advent preparations

i've been thinking ahead to christmas. well...advent, really. it seems like this is the first year when love will really be able to start to comprehend what christmas is all about. i really desire to take time to slow down this coming advent season. to share the story of jesus birth with love, and also soak it up once again for myself. to plan activities for advent that involve serving others, having fun, and basking in the hope that christ brought to this earth. i need that these days.

in thinking about the coming season, i am trying to find ways to share the coming of jesus with love in a way that she will be able to understand. she enjoys reading, so naturally, books seem like a wonderful way to accomplish this. i came across two books that i think would be very helpful, and if you are looking for a good christmas book to read with kids, check them out. someday i would like to own them and be able to read them every year during advent.

the first one, my favorite of the two, is song of the stars, a christmas story, by sally lloyd jones. we looked at this book at a bookstore recently and loved the way the story was told. jeremy said it gave him goosebumps. it is a beautiful book.

the second, room for a little one: a christmas tale, by martin waddell, has beautiful illustrations and a sweet story. i appreciate the phrase in the book, "a little one came for the world". yes, for the world he came.

by far, my favorite christmas book as a child, and still today, is the twenty-four days before christmas by madeline l'engle. i read it every year. in the book, the austin family does a special activity each day during advent. i know that a lot of people do this, but i have never done it. i think this will be the year that we will start this tradition with our little family. so, i have also been making a little advent list...so far, i have fourteen things on the list, and i will continue to add to it as we go along. by the beginning of advent, my list will be complete and we will be able to do something special each day. at some point, i will share our list on this blog.

we also have this way of light wreath that we will be using with advent devotions this year. i think it is such a meaningful way to lead up to christmas.

today was a little gloomy and a lot boring. after a dinner of pumpkin pancakes, we had a family dance party to christmas music. it lightened the mood around here and brought out some much needed giggles. the first dusting of snow drifted into our world tonight, and that calls for some snuggling time on the couch with my hubby.

leaves, leaves, and more leaves

we've been given the gift of a couple of days of unseasonably warm weather. and we have taken full advantage. yesterday we raked leaves, lots and lots of leaves. such satisfying work as the yard immediately looked amazingly better.

today there was a bit of sleeping in for this mama after a rough night with the littlest member of our family. after breakfast, we headed out for a walk and then trimmed the bushes in front of the house, put the sandbox in the garage for the winter, and loaded up the van for a trip to goodwill. i've been sorting and cleaning and organizing and decided it was time to get rid of a lot of things i've been holding on to "just in case". i've been feeling bogged down by things and stuff and am feeling good about getting rid of things.

we headed to a local furniture store where we had a $25 gift card that was good just for today. we didn't want any furniture and didn't want to spend more than the money our gift card was for...so we searched all the decorative things in the store and finally found a pillow with just the right colors for our living room. i've been wanting a colorful pillow to add some color to that room, so it was perfect. a $100 pillow on sale for $25, just right for our gift card...we had to pay 1 cent and then it was ours to take home. the sales guy asked if we wanted the $12 protection plan. really? for a free pillow? i don't think so. (and the whole time i was trying to comprehend a life of buying pillows so expensive that they need protection plans!). to top it all off, they had clowns, balloon animals, face painting, and snacks...all for free...so it was a good stop!

we went to costco and had samples and bought some eggs and maple syrup. when i opened the egg carton to check if the eggs were cracked, one of the eggs fell out and broke on the floor...so we ended up bringing home slightly less than two dozen eggs. jeremy broke another one after we got home, so i guess it is just a day of breaking eggs around here.

we got the car washed, redeemed a couple of free things at panera for a snack (lunch was the free snacks at the furniture place and the samples at costco!), and headed for home. i gave love a haircut and we cleaned up the house.

quite a productive day i would say.

the biggest news of the day is that jobot's first tooth popped through! he's growing up a little too fast.

extra hour

i used my extra hour on sunday to make a special breakfast for our family. we had a delicious and relaxed start to the day before we headed for church. 

halloween

our little lamb in a mama-made costume, and our little guy who dressed as his daddy.

she loved the sheep costume. especially her ears and little black nose. i loved that i made it for her.

handsome boys. our friend did an amazing job knitting jobot's little beard.

in the afternoon, we told love that later we were going to walk up to people's houses and say "trick-or-treat". and then...people would give us candy. a look of amazement and disbelief spread across her face followed by a huge grin. oh, the wonder of being a child. we had as much fun watching her trick-or-treat as she had trick-or-treating. oh, the joys of being parents.