Happy Birthday Jesus!

On Friday, December 17, I got to help out in Kyler's preschool classroom. I love to do this, but I was especially excited to participate because they were having their “Happy Birthday Jesus” party. I guess it's a day not too unlike all his other school days except for a bigger snack. But there is definitely more excitement in the air.

The parents signed up to bring certain items for the party and while the kids played, I helped (along with one other mom) divvy up all the food onto plates for each of the kids and teachers. Then we set the tables with all the plates. In addition to the fruit, cheese cubes and jello jigglers, there were sugar cookies for the kids to decorate with frosting and sprinkles as well as ice cream cups for dessert.

Before the kids ate their snack, they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. It was so sweet! Kyler had so much fun, but you sure can't tell from this picture. :) What a fun way to end the last day of school before Christmas break.

Warm Water Therapy

Last summer Caden was in warm water therapy for a few months. It is essentially physical therapy in a warm water pool. However, Caden was not impressed with it and refused to let the PT hold him or work with him in the water. We ended up taking a 3-month break to see if we could get him more comfortable in the water again.

We recently started back up again with the warm water therapy. The first session in the water did NOT go well. It lasted about 10 minutes with Caden screaming most of the time. This last week though, he did so much better. He let the PT hold him and do different things with him. And, he didn't scream the whole time. I had to be in the water near him, but I didn't have to hold him. He even stayed in the water for over 30 minutes. It was a really great session!

I am so proud of him and how much better he did in the water. I wouldn't say he loved it, but he did so much better than he ever did before. If he continues this way and allows the PT to work with him, this therapy could really help. I am really excited about it! We'll see how he does next week.

Trimming the Tree

No, not the Christmas tree... the mulberry tree in our backyard. It needs to be trimmed back to the nubbins every year. Last year Greg did it by himself and was pretty sore the next day. However, this year because of his shoulder injury following his bicycle accident, he was unable to do the trimming himself. He hired a teenager from our church to come and take care of it.

It created a huge pile of leaves on the ground which Kyler had a ball jumping and playing in! Unfortunately I was not at home when the trimming took place and I was unable to get a “before” picture. But you can see the “after” picture below. Our tree is now naked. :)

Kyler in mid-air leaping off our deck into the pile of leaves

Look at the sheer joy on his face

The trimmed tree creates quite a pile of leaves and branches on the ground

Here's our naked tree - amazing that by next summer it will be completely filled in again, providing great shade for our yard

Burning the Mortgage

Saturday, December 11 was a BIG day at our church! We officially paid off the mortgage for our building. It was a 15-year mortgage and we paid it off in less than 8 years!!! Greg & I have been members at our church for over 10 years now and we love everything about it. This is just one example of how God is using the people of our church to do big things.

I got these pictures from another member of our church. These are our two pastors, Greg Webster (on the left) and Walt Groff (on the right). It is amazing what God has accomplished through them. On the 11th we celebrated the pay-off of our building by burning the mortgage. How often do you get a chance to do something like that?! We are so blessed to be part of such an incredible church!



Love the symbolism with the pastors praying, the smoke in the foreground and the cross in the background

Adventist Health Christmas Party

Thursday, December 9, we attended Greg's work party. Kyler came with us but Caden stayed at home with a sitter since we are not taking him out in public right now. We just can't risk him getting sick. The party was held at the Radisson Hotel and the food was great. Kyler behaved himself very well that night and also got a Hot Wheels track from Santa that he loves. We were able to get a picture of the three of us together which turned out pretty well. You can see Kyler's personality shining through!