Something New

Every year, I get so stressed about making sure that the real message of Christmas isn't lost among all the materialism and busyness. Usually, I feel like I fail miserably. Yes, my kids know the story of Christ's birth. They totally get the "Reason for the Season". It just has not seemed like enough. I feel guilty about all the decorating and shopping. It seems like there should be more...

This year, I think I may have added the right activity for us. We've added a Jesse Tree to go along with Advent. I've seen them online before, but the ornaments seemed too complicated and I couldn't really find a "program" of sorts to follow. I thought I'd spend more time trying to figure it out than actually doing it! But, I finally stumbled across the perfect one!

First, you make a "tree" out of whatever you like; a branch from a real tree (that's what we did) or use construction paper or felt and cut one out to hang on your wall. Then, this is the best part, you go here to print off the ornaments and daily readings! Piece of cake! We have enjoyed this so much. It only takes a few minutes each day, but it feels good to really dig into the Bible with them.

This website goes right along with Advent, so last week was Prophecy. It was so much fun reading some of the early and more obscure prophecies with the kids and pointing out Jesus along the way!

Here's our tree so far:
If you use the ornaments, I printed the small ones and covered them with clear contact paper. You could also just use card stock.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to my family and friends!

Our day started a bit rocky. Usually we get up early and there are baskets on the kitchen table and eggs all over the house. Some have little notes that lead to a small gift (treasure hunt!). We quickly hunt eggs and search for treasure then it's off to church at 9:00! Not much time to spend with the treasures! We do this because we go to my mom's house after church for more egg hunting and dinner. This year, Easter was at our house so the Easter bunny waited until after church to make his appearance and I think it through some of us off a bit ;)

It would've helped if I'd remembered to inform the kids of the change ;) They ran downstairs this morning to....nothing. There was a little confusion but no tears or pouting!

That sneaky Easter bunny really made it worth the wait, however! Instead of little notes in a few eggs, they had a treasure hunt through the entire house (and outside!), one note leading to another note until finally, treasure! I think this was the best one yet! The kids really had a great time figuring out the riddle on each piece of paper. Thank you Easter bunny for your creativity!

Some pics of the treasure hunt:






Treasure at last!
Brandon re-hid all the notes so Kristen could hunt too:
After the grandparents arrived and Kristen found her basket we went outside for some egg hunting:

After all the eggs were found, we had dinner together. It was wonderful having all the grandparents here today! Thank you all for coming and for bringing yummy food and beautiful flowers!
There's always time for snuggling daddy :)

Grandmas:
Grandma Judy and Papaw Russ (Todd's mom and dad) with the kiddies:

Grandma Diana and Papaw Sebert (my mom and dad) with the kiddies:

Happy Valentines Day!

We just wanted to say Happy Valentines Day to all our family and friends! We love you more than you know! :)

Here are some outtakes from our little photo shoot ;)


We don't really do much around here for Valentines Day. Maybe I will get better at this sometime in the future because all those heart decorations are just plain cute! But really, to me, everyday is Valentines Day!