Christmas Book Tradition

We are starting a new tradition this year.  As part of Advent we are going to read Christmas books everyday as we count down to Christmas.  I think I first saw this idea on Pinterest.  Since we are Christians, we want to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth.  As far as Santa Claus goes, I think knowing about St. Nick is great and carrying on his legacy for secretly leaving gifts is a fun idea, but I don't want Santa Claus to get in the way of focusing on what is most important, Christ.  Therefore, most the books are more about Christ than Santa and some are just about the Christmas holiday in general and fun.

 

The plan is, I'm about to wrap 24 books and everyday Caden can upwrap one book to read.  Then we can read that book and any other books that he has already unwrapped.  Christmas morning we will read Luke 2 from the Bible.  I always seem to go overboard with books.  So finding just 24 books was difficult, especially since we have a few Christmas books from previous years and I found lots of new ones that looked so neat.  So I'm going to wrap a few books together, especially if they seem to go together.  After this year I'm hoping to comb through the books and only have ones that Caden and any future siblings would enjoy year after year.  Here is my list in no particular order:

1. The Parable Series: The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Higgs



2. Mary's First Christmas by Walter Wangerin Jr.



3. A Fruitcake Christmas by Max Lucado

 

4. Story of Baby Jesus by Alice J. Davidson



5. The Christmas Candle by Richard Paul Evans



6. Santa, Are You For Real? by Harold Myra, Jane Kurisu












7. Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado



8. The Legend of the Three Trees by Catherine McCafferty



9. The Twelve Bugs of Christmas by Max Lucado and The 12 Bugs of Christmas by David A. Carter

         

10. The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado



11. If You're Missing Baby Jesus by Jean Gietzen



12. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer and Christmas Stocking by Dawn Sirett

   

13. The Twelve Days of Christmas Illustrated by Caroline Pedler



14. A Letter to Santa by Barnes and Noble

 

15. A Night in Santa's Great Big Bag by Kristin Kladstrup



16. This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotton



17. The Night Before Christmas two books by Jan Brett and Moore

  

18. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg



19. God Gave us Christmas by Lisa Bergren



20. Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo



21. Who is Coming to Our House? By Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff and Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft

   

22. The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg



23. Llama Llam Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney



24. The Usborne Advent Nativity Book



25. Good News of Great Joy by C. Michael Dudash - will probably be read on Christmas Day because it's taken directly from Luke 2



 

Lots to be Thankful For!

We have so much to be thankful for.  I really love Thanksgiving and am so thankful for many things in life, especially my family.  After being away from family for the past 4 years, we finally were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our parents and siblings.  But our biggest reason to be thankful this year is I am pregnant again!!  I'm 7.5 weeks and so far everything is looking really good.  This being my 5th pregnancy with only having one live birth classifies me as high risk along with all the various medical conditions I have.  Having a baby is not something to be taken lightly.  Children are TRULY a GIFT from GOD.  Every week since I was four weeks along, I go in for an appointment and blood work.  Last week I had my second sonogram and tomorrow I see my perinatologist and will probably have my 3rd sonogram.  I went to get the Lovenox injections (I'm supposed to do shots every day in the belly for a blood clotting disorder I have) and the pharmacist said it would be $292.36!!  Uh, what?!  I asked if he had my insurance, which I knew they did.  He said, "yes, it's just a very expensive medication.  This is also only a 30-day supply."  So please say a prayer that we can find something else to do because we just don't have an extra $300 a month to spend on additional medicine.  Other than that I'm doing good.  My progesterone levels came back a little low from last week so I'm going to double my supplements.  We are so excited and I'm praying this will be a successful pregnancy and we'll have another healthy baby.  Specific prayers for this baby would be greatly appreciated.  Mainly that he or she does not have an unbalanced translocation, we want it to be normal or balanced.  Also that he or she is healthy and continues to grow and develop well.

 

Originally we were just going to go to west Texas to visit Collin's parents for Thanksgiving but the day before we were supposed to leave my doctor told me I shouldn't travel.  We waited a few days and decided since I was feeling fine, we'd make the trip.  I had had light spotting the week before but hadn't since then.  We also really needed to see Collin's parents.,  His parents were moving to New Mexico to be closer to his brother and sister-in-law and we were supposed to help them move.  Caden was very sad when we told him that he and I might not be able to go.  He had been looking forward to seeing Nene and Granddad for months.  I decided that I was up for the 8 hour drive each way and we left Friday.  Sadly I was not going to be able to help at all.  I'm on limited activity and am unable to lift anything heavy or do a lot of walking or exercise.

 

Thanksgiving Day we went to my parents' house for a fun and delicious Thanksgiving lunch.  I actually don't remember the last time I had Thanksgiving with my family because when we lived in Texas previously we would always spend Thanksgiving in west Texas and Christmas in town.  It was nice to see my grandmothers, aunt, uncles, and cousins.  The only family that wasn't there was my step-brother who went to his girlfriend's house for Thanksgiving.

 

Friday we left for west Texas.  After the 8-hour drive we made it.  I'm so glad Caden is such a good traveler.  Saturday I woke up with the worst morning sickness I've ever had.  I threw up 3 times.  I was so sick and could barely get out of bed.  I road to town with Collin to get some crackers and things and even threw up in the parking lot at the grocery store.  I took it easy and the next night I slept with crackers by my bed.  I never threw up with Caden so this is new.  I feel for all the other women out there who have experienced this.  Not fun!

 

It was so nice to see Collin's parents, brothers, and sister-in-laws.  We even saw some of his nieces and nephews.  Caden loves going to the country and running around, climbing things, and just being with his grandparents.  We are so sad that they had to move since they love their home so much.  But it is probably better that they live close to family.  We are going to miss going to their house and enjoying west Texas.  We are also going to miss seeing them as often as they have moved even further away.  Now we'll have to fly to see them.  Or else it will take two days to get there by car.  But I know they are in a better situation now so I'm glad about that.  And they might even get to move back home in three months if their conditions improve.

 

I'm glad we went to west Texas and thankfully I've had no problems medically since coming home.  Praise God!  It's very risky for me to travel right now so we'll probably not take anymore trips for a few months.  I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!!

Fun at a Cheese Farm, Bottle Factory, and Chocolate Factory

Last Saturday we decided to take a day trip to the country.  I have really missed the cheese from Europe, especially The Netherlands.  Europeans usually make their cheese fresh, using only the freshest ingredients, including raw milk from grass fed cows and goats.  So I was looking online to see if I could order some delicious cheese from somewhere and I found a farm about 1 hour, 45 minutes away, that makes and sells cheese, organic raw milk, organic eggs, and local organic meat, beef and sausage.  You can visit the farm, take a tour, and see how they make their cheese.  Which is very cool!  The farm was called Veldhuizen Cheese.

Where all the cheese is made

Yum!

Lots of tasty samples

Collin had a men's Bible study Saturday morning so we missed the tour.  However, we were still able to explore the farm, see the cows and baby calves, which Caden loved.  We saw the outside of the cheese cave, hopefully next time we'll get there in time to go inside.  There was also a large white dog who lived on the farm that was very friendly.  Caden tried feeding the calves grass, so sweet.  We also tried between 12-15 cheeses.  It was the BEST cheese I've had since living in Germany.  We saw the machines they used and the owner/cheese expert, said the equipment is from The Netherlands and he follows those methods in cheese making.  We filled our ice chest with lots of local fresh cheeses, milk, and meats. 

 

Cheese Cave

Caden and the big white dog!

The cows were very pretty

Feeding the calf grass

Next we ate at a local restaurant called Granny Clark's.  It was home cooking at its best.  Collin and I each ordered a meat plate with 3 veggies.  Collin got chicken fried steak, I got chicken tenders.  The meal came with a drink and dessert all for $8!  What a deal!  We shared our food with Caden and still had leftovers.  For a couple bucks more you could order the all you can eat buffet.  Everything is made fresh there and it was packed with locals. 

After a delicious lunch we headed to Dublin Bottling Works, where Dr. Pepper used to be made.  Now they make sodas with pure cane sugar, yummy!  I ordered a dark soda from the soda jerk and Caden had his first taste of soda.  I loved the look on his face!  I asked him if he liked it and he said yes.  He tried a few more small sips then gave it back to me.  We're not big soda drinkers but we bought a big case of a variety of pure cane sugar sodas anyway.  Collin said we might as well buy 24 since they'd only be $1 each instead of $1.50.

Where the pure cane sodas are made

Enjoying my drink

I love his faces!

That's all, thank you!

Next we headed to the small town of Hico to a chocolate factory called Wiseman House Chocolates.  Did I ever mention that Europeans also have better chocolate than Americans?  Especially the Belgians and Swiss.  All the chocolate is made by hand from the same chocolate from Belgium and Venezuela.  They only use fresh ingredients and leave out added sugars, glutens, sodium nitrates, and trans fats.  If you like chocolate you'd love their chocolate.  They offer tours and classes as well.  Think of episode of I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel made chocolate.  If you visit, make sure you bring some money because this is the not the cheap chocolate you buy at Target or Walmart.  We tasted some delicious chocolates, then loaded up our small ice chest with chocolate gifts for Christmas.  Maybe when Caden is older we'll all take a chocolate making class.  I think he'd love it.  He's always wanted to cook or bake something.

We enjoyed our day trip a lot.  I am so glad there are so many wonderful places to visit around us that are only a day trip away.

Halloween Parties

This year we've enjoyed going to three Halloween parties.  We went to a birthday party, a Halloween party with our journey group from church, and a party with my Mom's Club, and Caden had a party at school.  Caden was a Fighter Pilot this year.  He also enjoyed a Halloween party at his school.  I was so glad I was able to go and help out.  Caden had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and going to all the fun parties.  On Halloween we took him around our neighborhood.  I loved meeting new neighbors.  We have some very generous neighbors.  A lot of them told Caden to reach in and grab a big handful of candy.  We also visited one of my grandmothers.  All the kids were so cute this year!  Here are some of the pictures.

Mom's Club Trick or Treating at a Retirement Center

Some of the kids from Mom's Club

Party at school

 

He got lots of candy

They played games

I got to be there for circle time, so sweet

Kids from his class all dressed up

Trick or treating door to door at school

Halloween morning
 

 Our Church's Fall Festival

Riding a pony at our church's fall festival

Jumping on the fun sticky wall

Mom's Club family Halloween party, at Mandy's house

Caden loved the tire swing

Playing with Lily

Small group Halloween party at Lloyd and Julia's House, I wish I would have taken more pictures.

Aaron and Collin being goofy at our small group Halloween party

Apple mouths, what is in Collin's mouth in the picture above

Scary spinach dip

Gluten free pumpkin almond butter brownies
 

Visit to see Great Grandmother Dot

 

 Proctor's Birthday Halloween Party

 

Caden and Samantha

 

 

Toby's Birthday Party