The kids could hardly contain their joy opening an envelope each day:
Cutting down Finding the perfect tree at Home Depot and decorating it!
The kids decorated their own Christmas apron to wear while crafting the rest of the month! They also made pretty cute handprint baby Jesus in a manger dough ornaments.
Breakfast in Bethlehem!!
Snowman pancakes day!!
Play in the snow day!!
Elliott and Daddy took a last-minute airplane/road trip so I sent the Christmas countdown activity with him. The show must go on!! And creative Daddy even brought Christmas lights to adorn the inside of the new truck they picked up.
The kids’ first sewing lesson: Finger Puppet Nativity Set
I hid 6 plastic bags filled with Nativity puzzle pieces around the house and the kids had to find them all and put them together. It was HILARIOUS watching them search. They even got a flashlight out to help them ;).
No mess glitter stickers (those things are AWESOME!!!) that we turned into thank you cards and, of course, playdough cupcakes to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
Cookie decorating at our friends’ house!
Christmas light tour, complete with a scavenger hunt list of things to find outside!
Bass Pro Shop with cousins!
Zoo Lights with friends!! Selfie with a giraffe? Check.
FRIENDS!!! Oh the joy!!!!
Search your stockings for new CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!!!!
Super special presents from Erika!!
Christmas Eve Day…Elliott and Selah both got to open one present and we also opened a family present: a new game to play!
Christmas Eve Eve…Church and Teppanyaki!
Christmas Day…We had a white-ish Christmas!
Day-after Christmas with my family! Everyone is all together!
Is anyone else already counting down until next Christmas like our kids??
It’s a virtual Christmas card kind of year! It’s been such a joy having many of your Christmas cards roll in the past few weeks…here’s ours rolling in to your inbox!!
Here is a snapshot of our family as 2016 comes to a close:
SELAH
Selah turned 4 this year continues to bring immense amounts of joy into each of our lives. Her heartfelt prayers take our breath away every time she opens her mouth. She is one thankful, thoughtful, caring little girl. Although she still wants to be a doctor, she’s recently added “princess” and “having a baby in her tummy” to the top career paths when she grows up. She adores babies, loves pretending to be a baby, and is not only constantly taking care of her “Bitty Baby” but also continually teaching me how to take care of her baby properly. She is a “smeller.” The child smells EV-REE-THING that she encounters, from paper to new clothes to food. I’ve worked hard to set parameters on what she should and should not be smelling (read: “placing a Sharpie near your nostril and breathing in deeply is NOT okay”) but I’ll admit that when I found her head buried in a public restroom toilet, I almost plugged her nose permanently. She will do just about anything to get you to laugh, including tickling you until you stop what you’re doing to tickle her back! She is loving gymnastics and also started ballet this year, and yet still is begging us to let her play soccer with her big brother in addition to those two sports! Fortunately for her, Elliott’s soccer coach has invited her to join the class a couple of times…and she’s always in her ballet attire…so that’s pretty cute :). Brian and I can hardly stand how adorable she is in that little pink leotard with a “knob” (as she calls it) in her hair! She has had two “mini” performances so far and has LOVED having her friend Stella in class with her! (And now if I can just get her to stop hanging on the ballet bars as if they were gymnastics bars!!)
And here she is in ballet attire…playing soccer in knee high fuzzy boots. That’s our girl!
Some of our favorite Selah sayings:
“It’s pretty froggy out there!” (Every time it’s foggy outside.)
“Oh your hair smells like it’s pretty hot!” (After giving me a hug directly after I had blow dried my hair.)
“Mommy, I know three names for you: Mommy, Mom and Susanne. And I know three names for Daddy: Daddy, Dad and Sweet Face.”
ELLIOTT
Elliott turned 5 this year continues to keep us on our toes every minute that he is awake! He is a talker and a verbal processor and an explainer…so there is rarely a quiet moment in our house! He is also an official reader! Wow. This was the first year that I could not leave Christmas lists out. A few months ago I was typing an email and he came up behind me and just started reading it out loud! So I officially have to be careful about EVERYTHING… Multiple times a day I hear Elliott say to Selah, “Would you like me to read that book for you?” or “I can read for that you, Selah!” It warms my heart. He is still incredibly passionate about crafting and creates art constantly. He drew a picture a few months ago that he was so proud of that he asked if we could frame it. So he and Brian built a frame together and it is now hanging in his room! He has held firm to the birthday party plan (for the next 4 years) that he created 2 years ago. That boy…he’s a planner alright. And he is very thorough about EVERYTHING. After lots of pleading from him I finally taught him how to write his name in cursive a few weeks ago, and now we find his cursive name everywhere. He is loving playing soccer this year, loves his two days at school and loves his three days at home. Basically, the child loves life!
A couple of our favorite Elliott sayings:
“Kapends on what happens…” instead of “depends on…”
Every type of invitation is a “valentation” to Elliott.
“Can I shop her?” (wondering if he can push Selah in the shopping cart.)
BRIAN
Brian has a job that he LOVES, which is enough to take the cake for our entire year. He is basically working as an in-house consultant for a good friend who truly values his giftings and insights and has let him soar with his ideas. And soar, he has. He has pushed the company really far forward in just a few short months but the best part is–he loves going to work. He is also entertaining himself by buying and selling trucks which thrills him and absolutely amazes me!
SUSANNE
I am grateful every day that I get to do two of the things I know I was created for: being a mom and being a teacher! I am thoroughly enjoying my three days a week that I get to homeschool the kids. The two days of driving all over the state to get them to school and gymnastics aren’t as much my favorite, but I am so thankful that the kids are thriving on those days. Colorado is finally starting to feel like “home” (again!) and I am so thankful for the LACK of transition in the past year. This is the most settled we’ve been since we got married, and although I’m not counting on it to last forever, I’ll take it for now :).
I couldn’t let 2013 slip away silently, without writing a little something to REMEMBER who we are as we finish out this past year and begin a new one. If I had written a Christmas letter, this is what it would have said. 🙂
There’s not a day that goes by that Brian and I don’t turn to each other and say, in some fashion, “We are so, so, so blessed…” Now don’t get me wrong…we have had QUITE the year in some aspects, and someone looking at all of our various challenging circumstances might call us anything but “blessed” this past year. But “blessed” is all we can see when we look at what matters eternally. We are so grateful for the goodness of the Lord and how He’s carried us through every trial and lavished us with AMAZING children, faithful parents, loving relatives, and deep, life-changing friendships. How could we possibly be more blessed, even when our circumstances are trying?
SELAH, 15 1/2 months
Our sweet and spunky thrill baby who is extremely passionate about her favorite things. She has a special love for hats, coats, and shoes still, often trying to put a second pair of shoes over the ones she currently has on.
“Help, please, Mama?”
She loves picking up various articles of clothing laying around the house and putting them on her head or around her shoulders like a scarf.
“Look what I found!”“I didn’t think he’d need them while he was on the potty…”
She loves to dance, especially during worship, which means she is a perfect pair for her big brother who has recently started singing ALL the time. He often breaks out in spontaneous song, and she breaks out in spontaneous dance! (Watch this cute video, and ignore the fact that I don’t really know the tune or the words…)
She, like her big brother, is very particular about the way things should be (where on earth do they get that trait from??) and tells me how various parts of our routine should go. After getting her pajamas on for bedtime, she very passionately insists that she wants to read a book and she gets very, very upset when we don’t have time to read one. When I get her up in the morning she points to the chair where I nurse her and asks for milk, then she points to the boppy and says ,”Boop!” Then she points to her blanket which she likes over her during that morning nursing time. She finds every tiny piece of trash and food on the floor and brings it to me. She also LOVES to throw things away, and I think I’ve finally trained her to only throw away diapers and trash, not toys. 🙂
She can’t get enough of the trash can…
She still climbs ON and IN EVERYTHING including our HIGH kitchen table chairs which has caused many near-heart attacks for this Mama :/.
“Just helping you with dinner, Mama!”
She loves to take a “bipe!” of anything that we are eating, and besides yelling out, “bipe!” she opens her mouth INCREDIBLY wide to show us that she means business. If you ask her for a kiss, this is also the same face she makes…so you never know what you’re going to get :).
“Can I have kiss, Selah Bean?”
She is so, so playful. I love seeing how her spunky little mind works. She has several little “games” she plays with me…one is that as soon as I go to get her in the morning, she won’t let me pick her up until I’ve played peek-a-boo through the crib slats at least once with her. She also has this funny little game where she breathes out through her nose several times, waits for me to mimick her, and then she growls. I think it is SO FUNNY.
Sometimes, if I’m in the kitchen and she’s playing in the living room, she’ll call out to me and then do the breathe out/growl thing. As soon as I do it back to her, she’ll go right back to playing :). How awesome is she?? She fills my heart with utmost gratitude, joy, and constant laughter and awe.
ELLIOTT, 2 3/4 years old
I’ve said it before…but this child just brims my soul with delight. He LOVES friends, his sister, the bible, “building a big house” with duplos, wearing his jammies, singing songs, tiny things (ANYTHING that’s “tiny,” he LOVES), his daddy’s old playmobile set, puzzles, being a “working guy,” and animals. He still has a love-hate relationship with animals: he only ever wants to eat off the two plates that we have with animals on it and loves playing with his animal figurines, but refuses to go near an animal that’s alive and breathing. Recently, he’s developed a huge passion for stickers; he will go through an entire book of stickers and stick them in one pile onto another piece of paper.
“Don’t worry, Mom, I think I can fit at least 400 more stickers on this sheet of paper.”
His super power, besides having a phenomenal memory, is noticing incredibly subtle nuances or when anything is new or different. As we moved into the winter season and I began wearing more sweaters and warm things, he noticed every time I put on something he didn’t recognize. “This is new?” Recently he has discovered the word, “Why?” which has certainly given me a run for my money as a mom :). We did have some breakthrough recently…usually every day as Brian leaves for work, Elliott asks which car he’s going to take. When Brian answers, “the truck,” Elliott asks, “Why?” and Brian explains that he wants to leave the Suburban here in case we need to go somewhere. Well, the other day he said as Brian was leaving for work, “You take the truck? You take the truck so we have the ‘burban in case we need to go somewhere?” Elliott memorized his very first bible verse at the beginning of December, and loves talking about bible stories. A few weeks ago, he put a laundry detergent clear plastic cup on his chin like a beard and said, “I am Noah!” We then built our own ark out of duplos and filled it with animals!
“Let’s build an ark!”
He LOVES, and I mean L-O-V-E-S, applesauce. He eats an unbelievable amount of applesauce in a day and we definitely have to cut him off after a while. One morning while I was putting Selah down for a nap, I could hear Elliott opening and closing things in the kitchen and obviously working on something, I came downstairs to THIS face…INCREDIBLY pleased and delighted himself:
He couldn’t WAIT to show me what he had done ALL BY HIMSELF as soon as I got back downstairs…
Turns out he had gotten a bowl and spoon out for himself, opened the fridge, took out the applesauce, poured it into his own bowl, put the applesauce back in the fridge, and enjoyed his special treat that he prepared himself. As you can see, he was SO PLEASED with himself. So then I opened the fridge to look at the brand new applesauce jar that I had JUST opened, and this is how much applesauce was left :).
I keep telling him he’s going to turn into apple sauce if he keeps eating it at this rate!
Elliott has such a tender heart towards the Lord and LOVES to read the bible. He makes sure that we read it every day in this household…talk about accountability!! 🙂 One night a couple months ago, after requesting several stories that didn’t happen to be in the children’s bible we were reading, he finally said, “Read about Jesus, God, take mine sins away….Jesus DIED!” I’m in awe of his faith already at the age of 2…a toddler who does not want band-aids or other soothing methods when he gets an “owie,” but who cries out for Jesus to heal him instead. Pure delight to my soul.
THESE TWO….
BFFs.
Having two siblings who love each other (most of the time, haha!) is simply extraordinary. I think to myself multiple times a day, “What a GIFT to have two children who LOVE, and who are LEARNING to LOVE, each other…” The majority of the time, they play incredibly well together. Elliott is such a phenomenal big brother most all day long, and looks for ways to bless, serve, and help his little sister. When she’s crying in the car (which is most of the time, haha!), he sings, “LA, LA, LA, LA, LA!!!” at the top of his lungs until she starts to sing along, too, and forgets why she was crying. When we pull into our cul-de-sac he says, “Look, Selah! See? See??? We’re almost HOME!!!” When I get Selah in the mornings, as soon as I’m done nursing and changing her she asks for “Dada” and “Elliott!!” She will ask for him until he finally wakes up and then she RUNS into his room screaming because she can’t wait to see him. As soon as I get Elliott up, one of the first things he always asks is, “Was Selah asking for me?” They are truly BFFs. Lately they have been holding hands a lot, and it is the most precious thing ever.
Running around the house, holding hands…
He makes her laugh. I love how much laughter is in our home each day!! (You probably don’t have to watch the ENTIRE video to get the point…) 🙂
They have some sort of sleeping unity that I think is CRAZY. We have video monitors in their rooms, and I’m telling you—SO MANY TIMES they end up sleeping in the exact same position at the exact same time. I’ve probably taken a picture of it a dozen times, but it happens SO OFTEN! Isn’t that crazy?! Has anyone else experienced this??? I took these pictures seconds apart…
Her.Him.
He is also super helpful with her…feeding her when I am getting dinner ready and constantly telling me what she needs.
SO helpful, and she LOVES being fed by big brother!
When Elliott needs to go sit in a time out, she automatically goes and joins him. Kind of defeats the purpose of him being a little bit isolated so he can gather back up his self control, but it’s just so dang cute that I have a REALLY hard time telling her to move…I just love her love and admiration for him so much!
“Ahh, thanks for the sympathy, Selah! I’ll take it.” 🙂
She would be content snuggling and hugging him all day long…unfortunately he doesn’t ALWAYS have the patience for that :).
“I LOVE you, Elliott!!”Though he doesn’t always have the patience for hugs, he is constantly giving out kisses…
US TWO.
I continue to be the most blessed Mama on the planet, constantly in awe of the privilege it is to raise these children and spend every single day with them. I got to help teach a parenting class during the Fall, and it stirred up my faith even more for being a mom! Of course it can be challenging to train up these little ones, but the joy just so far exceeds the challenges. I LOVE my job!!!
Brian just finished one business adventure, and is on to the next. So although we are very much looking forward to ending our year-long transition streak, we are also super excited and expectant for what’s ahead. We are realizing that our entire marriage has been one big transition after another, yet it’s incredible to see how transition has made our marriage that much more stable. Brian and I so often say to each other, “I’m so glad it’s YOU.” We have had our fair share of trials and challenges this past year, but each time we have come out with a much deeper faith, much deeper confidence in the goodness of our God, and much greater love for one another. There are SO many questions we have pressed into in the last year, regarding life and godliness, and each time we examine the Word and come out in agreement over what it says, we praise God for the rare gift of unity that He’s poured out on us. THIS Scripture has been life:
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
I think I can honestly say that I do not take a single blessing in my life for granted. Each day is a gift. My time with Elliott and Selah is so precious…I will never get these little years back, and although some days seem very LONG, I just don’t want to waste a single minute of each one. Each day with my husband is a gift. I married a man who works incredibly hard at every task that is set in his hands, who serves without question or expectation of reward, who guards his tongue, who selflessly takes care of those around him, who lives with integrity of character despite being misunderstood and mistreated, who holds a high standard of godliness in our home, who cherishes me and lavishes me with praise daily, and presses me to not settle short for less than the fullness of Christ. Never in a billion years could I possibly choose another. When I said on my wedding day, “The Lord has seen to every detail of what I need” I had no way of knowing how deep and profound I would come to understand that statement four and a half years later.
Transition and loss, new days and gain.Adios to Mexico, Hello, Rocky Mountain plain.Trials and joys, sickness and healthAnd a faith that is stronger than the greatest wealthWe thank you for your lessons but bid you farewell, 2013…This entire year you showed us that we are so very blessed indeed.
With great love,
The Mobergs
I had big plans of baking a birthday cake for Jesus with Elliott on Christmas Eve, so we could throw a good ol’ fashioned birthday party on Christmas Day. And…it for sure didn’t happen this year :). Add it to the list of things to look forward to for next year!!
We made a big family breakfast and decided to let the kids open their first gift since we knew we would get home close to bedtime. We got Elliott Mr. Potato Head and Selah got the Mrs.! I THINK he’s only seen one of these once, but he recognized it RIGHT away and exclaimed, “I GOT A SWEET POTATO!!!”
“My SWEET POTATO!!!”“I have no idea what this is, but Elliott is REALLY excited about his and so I’m sure there’s a reason to be excited about mine, too!”
Our church didn’t do a Christmas Eve service so we searched around for a service to bring the kids to so we could sing some carols. We got a little bit dressed up…
Come ON, now!!! How adorable is this little Christmas baby?? (And, of course, the BEAUTIFUL stockings made by my dear friend Courtney!!)Christmas Eve, 2013
…and made the trek all the way down to Centennial to attend a service that was offering camel and donkey rides afterwards :).
She was hesitant at first, but then really enjoyed the ride, I think!The boys, and the cute donkey pony.
Then we all went out to eat at Panera together, which was very fun and unique for Christmas Eve :).
CHRISTMAS DAY!!
We let the kids open stockings before breakfast, and I’m pretty sure those little trinkets from the dollar store are some of their favorite gifts :). After our big breakfast, we dove into the pile of presents.
The Big Man on Campus
The big man got a big basketball hoop! (Can you see that he’s holding one ball in his left hand as he throws another one towards the hoop? That’s my boy :)).Elliott loves his new truck from Uncle Kevin, Aunt Tabitha, Taylor, Hailey & Micah!
The Baby Bean
Selah was nothing short of PURE DELIGHT as she opened up each gift. Though she was MOSTLY passionate about climbing on the presents…
“This whole present thing is an awesome obstacle course!”
But when she finally got to open them, she would SCREAM at the top of her lungs as she opened each present, and then proudly show it off…
“THIS!”
The Daddy of the House
I won’t even bother telling you about all of the thoughtful, nice gifts that I got for Brian, because THIS one was his favorite and the only one he talks about…
Brian’s “big” gift……a new trash can to hold our recycling that fits under our kitchen sink. No, seriously, this was his FAVORITE gift…you should ask him about it sometime!
La Mamacita
Apparently Santa picked up my several (hundred) (not-so) subtle hints about what I wanted…
…the two best gifts anyone could ask for AND…a Silhouette Cameo 🙂 🙂 🙂 :).
My other really fun gift was from Elliott, who apparently has been quite bothered by my “broken” slippers (they have had a hole in the toe for months)…he told Brian they should get me new slippers for Christmas!
When we started talking about opening gifts that morning, Brian said to Elliott, “Big Man! Should Mommy open the gift from you first?” And he instantly responded, “Yeah! They’re SLIPPERS!!” Hahaha!!!Merry Christmas morning!!
We celebrated with my family the next day, and it was truly a memorable meal that involved smoke alarms and a ridiculous amount of smoke :). NOT my mom’s fault…definitely the oven’s fault, but wow–it was quite the ordeal. Doug and Melanie saved the day by keeping all the kids happily locked in my parents’ bathroom and playing very entertaining games to keep them laughing hard and distracted from all the craziness. Brian stood on top of a ladder and disabled the smoke alarm that wouldn’t quite ringing, and somehow, in the midst of it all, my mom STILL managed to produce the most phenomenal Christmas dinner. There’s just nothing like your mama’s cooking, is there?! It was excellent.
Here’s part of the Mauss clan! )Minus the Smith family, who wasn’t able to make it out to CO this year.)I’m not afraid to say it: My nieces are the most beautiful nieces on the planet! (Including my niece Courtney who’s not pictured!!)
Haven’t had enough yet? Well, here you go:
Sporting her brother’s shades…A little snow play…Merry Christmas to all!!!
WHAT a FUN, FUN, FUN Christmas season this was!! Elliott was finally old enough to justify putting in some effort towards the Christmas countdown and the kids and I just had a blast. I kept it ULTRA simple and it was all fun with no stress. Next year I’ll try and solidify my activities more in advance so that I’m not making a trip to Michael’s every week for supplies :). If you have a toddler, these activities were pretty good for him. I decided to post what we did (successes and failures!) because I found others’ lists so helpful as I planned!! My biggest advice if you’re planning on doing this next year: 1. Make sure you have a Michael’s nearby! They had a few really fun, cheap crafts that were all cut out and ready to put together. I strolled through at the beginning of the month and added those crafts to the list! 2. FOR SURE take it day-by-day. I had my list of activities in an excel sheet and often printed out the cards weeks at a time, but I never placed them in the envelopes until the night before…sometimes the morning of depending on what I was up for! One thing we did post-Christmas was inspired by my super talented friend Elizabeth who made red and white peppermint play dough for us! I set the kids up with the yummy-smelling dough and some Christmas cookie cutters and they BOTH loved it! Such a fun idea!! Next year, when the kids are older, I’m excited to do more “giving/serving” things and also go on some more adventures…like to The North Pole which happens to be in Colorado Springs!! 🙂
Here’s our envelope tree! Elliott got to open one envelope every day, but always wanted me to pull the card out after the very first one he pulled out got a little wrinkled :). I would hand him the envelope, he would lift up the flap and then hand it back to me saying, “You open it, please? Don’t wrinkle it!”
The Christmas Countdown!! (Or should I say…”Count UP”??The anticipation builds as he says, “What does it say?? READ it!”I LOVE surprises 🙂 and seeing his face light up with joy after I read each day’s surprise to him was MY FAVORITE PART…
Besides our fun Christmas activities, we made it a point to read the bible as a family together every night. Brian reads to Elliott from the “big” bible every day, usually while I’m making breakfast for everyone, but for the month of December we read through the Old Testament of the Jesus Story Book Bible (which is AWESOME if you don’t have it!) and tried hard to make it a family event each night after dinner. This bible is so cool because every single story points out how God orchestrates everything to lead us to Jesus. It writes about how God rescues His people time and time again, and then explains that soon He would send an even greater One who be The Rescuer. It’s just awesome. Then, of course, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we read about how He came!! I printed the Advent reading schedule from the internet, colored it, and we simply put a star next to the Day once we had read the story.
And the time was sweet. Usually at some point throughout the day, Elliott would be in the midst of doing something and suddenly shout out, “Mommy! READ THE BIBLE!!!” at the top of his lungs. And I would remind him that we were waiting for Daddy to get home. After dinner we would all sit on the couch. Selah insisted on having her water bottle with her each time and she would climb up onto my lap as Brian would start to read. Then, she would push her way into Brian’s lap and point to the picture on the current page and say with passion and enthusiasm, “THIS!!”
“THIS!”
After a few minutes of pointing as Brian read, she would climb back into my lap and wrestle and play.
During wrestle-mode
Elliott has been in the “WHY” stage so he spent most of the bible stories asking “WHY” about everything. “Why he have a beard?” “Why he in a whale?” “Why he sitting against a tree??” 🙂
I also got to teach Kids Church this month so it was super fun to lead Elliott and his little 2-3 year-old buddies into an understanding of Christmas. He even learned the month’s memory verse, Luke 2:10-11, several weeks ago! I had never worked on it with him; I had just been teaching it to the whole group of kids (mostly targeting the older kids) on Sundays. So I was shocked one day as I was listening to him play and he started saying, “Don’t be afraid! Because I bring you GOOD NEWS…” He normally runs around the living room in circles saying it, but below is the best recording I have.
Click on the “CC” button at the bottom of the YouTube video to turn the close captioning on…it’s a little difficult for the common ear to understand his pronunciation sometimes :).
This Christmas season just felt so FULL (in the BEST sense of the word)…full of Jesus, full of hope, full of sharing in the wonder of the miracle of his birth, and–of course–full of FUN. Elliott is super familiar with all of the people who played a role in the Christmas story. He picks out shepherds every where we go, saying, “Shepherd! He has his staff! So he can guard his sheep!”
Here is our Christmas Countdown!
Day 1: Decorate the house and tree as a family!
Our little nativity set from Grandma & Grandpa was one of the first items we took out of the Christmas bins……it provided HOURS upon HOURS of entertainment this month. Plus, it was a super handy prop while teaching kids church! I would HIGHLY recommend this 🙂
Day 2: Decorate your own little Christmas tree with Selah!
I had seen this idea on Pinterest and was planning on buying the materials to make it, when lo and behold Michaels was selling the entire kit all cut-out and ready to go. For 50% off, of course! Yes, please.
My little elves at workAlthough the felt pieces don’t stay on SUPER well, Elliott still had fun with it throughout the month. Selah definitely enjoyed it from time-to-time, too.
Day 3: New Christmas movie: Charlie Brown Christmas
I’m not kidding you…this is often how they watch shows!! Melts this mama’s heart.
Day 4: It’s snowing out! Make snow crafts!
When we woke up to snow, I knew we had to do something snow-related.
My beauty, staring out the window at everything covered in WHITE…
This snowman was super fun because I literally came up with the idea on the spot when I saw the snow and we had all the supplies in our house. I just drew the main body with glue and Elliott pretty much did the rest. (I cut out the hat and scarf and did the mouth…) We used salt for the snow at the bottom since that’s what we had!
Building his snowman…SNOW cute, huh?! 🙂He really liked this craft 🙂
Day 5: Counting with Christmas trees
Super fun idea from Pinterest! And super easy to put together with supplies I already had in the house.
I had to help him count “the ornaments” for some of the trees, but he overall did a pretty good job on his own!
Day 6: Bubble bath “snow”
Selah’s first bubble bath, and–I think–Elliott’s second! Why don’t I think to do bubble baths more often?? Elliott helped me make the “snow” and jumped right in to play, but Selah was pretty confused and disgusted at the white fluffies over-taking her normal, beloved bath water.
Elliott helps make “the snow” while Selah won’t move from this position…“WHAT on EARTH? My hands are FILTHY with this ‘snow’! I thought baths were supposed to make me CLEAN!”
Elliott saves the day by showing her how harmless and fun this “snow” really is…And she finally relaxed a little and started to have some snowball fun!
Day 7: Family Breakfast! Snowman pancakes
So. Much. Fun.
Elliott’s snowman (oops…forgot the hands and hat!)I don’t think he noticed 🙂There we go…my snowman had all its parts!Brian wasn’t a big fan of putting all of that candy, fruit, and bacon on his pancake so I made him a melted snowman :).
Day 8: Go out to dinner as a family, look at Christmas lights, come home and drink apple cider!
This was kind of a disaster :). We should have just picked a few houses to look at in our neighborhood, but instead we drove about 25 minutes away to hit several houses that were listed as some of the best Christmas lights in the city. Well, Selah’s not the biggest fan of long car rides :/ and so she was crying long before we even arrived at the first house. AAAAND….it was a bit of a LONG night. Note for next year: stay local :).
We took a picture of this house so we could decorate ours like this next year. 🙂We came home, put that poor, screaming Baby Bean to bed and got Elliott all pumped up for his first taste of real apple cider. We stared at him as he took his first sip, HUGE smiles spread across our faces from ear to ear, and held our breaths…When he came up for air after his first drink, this was the face we saw.
You would think he LOVED it, right? Well, soon to find out, I think he was just trying to play along with the excitement on our faces. Because after his first sip he laughed with us and when we asked him if he liked it he said, “yes,” but when we asked if he wanted to take another sip he said, “No, thank you…” and gently pushed it away. HAHA! This is the kid who could scale a mountain for a sip of apple juice. Oh well. We tried :).
Day 9: Since it’s still too cold to play in the snow, let’s make our own!
Did I mention it wasn’t just snowy that first week of December, it hovered around ZERO DEGREES the entire week. It was C-O-L-D.
Start out with some baking soda……add a little shaving cream…And you’ve got yourself some SNOW!And a one year old who still isn’t impressed with this whole “snow” theme…And a two year old who was in Heaven 🙂He may have had a little help with this snowman 🙂
Day 10: Build a nativity set!
Michaels saves the day again. Elliott pretty much couldn’t do anything to put this together other than punch out the foam pieces, but he LOVED the activity. He also LOVED taking it completely apart the next day :/. And, for some reason (?) the many, MANY little separate mini pieces have provided hours upon hours of entertainment for him…he just sticks them all together and then unsticks them and then REPEATS… Hey, more power to him.
Punching out the GAZILLION tiny pieces….He put all the completed put-together people and animals in their places…And here we have our very own little “homemade” nativity set.
Day 11: Wear Christmas jammies all day, make Christmas cards and mail them out!
This was a good idea that went very, very badly. Note to self for next year: wear smocks over Christmas jammies. Or wear Christmas jammies on movie day (which, now that I think about it, makes WAY more sense…) Elliott got a TINY amount of paint on his Christmas jammies and it was ALL OVER from there. Melt down city. Fortunately, once the jammies had been washed, he recovered and we were able to finish the Christmas cards :). And just look at how cute they are in those jammies!
Oh my goodness…is he MY kid, OR WHAT?!! HAHAHA!!!!Got the thumbprint lights idea from Pinterest and then we added our own captions :).
The green “lights” were Selah’s thumb…obviously completely guided by me. I also ended up guiding Elliott’s thumb, too…I think if he had had a better day 🙂 he may have been able to do it himself, but he definitely needed help. Probably a better craft for 3 and ups.
Day 12: Make a Christmas decoration for the house with Selah!
An adapted Pinterest idea
Day 13: Family Movie night with popcorn (Veggie Tales Christmas)
This was one of those days that I was grateful Elliott can’t read yet :). At the last minute we decided to have some friends over for dinner so it ended up needing to be a FRIENDS movie night. When I pulled out the card I carefully said, “Well, tonight you get to watch a new movie with your FRIENDS!” Haha…
Day 14: Go out to breakfast as a family
Because at the very last minute we decided to ditch the idea I had planned of going to a Winter Fest…so we came up with this super creative idea very quickly…haha :).
Day 15: New Christmas book, hot cocoa & carols
Day 16: Work a brand new HUGE nativity puzzle!
If you don’t know already, this kid LOVES puzzles. We haven’t gotten him a new puzzle in a very long time and he can practically work all of his with his eyes closed. So I searched around and FINALLY found this one…which is AWESOME! It was the perfect level of challenge for him.
And it was huge, which was really fun. He’d never done a floor puzzle before.Selah really, REALLY wanted to help but her “help” was frustrating the puzzle master at work. So I tried to distract her with her own while he finished up…Almost done!!Tah-dah!!
Day 17: Make special treats for our friends!
He helped me make Mint Brickle!
Day 18: Make presents for our friends (and Daddy…shhh) and deliver everything to our friends!
I really wanted to do something along the lines of giving, and this was a good start. Due to a variety of circumstances, he only actually got to DELIVER the treats and little presents to one family (because the rest ended up coming over!), but it was still really fun!!
I got this idea from Pinterest, but adapted it by using bells (instead of wooden beads) for the heads and figuring out how to use the pipe cleaner to hold it all together so I wouldn’t have to use glue. (Because who wants GLUE on their Hershey’s kiss??”Then we put them in baggies and stuck this little message on there to go along with the verse they were all learning during kids church…I got this picture-puzzle idea from Pinterest. Though he couldn’t really help place the strips of the picture on because that needed to be exact, he could paint the modge podge on himself!Fun, huh? And we kept it a secret from Daddy until Christmas Day!
Day 19: Peppermint Day!
Oh man, this was so much fun that I’m thinking about doing a Peppermint WEEK next year…Maybe I could do themed weeks like “Snow Week,” “Peppermint Week,” etc…and do things each day that correlate. We all dressed in red and white, ate candy canes and Elliott did two candy cane crafts. Favorite quote from the day: As Elliott took his first bite of candy cane, he said, “I like it! It’s cold!” I said, “The candy cane is cold??” He responded, “Yeah–see?” as he breathed out super heavily. “See???” And he breathed out again. I realized he was trying to articulate that cool, pepperminty feeling that you get when you eat mint! Haha…I love it :).
After several failed attempts to get all three of us in our candy cane clothes in a pic, this one will have to do :). You can see how cute the kids are and I am wearing a white shirt and a red vest :).This was SO simple and SUCH an age-appropriate, GOOD craft for Elliott. I simply cut out a white candy cane shape. We talked through how to mark every other stripe red, and then he colored in the stripes with red dots in them.He then dipped cotton balls and red pom poms in glue and had to place them on the red and white striped parts!Here he is, showing off his completed candy cane artwork while singing, “Angels, We Have Heard On High.” And Selah is posing near him because she just assumes that’s what she’s supposed to do when I have the camera out :).He also did the classic “pony beads on pipe cleaner candy cane ornament.” They were out of red and white beads at the store, so I had to go with a multi-pack, but as we started the craft I realized it was better this way–it provided one more element of challenge. This was another super age-appropriate craft for him as he had to think about patterns, and he was able to do the whole thing entirely by himself.What a cutie with a cool candy cane!
Day 20: Wrap your own “presents” while Mommy wraps presents!
Another GREAT idea (I thought) from Pinterest that went horrible :). Wrap up a sheet pan from the dollar store, stick magnets on bows, and there you have your very own “presents.” The blog post I got it from talked about how this provided hours of entertainment for the kids. “Perfect!” I thought. Well…not in this household :). Elliott kept snatching Selah’s bows from her so she couldn’t decorate hers and even after correcting him several times he just couldn’t keep his hands off her present. After multiple rounds of tears, correction, discipline, second chances…I just put the “presents” away and decided to wrap mine at nap time. Oh well…it’s the thought that counts, right? Haha. 🙂
I took this picture MUCH later on…not on the day that it didn’t go so well :).
Day 21: Go to a Christmas party!
Day 22: Zoo lights!!
We met up with our friends the Sundbys and although it was FREEZING and Selah was not a happy camper unless she was walking BY HERSELF :/, it was really fun to go.I think Elliott somewhat liked it, but his favorite part was…DEFINITELY the REAL elephant that we got to see.
He kept asking the whole time where all of the animals were, and so I told him they must have been sleeping. Almost every day since then he has asked me if the giraffes are awake yet :). When we got in the car afterwards, I asked him if he had had fun. He answered, “Tiny bit.” 🙂 So maybe we’ll skip this next year when he’s not free anymore…
Day 23: Make nativity puppets
This was just like the nativity set from Michaels, but puppets instead. Again, all he could (mostly) do was punch out the foam pieces, but he just LOVED this craft, and had so much fun playing with the puppets.
Well, because I think I’ve already far surpassed writing the world’s longest blog, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day details are in another blog post :). Click on the link to read all about it!
Wow. We have had a FULL few months! People have been wondering if we dropped off the planet but no–I assure you…our feet are firmly planted here on earth. More specifically, we have planted them firmly in a blue-sky, clear-air little city called Denver. (Cue song: “Rocky Mountain High…”)
We decided at the end of April to settle down here for now. “Why Denver?” you ask. Because we have found LIFE here. (Now you’re REALLY starting to wonder if we have been outside the planet Earth, aren’t you?!) We have found Life in a very small church here. Our dear, dear friends pastor a small house church, and the people within it (because aren’t WE “the church”?) have brought us LIFE. They believe that church should be about true community, not just about a building that you step into once a week. They believe church should be about FAITH, for “everything that does not come from faith is sin,” and have FAITH in every aspect of who God says he is in the Word. They spur us on, sharpen us, and encourage us in this faith, in our marriage, and in our lives. Oh, and did I mention that we LAUGH a lot when we’re with them?
Life. Community. Faith. Sharpening. Encouragement. The true gospel. And JOY.
Yes, these are the things that we need. These are the things that we value. And so…we are here. It is also a huge bonus that Susanne’s family lives just a couple hours away!
Our family!Our new “extended” family!
Please come visit any time :). If you’d like our updated address, just email us here and we’ll be so happy to send it your way!
Today is blog catch-up day. I actually started this blog post 3 weeks ago.Yes, that’s how busy life has been. But I’m sure it’ll get less busy as we, you know, add a fourth member to our family in a few weeks…. ha!!
Okay, back to Colorado. We had the gift of traveling “home” (how many “homes” can we possibly have??!!) to see family and friends and–most importantly–finally meet our nephew Cypher!! As many of you know, a horrible fire broke out right by my parents’ house the week before we were scheduled to fly out, so we thought we may be canceling the trip up until the day before we left. THANKFULLY, my parents’ house (and entire neighborhood) was untouched by the fire and we were able to fly home, stay with them, and spend a lot of time being grateful that they hadn’t lost everything they owned the week before.
Cypher Evan
Finally getting to meet our nephew!
Elliott is so incredibly affectionate around babies…every time he sees a baby he smiles soooo big and just wants to be near him/her. It is so sweet! It was no different meeting his little cousin Cypher!
Going in for a kiss…Seriously, now. Just look at this CUTIE-PATOOTIE!!
Cousins
Playing with blocks togetherFable, Cypher & E-manEB, Rowan, Gryffin & Jaxon
4th of July
My Lil’ FirecrackerWearing our red, white, and blue! (Brian wore green that day so he was excluded from the picture) 🙂Cypher and I called each other ahead of time and planned to wear the same shirt
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!!
Grandpa and Nonna took us to the zoo one afternoon. Anyone who’s been here knows it’s such an amazing zoo! Elliott, however, didn’t quite seem like himself the whole time, and when we got home we took his temperature–102.7! Yikes!! So, he looks a little sedated and sad in these pics…because he was :(. But the adults sure had fun!!
Feeding the giraffesMy FAVORITE part of the zoo (and Elliott’s)…the birds!! Many of you know I have a DEEP love for birds in my heart. So does Elliott, as “bird” and “tweet, tweet, tweet” were some of his first words. I couldn’t be prouder :).Nonna, Grandpa, and an apparently very sick Elliott 🙁
Friends
We had the chance to visit with several friends while we were home. We haven’t seen Michael and Amy since our wedding, and that was SUPER brief…hardly even counts. The last time I saw Nathan he was about 2 weeks old, and I had never met Joel! We found out that they would be in town visiting Michael’s family at the same time we were, so we were thrilled to get together. What a gift to see them!! (P.S. Amy and her mom are the ones who made Elliott’s beautiful quilt and wall hangings!!!)
Michael & Amy & their sons, Nathan & Joel, our little family and sweet Fay joining in on the fun
The McDowells!! Our dear friends are in the process of moving to the Denver area (as in, looking for a house) and we couldn’t wait to connect with them while in town. O.J. was Brian’s best man and there are few women I respect as much as Suzanna. Besides, she has a great name :). They drove their little family down to the Springs and spent a couple nights with us (thanks, Mom & Dad, for letting us all have a big sleepover!!). And, here’s a fun long story made short for you: The Lord led them to move in with us for a few weeks! We all had had so much fun together those few days in Colorado, that we definitely agreed that the best thing for life and godliness would be for them to live with us for a short season. So they packed the kiddos into the van and drove over to Mexico, and we have been graced with the presence of our sweet friends and their wonderful children the last several weeks!
The McDs!
Our trip didn’t allow us to see too many other friends, but we did get a quick dinner with the McCabes (and no picture!) and a SUPER quick visit with Jilly Bean, the boys and her brand new sweet baby Olivia on our way out of town.
