Decorating for Christmas and a Letter to Santa

The girls are now at an age where everything about Christmas inspires wonder and awe (as it should in all of us). I have been putting our Christmas things out a little at a time, and everytime one of them spots something new, they gasp and exclaim "Mommy lookit!!". We often drive out of our way to see the sparkly lights and blow-up snowmen that are starting to fill our neighborhood. Each time they see lights on someone's house, they make sure to tell me that they want sparkly lights on our house too. I think Daddy has his work cut out for him this weekend.

Feeling in the Christmas shopping spirit, I took the girls to the dollar store the other day where Hannah spotted a reideer headband. When we got home that night, she told me, "Mom, I want him to bring me a deer headband". Who I asked? "Santa of course", she replied. I told her I thought Santa could manage a dollar store headband, but just to be sure, we better send him a letter. So, last night she carefully drew a picture of what she wanted and wrote "love, Hannah" at the bottom. It will be fun to have a collection of these special letters someday.

Girl's Weekend

What a blessing it was to spend this past weekend with my two closest friends from as far back as the 6th grade. We make a habit of getting together for a girl's weekend once a year to catch up on each other's lives and enjoy some time away from the daily grind. We haven't missed a year since we graduated from college. I look forward to our time together every year and always come home feeling refreshed and encouraged. "I thank my God in all my rememberance of you..." Phil. 1:3

Girly Girls

We recently went to a friend's birthday party where the girls got to get all dressed up, have their hair and nails done and eat heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on hot pink bread. It was a big hit with everyone.

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah!

We celebrated Hannah's 5th Birthday with friends and family on two different weekends in November. She had a great time both weekends. It was fun to spread out the celebration.

I Love You all the Way to 20

Tonight as I was giving Hannah her final bedtime kiss, she told me "I love you all the way to 20, so I am going to give you 20 kisses". God knew I could use 20 kisses tonight and just because he is a God of abundant Grace, when she got to 20, she gave me five more. I love that God can love me through my sweet little girl.

Creation Celebration

Here are three of God's cutest creations. Instead of traditional Halloween activities, we went to church for a Creation Celebration. The kids did a different activity related to each day of God's creation. On day 7 they rested and had a cookie and hot chocolate. It doesn't get much better than that. My Mom made Hannah's wings for me when I was a kid. All these years later, they still get lots of compliments. Thanks Mom!