Mallory was begging to build a snowman during the last little snow so we went out and gave it our best effort.  The windchill at that moment was -4 and our faces were stinging from the cold so we ended up with a snow pile.  The snow was so soft we couldn't form a ball.  Mallory's typical 3 year oldness showed up when I tried to take the picture.  She was the one who wanted to build it, then when we got it done, she wanted nothing to do with it.  Last week the kids and I had gone swimming at the Y.  We all got very cranky in the changing room afterward and by the time we got to the car I was bawling from being so upset with myself at how I had handled their childishness.  I moaned during my crying that I am a terrible mother (which I have never let come out of my mouth and know that it's a lie and am working with Jesus on it)  and Kinley, with tears in her eyes, loudly and firmly said to me what Josh says to her when she says something mean about herself "No you're not! I don't think that about you and God doesn't think that about you!".  It melted my heart and the truth went straight through.  It was such a burst of light in a dark hour.  It is also in stark contrast to two months ago when I was teaching the kids about the fruit of the spirit.  We went around the family and said what fruit we see in each other's lives.  Kinley told Josh that he had the fruit of peace in his life because he is always calm and like everything is ok.  Then she looked at me and thought hard for a few seconds and said "well I don't see any fruit in you mommy".  Of course that broke my heart and I had to take days to get out of that pit.  Oh mothering! :)  God is working in my heart a lot and revealing the selfishness, self reliance and pride that poorly affects my parenting.  Oh the pain of dying to those things but I am praying that this year I learn a place of humility before God and allow Him to pour His love through our family instead of me running our lives with self-centered control freakness that pushes Him out.  

We had our annual family visit to the dentist and it was Mallory's first time to get cleaned and checked.  At home when we were getting ready to leave she started freaking out saying that she did not want to go to the dentist because they were going to pull all of her teeth out.  In the car she was acting crazy about it so I just prayed out loud and told fear to get out.  By the time we walked into the dentist office she was a completely different person.  Happy to be there and excited for the experience.  She did great and when we left she cried for the hygienist and wanted to go to her house to give her a hug.  Now she begs to go back to the dentist. 

 Saturday was the Cub scout Pinewood Derby.  We love our new pack in Jenks.  It is so organized and well run.  James worked really hard on his car which is in the picture below sitting on the right side of the table.  He won first place in his den for speed and creative design.  Then he won first place of all the Wolf Cubs in design.  He was pleased and can't wait for next year.  He and Josh are scheming a "money" car??

We had a very merry Christmas season this year!  It started out with Josh and I getting home from Duncan after Thanksgiving on Saturday around 10 and staying up until 2am to get up the Christmas decorations.  After we recovered we enjoyed the festivities. We "found" Duck Dynasty for the first time and Josh found this app that allows you to put one of their beards on your picture.  

 We continued our gingerbread house making tradition but tried to go bigger and better.  We decided bigger and better is exhausting and wasteful.  I had to use 18 cups of flour to make enough dough!  We did have left over dough so the kids each got to make their very own house.  

 James'

 Mallory's

 Josh and Lindsey's

 Kinley's

 On the way to OKC James was tired and laid his head on M's seat so she started rubbing his head because she likes the way his buzz cut feels.  It was the sweetest few minutes!

 We spent Christmas eve and morning at my parents' house in Edmond with my sister and her kids.  Mallory was not interested in looking at the camera before seeing her stocking.

 James' favorite toy was the Hot Wheels wall track that Santa brought him.

Kinley and Mallory were probably most excited about the beef sticks they found in their stockings…I am so proud!  

Kinley's favorite toy was a My Little Pony castle that hooks to the castle she already has.  Mallory looked at her toy which was a My Little Pony royal car set and she said "I didn't want that…you can have it Kinley".  All that Mallory asked for this year was a pink fishing pole.  We told granddad and assumed that he was going to get it so we kept reassuring her that it would come.  Then when we opened gifts in Duncan and she didn't get one we felt really bad.  Thankfully she handled it with grace and we went to Walmart the day after Christmas and got her one. 

 She loved fishing with the long wanted pink fishing pole!

 Josh's big bass catch.  Isn't he handsome!

We are excited because we ordered a Canoe and Kayak with our Christmas money! Josh is excited because now he is an Admiral because he owns a fleet of boats.  We are officially going to look like the Griswold's going camping. 

 On New Years Eve both sets of neighbors came over for our annual Tamale dinner.  All the kids stayed up until midnight to ring in the new year.  They thought they were big stuff!  

 Emily took these pictures of the girls when we were in Duncan over Thanksgiving.  I think the are beautiful!

Though the blog post is all about us and our gifts, we were thankful that we could see a little growth in our kids and their ability to see past gifts a little more this year and get involved in giving and being thankful.  God has so richly blessed our lives with deep relationships, physical provision, and His relentless love the most fun thing we can do is share it all with the world and this Christmas we experienced that together.