Alayna's school program

Alayna had her school program yesterday afternoon. It was pretty cute and Miss Alayna, along with her best friend, was chosen to be the "Mousey in the Snow" for the one song. The two girls were center stage, dressed as mice and dancing, while the rest of the first graders sang the song. It was pretty darn cute. So, without further ado, here is my little mouse.

Winter Wonderland

These were all taken in our yard this morning. It was cold (about 5 degrees) when I took these pictures. I just thought it was all so beautiful!

Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

This has been a favorite toy of our own kids as well as my daycare kids. Thanks, Aunt LaRaye, for finding this rocking cow over 6 years ago. It has certainly gotten a full life here!

Christmas lights

The girls and I have been addicted to watching things like this on the internet. I so wish that we could go see one in person, but I doubt it will ever happen. Oh well, that's what we have DSL for, right?! So here is our favorite of the ones that we've seen these past few days while searching.

Our Singing Stars

The girls had their Sunday school program yesterday and it was just too cute. Alayna was Mary and had a solo, and Lilly was a sheep and was supposed to sing a duet, but the other little boy wouldn't sing so she sang a solo! We were so proud of them and they both did beautifully. Here are some pics and video of each of the girls singing. On Lilly's video, you need to wait about 20 seconds until the little boy gives up the microphone and she gets to sing.

Pics of our Christmas decorations

I was on-line this morning, checking my e-mail and friends' blogs before coming on here, and I had to laugh. My intent for this post was to show pics of our decorations. My friend Carol had the same intent with her blog. Great minds think alike, huh? So without further ado... our house.

Those of you who haven't been here, may think that our house is set up kind of odd. It's a modified split-level, so we have a ground level, a "split-level" and a second story above our ground level, plus a basement under the split-level portion. If you were to go from floor to floor, you zig-zag. It makes for an interesting lay-out, but we like it. Anyway, this is the "breakable" Christmas tree that we have in our living room, which is in the middle level of our house.

This is the train that goes around that tree. It used to be my parents' train, but I always loved it so they gave it to me when I got my own house (they no longer had a cat and had originally gotten it to scare the cat away from the tree)

Here are the stockings for our family going up to the upstairs, where the bedrooms are. We are still technically in the living room. And since our house is set up like it is, we have a lot of railings. All of the railing have the garland on it like in the pic.

Here's our snowman coffee table, also in the living room. The nativity scene is in this room also, but I didn't include pics since I just put those up the other day.

Now we are in the family room, which is on the ground floor of the house. Here is a picture of my Candy/Gingerbread Village. It all started as a bit of a joke due to my name, but I love it and try to get new pieces each year.

Here are some of the miscellaneous decorations that adorn the other side of the built in entertainment center, opposite the village.

And here's the whole unit, so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. It's something that I love and hate, all at once...

And here's the "fun" tree, with all the Scooby Doo, Dora and other fun ornaments. This tree was mostly decorated by the kids, with Andy and I as their arms for higher branches. They have a lot of fun with it but sometimes have issues understanding that while the ornaments aren't necessarily breakable on this tree, they still can't touch.

Now you all can say that you've "been" to my house and seen it all decorated up for Christmas. We have lights outside, but with all the snow we got they are buried-we had strings that lined the driveway. Oh well. Merry Christmas to you all!

Away in the Manger

There is always a great sense of accomplishment when you teach your child something, and they retain that knowledge. It's like you feel successful as a parent, even if only for a short moment in time.


We are Christians and celebrate Christmas, as you all know. I have talked with Alayna and Lilly about how Christmas is about giving to others, showing love, kindness and compassion. But I also talk to them about the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate-Jesus' birth, on that first Christmas so many years ago. We have read the Bible stories and sang the songs over and over again. When you ask Lilly why we celebrate Christmas, she answers, "Because we want to! And it's Jesus' birthday!"


I have been looking for a nativity set for a few years now. It's something that I'm very picky about, probably because my mom has a beautiful set that I always loved to help her set up. This year I finally found one that I not only liked, but was within my price range. It was delivered yesterday and between Alayna and I, I don't know who was more excited. We carefully took each piece out of it's wrapping, placing them in 100 different spots on the table until we found just the right place. Then we called Lilly upstairs to look (she was playing on the computer) and I told them the story again, pointing out who everyone was. Now, I would like to keep Baby Jesus out of the nativity until Christmas Eve, but the girls would have no such thing. For one thing, the baby is attached to the manger. For another, they just wanted to look and stare at it as a complete set. So I let him lay and we went about our night.


This morning, I came into the living room to see Lilly staring at the nativity scene, her stuffed dog Sunny in her arms. "Mom," she said, "I told Sunny no touch." I nodded and went about folding my load of laundry. I was listening to Lilly as she showed Sunny who everyone was.


"That's Baby Jesus, it's his birthday. That's his mommy, Mary. That's the angel, and that's his Daddy, Joseph. This is a sheep, that's a camel and those are kings. OKay?" She continued to look at the nativity scene for another minute or so, then came running to my side.


"Mom! It's just like the song!" When I asked what she meant, she took my hand and pulled me to the nativity scene, pointing at Baby Jesus. "Look, it's just like the song! Baby Jesus is asleep in the hay!"

Real snow!

Yes, we got some snow a few weeks ago, but it only stuck around for about 30 hours. This weekend, we got real snow that should stick around for...oh, the next 4-5 months. It started Saturday morning with flurries, then late morning it picked up into a steady snowfall and by the time we woke up Sunday morning, we had about 8" of snow on the ground. The girls could hardly wait to get out and play. Finally, after getting home from church, we let them loose. They had snowball fights with the dog and each other, got pulled in the sled by Daddy and cousin Will, and rolled around making snow-angels. They both were completely drenched by the time they came in the house, but they were so happy for the snow!

Santa came to town!

Santa and the Mrs. were in town this weekend, so we braved the snow (more like the idiotic drivers in the snow) to go see them at the school. The girls were so excited. Lilly talked non-stop about how she was going to hug Santa and talk to him and tell him that she wanted cars, trains, babies and clothes. Alayna was less talkative, but her hand was clutching her list like it was a life-line. When we got to the school, we got in line and soon enough it was our turn. Alayna walked right up and sat next to Santa, Lilly cautiously sat next to her, and I plunked Mikayla on Alayna's lap. The girls complied for some pictures, and then it was time to talk. Lilly clammed up and refused to talk to Santa or Mrs. Claus, not even giving them a high-five. Alayna talked them both up, explaining her list and letting him keep it for reference.