Joy to the World....

It has been a joyous season around our house. One full of late late nights and little sleep for mommy! I had to title the blog "Joy to the World," because it is Zachy's favorite song (Ben's had been "Jingle Bells"). He sings it a few times every day (practicing for the Christmas program) and he sings it every night after his prayer in his sweet little voice which makes me smile and wish that these days of magic, belief, innocence, Santa, elves, and baby Jesus in a manger would last forever. I pray that the magic of Christmas will always stay with the boys even when they know that Santa lives more in their hearts than in the North Pole! Santa and the elf were big topics of conversation this year. This was our first year to do "elf on a shelf". Surprisingly enough, all 3 of the boys really got in to this. Mater of fact, "elf" fell of the fridge and Tim picked him up and the 2 big boys freaked out, afraid elf would loose his Christmas magic, however, much to their delight he was in a different place the next morning, reassuring them he had made the trip to the North Pole during the night! We tried to talk a lot about Christmas, why we celebrate it, and the greatest gift ever given.... hopefully it hit home.

ELF ON A SHELF

The next big event, following the Polar Express Exploit, was the yearly visit to Santa at the mall! We met Nana & Papa Doc in Hot Springs for this event and enjoyed sharing this event with them. The boys were very comfortable with Santa and told him exactly what they wanted! Which was funny to listen to.... gave mama some ideas though! I'll try to post the Santa pic soon.

Then there was the "cutting of the Christmas Tree". I will post a blog dedicated to this event next!

Z had a Christmas program right before break. He has been so excited about this program and has been practicing the songs and motions at home. He has been making a LOUD "joyful noise"!

He did a wonderful job at the program and set remarkably still (for Z that is). It was a wonderful prgram with lots of beautiful Christmas carols. Tim forgot to bring my camera so I had to "borrow" some pics from Z's "girlfirend's" (LEXI) mom!

The week ended with school Christmas parties. Tim was able to stay home that day and keep Ben some and attend both parties. The boys were very excited to have us both there. They each had great parties and it was fun to watch them in their school environment.

Zac's Party

Nate's Party

The days following the end of school until Christmas were filled with lots of wrapping, assembling, and of course CHRISTMAS BAKING! Let's see, over the holidays I baked (and helped eat) 1 coconut cake, 1 carrot cake, 1apple pie, 1 coconut pie, 2 pans of fudge, 2 pans of rocky road chocolate candy, 2 batches of sugar cookies, and 1 batch of gingerbread cookies (can you say major Christmas sugar high and 5lbs of extra weight I'm sure)! I had two little Christmas Elves who helped ice and decorate the sugar cookies! In the next post I'll post pics of our Christmas celebrations!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

WE kicked off our Christmas season by riding on the "Polar Express"! When we were in Texas over Christmas break we went to a very cute and cool program called the Polar Express at Grapevine. The first part of the program was in a tent that was decorated for Christmas we sang carols and listened to Christmas Music performed by the "cast" of the Polar Express. It was great. The boys loved it and Zac sang at the top of his lungs. He even went up on stage and sang loudly in to the mic with many of the other kiddos! The singing was followed by a 30 minute ride on the "Polar Express"! It was a fully restored train with passenger cars. It was decorated for Christmas and Santa even greeted everyone in each car. It was so much fun. The boys loved it but were quick to remind me that that was just Santa's helper!

Since the Hunter Christmas Tree Farm was closed this year, we decided that the boys would go out in the woods with Tim and choose and cut down a Christmas Tree. The result.... a 7 foot Charlie Brown Tree..... crazy branches, see through, leaves in the branches, crooked.... but according to the boys the best Christmas Tree ever (I cannot agree on this but it does bring a smile to my face every time I see it)! Thank goodness we have not parties here this year because it is not a "party" kind of tree!

Decorations are up, Lights are on, an stockings are waiting to be filled with Santa's goodies! Oh yeah and our little Elf (elf on a shelf) is reporting to Santa on a nightly basis about the nice and naughty actions and the wants and wishes of 3 little boys on a nightly basis! Tomorrow we go see Santa and next week will be full of Christmas parties, programs, and shopping!

Thanksgiving... "Happy Giv'ins"

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time spent with our families. The older I get the more aware and appreciative I am of those who host big holiday events in their homes (Thanks Nana, Julie & Jim)! Wow, it was an insanely busy week leading up to turkey day. We spent Thanksgiving day at Arkadelphia with about 30 family members. It was a blast. It was so fun to watch the nieces and nephews play together.... and to have all of that help entertaining my crew. The food was yummy and I ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much! I was just trying to show how "thankful" I was for the good food. Below are just a few fun pics from the day!

On Friday, we went to Trophy Club (Dallas area) to spend the rest of the week celebrating with Tim's family. Jim and Julie so graciously invited us to stay in their beautiful home. We got to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa, Julie & Jim and kids, Kelly & George and kids.... the only ones missing were the Colorado Oosterhous crew (we missed you guys a lot and can't wait until we can all be together again). The kids had so much fun playing and the weather was perfect. Probably everyone has heard by now but our car was broken in to and my purse was stolen (purse recovered.... $$ and credit cards.... NOT). Tim spent most of the morning dealing with the police and window repair men while the rest of us kicked of the Christmas season with the Polar Express (more in next post). We had a wonderful time with the Oosterhous crew and were so thankful to have that time with everyone. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

All tuckered out! It was a fun weekend! Thanks to everyone!