Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Peoples Church always does a great job putting on a Happy Birthday Jesus party for the kids. So naturally I kept Justus out from school and had both he and Haven attend.




They got to do some crafts - the favorite being making a jingle bell.

Sing songs - which is when they got to use their jingle bells.

Hear a story

Have birthday cake!

Afterwards the kids went to be cared for by the staff while the moms got to have a super yummy brunch and hear a fabulous speaker. A great time!

Gingerbread house

Justus Kindergarten class made Gingerbread houses. Well - actually graham cracker houses, but you get the idea!

It was so fun. The parents got to help set up. Then the kids came in and took a seat. We sat with our kid and then it was all out fun to decorate the house.

Fun stuff....in the mail

This time of year brings lots of fun Christmas cards and Seasons greetings.

Because people we love live far away we often get gifts in the mail as well!

From Grammy & Granddad:

From Katrina:

Fun stuff!!

Havens Preschool Christmas Open House

This year the preschool decided to do an Open House. In years past they have always done a big production where the kids get to perform on the church stage, singing their songs and whatnot.

I was a little disappointed to find out this year it was only going to be an open house. I love the idea that the kids get to go up on the big stage.

So we went straight from Justus Winter Program to Havens Open House.

The teacher had put out a candy cane craft that the kids were happy to do.

Then we checked out Havens artwork - so cute!



We ended the night with some cookies in the Children's Center.

Kindergarten Winter Program

All the cute little kindergartners donned their jammies for their Winter Program. They should just call it a Christmas program since they say things like "Merry Christmas" at the end. But I get it, you cant offend the other religions....

Anyways, Justus stood in the back and he really boogied on the Rockin Around the Christmas Tree song. Super cute!

During practice Justus asked one of the Kinder teachers if he could jump down. The ever serious teacher promptly replied "No you may NOT!"

He had lots of supporters. Our family, Gigi and Auntie Katie, Kaleigh and Ali.

Fun times and Happy Winter ;)

Donuts with Dad

Thursday morning Neil got to take Justus to school and enjoy a healthy breakfast of donut and juice box or coffee. That is funny to me because Neil doesnt like coffee so he sipped on juice :) I did send a cheese stick with Neil so J wasnt totally sugared up.

Apparently it was a hit tho....Good times!

Trim the Tree

While most people were sitting around socializing with their family or going for "one more" piece of pie on Thanksgiving evening, my family was busy Trimming the Tree.

We did out with the old (fall) and in with the new (Christmas) decor. Then it was onto the main event!

Neil was so great to get out our tree and set it up. He also has the job of putting the angel waaaaayyy on top of the tree.

The kids were busy running around while I was rummaging through the ornaments and sorting everything out.

Once I got the red beads on the kids started decorating.

I love it when they do because all their ornaments are in a 12"x12" area of where they can reach.

After they were done, I rearranged to make things more even.
Then we admired our work :)