December 5

Hamilton faced his initial fear and climbed the rock wall at the playground all by himself several times today. "I did it! I did it!" he shouted. "I knew I could do it!" (I think, perhaps, I should encourage him to move on from watching The Little Engine That Could every day.)

December 4

As I made dinner tonight, all the children played so sweetly together (for this moment at least) in the piano room. With the warmth of the tree's lights, the scene looked homey and sounded so quaint with Claire's faint piano practicing, Hamilton's hum mimicking a steam engine, and Collier's occasional high-pitch siren imitation of a fire truck.

December 3

I made a paper-chain this year for the kids to use as we countdown to Christmas. I found the cutest coordinating papers to use, and Hamilton LOVES using the scissors to cut off each day's link.

December 2

Our first night celebrating Advent ended with Hamilton's blowing out the candle. Yes, I know I don't have typical colors in my Advent "wreath," but I like it and it gets the point across. We read some Scripture and talked through a family activity centering around Jesus' I Am statements in the Gospel of John. I called it an Advent activity which Hamilton shortened to "Adventivity." So we might go with that for the rest of the season.

December 1

Over the Thanksgiving holiday (pictures and stories will come soon!), we celebrated at the farm. Uncle Billy and Aunt Linda came from Florida, and the boys just loved their company--as they always do. Since we won't see them for Christmas, the boys enjoyed opening some early Christmas presents. Collier loved the little farm animals. When he wasn't trying to put them in his mouth, he piled them into a freight car, with the open-mouth concentration of a Taylor.