Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Merry Christmas from our family!
Our prayer is that we'll all remember the true reason we celebrate Christmas - Jesus' birthday.

Santa Came Early...

Andrew got his big Christmas present today, and boy, was he excited!! We thought a swing set would be the perfect gift for Andrew. He loves to swing and slide, and most of all, he loves being outside. We're looking forward to many fun times playing on it in the years to come. Come on over, friends and family, to play anytime!

p.s. Santa had a helper with this gift.... great job on building it Wilson! :)

Yummy!

I love to bake...especially at Christmas!! I am sure that this is because of all the time I spent in the kitchen with mom growing up. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking and decorating Christmas cookies. Mom had such a great collection of cookie cutters and always had fun little sprinkles and such to decorate with. Well, I've started the tradition at our house. Wilson has been sweet to join me the last few years, but this year it was fun to make cookies with Andrew, too! We took a few pictures to remember our day.

Look at him! He really seems so intent on his decorating, doesn't he?!! He loved holding the "paintbrush" (actually bought in the baking section) and moving it in the icing.

So, once he finished decorating the Christmas tree. I asked him if he'd like to decorate a star next. I placed the star on his tray while I added a little yellow food coloring to the icing and when I look back, this is what I found! No more decorating for Andrew... I think he thought that cookie was pretty good all by itself!

Yummy! A boy after his mom's own heart - a sweet lover!

Baby Praise

I have been wanting to share about one of Andrew's (and my) favorite things! The "Praise Baby Collection" cds and dvds are precious!! At our house, we call them Baby Praise, and whenever we ask Andrew if he wants to watch Baby Praise he gets so excited and immediately goes to the TV.

Now, let me say, I am not a big fan of putting movies in for Andrew. In fact I really try not to show them much... but Baby Praise is different. The dvds are so soothing and calming to him, and I truly believe that they are good for his mind and spirit. The praise songs are beautifully sung - Wilson and I even enjoy listening to them. I find myself singing them throughout the day!

The dvds shows children (of various ages, cultures, nationalities, abilities) playing with one another or discovering something new on their own, it shows animals of all kinds, and even presents some educational material such as ABC's and 123's - and all of this set to uplifting, praise music. You can also buy cd's of the music.

The Bible study that I've been attending on Philippians focused on verse 4:8 recently. "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, ... - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." How great to feel that the Praise Baby Collection is providing wholesome, nurturing material for Andrew to listen to and watch.

Andrew first began watching the Baby Praise movies in his carseat on his first long road trip when he was about 5-6 months old. He has enjoyed them ever since, and I think between me and my mom, we own them all! Our latest one to love is the Christmas one. It is so sweet. One of my favorite things about it is how is tells the Christmas story in simple, understandable terms... Andrew stops to listen to the story each time he hears it.

Please check out the website: www.praisebaby.com
The cd's and dvd's would be great gifts for your little ones or for friends' babies. We've bought ours at Lifeway. I just wanted to share what a blessing these have been to us - I hope you'll enjoy them too.