January also flies by!

I think that time just keeps going by faster, and faster. I thought December went fast because it was so busy with family in town and all of the Christmas festivities, but now January seems to have come and gone quickly as well! Time please slow down! I am trying to cherish moments each day of this time when my boys are still 4 and 5 years old, b/c they will never be that age again! Bittersweet!

 

In the beginning of January I hosted a baby shower for my sweet, southern-belle, friend, Norma! She has 2 girls already and is pregnant w/ her precious baby boy! I am so excited for her to be having boy! Her husband is a teacher and coach as well, so we relate on many levels in regards to men!



The pictures below are from her shower.

 

Then later in the month, we went to my sister's house to celebrate her son's 2nd birthday! He is a bit obsessed w/ Angry Birds! The boys had a fun time spending time w/ their cousins for the day!

Our Winters in NC don't get nearly as cold and snowy as it does for my friends and family in PA, but we still have lots of days in a row when we are stuck inside over the winter months. And it can get boring at times if we are not creative in different ways to have fun! The picture below is something I saw on Pinterest that was very easy and cheap to do! I used streamers that I had in our party supply stash and made a ... not sure what it's called exactly! :-) they had to find ways to go under and over and get through the hallway w/o touching the streamers. Maybe it was like spy-training or ninja training...not sure! But they had lots of fun putting it together and going through it!

The pictures below are about the extent of the snow that we usually get in NC. The boys got excited about it since we hardly ever see any at all. They wanted to go out and "crunch" it as they walked!

And on another cold, dreary day in January, we made another Pinterest inspired "craft". We bought some supplies to Norma's house and joined in with the supplies she had and made some candy snowmen w/ her girls! It was a blast and tasty too!

The Busy Month of December

This very busy month started off with Christmas Caroling at a Nursing Home. The Kids' Choir that Wyatt is a part of at our church went to a local Nursing Home and performed their Christmas program in lieu of one of their practices for their performance at church. Levi and I went along as well, and Levi will be a part of the Kids' Choir next  year!

We spent many late nights at "Daddy's Basketball games" as they both excitedly refer to the highschool team that Adam coaches. They enjoy going early and getting to warm up in the practice gym while the team stretches.

Below, is the Christmas program performance that the Kids' Choir put on at our church. Grandma and Papa were able to attend since they were in town to help with Aunt Emily's new baby due to be born the next day!

After the Christmas program at church, we went out for lunch to Sonny's BBQ!

The Christmas Parade in our small-town, downtown is always a highlight! It was very, very warm this year as evidenced in the boys' wardrobe in the picture below!

Levi faithfully waved at almost every vehicle and person that came by! It was so cute to stand behind him and watch his stiff, serious wave! :-)

The marching band from Adam's high school was also a part of the parade!

I was able to drive down to meet my newest nephew shortly after he was born! He reminded me so much of when Levi was a newborn!

The picture below is a homemade wooden sign that Adam and I both worked on! Adam measured and cut the wood for me. Then I stained it, and Adam put it together. Then I hand painted the verse from a stencil. I really enjoyed making this and even am considering making a bunch for next Christmas to sell!

 

While my dad and my sister's oldest son were staying at our house for a few days while my mom helped my sister with her new baby, we took a trip to Chuck E. Cheese w/ the "older" grandsons!

Skee-ball was the favorite of everyone!

And of course some basketball!

Getting their prizes for all the tickets they earned!

Everyday in the month of December, we put an ornament on their small Christmas Tree and read the Biblical meaning behind it. I used the book call the Jesse Tree. 

On a very cold and windy night, my Dad and I took the boys to Main Street (just 1/2 mile away from our house) to see the Christmas lights and take a horse and carriage ride!

 

And no month of December is complete in our house until we make the Christmas cut-out cookies! It was nice that my Dad and Ethan got to join us this time!

We also made a Christmas Reindeer craft one day while Ethan was visiting!

 

 

Levi was one of the 3 kings in the Christmas Nativity at  his preschool Christmas program. He was so happy, smiley and proud as he got to carry his gift down the aisle to Baby Jesus! I wish I could just freeze time and all of his facial expressions at his age! He is just too precious!

 

The Nativity at Levi's preschool Christmas Program



Spending the night before Christmas Eve with Grandma and Papa before they had to head back home to PA.

The "Reason for the Season"...Happy Birthday Jesus!

Happenings in November

Looks like the posts are turning into a monthly recap of pictures with captions! Great for the grandparents and other relatives far away and good for memories for my sake! Someday I'll get back to more book reviews and details about homeschooling!

 

 

In the picture below, Wyatt wrote this all by himself, totally unprovoked! Some nights when Levi has to go to bed earlier than Wyatt (due to whatever naps did or didn't happen that day), Wyatt and Adam play a game that Adam calls "the drawing game". Usually they each take turns drawing something on this Magnadoodle and the other person has to guess what it is. But this one night, Wyatt wrote this. We had just learned about money in school that AM and how our money has "in God we trust" on it. I think he had to ask Adam how to special a few words, but the idea and writing was his own! So Sweet!

Both of the boys love to drag "sticks" out of the woods...they are really more like huge branches! Then they come and tell me that they were hunting and got a "deer" or "bear". Love their imaginations! Here below is one of Wyatt's finds!

This was at our town's "tree lighting ceremony" on the day after Thanksgiving! We love our little town of Waxhaw! They flipped the switches at the same time and all of the Christmas lights along the main street that is on either side of the railroad tracks lit up at the same time! It was awesome! There were Christmas Carolers, a snow machine, hot chocolate, carriage rides, and much more! It was a pretty warm evening though...typical for late November in the Carolinas though!

We started putting up our tree and decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and all that weekend. The boys love picking out where they want to hang certain ornaments. I have a hard time letting go of my OCD and allowing them to "help". In years past, I would just re-arrange them afterwards and they never noticed. This year, however, they would often ask me why a certain ornament was in a different spot and they would want to move it back to where they had put it! ahh! :-) Oh well!

 

And a pose with their stockings!

And a silly pose! :-)

The picture below is what my sister lives in for 6 months out of the year! Her husband is a sport evangelist (at least that's how I describe it to people!) They travel w/ the National Hoops Ministry that her brother-in-law started. Their whole entourage consists of 2 Diesel 5th Wheel Trucks that each pull a "trailer". One pulls an equipment trailer and one pulls this very large RV that their family of 5 lives in for a week at a time at different church locations as they travel across the country! Her boys are 4 1/2, 2 1/2, and 7 months! When they were at a church near Charlotte, we were able to meet up w/ them for a day. My boys were so happy to play w/ their cousins and see their "house on wheels"!

And then one of the boys favorite times of year...FALL! and the LEAVES! The following pictures show a little bit of how much fun they had!

The Rest of October

In the fall, we always enjoy going to one of the local "pumpkin patches". In addition to pumpkins, there are tractor, hay rides, and farm animals! This year, we went with Levi's preschool class that he attends 3 days/week, 3 hrs/day at a local Methodist church. It was great that I could bring Wyatt along for the field trip as well!

They look so little in this picture by the huge tractor wheel!



 

 

Levi LOVES to feed animals anywhere we go! He was very particular about wanting to only feed the smaller goat and would even take his food cup away when the bigger goats came to get food from him!

 October is Levi's "Half Birthday" month! He was very happy to have half of a donut w/ sprinkles on the day that he turned 4 1/2!

 Such a happy boy with lots of facial expressions!

 We did a unit study on Community Helpers and this picture below is from our Firemen Day! We got a bunch of books from the library about firemen and also got some dress-up clothes from the Resource Center!

 

My handsome boys are growing up! My serious-looking fireman will be turning 6 in just a few months! Time is going too fast! 



 Levi is getting so tall! He wanted me to take a picture of him standing by this wall to see how much taller he had gotten!

We love to "build fires" in the fall. This is the first one of the season and it was still quite warm outside, but they enjoyed gathering sticks and helping start the fire none the less!

Levi is marching in a parade at his preschool for Halloween. He loves this Batman costume and will be very sad when it is too small for him! It was pretty tight this year, but I could not persuade him otherwise!

My 2 little trick-or-treaters! They were just so cute walking around in matching costumes!

And a shot from the front of their costume!

 Complete w/ glow stick necklaces! Cute 'lil pumpkins!