Maisie's Program

A few days after Analise's Christmas program, Maisie had one with her preschool class. She was SO excited. Maisie is always singing/performing on "stage" at home, so this was her moment to stand on a real stage to sing the songs she had been learning more months. Oh, and she was just a bit (hah!) excited to wear a dress and tights to school that day. I seriously don't know where she gets this love of skirts and tights...

This is such a special group of kids, so that made the program even more fun to watch. 

I love this one. She is singing the song about "The Wise Man Built his House upon the Rock." Such intensity. :)

And a special thanks to Grandpa and Aunt S for coming to watch, too. It meant a lot to both Maisie and me.  We sure missed having daddy there!

Camel Lot

Our church put on a children's Christmas musical called, "The Camel Lot." Analise wanted to be a part of it...as long as she didn't have any lines or solos. She enjoyed all the rehearsals and singing the songs at home. Their performance was on a Sunday afternoon, and I glad Brandon could be home for it.

Getting ready for the big show

One of MANY actions she had to learn. I love this simple gesture of praising the Lord.

There aren't camels in church very often.

Analise and her cousin A.

Analise, we are proud of you for singing your heart out to Jesus in celebrating His birth!

And Sadie, I enjoyed watching you sing while you watched the performance.

Christmas Photos

We had a lot of fun putting up the tree together as a family. The girls each put their own ornaments up on the trees in their bedrooms, but we did the tree in the living room together. This is one of my favorite family traditions.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without pictures taken in front of the tree!

In their new jammies from Grandmom

Using Kind Words

It seemed that our girls were going through a stage (Lord willing) of not using kind words. I would frequently hear things said to each other that broke my heart. I want them to learn to be excited  for each other, to celebrate their differences. Instead, I heard them arguing over who had been to more birthday parties, or Maisie would have a milestone of doing something new, and the oldest was like, "So?" and then Sadie would simply mimic the other two. I had had enough.

So when Brandon was actually home for a few days, I filled him in and told him we must have a family discussion about using kind words. We used a family devotional book that suggested we made a paper puppet or something. I used Trio Blocks instead. I had Maisie make her robot, and then Analise shared verses on our speech...kind words to build each other up...harsh words tearing apart.

We gave examples of each, and I wrote them on pieces of paper. The girls then chose a piece of paper, and if it had a harsh word on it, we took a piece off the robot; if it was kind words, we'd build him back up again.

Here is our robot before harsh words:

And here he is after:

Hopefully the girls will remember this analogy for a long time. Hopefully I will, too. Lord, may we use words to point others to You!

I had to take a picture of Sadie...serious family talk, and she sits here like this - jeans inside out and wearing a butterfly mask. :)

Snow Fun

The girls were so excited to wake up a few Saturdays ago to find our first snow of the season. Despite Brandon being gone, we had a good day. We made some Christmas goodies - pretzels with Rolos and Almond Bark, chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz, and peppermint fudge. I love the Rolo pretzels, but really everything else I made was for Brandon. I guess that's what love does.

Finally in the afternoon, I let the girls go out to play. My rule is that they have to stay out as long as it took to get everyone ready. And this year was even easier; Maisie got herself dressed!

Sadie loves making snow angels.

Going down the slippery slide

Sunday at church Grandma and Grandpa asked if we would like to go sledding. Why yes! It was sunny and calm. We were all excited  to hit the slopes.

Sadie went down a few times, and then she was content and happy just playing in the snow.

Grandpa made several trips down with the girls.

And several trips back up...

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking us sledding. We had lots of fun getting out of the house to help pass time while Brandon was gone. And we loved having B and K join us, too!

Maisie's Nativity

Maisie drew this picture all on her own, and she even wrote everyone's name from memory. She has a little to learn for Analise, but overall I was very impressed! I think it's adorable. :)

Polar Express

On November 29, we took the girls on a great trip - to the North Pole aboard the Polar Express! We met up with our family friends, and all their kiddos. We boarded at 7:45, which felt much later for the kids. Rarely do we leave the house at that hour, and never in pjs!

They has a blast!

 Getting ready to board the trolley.

Analise and her friend M...with another friend giving bunny ears. :)

Maisie with H and T - good buddies

Sadie sat on my lap. I am so glad Brandon stayed home for this!

Santa came on the trolley to visit with the kids and give them bells.

Maisie chose to wear these shoes for the trip to the North Pole. Made me laugh.

Thanks friends more making a fun night even more fun by going together!

Give Thanks

I was determined to make an effort in focusing on Thanksgiving this year. Retailers may blow by this holiday, but our family wasn't going to. We were going to take time and be thankful. But how? That is where I got stuck. Thankfully an idea came to me, and Hobby Lobby had what I envisioned.

Each night at dinner, we would quote the verse, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever."  We would go then go around the table and say something we were thankful for, and I would write our answers on a leaf. My goal was to come up with something new each night.

Here is what our door looked like at the end of the month.

 And a close up of one of them

Something I leaned in the process - Sadie was always thankful for a person. Maisie was usually thankful for an action verb....doing something. The one above, she was thankful for playing Dominoes. Analise was able to think of some clever answers. One of my favorites went something like this,

Analise: I know - the military!
Pam: That's a great idea

Analise: It is veterinarian's day. (Veteran's Day)

Maisie made this cute turkey in preschool, and she listed things she was thankful for. I'm not sure all our meaningful ideas at home stuck. Maisie is thankful for: the local fun center, kids, Ginger the dog and hearts. My oh my.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was planned; we were staying in town and celebrating with family like we usually do. It all changed the Friday night before Thanksgiving. I began to wish that I had planned ahead to go to Arkansas to be with my side of the family. My parents were going to be there, and I hadn't seen my grandmother for four years. Brandon gets home from his business trip, and I casually mentioned my "I wish I had...." We talked about it, but I let my logical side rule, and we decided not to go. Brandon went to bed early, and I stayed up later. I check my FB before going to bed, and I had an email from my cousin in KS asking if I wanted to crawl in her suitcase to go to AR with them. What timing! I let my mind dream a little, so we started corresponding with her encouraging me to come. Poor Brandon gets up on Saturday thinking the decision was made, but by this time my emotions were beginning to rule, and I really wanted to go. We spent the day praying about it, and with his big blessing, we decided to go! I am so thankful for our family who understood our last minute decision and sent us with their blessing. And it was SO much fun telling mom and dad we were going to be with them!

It also helped that we could stay in a close Holiday Inn for free. We might as well enjoy the perks of Brandon traveling a lot.  Monday and Tuesday were busy shopping, packing, and I went ahead and made my food contribution for the Thanksgiving I would no longer be attending.

Weds. we pulled Analise from school and made the nine hour drive. Though it seemed long, I was glad to have the time with Brandon and the girls. We ate supper at The Cracker Barrel, and then we tucked in the girls in our upgraded room. (Thank you Lord!) Brandon encouraged me to go over to my aunt's house, so I did. I enjoyed talking with my cousin, aunt and uncle. Oh, and I enjoyed their new puppy. )

Thanksgiving day was completely different. We ate at the hotel and took the girls swimming. And some things  haven't changed yet. Analise and Brandon had the big pool to themselves, and I hung out in the hot tub with the other two. After showers, we went over to my cousin's house and hung out. It was a lot of fun visiting, and the girls enjoyed playing. Thanks Reba!

My parents got into town at lunch, so we ventured out looking for someplace to eat. This was no easy task. We ended up eating at Braums.

From there Brandon took Maisie and Sadie to the hotel for naps, and I took Analise with me (along with mom and dad) to see my Grandma Bennett. We enjoyed a couple hours of visiting.

Four Generations!



We went back over to my aunt's house for the Thanksgiving meal. We had 10 kids and 11 adults. The girls got along well with the other kids, and Analise fell in love with their puppy, too.

The meal was delicious! Thank you AK!

Friday morning we took Grandma shopping to Family Christian Bookstore. For lunch we went back to my aunt's house for appetizers. Yummy!  I spent the afternoon hanging out and spending time with family. Brandon again took the younger two back to the hotel for naps. He is such a good man. (And I think he enjoyed some rest, too, so I didn't feel bad. :))

Friday night we ate out with my folks. What a fun bonus it was seeing them before Christmas!

Maisie's latest thing is doing somersaults...all over! She went down this long hall and back.

The girls love rides on the luggage cart. And at this hotel they loved the glass elevator and going up to the eighth floor.

My grandma brought out some old pictures, so I took pictures of the pictures. Here is a picture of her parents, the year she was born, 1925. Her mother passed away when she was five. At that point Grandma was under the care of her much older sisters. She then married my Grandpa when she was just a few days shy of 15. I am so thankful for a husband who was willing to pack his bags again and make a trip on my behalf.  I wish I had more pictures from that time, but I think I was just in the moment too much to stop and take pictures.

Life

Wow - where has the time gone? I feel like so much has happened since I've had a chance to write things down. Here are some things I want to remember, and it will be in no sense of order.

I took Analise to her first musical. The high school was performing a 1950s musical ( I am already drawing a blank of the title..aha"All Shook Up" I remembered!). Brandon was on board with me taking her; he would tolerate it while I would enjoy it. He went turkey hunting that morning, and had a great hunt with his dad, brother and nephew. He got home just in time for Analise and I to leave. It was a cute, well done musical, and thankfully she is young enough that some the inappropriate things went over her head. But she loved it!  It helped that she recognized some of the performers. She liked the music and followed the story line. Yeah! I feel like I am passing along an enjoyment I learned from my parents.

Another fun memory was getting away for a college football game!  We were offered tickets on a Friday for a Saturday game. So once again I am calling Brandon at work, practically jumping up and down with excitement, asking if we can go. It was even more fun calling my sis-in-law to ask if she and D wanted to join us. We were very thankful for grandparents willing to take all six kids so we could get away. We had a lot of fun with some of our favorite people on this adventurous day. We came home in a rental due to vehicle problems. Now if only our team had won...

Maisie got invited to her first birthday party. And not just one, but she had two parties in one week!  The first party was playing in Ballocity at the local fun center. She had a blast!  The next party was a mom and me tea party, and after the tea party we went to the arena to watch "Disney on Ice." Maisie is a huge princess fan, but we haven't watched many Disney movies. As the show started, I had a little mother guilt wondering if I was short changing her some on not seeing the movies to know what the stories were about. I knew the stories and enjoyed the show. Maisie enjoyed it, too, but she had nothing to connect with the stories. So when Snow White came out, Maisie was thrilled....until the mean witch made her appearance. And then Maisie got "stuck" on that mean lady and wouldn't talk about anything else; it consumed her. And my mother guilt was replaced with peace of not short changing her but rather protecting her some. It was a lot of fun for Maisie to spend time with her friends, while I spent time with mine!

Maisie also had a fun lunch with her Aunt Sarah. She was picked up from school and went to eat at Aunt Sarah's house. They then fed Ginger and made cookies. Maisie loved every minute of it, and frequently invites herself over to her aunt's house. :)

We had some college kids (4) over for dinner and games on a Friday night. It was SO much fun!  We put the girls to bed and enjoyed some time laughing, eating pie and playing fun games. When I am with these sweet college kids, I feel young and old at the same time. It brings back fun memories of those days, and they don't seem that long ago...until I remember it's been 11 years, and I am no longer 22. And then I feel old....

That's all I can remember now....