Christmas is near!

Our advent season has been fun yet peaceful this year. We try to keep it somewhat simple, remembering that Jesus is the REAL reason for celebrating Christmas. I thought I would share some photos of our Christmas preparations. We went to a great tree farm and John cut down our pine-smelly tree!

Decorating the tree.

Alex loves this "advent calendar." Each day he gets to cut off one "loop" until Christmas. He asks to perform this operation at least twice a day ;)

Alex (far right) some other angels before the children's Christmas program at church.

Alex waiting for his turn to flip his letter at the preschool Christmas program. It was "M" for the manger where Jesus slept. He said the whole thing!

Cassidy checking out the stockings.

We hope all of our family and freinds have a wonderful Christmas!!

Walking with Reindeer

News Flash! Cassidy took her first steps! She's not walking everywhere yet, but it's a fun game for her to walk a couple steps to John or me. Here's the video:

Secondly, we have a rare sneak preview of Alex's preschool Christmas program on Friday:

No new diapers since March

Did Cassidy potty train at 4 months? It would be nice, and I have heard of people doing this, but not us - I'm not that crazy ;) She has been in basically the same size cloth diapers since she was 4 and a half months old. We have saved hundreds of disposable diapers from a landfill and we have saved a significant amount of money, even with the extra water (a renewable resource) used to wash them. (If you are curious about what disposable diapers are made of, click here.) Plus, cloth diapering is a fun obsession, like buying shoes, except way cheaper. The community of cloth diaperers is growing, even though we are still in the minority in most of the U.S. I want to thank my wonderful husband, my mom and my mom-in-law for being huge supporters of my cloth diapering endeavor! If you would like to learn more about how to go about cloth diapering, click here. If you would like to find a cloth diapering store near you, click here. And if you are intrigued by the thought of potty training a young infant, which is called elimination communication, click here! Sorry for all of the links, but there is so much good information out there.

A Balmy December Day

Yesterday, it was in the 50's around noon so the kids wanted to play outside. After a couple weeks indoors, the swings, slides, and sand almost seemed new again!

I am thankful for . . .

So many things. My God who loves me in spite of my shortcomings. My husband who does the same. Our children who forgive instantly. Servicemen and women (like my brother) who are far from their families for the holidays this year. Other people with a servant's heart (like my sister) helping others in far away places. (Incidentally, she is now making her way back to the states as I type.) I am thankful for a roof over my head and food on the table, and everything else is a luxury that I pray I will never take for granted. And finally I am thankful for our entire extended family, all over the nation, for their unconditional love and support.