Big D loves his doggy Daisy! He is in charge of taking care of her- only because he insists on doing it. He feeds her, plays with her, gives her water- his favorite thing is to take her on walks.
announcement~
Here is our annual gingerbread house. This year Big D was able to participate, I think he ate more candy than he put on the house! 
We have a family friend who is hosting her family for Christmas, dont you know that could get pricey! SO, we made a few jars of goodies. (These are Clean- old pickle, applesauce, hotsauce jars) We made a pancake mix, an oatmeal raisin cookie mix, and a hot chocolate mix. 
This the second year to wrap our door. Kayla did a majority of this wrapping! Isnt it beautiful, I might not take it down after Christmas!
A sweet older woman named Alice made my mom a stuffed Santa. If you pushed his nose- it would sing "Jingle Bells". Its about 20 years old, and my mom passed it off to me. This is such a precious Santa and we have no idea what to do with him around Christmas.
WELL this year- the girls had a clever idea about putting him up in the window in our stairwell. We never use that window, and its so high up and everyone can see it from the window. We have gotten so many comments on him this year!
Every year I enjoy putting out our Nativity sets, although NOBODY plays with mommas set, 
which is displayed nicely on the piano. We have a fun plastic set for the kiddos to enjoy. You will notice that baby Jesus is MIA, we find pieces of Nativity all over the house!!
Kayla and I decorated these stockings when she learned about St. Nicolas and the legend of him throwing coins down the chimney into the stockings.
Again this year we went to HEB.com and logged into their photo services. We were able to make this card online by uploading the photos from our computer. Then we sent the card to our local HEB for printing. An hour later I got a confirmation email that they were ready for pick up. I picked them up and payed for them with a few extra groceries. TREMENDOUS! The envalopes came with them and the cards were inexpensive too! I LOVE a good find!!
Recently, our Tator Tot has expressed his marvelous artistic abilities. 
Last night I took Emmy out on a date to BU for their annual Christmas festivities. We had SO much fun!
music.
amily On The Roof" moment. Interesting enough- the boys were NOT excited about being on the roof. We had the girls on the roof at this age- and they were just as estatic as they are today to be up. And finally this year- momma went up too for a minute- dont care to share the pics though!
Nice thing- I hardly had to do a thing, the girls did a major part of getting the tree up and decorated. Even the boys helped put up the ornaments. All those pretty shiny balls are PLASTIC! A neccessitity- especialy when I catch Taylor throwing the on the tile to see them bounce!! We have our train track up under the tree- but with two young boys, we cant keep it out on display, we get it out on occasion for fun. It was passed down to us from Joel's grandfather- we need to keep it in good condition!
One new thing we have this year is a Christmas clock. This was given to us by a very dear person. On the hour- the clock will play a Christmas song. Its been such a sweet sound to have in our house.
Kayla made her very own Advent Calendar. This calendar corresponds with her school curriculum. 
Five days of the week- we are to open a number, and review that Christmas symbol. So far we have learned about the Advent Wreath, the Christmas Tree and ornaments, and today we are discussing Christmas baking. This has been really exciting to be able to work around this unit.
I highly recommend this book "The ADVENTure of Christmas" by Lisa Whelchel to all you moms out there!
They want people to rethink Christmas. Because after all, Christmas isnt about all the shopping and presents. They advocate giving Presence instead this Christmas. The concept behind AC is "Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All". Read more about that here.
We had a great visit with our Uncle Matt over the weekend. Uncle Matt is Joel's brother, he is in town from California.
this actually was Joel's desk when he was a little boy..we repainted it purple..the top still needs to be replaced- but it works for now. (The gum ball machine is her reward system. Every subject she completes cheerfully and completely she is awarded a gum ball. When a certain amount of gum balls have been awarded- she gets to go on a fun outing of her choosing.
haha, seriously though, Joel teaches Kayla all her math. They have alot of fun together learning and exercising their math skills!
The public school provided and uses these with the 3rd graders and we decided to keep using it at home. Its been a great resource. I just write out in each subject what her work is, and we check it off as its completed throughout the day.
Kayla wrote out her hypothesis and her procedures. We popped the corn in a frying pan and made some observations. She wrote out her conclusion that popcorn has moisture within, when heated up, it explodes- basically turning the popcorn inside out!
Many of the missing Colonial structures were reconstructed on their original sites during the 1930s. Other structures were restored to the best estimates of how they would have looked during the eighteenth century, with all traces of later buildings and improvements removed. Dependency structures and animals help complete the ambiance. Most buildings are open for tourists to look through, with the exception of several buildings that serve as residences for Colonial Williamsburg employees.
The Mission of Colonial Williamsburg
The major goal of the Restoration was not to merely preserve or recreate the physical environment of the colonial period, but to facilitate education about the origins of the idea of America, which was conceived during many decades before the American Revolution.
In this environment, Colonial Williamsburg strives to tell the story of how diverse peoples, having different and sometimes conflicting ambitions, evolved into a society that valued liberty and equality.
If you want to learn more, visit Colonial Williamsburg's website.
Here are a few pictures of the local colonial people (and us).
You could interact, intermingle, converse and play in on the life of Williamsburg. It was so hands on which is our family's love language!
Places we visited in Colonial Williamsburg:
The Govenors Palace (a place where Thomas Jefferson once lived) One picture is a real smoke house- only the rich could have that much meat! And one picture is of all the armory in the entry way of the home- just to show off, and the other pic is of a bed in one of the rooms.
The Courthouse(where Benjamin Waller read the Declaration of Independence from the steps), this is the girls getting their punishment!
Joel carrying water like it was done!
The other pics are of some construction being done like it would have in the day,
and of a typical kitchen! Im sure it got hot in there!
We stopped at a working bakery(and enjoyed the treats too!)
We vistied a gunsmiths, and a Printing & Binding Shop
Then looked through the historic, beautiful Bruton Parish Church, (which had lots of graves dated back to the 1700-1800's.)
We also passed through the Millinery shop(clothing), a trades shop(where we bought a few trinkets to bring home), and lots of nurseries and gardens.
Throughout the day performances and skits take place. Some would be political, and some would be cultural. It was great to hear and see the people of the old day.
Heres a video of a traditional dance that went on.
