Housekeeping, Jesus, and a Little Christmas Spirit

I spent all day today cleaning and gussying up our home for Christmas. 

This was just the beginning, meaning there's a lot more to do, but it was fun to see Isabelle so excited with the few things I put up. She ran around with her dolly friends, pointing out the decorations and explaining that they were for Jesus's upcoming birthday party.  Clever girl...I hadn't explained it quite like that to her.

Speaking of Isabelle and Jesus...my little princess is a true princess, an heir to the throne of God! It all happened in the car, after dropping Ethan off at school, in such a wonderfully random, completely God-unique way. It really moved me, ministered to my soul, in a way that only Christ can. I'm so thankful.

So today I guess I was so busy with my mountains of laundry, sharking the floors, scraping greasy grime off the tops of the cabinets above the stove- let me just say EWWW, that's some nasty stuff!- and pulling decorations out of boxes and such that I didn't actually take any pictures.

But I've got pictures of last weekend at the...BEACH???

Yup!

So beautiful- it was a perfect day!

We did a little sea-side hiking, found lots of crabs, starfish and little lobster-y crayfish things...a good day for sure!

so much for a nice portrait...boy oh boy! those monkeys!

Then the week flew by and it was suddenly Thanksgiving!
We finally made it downtown to the Tree Lighting Ceremony, something I've wanted to do for years but we always forget- it was really fun! There were even fireworks and a little petting zoo for the kiddos. I think Santa may have been strolling around but we missed him in the crowds, and Isabelle has been wandering off lately so I wanted to get out of the thick of it...it absolutely petrifies me and I don't know why she's doing it all of a sudden. Is she too old for one of those animal backpack leash things? Ha!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Is this Spring or November?

New England sure seems to be experiencing some interesting weather trends these days.

I'll take sunshine and warmth over the white stuff anyday!

She's actually getting hot out there in long sleeves! Wow!

These guys are loving the warm, fresh air too!

It smells like spring in here...so odd, especially since I put up some Thanksgiving decorations yesterday.

I'm sure the cold will return soon enough, so I'm going to enjoy this awesomeness while it lasts!

Trick or Treat

I am still a bit shocked over the whole trick-or-treating in the snow thing, but...what can you do?

We got about 20 inches dumped on us on Sunday!

It didn't deter anyone in our neighborhood!

poor Isabelle Kate was freezing, so she only made it around the Little Loop with me- she was a terrific candy passer-outer, especially in those adorable little striped legs, ha! 

Sorry Isabelle, Mama forgot to bring down your skirt to wear...she didn't seem to mind. Maybe I should be worried!

The boys each carved their pumpkins with those kit things, and wow! Did they do a great job!!!!

There is a lot going on right now for me, and it's awful and ugly and frightening, and every day I think I'm going to lose it and completely sink into some deep abyss from which I'll never recover. I'm not giving any details, but I hate that feeling of dishonesty too; I need something normal so I'm going to blog about fun things with my kids like I always have, and I'll be glad to have a record of it, but it isn't really what's on my heart right now.