More Christmas Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Henderson Christmas at Mom and Dad's on Friday. Kinsey really liked getting to checking out Baby Ella (b. 10.22). And then we always try to get a picture of all the great grand kids . . .
Happy New Year! Hope you have an amazing 2009!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Since, we will not be home on Christmas morning, we celebrated Jesus' birthday this morning at our house. We had candy cane shaped pancakes and bacon, read the Christmas story, finished the advent calendar and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we opened a few gifts. It was nice to be home all morning so we could put everything together and let the kids play. Our candlelight Christmas Eve service is at 4 pm and then we will be heading to TH for a few days. Jackson was VERY excited about his all train Christmas. . . from Polar Express to Thomas and friends. He was one happy boy! And Kinsey loved her little camo baby doll (from Cabella's) and her new little "playhouse". They even got daddy to have a tea party with them when he was finished getting everything put together.

Merry CHRISTmas!

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1:21

Christmas Cookies

Jackson has become quite the little helper, in fact I can hardly do something in the kitchen without him wanting to "help" me! Which is mostly wonderful : ) So this morning it was baking more "candy can" cookies, as he calls them. Here is what he liked best about helping . . . .

Christmas Program

So tonight was the Children's Ministry Christmas Program at the church. Katie Mann (our YM wife) and I had been working with the preschool kids on just 2 songs for their part in the program. And it is always interesting to see how they will react on the big stage with everyone there watching. One of the ladies helping direct the program said she hoped some of the preschool kids really hammed it up and did some funny things to make the program memorable. Well, Jackson sure filled that order!! They were suppose to walk in saying "The King is Born" ringing their bells and then sing "Away in the Manger". Then at the end of the program sing "Joy to the World" and say "Merry Christmas!" Well, here is a little peak at what really happened!

Advent-ures of Christmas

This is David's article from our church newsletter this week . . . thought it was fitting to share.

"Following the church calendar, we find ourselves right now in the midst of Advent. Advent means "coming" and it's the time in the church year to celebrate the coming of the Lord. The idea is that we eagerly wait for him to come. We anticipate his birth. And though a lot of people don't celebrate advent, it is a great way to teach the true meaning of Christmas. It allows us to focus on the Lord and not be distracted by everything else our culture wants for us.

This became all the more real to me this year. Last year my sister bought an advent calendar for us. She had one for her boys and thought is was a great teaching tool. This calendar has a little compartment for each day of December marked with numbers corresponding to the days of the month, from 1 to 25. Each day, Jackson gets to open a little door and pull out a magnet and place it on the metal painting of the stable. There are stars, sheep, wise men, camels, Mary, Joseph, you get the idea. We just make sure to put the baby Jesus in #25. When he pulls out an animal or a star, it gives me the chance to ask him why that piece is there and teach about the story. It has been an amazing first week!

But something unexpected has happened. Jackson is reacting to it in a way that is both familiar and unknown. When it's time to open a new door, his excitement billows out every pore of his being. There is wonder in his eyes and you can almost see the sponge taking it all in. But then, he throws a fit. He does this fairly often at this point in his life, but this one I can handle. I don't mind it so much. He wants to open a new door, to reveal another part of the story, to place another magnet on the manger, but we have to wait for tomorrow. He may understand advent more than I do at this point. I have learned to be patient and wait. Maybe I should be a little more eager. Maybe I should have more anticipation for Jesus and for Christmas.

So here, in this article, I throw my fit. I can't wait for the Lord to come! I want it to be now! For all the right reasons. There, I feel better.

Dave Jarrett, Creative Arts Minister"

Peek-A-Boo

Kinsey Grace-13 Months

Kinsey has started saying and signing new words. She was 13 months yesterday and continues to amaze us with the things she picks up on and learns. She says "Dad-dee" very clearly! Of course, that makes her Daddy very proud. She also started saying a version of "Jackson" on Friday night. Naturally, we haven't been able to get her to do it with the camera on (as you will see). When she eats, instead of signing "more" or "please", she has learned to answer our questions with an insistent nodding. I'll have to post video of it to truly appreciate the cute factor. It is so comical. She also has started signing "milk" and "fish" for goldfish crackers. I have weaned her completely as of Thursday, but she still is not fond of drinking whole milk. But we are sneaking it in oatmeal, feeding her yogurt and giving her cheese trying to get in plenty of calories and calcium.

Ready for Christmas . . .

We have been decorating the house all this past week. Jackson is SO excited about all the decorations. And LOVES the Advent Calendar that The Ritchie Family gave us last year. He of course wants to open ALL the doors and is very disappointed when he can only open one. Kinsey LOVES the tree as I knew she would. She is often in trouble for touching and carrying off with some of the ornaments. We at least put all the precious breakable ornaments at the top.

Tonight was our last presentation of our Adult Choir program for Christmas that Dave was in charge of creating and directing. It was a nice break from our "normal" Christmas schedule from Rochester and was a really nice program. Mom and Dad were able to come down to see it.

Next Sunday night, will be the Kid's Christmas program. Hopefully we will have some good video of Jackson performing . . . we'll see how much he cooperates when it is real. Hope you and your family are enjoying the Advent season!

Rock Out

At lunch today, Jackson started saying "Lets rock out like guitar hero!" He said my cousin Jill taught him these moves Thanksgiving. We'll see if she agrees . . . .

Giving Thanks . . .

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Jackson and Claire made "Turkey" cookies and read lots of Thanksgiving books that Aunt Courtney brought with her. We ate lunch at Aunt Connie and Uncle Kevin's new place and supper at Aunt Donna and Uncle Charlie's. And of course ate WAY too much! It was great to spend time with family and enjoy some time away. We are so thankful and blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pirates . . . RRRRRR . . .

This post is for Papa . . . here he and Jackson are posing in their pirate hats! Grammy and Papa spent Thursday night to Saturday night with us for shot gun season. Unfortunately, the guys did not get a deer, but we all had a fun time together.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

We saw snowflakes on Thursday, so in honor of that we pulled out the Christmas snowman PJs a little early. And even made some Christmas cookies on Saturday. Jackson picked out "candy canes" and was very excited about rolling out the dough and cutting out the shapes. However, much less excited about the actual icing process, so it was a hurried job so that we could eat them!! And as you can see, Kinsey enjoyed one too! Some of our neighbors have started putting up Christmas lights outside, which Jackson LOVES!!! We plan to start decorating our house for Christmas this week!!!!

A Must See . . .

We finally got to see the movie Fireproof on Tuesday night. It is a MUST see for every married couple. Whether you have been married for a year or for 50, you are happily married or are struggling, it is for everyone! And I am looking forward to getting my copy of "The Love Dare".

Joy to the World

Jackson is old enough this year to be in the Kid's Christmas Program at our church. His class is just doing 1 verse of "Away in the Manger" and "Joy to the World". So we have really been working with them and he has it down pretty good. And so here is a little "Joy to the World" for you . . . David suggested the "stage" and I found him a "microphone", so he was quite the ham!

A Peek at Our Christmas Pictures . . . .

Kinsey's 1 Year Pics

Kinsey's 1st Birthday Party

We had a great time celebrating with friends and family today. Kinsey LOVED eating the strawberry daisy cupcakes that we made. In fact, she ate one at the party and one at lunch! It was a special day, so we allowed it : ) She also REALLY liked the ice cream! We had friends and family celebrate with us this morning at the church with daisy cupcakes, ice cream, pink M&Ms, pink lemonade, and strawberry milk. And then continued with several coming to our house for lunch. It was a little crazy getting everything ready and put together, but it was a great day!

The little white cradle that Kinsey is standing behind was a birthday present from us that David made. His mom made all the bedding to fit inside and it all turned out really cute!

We had family pictures and pictures of the kids done at Sears on Friday, so I'll have to share some of those later when I have more time. For now I'm tired and ready for bed!! Thanks again everyone for celebrating with us and showering Kinsey with your generosity and many wonderful gifts! THANK YOU!

A little about Dave . . . .

I usually only write things about the kids, but thought I better post a picture of Dave's prize from Friday morning (11/7). He was very excited to finally get a deer with his bow . . . even though I find these pictures little disgusting, here it is!

And he has been spending a little time in the slammer : ) Not really, this was a picture from Harvest Fest (11/1) at our church. It was one of the fundraisers for the Rapha House (safe house for women being rescued from sex-trafficking). But it is still a funny picture!

He has been busy around the house replacing our garage door and building a baby doll cradle for Kinsey's 1st birthday. I'll post pictures of the finished product after her birthday party on Saturday.

Kinsey Grace-1 Year Old

I know I say it every month, but I just can't believe Kinsey is 1 already!!!! It just doesn't seem possible! I took this picture of her in our backyard for her birthday invitations. We have had a busy day, doctors, shots and other errands, so I'm afraid I won't have a chance to get another picture of her today. We go to her 1 year appointment tomorrow afternoon to get the official stats, but at the health department today they said she was 18 1/2 lbs., and 29 inches tall.

Kinsey has 6 teeth and is desperately working on another 1 at the bottom, therefore she has not been herself for the last couple of days. Though when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her this morning she got a BIG smile on her face! She says "Hi", "UH OH" and "DADA" very well. And does some signing, but not all the time ("more", "please", "eat"). And the most fun, she has been really walking EVERYWHERE for nearly 2 weeks! She gets in all sorts of trouble, but it is so fun watching her walk around all by herself. We will be celebrating with friends and family next weekend with a pink daisy party!

Playing in the Leaves

Gotta love this warm weather! We had a great time outside today playing in the leaves. Of course, Jackson refused to take off his Batman costume all day (and even slept in it last night), but oh well! Kinsey was a little scared of all the "crunchy" leaves, but she finally warmed up a little bit.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween! It was the first Halloween that Jackson really understood and got into it. He was all over telling everyone that he was "BATMAN!" and saying "trick or treat!" We had dinner with friends and then all went downtown trick or treating at all the merchants and to a carnival at the library.