Early Christmas

we decided to celebrate an early Christmas. so we woke up this morning, the 20th and had our own quiet (well quiet for us) Christmas. Annie woke up at 6 way to excited to go back to sleep. So she and Tim headed out for donuts at 6:30, so mommy could wake up and not be too grumpy! =) when they came back we all woke the boys up! we ate donuts together and read the Christmas story together. Toby once again prayed the prayer to receive Jesus...it was part of the story and he just repeated every word after me without any prompting! He is really close to understanding! The closer he gets to 4, the sweeter he is becoming. he loves to randomly give me kisses and also punches, but i like the kisses a lot! Then we talked about what we are thankful for already and talked about being patient (toby knows this word: "ms. marie says being patient is waiting with a good attitude") while everyone opens their presents! it was our most successful opening to date! everyone waited and no one complained!

annie with a princess tank from Mimi

annie and her new Samantha American Girl paper dolls. i still insist that i gets to cut out all the clothes...tim isn't sure who likes this gift more...me or annie! =)

this is my favorite gift from annie...that she made and wrapped herself at school. she has been talking about this for weeks.

i mean seriously...do i need to say anything about this one. he is so cute! this is from aunt mandi! i think we will let him wear this one next time we get on a plane, which might be when we go to iraq!

these are the softest, cutest sheep from our beloved ms. debbie

what underwear?? i thought it would be fun. apparently not. the boys get excited about theirs, they had batman and superman underoos...don't worry though i am taking them back, i apparently bought briefs and those are huge, you can't wear them with the way they make little girl pants now, they hang out the top, so you have to get low rise briefs. did anyone want to know that? that was a free tip!

this is the best gift! this is from aunt mandi, who adores our kids and loves on them any chance she gets! this is a Holy Spirit inspired gift in my opinion. after she read one of my last blogs about annie feeling imbalanced she had this idea to buy a scale and give annie lots of little pieces that say fruits of the spirit on them and also some negative things like jealous, angry, selfish, etc. the idea is that she can now express herself a little better and figure out how to balance out her emotions. she puts on one side what she is feeling, i.e. scared and on the other side she balances it with a fruit of the spirit. today after she set this all up she put "selfish" on one side because she said, "we can't help but feel a little selfish after we got presents even though it is jesus' birthday" then on the other side she put joy, gentleness and patience. LOVE it! she absolutely loves it too! she got several other great things like paper dolls and a bead set and this is her favorite gift. it makes her feel way more in control i think! she really gets it too! Way to go aunt Mandi...Tim says, "market it and sell it!" =)

this is the amazing card that aunt Mandi wrote to annie to explain it all to her and empower her with some of the most amazing words ever!

toby's transformer jet!

this is him gasping when he opened the box! he was so excited!

jesse's new cape billowing in the wind!

CHEESE!

the first gift of Christmas...just what tim always wanted...clothes! especially the jeans on the right! he tried them on later and they were so tight. it was hilarious and they were shaped for a women's body almost. it was the weirdest thing. he looked so EMO!
Well that was Christmas #1, but all day we have felt like Christmas is over. in fact i was tempted to tear down my decorations before we leave! but i can't! it's not Christmas yet, it seems a shame, but we don't get home until jan. 6th and it will be crazy to wait that long...

Toby's Concert

Toby and his beautiful Ms. Marie...a rare and precious jewel who will never be forgotten in this family!

toby and his faithful buddy Beau playing their instruments during a song

the whole gang rockin' out

Toby has had an amazing year! he has been going to school 4 days a week. He goes to "sleeping school" (he dubbed it that because they take a nap) and it has been really good, but Ms. Marie and Ms. Monica's class has been AMAZING! He was especially taken with Ms. Marie. She is a former montessori teacher and she has been outstanding! she has taken this little motley crew of mostly 3 year old boys and turned them into well-behaved students (well for the most part). she understands their wildness and need to be boys, but expects them to only exhibit that at the appropriate times. we would come pick up toby and she would have the entire class silent playing some game where they had to listen. He has learned all sorts of amazing things this year including but not limited to: the four seasons, Wampanoag Indians, dreidels, plus they learned a new song every week! They performed all of them for us the other day. the performance took 20 minutes! Toby had to sit down at one point, because he said he was tired, but besides that he sang through all of the songs, probably 15 or so. They each taught something as well! One of my favorites was when she passed out musical instruments to each of them. She entrusted them each with a noise-maker and all she had to say was, "put your instruments at rest position." and down they went at their feet. Then when the song began she said, "ready position" and they all held them silently until it was time to play them! Then she went through and had only the bells ring, only the wooden, only the timpanis and they knew all of them! Toby talks about Ms. Marie every day! he has loved how she has treated him like a real person and has expected more from him! I am so thankful for her, because she made this time so wonderful for Toby. I am just hoping i can get her to come out at least once a year to Iraq!

Annie's Class Party

annie and the weirdest santa ever! we don't teach our kids to believe in Santa. in fact we have point blank said repeatedly, santa is not real. however this does not apparently keep your kids from believing in santa. just the other day, annie looked up at our chimney and said, "how will he fit in there?" i had no clue what she was talking about. when she told me santa, i was like, "but annie santa is not real." she said, "well i know, but if he is real, how will he fit?" it's like she doesn't think i know what i am talking about and is just try to placate me. so i told her that if he is real, he is magical and can fit anywhere. that seemed to do the trick. as for this crazy santa that came to her class and would stop saying, "ho, ho, ho!" in a really obnoxious way, she whispered to me, "don't worry mom, i know he is not the REAL santa." the girl wants to believe! we also made reindeer food (oats with green and red sparkles) as a craft and gave them out in baggies at school. she can't wait to sprinkle those in the yard on christmas eve so santa will stop and give her presents. nevermind that our tree already has all the presents under it and their stockings are full.

the class with Mrs. Upchurch reading a fun book and doing a book exchange!

annie and joey. this is her friend that she has shared Jesus with several times. he tells her it is just a story, but it doesn't stop her! the other day she came home and said she told Joey exactly how to pray to ask Jesus in his heart. He didn't do it, but he didn't stop her from telling him! Lord, we pray for Joey to come to know you!

annie and cutie autumn

the cute snacks at her party, the reindeer made my Kate and her mom and the snowmen made by Annie and I.

Annie and her beloved Kate!

making her angel ornament

the white table with Michael K., Zane, and Lanette

the snowmen in process

Annie's Broadway Debut

This is Annie singing with the Four and Five Year old classes last Sunday! She did a great job! Afterwards she said, "where are all my flowers?" apparently she was expecting flowers like she got at her dance recital 2 years ago! She is in the back row third from the right.

Pledge at the Pole

Annie was chosen this week for Pledge at the Pole. They have a character trait of the month and those who show it well, get chosen to say the pledge at the pole. This month was Empathy! Not sure she is totally sure on what that means, but at least she is showing it! =)

Christmas Cheer

ms. alissa and ms. christine, our two favorite Baylor Bears! they went with us on the carriage ride...
on the carriage ride
see the camel in the background? jesse wasn't so sure about these people, he was pretty sure they were fraudulent.. . It has been so fun living in a college town. we have gotten to do a lot of fun stuff on campus geared toward families. This year for the annual Christmas tree lighting, they brought in a bunch of famous bands, including Stephen Curtis Chapman, they also had carriage rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, pictures with santa, decorate your own cookie, and a handbell choir! i know the latter is VERY exciting! =) Tim wants to join up...too bad we won't be here next year. we are trying to soak up all the Christmas Cheer we can get this year, since next year we will live in a country that does not celebrate Christmas. Here are a few pics from our time there tonight!
my new favorite Toby quote...he comes running into the kitchen the other day and says, "mom, mom...Christmas is about giving." and then smiles at me so sweetly! i think he had just heard it on PBS or something, but he hasn't forgotten it. because just yesterday, they got some positive behavior candy and toby was trying to get jesse to share with him and i told him he had his own and he looked at me and said..."but mom, it's Christmas!" as if he was so shocked that i had already forgotten that Christmas is about giving!

Toby's Indian Song

this is called the Wampanoag Song. It's kind of hard to follow him, but the best we can figure out he is saying,
I know what the Wampanoags know
I go where the Wampanoags go
I watch them smoke a peace pipe
to the papoose in the night (?)
I know what the Wampanoags know
HMM!!!