christmas crafts

Last week we took a break from "regular" school work and I planned a couple very simple crafts for each day (Monday - Wednesday). It was so much fun and so relaxing. We turned on Christmas music and crafted away! I tried very hard to give minimal directions and not stress about each item being "perfect".

Here is a run down of each craft and where I got the idea (I can DO crafts...if I can borrow someone else's idea at least as a spring board.....) :)

1. Snowball Wreath found here.

I modified it and used a foam wreath (found at any craft store), double sided tape (makes it extra toddler-friendly!), several sizes of cotton balls (at the Dollar Tree...cheaper than pompoms!), and red bows (stuck on with double sided tape...and also from the DT!) I covered the wreath in strips of the double sided tape the night before. Then the next morning, all the kids had to do was stick the cotton balls on and add the ribbon! All three loved this...and I made an "example" one...and loved it too! :)

2. Snowflake button ornaments found here.

So simple...and so cute! Popsicle sticks (I think I got these at DT too but I already had them on hand so I don't quite remember.), buttons (a big tub of them from a craft store), craft glue (elmer's would work, but would take a lot longer to dry), and thread. The only trick on these is to be sure that you put one button on the end high up enough so that you can put the thread through to be hung when it's dry (see the close-up pic).

3. Snowmen

Ok, this was a spur of the moment craft. We had a bunch of cotton balls left over so I slapped down a strip of double sided tape (love that stuff! lol), they added a few cotton balls and voila! snowmen! Oh yeah, we added some googly eyes too. (Also had those on hand...but pretty sure I've seen them at DT too.)

4. Felt Birds also found here.

The hardest part about these was tracing and cutting them out the night before. And it wasn't that hard. :) I cut the birds and the wings and let the kids choose how to combine them. Then they chose sequins for each bird and we glued them on (definitely need craft glue here...I even splurged for felt glue...tried both kinds of glue...and the felt glue definitely worked much better...gee, who would have thought??) :} Then I put a strip of glue on a wooden clothespin (Pack of like 20 from...you guessed it! Dollar Tree!! Love that store...) and they stuck the bird onto it. They can easily be clipped to a Christmas tree...but since ours is kind of full...Mommy had the great idea to clip them to the top and bottom of the lamp that sits on our school table - and I think it looks pretty cute! :) Oh yeah, we also added googly eyes to these. The ones the girls made have eyes with eyelashes on them (I think I found these at Hobby Lobby for 50% off a while back...). My baby informed me that his were boy birds and did not need eyelashes. :)

5. Snowflake Quesadillas found here.

THIS was one of those "Oh for pete's sake - why didn't I think of that?!" ideas! The girls remembered making paper snowflakes last year and thought it was rather funny to be making them from FOOD! :) I helped fold them into the right shape - and helped my baby do the cutting. (Ahem. Once again... DT to the rescue! They have the best little-kid scissors I have found yet! I can't explain them...I will have to just take a picture and post it.) The only reason I helped him was that the tortilla was kind of thick once it was folded. Martha Stewart used flour and spinach tortillas so the contrast is better...I just used flour tortillas...and the cheese helps the pattern to be visible. I added refried beans and sour cream (tinted pink...we like to color our food crazy colors sometimes! and why not? It makes it extra fun - and when you have plain white sour cream staring at you...it's just begging to be turned a crazy color! :)

5. Birthday cake for Jesus

I found this (obvious) idea last year, but too late to do it, so I have saved it all year. Now I don't remember where I saw the idea. Anyways, I'm sure lots of people do this. I simply bought a small cake from the grocery store and a tiny tube of red icing for the words and one little pack of those sugar decorations. We already had M&Ms at the house. I was going to let the kids write the words, but that icing is just so hard to write with, even in the little tube! so I held their hand and we did it together. Then they stuck on the decorations and we added candles. After lunch, we lit the candles and they sang Happy Birthday and blew them out. They loved it and I was happy to focus on the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas.

6. This is not a craft, but was the final thing on our to-do list last week. We had a popcorn party! Every day in school, they get a chance to earn a bead to put in our "popcorn party jar". It might be for using their manners without being reminded, being especially kind or helpful to a sibling, sitting quietly during Bible, accomplishing something difficult - willingly and with a joyful heart, etc. I don't always give beads for the same thing or every time. Just when I can see their hearts being genuine. We are often quick to correct and discipline, but I want my kids to know that I see when they are doing their best too. I told them that when they earned 100 beads together, we would have a popcorn party - with a movie and everything (a rare occurrence when Kiki is around). The week before they reached our goal and I promised that we would have our party just before Christmas. I even splurged on the newest Veggie tales for the occasion. (It is the story of St. Nicholas.) They happily settled on the couch with their popcorn bowls while I made lunch (one bag of popcorn split three ways still leaves you hungry for real food...) and my heart melted when I looked over and saw my baby with his hand resting on his sister's head! So sweet! :)

So that was our Christmas Craft Week! We didn't even get to do all the crafts I had planned! I was going to try to do some this week too, but I think I will save them for later. One will come in especially handy in the middle of February when we are sick of winter and wondering if the warm spring weather will ever come! :}

More Christmas recaps to follow...

merry christmas :)

Wow, I have had a busy, fun, worshipful Christmas! How about you? I will be adding all kinds of pics soon, but for now, here are a few from our Christmas "photo shoot". :)

So, literally two minutes before this pic was taken, we were in the entry way where there is a round table with a nativity scene on it. My baby walked over to it and somehow cut his eye on the edge!! Not sure how he managed that! I knew you would be able to see it in the pics but had to try some anyways. :)

This one may not be the best one photography-wise, but I just love the little smile on his face. :)

Those and the one in the banner of my blog were the best ones that day. Then a couple days later I found another outfit I just had to have, so we tried some more...

Pretending about Santa can be so much fun :) , but I hope you had a wonderful Christmas focusing on the TRUE meaning of why we celebrate.

Glory to God in the highest!

aw, come on!

So, evidently, I am talking to myself! Not one single person left a comment on my post below! I know you are out there - my counter tells me so! Let's try this again. Leave me a comment telling me about your favorite Christmas tradition as a child and let me know you're out there! Yes, you...the one lurking in the background, who stops by here often but has never left a comment. And you - the friend I already know reads my blog and has left comments before. :) You can do it! It's not that hard! So, between now and Christmas, how many of you can leave me a comment?? I'm waiting....!

And today is Lauren's 14th birthday! I went to her party last night...with another beautiful cake made by Leah!

Lauren, you are growing WAY TO FAST!! But you are still your joyful, cheerful, fun self that you were back in third grade. ;) I'm glad we could pick each other for sisters! ily!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

what's yours?

Just a few random pics from this past week...and a question at the bottom. :)

Baby Maddox went home on Thursday...and had to turn around and go to Children's Hospital on Friday! He had a little bit of jaundice and needed to be under the bili lights.

:( A little sad to see him with the eye cover on! He didn't really mind though.

To keep the girls from having to focus on their new brother being back in the hospital, I went and grabbed them and we went to the local Christmas Parade, explored downtown with all the cool lights, and went to see a movie. It was freeezing outside, but we had a lot of fun! Reegan even said on the way out of the movie, "For a while I completely forgot that Mommy and Maddox were at the hospital!" Mission accomplished! :)

Saturday evening, Michael and I took dinner to a very bored Catrina and ended up staying for a long time just talking and laughing with Tammy, the nurse. (HA! inside joke...sorry!) :) I got to feed Maddox another bottle and was going to hand him back to Catrina when she asked if Michael wanted to hold him. He pretended to protest and say no but I knew him better than that...

He totally enjoyed holding Maddox! :}

Now Maddox is back at home and hopefully will not need to go back to the hospital again!

This week we have finally had a combination of good weather plus healthy bodies, so we got to be outside for a while Monday afternoon and today.

He looks so old here! We were kinda freezing.

Our Poppy Dip dress arrived!!! And we LOVE it!! I am very excited because it was even a little bit big on my middle child, which means it will also fit on my oldest. Later I will get her one of her own. This little girlie above has enjoyed talking about Darya, the little girl that the money from this dress went to in order to bring her home to TN from an orphanage in Europe. She will tell you that no one gives Darya any hugs or kisses and that she just stays in her crib all the time - but that because we helped just a tiny bit with all the money needed to bring her home (and because God provided all the rest!), Darya will soon get all kinds of hugs and kisses and be held all the time! :)

My oldest, who I somehow do not have a picture of from this week...(hmm...will have to fix that tomorrow!)... asked after we discussed the Poppy Dip dress if she could give some of her quarters from the "Tooth Fairy" to the family who is bringing Darya home. I just love her sweet and tender heart! :)

This is from today. It felt great outside...except for the wind that was blowing soo hard! It was good to be out in the sunshine though. My baby is still figuring out his bike. If he starts on a tiny bit of a slope, he does great. If he has to put much force into the pedaling he gets discouraged and stops. Oh well, he's only two - he'll get the hang of it soon and be riding circles around the girls! :)

So, are you crazy busy getting ready for Christmas? Or are you one of those people who was done preparing back in the fall? I did that. Once. It was GRRREAT! as Tony the Tiger would say! :) Somehow I haven't done it since. Go figure.

Anyways, my friend, Rebekah, mentioned on her blog that her family went for a drive to look at Christmas lights in their pjs the other evening. This is one of my own favorite Christmas traditions from growing up, along with going to the Christmas Eve service at church followed by getting to open one present (usually new pjs!) before going to bed, making and decorating Christmas cookies, and having family, extended family, and might-as-well-be family over for Christmas dinner.

Which brings me to my question. Well, actually, it's two questions.

The first question is...who is reading my blog?? I know a few people who regularly check in...but that cannot add up to all the times my little counter number goes up! I would love to hear from you and what you are thinking after you read one of my posts!

Second, what was your favorite Christmas tradition in your family when you were growing up? Is it something you still do today with your own family now? Or have you started a new tradition that you love?

So leave me a comment and let me know who you are and what your favorite Christmas traditions are! It's not hard! And I would love to hear from you - anytime you have a comment you want to make! So start typing! :}

12-6-85

In the post below, I shared how I recently went to St. Mary's hospital to see Lauren's new baby brother. And that the last time I was at that hospital was to see my own baby brother.

Today is Daniel's 24th birthday so I decided to dig up some pictures from the day we picked him up! These were, of course, before the world of digital cameras, so they are really just pictures of pictures...thus the low quality of them...but you'll get the idea. :)

We went to pick Daniel up one day, but due to his jaundice, we had to wait one more day to bring him home. We did get to see him that first day, but just through the window.

The next day we got to go in the nursery and see him up close and personal. I specifically dressed my teddy bear for the occasion and had a present to give Daniel.

Aw! Wasn't he cute?? :} Wish this pic was bigger!

The Browns put a "Welcome Daniel" sign up outside our house. (Michael, you were right...it was black and white...I must have remembered the blue bows - I knew there was something blue on it! :) Michael says he also remembers us driving down the street where we both lived across from each other and Mom rolling down the window and asking if he (they?) wanted to see her new son! :) He remembers more than I do about a lot of things. :)

My own real live baby doll! I was very annoyed that I was too little to carry him around and hold him as much as I wanted.

My grandfather holding Daniel while I show off the soft baby rattle I got for him.

For our adoption, we had to keep the news a secret until Daniel was home with us. I kept that secret for a Very Long Time for a 5 year old! Then, on top of that, the day he came home, a group of friends from our old church came that evening and surprised Mom and Dad by singing Christmas carols outside our front door and bringing presents for our new baby! I can remember my grandparents filling me in on the secret as they realized I was standing there while they were discussing it. I promised not to tell - and I didn't! It took Mom and Dad a minute or two to figure out where all that Christmas music was coming from - they were definitely properly surprised! They were also eager to show off their little boy - but only one lady came in to see him - the rest thought it would be too much for them all to come in.

I got to open all Daniel's presents since he was too little to do it himself, which I of course loved! I can remember not caring about all those silly cards - I just wanted to see what was in the gift! :) One lady, Mrs. Hurst, even remembered to include me and sent me my own little gift - the dog I am holding up in this picture. I was soo excited and felt so special that she thought about me. That's usually the first thing I remember when I she comes to mind. :)

Just a couple weeks later Daniel celebrated, er, slept through his first Christmas! :)

(That's my cousin, Jonathan, sitting next to me.) Even way back then I loved babies!

Well, he isn't a baby anymore! But he is still my baby brother...and most definitely the baby of the family! Lol!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIEL!!!

a baby changes everything

In 1985, during the first week of December, I went with my mom and dad to St. Mary's hospital to pick up my baby brother. He and I are both adopted. We actually went one day and he was a little bit jaundiced so we had to go home and wait one more day to bring him home! I'm sure that extra wait was a LOT longer for my mom and dad than for me. I don't remember much about that trip now except for pictures...which I might have to dig up in the near future... :)

Little did I know then that it would be 24 whole years later (pretty close to the day!) that God would bring me back to that same hospital...to bring my "little sister" to see her new baby brother - that they are adopting. :)

Lauren's family met the birthmom through a good friend and when this young girl was 13 weeks pregnant, she asked Catrina and Steve if they would adopt her baby. It has been a long pregnancy for both her and Catrina and the family! There were multiple trips to and stays at the hospital dealing with different health issues for the birthmom. Thankfully, the baby stayed strong and healthy and growing throughout the whole ordeal.

We knew the baby would be born early and time was getting closer when after the Dr's appointment on Monday, Lauren text me to say that the Dr. wanted the baby here by this weekend! I didn't find out until I woke up the next morning that the birthmom had started having contractions around midnight and Catrina took her in to the hospital around 3am on Tuesday!

Now, I just have to pause here to say that God is a God of details. :) Unfortunately, my kiddos and their mom were sick...again...so I only worked part of the day on Monday and was off on Tuesday, to help allow me to stay healthy and for them to get over what we think was a 24(ish) hour stomach bug. Thankfully, I stayed perfectly healthy.

But it worked out perfectly that I was off of work on Tuesday! As I started seeing status updates on Facebook, I wrote on Steve's wall that I was praying and to let me know if they needed me to do anything since I was off work with no plans for the day. Around 1pm, Catrina called saying Steve had just told her about my message and would I be able to run to their house when the kids all got home from school and bring them to the hospital, provided the baby had arrived by then. Yeah, that was a dumb question! ;)

It turned out that baby was taking it's own sweet time coming and for a while there was a possibility of a c-section. I ended up grabbing all three kiddos and taking them to dinner at McAllister's. After dinner we checked in with Catrina and found out that they still weren't sure what was going to happen next, so we bought some time and went to McKays, where Reegan entertained us with a joke book. ;) After checking in again, there was to be no c-section, but no one was sure just how soon the baby would get here. For a few minutes it looked like we might not get to go to the hospital at all that night! Trying to stay calm, we did what any girl in that situation would to - went to get something chocolatey at StarBucks!

After that we just headed back to Lauren's house to hang out and see what would happen next. We kept our eye on Steve's status updates on Facebook and watched "18 Kids and Counting" in an attempt to keep a little distracted. (While Josh was up in his room getting away from us crazy girls for a while... ;)

Finally, just after 9pm, after being stuck between 2 and 4 cm most of the day, we got the update that she had reached 8cm! We started to get excited all over again that maybe the kids would get to meet their new family member that night after all. At about 9:15 was the update that they were "getting the room ready". (Any one of you mom's who has had a baby knows what this means! I haven't, but have enough friends who have. :) At about 9:30 or a little before, Lauren and her dad were texting back and forth when she got the text that said "getting ready to push! gotta go!"

We could hardly sit still at that point! (Again, Josh was upstairs being totally cool about it all...he is 15 after all...)

FINALLY...a couple minutes after 10pm we got this...at just about this size...on Lauren's phone:

He was here!!!

Maddox Bennett Beck

12/01/09, 9:55pm

8lb 7oz

22 1/4 in. long

(And yes, I added a photo "modesty sticker" to the pic above...and one more below! Don't want him to hate me when he grows up and finds out I put his pics on my blog!) :)

There was much excitement at that point! Reegan just couldn't sit or stand or be still any longer and had to do a happy dance. Lauren was busy sending each picture and video clip to my phone that has a bigger screen than hers.

We were then waiting and holding our breath and PRAYING that Maddox would check out just fine and not need to be sent to the NICU as a result of some of those health issues during the pregnancy and the fact that he is technically a premie, having been born at 36 weeks. If that was the case, the kiddos wouldn't get to see him until he came out a couple days later! We soo wanted that text that would tell us to come on to the hospital!

While we were oohing and squealing over each picture, Josh calmly walks down the stairs and says, "Ok, let's go."

Um. What??

Because Lauren was sending pics to my phone, Josh was the first one to get the text saying to come quickly, so they could at least see Maddox for a minute in case he still needed to go to the NICU.

So we rushed to grab shoes, cameras, coats, ahem...directions to the hospital (!) that I was too distracted to think to look up until then! I quickly looked at a map online so I knew generally where the hospital was and Josh pulled up the map on his iphone to help me out on the way.

Steve met us downstairs since a code is needed to take the elevator up to the maternity floor.

We finally got to walk in the room to greet a grinning-from-ear-to-ear Catrina and tiny baby Max! Each big sister and brother had pretty much the exact reaction I expected... :)

Reegan was eagerly checking Maddox out, exclaiming over how tiny his little hands and feet were. Lauren's heart melted instantly which is the part that made me tear up...and still does! Josh looks cool in this pic but I knew him better than that - as did everyone else in the room! He may be a cool 15 year old guy, but he has the biggest softest heart, especially when it comes to his siblings. As Reegan was talking and Lauren was crying, he quietly looked at Maddox.....and then slowly looked up to focus intently on the ceiling...still trying to stay cool...but we could see the tears in his eyes!

You can tell in the middle picture that they had to use forecepts as baby Maddox has a bruise on his forehead. And his ear, although you can't see that in these pics. He'll recover quickly, but for now he does not like the process of hats being put on his sore, sweet little head. :(

Big sister Reegan carefully touches Maddox's tiny hand. :)

Maddox was lying under the warmer when we got there. Finally a very kind nurse came in and he got to be wrapped up snugly in a couple blankets and handed to Mommy while his first-time-big-sis Reegan watches.

Daddy and Reegan getting to know the newest Beck.

Lauren, a Very Proud older sister gets to snuggle and kiss her new baby brother. And even Josh hold him for a couple minutes...until Maddox decides to exercise his lungs and cries...at which point Josh says, "Uh, will someone take this thing?!"

Catrina says, "But Josh, it's good for him to cry right now!"

To which Josh replies, "Not while I'm holding him!!"

:}

Finally, around 11:45pm, Steve takes the three oldest Becks home and I stayed and got to hold Maddox myself for a couple minutes. Then, since I knew Catrina hadn't eaten in many hours, I made a McDonald's run for her. When I came back, she was feeding Maddox his first bottle. When she saw the food, she handed him to me so she could eat...and I got to help give him his first bottle! Very cool. :)

I think Catrina very much enjoyed being in the hospital with a new baby - without the exhaustion, soreness, etc. of labor and delivery! (Not that she wasn't still very tired, of course, but you know...!)

After I finally left, around 1:30am, Maddox decided to wake up. He had been saving his awake time just for Mommy to enjoy by herself. :) But she did share a picture.

I got to go back Wednesday night to take Catrina dinner and Lauren and I watched Maddox for a few minutes while she was out of the room. So of course I grabbed the opportunity for some more pics!

Look at his tiny feet!! Love it! :) This outfit is one that Catrina gave to her best friend 4 years ago when she had her baby. On Wednesday, Kim brought this outfit back for baby Maddox. :)

It's such hard work recovering from being born!

Don't you just want to kiss those chubby little cheeks???

Oh, but wait...

LOVE HIM!!!!

He has a head full of hair - especially in the back.

Snuggling in Lauren's arms. These pictures frustrated me only because the lights in a hospital room are SO HARSH!! Sheesh!! Thus the reason his little forehead is a little bit scrunched up...

Hey Josh, I just want you to know that I think you are pretty much the coolest big brother I know! I love the way you are protective of your sisters - and I know you will be of Maddox too. I love the way Reegan makes you laugh. I can remember you being so kind to Lauren one day when we were out at recess when she was in my class. I don't even remember what it was about...I just remember being impressed. I know you two don't always get along...but what brother and sister always do?? :) Thanks for tolerating us crazy girls the other night while we waited for Maddox!

Ok, enough embarrassing him... ;)

I think this next one might be my favorite.

Yup, makes me teary all over again! She is totally in love. Can you see it all over her face??

Lala, you will be an awesome big sister. You already are. :)

Congratulations, Beck family!! Maddox is beautiful. I am so thankful that God has been faithful through this whole process and given you the strength and energy each of you needed at each step of the way. I am also so thankful that his birthmom, like my birthmom, loved him so much that she was willing to go through a rough 9 months and give him to you at the end. I am praying that she will stay as strong as she has been and will continue to feel peace about her decision and will recover quickly.

Now, enjoy your precious Christmas gift and let him remind you of the Most Precious Christmas Gift Who was born in a manger so long ago.

Rebekah...I'm praying that you will be next!! :)