Merry Christmas to all!

Preschool Fun

Yesterday, Dillon, Lilly, and I were able to go with our little Preschool playgroup through the county schools to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. I had a few little mini-scientists on my hands...We learned lots about winter animals in NC. Including a live dove, salamander, toad, and lots of animal furs including bears, skunks, and raccoons. The above picture is Dillon gently petting a live dove. We tried to explore the museum a little bit afterwards and checked out the dinosaurs and other animals, but I quickly realized that Lilly has entered a whole new dimension of life...she will NOT sit in the stroller and when she's out she runs VERY fast. So, we didn't stay long. Shopping is also an impossible task with her right now. At least I know from experience that this phase will pass.

The families gathered at the end of Joy School today to see the kids put on a live nativity play. Dillon was a wise man. So cute...I love this little group of kids and teaching them preschool has been a treat. Sorry for the lack of a good picture. There were too many 3 year olds walking around. At least Dillon's kind of looking in my direction. They're ringing their Christmas bells they made.

And while I'm catching up here's a picture of our Family Home Evening activity Monday night. There is a local Santa who has an unbelievably decorated house and sits in his garage visiting with children every night from Dec. 12-23rd. It's unbelievable. We discovered it by accident last year, but we'll be there every year no doubt about it. We saw 3 other families in our ward at the same time who had the same idea for FHE. Fun!!! (Note: last year it was freezing when we went. As you can see this year Dillon was wearing short sleeves!)

Still here...

So, I'm still here. Blogging has taken a back seat to much going on with my to-do list lately including making a gazillion stars, preparing sharing time, teaching Joy School for Dillon this week, piano rehearsals for a wonderful event (see http://www.apexnativity.org/ ), making dinner for a friend that just had her first baby, not to mention a million Christmas-related things to do. Blog posts will be back eventually. For your viewing pleasure here is a picture to show you what Lilly has been "UP" to lately...
No children were injured in the recording of this event. I'm hoping one day she'll be a world-famous rock climber and all of this will be a happy memory. :)

Thoughts on Being a Mother...

Is this mess...worth it for these 2 imaginative kids who played happily all afternoon?

I think so. Although my cabinets will probably not be organized for many years to come. Oh well. And what happened to the cabinet door lock, Mr. Dillon?

Cheeeeeeeese!

On Thanksgiving Day we put my parents to work taking pictures for our Christmas cards this year. I guess we did it too long because Lilly finally got the hang of things and started saying "Cheese!" It was so cute! Here she is in her first picture saying "Cheese."

And one with her Daddy...


Where's the turkey, folks?

Snow in November?

Yes, you read that right...we had snow flurries throughout the afternoon yesterday. The kids loved it. Good timing because we just pulled out our plethora of hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves we've collected over time from our 8 winters with kids up North. They have to get some use, so I'm hoping the early flurries foreshadow a winter with a few good snowstorms here.

I don't miss the cold, but I do miss the pretty snow.

Cameron was convinced that when he woke up this morning the snow would be up to his waist. Sorry, buddy. No such luck today.

A walk down memory lane...Dillon, Emily, and Cameron about to do some major sledding in Feb. 2006

Self-promotion

Many of you know that I've been making my paper Moravian Star ornaments for a long time. Every school teacher my children have had has received them at Christmas. I love them. My mom taught me how to make them and she learned from figuring out the instructions from a magazine. They have some sentimental value to our family as my parents grew up in Winston-Salem, NC where the Moravian village of Old Salem was frequently visited.

Anyway, I started a little side business that really took off last year of selling my Moravian stars. They are a unique and beautiful Christmas gift. My link to my etsy shop is on the left side of my blog. I also sell them on E-bay, but I prefer the homemade format of etsy and am trying to build up my feedback there. Anyway, if you're looking for a gift for hard-to-shop-for adults, it's an idea. Thanks....

What I'm Thankful For...My Dad

Happy Birthday to my dad today. He's celebrating his birthday somewhere in NY while hiking the Appalachian Trail. We are so proud of him. He's about to accomplish something that I can't imagine doing! Thanks for all he does as a dad and granddaddy (or "G-daddy" as Emily converted it to early in her life).

Thanks for giving the kids rides on your lawnmower, teaching them about nature, building fires in the garden when they come, being an example, and for your love. We love you and wish you a happy birthday on the trail!!!

What I'm Thankful For...Our home, neighborhood, and cul-de-sac

I'm so thankful for our home that fits our family's needs, for a neighborhood full of children and families, and for a cul-de-sac where the children play all day.

At any given time there can be 20-30 kids all playing together in the cul-de-sac. Riding bikes, kickball, jumprope, hide and seek, raking people's leaves, and nerf gun wars are constant activities. I'm so grateful that on a holiday like yesterday, we just headed out in the afternoon and visited with neighbors and the kids played all day! It is truly a blessing to live here. We were definitely guided to this home. The hard part, I discovered yesterday, is getting them home for dinner....Cameron was not a happy boy.


A view of the cul-de-sac from the back of our car during our house-hunting trip.

What I'm Thankful For...

I've been on a blogging vacation lately...can you tell? It's because my kids have been "tracked out" from school (a year-round school term) for 3 weeks. With everyone home 24/7, blogging has gone to the back burner, but they will be heading back to school tomorrow. :) It's been a good track-out though. We had fun.

On several blogs lately, I've noticed people blogging each day about what they are thankful for. As I gave Sharing Time today in Primary, I really started to think about my blessings and decided it would be nice to "count my blessings" as we talked about today.

So here goes #1...





I'm thankful for my beautiful Lilly who is full of sweetness and spunk. This morning when I had to get up at 6:30 am to prepare a Sharing Time last minute because my fellow counselor wasn't feeling well, Lilly woke up a little bit after I'd started. She and I wrapped up together in our warm, fuzzy brown blanket at the computer and she smothered me with her version of kisses. We have to work on her puckering. She made my morning happy.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday to our Daddy today! The kids and I worked on a little project so he can have some updated pictures of the kids for his desk at work. WE LOVE YOU, DADDY!

Pumpkin Goodness at the Farmer's Market

We took a trip yesterday to the Raleigh Farmer's Market. It's so fun to go there. We had lots of samples of yummy apples and apple cider and got some pumpkins, gourds, mums, and apples. We're going to try our hand at a caramel apple pizza later today. I'll post the recipe later.

Uh oh...

Lilly had her 15 month check-up yesterday, and as the doctor and I were discussing her running and climbing and getting-into-everything skills he asked if she had started pushing chairs over to climb up and get something. I thought for a minute and then said, "No, she hasn't done that yet." Well, look what happened today!

She pushed a chair over to our pantry door which has a door lock and was trying with all her might to get the lock off and get to where the food (or "nana" as she calls it) is. Then, Dillon saw her and said, "I can get that off for her." I quickly said, "No, please don't teach her that yet!"

She's a smart little girl, that Lilly!!!

We're #1! GO GIRLS!!!

5o% of us here have been sick the last few days...as in laying-on-the-couch-all-day-and-can't-move sick. Thank goodness it was Conference Weekend and Daddy was home and healthy. It's been a good time to sit in the living room and enjoy Conference together.

As a result of being sick, I missed Emily's last game of the regular season on Saturday, but it was an awesome one. They won 8 to 6 to be in 1st place! We still have the tournament coming up, but the girls are so excited for this great accomplishment. Emily enjoyed moving up to the 9/10 years league this fall and having Joe help as an assistant coach. Emily is on the bottom row, 3rd from the left and Joe is 2nd from the left on the top row (but you could probably figure that one out!).

Here's hoping we are all in good health as a new week starts tomorrow.

Why the name for my blog?

So, I've been a little slow getting this blog going as my mom just reminded me this morning that I only had pictures of Dillon and quotes from Dillon so far. It is a blog for the whole family I promise! I suppose there will be times when I go a little while without a post, but I want to try to do my best to record things regularly. That leads me to why I chose the title "Our Book of Days."

I love music and one of my favorites to listen to is Enya. I don't listen to it enough lately, but I love her song "Book of Days." The lyrics to this song go like this:

One way to be my journey

this way could be my book of days.

The reason I finally decided to start a blog is so that this can be in a sense our family's "book of days." A recording of the small moments that might not otherwise be recorded. Of our daily doings, funny moments, and real life in a family of 6. I hope that it will also give us another way to stay connected to friends and family far away that we love dearly. Enjoy....

Lego Boy

I'm quite sure this little boy would be happy all day if he just had Legos to build and create with. He loves his Legos...

Yes, we're finally blogging!

I know....we're finally catching up with the technology of the 21st century....I've decided to start a blog. I've enjoyed reading so many friends' (and strangers') blogs and I realized it's just the perfect way to keep in touch with our family and friends all over the country (rather than just my annual Christmas card). So, here I go venturing into the blogging world. I'll be learning as I go, so bear with me.