Advent

I just read a post over at Quiet Life that I just had to link to here. Please read this. It is a beautiful message and I hope it will encourage you during this Advent season!

More Farm Shots

I love our family farm. I took a walk on Friday while the littles were napping and took a few pictures. I really love the fall/ winter seasons because I love the bare trees and the cooler weather. I also liked the peace and quiet of taking a walk with my dog and just listening to our feet crunching on the gravel road. It was super peaceful. I'm about to start wrapping presents, something I loathe, and I'm dragging my feet. I love buying/ making the gifts, but I have always hated wrapping. Thank goodness for gift bags!

Looking for ways to Give this Christmas

A friend pointed the way to a great blog, The Train to Crazy today. The writer is looking for ways to encourage her daughters to give this Christmas instead of focusing on getting. She is seeking ideas to do 25 days of giving. Head over and leave her a comment. You might just win a prize.

I love this idea. Mark and I are trying hard to teach our children to give. We put some money in the Salvation Army kettle last week and talked about where the money would go. We will put scarves on the Christmas tree at church to be given to the soup kitchen attendees. We will also purchase a few gifts for the birthday party for Jesus at our church. The gifts will be given to a local childcare center that assists families in need. I hate how Christmas is all about the lights, the decorations, the gifts, etc. I feel for Charlie Brown when he complains how even his dog has gone commercial! I love the decorations and lights, but I really love celebrating the birth of my Savior and I want my kids to focus on Him. Go visit the blog and leave your idea and maybe get some inspiration too!

Farm Pictures

I had my camera handy at the farm and although I didn't take any pictures of the cows, I did snap a few of the birds. I love the picture of Randy in the field too. She loves visiting the farm and will run until she is exhausted. She hasn't moved much since we got home Saturday night!

Holiday Baking

Thanksgiving was fantastic. We spent a few days with family in Fredericksburg and ate ourselves silly! We celebrated Mark's birthday, his sister's birthday, and our niece's birthday. We also had a fruit tasting session with the cousins and craft time. The kids were so tired when we got home that they didn't move when Mark moved them from the car to the couch. I'll post some pics from T-giving later.

I made my first bread, sans breadmaker, last week. I made two white loaves and they were pretty good. It was really therapeutic to knead the bread and to do it all from scratch. Even though I enjoyed the whole process, we did go out and buy a new breadmaker last night. I use it so much that it's worth the money. We got a great deal on it at Kohl's and I made a loaf of wheat last night! I also made two apple pies last week that were so yummy. I am getting better at making my own crust. It's taken a lot of practice, and there are a few tricks I'll use next time to make it even better.

Now we're off and running toward Christmas. I finished putting my Christmas cards in envelopes today and mailed about 30 of them. I need to get a few more stamps before I finish the rest. All of my gifts are pretty much done. I need to do a lot of wrapping and have 3 more to buy. I'm trying to slow down and enjoy the season.

Not the holiday card picture

Well this is NOT going to be our holiday card picture. After Liam's nap yesterday I pulled out the tripod and the camera and we set ourselves up on the front porch. Out of all the pictures I took, this one was my favorite, except for (and maybe a little because of) Peyton's face. I laughed a lot and then we took another one which will be the one on the Christmas card. I designed the card myself this year and I'm printing them at home. I have a photo printer that is great so I figured I would give it a try. I'm not sure if it ends up being cheaper because I had to buy paper, envelopes, and an ink cartridge. Hopefully I'll have enough ink to print 60 of them!

I made pecan caramel cinnamon rolls over the weekend. They were amazing! But I also discovered that my breadmaker pan was leaking. I have a number to call about ordering a new pan and I need to do it soon. We use our machine at least once a week and I can't stand being without it. I'm gearing up to make 2 apple pies and Mark's cake on Tuesday and Wednesday. I may need to wear some loose pants on Thursday to give me room to eat lots of turkey!

Liam's turn

Yellow JMU hair and silly Liam posing for the camera

Liam had a hair cut today. We went to visit my friend, Lisa, out in Mt. Solon for the cut. It's a long way to drive, but she is so great with the kids and I love the end result. Liam looks like a little man every time he gets a hair cut. He wasn't scared about sitting in the chair because he held my hand the whole time. He also got really freaked out when these two sweet old ladies came in the salon. I'm not sure why, but he called out to me and wanted out of the chair immediately. One of them was wearing a white turban thing on her head and it may have just looked odd to him. Who knows? He can be a scaredy cat sometimes. But he can also be most entertaining!