The Christmas story

We have been having some very sweet moments with the Christmas story.  The Jesus Storybook Bible does such great job of telling the story in a way that little people can really grasp it. (I am not saying that MY little person has fully grasped it, but the wording makes it so much easier for their little minds...)

So Ryder has been bringing his bible to me and we have been reading the nativity story together.

 

This is currently the favorite page/picture:

(I like to think it's because it has baby Jesus in it, but I think Ryder likes it because of the animals...)

note: right now, since dinosaurs are the favorite, ALL animals make a growling/roar sound.  I'm not going to lie, it's pretty funny to hear his growl in response to what does a sheep or a baby chick say...  We will keep working on it.

We are excited to watch this little man grow to really learn what this story is all about...

trees for our christmas table...

I have been trying to figure out how to decorate our table for christmas.  I have been following the blog landee see, landee do and have been inspired by all of her tree projects.   So I decided to tackle one of my own.  So with some ribbon and styrofoam cones, I made these trees.

I love my runner, even though it isn't specifically a Christmas runner, so I just pulled the green out from that to put on the trees.

I am excited to have lots of meals around this table... Now to continue gathering and making recipes that I want to share!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

Last night we decorated our christmas tree.  We always go with a 4 foot table top noble fir.  In our nine years of marriage, we have only had one full sized tree.  It just seems to work for us.  It is also a huge bonus that having the tree on a table makes it harder for little hands to reach the glass ornaments.

At the lot:

Finding the right one:

Ryder helping Kit to bring it on the house:

We love how it smells!

My favorite ornament:

Our tree is filled with ornaments that each have a special meaning, ones that we received for our wedding, things that cause us to reflect on a certain time in our lives.
The favorite for Ryder is definitely the handmade beaded garland, which we had to hang out of reach...
The finished product:

Merry Christmas everyone!

The wedding reception recap...

Our friends wedding celebration was on saturday and I was so excited how it all came together.  We ended with a very intimate group, but it was so special to be part of.  The set up and decorations went as planned and I was so happy when our friends Chris and Maxie arrived to see it all!

In the centerpieces I used chalk board contact paper to make small flags and I used English and Afrikaans phrases like love, marriage, community... My Maxie loved it!

Kit had set up a slide show to be playing the whole evening.  We also played a wedding highlight video, which was such a cool way to connect to the event since the majority of us were not at the actual ceremony.

We had a photo booth and we had a frame and props that people could use and the guests really got into it.  It's fun to be silly!

Chris and Maxie~
We love you guys so much and we are so thankful that we get to live life with you, even if it's not in the same time zone, on the same continent, or even if same hemisphere...
We are thankful for you both and are so happy for you!
Welcome to marriage!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Last night we had our annual families Christmas party at church.  A drama team performs "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", we sing carols and some silly songs, all while the families of our church eat sugar and drink hot chocolate while sitting on the floor. What can be better right?   Well, here is the part that got fun for Kit and I:

Group singing with all the kids on stage.

Here'e the progression:

Ryder sees the performances and decides he wants to go up with his dad:

Ryder loving that he gets to be up with all the big kids

(While realizing that he has one of those obnoxious mother's who is all about getting a photo of her kid while he is on stage):

Kit asking Ryder if he wants to get down and dance:

Ryder thinking that the group sing is really music just for him to bust a move:

(Plus at this point, Kit had given him enough cookies to fix any stage fright that might have gotten in the way)  

He was really comfortable up there...

We love evenings like this.  We all wear our pajamas and we get to sit and connect with other families and Ryder gets to play with all of his friends. (Who am I kidding, we get to see all of our friends too...)  

It is really such a sweet evening!

Note: By the time we left it was after 8pm and what does Ryder have in his hand? A cookie, that's what.

Kit thought Ryder would like it for the ride home... 

Ryder and his Mia

On Wednesday my mom took the train out to spend the day with us.

Ryder loves his Mia and had a FIT when we had to take her back to the train station...

She and my dad are going to be watching him this saturday while we are getting all the wedding celebration stuff done.  It makes me so happy that he gets to be with people that he loves so much...

Mom and Dad~

We just wanted to thank you for loving on our little guy so well!

We love you guys!

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and we will see you next week!

Happy December First

We can't believe that it is December!  We have had some fun pulling out decorations and getting the house feeling ready for the holidays.  Ryder is really into it.  So far he has been great about not touching decorations, however, we decided not to put the vintage ceramic nativity scene that belonged to my grandparents.  Truthfully, I don't want to take any chances... 

Here are some of our little nooks and crannies that have been bringing us some holiday spirit!

Having our Christmas books ready is so fun when it comes to snuggling up and reading together...

I have one that matches for our Eden. 

 I just think that we will pull it out when she gets here.

We hope that you are having a wonderful time in preparation for this festive season of being with friends and family, remembering the birth of our Jesus!