Dear Tooth Fairy...

As promised, Carly's letters to the Tooth Fairy.  First, she thought she'd just write the TF "just to see what would happen" by letting her know her birthday was coming up!  My favorite part is: "I miss you".  Well, then she REALLY DID lose a tooth!  And figured she's leave the original letter to get that present.  THEN, she LOST her lost tooth, and was crying hysterically!  So, I reminded her how much the Tooth Fairy enjoys her letters, and she could just write one explaining what happened (you are welcome!), and she said, "yeah, I already did!"  Ha!

Here's how it goes:

dear tooth fairy,
I'm so sorry to say this but I lost my tooth this morning and put it in the bag and it must've fell out!  By the way tomorrow's my Birthday can you leave me 20 dollars? Bycause I heard in Texas they give kids 20.
Sincerly, Carly.

Ahhh, the Infamous Texas Tooth Fairy.  Ben and Carly have heard about her from their cousin, Torrey.  She's so very generous.  If I lived in Texas, losing teeth might be considered a Side Job.  I'm just saying.

Well, I didn't SEE this for myself because the night the Tooth Fairy came, I was working, but APPARENTLY "She" made Carly a birthday card, and has BEAUTIFUL handwriting!  I'm guessing the Handwriting Course that is required of all Education Majors at Liberty University really did pay off.  Who knew?

Family Game Night, Chinese Style

Our Advent Activities continue....Sunday we had our swim team Christmas party...  Last night was watching A Charlie Brown Christmas special with popcorn.  We are REALLY big Charlie Brown fans here, so that one was a pretty big hit.  Tonight was family game night... Chinese Checkers.  And to make the night complete, we had Chinese food for dinner! Mmmmmmm.  Kids were happy to have Uncle Rodney over for the fun.  Ryan won the game.  We were all kind of THRILLED when he won.  Do you know how long it takes to play Chinese Checkers with 5 people?  Especially when one of them is more concerned with her Medieval Princess Garb?  (Ummm, that would be CARLY, not me!).

After the kids went off to bed, I found Ben in our room watching TV (he has a later bed time than his sister) and thought this was too cute not to share.  Our cat Cassidy, who you have heard me call the family-member-who-contributes-the-LEAST, LOVES Ben.  It's a little crazy since this cat hates to be messed with or handled (which we do ANYWAYS) ~ but he follows Ben around like a dog.  And when Ben goes to bed, this cat stays with him until morning.  I can't remember Ben ever even holding him, except for the first day he came to our house. (Cassidy, not Ben!)  Here's Ben and Cassidy...

 

You might need to click on the picture to appreciate the sweetness... Oh, and to my BFF Sue... notice the fine artwork in my bedroom.  Love it. 

Hallelujah Advent

This evening we enjoyed yet another Advent Activity... this one was at my parents church (The Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church... yes, that is the official name).  Christmas program.  Above, Ben and Carly on one of the staircases in the grand foyer.  Prior to the show, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at Jake's Hamburger joint... and the Nativity Display in the church's library. 

This was a pretty cool display... people loaned their Nativity sets from all different countries, etc.  The second from the left (top) is my mom's gourd from Kenya... She had a few in the display.  We really loved the Alaska nativity, and wished we had seen one while we were there!!!  And of course, our biggest favorite, Charlie Brown.  Got to find that one. 

We loved the teenagers Show Choir (front) and the church's choir is pretty impressive, too!

LOVED this part, these guys came out to play for the Hallelujah Chorus.  It was really quite moving. You know, jamming, so really cool, but also REALLY worshipful.  Loved it.  Earlier this week, I was listening to The New Young Messiah CD and was just so moved by this song... of course, it's a great song, but all I could think about was our grandparents and other people we know who are already in Heaven, standing around God's Throne, worshipping... whole, healthy... singing, "the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"

The reason we chose THIS night to attend the Christmas program (there were 3 nights to choose from) was because of this group that came to sing...  Selah.  I really love this group.  Mostly because I have found the blog of the wife of one of the members (get all that?) to be so encouraging and moving...   You can check it out HERE.   Anyways, we enjoyed their set so much.  Super talented, and songs with really great lyrics.

And I will leave you with one last Nativity:

Real one, on the stage. 

Other Advent Activities we have been enjoying...
McDonald's for breakfast... Making Christmas Candy's (this idea was on my cousin's blog... only we used Red and Green M&M's instead of the pecans ~ we didn't have any nuts!)... Driving around and looking at Christmas Lights... Movie and Sleepover with Grammy and Papoo.

Oh!! Speaking of the Christmas Lights... the night before Caroline made a certificate to give to the house with the best display.  We were GOING to just leave it in the mailbox, but decided last minute that it might be MORE fun to go up and ring the doorbell.  You know, I was WITH HER, she didn't go up alone.  It occurred to me that it might be fun to be SOMEONE ELSE's "not so random" encourager.  Anyways, we truck up to this house and knock on the door, completely freaking the people out, but then they laughed and accepted Carly's award.  On the way home, we were happy to have made someone else giggle... and we thought that they might tell their friends/co-workers the next day about Carly's award, and perhaps THEY would giggle, too, so our being complete dorks was well worth it!  Spreading a little Christmas Joy... McGregor Style!

Advent Activities

We FINALLY got to "Trim" our tree today!  As you can see.... Carly was mostly excited about the COOKIES!  We had some hot cocoa (well, coffee for me!), a few cookies (ok, much more than a FEW cookies), put on a little Christmas music... and hung some ornaments.  We waited until today to get the tree done as I was (ok, not me, my dad) painting the wall red!  LOVE IT!  Mostly because I love anything RED.

Here are a few pictures from the festivities...

New this year, is the ribbon... I must have bought it on clearance last year because I found a HUGE roll of it in the Christmas boxes.... not sure I love it on the tree, but it's staying:)

Can you see all the angels on the top?

HA!  Hilarious posed picture... Aren't they so sweet looking?  Actually, they were completely fooling around.  Shocking, I know.

Other Advent Activities we have been enjoying...

Panera Bread for dinner (mmmmm, yummy soup!)

Trip to Applebee's to pick a couple of kids off the Angel Tree there (sponsored by Easter Seals, which is a favorite of ours!)... then they went shopping and brought their gifts back.  Ryan was on his own with that one, I was at work!

Christmas Cards, with photo's they took themselves, then we doctored up with Picnik.... oh wait, must add those, they are fun!

Carly was giggling about this one... "It's for Auntie Laurie!"  Ah, our resident Squirrel Lover.

Carly was more into it than Ben was... it was, afterall, interupting his computer time!  More fun to come this week!

'Tis the Season... for a new blog header

This verse could not be MORE appropriate for this "Time of Year"... we are celebrating God's greatest GIFT to us. His Son. Here's how the verse begins... "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent his One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him. (Keep reading...) v.10, This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Among us. He gave us something NOT because we loved HIM, but because He loved us. First. Huh... think about that for a while. He thinks I'm worth it.

Thanks for the taking the picture, Rochel:)

Advent

In case you haven't realized.... it's the Christmas Season! Around our house, our favorite tradition this time of year is our Advent Calendar. You can click HERE to remind yourself of my feelings about this time of year... I hate to repeat myself:) HA! Our calendar is up again (Ben was a little worried it might not be making it's appearance this year!) and I even made one for Eli (speaking of which, if any of the parents of our OTHER nieces or nephews would like to participate, I'd be happy to create one for your family, as well... but it might not get to you for THIS season) so he can start to experience the fun! Our hearts are already filled with anticipation, whether it's for extra time spent on family activities or just for slowing down, we are getting ready!

Last year, while we were driving to Michigan, I read this book out loud to Ryan...

.... it's just a Random book (yeah, right) I had come across on Amazon.com... I had meant to read it sooner in the month, but never got the time until we were locked in the car for 24 hours. It was really meaningful to us, and we decided to read it again THIS year with the kids... it is set up with a reading for every day, morning and evening for the month of December. Here's a brief quote from the introduction:

In our culture we are easily distracted from the celebration's true purpose. Too many of us know that the Christmas season can quickly disintegrate into a time of stress, greed, busyness, competition, and emotional overload. To guard against the danger of overlaying the holy with the mundane, I offer you this little book. I invite you to begin each day of this Advent season not with to do lists and shopping lists, but with your heart anchored on the one Gift, who left His throne from which he heard the continual cry of "Holy, holy, holy" to take on a man's frame and hear instead "Crucify Him!"

I don't know about you, but we come dangerously close to getting lost in the mundane... hopefully we will be successful this year in savoring. Our Pastor's are at it again with some AWESOME sermon's on Advent... and you can now listen to them online! Love that. And seriously, Lou delivered a great one last Sunday to kick it all off and really explained what Advent is all about... even if you just listen to the beginning, you can get a greater understanding. www.tampacovenantchurch.org and click on the "sermons" link and you will be hooked up... oh, and also for your listening pleasure is the sermon on forgiveness, (9/13/09) in case you are interested:) I was certainly interested!

All that to say, YESTERDAY we kicked off our Advent calendar with making ornaments for our tree, and to share with friends... Ben's creation was just too cute not to share:

A few months ago they had taken pictures of their webkins to make scrapbooks with, and this little beagle picture was left over so he put it in his frame... super cute!

Today they got to have a Super Mario's Smash Brothers Tournament on the Wii with their Dad... they don't get to play during the week, so they were pretty excited about that! I'm pretty sure Dad is winning, however! I'm hearing lots of giggles which is a pretty sweet sound!

Ok... that is how December has started out for us! More fun to follow.... THAT will give you something to look forward to, RIGHT?!!

Adding in some Quotes before deleting from the sidebar:

"I'm going to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy and tell her it's my birthday and just see what happens"
~ Clever Carly (Hey Sweet Cheeks... I think the Tooth Fairy is WELL AWARE of when your Birthday is...)

(our car alarm went off when the kids were trying to get into it...)
"Dad, you need to get the car fixed, it keeps thinking that we are thieves trying to break in!"
~ Ben... of course

Birthday Madness

A little Birthday Madness around here, as we finally have an 8 year old! If Carly didn't LOVE her birthday (and she DID!) then there could be something wrong with her! Her day started off EARLY with breakfast at iHop when I got off work... so at 7am. Her pick. She showed up wearing shorts and a tank top (coldest morning of the year, so far... 47 degrees) and having made her very own Birthday Ribbon.

Click the picture to view that ribbon... she's so crafty! Here's what she got for breakfast:

Yummy.

Back home, Carly got to open her presents from Auntie Laurie. She made her own card:) (BY THE WAY... I LOVE those robot stamps!!) the Aquamarine movie is from Ben. What a good big brother.

All ready for dinner at the Olive Garden. She's NOW wearing a jacket from Grandma (also got an outfit and lava lamp from Grandma and Grandpa) and a little cash... and an adorable purse from Aunt Randee (filled, to Carly's great delight!, with GUM, lipgloss, and fake fingernails)... and she's wearing jewelry she lifted from my room. Hmmm.

a few presents while waiting for dinner to arrive... Let's just say she was THRILLED with Grammy and Papoo's present. She has since told me that she and Grammy are Practically Twins now that they BOTH have electric blankets! HA! Uncle Steve and Auntie Tracy gave Target gift cards, which she spent TODAY (nintendo DS game, pj's, necklace, 2 'lil kins, Printies... money from Great Grandma covered that, too....)

Fun things from Aunt Rochel... and a pool towel. Our Swim Monkey will totally be styling now!

HA! Carly's Less-than-excited-Cousin. "Where's my food?!?!!?" Actually, he was already eating jar food.

oh, she's clever, all right!

after dinner... CAKE! And Aunt Rochel outdid herself! We saw this cake on Stellan's Mama's blog and well, it was PERFECT for this girl! The Olive Garden staff came over and sang, too, which was GREAT!

Elfy all ready for bed! She's loving Carly's warm present already!

yup, that's where the cat sleeps all night! NOT tied to the bed (that's for you, Tracy)...

Finally, the shoes Carly purchased at Ross with some bday money... she found these lovelies herself! Oh, and got up this morning at 6am because "I thought the shoes might take a little more time to lace up, so I made sure I got up in enough time to get them on..." HA!

Thanks to everyone for making C's bday so very special... she loved the phone calls and cards and gifts. Thanks to Our Personal Baker! You are so very talented! And to the fam for trekking out to the Olive Garden after shopping all day!