So Long 2008

Happy New Year from the Pellerin's



Ok so we're not fancy people. Our New Year's eve celebration was low key. The kids and I made 2009 cookies, hats, masks and pizza. The kids also wrote out 2008 reflection sheets. They filled in all their likes and dislikes of 2008, favorite movie,game, food etc. We then sealed them up in an envelope and tucked them in a box of Christmas decorations to be opened December 31 2009. The kids went to bed and Peter and I watched a movie. Welcome to 2009! As always I am expectant of awesome things God will do in our lives. He has a perfect track record!



they are shaped like 2009

wearing our 2009 masks...Peter gets HUGE points 1. for wearing it 2. for being in the picture.

Elijah and Bethany wearing the 2009 hats....in the background toys from Christmas that haven't found a home in their room yet.

Ok I know this looks gross, but it looked way cooler in person. 2009 in peperoni!

Elijah colored his mask so diligently. He's so cute.

Christmas Part Two

We headed to Peter's mom's to celebrate Christmas with them. The boys were so excited because she bought them each a Nintendo DS with games, and accessory packs. Isaiah knew exactly what it was because he had been asking us for one the weeks leading up to Christmas. Elijah had some idea what it was at first but now he's completely obsessed! This was such a special gift! Now I need to figure out how to regulate the time they spend on it! LOL!

Out with the old in with the New

The week before Christmas my refrigerator was making a very bad noise. It sounded like a helicopter in distress. I knew it wasn't good but it was still running and that was good enough for me. The day before Christmas it wasn't staying cool. We moved all our food to the entryway. (I was very thankful for winter in Maine) The fridge was dead. Our good friends Josh and Amy helped with the plan to get us a new one. I won't go into all the details, but it certainly was a God thing because the circumstances lined up so perfectly. The day after Christmas our new fridge arrived. We went with black to match the stove and dishwasher. I love it! The best part about it right now is that is SO clean! I hope I can keep it that way!

Just a few pictures from Christmas Morning

As promised here are some more moments from our Christmas morning. The kids actually slept in. I got up at 5. I got the Christmas bread ready, turned on the lights, put a log on the fire and waited. I waited till 5:45 and went in to see if I could stir them. But they were out! So I watched a little "Ralphie" They got about about 6:30! PS Check out the YouTube Video bar on the right side of the blog!

Isaiah opening Lego's which have proved to be an awesome investment. They have played with these for hours!

Movies!

Spider man Play Set which when he opened Elijah exclaimed "I've always wanted this ever since I was a little kid"

Digging in!

Merry Christmas To All

Just a moment to say to Merry Christmas to everyone. We've had a very fun and busy morning. Lots of giggles, and gifts! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas. Please take a moment out of your busy day to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I'll post more about our Christmas morning tomorrow!

And the children were nestled...

All the gifts wrapped and under the tree. All that planning, shopping and waiting...

Thanks Mommy

I have the most thoughtful mom! I have always admired how my mom always goes above and beyond. Not only is she a mom to 7 children and a grandmother to 6 but she always makes each and everyone of us feel like we are the most important to her.(Her heart is big enough for us all) I have so many memories of my mom doing extra special things for me. I remember many times coming home from school and my room was completely clean, and decorated so cute. I remember having special birthday dinners with the family. She especially does a special job in the gift giving department. Her gifts are given with great thought and care. This year I really wanted a new Nativity scene. That's one of those things you want to buy yourself but you just can't justify it when you have so many others to buy for. I know I mentioned it to Peter when I was unwrapping Christmas decorations, but I don't think I mentioned it to my mom. But as usual Mom always knows. I got this new Nativity in the mail today with the most thoughtful card. It's so beautiful! I love it! Thanks Mommy I love you!

Ode To Lily

We have two cats, Tiger and Lily. They've made appearances on this blog before. But Lily is back for more. Both the cats took their turns going out in all the snow today. Tiger super early in the morning, too early for me to take any pictures. But Lily literally thinks she's one of the kids so when we went out she followed.
Hmmmm should I come out?

Woah this is a lot of snow!

Help I'm in over my head here!

This isn't not as fun as I thought it would be.

I think I can...I think I can!

Let it snow and snow and snow and snow and snow and snow....

We got a lot of snow. And I love it. It's is so beautiful out there. The trees are all decorated in white. The kids had so much fun out there today because of the sheer volume of it all. I think we got about 13 inches when all was finally said and done! Here a few pictures to give you an idea.

Isaiah on top of a big snow mound made by the wonderful person who plows our driveway.

You better not throw that big snow ball at me!

The boys made a "fort" behind the big snow mound!

Inside the snow mound!

This is the front yard. I love the trees in front of our house. We lovingly call them "Christmas trees" all year round!

Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow

How much do we love snow? Living out in the sticks it's really the most excitement we get all winter and there's nothing like fresh snow. This morning when we did our 25 days of Christmas devotional (which we were 2 days behind I might add and remember that as you read on) we read Isaiah 1:18 Come let us reason together saith the Lord,though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.We talked about how God has continues to keep His promises, just like He did with Abraham, David, Zacharias, and Mary. He will keep that promise to us as we trust in Jesus.
Latter when we went out into the winter wonderland the kids started talking about that verse again. Elijah asked "what does scarlet mean again" It sparked a whole conversation that was just amazing. As we looked at the snow the kids made comments like "it's so beautiful, it's very clean, it's perfect" I explained to them how when we are hidden in Jesus we are more clean, perfect and as beautiful than the snow. The verse became very real to them. Isaiah said "I am so thankful for Jesus" and Elijah said "yeah me too He's awesome" Earlier I was beating myself up over being behind in the devotional but as always He is made perfect in my weakness!


The kids are such good sports, posing for mom's ridiculous picture when all they really wanted to do was play!
The look on Elijah's face is awesome!
Isaiah as always loved catching snowflakes on his tongue.
Elijah is just cute!

the lost art of.....

Maybe it's all the emails we get, facebook, myspace, instant communication without much thought, but I think the art of letter writing is gone. I also am saddened to see the art of thank you notes gone. I have always tried very hard to make it a priority with my children show they are thankful. I especially try to get them to help in writing thank you notes for gifts they have received. 99.9% of the time I think I've been successful. I think it's important for a few reasons. First it causes them to stop and be thankful. They get so many gifts for birthdays and Christmas that sometimes if we are not careful these gifts get lost in the sea of other gifts of years past without a though for the one who gave it them. When they take time out to write a thank you note they remember the person that they are thanking. The gift then becomes a little more personal. It also helps them to have a heart of thankfulness. We can so often forget to say a quick thank you let alone write a little note. We can also fail in this area in our relationship to God. It's so important to teach our children to offer thanks to Him and to those around us. I don't want my children to be those who just get and get and never give thanks. I also think it touches those who receive the thank you. I know we should give without expectations, but doesn't it just make you smile when you someone says thank you for the cookies you made, or you get a little note thanking you for the birthday gift you sent. It draws us closer together. So today we made thank you notes in preparation for the gifts they will receive at Christmas. After Christmas we will personalize them. These cards we made with an ink thumb print (how much more personal can you get =) ) google eye,s mini brown pom poms and a brown marker....TA DA instant reindeer, which we actually studied in science today and NO I didn't plan that!

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hyms and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him Col 3:15-17

Christmas Bread

So I made my first batch of Christmas bread for the season. This really makes it Christmas time for me. This is a family tradition to make this bread. First for gifts for friends and family, and then a few loaves for us for Christmas morning. I made four loaves Thursday for gifts for the mom's who teach the kids at the co-op. Thanks to Sara who took this beautiful picture.

ICE

The view from our front porch.

My sad trees, they are so weighed down by ice.

So far only one broken tree limb.

"Santa" History Lesson

Peter sent me this forward from Chuck Misler's newsletter about the origin of Santa Clause. We have never told our kids that there is a Santa Clause. We just thought that if we were going to teach our children about truth and about Jesus then we should speak truth, and truth alone. Of course I had heard stories of a man name Nicolas who loved children and gave gifts, but from this little article I learned a bit more. I plan on doing a little history lesson with the kids.

"YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS - (Print) In 1897, Francis P. Church wrote a now-famous editorial in which he told little Virginia O'Hanlon that indeed there was a Santa Claus. Church wrote in the Sun:"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist…No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever."St. Nicholas:About AD 260 there was born a certain man named Nicholas who became well known for his generosity and his love of children. Raised in the city of Patara on the coast of what is now Turkey, Nicholas traveled to Palestine as a young man. He later became bishop of the nearby town of Myra. When Emperor Diocletian focused on persecuting Christians, Nicholas was tortured and imprisoned for his faith in Christ. According to tradition, Nicholas was released by Emperor Constantine and later attended the First Council of Nicea in AD 325.Stories of Nicholas' generosity and kindness continued to spread long after his death. During the Middle Ages, Nicholas became patron saint of charitable fraternities and children, and legends sprouted about his feats of good will. After the Reformation, the legend of St. Nicholas died out everywhere except in Holland. When the Dutch Reformed Christians immigrated to the United States, they brought the traditions of "Sinterklaas" with them. St. Nicholas still rides into Dutch towns every November, dressed in his bishop's garb.Later in Germany, St. Nicholas would traditionally arrive on his Feast Day, December 6th. A man dressed as St. Nick would go door to door loaded with a giant sack. He gave presents to those children who had been good during the year, but a lump of coal was the lot of bad children.The visual image and personality of St. Nicholas changed during the years. His red outfit was derived from the red colors bishops wore, but he was often portrayed as tall and thin. The modern version of St. Nick as a plump cheery man originated in a series of Thomas Nast engravings in Harper'' Weekly during and after the American Civil War.Living ForeverThis is a season during which we remember that God sent His Son to earth to be born as a little human baby. The Creator of the universe was made subject to all the troubles and difficulties of this life and ultimately died for our sins. Because God gave us His Son, we all have access to eternal life with Him. There is no greater gift.While Santa is often seen as a diversion that takes the focus off of Jesus (and rightly so) the real St. Nicholas was no distraction. He was a man who served Jesus with his whole life. Mr. Church was correct in his letter to little Virginia, though perhaps not in the way he intended. The original St. Nicholas, the man who loved children and cared for the poor, that man was real. That Nicholas does live and live forever - for he was a follower of Jesus Christ."

Related Links: • The Feast of Stephen - Koinonia House
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/310/
• St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra - The St. Nicholas Society http://www.stnicholassociety.com/History/
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus - Newseum.org
http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
Thomas Nast and Santa Claus - The Morristown Library
http://www.jfpl.org/NJHC/closeup/december2006.html
• Thomas Nast Gallery 1863-1866 - Great Caricatures
http://greatcaricatures.com/articles_galleries/nast/html/01_nast.html

And His Name Shall Be Called....

We are still spending time doing our 25 days until Christmas devotional. Today we learned of God's promise to Abraham, that his descendants would number the stars in the sky. More importantly that the Promised One would come from his family. I reminded the kids how God always keeps His promises. We prayed and thanked God for keeping His promise to send Jesus and even more thankful that we can know Him. Later in the day we talked about all the different names of Jesus. I wrote down just the ones the kids could remember...Savior, King, Lion of Judah, Jesus and the Son of God. I added Emmanuel. Then we made the following craft. It's a Christmas tree that has each name of of Jesus on it. I got the craft from www.daniellesplace.com

The boys showing off the finished project.

Isaiah's on the left, Elijah's on the right.

You can take each layer off to reveal the different names of Jesus.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Our backyard...the snow is still falling!

Sometimes living out in the sticks gets lonely. But on days like this when it's so beautiful I am reminded that I am never alone, for He is always with me.

The path...I love this part of our yard, all year round it's just so welcoming!

Meet "Charlie"

So Sara challenged us to take a picture of a Christmas ornament. But I thought I would take a picture of Charlie instead. He's very "Christmas". I bought him at the tree farm last week. He's super cute in person. But I thought with the fresh new snow he would make a cute picture. He's standing on my front porch. Isn't he cute?

My "baby" brother"

My dad emailed and said I didn't post any pictures of Andrew...so here's the one of Andrew and I and Taylor snuck in!

PlayHouse

I just thought these pictures were cute. We stopped at the McDonald's in Newport they have the play house. FUN for them!

Laying of the Wreaths

My mother and grandmother have a tradition every year to lay Christmas wreaths at the stones of past away family members. I really wanted to do this with them this year to help with the laying of the wreath at my grandfathers site. Who by the way I can not mention without saying how much a miss him. It's not a morbid thing, since I know that my "Pa" is in heaven and even though a wreath is nothing compared to the reward he has in heaven it's our way of remembering him and his life. In the above picture is my mom, grandmother and niece Alannah doing the wreath.

Doing the finishing touches.

Isaiah and Elijah next to my grandfather's grave.

The wreaths are laid!

Family Visit

We went to my family's for a visit this weekend. We had a such a great time. We took the kids to see the new movie "BOLT". I really enjoyed it because I am after all a little girl trapped inside a grown-up's body. It was really funny and the little gerbil in the plastic ball is worth the price of admission. We had a big family dinner with mom's famous "Lasagna" bake.

This is my adorable and sweet niece, Alannah!

My sister Mary and of course BUBBY!

The gang is almost all here, my dad had to work =(

The cousins at the kid table, Taylor, Isaiah, Elijah and Alannah

The little man..."baby Miguel" he's a ham!

These are two of my younger brothers Jonathan and Michael

Me and my Mommy! I just love her so much!

This was one of the boys favorite parts of the visit...wrestling with uncle Mike. He let them really punch him and jump on him and be complete boys. Of couse Taylor was in on the mix!