The Saturday 7

1. Wow. I feel like we crammed so much into the past week! Last Saturday the girls and I went to see "The Star" movie. I was a little nervous that it would be heretical and I've heard almost no reviews about it, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was cute and surprisingly Biblically accurate. I mean, it was definitely a fictional representation, but they referred to Jesus as the King of the Jews and the Son of God, they bowed before him, etc. And at the end a little blurb came on the screen saying, "We took some creative liberties in the making of this film, but tried to stay as true to the most amazing story ever told as possible." Impressive!

2. Watching movies/reading books about Jesus' birth since becoming a mom has a whole new meaning for me. It's actually kind of heartbreaking to look at that sweet baby and know what will happen to him. It's horrifying to think of it from Mary's perspective. You know that song "Mary Did You Know?" It talks about how her son would grow up to do miracles and save his people and fulfill Messianic prophecies, but it really should say, "Mary did you know your son will be hated and hunted, mocked and spit upon, beaten and flogged, nailed mercilessly to a cross to die a brutally painful death?" Ugh. How can a mother handle that? And how could Jesus choose that? I've been trying to get that across to my kids this year. Christmas isn't just about Jesus appearing as a baby. He voluntarily chose to leave perfection to come to a dirty, stinky stable and deal with dirty, stinky people, and die a horrendous death because that's how much he loved us! Incredible!

3. On Tuesday we went to Justin's grandparents' for dinner, followed by our annual trip to the gardens to see the trees and trains. It's always so good to see Grandpa and Grandma. I hate that we live so far away and don't take the time to visit them more often.

Great-Grandma has the best snacks.

Posing with the Brazil tree in honor of our friends the Millers! (Lucy came too, she just didn't want to be photographed.)

Waving at the trains.

4. I was so excited for Levi to see the gardens. I knew he'd love all the pretty trees and freak out over the trains. But as you can tell from the above picture, he was still not feeling the best. We actually went to the doctor on Tuesday because he seemed to be getting worse instead of better! He puked for the first time on November 30th and never really got over it. Then it turned into a cold, which turned into a fever by Sunday and a double ear infection by Monday. The doctor put him on a strong antibiotic to wipe out any possibility of pneumonia, bronchitis, or strep as well as the ear infections. By Wednesday, he was already feeling much better. And he hasn't puked in two days! *knock on wood*

5. We tried to make treats for the mail lady as one of our Advent activities this week. I found a cute gingerbread mold at a thrift store, but the molds were really deep so I decided to make brownies in them instead of cookies. I sprayed it well because I knew they'd be impossible to decorate if they didn't slide out nicely. But apparently I didn't spray well enough. By the time I pried all the brownie pieces out of the mold, it looked like a gingerbread massacre. Now I know why that mold was at the thrift store! Haha. The good news is at VK Christmas today, I got some silicone gingerbread molds off the Bunco prize table! Hopefully those will work better.

6. Today was an all day Christmas party extravaganza. We left our house at 10:30 am and got home at 9:30 pm! First was Justin's extended family at the gym. All three of our kids had a blast. The girls adore playing with their cousins, and Levi adores running around the gym, playing with balls, eating non-stop, stealing cars off the Bunco prize table, and making friends.

I couldn't get a non-blurry of him because he never holds still!

Lucy, Meika, and Lena with their loot from Great Grandma and Grandpa!

We ate way too much good food, had a family game of soccer (I eventually had to leave the gym with Levi because I couldn't keep him off the playing field! And those VanderKoddes do not play nicely just because kids are present. They are hardcore.) And of course we played our annual Bunco tournament. Every time you win a round, you get to pick a prize off the table. Everyone brings prizes so there's a vast assortment of treasures - Christmas decorations, pencils, stickers, jewelry, stuffed animals, etc. The kids love it. And I love spending time with the extended family. I'm so fortunate to have married into such a godly, loving, fun family!

After we'd exhausted ourselves with the big family, we headed to Justin's parents' for our immediate family Christmas. More food, more presents, more games. It was quite the epic day.

This car carrier was a major hit. Levi spent a good half an hour lining up matchbox cars on it.

Getting in on the Wizard game with the boys.

Levi slept for a grand total of 15 minutes all day on the ride from the gym to Justin's parents', but he was amazingly good all evening. He was definitely sleepy, but he didn't get ornery, he just got quiet and snuggly. And then he didn't even fall asleep in the car on the way home! Crazy kid. It was a great day for everyone. The girls did a good job saying "thank you" for their gifts, everyone got along, we all got spoiled with gifts, and just enjoyed spending time together.

7. More pics: