Wisemen Seek the Christ child

Okay, so at the risk of sounding like a "bad" mom or an ungrateful steward of my precious children, I was/am a little anxious about 2 weeks of having all 3 kids at home. I'm used to Ryleigh and Henry and the lovely exchanges of kisses and hugs that occur since one of them is pretty much mute other than coos and giggles. When Jack comes home, it's a toss up if he and Ryleigh will get along nicely or not. Their normal conversation the last few times I picked Jack up from school is usually some variation of this:

R: How was your day, sweetie?

J: Don't call me your sweetie!

R: So, how was your day?

J: Stop talking!!!

Me: Jack, did you earn any tokens today?

J: Yes

R: Well, what did you do?

J: STOP TALKING!!!!

I want to make sure that I am "treasuring up in my heart" the memories that I have with my children while they are young. So, I made sure my quiver was well-equipped with fun things for us to ENJOY together. We began our day with one of the kids' favorites, cinnamon rolls! Then Jack and Ryleigh played a made-up game where Jack taped targets all around the house to shoot with his Nerf gun. He graciously included his sister in the game until she had to excuse herself to go put on some lip gloss. We then read "The Elf on the Shelf" that Mimi gave us and the kids closed their eyes while I chose "Zach's" first location; then they went off to find him. (SIDE NOTE: We don't encourage our kids to be nice because of Santa watching, but because of our calling by Christ. Just thought this would be a fun tradition of hide-and-seek more or less.)

Then, we went on to ART which both kids LOVE!

We began by reading the story of Christ's birth from Jack's children's Bible. Ryleigh was much more perceptive this year and asked a lot of questions. Jack answered most of them! SO precious!
Then we made the 3 Wisemen on camel-back out of their handprints. The idea came from Pinterest, my new obsession. This one is Ryleigh's.
And here is Jack's painting. I helped the kids do their handprints and fingerprint for the body. They painted their own grass (Jack used fingerprints), star, and crowns on the men. I was proud of how patient and attentive they were while I took turns helping them with each step.

So, day 1...a success in my eyes. May I remember and look back on these days with fondness of heart. The LORD has blessed me THREE times over and I must not take each little angel for granted.