Day 20

Such fun times at Silver Dollar City. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful!

Day 19

Beautiful sunset behind our cabin!

Day 18

On our way to Branson with Mimi and Papa!

Day 17

Chicken in the snow...not something you see everyday.

Day 16

Beautiful winter sunset...

Day 15

Christmas card preview. Jude took this one.

Day 14

More snow...about 3 inches this time.

Day 13

Chocolate Haupia Pie for small group tonight!

Day 12

Do you ever get a library book for your kids and find it way more funny than they do? My kids kept asking "why are you laughing?" Then once I explained it they still didn't know why it was funny. A couple of them gave me a courtesy laugh. I'm pretty sure this book was written with my hubby in mind because the humor is dry as can be...and my children give him the same blank stare like they did when I was reading it to them.

Day 11

The cone of shame.

Day 10

There is no room at the inn...or the stable. Lainey turned it into a parking lot.

Day 9

Advent tree with our devotional book and homemade ornaments.

Day 8

Christmas performance at church...

 Jude - Wise Man/Joseph of Egypt

Ethan - Joseph

Day 7

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Day 6

Happy St. Nicholas Day! This is the only celebrating time he gets in our house...on Dec. 6th (apparently celebrating this day originated in Europe). He was a generous man and for that we want to be reminded to be generous as well...with our time, friendship, gifts, and other ways of thinking and taking care of others. But he did not invent generosity, so therefore our Christmas season is not about him (or the fictional character based on his life) but the one who was the most generous of all...the greatest gift we could/will ever receive!

Children, in some European counties, would set their shoes out the night before St. Nicholas Day and in the morning it would be filled with coins and other small treats. So my kids put their shoes out and woke up to chocolate gold coins filling their shoes.

Day 5

Sledding...sort of. My kids were so excited about the forecast of snow that they were warming up their sleds...on the grass.

It did sleet just a little bit which helped when they moved their "sledding" onto the deck. It was all fun and games until little sister ended up with a fat lip and scratch on her chin.

These crazy "Hawaiian" kids are still figuring out this winter thing. And yes, that is Ansley without socks too. Thankfully the snow finally came tonight so tomorrow I'm pretty sure they will be decked out in their snow suits and out the door before I am even out of bed.

Day 4

Watching the bread go around and around. Quite entertaining apparently.

Day 3

Cold weathers coming. Stocking up for a nice warm fire when it hits.

Day 2

Homemade Chalk Paint

Before (different piece but from same set):

After (in our bedroom):

Not quite done but it's looking so much better already!

Day 1

I love the walk down memory lane when we get out our ornaments for our tree.

DPP

It's that time of year again! A picture a day until Christmas...here we go!

my fairy, tree climbing girl

Ansley found these fairy wings in the garage (not sure why they were there) and put them on while she rode her scooter around and climbed trees. Too cute to not take a picture of.

 And this is after I told her to smile for the picture...maybe we should just keep it candid.

And this was after I said 'just smile like something is funny.' A little better.

kiddos

backtracking a bit...

Can you tell which pumpkin is Ansley's?

 A Storm-trooper, a Jedi, a cheetah (with a pink bow) and a little bumblebee

ladybugs

This is kind of old news now, but a few weeks back there was this ladybug invasion. I would walk outside and have a dozen ladybugs land on me. So I decided to check out the zoom on my camera and see how much detail I could capture with my camera. Not bad.

eggs

Last post on our chickens..but I had to share a picture of our beautiful eggs. We might not have to even dye eggs for Easter with these colorful eggs!

new camera

My wonderful hubby got me a new camera for my birthday and I would like to say that I have been taking pictures like crazy now. But with all that is going on during my days I can't seem to find the time to practice and fiddle around with all the buttons and modes and aperture settings...I'm so overwhelmed by it. I even have another lens that I haven't even tried out yet. One day I will find some time to learn and know what aperture and things like f/5.6 mean. But for now I will make the professional photographers cringe (not that any read my blog) while I post pictures of our every day life. Some out of focus, some in really bad light and some where the flash just washes out everyone and everything.

This particular photo was on our "hike" that the kids and I took for PE when the leaves started changing and the weather was just perfect. I was experimenting with the manual focus. Some other random photos to come!

happy heart

One important lesson we try to teach our kids is obedience...a hard one we as adults are learning too. We have this little saying we use which I got from a book called Wise Words for Moms by Ginger Plowman. "Obey all the way, right away and with a happy heart." Since girls can have such strong/powerful emotions we use the "obey with a happy heart" with Lainey quite a bit. So she found this heart "lei" we got in Hawaii and she calls it her happy heart. Now every heart she sees is called a happy heart. Let's just hope it will sink in one day.

big girl

I love this picture! Lainey was so proud that she could pick up and hold Brody all by herself. She is growing like crazy these days and I see my baby turning into a big girl. 

no training wheels

Ansley has mastered riding her bike this week with no training wheels. I noticed she could ride the boys scooter around and balance perfectly on it. Then I thought to myself, that's the same thing as balancing on a bicycle right? So off the training wheels came and a day later she was all on her own. Such a big girl!

surfer boy

You can take the boy away from Hawaii but you can't take the Hawaii out of the boy. Surfing on the slide in the backyard (yes, I realize is not very safe)...while flashing a shaka!

Chickens - Part 3

Don't worry. My blog will not turn into the chicken blog. This will be my last post on chickens...well maybe one more when they lay their first eggs. We're eagerly awaiting that. But here is our crew...pecking around the yard eating the bugs and clover, their two favorite treats.

 This is Tiger. She is the chicken with nine lives. I nursed her back to health after an attack from a raccoon. I think at times we thought she was a goner but she pulled through and has joined the rest of the brood.

 At times she still thinks she is human and will hop up on our lap (if we're outside) and snuggle a bit. Weird I know. This is Tiger on my lap. No, she is not dead she is sleeping.

 This is Ansley holding the chicks when they were smaller. She asks if we can hatch more because she LOVED these baby chicks and would hold them any chance she could get. Besides Tiger, they're not so easy to hold any more.

 But if you have food they will come up and eat out of your hand. They are funny creatures. I definitely have loved the experience of having them and that my kids have had the experience too. The learning never stops.

 This is Wolf our rooster which has a new home now. He thought it was okay to crow anytime of the day, and quite loudly, so I was nervous our neighbors would start complaining. Now he has a nice home out in the country where he can crow all he wants.

new addition

Meet Brody...our new baby (girl) kitten. We thought she was a boy when we first got her which is why the name is a bit boyish. But since we haven't taken her to a vet yet we are still not certain she is a girl, so Brody it is. 

You see I have this problem when it comes to small, defenseless, weak animals. I feel the need to take them home....especially when they are 'free' and so teeny-tiny. Thankfully I have a chill husband who doesn't mind and I have 4 kids who absolutely LOVE the new addition to our family. And Bella, our other cat, is adjusting.

This Ansley girl is just like me as a little kid. She loves any and every animal that will let her pick it up. Let's just say Brody does not get neglected. I snapped a picture of her snuggling with Brody and than thought the lighting was really good in the room and decided to snap a few more of the other munchkin's...