The MAGIC Tree

This past Saturday night after eating dinner, we took a Christmas light tour of Columbia.

There are many beautiful light displays throughout the city, however this one steals the show!  Last week our friend, Rachele, who went to school at Mizzou here in Columbia posted a link and pictures on her blog recommending us stopping by to see The MAGIC Tree.  I am so thankful that she shared this as it is the most beautiful Christmas display I have ever seen.  We have driven by many times, with Lawson's window down, (we started a habit that has been hard to break while looking at Christmas lights), however we haven't had our camera so we had planned to stop back by to get pictures.

It is truly magical and lovely.  It causes you to smile.  It is fantasy-like and loved by those of all ages; even Emmitt was fascinated by it.  The pictures turned out great!

Just a few tidbits of information about the tree...

- The Magic Tree is created by Mr. Will Treelighter.

- The Magic Tree was once located at his home, however it has been recently moved to The Cherry Hill subdivision/community as the number of visitors became too large for his home to accommodate, which he considered a happy problem.

- This is The Magic Tree's 16th year.

- This year's tree has about 15,000 incandescent mini lights, 15,000 LED lights, 7,500 color changing LED lights in three varieties, (the changing lights make it beautiful and magical in my eyes).  That totals 37,500 lights!

- It took Mr. Treelighter approximately 40 hours to put the lights on the tree.

- This year's Magic Tree has approximately half the lights last year's tree had... yes, 37,500 lights is half of last year's tree... I wish you all could have seen it!

 - You can visit the tree on-line at The Magic Tree.

A few pictures are below... I honestly have few words as the pictures speak for themselves. 

This is the North Pole according to Lawson; I LOVE his imagination!

A family pic plus a little girl. :)  There are people everywhere!

Emmitt didn't have a coat as it is too hard to buckle him in his seat with one on, so I had to bundle him the best I could, and we only stayed a few minutes.  Russ and Lawson played for a few minutes longer once we went to the truck.

Me and the boys

Lawson in the gazebo

 The courtyard/park area of the Cherry Hill community 



It was a magical night with an uplifting feeling that fueled our Christmas spirit!

Thanks for the information, Rachele!

Merry Christmas!

Touchdown!

Emmitt has a new trick...

Ready?

Touchdown, Colts! :)

Mandy taught Lawson to do "Touchdown, Colts!" two years ago, and now Emmitt is catching on.  I suppose he will someday recognize that his arms are supposed to be straight up. :)

He's also gotten really good at waving!

Merry Christmas!

Who needs clothes?

Not the Bragg boys!

You all know how Lawson feels about wearing clothes, or the lack of.  As I was walking through the living room this morning, I noticed that both boys were in their diapers. 

This is the norm for Lawson, which by the way, he no longer wants to sleep in his pajamas, but wants to... "I just sleep on my tummy, I not need my jamas." 

After a night or two with this power struggle we decided that as long as he slept we weren't going to fight it.  Hope we're doing the right thing!?

Anyway, Emmitt had just gotten through enjoying his cereal and apple blueberries which meant he had to come out of his pajamas as they were covered in messy purple splotches.  I was headed to get him some clothes when I caught this little pic of them sitting together.

Lawson is playing with his whistle that he received from his advent calendar, and Emmitt is looking on with amazement. 

What to do?

The best we can, right?

As long as he keeps his clothes on at school and while in public, we will deal with his bare bones here at home.  And as to Emmitt, he will be dressed until he realizes that he can go bare-boned, too. 

Time will tell!

Merry Christmas!

For Mrs. Jane

Back in November, I began following a new blog after seeing it mentioned on two other blogs that I follow.  I was very inspired and impressed by Tatertots and Jello and more so, by Jen's creative spirit.  She definitely possesses a talent within and when her love for that talent collides with her creative mind and spirit, she designs lovely things... lots of different lovely things!

Her creative spirit is as obvious as my lack of creative spirit.  She sees things before designing them where I don't see anything until it is already designed! :)

With that said, she posted a holiday project designed by someone else on her blog, and after seeing it, I decided to give it a try.  I was inspired and excited!

You see, 5 years ago this Christmas, we came home for Christmas and I taught Mrs. Jane, my mother-in-law, to knit.  Knitting was all the buzz in North Dakota and everyone was knitting.  We were teaching girls to knit while at recess, as well as in after-school.  Knitting was contagious.

  Approximately 50% of the ladies I taught with/worked with at Custer Elementary were knit-wits. :)

I loved it and was quite impressed with my ability to do something so crafty... to take a skein of yarn and create a scarf or dish cloth was pretty cool.  It was addicting and I enjoyed it very much.  With no children, lots of travel time when camping, and then time while we were camping, in addition to the 24-hour drives to Tennessee, I got in lots of knitting time.  I specifically remember the trip to Glacier, Montana when I knitted a total of six dish cloths the entire trip. 

Unfortunately, time for knitting no longer exists.  And even if I do have a little bit of time, sitting and knitting is not something that sounds fun to me... I hope the desire will return in the years to come.  On the flip side, Mrs. Jane is still a knit-wit.  She is a member of a prayer group that meets on Wednesday nights at her church and they spend time together knitting prayer shawls for various ones in need.  She has knitted, I dare to say, more than 100+ dishcloths, and possibly as many different types and styles of scarves in the past 5 years, in addition to the prayer shawls and scarves, she has knitted toboggans, multiple lap blankets for Granny, afghans, and other things, I am sure.  She is very talented, and I am happy that she finds joy in knitting.  And I am thankful to Amy Flicek and Nikki Huber for so PATIENTLY teaching me to knit... it is tough to pick up, but is kind of like riding a bicycle in that you can pick it up at any point in time and go right back to it.

Back to the creative project... the project that I discovered on Tatertots and Jello was a holiday yarn ball wreath.  When I saw it, my face lit up with a smile and I was inspired... I was going to make this wreath for Mrs. Jane.  We had spent two weeks with her and Mr. Richard and thought it would be a nice little thank you with a personal flare.  She loved it and it looks really nice hanging in her hallway.  My inspiration came from this posting.  Isn't it lovely?!  I think so.  I decided to give it a go, and I wasn't disappointed.  I did, however, use a different selection of yarn with regard to the colors.  Below you can see my creation unfold.

I started with an 18 inch wire wreath form, purchased at Hobby Lobby.

The yarn balls were made out of smooth-finished styrofoam balls, also purchased at Hobby Lobby, covered in various yarns.  I used 1 inch, 2 inch balls, 2 1/2 inch balls, and 3 inch balls.  I liked the look of the various sizes.  It took many more styrofoam balls than I expected and I believe it is because I incorporated the 1 inch smaller balls, but I really liked those little rascals.

I included yarns that complimented Mrs. Jane's style and "Christmas story" found throughout her house.

I chose a thin silver with a small sparkle, a shiny and flat mix yarn in a muted red, a thin white with a sparkle, a bulkier muted red/pine green mix, and then a bulkier muted pine green with a gold fleck.

They complimented one another very well and I was very pleased with how they all fit together; much better than I expected.  I purchased the yarn at both Hobby Lobby and Joann's.

And then the "sparkle" of the wreath.  I purchased this ornament combo-box of small ornaments at Target, and they were perfect!  I used all of them except for those with a shiny finish as they just didn't match the overall style of the yarn. 

And two other important supplies that I used were hot glue (lots of it) and toothpicks to hold the yarn in the styrofoam ball.

And the fun begins... the night before I started, I sat and yarned approximately 10 balls in all different sizes and colors, completely covering the styrofoam ball.  I held the yarn in place with a toothpick.  The next morning, I got busy.  I immediately realized that pre-yarned balls weren't the key.  I had to yarn them as I needed them, and although it was more time consuming, it was the only way to make it work, and much of the way, it was a guess-and-check process.  All of the yarn balls and ornaments were attached to the wreath form with hot glue.

This picture shows the first ten minutes... at this point, I realized it was time to yarn as I go.  I was feeling good about it at this point, and Russ was quite impressed! :)  I hung it from the pulls on my cabinet doors as it was important to "see" it while adding the balls. (And yes, those are Emmitt's socks covering the pulls so not to scratch them or the cabinet doors; they were the first thing I found when I turned around, and they worked well.)

Half-way done...

An up-close of the combined yarns with a few ornaments...

Almost there... and this was the most difficult piece.  In order to complete it, I had to have just the right size balls and just the right colors... it was a challenge, but I figured it out.

Emmitt got in on the yarning, too! :)

And the final product... here it is hanging on her wall.  She was very excited as was I.  I gained a little piece of confidence.  It certainly doesn't come natural to me, however I learned a lot while enjoying a new adventure.  I suppose I will be looking for another inspiration.  Time will tell.

And here is a picture of it hanging on my front door knob... I decided to post this because I took it at eye-level and it is easier to see without the shadow, although the background isn't so great.

And in closing, I would like to add that Lawson was so excited about this wreath.  He helped me shop at both Joann's and Hobby Lobby, and stayed right with me as I was working.  He was so excited to give it to his "Munnar".  When we arrived for the Thanksgiving holiday and gave it to her, he prefaced it with "surprise!"... he was very excited about it!

Lastly, thank you Mrs. Jane for taking care of us over the two-week time period.  I hope you will enjoy your wreath in the coming years and may knitting continue to bring you enjoyment.  See you at Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Breakfast with Santa

Early Saturday morning we visited the annual Breakfast with Santa event at the Rock Bridge High School here in Columbia.  It is an annual fund raiser held by the Senior class.  I have no doubt that it was a profitable morning as it brought smiles to many, many children!  Russ estimates a total of about 1,000 people were in attendance; adults and children.

It was very busy, and quite overwhelming when we first arrived, but once we got our tickets and got into the cafeteria area things were calmer.  Lawson wasn't so sure initially, but it didn't take him long to enjoy himself.  It was beautifully decorated and there was a sense of magic in the air!

We had just gotten in the door when we were greeted by this big teddy bear!  He was receiving lots of love from the children as they waited in line for their tickets.

After our breakfast of muffins and orange slices with milk, which was less than desirable, we made our way over to the craft area.  It was wild, shoulder to shoulder.  Russ waited at the front as the stroller was not going to make it through the crowd.  There were many nice options, however we chose to make food for Santa's reindeer.  Lawson loved it, and is very excited about leaving food for the reindeer on Christmas Eve.  So cute.

Here he is with one of the Senior students elves finishing up his reindeer food which consists of mixed bird seed, oats, and magical glitter!

Lawson waiting with Dad to see Santa Claus

Emmitt waiting with Dad to see Santa Claus

Emmitt was very patient as we were there for about 2.5 hours, and as you can see in his little eyes, he didn't feel so great.  He must have known that Santa was watching! ;)

Lawson showed a few of Santa's elves his reindeer food, and they assured him that it would make the reindeer really strong so that they could fly to his house on Christmas Eve! :)

These pretty elves were helping him write his letter to Santa... all he asked for was a yellow gun.  Over Thanksgiving my cousin's son, Colton (he is in the 4th grade), had a yellow gun and Lawson thoroughly enjoyed playing with it.  It was nothing fancy, it just made cool noises.  We've got to find something similar, designed for a two year old, since he specifically told Santa about this gun...

Showing Santa his wish list

Emmitt was so sweet while sitting with Santa and looked as though he knew exactly what to do!

I see you mom and dad!

Mrs. Claus was also there reading Christmas stories.

And this little Santa waited at the door telling all good-bye!

It was a lot of fun and we are thankful that we ventured out in the cold.  It was for a good cause and the $10 cost was well-spent... Lawson had a BALL!

We can hardly wait for Santa to visit!

Merry Christmas!

The Toboggan; a funny story!

To begin this post, I would like to say that it is very cold here in Columbia, Missouri.  I (we) had no idea that it would be so much colder here than it was in Evansville.  I have asked a few people if this is "normal", and they say, "yes, but not for December; more normal for January." Oh, ok.  Thank goodness we love cold weather.  The high today was 29, and the highest it has been in the last two weeks is 37.  It has been a great reminder of North Dakota, and those temps are quite "mild" for North Dakota.  Everything is relative, isn't it?

All that said, we've pulled out our parkas, scarves, and hats... AKA toboggans.

And that brings me to this toboggan memory... growing up in West Tennessee, we wore toboggans in the winter to cover our heads and ears during the winter so that we would stay warm.  They weren't guaranteed to be used frequently throughout the winter as it doesn't get that cold, but most of the time we had a toboggan and mittens or gloves for those cold, wintry days. 

Moving forward to Mandan, ND, 2004... While living in Mandan, I had the privilege of incorporating a 21st Century grant in an elementary school.  I worked in a K-6 school of ~225 students; very small and so cute. :)  I loved it there!  I actually enjoyed it just as much as teaching... it was very rewarding.  I was in charge of the after-school program, managing 5 employees with up to 48 students enrolled.  We had them every afternoon from 3:30-5:30, when their parents picked them up.  It was an awesome program with an awesome group of teachers.  The grant targeted under-privileged families, and presented many great opportunities for the students and their families allowing them to participate in many things they would not normally have been able to do.  In addition, academics were targeted and students received daily help on homework or specific areas of weakness.
One opportunity was ice skating.  We had scheduled a few trips over the winter to the skating rink and we would be transporting them by bus and would provide the skates, but students would need to bring/wear their normal winter attire.  The normal winter attire includes a coat, snow pants, snow boots, mittens/gloves, and a hat of some sort.  They wear this to school every day during the winter and are not allowed to play outside at recess without it.  Yes, they play outside in the winter until the temperature drops below -15.  I always felt sorry for those who had recess duty!  So back to ice skating... the afternoon before we were to go, I was greeting parents and passing out reminders of the field trip and letting them know that they would need their winter attire, blah, blah, blah.  Well, Carlos, Cheyanne's dad, and I were talking about his concerns as she had never ice skated and I was assuring him that she would be fine and that we would take good care of her.  I jokingly mentioned that if she had her toboggan it might protect her head a little more if she fell.  Thought nothing of this conversation once he left. 

Fast forward to the next morning...

I had an office at my school, and my hours were 9:30 A.M. - 5:30 P.M.  I arrived to school, turned on my office light only to find a large pink sled leaned against my desk with a sticky note that said, "Cheyanne".  I thought hmmm... we are ice skating, not sledding... this is strange.  As I moved it out of the way and sat down, I saw it... the sticker on the front of the "sled"... in large, bright yellow letters, it said, "TOBOGGAN".  Once again, hmmm... never heard of such.  So, I picked it up and headed to the office where the secretary was used to my southern-isms.  I knew she was going to get a kick out of this.  It was so funny! 

So, this past Saturday morning as we were placing the boys' toboggans on their sweet little heads, my mind immediately went to Cheyanne and Carlos.  They went to Wal-Mart and bought a sled for the ice skating rink.  I felt so bad.  He was sweet and understanding... it caused him to laugh although I don't think he understood our toboggan-translation from the south. 

Little memories like these are so much fun!  Our West TN friends... I am guessing you've worn a toboggan on your head at some point in your life, and your children probably have, too. :)

For those of you who have worn beanie, hats, or stocking hats, you've learned a new term for a hat even if it's only understood in the south.  Our Lawson is already calling it his toboggan.  I plan to teach him and Emmitt the other names, too, so that they aren't embarrassed like their mama was.  :)

Below are pictures of them from Saturday...

Emmitt had just woken up and it was extremely cold outside, and he has a cold.  He looks pretty pitiful, but you gotta love that toboggan his grandmother knitted for Lawson his first winter... a good ol' hand-me-down! :)

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We shall enjoy our first winter in Columbia even if it's colder than we expected!  I do hope we get some snow!

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Back to school... in Columbia!

Yesterday was a big day for Lawson!

He was so excited to be going back to school, and it sounds as though he had a great first day!

He will be going to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30-1:00.  It is a Mother's Morning Out program at a church here in Columbia.  It is in its 26th year and the same two ladies have been taking care of and teaching the children there for the past 26 years.  Isn't that impressive?  26 years!

 Their dedication and love for their work was evident the moment I stepped through the door and I am very excited about this opportunity.

We went for a visit on Tuesday as he was to start yesterday.  We arrived and as I was getting the boys out of the van another mom stopped to say hello, and she introduced herself and her little girl, telling me that we were going to love it there... an immediate feeling of comfort.  We finally got in the door, and I knew that she was correct... we were going to love it there!  Upon meeting his teachers, I knew immediately why they had been there for the past 26 years... they were bubbling over with excitement as they greeted the children!  Lawson also recognized it, and he didn't want to go home.  He told me to go home and come back to get him later.  I couldn't believe it!  His new teachers, Mrs. LeeAnn and Mrs. Glenna, scooped him up and loved on him making him feel welcome and that's all it took! 

He was very excited about the big day and had his lunchbox ready to go... they eat lunch together right before going home.  For lunch, he had ham, cheese, pretzels, and mandarin oranges... and juice to drink.  He chose a Buzz Lightyear lunch box.  He has grown to love Buzz and it cracks us up!

According to Mrs. Glenna, he had a great day... she told me that it seemed as though he had been with them for years, that he fit right in and went with the flow.  For that, I am thankful.  He has been out of school for almost three months, and I wasn't sure how he would do.  I am thankful that he had a good day.

He told me about his day, and here is what I got from him...

I raised my hand to say, "yes".

Mom, I didn't say "no" to my teacher. (Thank you, Lord!)

I didn't go to twime out, but that other girl did go to twime out because her wasn't listening.

Santa says "ho, ho, ho".

Did you sing songs?  No, mom, we don't sing songs at school! :)  (are you crazy, mom?! )

Did you read a book?  Yeah! And I raised my hand.

What did you have for snack?  crackers and juice

Who did you play with?  David

And I didn't get all of this from him at one time... I got it piece by piece throughout the afternoon.  I am glad he didn't go to time out, and I am glad he didn't say "no".  And as a teacher, I wish all children went to pre-school where they were taught to raise their hand... that would be a good piece of the dreamy classroom puzzle!

Below is his artwork from the day.  He DID wear clothes to school as seen before and he DID have them on when I got there to get him!  I promise he has clothes, however he rather go without them, and it isn't worth the fight.  I'm sure some of you understand! 

Before I close, I must say that I am extremely thankful he had a great 1st day at his new school.  I am, however, extremely embarrassed as I was late to pick him up.  I thought the program was from 8:30-1:30... I was 30 minutes late to pick him up, and I was not only embarrassed, but sad that he was there for 30 minutes as though he had been forgotten.  It took all I had not to cry as she continually told me not to worry about it.  Not just a few minutes late, but 30 MINUTES!!!!  Ugh.  No mom of the year award, for sure! 

I will be on time from now on... forever... I learned my lesson... always ASK what time to be back, even if you THINK you know!

More school memories to come, I am sure.

An Angel

One week ago today, Sweet Hailey became an angel.  She left her painful life on earth, and went to be with Jesus in Heaven... as her mother said, "she earned her angel wings".... and what better day to go to Heaven than on a Sunday morning, the Lord's day.

As her mother describes in her posting from this past week, she left this world peacefully without any struggle or pain... for that they are thankful, and so are we.  As broken as our hearts are for her entire family, whom we grew to love while living in the Indianapolis area, we can't begin to imagine their pain.  Their love for our Lord was as evident then as it is today, even amongst their pain and sorrow.  I have no doubt that God is pleased with their faith in Him, and is holding them tightly in the palm of His hand.  He understands the pain that goes with losing a child as He has endured it Himself, however He promises to grant them peace beyond understanding; we must trust that He will. 

This past week, they had a Celebration of Life to honor Hailey.  Her mother has posted pictures from the special day on her CaringBridge site.  It truly appeared to be special; I wish we could have been there.

The promise of Heaven is comforting, knowing that her broken body is now whole, and that she can run, walk, play, and be happy.  I am certain that God was waiting for her with open arms.  She is in a better place and we shall see her again someday.

In closing, we want to thank you for praying for Hailey and her family.  Cancer is an ugly and relentless beast.  May they find a cure as to prevent pain and heartache such as this.  Please continue to lift them up during the coming weeks, months, and years ahead for the road before them will be sad and difficult. 

Thank you, once again.

Love,

Selena

A future in football???

Although Lawson's future in football is unclear at this time, his interest and liking for the sport is very clear!  As mentioned before, neither Russ nor I possess any athletic ability or coordination, therefore watching him develop a love for sports continually blows our minds and even causes a few laughs from time to time.

These pictures were taken one crisp and clear morning... We had been outside playing for a little while when he wanted to go back inside to get his football.  At that time, Russ heard us and decided to take a break for some football fun... and I tell you what, Mr. Lawson had so much fun!

He was a little confused here... he lifted his foot before throwing the football as he does before pitching a baseball... when you're an all-sports-boy they all begin to run together!! : )

I love his little smile in this picture!

A football player?  Only time will tell. 

For now, we will continue to cheer him on as he "plays" football, baseball, soccer, golf, and most recently hockey!