The Nativity {Re}imagined.

Justin's mom brought this nativity up while they were here.  She said her kids liked playing with it when they were young and thought Jaxson would enjoy it.  Boy has he ever! 

I've noticed that it's being rearranged each day. 

Yesterday, I got it down from the shelf and told Jaxson the whole story of Jesus' birth.  He thought that it was so neat that I was telling a story using all the people.

So he wanted to make up his own story. 

Today, he told me the story of the angel that would "bop" people on their heads and they would say "Ow."  Then the angel had to stop because she was tired.

Oh..and the angel liked to fly around really fast around the barn as well.

As I started to warn him that he needs to be careful....you can guess what happened.  Both the angel and wiseman lost their heads. 

Poor Jax.  He felt really bad.  But sometimes you just have to learn a lesson the hard way.

Luckily, I was able to glue their heads back on without it being noticable at all.

And now, the rearranging has continued.  Only with a more careful hand.

 

 

Project Life Tuesday

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Tuesday 20

You know what I'm thankful for?  Kroger having those shopping carts with the car (with two steering wheels) attached to it.  It makes the kids so happy.  Which makes me happy.  Julie is "cheezing" it up in this picture.

Wednesday 21

No picture.

Thursday 22

We went over to Gwen and Paul's for Thanksgiving.  Paul took a ton of pictures and even managed to get one of all four of us looking at the camera.  It really was a Thanksgiving miracle.  And while we were taking pictures, Jaxson was riding around on the four wheeler.  How cute is he?

Friday 23

Kaye and I decorated the Christmas Tree today.  This is Jaxson's tree.  It's, well, it's decorated by a boy...can you tell?

Saturday 24

We went over to Carolina Pottery to put some finishing touches on my tree.  I love love love all those big ornaments!

Sunday 25

I'm really behind in my Bible in 90 Days reading.  While I was supposed to be in Acts, I was still in Mark.  I was so happy to make it to Luke.  I blame it on my stupid sinus infection.  That really messed me up on staying on track.

Monday 26

And today I made it to John.  I'm in the middle of John.  But should be in the middle of Acts.  I'm getting closer!

Goals for this Week

Personal

Finish Matthew and read to Acts with the Bible in 90 Days plan.  Oh my gosh.  I'm still in Mark.  I'm way behind right now.

Study "Discouraged" Scriptures with the CTB Bible.  (There's a Facebook group to keep us all accountable!)

School

With family coming up this week, we are taking the week off again.  Next week, letter Vv!

Home Management

Steam clean the living room and dining room.

Clean house

Make an ornament tree.  I'm almost done.  Just need to add some tinsel to it.

And now for this week's goals:

Personal

Read to Colossians 4:18.  And like I said, I'm in Mark right now.  Trying not to stress about it...

School

Letter Vv

Plan Letter Ww

Home Management

Make an ornament tree.

I'm linking to Money Saving Mom!

Random Bits. (The "I'm feeling better today" edition.)

You know what I enjoy?  Opening up my camera app on my phone and seeing at least 50 pictures of Julie's shoes and sippy cups.  She loves opening up the app and snapping away.  I think she likes the sound, click, click, click!

Today, I'm feeling better.  It's pretty much evident since I deep cleaned the house today, did all the laundry, and made a quick run to Target.  Talk about energy!  I think I had more energy today than in the past two weeks.  I think the antibiotics are working!  (Cause I only used my Keruig once today...hello carmel cappuchino.)

Jaxson still cracks me up learning the English language.  Today we were talking and I must have interupted Jax.  He said to me, "Momma, quit errupting me!"  I've recently talked to him about interrupting since he has a bad habit of it.  But apparently, I must have a bad habit of "errupting" too.

Anyone else feel a little gipped that Black Friday now starts at midnight or sooner?  I remember (before kids) when Justin and I had went up to Circuit City to stand in line for our TV.  The store didn't open until 5am!  5am!  It was freezing and cold and yet Justin persevered and got our TV.  And you know that we will never get rid of the TV unless it flat out stops working.  We worked too hard for it.  And now Black Friday is really "Evening Black Thursday."

Well, that's all for me.  I'm going to enjoy some turkey tomorrow and visit with family.  I'll try not to not to "errupt" anyone and hopefully Julianne will take some great pictures of everyone's shoes.

Project Life Tuesday

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Tuesday 13

I thought it might be fun to use Julianne's view point of our road trip home.  As you can see, we have a shoe and part of Justin's arm.  Julianne is rocking the photo skills.

Wednesday 14

While we had fun up in West Virginia, the kids were glad to be home and in their routine again.  Julianne had really missed her princess couch and brought it out to relax while watching Barney.

Thursday 15

I'm finally in the New Testament!!!!!

Friday 16

Jaxson made a castle for his cat out of the paper towel rolls.  Really.  I often wonder why we have toys in the closet when paper towels and a box will pretty much do the same thing.

Saturday 17

No picture.

Sunday 18

No picture.

Monday 19

No picture.

(Can you tell I've been sick?)

Yay for Round 2 of antibiotics!

You know, there's nothing like getting sick when you are visiting family.  And there's nothing like being sick before a holiday when family is coming to visit.  And I am sure enjoying being on round 2 of antibiotics because the first round really did nothing for me. 

Sigh.

I guess it's really not as bad as it sounds.  The kids brought home a cold.  We all got sick from it, but I seemed to stay sick from it.  We went up to West Virginia and I was dealing with my sinuses which I had thought was from allergies.  But when we came back home, I know this was no allergies...it was a sinus infection.  Riddle me this, how can something so small like your sinuses make you so sick?

So off to the doctor I went.

I was so thankful for antibiotics and couldn't wait to get better.  And I did start feeling better at first, but then everything came back and I wasn't feeling well again.  And that brings you up to date on why I am on round 2 and hope to breathe out of my nose soon.

And so we will see what happens.  I don't have time to rest, I have a house to clean, errands to run, and kids to chase after!  I need to have sick days, really.

Goals for this Week

Personal

Read Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel with the Bible in 90 Days plan.  I also read all the minor prophets and am in the middle of Matthew.  I'm only 2 days behind even though I was out of town!

Study "Discouraged" Scriptures with the CTB Bible.  (There's a Facebook group to keep us all accountable!)  Nope.

School

Taking a break.  Plan Letter Vv to start the week of the 12th.

Home Management

Clean house using Little Green Notebook's cleaning list.  Yes.  I got the house clean before we left.

And onto this week's goals:

Personal

Finish Matthew and read to Acts with the Bible in 90 Days plan.

Study "Discouraged" Scriptures with the CTB Bible.  (There's a Facebook group to keep us all accountable!)

School

With family coming up this week, we are taking the week off again.  Next week, letter Vv!

Home Management

Steam clean the living room and dining room.

Clean house

Make an ornament tree.

I'm linking to Money Saving Mom!

Jaxisms

The things that Jaxson says are hilarious.  So I'm writing this down to remember:

Jaxson likes to pick out his clothes in the morning.  Yesterday, Jax picked out a tank top.  In 40 degree weather.  I told him that he couldn't wear it.  He protested, "But I just want to see my armpits!"

While driving to Walmart, Jaxson explained to me that while he was doing Quiet Time at Mimi and Pap Pap's house, Baby {the cat} (not to be confused with Baby {the person} aka Julianne) rubbed up against Jaxson on his face.  I like to say that she gives me kisses.  But Jaxson viewed it as Baby {the cat} was petting him.  He told me, "I say to her, I'm not a cat!"

And this morning we were eating at McDonalds, Jaxson sighed super loud and exclaimed, "It's just taking a long time for me to be a firefighter."  Yes, cause growing up is soooo exasperating!

Project Life Tuesday

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Tuesday 6

I'm trying to read ahead in the Bible in 90 Days.  I know it will be hard to find time to read while we are visiting family in West Virginia so I was glad to get out of Ezekiel and into Daniel!

Wednesday 7

Road Trip!!!  We are off to West Virginia.  And a road trip is not complete unless you have BBQ flavored pork rinds.  Julianne goes crazy over these.  It's a good thing we live in the south....she will have plenty of flavors to choose from!

Thursday 8

The kids were making cookies and having a blast!

Friday 9

We Facetimed with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa in Utah! 

Saturday 10

It seems that I have stumbled upon a very big red angry bird!

Sunday 11

We went up into the woods to take pictures of all of us.  Out of many, many pictures, I do have one picture of the kids looking at the camera!

Monday 12

I finally have an updated picture of Justin and I.

20 Months {Julie}

Julianne is 20 months old now!

Julianne sure enjoyed Halloween!  When I put her tutu on, she exclaimed, "Ohhhh" and loved wearing it.  She is ALL girl.

And she loved Trick or Treating.  I think her favorite part was putting the candy into her basket.  She didn't like it when someone else did that, so she would out her hand so we knew that she was supposed to put it in her basket.

She also gave herself a haircut on Halloween.  We were all hanging out in our bedroom when we looked over at her when we heard the "BUZZZZZ" sound.  She had gotten into Justin's bathroom and turned on the clippers.  And preceded to put them to her head.  In her defense, she sees me doing this to Jaxson every week so I guess she wanted her hair cut as well.

As I grabbed the the clippers and said, "She really could have cut her hair!" a chunk of hair fell off her head.  So she gave herself her first haircut.  Oh, Julie.  Luckily, the chunk of hair that is now missing isn't too noticiable.  We were lucky that she started buzzing the top of her head first and not the sides.  That could have resulted in an emergency haircut!

When I did her hair, you could see the ends of the newly-cut-hair sticking straight up.  Like I said, it could have been worse.  But I've always had the scissors up high, now the clippers are there as well!

Julie loves to brush her teeth.  I had to put her toothbrush on a high shelf or she would brush her teeth all day long.  And when I tell her to wipe her mouth, she will stick out her tongue and wipe her tongue.  Gross and totally missing the point!

She is still really attached to her blankie.  But if her blankie is in the wash, she will carry her dolly or doggie around.  One morning, when I was doing her hair, she let me know that she needed to brush her dolly's hair as well.  I gave her a brush and she took care of her dolly's hair. 

And when we were eating dinner, she "fed" her dolly a cookie as well.  That was so funny.  She is very loving towards her dolly.  At this age, Jaxson was crashing cars into each other.  So funny to see how boys and girls develop differently!

Happy 20 months Julianne!

Project Life Tuesday

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Tuesday (30)

Brrr...it's cold out.  We had a fire and the fireplace and roasted marshmallows again!

Wednesday (31)

It's time for Trick or Treating!  We took the kids to a Trunk or Treat event and then down to the mall for more Trick or Treating.  We ended up with lots of candy that Justin and I may or may not be enjoying as well!

Thursday (1)

I made it through Isaiah, now onto Jeremiah!

Friday (2)

Since it is freezing outside, I took the kids to the mall to run around and play.  This was the first time that Julie went on the big slide all by herself!  Jax was so sweet to her by helping her out when needed.

Saturday (3)

Handsome boy!

Sunday (4)

Julie is off running to pick up Jax from his Sunday School class. 

Monday (5)

Jax and Julie built a really tall tower out of their Mega Blocks.  But Jax didn't want to pose, so Julie did.  You can see she is modeling for us.  If only she would stand still!

Pre-School Letter Uu

Jax is 4 1/2 years old.

Bible

Our Bible verse this week was, "Unto Thee oh Lord do I give thanks," Psalm 75:1.  We used the RRSP and RRSK printables from 1+1+1=1.  We cut and taped our Bible verse, painted it, and then cut it and glued it back together.

Math

We used the Animal ABC's printables from 1+1+1=1 and traced the shapes using finger paint. 

Geography

This week we learned about Russia.  We are using the Phoenix Phaxx Great Commission videos and booklet to learn about different countries.

Sight Words

Jaxson's words this week are:  to, play, run, and find.  Using YCR Word Search, I had him find the letter and spell them out with his puzzle letters from Melissa and Doug's See and Spell puzzle.

Science

My dad had to have triple by-pass surgery this week.  So Jaxson wanted to know more about Pap-pap's "broken heart." (as he put it.)  I found this experiment from Kids Activities Blog and made a model heart using a baggie, pipe cleaners, and straws.  He absolutely loved this!

Letter

Jax working on his Letter Uu sound with RRSK Phonics Fun Printable.

Art

We made an Umbrella Bird puppet using this idea from Creativity Takes Flight.

I'm linking up to Homeschool Creations.

Project Life Tuesday

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Tuesday (23)

Doesn't Julianne look so much older in the picture?!  It was a nice day so we were outside blowing bubbles.

Wednesday (24)

I tried to get a picture of Julie and me.  We were both in the frame and looking at the camera so it was a winner!

Thursday (25)

I'm in Ecclesiastes!  Just some "light" reading.

Friday (26)

Today we picked up our pumpkins and carved them!  I really, really wanted to get a picture of the kids with their pumpkins.  A normal picture that is.  But what do you know?  The only picture that I ended up with BOTH kids looking at the camera would be the funny face picture.

Saturday (27)

No picture.

Sunday (28)

We had our Harvest Festival at church.  I wasn't sure if it would get canceled since Hurricane Sandy was out at sea and hitting our beaches.  But we just had some light wind and rain.  The show must go on! 

Monday (29)

No picture.

Goals for this Week

I didn't update last week.  And really, I still didn't accomplish my goals.  That just goes to show that sometimes, having small children, busy life, and a cold really puts you behind!

Personal

Finish Psalms.  Read Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Songs.  Start Isaiah by next Sunday on the Bible in 90 Days plan. (Also read through Isaiah and Jeremiah.)

Study "Discouraged" Scriptures with the CTB Bible.  (There's a Facebook group to keep us all accountable!) (Nope.  I got behind in my B90D reading that this went to the side.)

School

Letter Uu

Plan Letter Vv

Home Management

Dust (Ha!)

Plan out pictures in my Project Life Album (I have only gotten to the middle of August.  Thanks goodness for Project Life Tuesdays.  Oh wait...I'm behind on that as well!)

Personal

Read Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel with the Bible in 90 Days plan.

Study "Discouraged" Scriptures with the CTB Bible.  (There's a Facebook group to keep us all accountable!)

School

Taking a break.  Plan Letter Vv to start the week of the 12th.

Home Management

Clean house using Little Green Notebook's cleaning list.

I'm linking to Money Saving Mom!

2012 Goals Update {October}

I thought it might be time to do a little update...just to see how on track I am on my 2012 goals.  Here is my update for October:

Financial

Start putting money into savings. (Not this month.  Our renter moved out of our place in WA in August and it finally rented last week!)

Starting a Christmas fund. (Julie is all done for her presents.  Jax needs one more gift.)

Vacation fund  (None right now.  It's going to be going to a mortgage payment.  Boo.)

School

Plan out the year with Tot School.  (Update:  The rest of the year is planned for Jaxson.  Julie will start with us in January.)

Home Management

Make a cleaning schedule and stick to it weekly. (Update:  My own cleaning list was too ambitious.  So now I am trying a modified cleaning list from Little Green Notebook.  It is working great!)

Personal

Books

Here is the list I want to read.  Again, I'm shooting under the table because if I finish this list, I can ADD MORE.

The Hole in the Gospel by Richard Sterns  (Finished in April.  I felt that the Part 1, 2, and 3 were too long.  And Parts 4 and 5 were too short!  But overall a good read.  Some great principles and ideas discussed in here.)

Real Marriage by Mark Driscoll  (Finished in February.  It took me almost all month to read this.  It was not interesting.)

Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson  (Finished in August.  It had some great advice in some places, in other places it dragged.  I give it a B.)

The Hunger Games by Suzane Collins  (Finished in July.  Oh my.  That was a fun read.  Looking forward to the DVD release in August so I can watch it!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett  (Finished in January.  Fantastic book!  But after reading the book, the movie was very disappointing.)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen  (Finished in February.  Love, love, love it!  I watched the movie and loved it!  I think I had lowered my expectations of books turned into books after watching The Help.)

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher  (Finished in August.  Also didn't realize that this was book 1 in a series.  Guess I'll have to add more books onto my list!  I liked it a lot.)

More Lost Than Found by Jared Herd  (Finished in July.  Eh.  It was ok.  I couldn't figure out who the author was writing to.  Is it for Christians that have left the church and want to come back?  Is it for Christians who want to bring back Christians who left?  I'm honestly not sure.)

Kisses from Katie by Katie J. Davis  (Finished in January.  A great read about an amazing young lady following Jesus to Africa.  Highly reccomend!)

Radical by David Platt  (Very good read!)

Book read with YA Book Club at church:

1000 Gifts by Ann Voskmap (Finished in March.  Highly recommend!)

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton  (Finished June.  Hardest book I ever read.  Period.  But I'm so glad I read it.  Lots of great things to think about.)

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant  (Finished in August.  Eh.  I'm still not sure what I thought about it.  It wasn't bad, but maybe wasn't my type of book.)

To Heaven and Back:  A Doctor's Extraordinary account of her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again:  A True Story by Mary C. Neal MD (I'm reading this right now and it's really interesting.  I think we will have some great discussion this month at our meeting!)

Books I've added on:

Bossypants by Tina Fey  (Finished in August.  I thought it would be more about show business and also funnier.  The beginning dragged, but the ending left you wanting more.)

Too Small to Ignore:  Why the Least of These Matter the Most by Dr. Wess Stafford  (Finished in July.  LOVED this book!  It wasn't what I expected to be which I loved.  Highly recommend!)

Radical Together by David Platt (Finished in July.  It was a short read, but basically was a condensed version of the original book, Radical.  I thought there would be some new stuff in there, but there wasn't.)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins  (Finished in August.  Out of the three books, I thought this one was the best.  It was so unpredictable.)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Finished in August.  Loved this series!)

7 by Jen Hatmaker (Finished in August.  Love this book. Highly recommend!)

Bible Study time

Memorize the book of James  (Memorized to verse 3:11.  I memorized 11 verses this month!)

Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore (Finished.  So good!)

Study Ephesians with Good Morning Girls.  (Done!)

31 Days to Pray for your Children from Keep it Personal  (Done.)

Proverbs 31 Woman from Good Morning Girls. (Finished this in August.)

Bible in 90 Days We are currently reading Jeremiah.  The class is going well at church.  Lots of people dedicated to reading the Bible!  How great is that?!

Whew...in just a month, I've accomplished a lot!