Our Traditions

It may be a full week into January but I decided it wasn't too late to share our holiday traditions with you.

The day before Christmas Eve we make cinnamon rolls

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we attend our candlelight service at church

After the service we head to the Roth's house for dinner ...

...followed by a few presents, and lots of smiles!

Then it's off to bed...

Christmas

Eating the cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning is always a hit, Capper loved his first cinnamon roll experience!! 

While we eat our cinnamon rolls we read the Christmas story one more time.

After breakfast come presents! We usually try to Skype with our family while we open their presents.

Oh, and we usually stay in our jammies most of the day on Christmas too!

 New Years Eve and New Years

I don't remember the last time I stayed up until midnight to celebrate New Years but we can still celebrate early or late!

New Years Day Dinner is black eyes peas and chard

Again, the boy loves to eat!

This year we also went to the park in the crisp new years weather, it was chilly!

A little of this

Winter Break has started a bit early around here thanks to a cold that's been going around. I kept Anellah home from school yesterday and today. She might go back tomorrow and will definitely be back at least one day this week but it's been fun to have extra time together and think about all that has happened in 2012.

Last year we were doing this.

A complete puzzle with no baby to tear it apart!

This year there is a lot of this....

Contain the kids in a box?

...and this.

Guilty!

But while Capper does this,

Loves his blankie!

Anellah still has some uninterrupted time to do this...

"Mommy, I need to do some homework."

...and sometimes Capper even helps.

"Here Capper, I teach you...I am teacher Kelly"

What will you learn today?

This morning as Anellah was getting ready for school she asked me, "What will you learn today, Mommy?" I've been thinking about her question all morning. I think my answer is that I'm working on learning more about how to be obedient and celebrate Christ in my day to day life. The past month or so I've been thinking about how to make life meaningful rather than just trying to get through it. During this season there is so much to celebrate and this year the true reason of why we celebrate is at the forefront of my mind as it is the first year that Anellah will be able to have some understanding of Baby Jesus and his birth. In order to help teach her about Christmas I decided our "Advent Calendar" would be in the form of little gifts. I bought the Little People Nativity Scene and wrapped each piece individually. There weren't quite 24 pieces so I added a few extra animals.

The kids have enjoyed playing with each of them, it's fun to have something interactive and the pieces have helped to give us a starting point in telling Anellah different pieces of the Christmas story.

So today I am thankful that Christ came to earth. I am thankful for tasking Daniel and I with the job of being parents. I am learning about how to be thankful and how to live out what Christ has called me to do in this season of life. What will you learn today?

Photos from Half Moon Bay

As promised, here are some photos from "A Fun Trip."

Playing at the beach with her buddy, Timothy

It rains every year but we still have fun!



Last Year

 

This Year



Anellah and I had an ER visit this weekend, I'll spare you the poopy details, but it seems to be nothing. We're hoping it doesn't come up again. The doctors were concerned about a side effect from her liver cirrhosis. Her forehead is definitely looking better despite the fact that yesterday she was overly excited and ran into a doorway with her face. I'm thankful it didn't swell up too much again after that incident.



Our Thanksgiving was wonderful, we enjoyed spending it with some good friends. Capper would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.







Bring your Kids to Work Week

Anellah was off from school all week for Thanksgiving and Daycare was only open one day due to the holiday. I'd agreed to give flu shots to employees for work so they got to come with me! I figured it was a good distraction for anyone who was queasy about needles. Anellah was the sticker-giver and babysitter. I think they both had fun.

We spent quite a few hours driving, according to the trip timer in my car we drove 9 hours in two days. As you can see, though, helping Mamma at work is tiring!

"A Fun Trip"

On our drive home this afternoon Anellah kept remarking, "A fun trip. Going on a fun trip." We spent the weekend at Half Moon Bay, just like we did the first weekend of November last year. We enjoyed playing in puddles during the rain, flying a broken kite on the beach, and playing in the waves. Most of all we enjoyed fellowship with good friends and having playmates for our kids.

We'll have a bunch of photos to post soon once everyone from the group shares photos. But here is a taste:

Rejoice

This is the day that the Lord has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it

Psalm 118:24

This has been my mantra this past week, even when I'm not really in the mood to "rejoice" or "be glad." Today, though, it's been easy. Today has been a splendid Saturday with warm yet crisp fall weather. We're dogsitting Buddy this weekend so the kids, Buddy, and I enjoyed a nice LONG walk with a stop at the park.  We finished it off with a taco-truck taco picnic in the front yard. Anellah and I "carved" our last pumpkins this morning and they're baking right now so that we have a few months worth of pumpkin puree on hand.

Inspired to use the big swing of her own accord!

A few nights ago, I re-enacted Halloween to get photos of the kids in costume. I wasn't entirely successful but here they are anyway.

Happy Face/Sad Face Pumpkin, Anellah's request. The other side was smiling.

Clifford the Big Red Dog

The best photo I was able to get of both kids.

Anellah's head doesn't seem to be getting any better which is discouraging. The other day it even seemed to get more swollen. But it is not bothering her at all. We and her pediatrician agree that as long as it is not bothering her and she is not acting any differently we should keep her out of the hospital/clinics/medical facilities and let her carry on.

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