Caleb came knocking on our door this morning to wake us up to some exciting news. He lost his second top tooth! This is my first child to have both top teeth gone at the same time. Just in time for people to tease him about wanting his two front teeth for Christmas! (Make sure you turn up your volume.)

Jared and I are feeling better. Jared has a bit of a cold left over but he's up and about playing, doing school and holding his stomach down now. Papa started to come down with it last night but looks like he weathered through it fast as always. Now hoping it is over with and ignores that there are three others left in the house!

I will get the meat pie recipe out in another post. Sorry for the delay... I didn't want to think about food for a couple of days. *lol*

I posted an article I did for adoption education on my other blog if you are interested in grabbing a cup of tea and reading.

Almost exactly to the day Jared had the stomach flu a month ago. Guess what he has again?! Along with myself and our house/doggy sitter came down with it too.  I just don't believe it. I thought once you got this stuff you get immune to it. That must be a myth for sure!

We did go to the Christmas retreat but for personal reasons we ended up commuting back and forth. Our doggy sitter was so sick on Sunday night that he ended up staying one extra night as there was no way he could manage the 3 hour drive back home. Since we were in for the day keeping our company comfy while sick we decided to get out all our interior Christmas decorations. I'm a little behind this year...

The banisters on the stairs are now full of artificial balsam boughs and Christmas lights. Our indoor lighted nativity is on the hearth with the wise men on the other side of the room. I decorated my mantle and the middle of the dining table.

Eric went out to get us a tree Sunday night but the only place that was open had trees that costed between $45-$100. Needless to say he said no thank you and came back home treeless. When in the world did trees go up so high in price?! I truly think things are getting out of hand for us locals because of us living in ski country where condos etc are really booming. Maybe it's a good thing because the kids really wanted to go the local tree farm where you cut your own and I know they are only about $30. Unfortunately, that will have to wait until we all recover. Blah!

I need to finish and get out Christmas cards! Jared has his Christmas piano recital this coming weekend as well. I hope he and I recover quick and no one else comes down with it.

Something for you to read if you are bored this weekend.  Kimmy had this on her website so I thought I would join the fun too.

1) Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? Eggnog!!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?   Growing up Santa wrapped the presents and he even showed up at my Grandparents house too!  Today, we don't do Santa but my kids do celebrate the remembrance of St. Nicholas.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?    White lights are for houses; colored lights are for trees. (gotta leave this one because this is the way it should be)

4. Do you hang mistletoe?    No but just because I can't stand plastic fake stuff and I have never seen the real stuff. Who needs the excuse to kiss your lovey anyways?!

5. When do you put your decorations up?   Used to be EXACTLY on Dec. 1st no matter what day of the week. Now with the twins having their birthday we do it the following day.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?  French Meat Pies all the way!!! Christmas isn't Christmas without a good meat pie.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?   Sitting in Church on Christmas Eve during the Candle light service where the entire sanctuary was lighted with candles, including the one in your hand, while we all sang a Christmas hymn together. The moment always felt so heavenly when I was a child.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?   When I was nine years old (OK, so I'm really gullible and easy to trick!). My Mom told me so that we could concentrate more on the true meaning of Christmas; that being Jesus. Otherwise, I would probably still believe...

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?   New PJ's only and the rest must be for Christmas morning. You have to have nice PJ's for those Christmas morning pictures.

First, we got a dusting of snow this morning! Woohooo!! The kids were very excited to say the least. Caleb shouted, "Thank the Lord Almighty and the God of the Heaven's and the Earth!!!!" when he saw the snow out the window. I didn't even know he knew all that lingo! It gave us all a good giggle for sure.

Second, my boys were still in their pj's at ll am. They stayed up really late last night watching NASA TV to see the shuttle blast off. Jared literally was glued to my computer on the NASA website watching for FOUR hours. I couldn't believe how interested he got. Through the night he would give us an update as the rest of us were going on with our activities and Jared would actually rattle off everyone's names that was involved. He seemed so grown up. I guess we found another passion of his. The bummer is that the shuttle didn't go off due to weather. The boys were disappointed but Jared ended the night saying, "Well, at least I learned a lot of things about space travel!"

Third, we are going away for a retreat this weekend called, Christmas in the Mountains! Our entire family is going to be with other families from many different churches to enjoy the worship services of Herb and Edi Hutchinson along with a trip to a 19th Century Farm, a Christmas Parade, Cider and Donuts by the fire and a Christmas Cookie Fest. We are so grateful to the conference center who gave our family a scholarship to be able to participate. (I'll tell you more all about it when we get back on Sunday!) I am babysitting right now until the late afternoon and then we will be off.

At family night Aunty Elaine calls Chloe the endearing term of "Darling" while answering a question for her. Chloe's reaction, "I'm NOT darling! I'm Chloe!"

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Here are some examples of Jared's normal curiosity...

"What is in an eraser that makes it erase?"

"Why does flatulence smell when it comes out?"

"When was the word caroling invented?"

Conversation one morning at breakfast....

Jared, "Papa what does Vit. C do?"

Papa, "It fights off colds and germs."

Jared, "So Vit. C is like the military going in to fight. The vitamin is kinda like their transportation like a tanker."

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Monday at the ophthamologists after waiting a rather long time for the technician to call Caleb to come back in after his pupils dialated the doc walks in and asks Caleb,"Hi Caleb. How are you doing?" Caleb's answer, "I'm bored and hungry." (You might need to know Caleb in order to know how dry, serious and honest this was!)

At dinner Caleb was telling us how many terriaki steaks he had eaten...

Caleb: I had one plus a half and another half

Mama: How many is one plus one half and another half?

Caleb: A LOT!

Mama: What is a half plus another half?

Caleb: Two halfs.

On the way home from Caleb's ophthamologist appointment we stopped at our traditional December visit to the La Salette Shrine to see the Christmas lights. I think this is the first year that I have been to La Salette without snow. It was a totally different experience but fun none the less! 

This is our traditional photo shoot we try to get every year in the Chapel with the "Happy Birthday Jesus" painting.

The kids are coloring their Happy Birthday Jesus cards to hang up on the wall.

Jared showing his card.

Chloe really likes hers! Notice she chose the same color as her big brother.

The girls hang theirs up with Papa.

The boys hang theirs up with Mama.

Before we went into the chapel we had gotten pretty cold from being outside so we decided to warm up a bit by the fire.

Jared loved the Angels. You can see some of the lights on the hill behind him.

Caleb really liked this cross with the red heart lights in the middle.

The kids were poking their heads through this one so I had them all pose since it was obviously a favorite. 

Is baby Jesus in the manger yet? I absolutely LOVE this part of the lights. It's so serene and almost heavenly as you walk down the long path of lighted angels on each side of you to the nativity. Of course, pics don't do it justice! You just have to be there to experience it. When I was a little girl they use to allow you to walk the entire hill and see the stations of the cross. Unfortunately, in our sue happy culture of today they no longer can afford the insurance with the snow and ice liability.

Yup, baby Jesus was in the manger!

This is only about a quarter of the lights on the hill. Again, *my* picture does it no justice. If you want to see more of what La Salette lights look like go to this site and scroll down to take a peak under the Christmas pics of 2003.

My kids have been crawling out of their skin wanting the first snow fall!!! Unfortunately, we have only received those teasers where you see a few flakes lightly floating down to then look up again to see the show is all over with. Today was one of those days again. 

After spotting the snowflakes out the window Caleb yelled, "Mama check the forecast!!!" Here is what it said, "High: 35 degrees Partly sunny. A chance of snow showers into early this afternoon. Little or no snow accumulation. Highs in the mid 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 50 percent."  The little or no snow accumulation is what got Caleb upset. Well, that is after he asked what the word "accumulation" meant. 

No worries though Caleb is excited today because we are heading off to a new pediatric ophthamalogist at the children's hospital. He has been looking forward to this day for months now! He never really liked his other one and has always HATED his glasses. The other office was not at all very good on their bedside manner if you will. Caleb has never felt confident with his glasses as they never seem to fit him well and he just never leaves the place feeling good about himself. I, as the parent, never left feeling like I fully understood his condition or with any helpful resources. So the change to the children's hospital is a welcomed one!  Because we go to the children's hospital for Jared's asthma Caleb is very comfortable with the atmosphere and has begged that he could go there as well. It took a while to get in as a new patient but today is the day!  Caleb is crawling out of his skin for his special day and Mama is glad that the snow is only a teaser for our travels.

OK, I will admit I cannot stand doing ANYTHING Christmas related during or around Thanksgiving.  Otherwise, I feel like the time of thanks to the Lord just sort of gets passed by. Besides how could I not feel a slight offense with the whole competition between Thanksgiving and Christmas as a Mayflower descendant.  

In the past we would always start our Christmas celebrations with our indoor tree, lights and advent on Dec. 1st. Considering that we now have our twins' b-day party on that day we have backed up our festivities for a couple days afterwards. For two reasons... I don't want the holidays to steal their celebration of their birthday and I am NOT supermom. I can't possibly pull off a birthday celebration and getting the tree up, decorate and get the exterior lights on the house up all on one day. So you don't think I am a total scrooge I have been able to get some online shopping done for the kids as I can do that without them in the evenings.

TODAY, however, I can really start thinking about Christmas!!! The lights are going up on the outside. Mary and Joseph are going on the front steps, multi colored lights on the front landscaping and this year I am thinking of adding in white lights to frame in the front of our house as well as a star or angel above Mary and Joseph. In the past we wrapped all of our side property line arborvitaes in the multi colored lights but they are way too tall and round to even try to accomplish now. So, we are going to try adding more color to the house instead. The only snag is Eric and I do not want to use nails or anything else metal that could cause rot or holes in our cedar clapboards. Hmmm....

I don't know if we will get advantageous enough to go the Christmas Tree farm today. We will see... I still have to make room in the living room for where it's going to go. *lol* Every year we have this discussion as a family as to where the tree is going to be. The TV seems to get booted out of the room the most to make room for the month.

We have also started a new advent, as of last night, that Phyllis is currently sharing on her blog. The kids loved trying to find their secret treasure and then reading the Bible passage that relates together! Here is a site that Phyllis shared where you can find a list of advent suggestions. 

Our wrapped books that we read each night until Christmas will start as soon as the tree is up. The kids can hardly wait to start reading their Christmas books again! Last night we started using our Christmas Carols For A Kid's Heart to learn the origins and lyrics to several of the Christmas Carols. The girls are able to sing this year which is a real treat to sit together as a family and sing in the evenings before bedtime!

Alright, must get off now and start decorating while the sun is shining and warm...

Caleb created a new game of his own called "The Great Valley." This is his fourth board game that he has created for our family to play. Eric says the games are pretty much a combination of mouse trap and Candy Land.

Papa Playing "The Great Valley" The men you move around the board are dinosaurs of course.

Here is a close up of the The Great Valley

The cards that tell you where to move.

This is Caleb's "The Lost Jungle" game.

"The Mystery"

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This one I am not sure what he calls. Caleb did the last two one day when he wasn't feeling well and he was pretty quiet about them. Wish I had that much creativity on days I'm not feeling well!

I couldn't resist also sharing these photos with you from last night and tonight! Phoebe every night has to sleep with this letter that she and the other kids received from a Missionary to Kyrgystan that they met at the World Missions Summit. The Missionary sent us a CD to play on our computer of their ministry and on the end they included a little segment of their kiddos introducing themselves and then singing. I think Phoebe's heart just really attached to them!

Here she is actually sleeping on the letter! Notice she likes to sleep with her face half covered in a blanket.

Is that precious or what?! I cannot wait to write back to the Missionary and let their family know about this!