The Lost Spirit

One day I was sitting in my living room looking at the lights on the tree and wondering how to get more of Christ into our Christmas. My kids think too much about the presents on all these religious holidays and it bothers me. Yes, I know they are young, but it still bothers me. So I started looking around and I saw something.

First off, I love my tree. Yes it will never be featured in a magazine but it means a lot to me.A lot of my ornaments are homemade by family and friends from when my husband and I were going to get married. The tree is from my niece and the Santa from a client of mine (I used to work with people with disabilities).My friend put cute bows on a bunch of these cooking pig ornaments. She knew I that I love pigs.So as I am hanging them up it always warms my heart and I have wonderful memories of the amazing people that have touched my life. Like this one. My sister made them with two of my kids hand prints that were then made to snowman. They are one of my favorite ornaments on the tree. And when I see them they will always remind me of what a wonderful sister I have and how much I love her.So I am still thinking of how to teach these special angels that have been put into my care about the true meaning of Christmas.I look some more and notice I have a lot of stuff that is "commercial", as one sister would say.And this cute one likes the commercial aspect of it all. He HATES the stories of Jesus when he knows they are Jesus stories. When he found out I was going to be telling a story about the birth of Jesus tonight he groaned. (This is how he dressed for our ward Christmas party. He chose to wear the tie but whenever someone commented he would put his hands up to cover it. It was very cute.)And then some more commercial decorations.I do have A TON of Santa decorations. But these are from my mother-in-law and mean a lot to us because they came from her.So I had an idea of maybe how to at least help bring more of the Spirit into our Christmas.A family member of mine buys a new Nativity every year. This is one she got this year. I LOVE it. It is so beautiful.And this is one of hers also. I don't know why, but I just love it.So this year I have an idea for a Nativity that I want to make. A simple one with wood blocks and stickers, but the kids can play with it. And that is a good thing. :) And I hope to add more in the coming years and less of Santa.

So as I tell the story of the birth of Jesus tonight, I hope that somehow I can get a small spark into my children about what it really is all about. And hopefully next year it will be about Our Saviour and less about the man in the red suit.

P.S. I saw a picture once of Santa bowing down in front of the Nativity scene. It was very beautifully done. If anyone finds it, feel free to get it for me. he he. Or just let me know where I can get it. I know it has Santa in it but it just felt amazing when I saw it. And if you have any ideas, let me know.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Time to celebrate!

Guess who I FINALLY found? He was packed away in the car in this Leapster holder. Now what in the world do you think he was doing? I would like to think he was headed to the Temple to teach. And I took a guess at what else he could have been planning to do by the items he had packed away. First off he is living a little modern with the cell phone. I thought that was interesting, picturing Him with a cell phone. So lunch would probably be packed away in the mini backpack. He was probably going to teach construction and that is why he had the screw and the tape measure. A toy car for the children. And let me see......a game of dominoes with the Disciples. Sounds good to me. Alas, he looks a little shocked that I found Him. Poor guy. And the pacifier? Interesting...... :)

Best toy ever!

Dear Progressive,

We would like to thank you for making the BEST TOY EVER! It has been through 3 children, as you can tell. And they still claim that it is their favorite toy.Yes, we have lots of missing windows and only one tire, but it has been the most loved toy ever. And thank you to my sweet mother-in-law that gave it too us many years ago. You can still see the kids attempting to push the car around to play with it. Thank you again. :)

Lemonade stand

I know this was a long time ago but it was cute and I just found it. My son woke up and said he had had a dream that he was going to have a lemonade stand that everyone was going to come. He even called his Grandparents who live 2 1/2 hours away. They said they would come!So we spent almost the whole time outside waiting for them to come.
It even got a little cold while we were waiting.He was so excited though that he wasn't about to give up.He barely hugged them before he ran back to get them their brownie and lemonade. Enjoying the spoils.

Yion eye Stabbers

Butterball is a packer. Not a pack rat....a packer. He is CONSTANTLY packing for some unknown trip. It can drive me nuts.Sometimes he will come to me asking me to help him find some toy and it can take quite a bit of hunting to find it. Seriously if there is anything missing in the house, you can almost bet that it is in his room.Once I could not find a pair of nail clippers for nothing. I asked and asked and asked. No one had a clue. Shocker, they were packed away. And remember the missing camera? Yep, in his room. Many times it is my utensils...ugh. That is frustrating.So in the hunt for Baby Jesus I decided to tackle the packing and try and unpack it. SIGH.....I guess I can see the need for...let's see, one of my essential oils, some game pieces, a medicine cup, and dropper.When I started packing he came in and stayed quite close and anything odd he would explain right away. Like this brad? It is needed to "stab yions in da eye if they are tying to attack us." So there you go. On your next trip, please remeber to pack the yion eye stabber.

Oh no!

Has it really come to this? Someone has called the cops! I am guessing to help look for Baby Jesus as that is one of the manger sheep in that car. Now either the sheep is British or there is someone else driving because he is clearly on the wrong side of the car. I gave the sheep the suggestion that I was given, to go look in the Temple. Sigh....I just hope they find him soon. Poor Mary and Joseph. It must be hard not knowing where your son is and having the wisemen get a little funky with their dress.Here is what else is going on in the stables. I am not sure who the visitor is but....Jesus isn't there again. He must be off teaching or something. Love the modern visitor though.

What?!?

So in my quest to find Baby Jesus I found this. Hmmmmm, have one of the wiseman gone hippy? He is wearing a hair tye around his head like a head band. What is going on here? And yet, not Baby Jesus yet. This is getting very weird.

Case #1: Missing Baby Jesus

Remember Mary cruising around disobeying the laws? Crazy woman....

Well, I finally found Joseph! I was surprised that he had a crazed look in his eyes. The same crazed look that Mary had. Now I am beginning to wonder if she was looking for Baby Jesus and not actually crusining the joint. Poor Mary and Joseph. And did you notice next to Joseph is part of the babies manger. Gasp! I hope Pooh Bear didn't eat him.

Case #2: The missing camera.....results

So we had been playing in his cave all day having a blast. We told stories and ate lunch....yes that is lunch on the floor now. :)I asked suspect #2 where the camera was and this is what I got?

When I asked suspect #1 he told me the following: "I don't know, yets look in my closet." So playing along I went with him to look in his closet. He offered to climb the shelves to look in the top and I told him no. Then I was moving his shoes around and low and behold.......MY CAMERA!!!! I about died. I asked him how he knew it was in his closet and he said, "I don't know. I dust guessed. Maybe a skeleton took it and hid it in there." Hmmmmmm, a skeleton? So my hypothesis is: Suspect #1! I mean look at that face. That is a guilty smile if I ever saw one. Alas he won't admit it, he still insists it was a skeleton. Sneaky kid!

Haircuts

Butterball was in need of a haircut and money is a bit tight so I borrowed some clippers from a friend and did it myself. I probably should have youtube'd it to find out how to do it right but the computer was in use so I just did it. He is NOT excited at all about this.Here is the after picture. I know...... Honestly I miss my boy the way is hair looked before he ever had a haircut back when he was 2. It looked so cute and I swear I haven't been able to have it look as cute since then. :(Like this picture. I just like the way his hair was back then. Longer on top but short on the sides and back. And I have not been able to get anyone to recreate it like that. And his hair is tougher now and not as fine so it doesn't always cooperate. And he refuses to let me spike it. He only likes "regular hair".I decided to trim up Appleseed even though he didn't need it real bad.I was actually surprised how much came off though. My handsome boys.

Case #2 - The Missing Camera

There was pure chaos! We had looked in the car, under the car, on top of the car, in bags, in boxes, in couch cushions, under couches, behind furniture, shelves, counters. I even looked in the freezer and fridge sure that my mind had gone completely crazy. My husband had gone through the garbage piece by piece. We were going nuts. We both knew we had had it in the car, we came straight home, I took everything out of the car and placed it on the couch while I unloaded the boys. Then I came in and put everything away. I went to get the camera to look at the pictures I had taken and.........it was no where to be found. I had given up that it was gone forever as I had searched everywhere! Even in my boys rooms as anything that is missing is in their room. And I came up empty handed every time. I was distraught as I knew I could not afford another one at this time. But.........you will never believe what I have found. MY CAMERA!!!!!!! Waaa hoooooo, Yipppeeeeee, aiiiiieeeeeee! I could not believe it! So......who did it? Hmmmmmm......

Suspect #1????
or Suspect #2????What do you think?

We will return another time with our results, and our Case of the Missing Baby Jesus and Crew.

Tsk, tsk, tsk

Mary has frequently been seen cruising in the house lately. It is not a problem as far as I can see. I am sure Joseph is at the stable taking care of baby Jesus. My problem came today when she repeatedly went over the red line which you see behind her. We recently put up that line to show to our toddler who thinks the kitchen is his domain. Our rule is that they cannot go over the red line. Mary unfortunately repeatedly kept going over the line today even after she was told not too.Of course she pointed her finger at her accomplice when I questioned her.And how is Joseph and Baby Jesus during all this? You tell me! The stable is empty except for one lone Wise Man. And he had no idea where they were. Upon further inspection I was unable to locate the rest of the party. I will fill you in on there where abouts and what they have been doing later. If they can be found........

Off to War!

Some of you may remember a LONG time ago when I posted on facebook that we were off to war and to wish us luck. This is my war post. A long time overdue.


My middle child gets obsessed with things and will fixate on it for awhile. For a time he had several imaginary friends and he was ALWAYS requesting that he had to go play a football with them. It would drive me nuts because he would ask over and over and get furious if I refused because I wasn't sure where this "football game" was at. One day we were driving by an old store parking lot and he claimed it was right there. Being stubborn myself I told him I was not stopping to get out and play a football game. DUMB of me. He was furious. His next fixation was fighting a war. He would beg to go fight the war and it was just like the football game. I kept refusing and he kept getting upset. One day I decided to take him to this war. First off his sister and him decided to ride their bikes to the war. This is Butterball's war face. Ummmm, not very intimidating. This is Butterbean's war face. Now that is better.I drove for quite awhile turning whenever he told me to. After we had gone in a very large circle I started asking him questions of what the place looked like. It was "in da mountains and has lots of woods." Ah ha! I can do that. I drove up to a place I knew in the mountains and when I parked he was ecstatic. I had found the place. Here is our faces as we are getting ready to go fight.Every one's fighting shoes.Wandering around trying to find the "monsters" that we were fighting. He seriously loved this.Butterbean looking terrified as it was starting to get dark. We fought our "monsters" for about 15 minutes before it got too dark. Butterball was very happy.Appleseed however is not. Apparently he was not done fighting.Guess what? He only asked to go fight a war one more time after that. Waaa hooo! What a good Mom. The imaginary friends are gone now and our latest and longest obsession is caves. He wants to build them ALL the time. It is cute.

Here is a video of him on a separate day when he wanted to go fight a war.