Merry Christmas

This year makes me look forward to many years ahead with children around at Christmas time! Their delight with all things special make it just a joy! Everything from 'sights' (Christmas lights) to 'peasants' (presents) thrilled Connor. Cameron could not eat his fill of tissue paper either!

Teaching Connor about Christmas did require Matt and me to discuss the topic of Santa. We want our children to know without a doubt that Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birthday. It is a day that signifies God becoming man. The implications of this truth are endless. Our greatest desire for our children is that they grow to be followers of Christ who serve Him with their lives.

So, is teaching them about Santa a distraction from that? Neither one of us think that teaching your children about Santa will cause them future distrust when they learn that he is only a holiday icon. Nor do we worry that their learning about Santa's generosity will skew their view of God and His infinite grace. After a few conversations and giving some thought we agree that 1) it would be impossible to escape the Santa myth in this culture 2) there is no harm in make-believe fun 3) teaching children that Santa is a generous man who loves to lavish children with gifts can potentially teach them about giving. Our only real stipulation to the whole thing is that we do not want to push or encourage the idea that Santa keeps record of who's naughty & who's nice. If Santa is able to judge our actions and our hearts then he is elevated to a god-like status. The one true God does not bless us or damn us based on our actions. He doesn't give extra to those who are nice and give coal to those who steal. He gives grace to the humble and eternal life to those who call Him, Lord.

Thank God for Christmas! It means Easter is on the horizon. We have a hope and a future. Thank you Jesus for coming to us as a helpless babe.

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking

How we need to hear from God

You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child

Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger

How I wish we would have known

But Long-awaited Holy Stranger

Make yourself at home

Please make yourself at home

Bring your peace into our violence

Bid our hungry souls be filled

Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world

Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us

Tender brow prepared for thorn

Tiny heart whose blood will save us

Unto us is born

Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around you

Breathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God

Perfect Son of God

Welcome to our world

Chris Rice

Purely Pureed

It's that time again. I have begun to make baby food! Tonight was 7 sweet potatoes! I have zucchini, summer squash, carrots and peas on the menu too. In the past I used ice cube trays and then transferred the frozen cubes to labeled ziploc bags. This time I am going with individual containers, at least to begin. I thought I got some snap apart containers specifically for this purpose as a baby gift but I cannot find them anywhere. With two babies around, I just need fewer steps in the whole process.

Run Away

I mentioned in a previous post that Connor is really testing the boundaries and pushing the limits of my patience. He was doing just that Wednesday while I was trying to make dinner. He stood on his step stool at my side and as I chopped vegetables he squeezed and stabbed a stick of butter. After many (probably too many) reprimands I gave him a spanking and told him to go play in the other room. He was no longer welcome in the kitchen. He had a full melt down, sobbing and wailing ensued. I chose to sing "Joy to the World" instead of listen to him. After a while I noticed that he'd been quiet and could hear him coming toward me saying, "sues" (shoes). I turned to see that he was approaching me carrying his shoes, jacket and backpack. He had all the things he needs when we leave the house so I said, "Where are you going?" He replied in the most teary, pitiful voice, "Papa."

BREAK-MY-HEART!

My baby was ready to run away to Papa's house. I could just hear his thoughts. "Papa will let me squeeze the butter. Papa won't spank me. Papa..." I had to laugh through my tear filled eyes. I snapped a couple of pictures before he dropped everything for some Mommy cuddles!

Cameron's half birthday

Cameron is now 7 months old! He is closer to his first birthday than his birth! Time is just marching on faster than I can comprehend. He is 26.15 lbs making him only about 4 pounds less than his brother. He is off the charts in terms of percentile. The pediatrician is amazed at his size but because he has been completely breastfed and because Connor was so big and now is not, she isn't concerned. She says that I need to bottle & sell my milk though! He has 2 teeth and his sitting up very well. He is rolling quite a bit but isn't quite ready to crawl yet. Maybe by New Years! He pulls his knees up under his belly or raises up on his hands and toes but that's about all for now. He laughs and is so ticklish! He is just a huge joy to us. He is enamored with Avery and the tv remote.

Beautiful smiling boy!

Eating carrots!

Brothers

Just a few pictures of my precious boys! I am beyond blessed!

My 29th birthday dinner in San Antonio.

I mean does it get cuter than that?!

He was so excited to help with the tree.

Brotherly love!

You can't see the cutie reindeer on their shirts but they are there! This was just before church last Sunday.

Connor's Birthday

Well, our computer crashed and I am just getting back into the blogging thing but here goes!
Connor turned TWO on November 6th! I can hardly believe it. It's so strange how I want Connor to stay a baby and for Cameron to catch up! I think that's pretty backwards from how most people view things but oh well. He is my precious first born and I am crazy about him! He weighs 30.5 lbs and is in the 75th percentile over all. His vocabulary is growing every day. He adds new words every day. I cannot keep up! It is amazing to watch him develop so rapidly. He is also experiencing some of the growing pains of being 2. He wants to assert his independence in all the wrong ways. We want to encourage independence and freedom but maintain authority and teach him to obey. It is not the most fun part of parenting and requires much grace! I pray daily that I am covered by God's grace and doing what He's called me to as a mother.

Connor had two parties, one here in Cove with a few friends which was construction themed and the other in San Antonio with family.

News...

We have an independent sitter ladies & gentlemen! I am proud to say that my sweet Cam is sitting for long periods of time without any support. The great thing about this new development is that he has a better range in which he can grab things from his brother. Ha ha! Connor is learning to share and that "Baby" will take things if you dangle them too closely. Lessons he isn't too fond of, I might add.

Evening book hour with Daddy...

Dutch Apple Pie

I have tried twice now to make my friend Shelly's Dutch Apple Pie and neither have come close to hers. The first one had no crumb topping; rather it all melted together and made a crunchy crust over the top. The second had the right topping but the apples didn't get soft enough, still too much crisp-ness for me. Guess I'll just have to keep trying, oh darn.

Discovery

One of my favorite things about babies is their delight in discovery. Cameron discovered splashing recently and he was quite delighted.

Halloween

Too much to do today for words, so here are the pictures...
Cameron 5 months, Connor 23 months (Both are 1 week shy of being 6 & 24 months.)

Around the House

The things I do all day:

Paint the house (with water).
Refill the water dish.

Keep Baby Brother happy and safe.


Give away my lunch. (Cam got to taste an apple for the first time!)

Hide & Seek/Peek-A-Boo




Attempt to capture every beautiful smile that comes my way!