Living Nativity

Sarah received a second acting part this Christmas season. She was asked to be a part of a Living Nativity and play the part of Gabriel the angel who spoke to Mary announcing that she was with child.

A family from our church puts on the Nativity as an outreach. It was our second year to attend. Last year it was a highlight for me and I loved it again this year. It reminds you of who this time of year is all about. It was exciting because the number of people who attended tripled from last year.

We journeyed with Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem and enjoyed the Christmas Story and sang Christmas Songs along the way. Afterwards we enjoyed Christmas cookies and hot chocolate. Everything is outside, so we had to dress nice and warm. It was a fun night.

Below is a video of Sarah's part.

Christmas with PaPa & MeMe

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I lasted posted something. Things have been busy around here and at night when I usually send my posts sleep won over sitting down at my computer. However, all the shopping is done, packages are wrapped and under the tree, Christmas parties have been attended, musical and nativity parts have been played, cookies have been decorated and I have time to post again.

First things first...

We had a great time with my parents and enjoyed celebrating Christmas with them a little early. They arrived on Friday (12/2). Saturday they babysat the kids for the afternoon/evening while Jason and I did some Christmas shopping, it was a treat for all of us. Sunday was church and Brayden and Sarah's Christmas Musical. Monday we celebrated Christmas. Brayden wanted to stay in his Spiderman PJs all day. He had so much fun opening the presents.

Sarah got a nail kit including a nail dryer, a Vera Bradley duffel bag, a Justice sparkly outfit, a bible ornament, a feather hair clip, an Owl Swaroski and a pair of Little MisMatch knee high socks.

Brayden got a Butterfly garden and a Dr. Seuss book to go along with it, I Spy bingo game, a Puzzle magazine subscription, Star Wars Character cards, Crocs, Etch-A-Sketch and an iPad ornament.

Tuesday and Wednesday Dad & Mom went to visit Grandma Prather in Boston. They arrived back to our house Wednesday evening and we enjoyed the last few hours with them before they left early on Thursday morning.

Zumba...

I took my first Zumba class yesterday at the gym that I go to. You think you have rhythm until you take a Zumba class and then you say to yourself "No, I really don't have rhythm". LOL! I was giggling on the inside the entire hour. For those of you who haven't heard of Zumba it is Latin-inspired fitness class with lots of Latin dance moves. The teacher said "In this class there are no inhibitions", which made me feel better so I did my best and let it go. No worries about the ladies around me, everyone was so focused on watching the teacher. I think as you get to know the routine it gets easier and you get more of a workout because your not so focused on doing the right hands and feet. It was fun and I would love to do it again sometime with a friend. Anyone want to join me?

Last week I tried my first spin class. I was so nervous thinking my legs would fall off afterwards, but I survived with my legs still intact. It was tough, but I will definitely do it again.

I still love my running, but with the colder months I am not fond of running outside so for this season I will be enjoying the RealFit Studios, which is just 2 minutes from my house. I help with childcare for 2 hours on Monday mornings and get my entire membership for free. It is great!

So Much To Be Thankful For...

Even though we are two days into December I could let November go without sharing the results of our Thankful Tree and all that we said we were thankful for. From serious stuff to fun stuff, we found we are truly a blessed family in so many ways.

God's grace and mercy, doughnuts, paper and pencil (Claire), Broncos & Jets game, Star Wars, iPod games, God, Justice & P.S clothes, the Live Nativity, Arthur Christmas movie, The Pioneer Woman and her food, My Room, food and water, Our home, playing games, Friends, Bop It, great books, Daddy & Mommy, Girl Scout cookies, jobs, sports, a great church, my friend Lisa's last chemotherapy treatment, library, Pogo stick and Daisy (Claire), JBQ, TVs, airplanes (Grace), Aunts and Uncles, health, Macy's Day Parade, dessert/candy, movies, Missionaries, my Friends/Family and Church (Cayla), RealFit Gym, football, Family Game Night, iPhones, school, fresh water, Co-Co-Nutties, playgrounds, golf with Friends, family dinners, Christmas, pillows & blankets, freedom, The Muppets Movie, games to play outside, Cousins (including the one to arrive in May to the Reise family), dinosaurs, sports class, Wii, pizza & pasta, peanuts (not Sarah), baseball, Spring & Summer, Nite-Lites, computers, Grandparents, breakfast, Bible, day and night, Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

We are especially thankful for PaPa & MeMe who arrived this afternoon to spend a couple of days with us and celebrate the Christmas season.

Looking for Baby Jesus...

Last year at Christmas time we lost the Baby Jesus that went with our Advent calendar. We don't know at what point he went missing, but he wasn't there for Christmas morning. We searched throughout the entire house, as well as through the Christmas decorations once we cleaned everything up.

Once again this year as I pulled out the calendar I went through all the decoration boxes to see if I could find him, but to no avail he has not been found. Every couple days Brayden will say "Did we find Baby Jesus yet?" Last night Sarah said "Mom! I found Baby Jesus!" She was just joking. Not a funny joke. Why couldn't we have lost a sheep or an angel? We had to lose the main character of the Advent season?

We love our Advent calendar. My mom got it for Sarah when she was little, so it has become one of our favorite decorations. I hate to have to replace it, so I have begun a search for another Baby Jesus to fill that spot. I figured I would check craft stores, Target, any place that might have a Baby Jesus ornament or something like it.

I am putting out a request to any of you who would be willing to help us look for a Baby Jesus. If you happen to see something in your shopping that might be a good replacement let me know. The spot he needs to fit in is 2"x2".

We can use all the help we can get so that Baby Jesus can go in his manager on Christmas morning. His mother Mary and the Angels are all praying we do.

Following the Star...

Now that the Christmas season is upon us I wanted to share a Christmas devotional that I am doing this year called "Following the Star". Each day you walk through a short devotion that is focusing on this time of Advent leading up to Christmas and the birth of Jesus. If your looking for something to keep you focused everyday on the true meaning of Christmas check it out at
www.d365.org/followingthestar/

Pastor Jason...

Each week Jason prepares a message for Wednesday nights that he shares with the Jr. High Youth, but this past Sunday Jason had his third opportunity to preach the Sunday morning service at our church. I am super proud of him.

A Happy Thanksgiving...

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It started off bright and early on Thursday morning, when the four of us got ready and headed into New York City at 4:45 a.m. to meet up with my sister Michelle, brother-in-law Mitch and nieces Grace and Claire from Florida to go with them to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We were in our spot to view the parade at 6:00 a.m. and then the waiting began for 3-1/2 hours. Thankfully it was not bitterly cold. We were all bundled up, the adrenaline was flowing and a little hot Starbucks to keep us warm. The parade got to us around 9:30 and we enjoyed all the bands, balloons and floats. Brayden's favorite was Spiderman. Sarah's favorite was everything. Jason's favorite was Santa, because that meant the parade was at an end. LOL! My favorite part was watching Brayden's face when he saw a balloon or character on a float he knew.

After the parade we headed to eat at Virgil's Barbecue for our Thanksgiving dinner. We were more tired than hungry, so we brought home a few doggie bags. Jason said it was the first time on Thanksgiving he didn't feel stuffed.

After lunch we headed back to our house in Jersey and enjoyed hanging out with the Hutchcrafts for the next 48 hours before they headed back to Florida on Saturday afternoon. The cousins loved being together, playing in the leaves, swimming, going to see the Muppet movie (super cute if you like the Muppets).  We are thankful for the times we share with them.

Brayden and his homework

Brayden has been working on a lot of his "homework" lately. Not really sure who assigns him the homework, but he enjoys doing it. Let's hope that continues once school starts in a couple years. Anyway this night he was writing papers to his friends. He is so cute, had to capture his interesting storytelling on camera.

Amazing Game...

If there was a game to fly to Denver for it was this one. The entire game was great, but the last couple minutes were incredible with Tim Tebow scoring a touchdown in the last minute. The final score was Broncos 17 and Jets 13.

Broncos or Jets???

Jason had an incredible opportunity to go to Denver today with his Dad and brother to be at the Broncos vs Jets football game tonight at Sport Authority Field at Mile High. We have a gentleman in our church who works for the Jets and was able to get them tickets. The guys left the house this morning at 8:00 a.m. and will be home tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. A 36 hour trip in total, quite a whirlwind. The question is who do we cheer for? The James family is from Colorado so they are long time Broncos fans, but having been here in New Jersey for over 25 years, as well as having a few Jets players/staff at our church they are partial to the Jets. Jason made a choice and will be wearing his Tebow jersey tonight. My father-in-law said he was wearing his Bronco jersey, but his Jets hat. Seems a little risky to me, but we will see what he ends up doing. From our living room we will be cheering for both - "Tebow! Tebow!" and "J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!" Excited for the guys, glad they can share in the fun together.

Love for reading...

Sarah loves to read. She just finished "Little Women" a 777 page book. Quite an accomplishment I think! This is the biggest book that she has read so far. It took her a couple of weeks to finish it. She wasn't to sure about reading it at first, but her teacher is encouraging her to read more challenging books. I recommended this one and she ended up liking it. After reading this one she said she wanted to take a break and read a "fun" book so she started the Emily Windsnap series and read 2 out of the 4 books in 2 days. She is addicted to reading.

JBQ Weekend

I am feeling a little better today. I laid low all weekend at home and have been getting a little better each day. I should be back to myself by the end of the week.

Sarah had her first Junior Bible Quiz meet of the 2011-2012 season this past Saturday. This is her 5th year doing JBQ. She did a great job and came in 7th place out of approximately 40 kids. She is doing 20 point questions this year. JBQ consists of all different questions from the bible that kids learn and memorize. There are 10, 20 and 30 point questions. We are super proud of her. Her next meet is January 7th.

That time of year...

With so many changes in our weather I think my body is not sure what it should be doing. I started with a sore throat last weekend and it has gradually worked its way into a cold despite my efforts to fight it off. Yesterday afternoon is when I started to feel the worst. I have laid low today and plan to tomorrow as well unless I am feeling better in the morning. Kleenex, vitamin C and decongestant have been my friends although I will be glad to trade them in for energy and a chance to breath through my nose again. I am DECLARING that this will be my one and only cold for the fall/winter season! Let's hope my body listens. The kids both have sniffles, so hoping for them it doesn't turn into anything more.

Hearts full of thanks...

I know I have been keeping you in suspense with the outcome of our nor'easter this past weekend. Well, we SURVIVED. It snowed pretty heavy through Saturday night and by the time we got up Sunday morning the sun was shining bright. As we drove to church it was amazing to see all the trees and their limbs weighed down by the heavy snow. Lots of tree limbs were down everywhere, even in our yard. The picture below is what our yard looked like yesterday. You can see most of the snow has melted. Today it was in the high 50's and should be the same the rest of the week. We did not lose power like so many in our area. My in-laws lost power on Saturday and still don't have it back, hopefully tomorrow.

We are so thankful that our home stayed safe over the weekend and no damage other than some tree limbs down. We made our traditional "Thankful Tree" today and started adding a few things we are thankful for - Family, God, a great church, iPod games (gee, I wonder who came up with that one).

It's only October!!!

I am sure many of you have heard of the "nor'easter" hitting the East coast. Completely unexpected! It really is crazy. It isn't even officially winter yet. The snow started around noon and we have already seen lots of tree limbs fall because the snow is so heavy and most of the leaves are still on the trees. We are praying for protection over our home because one of the trees to the side of our house has already had several limbs fall. You can see the pictures below. They are forecasting for the snow to continue through the middle of the night.

October activities...

I am still here, just a little behind. October has been a BUSY month, but enjoying a week of reprieve from all the activities. October included PaPa & MeMe visiting, two parties to celebrate Brayden's 4th birthday, our church turning 100 years old with a big weekend celebration and now our church missions convention taking place. All exciting things, that I am blessed to have and share in.

We took our little Brayden bear for his 4 year check up yesterday. He is not so little anymore. He now weighs 42 lbs and is 43-1/2" tall. In comparison to other kids his age he is still at the top of the charts ranking in at 97% for both. He got a thumbs up from the doctor along with 2 shots. :( He was a brave boy though and only cried for a second.

Below are some pictures from his second Cat In the Hat birthday party with the rest of the James family. We enjoyed Green Eggs and Ham sandwiches for dinner along with another Hat birthday cake. I am for hire if you anyone needs a Hat cake. We played pin the hat on the cat. Opened lots of fun gifts including a McDonald's gift card, Star Wars Playskool hero toys and a toy piano. Brayden had fun being with his cousins and big sis. They each got a Cat goodie bag at the end of the night.

PaPa & MeMe visit...

Dad and Mom came to visit last week. We did a little bit of everything playing, helping PaPa fix things, celebrating birthday's (PaPa's & Brayden's), mini trip to Boston to visit my Grandma, a stop for an amazing Lobster Roll and Ice Cream, shopping and just being together.  We enjoyed our time with them.

Grandma Prather

This past weekend while my parents were visiting we took a 2-day trip to visit my Grandmother who is living in a nursing home right outside of Boston. It has been 8 years since she has seen Sarah and she has never met Brayden. It was so special for the kids and myself to be able to see her again.