Christmas Advent

We're starting a tradition of Christmas advent with the kids this year. We want a way for the girls to anticipate Christmas. We're not just counting down to December 25 so that we can open gifts, but we want to celebrate His birth and the reason He came to earth. 

Here's the little advent house we bought. Each day we'll open a door, read the verse and talk about what it means (on their level). Then there will be a fun activity we do together that day. Some days it will be popping pop corn and playing a game together, another day it might be making a gingerbread house, or making Christmas cookies to give to our neighbors. I'm looking forward to making memories as a family, and focusing on Jesus through this season.

Here's the verses in order:

1. God made it possible for Mary to be pregnant. Matthew 1:18
2. An angel talked to Joseph about the birth. Matthew 1:20
3. The angel said that Mary’s special son will save us from our sins. Matthew 1:21
4. God had already said that his Son would come in this way.Matthew 1:22–23
5. Joseph would care for Mary while she was pregnant. Matthew 1:24–25
6. It was time to register for the population census. Luke 2:1–2
7. God had promised that Bethlehem would be Jesus’ birthplace.Micah 5:2
8. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to be registered. Luke 2:3–5
9. Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in a stable. Luke 2:6–7
10. An angel surprised some shepherds. Luke 2:8–9
11. “Good news” was announced about a baby who would be a Savior. Luke 2:10–12
12. Lots of angels joined in praising God! Luke 2:13–14
13. The shepherds got excited about finding the baby. Luke 2:15
14. The shepherds visited the special baby. Luke 2:16–17
15. Everyone was amazed at the baby boy! Luke 2:18–20
16. The baby was named Jesus. Luke 2:21
17. The wise men followed a star, looking for Jesus. Matthew 2:1–2
18. King Herod got concerned when he heard about Jesus.Matthew 2:3–4
19. The Old Testament had already told about the town of Jesus’ birth. Matthew 2:5–6
20. King Herod came up with a plan to find Jesus. Matthew 2:7–8
21. The wise men again found the guiding star. Matthew 2:9–10
22. The wise men met Mary and Jesus. Matthew 2:11
23. God warned the wise men to avoid King Herod. Matthew 2:12
24. Jesus came so we can become children of God! Galatians 4:4–5
25. Jesus grew up to die on the cross so we can have never-ending life with God! John 3:16–17

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Josh and Ashley's Visit

We just had a great visit with Josh, Ashley, and baby Owen! Several years ago Josh and Jesse worked together at Grace Community Church. Now Josh lives in NE and pastors a church there. We enjoyed visiting with them over the last few days.

 Jesse enjoyed reading Christmas stories to all three kids...some were more interested than others :)

 Besides hanging out on our floor, they toured some museums, helped us put up Christmas lights on the roof, visited Mt. Vernon, met some of our friends here in D.C, and played Ticket to Ride. 

Thanks for coming to visit!!

Thanksgiving

Here's what our yard looked like a couple weeks ago...the fall was beautiful here! Now the leaves are mostly gone, so Jesse has been enjoying using his new leaf blower!

Daddy reading about fall leaves to Maddie.

 

I like the way our fall mantel turned out!

  

The girls made some Thanksgiving notes with stickers.

  On Thanksgiving day, we went to church in the morning for a service. Then we headed to a friend's house for the day. 

   The men had fun frying 2 turkeys!

 The girls had a great time decorating cookies.

Yum!

 

Football watching.

We have so much to be thankful for. This year God has both given us much a taken away some. In all of these things, we have found Him faithful. He has blessed us greatly by showing us grace and patience as we learn to become more like Him. 

Savannah's Two Years Old!!

We are so thankful for God's precious gift to us in Savannah. She is so sweet, loves playing with her big sister and copies everything Maddie does. Savannah had her two year old well check, and is a healthy little girl. She's weighing gin at 24. 6 pounds and is 33 inches tall.

Here's Savannah and Maddie helping me make chocolate cupcakes with nutella frosting. 

Pre-party dancing with Daddy as the DJ and Miss Penny helping get the snacks ready.

Savannah has a couple little 2 year old friends we invited over to celebrate.

 

The kids made an owl Christmas ornament.

 Then we sang "Happy Birthday"!

We had owl cupcakes since Savvy really likes owls.

  That night when I put her to bed, she said she liked blowing out her candle!

Yummy!

Savannah loves her bottle and will feed it to anything!!

Thank you, Miss Penny!!

Sister kisses :)

I love these girlies!

Immanuel High School Camp

We're back in the game of blogging. I worked out the memory problem. Here's some pictures from Immanuel's High School Camp we went on a couple weeks ago...

Maddie and Savannah were thrilled to stay in a cabin and hang out with the High Schoolers!!

 Group picture!

 

Tim, Kara, and Jesse planning out something...

 The camp was beautiful!! 

  Elyssa and I had extra time together- that was a highlight for me!

Daddy and his happy girls!

Neal Dillard came to camp for the day and took some great pictures!

Not Sure What To Do...

So, I've not been posting anything new because when I try to upload pictures, I get this notification:

"Whoops! You're out of space. You are currently using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos. Upgrade storage
Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between several Google products and is in addition to your free quota."

I'm trying to figure out how to upload pictures another way OR just start a new blog. Thanks for the comments about wanting more pictures...they'll be coming as soon as I figure out this problem. Let me know if you have any solutions! Thanks.

Sisters

They've been having so much fun together!

Trick or Treat

My girls just love dressing up. Most days they are princesses or ballerinas. So for Halloween this year Madison wanted to be a butterfly and Savannah wanted to be a ladybug. Any excuse to dress up and play is good for them!

 Buzz Buzz

 Hee hee! They got glow in the dark necklaces from a neighbor!

(By the way, I found out the hard way that the glow in the dark stuff even works on your skin. Maddie chewed through hers :) 

 Friends

 Our neighborhood is so much fun! Here's some of the kids for the group photo. 

Yes, my girls are eating!

 Before all the kids went trick or treating, we had hot dogs and mac n cheese out in the cul de sac. 

 Can you see all the leaves?! It's fall here!

The kids came to our house first, then worked their way up the street to trick or treat. 

We had a fun night!