christmas 2013 & entitlement.

I pretty well failed at taking Christmas pictures this year. Kind of like how in January I completely failed at writing any blog posts. Here they are in all their glory. The very long overdue Christmas post in {a few} pictures.

This picture pulls at my heart strings.

Milk and Cookies for Santa - "by the door because we don't have a chimney."

Can you tell which cookie Cooper iced?

I did get some video of Cooper coming down the stairs on Christmas morning for all you far away family and friends.

Andrew and I started the discussion of "what do we get rid of/how do we store these/there's so much stuff." Cooper has a lot of toys. And while we love giving him things he loves, we don't want him to become entitled.

When Cooper was a baby, I remember complaining about how hard it was. A dear friend of mine kindly foretold me of my future. "This is the easy part, Chandra. It only gets harder." And I'm often reminded of this truth as we continue to navigate parenting. Each stage is hard. Each stage has it's own difficulties.

The reality that Cooper has the ability to become very entitled hit us, scared us, and made us future think to problem solve. I've also added it to my Cooper prayer list.

Teaching him not to become entitled is going to be hard work. I mean, have you seen his dimples? He basically just flashes those right under his blue eyes and he gets whatever he wants...even from total strangers! 

Here's kind of where we've {currently} landed in the "don't become entitled" department:

• We are having him help us sort through the toys. He's actually spoken names of children who he thinks some things should go to.
• We are focusing on teaching him compassion. People who are compassionate and giving are not entitled and selfish.
• We have him save his money for things he wants.
• We talk with him. So much of my day is spent talking with his sponge-like mind. Teaching him truths and how-to's has become my what I do most category. Andrew has been putting him to bed a lot lately. Their recent bedtime topics: grace, truth, and integrity. Hopefully he's using his sponge to absorb it. Hopefully one day I'll get to see him wring out all the knowledge as he navigates life when he leaves home.

Oh, and how could I forget this? Cooper LOVES his new dojo bag. He's becoming a real life ninja.

when i need the ice cream.

Today is one of those "I need some ice cream" days. 

The "cried several times, your child hasn't napped, and you're trying to get things done, but none of it is quite getting accomplished the way you want them to" - kind of days. 

That's where I'm at right now. And the only thing getting me through is 

1) Cooper is going to bed early

2) Andrew gets home soon

3) Tonight I get to watch some good tv with some good friends

4) Ice cream

I am going to sit down with a bowl of ice cream and let it take some of my sadness away.

But ice cream wasn't the only thing I needed today. I also needed Jesus.

Hebrews 4: 14-16 "Now that we know what we have - Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God- let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all - all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help."

I love that Jesus isn't out of touch with my reality.
I love that he is offering me help. I love that he is offering me mercy.
I just have to reach out and accept it like I reach out and accept the ice cream.

John 16:33 "I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

I can stop trying to overcome my day and the difficulties I've faced today.
I can be joyful.
Jesus has already overcome it all. 

So, tonight I'll be eating my ice cream, believe me. But I'll also have received His mercy, His help, and I'll be joyful knowing He's already overcome it all.

*These pictures were not taken today. First picture: last spring. Second picture: this summer*

A lot of advent.

We've done a lot of advent activities around here. I posted the first week here. The rest of the month's activities are in this post. Some I didn't take pictures. Some I only captured one picture. Some I captured about fifty. So, here you go...the mother load of advent post. 

We made a shepherd candy cane picture.

We wrote a letter to Santa.

We mailed that letter.

Whoops! My camera was on the wrong setting....sad day! This was the only shot of him putting it in the mailbox.

So, I switched the setting and had him stand in front of the mailbox instead.

Last year when we did this it was raining. This year...snow!

And we got a letter back! Whoever collects the letters from this mailbox writes letters back to the kids. It was an exciting day when he got a letter back from Santa!

We visited Santa.

Here's the video we took. He was a little timid and shy.

We made sugar cookie cut-outs.

This is the only picture I got of this whole process. I'm still not great at getting the frosting right, but they were yummy!

Cooper made snowflakes. Sarah and Bronson did this with Cooper while Andrew and I were out celebrating our anniversary.

We mailed cards to family.

Cooper put stickers on the back. He chose space theme and smiley faces. Now you know why there's an astronaut on your Christmas card. Sorry for the un-themed confusion.

We made a snowman.

We made lego Christmas pictures.

From left to right: Santa's house, Rudolph (minus a red nose), a wreath, a candy cane, a Christmas tree, and an ornament. He made the wreath and Santa's house on his own with no help.

We went to Christmas in the Park.

It was warm enough this day that all we needed were long sleeves and a sweater. 

There were a lot of people and the lines were really long. So, this is how we entertained ourselves.

Cooper said his favorite part of the night was riding this train.

We made rice crispy treat gingerbread men. I also saved these cut-out shapes for us to decorate for Santa.

We will be at church most of this afternoon. Andrew's already there. When he gets home, we will eat dinner and drive around to look at Christmas lights.