5 year old Bullfrog!

Nehemiah and his birthday bike.

Sunday, Nehemiah the bullfrog, turned 5.  On one hand, I can't believe my only dark haired baby boy is already so big.  On the other hand, a day with that boy can feel like a week.  You can just see it in his eyes.  He's always up to something.  He's cute.  Charming.  And has been in trouble about half his life.  The half that he's not sleeping. :)  But I wouldn't trade him for anything!  He makes me laugh, he's so thoughtful, a GREAT big brother to Eliseo and Samuel always looking out for them, he loves to snuggle, talks my ear off, and begins every sentence with, "Uh-huh...yeah...and one time..."   Those big brown eyes, dimples in his cheek and chin, and that smile that lights up the room...yes, he melts mommy's heart.  Good thing considering how much he gets into trouble! :)  

Birthday Banner made by Mommy and the girls. :)

Nehemiah riding his new bike.  Eliseo not letting any of that birthday cake/icecream go to waste :)

Benjamin, Eliseo, Susannah, and Noah ready for church Sunday morning.

My second baby! :)

My first baby :)

 Yesterday, Daniel and I and our 4 youngest went down to La Paz to turn in more paperwork for my visa and do some Christmas shopping for the children.  The oldest 8 stayed home to study and Hna. Meche came over to stay with them.  We had so much fun! And got sooo tired!  After almost 4 months in the USA, McDonalds was not my first choice for lunch, but with a 6,5,3, and 2 year old in the car squealing with excitement when the golden arches came into sight, well...I do like their french fries :)  Daniel and I were sitting down watching them all play at the play place and I said, "I tell you, when Timothy, Elijah, Beka, and Ben were all this small, I think I had a lot more energy!" :)
It was tons of fun being with just the littlest crew for the day and we had fun spoiling them a bit.
Tonight, we went Christmas Caroling with our church.  Tomorrow and Friday we get to give out the Christmas boxes!   What a wonderful Savior!  A reason to celebrate today and every day!

McD's in La Paz

Samuel LOVES slides!

Susannah lost her first tooth last week!

I told you we spoiled them a bit :) 

Week before Christmas

Yes, we are still here ! :)  Long, busy and full but wonderful days passing so quickly. 

We started school and have a bit of catching up to do but and are still very much enjoying just being home.

After getting settled back in and beginning our school year, I found that things just weren't running too smoothly.   I took a couple days to list down all the "problems" and realized that we were lacking some organization in many areas!   Sometimes I tend to get the cart ahead of the horse.  When I things start falling apart or not getting done, it's usually one of two reasons.  Either I haven't taken the time to organized/plan/instruct as I should or I'm not sticking to my plan/schedule.

So that is what I've been working on the past couple weeks.  And things are going MUCH better!

I listed out all the areas, big or small, that needed attention.  Anything from cleaning, to shopping, to ministry, to school, to projects.  Then prioritized them (for example, getting my food preparation/shopping/menus in order takes priority over practicing my violin.  It saves us time and money and the man and children in this house would much rather eat a good meal than listen to me serenade them on my violin any day! :)  And if I want to make Christmas crafts and bake Christmas cookies with the children, I'd best do that before the 25th thus I haven't updated here much.)

 We started with the basics.  Getting up on time, going to bed on time, chores and school.  Then each day, I have tried to tend to at least one more area on my list in order of priority. And especially make time for those things that fill our home with love and joy.  Playing a games with the children, reading stories, keeping our home open to company, chatting, writing notes, etc...

So this week, while there is still much do work on,  I made a menu and followed it, decorated with the children for Christmas, took time to write some letters, worked on chore training, organized the boys clothing with them, fine-tuned our school day, and printed up/framed some Scripture verses to help keep my heart/mind set on what is true!  

Plans for the next couple weeks...

*Tonight we are having 2 families over for supper

*Sunday Nehemiah the Bullfrog turns 5!!

*Tuesday- going down to La Paz with my hubby to renew my visa and (shhhhhh....get Christmas gifts for the children). :)

*Wednesday- Christmas caroling with our church

*Thursday/Friday- passing out the Christmas boxes we received this year...we got about 100 of them!!  Look for the Christmas Box post/pictures in the weeks ahead.

Saturday- Our Christmas Eve also known as my half birthday :) is like Christmas Day for the people here in Mexico.  They begin celebrating in the evening and often stay up most of the night.  That is when we go visit some of the families in our church, bring them some Christmas goodies and eat tamales, pozole, and drink champurado (a think chocolate drink).  Yum!!!!!!

Sunday- Our special Christmas service, children's/teen choir singing, fellowship dinner

Monday- Hubby and 3 oldest going to youth conference for 3 days with some of the other young people/men/women from our church. I'll have a HUGE list of projects ready to tackle while they are away mainly just because I'll miss them soooooo much and it will not only get things done that I've been needing to, but it will make the time pass quickly. :)

Merry Christmas to all who read here!  May Jesus fill your hearts and homes with His love, peace and joy each day!

He is so faithful and sooo good!

See below for pics from this week!! :)

Daddy brought home a treat the other day...big jars of peanut butter!! :)

Sunset a few nights ago- view from the side of our front yard.

Making Christmas Carolers

Working on snowflakes for the windows

I saw this idea on my friend Cindy's blog and loved it!  We made 14 carolers....one for each of us! :)

This was the first year ever that I let the children decorate the tree all by themselves!  More and more, it's not about being "perfect"...just seeing the fun they had making memories together makes it the most beautiful tree ever!

Gift from my hubby to me :)  I had books everywhere...in totes, in cupboards, in baskets, and the two book shelves we had were breaking and full.  He saw a special at shopko for bookshelves for half off and got me four of them and an additional one with doors to hold our games/dvd's!! :)  I feel like we have our own little library!
When Daniel gets time, I want him to paint a verse on the wall above the shelves.  Any suggestions for what verse?

The weather has finally become cool enough to bake without sweating! :)  I love fresh bread!    I was thinking 2 loaves for us and 2 to give away to friends/neighbors.  Well, we did give 2 away, but we could have easily eaten all 4!  Next time I think I'll make 6!

I'm not the most creative/artistic, but I want to start changing our dining room bulletin board every month to fit the season/theme.

These little guys are usually the first ones up.  I let them stay in their jammies till after breakfast and usually the little ones will munch on Cheerios while Beka and I cook. :)

Not sure why these next two pics got put way down here, but I've got to start supper and don't have time to get them where they should be :)

First Day...

...of December.

First day of school.

After a 3 month "field trip", :)

we are back to opening our text books,

working at our desks,

back to our daily schedule.

We've missed it!! 

It's soooo good to be home!

Thanking the Lord tonight for another "school year". 

Ten children from 10th grade down to Kindergarten and two pre-schoolers just to keep me from getting bored and keep me laughing and smiling all day.