The Boys and the Holidays

Holidays are very different when you have children and it has been a delight to see their responses to the festivities. They are pretty easy going and enjoy just about everything which is AWESOME! We did quite a bit of cookie decorating which was really a lot of fun because James learned some new great techniques. For some reason I can't find any pictures of them finished, so hopefully you got to see and/or eat a few. The boys even did some decorating themselves for their own friends (more made it into their tummies than onto the plates, but at least they gave a few away).

Now as for the weather it has been snowy and freezing! I have been pretty worried about the boys getting stir crazy, so we planned some play dates. It has been a lot of fun getting together with friends. Then, as a backup plan we splurged and bought snow pants and good gloves for the boys. Add that to their boots, coats and scarves they have actually been able to go out and play which has been awesome! They go sledding at the park, jump on the trampoline, shovel the driveway and even throw some snowballs! They have a blast and they don't even track mud through the house!

Gift giving has been a joy to observe this year. Michael earned some money this summer mowing lawns, so he had some real cash to spend and let me tell you, he has inherited his Uncle Justin's ability to give gifts. He gets to know people and what they like and makes sure he gets something they would love! Joshua is fun to shop with as everything is exciting-super exciting! You also learn real quickly what he wants because he likes to buy others what he likes. Because if he would love something everyone else would love it as well!

The boys did one of the cutest things ever this year. They have a couple of friends in the neighborhood that they play with most days. They usually buy each other gifts but this year they decided to do a gift exchange where they drew names and bought a gift for that person (or something like that). It was so cute! And then they got together and did their exchange. It was fun to see them interact and act in a very mature way and was impressed at how well they know each other and what they would like.

Taking Jacob shopping is always interesting. It always involves a trip to the look at the cars because well, he doesn't have much money and cars are fun and cheap. But I was really proud of his gift to James this year that I just had to share it. He bought those little color your own picture frames and got three of them and had all of the boys color one and put their picture in it. It was awesome and it was fun to find him a gift to give that he could really enjoy.

Christmas morning was a blast. We apparently put too much in their stockings because they never even asked to open presents after they looked at their stockings. It may have had more to do with the food in the stocking than anything else. The boys haven't had cereal, so when they got their own box of cereal they were in heaven! So, we had to stop and have a bowl of cereal before opening any gifts. It made me smile. :)

This year was our first in awhile not to spend with extended family. So, the two days before Christmas we decided to have friends over. It was really fun to get to spend times with grownups while the kids play. It was also nice for James to get to meet my friends who he keeps hearing about. It is always nice to put a face with a name. :) It was also fun to have the husbands over. Daddies rarely get to spend time with other daddies as they are too busy being daddies, so it was really great to have this opportunity.

But now we do get to have James' parents and Marquie over for the week. Fortunately their Christmas package arrived today as well-the USPS has been really behind this year. Very disappointing! So, tonight we opened it and decorated the gingerbread men inside. It was great fun!

This has a been a great Christmas for us and while we enjoyed the cookies, snow and presents we also enjoyed celebrating the birth and life of our Savior. Since we didn't send out cards this year we would just like to thank all of you for your friendship and love and pass along our love and appreciation to you as well. Merry Christmas!

Some Christmas

Snow day Sunday

Well, church yesterday was cancelled, although I still don't understand why. I mean, we were under a Blizzard Warning, but it maybe should have downgraded to a "Blizzard Suggestion." Oh well. We passed the time well, making some peanut brittle for Grandpa Turner and playing games. We also learned some important and timeless lessons from a little family movie time:

• Chris Columbus is a terrible, terrible director.
• John Williams can generally redeem the emotional impact of any movie, even one directed by Chris Columbus.
• When the previous two elements are combined with the out of control screaming of a near infant Macaulay Caulkin, Home Alone becomes one great movie. The same cannot be said of the first Harry Potter movie. I think it's the lack of young Mr. Caulkin that ruins it.

This Christmas season marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Home Alone, and while that makes me just a little old, I still found great joy in sharing its complete absurdity with my own boys, who, incidentally, would likely defend their home against invasion in much the same way Kevin MacAllister did.

I also remembered seeing it in the theater the first time. If I'm not mistaken, Dad took us all to see it at the Falls theatre in 1990. How that theatre stayed open, I will never understand, but I know it was $5 for our whole family to see a film there. What a great memory to dig up on a blustery day in 2010. Thanks, Dad!

More Chanukah

I've not kept up blogging individual days of our celebration, but we've persevered, lighting our candles and enjoying our learning and growth. Here's some shots of our celebrations:

Night 4 with Star of David cookies:

Night 5, on which the boys taught Dreidel games to their friends and we enjoyed Challah:

On the 6th night of Chanukah, Jacob lit our candles, and we made ornaments to help us remember the joys and miracles of the year:

Tonight we learned a simple dreidel game as part of our Chanukah celebration. First, of course, we each shared a way that we felt the Lord has blessed our family, and included those things in our family prayer. There are some great photos here of the learning, playing, celebrating, and eating of the loot. There's even a gelt graveyard for your enjoyment. Here's to gimel (when it lands on gimel, you get the pot!)

Chanukah

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the festival of lights. We celebrated it by lighting the first candle of the Chanukiah (Chanukah menorah, which has nine branches instead of the traditional seven,) then our thanks in prayer for the miracles in our lives, and finally read the story of the Maccabee victory in Jerusalem and the miracle of the oil in the temple. We're learning and enjoying the history and the spirit of the holiday. As we've studied the Old Testament in Sunday School this year, I've become more aware and appreciative of the heritage of Abraham that we share with most of the world, and the privilege of Israel that we share with the Jewish nation. While Chanukah is actually one of the less important Jewish holidays, it's one of the easiest for our kids to understand, so we plan to learn and enjoy for eight nights. Tomorrow I hope we learn to play games with the dreidels. We might even wager a little gelt.

Some Thanksgiving Moments

Curtains!

My only real project while my family was galavanting all over the East coast was to make curtains for our living and dining room windows. I found some fabric I liked on super clearance at JoAnn, and off I went! Now they're done and they really add a lot to our home. As you might notice on the dining room table, I'm also nuts for those skinny little red dogwood branches. Luckily I have a giant dogwood or two that I had to prune to nearly nothing, so now my home has these rustic, beautiful hints of red nature.

There you go, Mom. I hope you're happy! You still have have to come visit.

And the answer is . . . Mount Vernon

Our final destination for this journey was Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. I will admit that I have gained a lot of respect for George Washington as I have studied his life and the founding of our great nation. George Washington started out as a British soldier because well, almost everyone who lived in the 13 colonies was British. He proved himself a great leader in the British army, so after we decided to break free from the British he then became the obvious choice for commander of the American troops. He started with basically no army, so he not only had to win a war but he had to find some men to help him do it!

So, here is the home he lived in during the Revolutionary War. We use the word lived in very loosely as he only visited once during the entire war but his wife Martha lived there with the children. I did learn that they were her children and after her husband died she met and married George Washington. Fascinating what you can learn! So, here is the house (the boys are pretty tired of my taking their pictures, so enjoy their funny/impatient faces). It is beautiful and almost everything in the home is original which is pretty incredible.

We couldn't take pictures inside most of the house but we did get to snap a few photos in the kitchen.

Joshua in particular loved seeing dead animals and meat hanging to dry. Gotta love boys!

We also got to enjoy the view of the Potomac which is breath taking. I don't think I did it justice with my mediocre photography skills but hopefully you get the idea.

We then wandered around to see the slave quarters and other buildings. The boys, in particular, enjoyed the blacksmith shop where the man was really working on a project. He is making book ends for the estate. Pretty awesome that they keep everything home made!

And what trip would not be complete without seeing some animals. There were pigs, sheep, cows/bulls and even a rooster! I also took a minute to look at the gardens and saw a garden that even James would approve of. It was beautiful and still full of vegetables. I really liked that the plantation is still up and running. Pretty awesome!

And as promised yesterday we got to see where George Washington was buried. After the war he wanted to go home to his family and live out his days in peace but after much pleading he agreed to be the first president of the nation. Then, after serving two terms he said he was done and resigned. So many people would have loved for him to remain on but he knew that it was not good for the country. It is amazing to me that after all of that work to become free most people would have gladly crowned him king but he was such a humble man who knew that democracy was the best choice that he was able to give up the power (that he really didn't want in the first place) and give it back to the people. I am very grateful to him and the service he rendered to the nation and for his ability to help make this nation what it is today. I felt throughout the day that he was truly a man of God who was sent at that time to do exactly what he did.

After our great tour of the grounds we were able to go through a museum and watch a few movies. They even had a children's room where the kids could do puzzles, color, build with blocks, dress up and much more. The kids loved it and it was fun to see them all dressed up!

It was really a fun trip and a great end to a great tour through early American History. I always wondered in the planning stages if it would be worth the time and effort and decided that the answer was yes. So, I hope you enjoyed hearing about our adventures because I know that we enjoyed living them!