Date Night

Last night Josh and I went to The Singing Christmas Tree for the first time! One of the precious families I get to photograph every year has a daughter who has performed in it the last couple years, so I wanted to get to go watch! She did great! What a cool thing to be a part of as a middle school kid! It was a fantastic show, and such a great way to kick off the Christmas season! I'm so happy we went! Michael W Smith was also there performing for the second half of the concert and it was really amazing to get to worship with the packed house at Keller Auditorium as he led from his piano, and with an orchestra! I just loved it!! We sang Silent Night and O Holy Night all together, along with the choir and orchestra and it was just so powerful!! I couldn't help but just close my eyes and worship. It actually made me think of our friend Shawna, who just passed away recently, and how what we experienced singing all together is just a sliver of what she is experiencing now. How incredible!

Josh and I were given a gift card to Morton's 5 years ago by a family in our church, and we've almost used it about half a dozen times, but for some crazy reason it has never worked out with our schedules and we've always joked about the Morton's gift card and if we would ever use it! Well, Morton's is across the street from the Keller Auditorium, so it was meant to be! We FINALLY got to use it and we had the most wonderful dinner! Thank you to that family for blessing us with a lovely dinner date! I love date nights with this guy!

I borrowed this photo from ticketmaster.com's site to show you what The Singing Christmas Tree show looked like: 

This is the lame picture that my cell phone took of Michael W Smith performing. I once again wish my extremely musically gifted brother Matt had been there, because he would've loved it! (Matt, I'm wishing we had bought you and Gina tickets as your birthday presents! Dote!) 

Since my photography schedule has slowed way down I've just been soaking up the extra time with the kids!  Yesterday, at Jude's request, we made cinnamon rolls! We tried a new gluten free, dairy free recipe that I pinned on Pinterest and it's the BEST! Selah and Benjamin helped me make them while Jude was at school. Then we baked them when he got home and I swooned over their moist, creaminess! I couldn't believe something gluten free could taste so.... not gluten free. :) We'll make them again for Christmas!

The kids have been fun helpers around the house lately. It's funny how as soon as I ask them to start cleaning they find the most creative ways to play and avoid cleaning. ;) They did help me sort laundry two days ago and put laundry away, and then they were busy giving each other cozy basket rides. Too cute.

Jude, who has always had a strong aversion to getting dirty or getting anything on himself that would be sticky or messy, has suddenly taken interest in coloring on himself. Totally out of left field, but I'm going with it, since it's overcoming some issues in my mind. After coloring he got a bath.

I thought it would be fun to share a pic of the kid's classroom for grandparents. Our kids love school. They arrive each day and wash their hands, then shake hands with their teachers, then put their name stick in the bucket, and choose a job (like folding towels, feeding the fish or watering plants). Then they choose a work to do at a table (work on a 100 counting board, do some math problems, practice writing, build a tower, make a necklace, do a 3D wood puzzle, paint, etc.) and they also work on reading individually with their teacher. They also have circle time for stories and singing and show and tell. On each of these little bookshelves around the classroom are lessons/work they can choose to do. 

I think the best part of it all is the flexibility Jude has to move about the room and focus in on the things that interest him most, while still providing great structure and routine.

When I pick up the kids, Benjamin often likes to run around the playground with the big kids for a little bit too.

And a few random cell phone pics from the past couple weeks:

Playing at Grandma's house, and crashing before naptime on the couch:

A day in the life of Ben... turning the washer off mid-cycle much to my dismay... thankfully this day it was with just 1 min left on the cycle and I let him do it for photo sake to remember this stage. :) And Benj pretending to sleep in Selah's bed (a favorite activity):