Preparing for Christmas

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we got our house ready for Christmas. I love decorating the house and listening to Christmas music. The togetherness of it all just makes you appreciate the real reason for the season and get so excited to celebrate Jesus's birthday!

Sweeties helping decorate the tree. They did a great job with Daddy's help.

We even had snow so the boys got to go outside and sled around a little. I pulled them a little while Roger did the lights and then they tried to pull each other. It was cute.

Heading out into the cold. S.Jessen is excited and Tate is unsure.S.Jessen plopped right on the ground to attempt the first season's snow angel and...Tate said no way, this is wierd!

Roger stopped working on the lights to take our picture and below that I am pulling the boys and taking their picture. They were having a ball!

Taking turns pulling each other was fun, too!

Reading

Before I forget! Roger and I read two books together this year. The first was The Purpose Driven Life. It's this great book that teaches you how to focus on God and why he put us here on the earth. You make a promise to read it in 40 days and we did get it done. It teaches that God does have a plan for everyone and much, much more. It helps you set goals for yourself and what is expected out of Christians. It teaches that a huge goal for us on earth is to do what is expected so we can go to heaven. I've never been very good at summarizing, but it is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!

The other book that is easier to descibe is The Five Love Languages. I would recommend this book to all couples and people in general. It teaches that there are five basic need categories for people to feel complete. It is said that most people are one of the categories and if that need is being fulfilled they are a happier person. Sometimes they have a second one that is also of higher importance. Once you figure out yours or your spouses, you learn to understand how they work and can be better spouses or friends to them. The categories are: Words of Affirmation, Touch, Acts of Service, Gifts, and Quality Time.

It was really fun to read this book together because it was so thought provoking. We realized that Roger is always doing nice, helpful things for me around the house because his love language is Acts of Service and that's what makes him feel good, so that's how he shows me he cares. I on the other hand, compliment him, tell him he's a great provider, and leave notes for him because my love language is Words of Affirmation and since those things make me feel good, that's how I show him that I care. We've learned that we obviously need to try to do the opposite where I need to go out of my way to do services for him (ha, ha) and he in turn is working on compliments. My second love language is Quality Time so reading this book together definitely fulfilled a need and helped us to understand each other better.

We also learned how to read our boys. We learned that S.Jessen is definitely words of affirmation. Words can make or break his day... so we focus on positive reinforcement and are very careful and clear with our words when disciplining because he takes it all to heart so much. That doesn't mean we don't discipline though... We're just learning what works best with him.

Tater is definitely a quality time feller. Any time we play something as simple as stacking blocks or a game he will throw his arms around us and say I love you! He feels loved best when we spend time together. All kids like to spend time with their family, but I've noticed that Tate especially asks to do things together and that's how we started figuring him out.

I feel like we will be better parents and spouses for having read both of these books. Let me know if you end up reading either one of them. I'd love to talk more about them!

Thanksgiving at the Kolosik's

Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, we headed to my parent's house. This was our first Thanksgiving without Adam, as he is in the Master's Commission in Dallas. Aron and Ayla and their boys also didn't come. They had Thanksgiving/Christmas on Thanksgiving day with her family. Grandma and Grandpa decided to go to Illinois this year to be with Vickie's family, too so a lot of our regulars were absent. It was still nice though. Pastor Rich and his family came and they were very entertaining and fit right in with our crazy bunch. They brought Mad Gab to play and it was a lot of fun! Rich also brought his famous green bean casserole which I still need to get the recipe for. It is so good! Granny, Tate, Isaac, S.Jessen, Luke, and Pops in their traditional Thanksgiving day pose

Mommy and S.Jessen

Daddy and the boys with Isaac's new DS

The boys tackling Gabriel Green

Katie Green putting the puzzle together, while Tate undoes everything she's done...

We stayed at Mom and Dad's until Saturday. We did a lot of lounging and then I got this crazy idea that we should take the boys to a movie, without husbands... There weren't enough seats in a row. Tate had to sit on my non-existant lap and he bruised my belly with all of his wallering around. I was pretty pooped after that. On Saturday we headed back to old Fort Dodge to prepare our house for Christmas and to enjoy a day of rest...

Tate and Isaac, S.Jessen and Luke all relaxing

Granny and all her grandsons on the way to Madagascar 2~next year she'll need the stroller for Charlie boy

It was a great Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving at the Brecht's

The following weekend we celebrated an early Thanksgiving at Roger's parent's house. We went Friday night, he went to the last home Iowa game on Saturday while I Christmas shopped, and then we had Thanksgiving Sunday. It was a super fun time. Our kids were so sad to leave their cousins. This was the first time it seemed like our boys were old enough to keep up with their older cousins. They've idolized them for so long and it was really fun for them to participate with the big kids.

Tater and Grandma~ She was able to catch him for a second. He is so busy!

All the grandkids until February when Charlie arrives and then March when Al and Rachel's pending child (their words) arrives.
The next weekend was Isaac's 7th birthday! Isaac was born the week before Roger proposed. I was 7 when my brother Seth was born. It just seems so crazy that he could be that grown up! The boys had fun eating at the Pizza Ranch and then going to play in the jungle gym next door that I can never remember the name, but love to take them to.

Where Did November Go?

So, I told a whole bunch of people that I update this blog once or twice a month and was feeling pretty proud of myself until... I just logged in and realized that I haven't updated since November 9? I'm not sure what happened. Where on earth did November go? Now there are only 8 1/2 days left in the year and I am scrambling to get caught up... as usual, but usually I know about it. This time it just passed me by without my knowing it!

Well, now when I really think about it, I know where it went. The first weekend in November we celebrated my Grandma Kolosik's 80th birthday. We also celebrated Christmas with that side of the family, too. We met at the Pizza Ranch for lunch and then headed to my Aunt Tracy's house to continue with the festivities. It was a really great time. I only got one picture and this was from the night before at my mom and dad's house. My Aunt Vickie and Uncle Bob brought their grandkids up to the house to hang out a while. It was a great weekend celebrating Grandma and Christmas!

All the boys playing the Wii