Christmas Joy!

We just returned from a weeklong visit to our homeland, North Dakota. Our dreams of a white Christmas definitely came true this year since a blizzard hit on Christmas Day. SO much snow which was an absolute blast for sledding. We were snowed in for a few days which was kind of a treat and super cozy.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Children's Mass and LTD got to go up front for the sermon. Dylan was super loud, as usual, when the priest asked all the children questions about the Christmas story. He was really into it! Taylor was a big hit with the lady who sat behind us. Taylor gave her a picture she colored in church and the woman grabbed my arm with tears in her eyes and said, "this is the best Christmas gift I have received this year! I will make sure to put it on my fridge. I don't have any children and this means alot to me!" Just one small act of kindness and a sweet little smile brightened a stranger's Christmas - how wonderful!

We enjoyed sharing time with Papa & Grandma Good, Papa & Grandma Kemmet, cousins, aunts & uncles, friends and each other. Grandma and Papa Good made Christmas especially joyful with all the decorations, home-baked treats, thoughtful gifts, TLC, making LTD's favorite meals, letting mom and dad sleep in, etc. Thank you, mom, for the extra care and fond memories - we love you so much and sincerely appreciate you and Egg!! We also got to sled, play in the snow, make Christmas cookies with Grandma, listen to loads of Christmas music, watch a few family movies ("Christmas Shoes" was a a tearjerker; "Sound of Music" is still an all-time favorite), share some adult beverages with dear friends (mom and dad's night out), play at the indoor playground with Aunt Heidi and the girls, and go out for pizza with Papa & Grandma Kemmet. We missed Papa & Grandma Clark since they are in Texas already but they were in our hearts. Aunt Heidi invited us over so we did get to play at their house which is a favorite of LTD's. Don't worry Grandma Clark, we patched up the walls pretty good after our play fest :)

Zoe was a special guest this year at Christmas which added some fun flair to our activities. She is a cute little fluffy white dog that we watched for 2 weeks for a friend. Not only is she hypoallergenic (Dave's saving grace), but she is so sweet, cuddles with everybody, never bites and travels well. LTD enjoyed taking care of her, taking her sledding and snuggling-in with her. She left today and we miss her already. Such a sweet pup!! I guess that means a dog may be in our future come this summer since Dave liked her and LTD passed the "care" test. Yeah!!

Christmas is now a quaint memory and our focus is on the new year ahead of us: so much promise, so many changes ahead, and SO much to do to prepare for it all! If we can survive the next several months, we can survive any storm. Please pray for us! May God bless you and may the new year bring many blessings. The Best is yet to come!!

PS - Stay tuned for a December KodakGallery Update - LOTS of photos and memories. Check out a few below for now.

Preschool Christmas Program

Christmas is almost here! We have been incredibly swamped with so much activity and fun events, one of those being LTD's school Christmas program this past Thursday. I must preface this post with one confession.......I believe I won the "Bad Mother of the Week" award. Yep, our kiddos were the only ones NOT dressed in special Christmas attire for their program. What's wrong with me? I truly had a brain lapse and just let them dress themselves like usual - ready to play. Oh well, I don't think Jesus really cares what they wear. It didn't affect them whatsoever; they still sang nice and loud and had an absolute blast.

Their teachers did a phenomenal job putting together a wonderful Christmas play/musical about the birth of baby Jesus. Taylor got to play the part of Mary and smiled big and bright as she rocked Baby Jesus. Lindsey got to hold up the star of Bethlehem and Dylan shouted at the top of his lungs as he proudly held up his letter "L" for one of the songs. All 14 children performed so well and were absolutely adorable. Unfortunately, Dave picked up the "Bad Videographer of the Week" award so we are left to share a few select photos instead.

"The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me!"

"Go tell it on the mountain!"

Lindsey and friend setting up the Nativity Scene

Mary and Baby Jesus

We LOVE our teachers!!! (and baby Jesus)

After the big event, we indulged in Christmas goodies alongside our little actors and singers. Dave and I were proud as peacocks and enjoyed chatting with the other parents as the kiddos all ran around and had fun, taking photos of each other with our cameras. Comical!

This Tuesday, LTD get to have a Christmas party at school and exchange gifts with their friends. They are super excited to share the cards they made themselves with their teachers and friends along with special gifts for their teachers for all their patience, love and guidance. We are so grateful to them for making LTD's school experience so positively nurturing. God bless them!!!

Santa & Singing

Hi Everybody!

Lindsey, Taylor & Dylan here. We wanted to tell you about the great weekend we had!!! On Saturday, we practiced singing at church for a big concert on Sunday. After practice, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then gobbled up some tasty birthday cake and played with our friends from church. Right after that, mom took us over to meet Santa at Lindsey & Taylor's dance studio. He was round and jolly and said "HO HO HO" right as we walked in. We giggled and ran up to him as fast as we could!! We sat us on his lap and told him how good we have been all year. He said he was very proud of us and that he would make sure to bring presents on Christmas. YEAH!! We were so happy and told him we will remember to leave cookies and milk by the fireplace and that we will leave enough for the reindeer too since they will be hungry, especially Rudolph. We even took a picture with Santa. Check it out!!

On Sunday, we had our Sunday School Christmas Concert at church. WOW, lots of people came to watch us!! Our teachers marched us up on stage and then let us shine. We sang super duper loud and everybody smiled and clapped so loudly for us. Our good buddy Ethan was right behind us and we all had lots of fun. Check out our video!! Mom and Dad had HUGE smiles on their faces and told us how proud they were and even treated us to lunch. Afterwards, we were so tired, we ended up taking afternoon catnaps which is rare for us these days. It felt great but we have a feeling Mom & Dad prefer earlier bedtimes over afternoon naps and rockstars at bedtime. Uh oh, here comes mom.....gotta run!!! Merry Christmas!!!

5-Year Birthday Bash

Birthday cakes, decorations and tasty snacks........$50

Gift bags filled with fun surprises for LTD's favorite friends........$60

15 children laughing, singing and filling shoeboxes for less fortunate children around the world........PRICELESS!!!

Saturday was our 5th birthday bash for LTD and it was an absolute riot! Check out our video to see the difference between a more subdued birthday celebration with Grandma and Papa Good the wknd before vs. Saturday's gathering of 15 children. Let's just say we broke the decibal record at Camp Clark!

The video should give you an idea of how much fun was shared between these little people. We started out with a game of kickball at the park across the street which lasted about 20 minutes until mayhem took over - the boys decided tackling was way more fun than tagging the runners out! OK, plan B - SPRINTS up and down the soccer field and snow angels in the snow.

After we tired them out a bit, we went inside for some hot cocoa and treats and sang some of their favorite Christmas songs (Jingle Bells, Rudolph). From there, we all snuggled up for a brief 10 minute video on "Operation Christmas Child" to remind the kiddos why we were packing shoeboxes and for who. It was simply amazing to see the room so calm & quiet as they watched intently with love in their hearts.

Let the packing and wrapping begin!! Talk about chaos! Dave and I each had a table of children we were overseeing but little did we realize how difficult it is for 3-6 yr olds to "cut paper, tape and wrap neatly" so the covers could actually fit on the boxes. Duh! We called it off after about 20 minutes and decided just to let them fill the boxes and move on.

After the children broke loose into the playroom and Dave and I cleaned up the wrapping aftermath, we brought out the cakes: one for Dylan and one for Lindsey and Taylor. Dylan picked out a Fire & Rescue chocolate cake and the girls picked out a Little Pony cupcake cake.

Here are just a few photos but we plan to show more on our Kodak Gallery site soon. (link in the right column of this blog). Funny thing, Dave and I were SO busy we had little time picking up the video camera and camera! But we got enough to capture some of the magical moments.

LTD went to bed that night SO happy and with SO much to talk about. Shortly after lights went out, they were sound asleep. Aahhh, peace and quiet! Most importantly, 3 happy little angels and a day they will remember for a LONG time.

Today we dropped off the shoeboxes at the OCC warehouse. On the way out the door, Dylan asked, "where we going?". I reminded him we were going to deliver the shoeboxes and he quickly smiled and said, "to Africa?!" After they helped me unload them at the dock, the helpers thanked them and gave them big hugs and smiles. Taylor walked away and said, "I am SO happy, I could cry!"

500,000 shoeboxes were collected in a 5-state area and 8 million around the world. That's alot of caring hearts and compassion. That's what it's all about!! :)

Birthday Babes

Yesterday was a monumental day at Camp Clark - LTD turned 5 years old! It's hard to believe these 3 little angels that once averaged 4 lbs at birth are thriving 5-year-olds already. Where did all that time go and were we awake for it all? Oh, if only we could go back in time and re-live some of those magical moments that made us laugh hysterically, burst with pride at the mini and major milestones or cry because of overwhelming exhaustion. We are positive there are MANY more fond memories to look forward to. Even so, yesterday was filled with lots of emotion for Mama Bear coming to the realization of how quickly her cubs are growing up, but it was a very joyful day/week nonetheless.

Our 5 yr celebration began on Thanksgiving Day since Papa and Grandma Good came to town for the holiday and to celebrate LTD's birthday. We combined Thanksgiving, decorating the tree, decorating our house inside and out for Christmas, and a birthday celebration all into 4 days filled with fun and laughter.

Papa and Grandma left town on Monday and there were some sad faces but the smiles quickly returned the next day on their birthday when they awoke to colorfully-wrapped gifts and their favorite breakfast: pancakes and blueberries (for the eyes, nose, mouth). Later that day, LTD were treated to a special birthday celebration at school with their preschool friends and teachers. I got the chance to partake in it all since I volunteered that day in their classroom which was super rewarding. I loved seeing their faces light up over the birthday song and sharing tasty treats with everybody.

LTD felt SO loved after receiving all the thoughtful phone calls, cards and gifts from family and friends and a special visit from Ethan, one of Dylan's best buddies. We sincerely appreciate all the love that was shared!! After a full afternoon, Dave treated us to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants complete with balloons and ice cream sundaes. We ended our busy day with a big bubble bath, lots of bedtime stories and oodles of hugs and kisses. I personally enoyed snuggling EXTRA long with each child to let them know how much they are loved and how very special they are to us, their family and friends and most importantly, to God. They fell asleep so sweetly and I wished I had a camera to capture that moment with each of them.

The final birthday celebration is this Saturday with all their favorite friends. We plan to play a game of kickball at the park across the street and then will head inside for a "shoebox packing party" for Operation Christmas Child, our family's favorite charity. LTD are excited to share with their friends the gift of giving to children around the world who are hurting and have nothing. We will make sure to post lots of photos! If you want to learn more about OCC, their website is www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. Enjoy a few photos below of our "week".

Sisterly Love

Trimming the Tree

A little help from Grandma

Proud of their decorating efforts

We love our Papa & Grandma GoodBlowing out "5" candles on the cake they helped bake

Cozying up to Papa
Bidding farewell to Papa & Grandma
Birthday morning

Let's try for a 5-yr birthday pose? (or not)
Dylan proud of his "skyscraper" he built with Dad

We Are Thankful For......

Happy Thanksgiving!! We wish everybody a day filled with gratitude, full bellies and happy memories. We started out our day by gathering around the breakfast counter and asked the kiddos what they are most thankful for and here is what was shouted out:

Mom & Dad

Papas & Grandmas

Jesus

Lindsey, Taylor & Dylan

Food

Shoeboxes (Operation Christmas Child)

The sun and trees

Our teachers

That I can skip, whistle and play guitar at the same time (Dylan)

Turkeys

Our house

Our cousins & friends

Dave and I are most thankful for our health, each other, Jesus (ditto!), our angels (LTD), our family and friends, today, what tomorrow may bring, and the promise of eternal life through belief in our Savior. May God bless this great country, guide our leaders, keep a protective hand on our military and help all those who are hungry, homeless, hopeless, helpless, sick, lonely, depressed, lost. May we all do our part to reach out and help where we can, however we can; maybe start by lifting up a prayer today and putting the focus on God and on others, and take it off of ourselves.

Enjoy this day and the weekend. We plan to watch the Macy's Day Parade on TV this morning, head over to Lisa and Jeff's house (Dave's sister) for a Thanksgiving celebration with family, welcome Papa and Grandma Good to town, celebrate LTD's 5th birthday with Papa and Grandma, take in Macy's Christmas display and the Holidazzle Parade downtown Mpls, and possibly sneak in a date night ALONE since we have free babysitting :)

God bless you and your loved ones!!!

Goodwill to All

Christmas season is a heartfelt time of the year. One thing Dave and I are trying to instill in our children is that it is much better to give than to receive. After all, this is the season of celebrating the birth of Jesus who gave his life for all of us and loves us unconditionally. Whatever we can do for our fellow brothers and sisters, we need to do our best to reach out and help, especially those that are less fortunate or invisible at times although they give so much of themselves: military, police officers, firemen, pastors, teachers, volunteer workers, charitable organizations, homeless people, less fortunate families and children, just to name a select few.

The last two days have been filled with lots of "giving". Yesterday, we participated in a packing party at our church for "Operation Christmas Child". We had such a great time with other families packing up shoeboxes loaded with donated goodies/toys for hurting children across the world. It was amazingly rewarding witnessing over 60 children (and their parents) delight in packing the boxes and tucking personalized notes inside about themselves to be shared with children who may have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus. The best part was watching all the children load a trailer FULL with 397 BOXES!!! Again, only 60 children did all this to help children they don't even know with hopes of brightening their world in some small way.

Today, LTD insisted we drop off some homemade chocolate chip cookies for the firemen because "they keep us safe". This was their idea and I was one proud mom! So, they created some thank-you cards and off we went to the local fire station. We got to meet the Fire Chief and he was so grateful and touched by their goodwill. He even gave us a quick tour of the station. Dylan asked if he could drive the fire truck with a BIG smile on his face and they laughed BUT they did give them firemen hats and coloring books instead. Next time perhaps?

Now tomorrow, they want to bake more cookies for the policemen so they can deliver them to the local police station. So I guess we will be baking again in the morning. I wonder if Dylan is going to ask if he can drive the police car or if the girls are going to ask to pet the canine unit (they have a heart for animals)? Looks like we may be doing ALOT of baking this season - such little people, such big hearts!