Today was the Christmas program, and it went off without a hitch.  Twinkles was a bumblebee in the story of creation.  She did a fabulous job buzzing ;0).  There were no hilarious moments.  No loud singers.  No nose pickers.  But, it was not a disappointment.  In fact, it was quite good.  The story began in the Garden of Eden where God made promises to Adam and Eve.  Then, it continues through several other events in the Bible, each one a time God made a promise and then kept it.  The culmination was the birth of Christ, God's biggest promise.

Each time the children praised God for fulfilling His Word.  One of the neatest things was the girls with streamers who stood in front.  I didn't get a picture, but it was cool to see them praising God.

One of the ladies in the church actually wrote the play, taking ideas she found from a children's Bible.  I have to say, it was one of the best children's programs that I have seen.

Afterward we ate our sacklunch at church and then headed off with cousins and grandma and Aunt Amy to the Nutcracker!

I made all of us but Grandma matching bows.  I wasn't sure where Grandma could wear hers since she has short hair.  She told me she could have worn it in her teeth.  Rats!

Twinkles could hardly contain her excitement to see the ballerinas!  The girls enjoyed cotton candy as they waited.  I was excited to see Twinkle's reaction to everything!

The show did not disappoint.  The first half the girls were transfixed by the "movie".  Twinkles kept asking what was happening.  It was so fun to share that moment with her.

The second half Twinkles stood down at the front of the loge and mimicked the dancers. It was the sweetest thing.  The Nutcracker was a huge success in my book.  What a fun treat!

Bows

 Here are some cute bows I made for Twinkles and her cousins and us moms.  They look better in real life.  Sunday is the Christmas program and the Nutcracker.  We will be all set to go! 

 

I found the idea at Make it Do, and used the downloadable pdf she gives a link to. 

A Doozy

I am waiting for hot, crusty rolls to bake.  This snow covered evening is the perfect time to eat buttery, steaming rolls.  Especially considering the night we just had

.  It will be nice to have a little comfort food.  We have just been through a doozy of a snow storm.  Snow came down for most of two days.  Then came the wind.

It made for some great drifts and some heavy duty snow blower work.  Twinkles could not resist the chance to tromp through it.  Here she is just before she said, "Mommy, can you help me?"  Because she was stuck.  I threw on my boots and gloves and ran out to save her ;0)  Then we enjoyed our first hot chocolate of the season. 

Grandma put it in a happy little snow man just for the occasion.

 

We even enjoyed a train ride and a tea party with our animals.

However, after all of the playing we were going a bit stir crazy.  So, we ventured out to the other grandparent's about 10 minutes away.  The roads were plowed, so if you went slow, you were fine.  (If we were still living in the big city no one would have been out, the streets would have been deserted, and all of the businesses would have been boarded up).  However, we are used to snow around here.  We roll with it.

After a delicious meal and some play time, we headed back home - which happens to be Grandma and Pa H's house.  It wasn't long before we found  ourselves up to our hubcaps in a snow drift.  Big Daddy used the scraper to try to dig us out.  He spun our wheels.  He pushed.  We went back and forth.  I offered to help with some game paddles I found.  But, we were stuck.  The drift had blown across the road.  WE hadn't done a 360 or 180 or swerved or anything.  We had just driven strait into it, like the snow studs that we are.  Just when we were going to call on the poor grandparents for help, a snow plow pulled up.  They offered to come pull us out once they plowed one of the side roads.  "No problem, we'll be here!"  We said.  While we waited a second truck came along.  A father and son tried to dig and then push us out, but then the snow plow was back.  In all of 3 minutes, lickety split, we were out.  They hauled us backward, so we turned around and went back to Big Daddy's parent's house for the night.

 

They set us up in style.  There were new tooth brushes and floss.  Fresh wash clothes.  A princess sleeping bag for Twinkles.  The pack n play for Gobey.  Lots of blankets.  We fell into bed, looking forward to a peaceful and most restful sleep.  I enjoyed such sleep until 1 AM when I suddenly found Twinkles in bed with me.  I wasn't sure when she had arrived, but there she was, sleeping.  I scooched over to give her more room, then had to take a bathroom break at 1:30.  Soon after this Gobey woke up.  He didn't want to go back to his own bed.  He wanted to lay on top of mommy with everyone else in the big bed.  He squirmed.  He cried.  He tried to remove my nose with his head.  Big Daddy and I played music beds.  One of us in Twinkle's bed, then moving downstairs to the couch, then back upstairs.  Gobey would only sleep on me.  Finally, at about 5AM we found ourselves both standing in the kitchen with a somewhat wide eyed boy.  Grandma came out to see what could be done, then went back to bed.  Big Daddy set me up on the basement couch (near the cat I am allergic to) and wished me well.  I dozed.  At about 6:30, after Gobey stopped wanting to lay down, I turned him over to Big Daddy and fell asleep in Twikle's bed.  I didn't hear another thing until 9 when Big Daddy traded places with me.  I prayed all day for bed time to come.

Now, it is finally here.

Good Night.

May your sleep be uninterrupted and may Sugar Plum Fairies dance in your head.

Thanksgiving Get Together

 I love large family get togethers!  They are more fun than fresh cinnamon rolls on a snowy day!  This Thanksgiving we all piled into Big Daddy's parent's car and drove north 3.5 hours.  We arrived in the evening, but there was still plenty of time for swimming.  Twinkles LOVES swimming!  Gobey wasn't too sure about it, but he did get in.  Big Daddy and I drove to the other relative's home to socialize while the grandparents entertained the kids.

The next day there was talking and cooking and munching and talking and walking and eating.

 

 

There were cousins and grandparents and great grandparents.

And there was a long table to fit them all.  Ahhh.  Good times.

Walk Through Bethlehem

Twinkle Toes and I took a few steps back in time.  Here we stood with the shepherds when an Angel appeared to announce the Savior's birth.  This walk was so well done.  I was quite impressed.  The only thing I really didn't like was this above scene because instead of going immediately to worship (as the Bible states) the shepherds told us they weren't sure if they believed us and wanted to go look for them.

There was a live goat and two live chickens.  Twinkles spotted the goat right away when we entered the center of the town.  Here they had games the kids could play, such as sand painting, writing your name in Hebrew, and clay marbles.  They also had a "band", centurions who wanted money, and the cave where  baby Jesus was.  

First Snow

"Keep going!  Keep going!  You can do it, snow!"
(Normally I would not dress Twinkles in spring clothes when it is snowing outside, but she begs to wear this dress every day!)

Gobey kept pulling the scarf down from her face.  He didn't like her face covered.

 Two snowy walkers.  I could not find Gobey's snow pants anywhere!  I have since found them.  Poor fellow.

Twinkles reveled in the magic of winter!  She has been waiting for this since June!  (I know.  She got that gene from Big Daddy)  Gobey wasn't too impressed.  He was only outside for a few minutes.  He does not care to be bundled up.

Fun Kid's Room Art

There are some great templates and a tutorial to make some fun art out of scrap paper.  They would be adorable hung in a kid's room or play area.  Look at them here.