faith and santa. written by brad

Our girls (and not yet visible boy) don't believe in Santa. They most likely never will. It seemed like a no-brainer for me at first, but the more I think about it, the stronger my opinion becomes. I'm hoping to train rational, logical, fair minded children. (2 girls so far, so it's a big task) That said, it's enough of a stretch to ask them to believe in the basic miraculous tenants of Christianity; there is a lot to wrap your mind around there. I want them to be able to trust my words and motives as I try to teach them.

As time goes on, I have no doubt those beliefs will be tested/questioned by their own curiosity as well as others'. There seems to be a decent chance that some of that questioning could be happening about the same time other children are realizing Santa is not the source of their slinky's. I don't want them to have to sort through the fact that: "Dad told me that Jesus turned water into wine, lived a perfect life, died to make us right with God, was raised from the dead and now lives in heaven, but he also told me that a fat man sneaks into our house once a year, down the chimney we don't have, transported by animals Grappa hunts, to bring us toys." This seems to be, at the very least, unhelpful for sharing "the hope that is in me" with my kids.

merry christmas

We had a good Christmas. We are thankful for Jesus's life. A few new traditions were added to our growing family and we have plans to add some more next year. Included are some pictures of the times we shared with family. It has simply been nice to have Brad home for an extended time.

This morning we went out to eat with Brad's extended family to celebrate his grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary.

The giraffes were gifts from Brad and I. Alaina was eating and said, "Mom, they really want to eat my food." So, here is the scene.

new clothes!

sunday. christmas celebrations.

brothers.
playing at Crossroads Church for the Christmas celebration.

uncle and his fans

mallory being oh so sweet to the girls.

emmy and remote control car...

papa time

the end of our gg and papa christmas time.

alaina's first real haircut

So I noticed she needed her ends trimmed and took it upon myself to take care of that for her. Things got a little out of hand and I thought it was time to turn the hair style over to a professional. Alaina enjoyed the whole process and the results were good.

great grandpa hagerla visits

We enjoyed visiting with my Grandpa last night.
The girls are giving Great Grandpa his Christmas gift. Alaina is explaining the photos to him.

Getting gifts from Great Grandpa!

Storytime with Great Grandpa.

cookie decorating

notice: clean emmy here...not so clean emmy by the end of decorating...

oh, sweet emmy

The scene: Alaina was decorating, but Emmy soon believed that the purpose of the event was to eat all the frosting and sprinkles you could get your hands on.

It was fun watching the girls' excitement and I was glad to have my mom, grandma, and grandpa there to help! Thank you to GG for making the cookies and frosting and to my Mom for bringing the much needed pretty napkins. A fun memory!

papa and gg

settling in...

We have really settled into our new home and have been just doing "normal" things these days...the pictures are of breakfast time and snack time.

alaina's first novel

"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis.

Brad reads a chapter a night to her.

evening rest

Resting while watching a movie. The smiles came from me laughing in an attempt to get them to smile...I suppose I could have just taken the picture.
Notice the lovely outfits both girls are sporting.

first snow play day. winter '09

first impressions of the snow this morning...

this is the snowgirl we made this morning.

sister love and little friends.

Photos of the first time Emilia walked into church...rather than being carried.
Alaina was right there to help her and they had a lovely walk.

ava, ellison, alaina
three year olds. friends.

princess classics on ice

Just giving you a peek into the fun that happens around here these days...

Brad and I went to Princess Classics on Ice with Alaina over the weekend and had a wonderful time. We stopped by the John Deere Pavilion before the show to take a look at some serious green tractors, well yellow too. The cow, it produced water when "milked"...but Alaina was sure to get every drop out.

Alaina quickly told me that this was just her size. And informed me that it was a mower, a mower like Nona's.

At the show.

On our way home from a fun afternoon.
Ice cream in hand and Mary Poppins in the van.
What a day for our little Alaina!