COOKIES
One of the best things to do at Christmas time is decorate sugar cookies!
Kendra showed us how to put on LOTS of frosting.
Look at all those sprinkles!
Kendra brought me this cookie. "I made you a cookie, mamma," she says as she hands it to me. "I just ate some of it first."______________________________________________
GENEROSITY
Kent and I thought it would be good to try to teach Camryn and Kendra about giving at Christmas time. For family home evening, we read a story about one family that helped out another family in need. The kids in the story said that they would be willing to get fewer presents in order to give to this family. After this story, Kent asked Camryn if she would be willing to give one of her presents to another child that would not get a present otherwise. Camryn looked at her wrapped presents and, with fear in her eyes, shook her head no. He didn't give up. He tried to explain that these children would not get any toys and compared that to our girls and all their toys. Camryn still said no. All of the sudden, Kendra bursts out crying. We ask her what's wrong. "I don't want to give away my presents," she sobs.
Kent and I thought it would be good to try to teach Camryn and Kendra about giving at Christmas time. For family home evening, we read a story about one family that helped out another family in need. The kids in the story said that they would be willing to get fewer presents in order to give to this family. After this story, Kent asked Camryn if she would be willing to give one of her presents to another child that would not get a present otherwise. Camryn looked at her wrapped presents and, with fear in her eyes, shook her head no. He didn't give up. He tried to explain that these children would not get any toys and compared that to our girls and all their toys. Camryn still said no. All of the sudden, Kendra bursts out crying. We ask her what's wrong. "I don't want to give away my presents," she sobs.
So this is going to be hard one to teach.
We try a different approach to giving. "Would you be willing to use the money in your piggy bank to buy someone a present, someone that wouldn't get a present otherwise?" Kent asks. The girls enthusiastically agree. In their piggy banks are quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, about 2 to 3 dollars each. They earn it by doing extra chores to help us out. They happily empty their piggy banks before we head to the store. They both pick out a Barbie (we had to lead them away from all the $35 toys they kept trying to pick). Each paid individually and proudly handed all their money to the cashier (I made up the difference, after they gave all they had).
Here are our girls, proudly showing the toys they bought for someone else that might have otherwise gone without.
Here are our girls, proudly showing the toys they bought for someone else that might have otherwise gone without.
We are very proud of them.
_______________________________________________ANNIE
Remember this cute little puppy at 4 weeks old?
Remember this cute little puppy at 4 weeks old?
Look at her now! Annie is now 13 weeks old. She is getting BIG!!
Puppies are a lot of work. If you think you want one, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. Cleaning up puppy accidents is not fun, especially when you are pregnant. All puppies like chewing. Besides the kids toys that are left out, she loves chewing on wood. She has chewed many of the girls pencils. She also tries to chew our baseboards. Still, she is a sweet girl and we love her.
Here are a couple in-between pictures.
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We want to wish EVERYONE a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
4 comments:
You two are such great parents. I love hearing your stories. That was a wonderful story of teaching your girls service. And the cookies looked delicious.
We can't wait to see you at Christmas. Love you so much.
Super cute! I LOVE the pics! That is neat that the girls were willing to give up their money for someone in need.
P.S. we had tons of fun playing games with you guys last night! Lets do it again soon!!!
I want to see your tree, I love your trees.
Okay first of all the sugar cookie section cracked me up! I did sugar cookies too but didn't think I would have the energy to let Kaydence loose on them and have to clean her and the whole kitchen in the aftermath. The girls know how its done, the more frosting and sprinkles the better!!! Have you heard the song, Christmas Cookies by George Straight its great.
You two are so amazing, it's great being the younger sister so I get all these great parenting ideas from you guys. I love how you are already showing your girls that Christmas is about giving and not just receiving. That was too cute picturing Kendra crying and not wanting to give away her presents after Camryn decided she couldn't part with her gifts, you described the whole scene so well. That is so awesome that they used their hard earned money to give a gift to another child, I have such amazing nieces I'm glad Kaydence has as such good examples to look up to.
Wow, Annie got big fast! She is such a pretty dog. I love the pictures of her with the girls and Annie still looks small compared to Kents bulging biceps :)
oh my gosh she is huge now
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