Happy First Day of Winter!

Today is the last day of school before winter break!

Here is a peek at all the holiday things we have been up to lately.

Every year Purdue puts up a huge tree in the Union

and a life sized gingerbread house. It is so fun to see

and the smells are amazing.

We made a gingerbread house too.

And had our annual cookie making with the cousins and Nana & Pops.

We have also had quite a snowy December!

Jeremy's work held a holiday party for all of the families, complete with Santa, Mrs. Claus and a mailbox to the North Pole.

And lastly, Jaclyn had her first Christmas program at Preschool. She did a great job singing all the songs, especially Twinkle,Twinkle, Christmas Star.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

And the Winner is ...

To get ready for Fire Safety Week the first graders all made posters. The posters were judged by the West Lafayette Fire Department. Pretty cool, huh!
Jaeden's teacher stopped me one morning and told me she had something to tell me but it had to be kept from Jaeden. I had no idea what she was going to say. She told me that Jaeden was the winner for all of the 1st grade boys (they picked a girl winner too) of the poster contest!! I was thrilled. I have always thought he was incredibly talented at drawing, but for someone else to love what he has drawn as well, I was over the moon! BUT, I couldn't let Jaeden know for a whole week!!! So I contained myself and quietly let some friends and family know. Finally the day had come for the principal to announce the winners. I hung around in the hallway until announcements to see his reaction. It was precious, he was proud but kind of in a shy way. So what was the prize for winning the poster contest......
Jaeden got to ride home from school on the fire truck!!! Lights and Sirens and all! He didn't know what to think of it all, he even went straight upstairs to his desk to draw when he got home. He drew fire trucks of course! And as an extra surprise, Grandma Nana and Papaw were able to make it up too!! Here are some pictures of the day!!

Meeting the Fire Chief and Fireman

Still not sure what to think about all this

Strapped in and ready to roll

Jaeden's class cheering him on as they left

Almost home..

The winning poster. Jaeden's was the Stop, Drop, and Roll one.

Fall ....

A Royal Affair....

Miss Jaclyn turned 4 last week!! We had a whirlwind of celebrating. Both sets of grandparents were able to come up and spend time with the kids and made some great memories.
Then... on Saturday we had a Princess Tea Party for Jaclyn and 5 of her little Princess friends. I am not sure who had more fun, me planning it or Jaclyn and the girls. It was adorable to see all of them dressed in their princess dresses drinking pink lemonade in their tea cups.
We had pink cup cakes, pink lemonade, strawberries, grapes and cheese cubes ( a royal spread for sure!) Each princess also got to take home her tea cup. The girls started playing dolls and polly pockets, then they each made a tiara to take home and after cupcakes were right back to the dolls and polly pockets.
Check out the link to view all the photos. (we are having some technical difficulties with the computer. Which may or may not have been caused by me saving all my photos to the wrong spot and bogging it down!)


HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, MISS JACLYN!!!
We love you!

Just one of those days...

Today was one of those mornings. Nothing in particular wrong, just didn't feel right. So after I hurriedly got the kids off to school ( I woke up way after the alarm!) I ran an errand and then stopped off at the house. I came in grabbed my camera, and a drink and was off. I just need to to clear my head. I decided a walk at the Celery Bogg would do it. So as I listened to the sounds of the ducks, geese, and other animals in the woods I started to feel more peaceful. I looked around me at all the amazing things, down to that turtle I almost stepped on. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed, insignificant, or not important. But as I took in my surroundings it became crystal clear that God has a plan for all of us. His plan may not be our plan or even on the same map as ours. It is sometimes hard to see the "big picture" when it seems everything is spinning out of control. Sometimes we just need to stop take a look at the beauty around us and know that everything is going to be okay.
I have had this scripture on my heart as well:
" And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:2-5


Here are some of the photos I took this morning.