Bethlehem is not that far away

Friday, Beth's school had their Christmas program- Bethlehem is not that far away. It was about a family who needed reminding about the true meaning of Christmas.

Beth's class, plus the 3 and 4 year old preschool classes, dressed like animals that were probably in the barn where Jesus was born. They said a few poems and sang a couple songs. Beth did a great job other than not smiling because she was nervous. Who woulda thought she'd get nervous?

Please forgive the shaky video. I was trying to keep Jacob from crawling down the pew at the same time as video-ing the kids.

Isn't this the cutest horse you've ever seen?

Halloween

Hey, look what I found, lost in the posts list! Sorry it's late, but it's still cute!

This year, our church hosted a Trunk-or-Treat. We got the kids dressed up and went out for some fun with our church family. Lots of folks had decorated trunks/pickup beds, some even had games for the kids to play. Beth and Jacob had lots of fun, getting lots of candy and even slowed down long enough to hand out some candy (ok, Beth did, Jacob just ate his). Kevin and I enjoyed fellowshipping with friends.

Sugar the horse even came dressed up. Those fuzzy things didn't stay on long!

Jacob is the cutest Superman!

Beth had 3 possibilities for costumes, and this is what I found- a 50s girl. She already had saddle shoes for school- how perfect! And, like any girl, she was thrilled her skirt twirled!


Taking a break at the truck to hand out/eat candy

As soon as we got home, we checked out all the loot. There was more than enough! We grownups enjoyed the chocolate, Jacob loves dum-dum suckers and candy corn, Beth has discovered Laffy Taffy. They were deleriously tired and hopped up on sugar highs.

What a fun night!

My little entertainer

Oh, Jacob is such a hoot! These are just a few of his funny moments caught on camera lately.

So proud of his Frosty sweater


He emptied all the toys from the bucket and found it to be quite comfy for tv watching.


While I put away laundry in Beth's room, Jacob took all the animals off the shelf and donned Beth's glasses. Notice the trend of making a mess for Mommy?


And finally, singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with gusto

Thankful Turkey

Looking at all the Thanksgiving crafts ideas, I liked the Thankful Turkey best. It was something we could all participate in. I wrapped a styrofoam ball in brown yarn, made a ball of light brown yarn, cut out feathers from construction paper and attached them to toothpicks, cut out a beak and that red thing from construction paper, glue face to the head, attached head with toothpick to body. Then, we were ready for making our thankful feathers.

What we're thankful for:

Jacob- green, my turkey, eggs, my family

Beth- my family, God, outdoors, my church, food, me, my home

Laura- my salvation, my church, my family, my home, our health, friends, laughter

Kevin- blessings, church, God, job, my family, my wife, Beth and Jacob

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving from our family!

Mainstay Farm

The first official field trip for Beth's class was to a precious local pumpkin/Christmas tree farm- Mainstay Farm. I love that I get to go with her, and that they don't mind if Jacob comes along. For Beth, I think the best part was probably riding the bus to get there and back.

The presentation about the farm was far more interesting than I would have expected. The owner talked about how when they bought the land to have a farm and decided to name it, they chose Mainstay, based on I Corinthians 15:58 (Be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, ...knowing that your toil is not in vain). Months later, when they decided to start growing Christmas trees, they learned that a special stake, which is called a mainstay, used in helping the baby trees- it marks the seedling; it protects the seedling when storms come; it gives the seedling stability, disciplining it so it will become what it is intended to be. Just like the Lord is our mainstay! How cool! They give this presentation to both Christian and public schools. What an awesome testimony! Of course, for the entertainment factor, she couldn't find her chicken.

The kids got to watch a very interesting film about how pumkins grow,

race to dress a scarecrow,

play on a giant slide (Beth's teacher used Jacob as an excuse to go down the slide herself),

play in a haybarn,

roast marshmellows,

take a hayride through the Christmas trees,

and play in a big tree house.

All before lunch!

Then, a picnic lunch (and a quick visit to the gift shop- where I got some homemade blackberry jelly and an adorable ornament). Since it was the end of pumpkin season, the kids were told they could take home as many pumpkins as they could carry. After lots of indecision, we went home with 6 little pumpkins!

Ooey, gooey reward

Beth (really, Kevin and I) worked so hard on the school fundraiser, she earned two prizes- Chick Fil A lunch at school (10 items by the early date) and a field trip to Peter Piper Pizza (15 items total). She was so excited to ride the school van with her friends to the pizza. Kevin, Jacob and I met them there for some extra supervision and a little fun. There were 3 kids from Beth's class who earned the trip. I think there were 15 kids in the elementary who earned the trip.

The kids got a great behind the scenes tour of pizza making. Then, they got to choose the toppings for their personal sized pizza.

While pizzas were cooking, they got to play games and ride rides. Beth mostly played in the playset and drove the race car. She managed to play a few games to earn tickets. Jacob's favorite ride is the carousel. This was the Dino ride, and I'm not sure what that look is about. Silly boy!

Pizza time! They were so proud of their pizzas, and they were quite yummy.