Really cool story...

Ok, there are moments when my kids just blow me away. This was one of those moments.

At a family gathering over the weekend, Jackson was asked if he was excited that Christmas was coming. Fully anticipating a response about gifts the person asking was going to try and find out what he wanted most. However, his response stopped her in her tracks.

His reply was, "I am excited about Baby Jesus."

WOW!!!! I am still getting teary-eyed and chills. If only we all got this concept.

And the season begins...

The past few days have been a little calmer in our household. We are gearing up for the holidays though. We have already begun to have family come into town and more are to arrive this weekend. Then of course it is Thanksgiving next week and even more family will arrive. We will then head out to Pennsylvania to spend a few days with family out there. And this is all before mid-December and the Christmas holiday.

We are so excited to see our family whether here or there. Family is so important to us and we are thrilled that the holidays provide a time to gather together.

We are also so excited to discover that in a few months my brother and sister-in-law will be moving closer. They will still be a few hours away but 3 is definitely better than twice that, now we can do a day trip. This move will come after my brother graduates from medical school and moves on to his residency. I am so proud of him and all the time and work he has put in to get to this point in his life. I am also proud of my sister-in-law for the sacrifices she has made to help him through the past few years. They both are so amazing and I am so excited to get to spend time with them both over the next few weeks.

Of course this time of year can tend to be stressful and full of busyness, but the time with family is an opportunity to be in the moment and enjoy the real gifts in our lives. I hope that you too find time to enjoy those moments for what they are: a gift from God. Whether you are surrounded by many or just a few, I hope you choose to be thankful for the blessings.

And of course, enjoy the food!

Pigtails

She finally sat still and let me do her hair. YEA!!! I actually got a little teary eyed when it was all over. Her she is...

What did you do to me Mom?

Still need to work on the straight line in back, but considering it was the first time...I will not complain.

Beautiful Girl!

They are just First Graders

Well, I never thought this would happen but it has...

we are dealing with a first grader and a boy/girl relationship.

Not exactly comforting as a mommy.

Jack and a little girl at school have become very friendly. We have had to address playground kissing, which on many levels is very innocent, in and of itself. The kids have been separated in the classroom as much as the teacher is able. And just yesterday the two of them were asked to no longer play together at all, but to make new friends.

In an effort to be as aware of the situation as we can be, we invited the little girl to our home this past weekend. We were absolutely shocked by the way they interacted with each other. ALOT of touching. (Which Jack's love language is touch, so...) Jackson had his arm around her during the movie, she clung to him and kissed his cheeks when saying "goodbye". It was an interesting experience to say the least.

This is so hard, I want to teach Jack the age appropriateness of relationships, the appropriateness of touching/physical relationships, and do it in such a way that he understands that relationships are not bad or wrong. I never imagined we would be dealing with or thinking through these conversations with a first grader.

If any of you moms have had to deal with this, I'm taking any advice I can get. And please, we will take all the prayers we can get as well.