Poor Eating Habits

Madelynn has a different way of eating. She prefers to allow all air out of her mouth as the food enters in, creating a fountain effect...

My First Christmas (Some Madelynn fun)

A Merry Christmas to All!

Behold the Light of the World!

What we've been waiting for!:

Making a Snow "person"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mary

Welcome to the Stable, Mary!

I want you to notice that she is sitting down and that she is not slim and trim. She just had a baby (or will very shortly)!

A Cow (moo)

Here's a cow for the Nativity. It took awhile and I'm not terribly proud of it, but it will do.



Next, I hope to make Mary, then the angel and then!!! Baby Jesus! Stay tuned!

Saturday Morning Fun

Jack (10), Kylie (4), and Kevin (6, in the middle in photo) came over today to play. What fun! What noise! They played all sorts of things, we had pancakes for lunch and then they made puppets and had a puppet show.

Same lineup in this photo, except that Kylie and Rachel traded places.

Now they are home and everyone here is asleep, except for Joshua and I (Renee). Joshua is reading and is content to be quiet and, well, I don't nap anymore.

Later, we will frost and decorate cookies, give some to our neighbors, eat some stew from the crockpot and then go caroling!

Happy Winter Season and Merry Christmas!

Baa Baa White Sheep

So here's some sheep. They were fun to make. They are just like little puff balls, so cute!

Joshua and Rachel's Artwork

Joshua drew this Christmas tree. Mommy helped with the boxes and star.

Joshua drew this at Preschool.

Rachel drew this one of Joshua and Mommy hugging Rachel.
Rachel is in the middle (brown ink) with Joshua (blue ink on left) and Mommy (green ink on right, Mommy drew mommy).

A Shepherd

I would like to do at least two shepherds, but we shall see. Here is the first one:

Joseph

Here is the honorable man, Joseph, earthly father of Jesus:

Another Video of Madelynn

I have the grandparents in mind as I post this, but all are welcome to watch even though you may find it long and boring. :)

Two More Kings

These two kings are for the Nativity Scene I am making. (I mentioned the first king in a previous post) It's turning out to be fun, but quite time consuming- It takes about one hour (or more) to do one person.

Here is the second King:



Here is the third king:

(I love his hair, don't you? He's my hippie king. Just seems like he's groovin', I almost made him some shades)

We Three Kings...

Of Stables, Doc Visits, Christmas Trees, oh what else?

I think these are the best kind of blog posts: a little bit of everything. In my opinion they are more interesting, something for everyone. So here we go, but be prepared, some of it might be random...

So what shall I start with first?
How about some Christmas tree shopping?

Our family likes to cut our own tree down. It's cheaper and, (I think) way more fun.

Yes, that is Madelynn in the car seat on the sled. No, she didn't tip over, Joshua did a great job of holding onto her. :)


The Perfect Tree


Since our house is pretty small, we put our tree on the piano.

Since we are talking about Christmas I will go onto the next item of business:
In a previous post I mentioned making a nativity scene. It is coming along and I am enjoying it immensely. Here is the Stable:

And the first king:


Of course once Joshua and Rachel saw this, they wanted to play with it. So I made them a little "doll" for each of them. Joshua got to choose what colors he wanted, hence the blue hair and black arms:


Of Doctor Visits:

Today Madelynn had a doctor's visit. So for Grandparents' sake I thought I would mention everyone's height and weight:

Joshua: 35.2 pounds and 41 inches tall
Rachel: 29 pounds and 36.5 inches tall
Madelynn: 13.4 pounds and 24.5 inches long (tall?)

I want everyone to notice Rachel's weight. Now compare it to one year ago before her Celiac Disease diagnosis: 22 pounds. Yes. Rachel gained SEVEN pounds this past year. Amazing. I don't remember how tall she was last year, but she is now in the 38% instead of in the 10% on the growth charts. Hallelujah!

Madelynn is not gaining weight as much as she should but she did grow a whole inch over two months. She is not rolling but she is sitting with support. We shall see what the Lord has in store for our dear Madelynn...


Of Vicks and Feet

Joshua has had a cough lately. I think every parent knows about 2 am coughs and trying to be patient for that cough syrup or honey to kick in. Well, how about this?:

A friend from long ago emailed us a forward explaining this great benefit of Vicks. (You know, the petroleum jelly/vaseline with menthol and other essential oils?) Apparently if you rub a generous amount of Vicks on the bottom of your child's feet and place socks on, it will stop a cough in a matter of moments and will also prevent the child from coughing for hours and hours. I have to admit I was very skeptical. But Joel wanted to try it, so...

And you know what? It worked. Joshua did not cough at all the whole night. He did start coughing at the breakfast table, but Hey! 12 hours? no coughing? wow. So we tried it the next night on both Joshua and Rachel (Rachel had a stuffed up nose and was starting to come down with a cough also). Same thing, no coughing, and they slept great.

So pay attention Parents! Write that one down. Try it. And get some sleep!


Of Children Books


This book, The Little Blue Truck, has been a favorite ever since a friend gave it to the kids. The book has a fun rhyming rhythm and is about friendship. I highly recommend it.






So I believe that is all. I look forward to sharing with you more of the Nativity as it comes into being and our daily adventures here at home.

A Little Christmas Joy

This is a "catch-up" post, so I will begin in chronological order. First we will start with the kids. Madelynn is nearly six months old now so I thought it would be a good time to introduce the backpack we use for hiking. She fit just fine and seemed to enjoy watching dinner being cooked over Mommy's shoulder.

Joshua and Madelynn

Rachel and Madelynn

Madelynn

A few weeks ago, Madelynn was eating solids after each feeding. She ate a lot too, several Tablespoons of cereal and veggies each time. She has not eaten any solids for at least a week now. It seems it was just a growth spurt. But since this is a "catch-up" post, here are some photos I wanted to share of Madelynn eating some baby cereal from a few weeks ago.




Just this last weekend Joel and I had a dear friend come to visit us. We met Beth in Turner Valley, Alberta during our SBS(School of Biblical Studies with YWAM (Youth With A Mission)). She was one of our teachers. Four years ago she joined OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and has been a missionary in Thailand serving the Shan people. (Please pray for the Shan, they are a people group that desperately need Jesus, yet only a small percentage of them know Jesus as Lord and Saviour). We had a blessed four days catching up with her. Beth even cooked us some real Shan food. It was delicious!

Beth reading to the kids

This last week I finished up Madelynn's Christmas stocking:



And decorated the house for the upcoming Christmas season:

This is a paper nativity scene that came from a book my dad grew up with.

My next project is to make this nativity scene (to replace the paper one we have- the wise men keep falling over!) out of yarn, cotton balls and pipe cleaners:

Beth gave me the idea and so I googled it and I found the instructions. I am quite excited about trying it.

Have a great week as you prepare for the advent season!

Interview with Nick Vujicic

An interview with a man born with no arms nor legs. Take a few minutes to listen to a story of true hope.