Kiser Christmas

We had our Kiser Christmas on December 11 this year. It worked out that Matt, Lana, and Grace could be here that weekend, and Mom was off work. I like having it on another day than right at Christmas--it spreads out Christmas, and makes the season a little more relaxing.

Mom did something different. Last year she went to the after-Christmas sales and found some stockings. She bought one for each grandchild. She hung them, and filled them with "treasures."
Adam was digging in his stocking for his surprises.

Austin had his laid out beside him.

It was fun to do the gifts this way.

A week or so prior to our Christmas. Mike and Dad took a trip to Roanoke. They stopped at the Toy's R Us there. Dad found a large Lego set, and decided he would get that for the boys to have something new and fun to do at their house.

After the gifts were opened ALL (including Matt and Mike) the boys went to the back room and worked on the building of the Lego. I love this picture of them all working together!

It was a wonderful Christmas!

Adam's Drawing

A while ago, I babysat for a friend. As a "Thank you" she gave my boys a travel Bible Activity set. We still have it, and pull it out from time to time.

The other night Adam was working on the activity pad. It has pictures to color, cross words, and different games to play.

Adam found a page with dots. He decided to not do the suggested game, but a draw a picture.


He did the bottom first. 3 crosses. He wrote, "Jesus died on the cross."

Above that is the tomb-rolling away the stone.

The top is when hey find the tomb is empty!

I was impressed with his creativity and expression of the story through his pictures!

I Would Have Never Thought Of It!

The boys are on break from school for Christmas. While there is no school, they are able to do fun and different things that I might otherwise say "no" to.

The other night Mike came up with the idea to let the boys sleep on the sledding inter tubes. I figured, "well, sure, there is no reason not to. If they don't sleep well, they can have a nap tomorrow."

We cleared room for the inter tubes in Austin's room.

We got the inter tubes ready. The boys were asking to go to bed at 7:30! (At the time I didn't think about how they would be ready to get up at 5:30)

It was a fun, out of the ordinary thing to do-that I would have never thought of!

Gingerbread House

We got a note home from school, shortly before Christmas break, the first graders were making Gingerbread houses. I love that Adam's teacher is willing to take this on with 20 first graders, I'm not sure I would want to do this at home.

We donated a few supplies, but another teacher donated all the candy and decorations. (the main reason I would not want to do this at home)

They were to make a pattern at place on the house. Every child did this with ease :)

I did find it interesting that some children covered their houses with candy, but Adam chose to leave his a little more sparse.

It was a fun activity. One I'm glad that I didn't have to lead at home. I am so thankful for those brave teachers that are willing to take on such projects.

Christmas Lights

Sunday evening we went to look at Christmas lights. We decided that we would rate the lights on a scale of 1-10. As we drove along we would hear the boys say, "that is a 2, there is an 8..."

Then we saw this house, we all decided it was a 10!


They had lights, blinking lights, then I opened my window to take the picture and found they also had music.

But not only did they had blinking lights and music. The lights blinked to the beat of the music.

Very impressive!

Austin's Tooth Saga...

Austin has had a loose tooth. This is not his first loose tooth. For some reason, he was very uneasy about loosing this tooth. I would suggest, let's try this, or let's try that. He did not care for any of my suggestions. I figured, at some point the tooth will fall out, and that will be that.

Last evening, we were brushing his teeth (I was making suggestions of how we could get this tooth out). As we were brushing something touched his tooth just the right way, and *POOF* it was out! Austin was excited, and I was relieved.

Austin decided to write the "Tooth Fairy" a note and tell her about this adventure. The note is a follows:


As he was writing the note I started to think-"Oh, the The Tooth Fairy should probably respond. What will that note say? I think I have the right amount of money. If I don't will I have to call the neighbors to see if they can break a 5? Should I have them write the note so that Austin won't recognize my handwriting?..." Honestly, I think he knows it is me, but we still have fun with it.

After he finally fell asleep I sat down and wrote the following:

Austin found the note at 5:30 this morning. He came to my bedside and said, "listen to this note..." and proceeded to read it to me. At that point I really did wonder why I wrote so m things down, I just wanted to go back to sleep!

Austin has his 2 front teeth, but now he is missing the tooth on both sides.

He has become very fond of a had that Mike got him. It is the kind of hat that Elmer Fudd wears.

Austin and I have jokingly said that his name should be changed to Elmer Bunny (1/2 Elmer Fudd, 1/2 Bugs Bunny)

After Austin lost his tooth, I was tucking the boys in bed. Adam mentions to me that he "is bored and would love to have a tooth to wiggle" I reassured him that he has plenty more teeth to loose and I'm sure one would be wiggly before long.

He Has Patience

Our boys love to snuggle. Austin loves to start the day with a snuggle. Adam will every now and then, but not as often. One rule at our house is: We DO NOT snuggle before 6 am. Mainly due to the fact that I want to sleep until at least 6 am.

Last night, I was asleep. I heard little feet come to the side of my bed. I peeked to see who it was. There stood Adam. I pointedly asked,"What?" Adam said he wanted to snuggle. I looked at the clock and realized it was just after 3 am. I told him, "It is not 6." I closed my eyes. I thought he was going back to bed, but I heard Adam doing something with my alarm clock. I asked what he was doing and he said he was fixing it. I thought he meant he was making sure that the time on my clock was the same time he had on his clock, as to not miss any snuggle time. Then I heard more movement. I peeked again, to find him sitting on the floor by my bedside looking at my clock. I asked, "What on earth are you doing?" Adam very calmly said, "Waiting for 6."

If that is not patience, I don't know what is!