My Little Monster

I haven't posted a video in a long time and these make me laugh (it could just be me :) I took these the day before Cy broke his leg - daddy was on a business trip and the boys wanted to be dinosaurs/monsters. Chase is the funniest when it comes to being a dinosaur - I love his little walk he does! I thought I needed to record this at some point so we can look back at how funny they were - and of course mommy laughing while they're doing it only encourages them more :)
Here are my 2 favorites:

Have a great day!!!

New Traditions

One of the few books I've read this year is Noel Piper's "Treasuring God in our Traditions". In it she talks about ordinary, everyday habits and also creavite ways to reflect Christ in those "especially" occasions. She devotes a whole chapter to Christmas where I've taken some of her ideas and added them to our own family traditions.

One of the biggest reasons I was looking for some more holiday traditions was because earlier this year I told Cole about Santa Clause and although it's been hard (on me! not him) I really think it's been the right decision. Santa Clause adds a lot of the "magic" to Christmas but I think if we try just a little, Christmas can hold the same anticipation and be even more special just by celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Some of you may be thinking right now that it sounds a little cruel to take Santa out of Christmas for a child. But Cole (like many other children) is such a literal thinker (ex. While explaining to Cole that some parents still tell their kids that Santa brings them presents because it's a fun thing to do, his first response was "But they're lying to them") and he is also very sensitive. I want my kids to always be able to believe everything that I tell them and never have to question if what I'm saying is make believe or not. I haven't pushed Santa out of the picture completely; they still get to watch all the fun shows on TV like the classic "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" - they just know that it's a fairy tale. A few more reasons is that it saves any later heartbreak, it focuses their attention on the real reason for Christmas and they also know that those presents are from the people who love them most whether they're good or bad.

Like I said, I'm trying to make Christmas just as much fun/special (if not more) without Santa. A new tradition we started was an advent calendar. I made ours with 25 pockets and put a little note in each one that has something different for the boys to make and give to someone each day. They are all very inexpensive, simple things like "Draw a picture for Oma and Papa and mail it to them" or "Make cookies for Grandma and deliver them to her work" or "Write a note/draw a picture for daddy and hide it under his pillow for him to find tonight". The boys have loved it and look forward to seeing what they're going to do next as soon as Cole gets home from school everyday. Not every single note is something for them to give - like yesterday was a present from Oma and Papa that they got to open early. It was a Little People nativity scene which is another new tradition that they'll get to get out every year. I think having a nativity scene will help them have a clearer picture of the Christmas story and it's something fun for them to play with.

Another new tradition we'll start is instead of setting out cookies for Santa we'll make cupcakes or cookies to celebrate Jesus' birthday. They'll get to sing , blow out candles and have dessert - what kid wouldn't like that better than setting out a cookie for someone else to eat? :)

Baby Update

I'm not sure how well these ultrasound pictures will look on here but we'll see! I had an ultrasound earlier this week and everything looks great. My doctor wanted to see how big she's measuring and she's right inbetween average and extremely large - Cole and Chase were both 8lbs 11oz; Cy was 8lbs 6oz but they were all average size and then grew a lot at the end. Maybe she's just bigger in the beginning and then won't grown as fast as the others at the end - we'll see if she's bigger than her brothers (hopefully not by much!). On Tuesday I'll be 28 weeks - I'll be starting my last trimester!!!















Here's a quick pic of Brandon and I. We went to a gala Friday night (it was work related) at the Gaylord. Thanks Whitney for letting me borrow your dress!!!

Quick Update

I posted some new pictures for a quick business update. Our decorative letters are still the most popular item right now!


I loved making this pillow sham since it's the same type of theme I'm using for Kenadi's room.

I'm finally going to start making stuff for Kenadi's room pretty soon (after the holidays are over). I'll keep you guys posted! :)