This November my littlest guy turned three and a half and I have to say I love this age! There are things to love and not love about every kid age, but this one is pretty great.
Potty-trained, sleeping through the night but still not too big to carry around occasionally, not quite as much the mess-maker as a two year old (or maybe it's just because I don't leave the powder sitting on top of his dresser anymore!), a little more self-control than a newly turned three year old, old enough to have an actual conversation with, and they say the most hilarious things!
That picture at the top is one of my recent favorite pics of my three and a half year old little man.
He had gone potty and put his jeans back on by himself. The elastic waistband allows him to pull them on and off without undoing the snap and zipper.
The really funny thing is he ran around like that for a while with the backwards jeans and I didn't notice until he was walking out the door with me to pick the dog up from the vet. Thankfully as he walked towards me I caught on to the issue and was able to grab my camera and snap a few pics before fixing the problem!
And here's my other favorite picture of the three and a half year old enjoying the leaves in Nana and Papa's backyard:
Pure joy!Find more
Wordful Wednesday,
Wordless Wednesday, and
Not So Wordless Wednesday.
I wrote a post last year titled The Colossal Christmas Conspiracy about the true meaning of Christmas being so lost in the commercial spending mentality. And how Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas every year. More people die from lack of clean drinking water every day than anything else. It would cost 10 billion dollars to make clean water available to everyone. So, we are choosing to spend money on stuff at the expense of lives!
My husband and I challenged ourselves to spend 50% less on Christmas last year and give away the money saved to people truly in need.
I'm happy to say we did it and loved it!!
And we're doing it again this year!
The true meaning of Christmas was definitely more felt in our household as we reflected on what Jesus would really want for His birthday, as we talked about giving more than getting, as we spent more time and money shopping for strangers.
And I had less clutter to find a home for once Christmas was over and clean up from the rest of the year!
Now we do buy some gifts for our kids, for friends and family, we are just spending less and trying to make things more meaningful. Also, we look for the gifts we buy to at least go to a good cause when possible.
I just got my daughter and niece the cutest, super cheap necklaces with their initials from this site and the best part? All of the proceeds (100%!!!) go to help provide clean water to thousands living in Ethiopia! Awesome! And a secondary benefit to visiting their blog is that you can admire adorable Grace adopted from Ethiopia this past summer!
For more gifts that will benefit great causes, check out this link and this link for lists of Christmas gifts you can buy and help fund a family's adoption. You'll get a gift to give and be helping a child gain a forever family!
And all proceeds from gifts bought at the Mercy House Shop will go to fund a maternity home in Kenya, Africa.
Arriving back home this afternoon after being away for 5 days, and on the eve of the busy season that preludes Christmas, feels a bit like re-entry.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and got to celebrate the very special event of my mother-in-law and father-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. We had a party with some wonderful food and a lot of friends and family who love this precious couple. Their lives and fifty years of love and commitment to each other are an inspiration. My husband and I are so thankful to have their example of a marriage that lasts!
We are also thankful that our kids have become pretty good car-riders and the 7 hour drive each way is much easier than it was a few years ago!
Once home, I set to the tasks of unpacking, making dinner, and tackling laundry after 5 days of not doing a single load of wash!
My kids and husband were playing outside when my daughter suddenly came running in, she'd remembered the caterpillar and wanted to check on her.
I'd debated actually taking the jar with us on the trip because I was afraid the moth or butterfly would emerge from the cocoon while we were gone and then be trapped in that jar, but I'd forgotten completely about it since returning home. We grabbed the jar, my husband came in, and we figured out that the moth had emerged from the cocoon, but when we found it among the leaf debris in the bottom of the jar, we thought it was dead. My husband commented that it was still cool that it had actually come out of the cocoon and went back out to resume the football game with our boys. But, as my daughter realized it was dead, she burst into tears. And I felt terrible that the moth had died trapped in that jar, and very guilty for not taking it with us on the trip!
I called my husband back to help with a moth funeral and consoling our daughter, but when he took the jar out to the yard he began yelling, "It's alive! It's moving!"
We got it out of the jar and the moth flew away!
I've never been so happy to see a moth flying around in all my life!
It was like a pre-Christmas miracle!
Bye Caroline the caterpillar-turned-moth! I'm so glad we didn't kill you!
I'm signing off for a few days. But before I do, I want to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving!
And just in case your kids have grown out of the turkey crafts and you haven't gotten your fix of fake feathers this year, I'll share ours:
I love how the turkey on the left with the upside down heart truly looks scared, as any Thanksgiving turkey really should!
And one last smile, I helped with the kindergarten Thanksgiving feast at my daughter's school today. Parents brought in various things to contribute to the lunch, with the main entree being Chick-Fil-A nuggets. Part way through the lunch, one of the girls from my daughter's class very happily exclaimed, "I LOVE Thanksgiving chicken!"
So, if you're still struggling with how exactly to cook an entire turkey for Thanksgiving Day, or you haven't started thawing yours yet (did you know the big ones take DAYS to thaw?), you could always go with the famous Thanksgiving chicken, AKA chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A!
First, I'd like to begin this thankful post by saying I am truly thankful I was not on the Mayflower voyage to the new world, thankful not to be among those pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. We watched a movie with our kids recently on the pilgrims and if that animated video was even 10% accurate in depicting what life was like on that boat for months and then the first few months in the new world, it was rough, y'all! And cold and there was no food and everybody was dying, and on that boat? Seasickness and close quarters and nothing to do for weeks and weeks that turned into months! Eye-opening, that little Charlie Brown cartoon was!______________We put up our Christmas tree this weekend, and I love that my children have NO CONCEPT of spreading out the ornaments! Even when I started laughing about a particularly crammed section of the tree and got out my camera to document it, they were looking at me like, "What?" They had no clue why it was funny to me to see about 30 ornaments in a 6 inch section of the tree!
______________A family trip to Target, buying and wrapping gifts for children who may not otherwise get gifts this Christmas. Such a blessing! Every year after Thanksgiving our church takes a week and for about 4 different nights we send buses to low-income apartment complexes all over our city and pick up bus-loads of people, bring them to our church where they are served a hot meal complete with dessert by our church members, entertained with a spectacular Christmas show, delivered the Gospel message, prayed with, invited to come back to our church any Sunday, and then when they board the bus to go home they are greeted with bags full of groceries for everyone and toys for every child, geared for their specific age! It is a great ministry and a blessing to be a part of!
______________These babies arrived in the mail today! What are they? Well, plastic molded flowers to be exact. But really? Pure happiness is what they are! What am I going to do with them? Well, what couldn't you do with them? I've already made 2 rings, one for me and one for my daughter, just glued them onto a blank ring (that you can buy for less than $1.00 on Etsy.com). Want some of this happiness for yourself? Here's where I got mine.
______________My kids and I made little paper cities today. Printed them from here.
Oh so fun! Although there was some frustration when the cities kept falling over (my kids haven't mastered the art of a delicate hand, yet), so we taped them to the floor!
I was busy cutting out the 22nd or 23rd little .5 inch person
and looked up to see my 3 year old getting a little crazy with the tape!
Notice in this picture 15 minutes later he's still sportin' the tape head. Yeah, he thought it was hilarious and wanted to show Daddy when Daddy got home from work. Big Brother was happy to do the honors of pulling the tape out at the end of the night. Thankfully my 3 year old is tough and didn't yell at all about all his hair being ripped out!
All three of my kids playing together with smiles for hours over toys that cost us nothing, except some paper and printer ink?More than priceless!Find more
Tuesdays Unwrapped here.
I warned you guys yesterday that I have projects in mind. Many, many projects I want to complete! And because I'd like to pass on the neurosis, I mean inspiration, I'm sharing a few (a mere fraction of my long list) ideas with you. I know it's kinda crazy to think of tackling extra tasks during this busy time of year, but these crafts are sure to make any holiday extra merry!
- We really need a new duvet cover for our master bed and I'm thinking of trying something like this.
- This ruffle necklace is so cute and seems really easy, would even make for good Christmas gifts!
- And I admit that the instructions to make this fabric basket intimidate me a little so I probably won't attempt it, but oh my at the cuteness! And just think of all the things you could store in something like that -- so practical!
- While we're talking about crafts that are over my head, this softie doll is out of my league, but it is so sweet, I really may try it!
Happy weekend before Thanksgiving! The stores will be crazy for the next 5 weeks straight, so stay home and craft!
The fact that this post is marking 7.2 months waiting and not 7 months is a blessing! The 7 month mark passed last week with little notice of the milestone!
We are surviving this wait without losing our minds (even though it has admittedly been longer than we expected at the beginning of the adoption process)!
All that is not to say we are not ready, more than ready, to see her face, learn her age, and mostly to bring her home.
But we're getting closer.
And we're going to use these next few months without her to really get ready. I have a whole slew of projects in mind to tackle! Can anyone say nesting? Yes, I think it may not only be a pregnancy instinct but occur for pre-adoptive mamas, too! Feel very sorry for my husband! I'm broaching this idea to him tonight! A little Christmas break project! Hey, our current shoe and backpack shelf only accommodates 3 kids!! And the project does say it's for skill level: beginner!
Find more Thankful Thursday here.
