All kinds of adventures...

Matthew would like a basketball hoop and hot wheels track.

Aliya REALLY wants a Samantha American Girl Doll.
Decorating 1 of the 4 Christmas trees.

Last week we decorated for Christmas, a lot. The house seems to be transformed more and more each day. The kids wrote letters to Santa and I delivered them to him myself last weekend when I went to the North Pole. Annie (Mom) thought that was the fastest and most efficient way to get the letter to Santa. I agreed and it was my pleasure to bring him their letters :)

Have I mentioned I love my job? I actually got a nap on Monday with Matthew! He was tired after his snack and said he wanted to rest. I got my crocheting and went to lay with him. After some squirming and chatting, he fell asleep. I was on the edge of the bed, because everytime I would move to get a little space, he would move closer. I decided I did not have adequate space to crochet any longer, so I stopped and cuddled a full cuddle. Well, I woke up over an hour later, in the same position -almost falling of the bed with the little man thisclose. He went on to sleep almost another hour.

During a conversation in the car last week, Aliya mentioned "Mommy said Jesus was God, and Daddy said God was Jesus. Its really confusing to me." I couldn't help but add my two cents. "Well actually He is three in one Aliya, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Matthew piped in with his 4 year old knowledge to set us both straight. "God is Jesus' father and Jesus is God's son Aliya!" Out of the mouth of babes!

I was reading to the kids last night and Matt was sitting on my lap. He wanted to pretend I was the mom and he was the baby Grinch. This turned into the whole 'when are you going to get married and be a mom' conversation. I asked them if I could ask Santa for a husband and if they thought I could ask him for a baby as well?! Matthew said I could marry him, which is a new thing, because just last week they had me marrying Jack, the 12 year old boy who lives next door. Aliya says she is going to marry Robbie, Jack's 7 year old brother, and Matthew said he is going to marry Samantha, their 10 year old sister. Oh to be 6 or 4 again, their world is so small and simple!

So, the American Girl doll Samantha is sitting in my closet! She came earlier than expected and will indeed make one little girl VERY happy in 14 days. Aliya talks about when Santa brings her, not if he brings her. She asked me if we could go to the American Girl store after Christmas to get her some more clothes. Samantha will need more clothes than just the ones she comes in after all. Oh boy, I can hardly wait!

I took the kids Christmas shopping for their gifts. We had already discussed that I would bring them shopping, they would pick out things they liked, and I would buy it. However, I would bring the gift to Guatemala to give to a child that lives at the dump. I will take a picture of the child who gets it, if possible, so the kids can see their gift making someone else happy. I explained that God likes it when we give things to others and that we have a lot, while others don't have anything. It was so precious to see these kids picking out things they wanted, knowing they weren't actually going to be able to keep it. Aliya picked out Tinkerbell and Hannah Montana stuff and Matthew picked out balls and dinosaur stuff. I hope that this is only the beginning of their philanthropic side :)

I was woken up at 5am this morning by being sat on. Peter was away last night and Annie left at 4am to go to Texas for a conference, so I was the go to girl this morning. We talked about this for 2 days, so both kids would feel comfortable knowing mommy and daddy weren't going to be here, and they could come down to my room. Aliya jumped at the opportunity and climbed right on me bright and early. It took me a second to realize what was happening, then I just moved over, made space and we both went back to sleep. Again, I had a little face thisclose to mine and I got kicked a few times, but nothing to worry about.

I am headed to New York City this weekend to see it in all its Christmas glory! It has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. Tracy, Ben, my best friend Allison and my traveling companion Mike are all coming. I hope to get lots of pictures!