the "Christmas Calendar"

is it really almost Christmas? i know we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet, but i am suddenly really in the Christmas spirit! it may be because Noah is really into this year...pointing out all of the christmas lights that are already showing up in our neighborhood and telling me things that he wants santa to bring him. it's the first year he is really anticipating it and i'm excited with him. we've been listening to my favorite Christmas cd, 'A Rat Pack Christmas'...here's a favorite verse that i just sang along with

{bonus points to those of you that can sing along too!}

"Frosted window panes, candles gleaming inside, painted candy canes on the tree..

Santa's on his way; he's filled his sleigh with things,

things for you and for me.

It's that time of year, when the world falls in love.

Every song you hear seems to say,

'Merry Christmas, may your New Year dreams come true.'

And this song of mine,

in three quarter time,

Wishes you and yours, the same thing too."

tonight i worked on a really special Christmas tradition. i made The Christmas Calendar. this tradition was started by my mom when i was pretty young, maybe 2. she made a little crafty calendar with pockets for each day leading up to Christmas day, and inside each pocket she would put a little goody for me. this continued every year, without fail, and i have so many memories of me and my sisters waking up early to run to the calendar and see what surprise mom had in store for us that day. sometimes it was really small, like a 5 stick pack of gum or a dollar to buy a coke at school that day. other days, it was a really elaborate scavenger hunt with a cool gift waiting! i was always amazed that we never found the gifts she hid all over the house until the exact moment she wanted us to find them!

writing this is honestly making me so sentimental; add that to someone who has already been an emotional basket case this week, and you have me crying over a calendar. {i love you mommy!} it was just so special. and that really describes my mom. she did everything in her power to make every event in our lives memorable. i can remember she would lock herself in her room when were older to wrap each and every little gift, no matter how tiny {sometimes it would just be a note that said, "Let's go look at christmas lights tonight."} she would wrap it. we knew not to bother her while she made the calendar.

it was a scared part of my childhood, my adolescence, and now i plan to make it part of my children's lives too. i know jonah won't be into like noah yet, but i have big plans including some mini-scavenger hunts around our house! my mom made the actual calendar and tonight i worked on adding the tree, names, and numbering the days. i still have to add some grommets to the top and ribbon so i can hang it. and i can't forget the jingle bells for the tree. i'm pretty sure my mom hand sewed hers on, but i plan on using a glue gun! i'll show you the finished project next week. mom is coming over on saturday to help me finish it up and get all the little goodies ready!! and oh yes, this calendar will be traveling to Disney World with us the week before Christmas!! can't believe that trip is just right around the corner!

my mother in law and i were talking about the traditions she had when my hubby was little, they did the 12 days of Christmas books! i think we will try that one this year!

what kind of traditions do you and your family have? what is your favorite Christmas tradition? i'd love some more ideas!!

like father, like son

these two are just alike.

they both love to be silly.

they both love to be affectionate.

and they love to mix those two seemingly innocent attributes into a crazy combination that results in licking someone's face.

as you can see, noah adores his daddy.

he totally hung the moon.

i think he's pretty great too :)

life lately

so it's been awhile since i've had a moment to gather my thoughts and actually write! i'm still at home with the boys during the week {currently working a half day on thursdays and a half day every other friday} i love dental hygiene..i am really passionate about teeth.. i know that sounds weird to most people, but it's true! my goal is always to help my patients have a great experience and hopefully take great care of their teeth! i love my patients at Dr. J's office! it's also been a great learning experience going into different offices to fill in for another hygienist. i've become a regular fill in at Dr. H's office and i LOVE it there! although fill in work is not ideal, it gives me hours and a small boost when we need it. God is so good!! He is always looking out for us and i know that HIS plans will be fulfilled..whether that is me working full time or staying home..or continuing to do both..i don't know. God has really taught me patience this year..not only with the work situation, but with the boys! they have sure been a handful! noah is 3 years old now and jonah is 16 months! where did my babies go?!? they are so big now!!

i could probably go on for a full blog about the things God is teaching me, but i'll save that for another day. i will say this though, i have really been convicted about witnessing.. there have been so many chances for me to witness, but i hold back. so lately, if i feel the Holy Spirit urging me to talk to someone, or to share something, i'm doing it! it feels so great to know i allowed God to work through me, even if i stumbled over my words or didn't even know what to say. anyways, so Sunday at church, my pastor {who is also my father in law} started talking about how we need to go out and witness more and he has all these ideas he will be sharing with us for ways to better witness! isn't God so good!?!

now it's time for a recap of the last couple of months!! we've had a really busy fall and it has been so fun! October was filled with pumpkin patches, birthdays, and dressing up like superheroes! Noah has been obsessing over Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, not to mention some other unlikely superheroes like the WonderPets! :) {if you haven't watched WonderPets with your kids yet, you should! it's actually a really cute cartoon and it's on Netflix!} Noah turned 3 on October 21, 2011. we had his party the following weekend right before halloween and of course, it was a themed costume party! we did a superhero theme! the kids looked so cute! jamie and i went as lois lane and clark kent! :) jamie's costume was amazing!!! we had the kids both dressed as superman, but right before the party started noah had a major accident in his undies {we had neglected to put his pull-up on before the party and we were out at a park with no bathroom in sight!} so noah made a quick change into his spiderman costume and we had a great party!

we also attended our church's annual Hee-Haw and the kids had another costume party.. we did the same costumes for that party. we switched it up for Halloween though because noah wanted to be Ironman and all of jonah's costumes were dirty {he's REAL messy these days} so he wore noah's old dragon costume! super cute! after 3 days in a row of dressing up we were so glad it was all over!! noah really loved being in costume and i foresee many days of playing dress up in our future!

okay, on to November! the first weekend started the month off right! we took a girls trip to OKC...just my mom, my sisters, and myself! we stayed in a great hotel, ate at an amazing restaurant {The Melting Pot - serious YUMMO!}, and had some great entertainment in the form of The Girlie Show! i know the name sounds misleading, but it's actually a great craft/art fair. tons of local vendors and eateries, live bands as well as some rockin' girl dj's! the food was to die for...very fancy schmancy! friday night we got there early enough to be one of the first 100 in line, so we got some great goodie bags! then we enjoyed shopping and eating. saturday we toured some of brooke's favorite spots..like the new outlet mall, Cuppies and Joe {a cupcake and coffee shop! so cute!}, a few thrift shops, and a made to order tshirt press store. it was so nice to get together and share some great girly bond time! especially since my sister carah is PREGNANT!!! {i didn't notice until i posted these pics tonight that we all 3 stand in the same order EVERY time for every picture! how funny!!}

brooke, carah, and me just relaxing after a long day of shopping!

my sweet mommy and sisters in front of the sign for the Girlie Show

sisters! all dressed up and ready to SHOP!!

my sister carah had her first prenatal doctor's appointment on november 14th and she got a huge surprise/blessing during her ultrasound!!! :) we are all so excited!!! she is due June 11, 2012 with TWINS!!!

and one more picture for those of you who made it all the way to the end of this post! :) my sweet, sweet boys playing nicely together with play dough this afternoon. want to know what was really going on? they were majorly fighting over every single thing on that table! it's not enough that there were 3 different color of play dough to choose from, and like 30 little "cookie cutters", but jonah just wanted everything that noah had at the moment. poor noah, he tries so hard to be a good sharer, but it's just impossible when your little brother won't let you play with anything unless he can have it! ugh! boys! what's a mom to do?