December 21, 2011
Lyra and the piano
December 29, 2011 — threelittlejewellsDecember 16, 2011
Lyra LOVES the piano!
December 22, 2011
Lyra with our piano teacher, Mr. Hicks. She *adores* him and the feeling is mutual. He has a little granddaughter about her age who lives out West & he has never seen her. So I think he especially enjoys her for that reason. He is a long-time widower and so he stays and eats dinner with us every week after lessons are finished. On this night he stayed after dinner and watched “The Polar Express” with us, which he had never seen. We had my Mom’s awesome homemade hot chocolate recipe and popcorn. Such a nice evening.
Gingerbread House
December 28, 2011 — threelittlejewellsDecember 16, 2011
We spent the morning making chocolate lollipops!
That evening we decorated our gingerbread house.
It’s a Christmas Miracle- a picture of all four kids and everyone is looking at the camera!!! If only Lyra had been smiling….
We all, including the kids, refer to Lyra as “the precious treasure”. She is such a sweet, squishy, happy little doll!
Random Picture Post
December 27, 2011 — threelittlejewellsDecember 12, 2011- writing with quill & ink… (part of our school work that week)
December 15, 2011- I took the three oldest children to their first theater production! We went to see “The Best Christmas Pagent Ever” and then out to lunch. It was great fun. We have tickets in February to see “Freedom Train” (about the Underground Railroad) and “Charlotte’s Web” in March.
December 20, 2011- Dentist Appt. I don’t usually take pictures at dentist appointment but since it was Lyra’s first visit to the dentist, I brought it along. Mary blinked so her picture didn’t come out very well. Here is Nathan & Savvy and then Lyra’s first visit. The dentist tells me that they will all need braces. haha!
Later that night we joined some friends and drove around looking at Christmas lights and then stopped at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. We do this every year but it was extra fun to do it with friends this year!
Fancy Girl
December 26, 2011 — threelittlejewells(Friday, January 6, 2012)
Finally, I am back!! After a busy holiday season, lots of family sickness & our cat dying, I got seriously behind in everything. I’ve been working hard to restore the house to order and I want to get back to freezer cooking so I’ve been working on constructing menus, etc. Also, Nathan’s 7th birthday was Tuesday, 1/3 so I was busy with his birthday dinner & getting ready for his first kid birthday party tomorrow. I’m going to steadily work through pictures tonight and backdate them as I post them. Hopefully I can catch up!
December 9, 2001- Savvy is such a fancy girl. A few months ago she started to go into the bathroom at the end of naptime to “do her hair”. The picture below is a MILD example of her work- it is not uncommon for her to come down in the afternoon with a rainbow of 10 or more different colored bows or clips in her hair. She also raids her dresser for all kinds of treasures that go with other outfits- removable collars, shorts, tutus, etc. to pair with her “outfit”. She is something else.
December 14, 2011
Christmas Day, 2011
December 25, 2011 — threelittlejewellsIts Christmas Day and I’m sick. The two little girls are sick with low grade fevers & nose issues. And our cat died today. Seriously.
We still had a great Christmas though- why is it that every year feels like the best Christmas ever? 
Be back soon with pictures from the last two weeks.
More Advent-y Goodness
December 14, 2011 — threelittlejewellsI thought I posted this last week but I just found it in my drafts folder. I was going to post links to each of the books but decided to just go ahead and post as it- I’m to busy & to tired to do anything extra right now and sorting out my adding links issue just isn’t going to happen today!
One of our favorite Advent resources is “The Advent Book” by Jack and Kathy Stockman.
As you can see, the illustrations are just gorgeous. Each night we open a different door to reveal the scripture and accompanying illustration behind it.
A good Advent activity book.
One of our favorite Advent read alouds- great story about why we needed Jesus to come from the very beginning and the illustrations are lovely.
We are reading a chapter a night from “The Jesse Tree” and using Ann Voskamp’s free printable ornaments to hang on our Jesse Tree.
Our Three Wise Men start their trek up in the school room and are slowly making their way to the stable. Right now they are at the top of the stairs.
Another Advent calendar.
If you know me, you know I LOVE Tasha Tudor! “A Book of Christmas” is a pop up Tudor book and it even has an Advent calendar in the middle!
Christmas Parade
December 13, 2011 — threelittlejewellsChristmas Parade 2011
I really love small town parades! Marching bands, classic cars, throwing tons of candy to the kids, the Shriners in the tiny vehicles… I love it all!
Shriners in their little motorcycles and race cars- the kids though these were so cute!
Someone stole Mommy’s chair…
Santa and Jingle
December 12, 2011 — threelittlejewellsDecember 1, 2011
The long awaited day has finally arrived- Advent begins & our elf, Jingle comes back! I’ve already posted about Advent a few times so I’ll not repeat that part again- Jingle came back & brought Dunkin’ Doughnuts for breakfast.
Big kids in their Christmas pj’s- of course, I couldn’t get a picture of Ms. Busy!
Lyra, 20 months & Savvy, 4 years. I wanted to get these pj’s for Mary but the store was out of them in Mary’s size every time I checked.
That evening we invited our piano teacher, Mr. Hicks, to stay for dinner. Then we decided to go on a night walk and lo and behold! We ran into SANTA on a firetruck right here in our neighborhood! The big kids were just thrilled. Lyra, not so much.
Notice Mary brought her beautiful doll, Annie, that my Mom made her for Christmas a few years ago.
Lyra was not interested in having Santa hold her at all. She just stared at him from the safety of Daddy’s arms. Such a fun, fun day!
Lunch Duty
December 12, 2011 — threelittlejewells
12/3/2011- Savvy washing the lunch dishes. Such a cutie!
