Christmas Celebrations

We have had lots of fun celebrating Christmas this year. Our goal is to try to instill in our kids that Christmas is not all about trees, decorations, santa, and gifts. We are trying to teach our kids that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because it is Jesus' birthday and He is most important. It is hard when everywhere you go people are talking about santa and presents. But at home we are focusing on the real reason for our celebration...Christ!

Starting on December 1 we began an Advent reading that my sister sent to me. Each day we read a little of the story of Jesus' birth and the next day we add a little more detail. As we add more details we add stickers to our scene on the wall. The boys both look forward to this every night. Andrew enjoys pointing to the appropriate picture as daddy is reading the story.

Much to our delight Andrew was in his first Christmas program this year. He is attending preschool 2 days a week and his school put on a Christmas program. It was wonderful to finally get to be the proud parent sitting in the audience watching my baby sing to his little hearts content. He did a great job and all the little kids looked so nice up there dressed in their Christmas outfits.

Andrew's class also had a Christmas party that we were all invited to attend. It was great fun. His teacher read them the parable of the candy cane.

The kids all got to make their own gingerbread houses. There were 11 preschoolers and 3 adults trying to make gingerbread houses...graham crackers, frosting, and candy...must I say more? =)

It got a little crazy at school so I took a picture of Andrew with his gingerbread house when we got home. I am so glad I took the picture as soon as I got home because after nap time I was busy doing something and wasn't paying close attention to what the boys where doing. By the time I figured out what was going on the gingerbread house was almost gone.

Abigail even got to enjoy some playtime at the Christmas party.

We have also been singing "Away in the Manger" almost every night after our Advent reading. I finally got out the camera and video taped Andrew. Josiah still hasn't really gotten into it yet, maybe next year.

Yesterday (Sunday night) Andrew got to sing "Away in the Manger" at church. I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures of that but he did a great job and all the people thought it was wonderful. After church we had our annual Christmas card exchange and cookie fellowship and we invited everyone to our home this year. It was so nice to finally have the space to invite people into our home. We had a wonderful time but again I forgot to take pictures.

This week will will head to Texas and then to Iowa to be with our families to celebrate the birth of Christ. I am looking forward to carrying on one of my family traditions this year of having my kids act out the Christmas story.

Where, oh, where has my little girl gone?

Abigail is moving full speed ahead. I can't hardly keep up with her. If she is on the floor you can guarantee that in about a minute she will disappear and have to go in search of her. Often times I find her is some rather funny places.

I have been keeping my wrapping supplies behind my rocking chair to keep it out of the way and not so available to get in to...well, maybe not for Abigail.

Of course when mom pulls out the camera the brothers have to join in on the fun!

On Friday a realtor was going to show the house so I had to get everything picked up for it to be presentable...but that is MUCH easier said than done. So finally after having to clean up too many "extra" messes I put all the kids in Andrew's room to play while I cleaned the rest of the house. I went in to check on them and Abigail was in the corner.

We have a futon set up in the room where all the kids toys are. The boys LOVE to play under the futon. Today I put the boys to bed for naps but Abigail wasn't ready yet. I let her play a little by herself and where did I find her? Under the futon playing with the toys they boys had left behind.

Christmas decorations

This has been a very exciting and much anticipated week in the Lee household. Andrew has been begging for weeks that we "have Christmas". Ever since we walked into Sears in September and they had their Christmas decorations out Andrew has wanted it to be Christmas. I told him over and over that we had to wait until after Thanksgiving. So last weekend when we told him we were celebrating Thanksgiving he has been very excited about coming home to decorate for Christmas. Andrew was right in the middle of all the decorating and showing Josiah what to do. I just let them have at it and I did a little rearranging after they were done since the bottom of the tree was VERY well decorated. =)




It is going to be a very fun filled month as I will have 6 little hands to keep an eye on to make sure they stay out of the tree. Abigail loves the tree and is very happy to lay under it and pull the ornaments off.

Just a cute picture of my sweet babies!

I'm thankful for...

It's that wonderful time of year again where I like to sit down and think about all that I am thankful for. This year has been so busy that I sometimes forget to be thankful so I am very glad for this wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

1. I am so thankful for my Salvation from my sin and separation from God. I am thankful for His unconditional forgiveness and grace that He extends to me everyday. No matter what a failure I am He still loves me and will forgive me when I come before Him and ask. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord!

2. I am thankful for the wonderful family God has given me. I have a great husband who is so patient with me and understanding the difficulty of having three children 3 and under. He is a great help around the house and willing to play with the kids even after a long day at work. I am so thankful for our 3 beautiful children! Andrew is learning and growing like crazy. He can sing his ABC's and count to 10 very well. He is recognizing numbers and letters and most importantly he is starting to ask great questions about God and salvation. It is so wonderful to see him desire to learn about God. Josiah is growing up very quickly. He loves to run around and keep up with his brother. They play (and fight) all day. Josiah loves to drive his cars and trains around on the fireplace hearth. He is finally starting to pick up a few words here and there and his favorite sentence is "I want some mama." We had a wonderful addition to our family this year with a sweet baby girl. Abigail is a go getter. Sometimes I put her on the floor and then a few minutes later I have to go looking for her. She rolls and creeps all over the place. She has a smile that lights up a room and warms my heart when I am feeling down. Even though she was our unplanned surprise she has been such a wonderful blessing to our family.

3. I am thankful for the spiritual growth I have had this year. As with every year I go through ups and downs in my walk with the Lord. God gave the a wonderful opportunity to talk with Christen and my mom and be encouraged to keep on even when I am feeling dry. Christen gave me a book for my birthday "How to Study Your Bible" by Kay Arthur and my mom and dad bought me the "New Inductive Study Bible" and I have had a renewed excitement to learn to study the Bible in a way that I never have before. It has been a wonderful growing experience for me in my relationship with Christ.

4. As I mentioned above we had a new addition to our family this year. Abigail arrived on March 28 and she has been a blessing to us. I ended up having to have an emergency C-section and had many complications during my recovery but God gave us a wonderful, healthy baby girl!

5. In January I took Josiah to the doctor for his one year well child checkup and we found out that he was anemic. We started giving him iron supplements and a few months later he is back into the normal ranges and he is doing great.

6. I am thankful for Mark's job. This company has been so great to us this year and we are so blessed to have this job.

7. In August we were able to fly Christen and Hannah back to the States to celebrate my parent's 35th anniversary. It was a wonderful blessing to have them here and get to spend some time together. Andrew and Hannah had a great time playing (and fighting) together as well.

8. In July Mark's parents where able to come down from Iowa for a few days. It was a blessing to have them come and see where we live and get to celebrate Mark's 30th birthday together.

9. In October my parents got to come up from Texas to celebrate my 30th birthday. We went up to Kansas City and were able to spend some time with Albert as well.

10. Mark and I celebrated 5 years of marriage!

11. We have a great Christian school in town where Andrew has been able to attend preschool 2 mornings a week.

12. My Bible study group that I attend on Tuesday mornings has gone through several very good studies this year that have been a blessing and a challenge to me.

13. We continue to be a part of a small body of believers here and I am thankful that we are able to hear the Word of God preached on a regular basis. I am thankful too that our family has been an encouragement to them.

14. I am thankful that our current location is close enough that we can still make regular trips to see Mark's family and our friends from Iowa.

15. I am thankful for several friendships from Iowa that have continued even though we have moved away as they have been a huge blessing and encouragement to me as we have struggled here to find new friends.

16. Again this year I am thankful for Skype so I can see and talk to my sister and her family on a regular basis.

17. In May we were able to fly out to Ohio to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday and have a short family reunion. What a blessing it was to be together.

18. I am so thankful for the house that God provided for us to move in to in August. I look back and see the path that led us here and am amazed at how God orchestrated the details. Only God could have pulled that off!

19. I am so thankful for our fenced in backyard!

"We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds."

-Psalm 75:1

Size 2

Abigail has finally reached size 2 diapers! I have recently been thinking that I need to think about weighing her because her diapers are finally starting to look a little small. I had already decided that the package of size one diapers that I bought last week was probably the last. So today I decided to put her on the scale and she was a whopping 14 lbs 2 oz! That explains why her diapers were looking a little snug as they are supposed to work for babies up to 14 pounds.

I'm not sure why I feel like this is a milestone?!? Maybe because most babies are out of size one by the time they are 3 months old (if not before) and Abigail is almost 8 months old. She is such a petite little girl and a cute one at that.

The down side of reaching this milestone is that now I pay the same amount of money and get 14 less diapers! =(

School Thanksgiving Dinner

Today Andrew's school had their annual Thanksgiving Dinner for the families at the school. After everyone had gone through the line to get their food each class got up to do some kind of presentation. Of course Andrew's class was the cutest!

My First Pony Tail