Bright Lights and Co-op Christmas party and CHRISTMAS COOKIE TRAYS!

We've had a busy and fun last few weeks!

 

On the 17th, we went to our Bright Lights Christmas party. It was fun singing Christmas carols with this wonderful group of ladies and gals (and my little guy)  =)

They made gingerbread houses after the singing and a short bible lesson. They hot glued the graham crackers together before we showed up. Such a  good idea!

I love this group so much and love all the friendships my girls are making

Last Thursday, we worked most of the day on our Christmas treat trays. We did: Chocolate Chip cookies, Cake mix cookies (lemon and strawberry), chocolate dipped pretzels, oreo bon bons, Christmas crunch and puppy chow!

Little Man was super excited to hand them out (or maybe he was just excited to wear the Santa hat) =)

Horse-Girl in all her 'oldness' decided to stay home and man the fort, while us 5 crazy people went out in the cold, windy weather to deliver a little Christmas cheer.

Last Friday, we had our co-op Christmas get together at my wonderful friend, Melissa's house. She has SUCH a wonderful, warm, welcoming home. I actually invited myself back. Cuz I'm cool like that.

Her daughter is playing 'We Three Kings' and we sang along. She's quite good!

Photographer-Girl popped on and played some Joy to the World for the masses.

We snacked and then did some crafts led by her daughter, Hannah.

And *I* got to enjoy some much needed fellowship with my sweet friends. I love all these gals so much

So much awesomeness we could barely squeeze them all into the picture =)

Random picture:  Earlier this month all the kiddos but one came down with a 24 hour tummy bug. During their recovery phase, Josh and I whipped out this super rad track. And then proceeded to derail as much trains as we could. *shrug* He marches to the beat of his own drum.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving this year was SUPER awesome. We had my whole side of the family here and I cant REMEMBER the last time that has happened!

 

*that's my nephew Jerermy in the cast. Lesson he learned? Don't run on curbs.* =)

Here is most of the ingredients I bought to make Thanksgiving food. We had: turkey (made by my mom), gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, confetti corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, homemade and canned cranberry sauce, cornbread muffins, pumpkin, apple and chocolate chess pie, hot fudge crockpot cake, banana cream pie and Watergate salad! Whew! It was all super yummy

We had a lot of fun playing games. My brother John and his wife Stacey brought their Carrom board (which is in the picture below) and when it was time to leave, they told us they would give it to us! The girls were SUPER excited and we've had a lot of fun playing on it.

Hope your Thankgiving was super as well!

Scrappy Skirt Party to benefit 'Mamas en Catacamas' November 22, 2013

For a long time I've wanted to go on an out-of-country mission trip. But due to the season of life I'm in, I just don't think NOW is the time for me to venture out =)  So for now, I live vicariously thru my sweet friend, Lisa, who goes down to the Catacamas in Honduras and works with impoverished mamas. She teaches them skill sets such as sewing and baking.  Thru the gift of sewing, they've learned to make skirts (among other things) and Lisa brings them back to the states and sells them, and then pours that money back into the mamas. (website: http://www.mamasencatacamas.com/ to learn more about her work down there)
She happened to be in my neck of the woods on the 22nd, so I hosted a 'Skirt Party' at my church. Lots of wonderful people showed up and the party was a RAGING success...

We were sad to see Lisa and her wonderful daughter, Hope, leave, but we are SUPER excited that Lisa said she's coming back in the Spring!  We hope she brings back a LOT more skirts as we pretty much cleaned her out on this trip! =)

Of course my little chickies had to wear their skirts to church the following Sunday =)

We love you, sweet Lisa, and will continue to pray God's blessings down upon your amazing work in Honduras!

Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Party and volunteering (picture heavy!)

We were blessed again this year to be able to participate with the Operation Christmas Child Program.

 

The kiddos got to shop for, and pack their own shoeboxes this year which they really enjoyed.

(He had to have his favorite dog, Licorice, in this picture with his shoebox stuff)  =)

NOVEMBER 22, 2013 Friday
We had a BLAST at our homeschool 'Shoebox' party put on by my dear friend, Jenn (those are a few of her cuties there to the right of Baby Girl)

This little sweetheart was one of the brave kiddos who stepped forward to pray over the shoeboxes

Look at that group... Over 90 kiddos!

We had activitiy tables for every continent. They children were able to go to each table and take part in that activity. When they finished, they put a star on that continent, on the map they were handed at the beginning of the morning, and when their map had all 7 stars, they received a prize.

All the mommas contributed to the filling of the bellies by providing dishes from around the world. YUM. (this was just one of the tables, there was more to the left of this picture)

 

 

We also volunteered to help with more shoebox packing at one of the drop-off locations in town on they Monday following the Shoebox party.  Brother got to play at Daddy's work for  a few hours as I didn't know what they would have for him to do here. Next year I think I'll bring him. If nothing else, he can provide us with some entertainment =)

(This little ham ball is one of our favorite people ever)  :)

Can't wait to do it again next year!