Merry Christmas from Maryland!!!

We made it to Maryland.. it was a little bit of a Nightmare getting out of LAX flying the wonderful airline.. Southwest. The kids were great putting up with the fiasco. We are enjoying the time we are spending with the Davenport side of the family. Lillie has really enjoyed the Christmas tree and now all the ornaments start two feet from the bottom. She IS FASCINATED with all the many colorful balls and lights which Isaac never bothered with when he was her age. She also enjoys digging or should I say gardening, as Grandpa Davenport calls it, all the many plants in the music room. Most of the plants are now out of her reach. She keeps all of us very busy.
Isaac is enjoying a wooden train that he found under the tree and also a playmobil nativity set. He loves watching the birds in Grandpa's yard and can even pick out the woodpeckers that come to feed at the feeder. He loves going on special errands with PawPaw to the store and picking up Grandma from the train.

Arianne our night owl is enjoying special holding time from each Grandma and Grandpa.

We are excited to see everyone that is coming over tomorrow for Christmas Eve and also for Santa to come. We love our Savior and enjoy this time of year that we are able to celebrate his Life. Merry Chirstmas!

MY BFF!!!

One of our jobs as co-op parents at Isaac's preschool is to take photos of the children and scrapbook it for Me book that they receive at the end of the year. Thanks to Cate I was able to get this job done in two days. She came over to my house yesterday and saw how many photos and pages I had to do and how I was doing it.. and KNEW.. I NEEDED HELP! She completely organized everything and we were able to whip these out in an hour or so.. I just added the comments and finishing touches that night. We did two events and two pages of each child so 40 pages or so... I think we did great. I really thought I wouldn't complete this task until the end of January. Thank you, Thank you Cate. You are my BFF! :)

Hometown Christmas Parade

Saturday..Mike and I decided to take the children to the hometown Christmas parade. Lillie and Isaac loved every minute of it and I thought that it was a perfect parade through the eyes of a child who is in love with TRANSPORTATION!!! You know anything that moves trains, planes, automobiles, trucks, and more. We did not bring our camera but I thought the description of this parade was worth a journal or blog entry. The Theme for the parade was....(THINK GREEN) a recycleable christmas. Everything it seems is green these days, I feel like you can't get away from GREEN. Anyway.. I want to describe this parade, okay, you have got to imagine yourself as a three year old.

The parade started with a sign of the theme followed by the first vehicle a GARBAGE truck decked out in holiday attire. Isaac is in love with garbage trucks so this was awesome in his eyes. This garbage truck was very shiny and new and looked as if they only drive it each year for the parade. It definately didn't stink. They also had lots of fun looking vintage cars, trucks and tractors. Followed by BIGGER cars, trucks, tractors and FIRETRUCKS. The firetrucks came in three different colors red, vintage red, and yellow. Then there was a finale of more cars, trucks, and tractors and tractors and tractors and firetrucks. The last vehicle was a long flatbed truck with Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus (sporting sunglasses) and his sleigh inside. To me, a better finish would have been for Santa Claus being in a firetruck or tractor it would have been true to the area. :)!!!

We driveby many tractors wherever we go. And California needs firetrucks to help it stop going up in flame. A California Santa Claus should come in a tractor.

We also had a person dressed up in a recycled Elmo costume that had seen better times. Let's just leave it at that. LOL!!! Some things after awhile don't look well and should be thrown away don't you agree?

December Daze!

Arianne trying out her first smiles in front of the camera. Daddy is doing the taking!

We had the Meyrings over for a little while last week which was great fun. Isaac and Kelsey play really good together. Collin and Kelsey love Lillie and think of her as there little sister so I didn't have to play referee that much. Maybe five is the magic number! Kelsey came to us wearing the most outrageous outfit.. She wore Collin's shoes and socks, a ballet tutu, and princess shoulder pads on her arms complete with chopsticks in her hair. What am I in for when Lillie and Ari get this big. I am already having a hard time keeping Lillie outfitted with her diaper intact during the night and at naptime. Could this possibly be the beginning?

The children watching Rudolph this lasted for the first 15 minutes before Mike got out the popcorn.

I am falling behind in my posts.. I have felt this week has been truly crazy and that we have had a million things going on. Well, maybe not a million but a lot of things needed attention this week.

Last Saturday, Isaac had his Christmas program for his preschool. We dressed him up in church dress so that he would be a star in his first debut on stage. Isaac and his class did three songs.. Sesame Street (Sesame Street, Sesame Street I want to live on Sesame Street with Big Bird, followed by Count Dracula 1-2-3!, Sleeping Elmo, and Cookie Monster),

Two Hand up and Two hands down, and Jingle Bells. My son knows the words to the songs but refuses to sing. If you sing to him he will fill in the blanks when you pause. He will however do all the actions. Jingle bells was a hit! Each child was given their own jingle bell to ring and boy did they know how to use those jingle bells. I just wish the audience was much more curteous.

Isaac with his preschool class and his teacher

I love this pic of him! I took it right before he performed..Stagefright?

Putting on 3year old shoes

Yesterday morning, Isaac and I had the opportunity to attend preschool together. Isaac's job was to have fun and enjoy every opportunity that came along that day in 3 year old form. My job was to try ( I emphasize on try) to help Isaac, his fellow classmates and teacher enjoy an unstressful, uneventful day in the classroom filled with fun. As I was working in the classroom, I was guided to think about several things. 1) I sometimes don't take the time to really sit back and observe about what in the world is going on around me. Motherhood sometimes overwhelms me and I am sometimes completely lost in my own bubble called ... My LIFE (survival mode). I am not going to make excuses. 2) I really have got to brush up on my teaching skills. I taught preschool a long time ago and was very good at it. For some reason all those skills that I once had have become very rusty. I know that if I helped out in the classroom consistently I would get them back. 3) From Teacher to Me and my son: If you guide him back to his chair by his shoulders rather than pulling him by his hand he will feel that he is doing the walking. I used to know that! 4) I sometimes get overwhelmed at the things that my son can't or won't do rather than thinking about all the wonderful things that he can do. What an amazing gift! I am thankful for the opportunity that I was able to observe and watch my son without too many interruptions and remember what it was like to be three. He is so easy going and happy. As I watched him play outside I was so proud of him and so proud that he was my son.

Sweet ending of November

Kalise and Brian imitating the first Thanksgiving!

It has been 5 years since I was able to have Thanksgiving with my family. I am not counting the year that we went to Vegas and saw Marisa play Volleyball for the Y on Thanksgiving day. That did not feel like Thanksgiving at all. Thanksgiving day in my mind should be traditional. A day that children come to their grandparents house and learn about the first Thanksgiving and the 5 kernels of corn. Along with what a Turkey should look like when its done. And how much seasoning should be put in the gravy or how many lemons are used to make the Yams and Apples. It is a day that children are taught how to cook-- how their grandmothers and great grand mothers cooked long before they were born. Thanksgiving is time that those long ago cooks are honored and the traditional dishes come out. And when we cook a traditional dish we remember. We remember those Thanksgivings long ago that happened when we shared dinner with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. I love thanksgiving because it is a time for making memories along with reminiscing with family about those memories of the past.

Ari was already full and napped during the feast.

Our traditional Thankgiving dinner!

We blessed Arianne Bernice Davenport on Thanksgiving Day which made the day extra special!

Family photo

Lillie and Mommy!