Christmas Blessing–by Newsong

December 2001

I remember our first Christmas.
We were young and so in love.
 

December 2002

Nothing to give, but we had each other
Somehow that was more than enough.

 December 2003

I remember how you held me.
Said you’d never let me go.

December 2004

Now here we are, another year, another Christmas.
And there's something you should know.

This is my Christmas Blessing
This is my Christmas prayer.

December 2005

No matter where the years may take us
Love will find us there.

December 2006

This is my Christmas promise.
This is my gift to you.

December 2007 

Forever we will be together
God will see us through.
And you'll have me, and I'll have you.

December 2008

I know that heaven sent you to me.   I know that love’s a gift from God.

December 2009

And I’m reminded every Christmas of the wonder of it all.

December 2010

This is my Christmas promise
This is my gift to you.

December 2011

Forever we will be together
God will see us through
And you'll have me, and I'll have you.

You can listen to the song here:  http://youtu.be/OTXQ0t9k4NA

Christmas # 1

The whole gang

My brother, niece, and sister-in-law

Me and Olivia

Olivia and Izzy with their stockings

Hooray!

Now, what to open next. . .

My brother and a pink, Disney princess guitar. . .ha ha!

Me and my basket

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Olivia is going through a big Squinkies phase right now.  I tell ya, those things are going to be the death of me. LOL!  You wouldn’t believe how attached Olivia can get to one and how easy they are to misplace.  I mean, they are about the size of the tip of my finger.  But, she only likes the animal Squinkies.   I’ve seriously just put the people ones in a bag to give away.  Her current favorites?

Peacock and seahorse

We’ve created a whole Squinkie town and they even go to school in a “schoolhouse” with their teacher, Mrs. Honeybear.

This isn’t the best picture, but Kelsey’s legs in the background cracked me up. 

Ready for school!

And at the top of Olivia’s Christmas list?  A Squinkie Zoo!  She was sure to tell Santa all about it. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Over the weekend, I introduced Olivia to one of my favorite movies growing up. . .The Mouse and The Motorcycle.  The entire movie is on Youtube.   Beverly Cleary was one of my very favorite authors growing up.  Olivia watched it about 5 times in one day. . .she absolutely LOVED it!  She also has a little miniature mouse that looks just like Ralph, so that was really neat for her too.  Then, today we went to get our hair cut and at the salon, there was a hole in the side of the reception desk.  Olivia was SURE that there was a mouse in there (and a bit disappointed when there wasn’t.) LOL! 

Speaking of mice. . .well, sort of. . .we saw a commercial on PBS for an interactive learning website called www.abcmouse.com.  Olivia really wanted to check it out, so this afternoon we did just that.  I was a little disappointed that it has a monthly subscription, but we got the first month free so I thought we’d try it out.  I have a really hard time getting Olivia excited about learning things at home.  Some days it’s as if she is not receptive at all.  Well, she adores this website!  It’s like an interactive classroom with lessons that include books, songs, puzzles, games, art and printables.  You can also take a trip to the zoo or the farm and check out books from the library.  It is for age 2 through kindergarten and really concentrates on getting a child ready for kindergarten.  For each lesson completed, you get tickets and Olivia shouts out loud when she gets tickets because she’s saving up to buy a pet at the online pet store.  You have an entire shopping center to buy things from and you add them to your online room.  We just started this today, but I am initially very impressed and Olivia can’t wait to learn more!  I’m hoping that her interest doesn’t fade and I’m working on ways to keep it very exciting for her!  So far, I think it’s something that you should definitely check out!

Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)

I did not create this, but saw it and thought I'd share.  Be sure to pause the music player on your right before starting video.  Beautiful reminder of what this time of year truly means. 

Kitties Love Christmas

Kelsey is constantly either on the railing or under the Christmas tree.  As long as she isn’t ON the TREE, right?  And let’s just pray she doesn’t fall off the railing because it’s a long ways down to   the basement.   We thought she was behaving herself, but after looking under the tree, we found multiple ornaments and an entire branch pulled off.  She’s adorable, but she is ornery! 

Cousin Fun

Olivia spent the afternoon at my parents’ house so that Ryan and I could get some much needed pre-Christmas stuff done.  Wow, I’m exhausted.  My dad sent me these pictures of Olivia and Izzy.  Looks like they got out every stuffed animal in the house (most of which are my old stuffed animals that I won’t take home. . .LOL!)  But, my mom seems to send my old stuff home with Olivia quite a bit, so I guess the jokes on me.