A New Holiday Fun Tradition

This is the first year I have gotten the kids a gingerbread house to decorate. On our family night, we had fun "constructing" the house, "painting" the house, and then putting on all the decorations! I even convinced the kids (momentarily, anyway) that the candy was for decoration only! :) Bonus: The gingerbread smelled really good and the house makes our house smell good too!

Christmas at the Zoo

Two of Brenner's favorite things! Christmas lights and the zoo! He was very excited the day we got the postcard in the mail inviting us to come to the zoo for a special night to celebrate Christmas with the animals! So we headed off to see what we could see...

This was no ordinary Santa. As we discovered, he was more popularly visited by people's pets than people's children! People brought all kinds of pets to the zoo to see Santa! (Aile was quite fascinated by the ferret. Hmmm...)
Although we do love Chimps and Lions, as shown in this picture, our favorite animal on this trip was the cougar! (Mainly because he was eagerly prowling the fence trying to get a better glimpse of the guy's dog that was next to us! Having people's pets at the zoo added an interesting dynamic.) It was also pretty interesting to see the animals at night. Of course, some of them were sleeping. But I've never seen others of them so active! The most interesting was probably the wild turkeys and peacocks. You have to cross this train trestle thing, and about 6 or 8 turkeys and peacocks were up on the beams over our heads as we passed through! (We were careful not to stop directly under them...as one little boy near us shouted so bluntly--"we don't want poop on our heads!") :)

Christmas Tree Lighting

My kids love this tradition. Every year we go walk the promanade and watch them light their huge Christmas tree at the university. Along the promanade they have various musicians performing, Santa Claus, hot chocolate and donut holes, and a live nativity scene. Ironically, I did not take a picture of the huge Christmas tree...

Here is Caelum's first encounter with Jolly Ol' St. Nick. He wasn't too interested.

On our way back to the car, Brenner asks, "Mommy, what was your favorite part?"

"Oh, Mommy loves the bells!" I reply. "The songs played by the bell choir were my favorite part!"

"Ok. And what was your favorite part, Aile?" he continues.

"Santa!!" his big sister eagerly replies.

"Brenner," I say, "what was YOUR favorite part?"

"Oh!" he seems surprised to be asked. "Well, I liked the hot chocolate and the donuts! Aaaand the Christmas tree...Aaaaand the lights!"

Caelum's Army Crawling Adventure

And he's off! No longer do I have a happy little baby boy who sits on a blanket with his toys right where I place him! He started rolling around everywhere several weeks ago, but now--now he's off! Now he's an ecstatic little baby boy who loves to explore! :) This particular adventure took him from his original perch in the living room, all the way down the hall into Aile's room. He was laughing the whole time--so proud of himself! :)

Thanksgiving in Augusta, SC

As is the tradition with Sean's family, we loaded up the kids and headed down to Augusta, SC for Thanksgiving this year. We stopped on the way there and on the way back at Aunt Verla's house to cut the trip up a bit. This year, I'd say the weekend went pretty great! We only had one injury--sorry Uncle Ron, you know those young men are brutally competitive when it comes to their family football! We only had one absentee--poo poo on Zach this year! :) We even invited a family from our church to come join us! And--amazingly--all 13 children under the age of 7 got along famously all weekend with NO major disputes or meltdowns! Awesome! (Granted, 3 of those were under 1 year...and next year we'll have 2 more baby members of the clan!)

Once again, I did not get any pictures of the food! What is wrong with me?! I guess I was too busy eating... :) I didn't get any pictures at our game nights either...but I DID get quite an entertaining video of Lisa and Elaine at the Karaoke machine! :)

Also, I am not a professional photographer by any means, folks, but we are going to have to consider these pics of Caelum his 8 month pics. Unfortunately, he had a weird eye thing going on the week before and we had to cancel our picture appointment. So here's what we have:

This was hilarious! Brenner, Kaleb, and Megan were standing aroung the relish tray "sneaking" carrots, olives, and cucumbers. They kept sharing these conspiratorial little grins and giggles as if they were really getting away with something. After the veggies were gone, Verla filled the tray up again with blueberries, bananas, and grapes, and the three amigos kept right on munching.

While the 3 two-year-olds were chowing down, Aile was finding the dress-up clothes! (No shocker there...) She graciously paused in her "wedding dance" so I could take this pic.

When he was finished with his "secret" snack, Brenner was back to his favorite pastime--cars and trucks!

Ahhh--the picture just doesn't do it justice. Too bad the video is too long to upload to this blog...sigh. As you can see, Caelum didn't quite know what to make of it all either...

Thanksgiving with Auntie MJ and Uncle Don

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Sean's birthday with MJ and Don the weekend before the real day since we were going to be out of town. We always love heading down to "Maey Dane's house" as Brenner calls it. :) (In fact, just tonight he told me: "You know, I sure love Maey Dane!") Bummer--I didn't get a picture of the food table and pie and such! We had such YUMMY food!! :)

Weekend to Remember

I only have one picture, and it's on my phone, from this past weekend (maybe I'll put it on here later), but I wanted to be sure and add something about Sean and I's experience. We attended the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember marriage conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in downtown Chattanooga, TN. If any married (or engaged) couples out there ever get the opportunity to attend one of these weekends, DO IT! It was truly a weekend we will not forget, and our marriage has already grown much stronger just by going through the weekend! And we will only get better and better from here if we follow the Biblical principles that we learned!

The presentations were very thought-provoking and enlightening, and the speakers were real and knowledgable and you could tell they have personal relationships with Jesus that enable them to share truths about marriage that are relevant. The meetings were peppered with humor, a few tears, a few "aha moments", and a TON of information! But the weekend was not all about sitting and listening to someone else speak! The most moving and life-changing moments came from the interactive assignments and "projects" we completed as couples.

There were great resources as well...this is unfortunate as I now have a long wish-list of books and such that I would love to have! You might even see a few book reviews on here sometime if I ever actually get to finish any of the books I want to read and go through with Sean! :)

Anyway, all this to say, that I HIGHLY recommend this conference! And if you ever have the chance to go--DO IT! :)

Pump It Up!

We went to a birthday party last weekend for a little boy named Ethan that Aile is friends with. The party was at a place called Pump It Up!, a place with two "arenas" filled with various huge inflatables such as slides and jump houses and obstacle courses, etc. The kids had a blast! (And, much to the delight of their parents, also expended much energy and thus slept very well that night!) :)

Brenner loved going through the obstacle course (which Mommy had to go through with him about 8 times in a row until I thought I would simply collapse in a heap if I went one more time!), and the huge slides! He didn't, however, feel generous with his smiling face for the camera! Obviously:



It didn't take long for Aile and Ethan to become inseparable at the party, and they did everything together (including opening Ethan's presents) all the way up 'til it was time to go home! They held hands going down the slide I think every time they went! Hmmm....and we thought we wouldn't have to deal with boys until she was much older than this!!

"I like trucks, I always will..."

I don't know if you've ever heard that song, but it used to be one of Brenner's favorites from a DVD we have about trucks. "I like trucks, I always will! Big or small, I like them still...I like trucks! I like 'em!" We've heard it around the house many many times!

Anyway, one day the kids decided it would be cool to pose on Daddy's big off-roading toy, so up they climbed! They think it's just groovy that Daddy gives them rides through the kudzu on our hill to give them a glimpse of what off-roading feels like!

Rollo Skates

For the past several mornings, Aile and Brenner have been wanting to sing "I've Been Redeemed" during family worship. And I have been teaching them all the different verses that I remember so well from my childhood. Well, the other morning Sean introduced a new variation to the song. I'm sure you've all heard them: the satirical extra verses that were created by some bored soul to make children laugh--"You can't get to Heaven in a limousine...'cause God don't sell no gasoline" and the like.

Well, this morning Brenner hit the jackpot at a local garage sale and found the perfect pair of roller skates (he's been wanting some ever Aile got hers for her birthday). So immediately after lunch he put them on. After zooming around the house for a while, getting used to the feel of them and considering himself quite a pro already, he came out to the kitchen to see me.

"Mommy," he said. "Did you buy me these rollo skates?"

"Yes, Brenner," I answered.

"At that little flea market?"

"Well, it was a garage sale, but yes."

"I like these rollo skates, Mommy."

"I'm glad, Brenner. You're doing really well on them."

"But Mommy..."

"Yes, Brenner?"

"You can't get to Heaven on these rollo skates." (You'd sail right past those pearly gates, you know...)

Fall Camping

We really wanted to squeeze one more camping trip into this season, and we knew the fall colors would be beautiful right now, especially near the Smokey Mountains. So off we headed to Panther Creek with my aunt Eilene and my cousin Susie. Friday night when we arrived, it was raining (which we knew beforehand was going to happen), so we begged a dry bed in the camper with Eilene and Susie. :) Sabbath morning dawned clear and crisp, so after breakfast, we were off to find the lake.

There is quite a network of trails at Panther Creek, so we headed in what we thought to be the right direction. Here is Aile and Susie on one of the bridges the kids liked to cross:

We soon found ourselves in the heart of the woods. (Not where I would envision finding the lake...) At this particular spot, right next to where Sean and the kids are standing, the rest of the hill was filled with large, bright green, moss covered rocks. "Look-it at those green rocks!" Brenner exclaimed. "Why do you think those rocks are green, Brenner?" Sean asked. "Well...just because God made them that way!" was Brenner's simple answer....And then, throughout the rest of the hike, we would frequently hear Brenner's dialogue: "Look-it at those wet branches...God made those. Look-it at that creek...God made that. God made those tall trees....God made horses and dogs (it was a horse trail as well, and we saw quite a few people walking their dogs on it)." And then the kicker--"Daddy, did God make that horse manure?"

Well, we never did find the lake Sabbath afternoon, but we did have a fun time exploring the woods. Then Sunday the kids discovered the huge amounts of fallen leaves all around our campsite.




Aha! We finally found the lake! Well, the overlook anyway....

My "All the day..."

Sometimes the re-interpretations that children give to songs and stories give them a new meaning that is relevant for the moment, even if at first they seem to not make much sense... Today I heard Aile singing: "When I am down, You pick me up. When I am dry, You fill my cup. You are my all the day!" The correct lyric says, "You are my ALL IN ALL. But as I thought about it, sometimes it is more important for me to remember that God is my "all the day." He gives me strength and power to make it through each day, and there are times when that is all I am trying to do! So I didn't correct Aile's re-interpretation. I like having God be my "all the day"! :)

I need a big bear hug!

Caelum has grown by leaps and bounds in just these last couple of weeks, and has become quite the little character! (We believe we have a young Sanguine personality on our hands!) His excitement shows each time one one of us goes anywhere near him--he reaches his arms as far as he can and waves them at us for us to pick him up--all while laughing his silly little chuckle: "Hee hee! Hee hee hee!" Then as soon as he is successful in his mission (ie. in our arms), he clasps his little hands together and scrunches his shoulders, cuddling into whoever is holding him. Then he just laughs and sticks his thumb in his mouth. What a guy...

The Adventures of the Flea Market

Twice a year there is a huge flea market at the local university, and we usually try to get over there to browse around and see what treasures we can find for a couple bucks. It was a beautiful day, and this year, one of the main attractions was climbing trees:




The excitement must have been too much! Brenner had to have all of his new goodies piled around him when we got back to the car. (How kind of someone to let him have all the cars and trucks he could find in their toy boxes for his $1!)

Fall Fun

The weather these days is so beautiful, and the kids are just itching to go camping. So we got together with some friends and had a fire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and flew kites when the wind picked up.

Brenner was excited to get in the car and head over to this little adventure:


No, Brenner did not eat all of those hot dogs....Not that he wouldn't have tried had I let him...

Aile was pretty proud of herself for roasting her own hot dog...even when it fell in the ashes...

Learning to share?

Aile wants Brenner to share a toy with her. "Can I have turn, please?" she says.

"No," Brenner says simply.

Mommy steps in. "Brenner, the kind thing to say would be: "Sure, Aile, you can have a turn next!"

"Ok," Brenner says. He turns to Aile: "Aile, after my turn, I'll have another turn!"

Big Boy Brenner

Brenner has accomplished yet another major milestone this year! Yeah Brenner! We had Brenner's big "Potty Training Party" one Sunday, and with the help of Thomas the Train, we celebrated in high choo choo style with each success! Brenner had a great day, and over the next couple of weeks has seemed to master this new skill quite successfully (after a number of regrets on Mommy's and Miss Nicole's floors! He says "sorry!") :) We are proud of you Brenner! Good job!