, but desk time will be used when they are having a difficult moment playing with one another, or when I just need them to be still and quiet. Scripture says “Be Still and Know I am God” We can teach them to be still…even at an early age.

Be creative, keep great “desk time” activities handy so they want to go to their desks.

Here are some of our Desk Time Activities from the past few days…

These are actually crayons, he started off coloring, but then stacked his crayons.

Reading his Bible….Precious!

Spinning a spinner and choosing the correct shape the spinner lands on…

Sorting plastic dinosaurs by color

(I got the whole dishwasher unloaded and re-loaded during this activity.)

Interesting, Levi is doing the same activity..but his sorting method is totally different! Love it!

This really has been the most peaceful week…in a long long time!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Peace

Peace in a house with a 3,2 and 1 year old? I wondered if it could be found. We had an extremely difficult week a few weeks ago. It seemed like the children were not content with anything or anyone. Then I heard it….NOISE!!! Where is that annoying sound coming from? I quickly went over and turned off the television. Ahhh…silence….peace. What if I don’t turn it back on? So thus started the “Music Only” Experiment in my house. Instead of waking up first thing in the morning and turning on their favorite shows, I am going to play music…All day…everyday for 7 days. After the 7th day, I found the children played better together, they played with their toys happily, and were just more calm! This should not be rocket science. A friend ask me “Do you really think you got all those results from just not having the television on?” Well, yes and no. No being….I became a much calmer person., making me a better person to deal with toddlerisms throughout the day.  Again, why am I shocked? I filled my home with praise music instead of annoying toddler shows all day long? No, being it made me come up with other things for them to do all day. This was not hard, but it did take thought.

 

Another friend ask….

What did you do all day?

Here are few clips.

We worked on the Letters J & K

LOTS and LOTS of puzzles!

We cracked eggs that I accidently left

out overnight! They loved this!

We wrapped up in sheets and pretended to be a caterpillar! (I kept telling them to turn into a butterfly and fly away!)

 

We played soccer!

We had fun!!! So much fun!!!

We are now on day…..oh I don’t even know. I have let them watch a few things….but not much! We were never watching anything bad…but even good shows have noise!

I do want to add that I don’t mean this post to be judgmental in any way. This was just a positive change I needed to make in my home! If it encourages you in anyway, I am glad!