Sledding-MN 2008

For Unto Us a Child is Born!

Isaiah 9:6
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."John 1:14 Christmas blessings! This is the time of year when we make our lists - "To-Do" lists, wish lists, shopping lists, etc. What better time of year to list our blessings, the first being the gift of salvation! Jesus came to earth, humbling Himself as a babe to be born in a manger - for us. We could make a list of His reasons for coming, too, but why did Jesus say He came? In John 18:37 Jesus says, "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." What a statement! The truth must be awfully important for Jesus to have said that's why He came! It is our foundation, without which everything else becomes distorted and ultimately meaningless. May your home be filled with Truth and His love this Christmas season!

Things this year are a a bit simpler. We haven't focused on Christmas Shopping or Lists of things we want as possible gifts for ourselves or each other. We are thankful for our home, our newest member of the family (ALIZA) , and how God has provided our every need. We have enjoied seeing Him:

Keeping Dan busy at Work.

Keeping us all healthy and safe.

Providing new clothes and toys this year for Christmas without buying a single thing from a retail store.

Bringing our family closer together.

Giving us some great friendships this year.

Giving us a Church that teaches the WORD.

Giving us each other.

Giving us a great extended family on both sides.

We hope you all have as Merry a CHRISTmas as we are this year!

Frog and Toad / Henry and Mudge/ Amelia Bedelia

We took off! we can read several books a day! This was one of our goals for Christmas break. I am so proud of him. he is a great help now because he can read well enough to read to his sisters now!

We enter the age which entertainment means T-R-O-U-B-L-E !

Oh dear need I say more? you will be hearing alot of "Kids who left the bathroom door open?" :)

Am I Going to Remember?

Am I going to remember... doing Xander's phonograms with him and how ough says six different things?
...The way he remembers aw and au as "awwww that we may not use at the end of English words" and he says it with this terrible pout complete with his lip out and grin after
...And how today he was really getting all of them right and I said "I can't believe how smart you are!" And he held his sides laughing and said that he could see though my paper because I was sitting in front of the window! ? I am proud of him he is reading really smoothly now.


Am I going to remember.. How Aliza zooms around like a crab (sideways like) and we all jump out of her way (sometimes doing half splits) to prevent her from running over our feet or ankle tendon? .
...Her little shoes with the squeakers in?
... How she says "mom-ma" now... And how she smelled of chicken noodle soup all afternoon (we did take care of that with a bath after supper in the sink as we washed the kitchen up) :)?


Am I going to remember.. How these two have became good friends? ...How Josie wants to marry Xander when she is older? and Xander explains, "You can't marry cousins or sisters! because you will have weak babies."
...How Josie ALWAYS wants to do school too? and I am not ready to put the investment of time it takes to teach her Phonograms or to write in cursive. How I want to tell her you are only four! NEXT YEAR we will do spelling tests with you but not now.
... How they play animal kingdom and Xander is her Beaver.. or they build airplanes out of Lincoln Logs and for Army formations of regiments? How unlikely is that combination?

Oct trip to Grandparents & Train Depot

We took Grandma Terri to the Duluth Depot and the Children's Museum for her birthday at the end of October. It was a good time and Xander loved how huge the trains were and all the control panels! Aliza napped some in the baby B'Jorn.

Before we came back to Illinois, Grandpa gave the traditional Tractor ride to the girls. It was Aliza's first of what has become a coveted event... synonymous with the name "Grandpa Dean"

October trip to Zoo on Train!

We were invited by my friend to go to the zoo via the train. Starting in Aurora, I we bought our tickets and boarded, chugged past Downers Grove where Daddy sold at Farmer's Market and on to Brookfield Zoo.. the "Hollywood stop". We took quite a little treck to the back gate of the zoo!

What a great day! What a great time we had with our homeschool friends.

Aliza- What a Joy!

What a Nut!

Aliza is not quite 9 months.Since the beginning of Nov she has been crawling. and within days standing up against anything. At 7 months she was pulling herself up and standing in the laundry basket while I was taking a bath and periodically. Dan and I laughed at her as she shook a stool in the kitchen the other day to get it moving so she could slide it along and walk with it!

For a month now she stands in her crib and then hollars to get down. She has 4 teeth now as clearly seen in the photo. What a joy! What a nut! She is constantly looking for interaction with those around her. She hisses though her teeth when she is being silly or sort of snuffs at a person! So funny!

She was given the pink fuzzy jacket and seems to love how soft it is! Josie and I agree it is a Fancy Nancy type of jacket! we have been reading those books and all love it! her shoes also squeek.