Christmas Decorations 2011

Hayden's 3rd Birthday Party...

Is it possible that I am planning Hayden's 3rd Birthday. Not sure why his is the only one I have blogged about. Anyhow, we are going with a train theme this year for Hayden and here is the start with the invitation!!!

{Joy}

Once again I have put off posting anything on here, mostly due to lack of time. Baby #3 (Henri) has been a wonderful part of our lives for 8 1/2 months now and I'm loving him to death. But to be honest, that's now why I'm posting now. I have been doing a lot of thinking about Joy lately. What is true joy and how do we and when do we experience it? 1 Thessalonians 5 v. 16-18 says; "be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus." So the true question is how do we be joyful always? I mean, what does true joy look like? I find "joy" in many things, a lot of them quite silly. A clean bathroom, and organized cabinet, yes, cleaning brings me joy. Watching my children laugh, accomplish something new or just give me a hug and tell me they love me, joy. I know God wants us to take joy in all these things, but I believe there is something more that He wants us to take joy in. It is simple and complicated (at least to me) at the same time. He wants us to take joy in Him. Sounds simple enough. So now, how do we do that? I can take joy in things He has created. In abilities he has given me, but how do I take joy in Him?

So, I'm thinking that in order to do this, for starters, I need to be serving Him more. Going out and being fishers of men. Those that we are able to partake in their being lead to Christ should bring us so much joy. There are so many ways in which I can do this, it's just getting out there and doing it. Why don't I do this more? I do feel fortunate that God has allowed me to have 3 wonderful boys that I get to work on this every day and I do have joy in this! Watching them this morning sitting on my bed, each with his own bible looking at the stories and asking me questions. This bring me true joy. Knowing that God is working in those small boys lives and that he is allowing me to be part of that! I just pray more and more every day for the ability to "be joyful always"! This is just the tip of the iceberg and I pray that God will continue to show me how and can be a part of advancing His kingdom and receiving the eternal joy that is a part of that and seeing the simple and silly joys that God has blessed me with every day!

{The Start of Fall}

Of all the things I love about Fall, one of the things I hate is changing over the boys closets from Summer to Fall clothes. I just feel so overwhelmed, but I tackled this project yesterday and it really feels good to know it is done now...It turned out pretty good. I just had to come up with some creative solutions in the closet to house both boys cool weather clothing. Summer clothes take up so much less room.

Before

After

{Hayden's Party}

We had a fun Farm Theme Party. I made Hayden a #2 shirt to celebrate the big day! The Birthday Boy Enjoyed himself ALOT!!!

{Birthday Cakes...through the years}

Is it possible I have made 6 Cakes already??? Where has the time gone???

Hunter's 1st Birthday

Hunter's 2nd Birthday

Hunter's 3rd Birthday

Hayden's 1st Birthday

Hunter's 4th Birthday

Hayden's 2nd Birthday

{completing goals}

I have been working hard, trying to complete some of the things on my "to do" list. It is really really long, but we are pressing on. In the house, I got one of the pieces of furniture from my grandma cleaned up and placed in the right spot (at least until Christmas when the tree replaces it). I also go my living room curtains made after almost a year. I'm really happy with the results!!!

As for the outside, we have gotten the deck and picnic table and door frames painted. We also put rock around the corner flower bed, which looks so much better!!! The garage is still a work in progress, but it is in progress so that's good!

Lots more to do...but it's coming along!!!