Hey folks! Things are pretty jolly around here. I did the baked goods for my friends big vendor sale yesterday! None of us sold much but we met lots of sweet gals and had a great time. In lieu of baking up another storm of baked goods for neighbor  gifts I got home last night, made up baskets for neighbors and friends and we went out on a little family delivery drive.  I was worn out! I was disappointed to not sell like I did at the Embassy sales but glad that I can skip the other baking day!   Seth was a rock star this weekend while I baked and was at the sale. I came home to relaxed happy boys last night after an afternoon with daddy. Did I mention he did tons of dishes, helped with meals and even was talked into some taste-testing. What a guy.

Last week I was doing my yearly search on what fun advent gifty things people are doing. I love our open the window advent calendar and our evening devotionals. We will keep those from yr to yr but some year when I have oodles of time and a little extra cash I want to do something like this for the kids with bags containing little notes and sweets…

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Aren’t they cute?!

I found this recipe for Winter Minestrone (Barefoot Contessa) while I was pintresting advent stuff. It is a rainy chilly day here so we are snuggling down for afternoon naps and when we wake up I will make this soup and we’ll decorate our gingerbread house. Seth confessed he doesn’t have the patience to survive another gingerbread house project so we will surprise him with our finished product and frazzled nerves!

We are soaking up the holiday season around here and attempting to slow down in the midst of the bustle. This week has been far from slow and I am feeling the effects. There have certainly been moments of calm and lots of memory making moments, but also tough times thrown in.

We decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday and curled up Sat night for a homemade pizza/family movie night.  We watched The Polar Express.  It was a big hit! Seth and I saw it in 3D 8 yrs ago when we started dating. 3D would have been way too much for the boys but the regular version was great!

On Sunday night we spent the evening worshiping with our friends Tim and Susan and their children at Floris United Methodist Church. We made an advent log with candles to light each week. Seth and I have always wanted to do advent activities as a family but somehow it typically gets lost in the shuffle. This year we are trying to do a family devotional in the evenings at dinner time. The boys are enjoying lighting the candle and listening to the story.

On Monday we  met up with Owen’s new friend from Sunday school. A few weeks ago the SS teacher reported that Owen was attracted to JT and spent lots of time interacting with him. JT has cerebral palsy so it takes a little bit longer to say what he wants to say but Owen doesn’t mind a bit. He waits JT out until he gets the answer he wants. And if he thinks JT isn’t listening he just gets in close until his buddy gives him a big smile and responds. Owen loves interacting with him and they have become great buddies. We met he and his mom and siblings at Frying Pan park for the boys to have a play date.   Many of my hours each day are spent disciplining and getting after Owen for not being gentle and kind. This play date kind of rocked my world and gave me a glimpse into this sensitive, gentle side of Owen.

And today was the big cast cut off day, for the big red cast that is!   Jackson was delighted until he learned he can’t do recess or sports until the end of Jan!  It will be an interesting 6 weeks of continued carefulness. Testing us all.  Pray for patience!!  I realized I haven’t even written yet about the second break but to be honest I am so not enjoying this part of life write now so I may just avoid the whole topic a while longer.  I never knew what the impact would be of Jackson being so limited in activity. But back to the good stuff…

his arm is so scrawny and stinky!  My mom wanted me to use the word “scrawny” again so I could spell is correctly this time. He’s bending his wrist funny in the above picture…I promise he doesn’t still have a bent arm.  It is sore and he is not quite sure how to use it again but I am guessing a few days from now he will forget and be using it normally.

I was going to title this post “our week in pics” but I was a bit shocked to discover it’s only Wed and I have spared you lots of our week!!  Tomorrow is St. Nicholas day and I am thinking about making the little bread boys like we did with Daniela last year!  I will try to hop back on and share some pictures if we get around to baking!