My friend, "Caterpillar"

This morning Eben found a caterpillar and named him, appropriately, "Caterpillar" (following his sister in the Castleman tradition of creative naming such as "Dog-Dog", "Giraffe" and "Lamby"). We made a little home for him in a jelly jar. Eben asked me if caterpillars had hearts and then said he was asking because he wondered if the caterpillar loved him. Awww!

Tyler's balancing act

Tyler started training for her future as a cheerleader. Last night she and Scott performed a new trick ...

Two front teeth

Yesterday Tyler had her two front bottom teeth pulled by the dentist! Her new permanent tooth had broken through behind her row of teeth without pushing out her baby tooth. To make room for the new tooth to move up, the dentist thought it would be best to pull both front teeth. So, Tyler visited the dentist and within thirty minutes she was leaving a little lighter than before! It was so easy and Tyler wasn't worried about it at all!

Sin Wagon

Here's a video of Anna, Tyler, Eben and Tate dancing to the Dixie Chicks' "Sin Wagon" - I know, how appropriate that it ends in tears!

Eben had to have "fancy clothes" like the girls so you'll identify him by the pink shirt and tutu!

Christmas Past

In leiu of a lengthy recitation of all our Christmas happenings, I'll just list some of our favorite moments (in no particular moment) and share a bunch of pictures. (a few from the week preceeding Christmas)

1. our "Advent Tree" that gave us the chance to journey towards Christmas, adding ornaments and part of the story each week.
2. using Tivo (a new gift, also a fave!) to record some fun holiday movies like "Home Alone" and "Frosty" and sharing those with the kids for the first time.
3. opening presents Christmas Eve and then getting some very excited kids to go to sleep!
4. getting Scott a GPS!
5. worshipping with Scott for part of the Christmas Eve service - especially singing beside him
6. being with grandparents and Dayton and Karen again
7. getting to know Cousin Anna (3 yrs old) and watching her and Eben become friends
8. traveling together to Arkansas - well, I enjoyed some of that!
9. making a gingerbread house with Tyler
10. watching Eben and Tyler handle their own candles at the New Year's Eve service

Tyler's Christmas Program

Here's a short video of Tyler's class in their Christmas program. The kids had memorized Psalm 34:8-19 and so they recited that and sang "Away in the Manger". Unfortunately, Tyler was standing behind a pretty tall girl so you can just see her peeking around from time to time! She looked beautiful and I'm so impressed with the way she memorizes and recites Scripture!



We also tried to get some family pictures since she and the boys had dressed up, here are a couple good ones ....

Advent and our Christmas Tree

This year we got a Christmas tree!!! It's been several years since we've done one since we are often traveling over Christmas. Plus, last year we were literally moving ON Christmas Day! Another complication has been the fact that we wanted to be sure our tree did have something to do with CHRISTMAS - that it wasn't just a holiday tree. So, what we've decided to do is to decorate our tree gradually through Advent - each week adding ornaments that correlate with that week's theme. The first week was Hope and the Angels, this week is Peace and Mary, then we'll have Joy and Joseph, then Love and Shepherds and then Christ. On some of the ornaments we have to get a little creative: for instance, we have several beaded ornaments that I made in Jr. High and Tyler decided the should go on for "Hope" because they "made her feel hopeful". We also did several globe-shaped ornaments for "Peace on Earth". So far I'm really happy with the way it's working - it's nice to hold on to a Christmas tradition I love - a fresh tree and the lights turned on at night-time but have it have some meaning as we anticipate the celebration of Christ's birth.