Christmas Program

Reed had his first Christmas program this week! It was so fun to see him up on the stage (and he was on the front row too!) As you can see from my pictures our seats weren't that great too many heads and I wasn't directly in front of him, so I kept getting teachers heads, other kids, or blurry shots---oh well, these were some of the best ones I could get. I did videotape quite a bit of it too. I have never been able to download directly from our video camera to the computer, so I may try, but not sure if I'll get it or not. So for now the pictures will have to do.
Smiling so big! He did so great & we were so proud of him! He sang along and belted out every song they sang! And they did about 5....as you can see his side profile below very into his singing!

A Growing Girl

this week our sweet, sweet Mary Etta turned 17 months!!! How are we almost to a year & a half old already??!! She is just growing & doing so many fun new things. I'm realizing in the craziness of 2 other children, moving, & just life in general I have got to record these things so I don't forget! So this may be boring for most of you....so you can skip this post unless you're a grandparent---who always loves hearing these milestones too!

• saying so many things these days (I almost don't know if I can remember them all at this exact minute) but some new ones I've noticed are: "men" (as she folds her hands for the start of the family prayer at meal time and then tries to join in the 'amen' at the end), baby--all the time! upon seeing pictures, playing with dolls (which she'll just be like her big sister as she is carrying them all over the house), of course Daddy, Mama, bye-bye, uh-oh, shoe, ball (are still heard often in the day too)---there may be more I just can't think of them all right now
• loves music!! she is into musical toys and books and will press the buttons over & over again to bob her head & shake her body to the music as she dances
• loves fingerplays too---shakes her little finger for "this little light of mine" all the time for us to sing it to her! and even tries to join in on the "mine" and "no".......as well as playing peak-a-boo (she just smiles & giggles as we say where is Mary Etta)
• chasing her brother & sister! she just thinks it's the funniest thing for her to chase them or for them to chase her---even though the loud screams seem so loud in our tiny house, it still is so sweet to see them having so much fun together
• she loves doing the Catechisms! i think awhile back i may have posted (maybe i did, maybe not??) that at 14 months she started answering the 1st question of "who made you?" and she would (and still does) say "Ga" for God; now for the next one "what else did God make?" she opens her hands out wide (as I modeled this for her for some time now) for 'all things'
• she love to be held, snuggled....such the baby of the family! and loves if you're on the floor to sit in your lap....she does the 'back up' (where she backs into our lap); she'll occasionally wake up in the late evening or even the middle of the night---nothing on a consistent basis, but just sometimes....and after cuddled will go on back to bed & sleep fine; she does tend to be our light sleeper, so when we move in a few weeks she will continue to have her own room for now until she is a little older
• she's such a sweet, sweet baby girl.....and we are ever so thankful for her---our little "surprise" of a blessing, that i found out about just a little over 2 years ago.....i didn't know how i would do it with 3 children under the age of 3, but somehow the Lord has sustained us all---some days harder than others, but only by His grace indeed!!!

I have more pics to upload from some fun things this week, but was too tired to do it. This post is mainly for me to record about Mary Etta. Be back soon!

Sisters

Can really have lots of fun together, having tea parties, playing with dolls, just doing lots of girly things! I'm so glad it seems that these 2 (just barely 14 months apart) are really beginning to adore each other! It is fun to watch the two of them interact & engage with one another. Of course right now Mary Etta still doesn't have many words in edgewise--compared to her very chatty big sister, but I know before long it will seriously be non-stop chatter around here! Oh how different boys are for sure! But I do love having both & experiencing their many differences, a blessing indeed!

Christmas Time is Here......

Enjoying our first snowfall here this past weekend!!

Isn't that the line to one of the songs in Charlie Brown Christmas? I believe so......as I should know since I think I can quote that movie right now--as when give the option to watch a movie, that is ALWAYS the top choice these days! We are Charlie Browned out around here!! We have a book, the movie, my mom even found a CB tree they can put in their room---they love it! We have also been working on some new scripture memory--we're trying to memorize part of Luke 2 for this advent season (and Reed likes to always tell us that is what Linus says). Anyways, lots of Christmas around here....we decorated this past weekend (still with our artificial tree--boo :(

I had hopes for a real tree this year since we are not traveling, but with all our house preparation going on Casey hasn't been home much, so basically there is no time to go in search for a real tree. Maybe one of these Christmas's we'll get to it. We've been doing our advent calendar (thanks to my friend Rebekah with her wonderful list of verses & symbols--they look forward to it EVERY NITE!!! And just lots of music and singing.....we did a white elephant gift exchange with my family when we were together at Thanksgiving & I've been (well we all have been since it's in the car & the kids ask for it constantly!) enjoying my new CD (thanks Sarah & Rusty :) Dave is a good friend of theirs.....& I love the sound as it reminds me of my Harry Connick Jr. Christmas cd. That's all for now, as I'm off to be productive while it's still naptime.....because I'm sure as soon as I do I will hear little people waking up :)