Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas


The baking is done,


The stockings are hung,


The presents are under the tree.


We have no turtle doves,
But we send you our love,
And hope your Christmas is merry!




Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fire Trucks & Dogs

One of our sweet little friends from church ( & her mom) had a fun event last week. They invited us to tour the local fire station and then have lunch at their house! About 20 kids and their moms had a blast as we explored and learned.

The fireman and all of his gear



An attempt at a family picture with the truck. Apparently I was the only one interested.


Josiah was more scared than excited about being so close to a fire truck that day, but now he can't stop talking about it. I bet it will be fun to do again in a year or so.

And now for the dog...

Everyone knows that Bella drives us crazy sometimes. But, every time we think about how life without her would be a little easier, we get reminded that she is truly a part of the family. I walked into the living room the other day to find this...


They were just standing there, looking out the window, Siah's arm around Bella. Siah just loves to hug her and Bella actually stands still and lets him! Oh...a boy and his dog.


Saturday, December 12, 2009

Photo Shoot

We had an impromptu photo shoot of the little guys last Sunday in their church attire.



If we were sending out Christmas cards, we would use one of these, but since we already sent out birth announcements this year we're not doing Christmas cards.


So...let's pretend...



You go to the mailbox. "Oh look! A card from that great Wood family. I can't wait to open it and see what they're up to these days." You excitedly tear open the envelope. "Wow! What a sweet picture of those dear, well-behaved, always cheerful boys. Their home is clearly a calm, organized, happy place where only lovely words are spoken. Andy & Amy apparently have this parenting thing totally under control. I'm so glad to have gotten this Christmas card!"


Well friends, obviously your above statements are completely accurate. And we didn't even have to send a card to prove it!

Truthfully, the past few weeks have been a constant reminder of how helpless we are and how much we need Jesus (funny how kids bring you to the end of yourself soooo quickly). We hope you have a joyous Advent season!


Monday, December 7, 2009

This is what happens...

When you leave a 2-year-old alone for TWO minutes with some markers...


Literally...we were coloring a little craft that came with 3 little markers. I left the room for two minutes to change Cooper's diaper and came back to this. Siah was so proud of his artwork!


Friday, December 4, 2009

Advent

It's hard to believe the first week of Advent is almost over! This is one of my favorite times of year - I love the excitement and hope as we prepare for Christmas. We are establishing some traditions in our little family and are using an Advent Devotional this year that was created by another Raleigh PCA church. It has been great!
You can find it here - http://www.ctkraleigh.org/advent/

We also pulled out Josiah's little nativity set on Sunday. If you remember last year, he was mostly interested in the donkey. I was curious to see what would capture his attention this year! Well, in 2-year-old boy style, here's what happened.

We set up everything. He correctly identified Baby Jesus, the shepherds and the animals. We talked about Mary & Joseph, the angel, and the star over the stable. It was a delightful Norman Rockwell-esque picture of a child learning and playing. Then it got violent. Mary body-slammed one of the sheep off the table. A shepherd threw the cow overboard. The donkey started pulling Joseph around in its cart. The angel was pressed NONSTOP to play "O little town of Bethlehem". Next everyone took a spin in Josiah's cement mixer. After dinner I found this sight...


Apparently the entire crew needed a ride in the fire truck. Awesome. So I guess we'll be looking for pieces of the nativity all over the house for the next month. At least he enjoys playing with them!