One of life's little milestones

My little girl is not so little anymore. A few weeks ago Ciara lost her first tooth. She was pretty proud of herself! It actually happened really fast. Sunday morning she woke up and said that her tooth was loose. She kept wiggling it all day and Monday morning it just came out while she was eating her cereal. Here's a pic. of the "toothless wonder"

Christmas time is here again... almost

Our Christmas tree last year

I don't know about all of you but I am dying for Thanksgiving to get here so that afterwards I can set up my new nativity set and buy our Christmas tree. I still can't believe my aunt sent me the entire Willow Tree nativity set. I had a friend buy me the creche, so now I have everything and I'm dying to set it up and take pics!!! I remember every year when I was a kid it would be a family quest to find the perfect tree. It was always like a treasure hunt to find the tallest one that would fit in our house, one with no "holes" and that was full and fluffy. After we got it home mom would huff and puff to get it off the car, trimmed, and hauled into the house. Matt and I somehow always dissapeared during that point, haha. Then we would decorate the tree... and after Matt and I went to bed I'm sure mom would re-decorate the tree so it looked decent. Zane's memory of buying a tree is slightly different. His birthday is the 1st of December and he said they always bought a tree on his birthday, which wasn't his favorite birthday tradition I guess. Every year I try to get him excited about "the perfect tree" but it doesn't seem to be working. I have to admit, he has great patients with the kids as they "help" decorate the tree. We actually have a fake tree that we put downstairs with colored lights and whatever ornaments the kids want to put on the tree. This way I can have my white and gold tree upstairs! I just love this season. I love trying to find gifts for everyone that they will love. I have more fun watching other people open gifts and the giving part of the season than I do getting my own gifts. It's so fun to watch the kids' excitement over all of the packages under the tree. I'm trying to teach the kids that Christmas is about Jesus and about giving. I hope that it's slowly sinking in. I like to take Ciara out and have here help me find gifts so she can be excited too to see others open their gifts! I also can't wait for the all Christmas carole radio stations! Can't the Christmas season get here any faster?!