It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 This is the first year we did gingerbread houses with the boys. They loved it!
One Friday night Alan and I worked on assembling the houses.

Then the next day while I was off galavanting in LA with a friend, Alan and the boys decorated them.

Isaac likes to point out to everyone that his has door knobs and two doorbells. One goes ding-dong and the other one goes dong-ding.

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree.

Most of our decorations are handmade ones of the boys from school, Sunday school or from our Advent last year. Love it!

One morning Isaac was busy playing outdoors. I looked out to see what he was up to and saw him gathering a bunch of dead plant stuff. He told me he was making a manger for Baby Jesus, then ran inside to get the baby Jesus from our nativity. Oh, so precious!

Every year I try to do things to make Christmas meaningful, so the boys realize the true meaning of Christmas is about God's gift to us, not just about receiving gifts, that we are to find the joy in giving to others, especially those in need. 

Last year we used Truth in the Tinsel for our Advent so this year I searched for something similar to do each night. I found this book.

While some of the questions are a little above Jacob and Isaac, I still find it is very good. The stories are short and there are cute little object lessons that are fun and meaningful. 

I also discovered this book and we've been finding ways to fill our Sparkle Box, which is a special box you put under your tree for Jesus. It's a gift for Jesus, and you fill it with things that will honor Him and bring Him joy on Christmas Day – His birthday!  

There are so many great things to do with your kids during the Christmas season, it is easy to get overwhelmed thinking we have to do it ALL. I have to keep reminding myself to keep it simple and meaningful. That's what the boys will remember. They don't want a busy, over-stressed mommy. They'll get more out of it if we just focus on a few special things. 

Thanksgiving weekend

6 days until Christmas and I am just now getting around to blogging about Thanksgiving. Yikes!

I failed as a photographer on Thanksgiving. I took one picture and it didn't even have people in it. Fail!

So, here is the picture and it isn't even a good one. Alan had a cream whipper and was showing Jeff how to use it. Something went wrong and the tip of his pumpkin pie got blasted off. It was a little dramatic. 

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving, in spite of blasted pie. Alan sous vide some turkey legs and then Jeff deep fried them. I didn't eat any, but hear it was fantastic. It was a beautiful day and we spent some time playing corn hole before dessert. 

Thanksgiving weekend is always the Apple Butter Festival up at Riley's Farm in Oak Glen so we headed up to check it out. We went on a hike and ate our lunch up at the duck pond.

Jacob and Isaac have their maps all ready to lead us where we need to go!

Looking at the ducks at the lower pond.

 It was so beautiful up there. I could have stayed all day!

This is where we ate our lunch....and threw sticks into the water.

Then we went back to the festival where Isaac showed everyone his awesome dance moves.

Alan made some popcorn ice cream. It was ice cream flavored with caramelized white chocolate so it tasted like kettle corn. Then Alan used liquid nitrogen and a cream whipper to make it look like popcorn. It was too good!

These are the thankful turkeys that we made this year. Each night the boys told me what they are thankful for and I wrote it on a feather.

Jacob is thankful for:
Isaac, my mom, my dad, Boppa, Oma and Homer, books, baseball and soccer

Isaac is thankful for:
Mommy, Daddy, Jacob, Boppa, Oma and Homer, super heroes, Jesus

Farm Tour

Some friends and I read the book 'The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love' by Kristin Kimball. A very interesting read about a city girl who ended up with a guy who is a farmer. The story is about their adventures in farming the old fashioned way, like using horses instead of plows. 

We decided to read the book, then go visit a local organic farm, Three Sisters Farm. I loved it!

All their winter squash 

They live in a straw house.

Isaac found a friend! The family has a 3 year old boy and these two had lots of fun playing together.

Fluffy fennel

The farm is in the canyon with mountains surrounding

They grow a row of indigenous plants to help with growing

The kids found the weasel hole and Isaac managed to drop his spider ring down it. The farmer was nice enough to dig it out for him, but then Isaac promptly lost it elsewhere.

These are the farmers who are currently growing on one acre of land and selling to a couple farmers markets, a local restaurant and their CSA members.

They live right by train tracks and while we were there we saw (and heard) 2 trains pass by

The boys were fascinated by all the bees in the flowers.

 I think lettuce is so pretty!

They have a bat house, but so far the bats haven't discovered it yet.

What's a farm without a tractor?

We had the opportunity to buy a produce basket so my mom and I split one. Oh my, there were lots of goodies in there!

Such a fun morning and I am glad the boys got the opportunity to go with us and learn a little about farming. 

Random Pics

These are just some random pictures of things I want to remember. 

Isaac being silly in my sunglasses.

Jacob helping me clean the bathroom. The boys love to help me clean! I am going to pull out these pictures when they are teenagers. Ha!

Playing piano at music class.

Jacob had the day off from school, so he got to join us.

We occasionally go to a produce stand nearby and the boys just love this sign of the moon drinking orange juice.

At one of the parks we go to for boot camp, we are always seeing cool wildlife. This is a heron in the middle of the park! We named him Harold and we've seen him a few times.

The same day we saw 3 deer grazing in the orange groves and on the way home we saw 2 hawks fighting mid-air who then swooped down and one of the hawk's wings grazed our windshield. It was pretty crazy! 

The boys' new favorite place to play is in the front yard.

We have a book, 'Pancakes, Pancakes' where the boy wants a pancake for breakfast and his mom makes him help. He has to thresh the wheat, gather an egg, milk the cow, churn the butter. For some reason, whenever the boys play in the front yard, they want to 'make pancakes'. Here Jacob is threshing the wheat, which really means beat the tree with a stick.

The boys have graduated from baths to showers.
After I get them all washed, they like to stay and play and do what they call 'dee dee dah'. I really have no clue where that came from! It's usually some kind of song and dance and they discuss beforehand what kind of dee dee dah they are going to do - Jack and Annie (from the Magic Tree House), Jesus in the manger, aliens.
Then they like to huddle under their towel and pretend they are a baby dinosaur in an egg. Sometimes they ask that I, the mommy dino, sit on them so they can hatch. Such imaginations!

Isaac has quite the jammie getup some nights. He still likes to wear his summer pajamas, but knows he has to have something long underneath. This night he was wearing lion jammies over doggie jammies, so he was perching on the stool like a lion. 

 Isn't that just an awesome look!

Oh, how these sweet boys make me smile! I just love to see their creative minds at work.