Our week

I haven't been around this last week!  Sorry to those of you who check back daily for all kinds of fun and excitement... I just didn't have it in me!

Last weekend I got to have a quick visit with my sister-in-law and my niece, Katelyn.  My brother is one lucky guy to have these precious girls in his life.  I love them and I love time with them... rich conversation and sweet cuddles (with the baby girl, of course)... doesn't get much better.  Here are Sadie and Cole with their cousin...

Two of the greatest jobs in the world are getting to be a Mommy and an Aunt... love, love love.

After our visit this weekend, we launched Operation Potty Training. We trudged through the first day and a half and then finally started making progress.  Let's just say I've had ALL my laundry caught up ALL week trying to keep 9 pairs of undies clean.  :)  He is getting there... even woke up in the night to go potty.

 Potty training a cowboy is hard work!  :)

Thursday night Eric and I went to a fund-raising banquet for a place we volunteer... we had our friend, Lauren, come over to watch Sadie and Cole.  I found several pics of them on my camera this morning... so fun!  I'm not sure what they were up to, but the kids look happy!  :)  We are blessed to have such great friendships in this city. 

I hope you had a good week!  I'm going to try to jump back on the bandwagon this next week... if it's not moving too fast, that is!  Thanks for checking in!

Togetherness

I love to watch Sadie and Cole play together these days.  I know it must be similar to how my brother and I played as children.  I am 2 years and 5 days older than my brother... Sadie is 2 years and 18 days older than Cole.  Because of her age, Sadie is the ring leader of a lot of their play, but Cole is just happy to be with her.  Don't get me wrong, they have their tiffs, but for the most part, they enjoy each other.

In the last few months they have begun...

• playing house together
• playing school together
• building blocks and legos together
• chasing each other like crazy all through the house
• building tents
• crafting together

They fetch each other books, snacks and Bandaids and sometimes they even do this....

Sadie and Cole chillin' in front of the TV.

and eventually there will be a day when they do this...

Me with my Brother last July celebrating the birth of his baby girl, Kate.

And that's good stuff.  I'm glad they're friends... because being friends with your siblings is one of the best gifts in the world.

Middle names are funny...

Tonight at supper Eric had this great idea for all of us to call each other by our middle names... so, we had a Marie, a Noel and two William's.  Having two people with the same name became difficult, so we decided to shorten Cole's name to Bill... I couldn't help but laugh myself silly calling my two year old son, Bill.  I mean, seriously, does this little face look like a Bill to you???

Little boys and their toys...

This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas this year... our nephew, Corban, and Cole playing on the iPad... for a long time we wondered if these little boys would every play together, let alone snuggle together. Technology brings us together on multiple levels! :)

Cookies & Milk with Santa

Here's a quick post of the kids at Cookies & Milk with Santa sponsored by the Library... I like this picture. It fits Cole's eating personality perfectly... he is eating the frosting straight out of the frosting cup....


And here they are with their visit to Santa...



Also I wanted to link you to an excellent audio Christmas Story for Kids over on the girltalk blog. I'm going to have my kiddos listen today while they eat their lunch. It's about 10 minutes long and really great! Merry Christmas, friends!

I'm so glad, you're in my family...

One of our friends took our family pics a few weeks ago... and some with just Eric and I... love them. Thought I'd share... after all, family pics was on my 30 B4 30 list.

Spreading A Little Christmas Cheer

Last week our house was an M-E-double S. Something had to be done before I needed admitted to the crazy house.

I decided to turn on Relient K's Christmas CD to help us get in the cleaning/organizing spirit. Within the first two notes Cole was throwin' up his rock fist. We caught a couple minutes on Flip... this ought to warm your heart with Christmas cheer (or at least make you smile)... ignore the spastic dancer on the right. I don't know her, but I'm pretty sure it's where this little boy picked up his best moves. :)

Coley Dance from Eric Franklin on Vimeo.

Gingerbread Baby

Sorry I'm a little late in getting here today! We actually did the activity I'm going to share with you tonight.... and then went out to look at Christmas Lights... and then we went to Walmart to get toilet paper (somehow we've run out)... and I might have thrown in some Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream along the way... I've heard that Blue Bunny's Peppermint Ice Cream is heavenly, but haven't found any around here, yet. That very well could have been the longest sentence I've ever written... but I digress.

Anyway... the last book for the Preschool Christmas Play Party is Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. This is a story about a little boy who opens the oven door too early while baking cookies. Expecting to check on his baking Gingerbread Boy, the boy is surprised to have a Gingerbread Baby jump right out of the oven. The whole town works to catch the Gingerbread Baby, but he is too fast and clever for everyone. The little boy finally captures him by luring him into a Gingerbread House and then shutting the doors up tight... and that is where the Baby stays.

I'm sure you can tell where the activity for this book is heading... you guessed it... decorate a Gingerbread House. Normally when we craft around here the expense is minimal, but sometimes you just have to splurge. I had considered constructing our own Gingerbread House out of graham crackers and candies, but when I found a kit at Aldi for $6.99 we went that route. It was a lot of fun, but I think more candy went into the kids' mouths than onto the house. They loved it...



I hope you've enjoyed this week's mini series... more than anything, I hope you find time to just be with your family this season teaching them of the wonderful gift we have in Jesus. Many Christmas Blessings to you and yours!

The Mitten

Today's post is going to be quick and pictureless... this was an activity we did last week and I failed to photograph the fun.

The books that will be featured today and tomorrow are both Jan Brett Books. Jan Brett has a great website that has many resources that go along with her books... you outta check it out.

Today's book is called The Mitten. This is a story about a little boy who looses his mitten in the snow... while it is lost a group of animals squeeze in the mitten to find warmth until finally a little mouse follows a bear inside. The only spot left inside the mitten for the mouse is on the bears nose... this tickles the bears nose, he sneezes, all the animals in the mitten come flying out and the little boy finds his mitten drifting in the air. It's really a very sweet story.

On Jan Brett's site, Brett provides a printable mitten and the animals in the story. Have your children assemble the mitten (glue together like a pocket), color the animals and cut them out... they will all store snugly inside the mitten. This is fun to use as you read the story together or for your child to retell the story!

Zoo Flakes - ABC

Happy Wednesday! Welcome back to the Christmas Play Activities for Preschoolers Par-tay! I hope you are having a lovely week!

Today's book and activity is centered around the book, Zoo Flakes - ABC by Will C. Howell. This is a book that we checked out at the library this past week. Zoo Flakes is a very creative ABC book. Each letter of the alphabet features a zoo animal that is cut into a snowflake shape. Some snowflakes are really quite incredible! I was hoping that Amazon would have the "choose a page" feature for this book so you could actually see the inside because it really is quite impressive.

If you have older kids, you could actually make animal shaped snowflakes... it would be a fun after dinner activity for everyone to do together! Here's one that I made... I must admit, it took some thinking! :) Here is what I could use for "L is for Lizard." Sadie was quite impressed with my skills... I was too, actually.



Since our scissor skills aren't as refined here, we made snowflakes out of Popsicle sticks, buttons, sequins and star beads... you could really stick anything on that you have around the house... noodles, pony beads, pom-poms (I totally would have used pom-poms, but we are out... I love those brightly colored poms... they take me right to my happy crafty place.).

I pre-glued the sticks together....


...and then let the kids glue on the bling.



They turned out pretty cute and with a little ribbon attached to the back, they will make a nice, cheerful decoration! :)

The Animals' Christmas Eve

I hope you all enjoyed the fingerplays and songs that were posted yesterday! Sadie and Cole loved the Santa's Chimney fingerplay and found it to be a novelty that I would actually draw a face on their little thumbkin. I also wanted to mention that last year I posted an advent idea on my blog... the link for it is right here if you are interested... it's had a lot of hits this season, so I'm hoping that families are able to use this or adapt it for their family worship times!

The story I want to share with you today is called, The Animals' Christmas Eve. It's actually a Little Golden book that I found at a second hand store a few years back... I might have a small obsession with children's books.

I think the first page of the book sums up what this sweet story is all about...

In the barn on Christmas Eve,
After all the people leave,
The animals, in voices low,
Remember Christmas long ago.

After sharing this book with your kiddos, take some time to make a paper bag barn. Here is a picture of ours.


We used a full size brown paper bag and cut open doors. The kids and I colored some animals (Cole made a sheep out of his hand print), a star, Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.



I contemplated just printing off animals for them to color... I'm glad I didn't... have you ever seen such a sweetly drawn camel or Baby Jesus?

(Sadie shining her flashlight in so you can have a closer look.)

Lastly, we glued some of our nativity creations to the outside and some of them to the inside. Sadie wanted to leave some of them loose so she could walk them in and out of the barn... some days I just have to put my OCD ways aside... I mean, who really cares if all the animals are glued perfectly in place. :) It never needs to be perfect to be a blessing.

Christmas Play for Preschoolers...

Before Miss Sadie came along, I spent my days teaching 1st grade. I loved teaching. I loved the kids. I loved celebrating the holidays with my class and all the special things we were able to do together. Now that both of my kiddos are getting a little older, we are able to do some of those same things together... and it satisfies my teaching itch for this season of life. :) This Tuesday-Friday, I am going to feature a Christmas Story with an activity for you to do at home with your kiddos. Hopefully it will encourage you to slow down, snuggle with your little ones and read, and just have fun together.

For today.... I thought I would post a few songs or fingerplays that I have picked up along the way! Enjoy!

Reindeer Pokey
You put your antlers in,
You put your antlers out.
You put your antlers in,
And you shake them all about.
You do the Reindeer Pokey and you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about!
(repeat with hooves, red nose, fluffy tail)

Ring the Bells - Use with instruments
(to the tune of "London Bridges")
Ring the bells it's Christmas time,
Christmas time,
Christmas time
Ring the bells it's Christmas time,
Merry Christmas time!
(Play the drums, Pat the sticks, Clap your hands)

Here is the Chimney
Here is the chimney (make fist hiding your thumb)
Here is the top (put your other hand over the "chimney")
Open the lid (take off your hand)
And out Santa will pop (pop up your thumb... you can even draw a face on your thumb:)

Wise Men & Baby Jesus
Wise Men traveled from afar, (walk with your fingers)
Following the Christmas Star. (make a diamond with your fingers and move it through the air)
When it stopped they jumped for joy, (jump up and down)
And worshiped baby Jesus boy. (pretend to cradle a baby in your arms)

I think I'm maturing... or getting old and sentimental.

I used to have this thing with Christmas trees. In order for a tree to be beautiful they had to have white lights, coordinating bulbs and the garland hung just right. Also... they had to be without a corny angel tree topper that flashed enough to send someone into a light induced seizure.

Things have changed. I now have a 4 year old and a 2 year old who love crafting gluey and glittered ornaments that they are oh-so-proud-of. I've inherited some ornaments from our childhood and a few from my grandparents personal collection. There are memories attached to each ornament and they seem to run deep. So, this year, our tree has all the garb on it that I used to love (and still do) and old memories strewn throughout... and it's beautifully perfect.

Here's my Baby's First Christmas Ornament from 1981. I did have a white little dog like that but lacked in the hair department until about 1983... I was one bald little critter for the longest time. Maybe someday I will show you my baby pictures... wouldn't that be fun?! Back to Christmas...

This was the Mr. and Mrs. Clause that hung on my grandparents tree for as long as I can remember. I loved taking them out of their wrapping this year. I couldn't help but think that maybe my grandpa was the last one to hold Mr. and Mrs. Clause as they were wrapped up for me.


You know that I'm loosening up when Raphael makes a Christmas appearance...

Doesn't get any better than a hero in a half shell on your tree. He's hanging low getting ready to guard my gifts from sneaky little fingers.... good thing Eric picked this one out as a little guy.... hey... maybe I'll show baby pics of him too! *insert evil laugh*

Wishing you the most wonderful Christmas season yet! May we truly embrace the deep love that God has for each of us in His precious Son, Jesus.

Picture Day

So... today is Family Picture Day! Checking off another item on the 30 B4 30 list!!! Our friend Jason has graciously taken time out of his week to photograph us! I have our clothing laid out and shoes ready to go... now we just need smiles and beautiful weather! Does anyone else find Family Picture Day slightly stressful??? Deep breathing... here we go!

Crunch, CrUnCh, CRUNCH

All of our neighbors are on the ball with their leaf raking. For the last 3 weeks they have been out there raking, raking, raking (and probably wondering when we were going to do the same)... but Eric and I have been trying to figure out why! All of the leaves just FINALLY fell out of our trees... wouldn't it only make sense to rake them after they are all of the trees??? I don't get it... but there's a lot of things in life that I don't get.

Anyway... we decided this was the weekend that all the leaves would be picked up and bagged... but not without one last trip into the yard to jump, roll and lay in the leaves.... and then itch like crazy.

Roll a Pumpkin

I really enjoy holidays. Like, really, enjoy them. I love decorating, I love cooking to match the season, and as my kids get older, I love the holiday games, activities and conversations we get to have.

This week, I was trying to think of something to do with Sadie. Sadie's favorite things to do are play board games, do crafts and bake... but I was looking for something that wouldn't require a huge mess or 111 board game cards strewn all over the living room floor. I remembered a game I used to play with my 1st graders... "Roll a Pumpkin." Actually, we played it every season, just switched it up a bit.... you know, "Roll a Turkey," "Roll a Snowman" etc.

You will need a dice, some paper and crayons. As you roll, look at the chart to see what part of your pumpkin you get to draw. If you roll a number you've already drawn, skip your turn. First person to make a complete pumpkin wins!

Happy Pumpkining! :)

Some Perspective

I have been lacking creativity in cooking lately. It's kind of that awkward time of year when you are tired of grilling out but the weather isn't quite cool enough to have soup 3 times a week.

Anyway, I have whined (despite my efforts in teaching Sadie to do everything without complaining or grumbling... great role modeling, I know) over preparing meals this week... I mean, coming up with three creative and fun meals every day and meeting the nutritional needs of everyone is hard work. This article put my food prep in perspective . I hope it's encouraging to you!

Taking our Pic in the Downtown Door Reflection

... because we are just that fun!

Do you feel the love???

This is about how well my children get along these days! Pray for me! ;)

Welcome to the World, Katelyn Reese

The Lord heard our prayers! Little Katelyn Reese was born July 2, 2010 to my brother and sweet sister-in-law. Weighing in at 7 pounds 7 ounces, 20 inches long... she is completely precious. She is truly a miracle from the Lord and we are so thankful for this little life.