Recently...

So I have been a little lazy when it comes to updating the blog. Sawyer is as sweet as could be but she is a handful...she sure keeps me busy and I am loving it.

One of her new favorite things is to brush her teeth. If we are in the bathroom and she sees her toothbrush and I don't give it to her, it's a battle!!! I am thankful that she likes to keep her teeth clean! :)



One thing that Sawyer is for sure good at is making a mess! We are working on what it means to clean up, she is slowly getting the hang of it. A few days ago she had a blast getting all of daddies books out and reading them, I thought it was too cute!




Last Christmas my grandmother bought Sawyer a precious little Christmas Kitty Cat. Well, Sawyer has fallen in love with it. It's so sweet. Thank you Grandmother for loving on your great-granddaughter!!!!





We are getting in the Christmas mood around here. The tree is up, I am in the process of making advent felt ornaments with Clint to go over everyday with Sawyer during the month of December, and I am already planning our Christmas dinner!!!

I am trying to think of ways to keep Christ the center of our family traditions...any ideas that you all do with your families????

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what the Casabella family has been up to!!!!!

Alex

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful day. It started off with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...Sawyer loved it!


Then she took a nap, I cooked some sides and started working on the turkey. After she woke up from her nap we played outside and went on a family walk. The weather here was beautiful!





We got home, ate lunch and started watching some football! Sawyer took her second nap, and mommy and daddy rested while the game was on in the background =D Then I finished up the turkey and the sides. The Rogers' came over for dinner. It was delightful! The food was WONDERFUL. Clint carved the turkey for the first time...he did great!



Here is a picture of Sawyer and Jane at their finest, haha


We made enough food to feed an army, but that is what leftovers are for...I tried so hard to keep the kitchen clean, but it didn't stay clean for long =D




I'll end with one of my favorite scriptures!! Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.

Day 5 of a Thankful Heart

Today we are thankful for our doctors who take care of us, our dentist who clean our teeth, and toothbrushes that are so fun and feel so good on those gums!!


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Day 4 of a Thankful Heart

Today we are thankful for a group of friends that we call family! Because of these people our transition to Philly has been a breeze! =D Sawyer is so blessed to have friends that love her and are helping raise her up to be a godly woman one daY!


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Day 3 of a Thankful Heart

Today we are thankful for a daddy/husband who loves us both so much, we can't thank God enough for blessing us with one incredible man!!!


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Day 2 of a Thankful Heart

Today we are thankful for Lentil Soup! So easy, yummy, cheap, and healthy. Also, we realize that food is a gift and something that we need to realize is a blessing from the Lord, and not take it for granted.


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Day 1 of a Thankful Heart

We are one week away from Thanksgiving! =D
One of my desires is to teach Sawyer to be thankful for all things, even the simple little blessing of life.

Today we are thankful for a playful, pretend, puppy dog that Susu and Paw Paw Steve gave us!



"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I love Fall!

Across the street from our apartment is this run down, junky lot that is used by a concrete company. When we first moved here in the winter I was so disappointed in our view from our family room because when we look at our patio doors we see this lot. However, this lot finally has come into good use! Now in the fall it is beautiful and brings such delight to me as I look at the doors. I have been watching the leaves change colors and today when I looked at them it was so beautiful. I thought I had to get Sawyer over there to take some pictures. We go over there a lot and look at the tress and leaves. But, today I dressed her up a bit and brought my camera! Here are some of my favorites:

Santa

I just read this blog post on a womans blog and I think it sums up how I want to do Santa in our home. Thought I'd share it on our blog!


How We Deal with Santa: The Legend of Saint Nicholas

"As part of our Giving and Serving week of our advent celebration, we talked about Saint Nicholas.  I had purchased the book The Legend of St. Nicholas  by Dandi Daley Mackall from Christianbook.com.

This book tells the story of a boy selfishly focused on getting things at Christmas.  He hears a store Santa telling the Legend of St. Nicholas:  his parents teach him that God loved us so much He gave us the gift of His son; when he is left orphaned he decides to give secretly to meet the needs of those around him. Upon hearing this tale, the boy in the frame story experiences a total change of heart and cheerfully buys presents for his siblings and generously purchases toys to donate to kids in needs. 

With 4-6 sentences per page, this book is fairly text heavy for young kids.  We lost two-and-a-half-year old Sis almost immediately and I had to work to keep four-year old Big Brother focused.  The illustrations are lovely, but this book is clearly about making a specific point, and is not truly compelling literature, with the boy's radical about-face feeling a bit corny.  However, it is the best book I could find about St. Nicholas and the point it makes is the point I want to make with my children, so it's a good tool for our family. 

After reading, we discussed that Santa's real name is St. Nicholas and that he was a real person who lived a very long time ago.  He loved God so much that he gave other people lots of gifts to share God's love with them.  I explained that he was such a special gift-giver that even after he died, many families like to pretend that he brings the presents on Christmas still, but really moms and dads buy presents for their children. 

Many people think I'm a party-pooper not to include Santa in our Christmas celebration and I certainly don't think this is a black and white, right versus wrong decision.  However, I fear that encouraging faith in an unseen fictional Santa would damage my parental credibility as I encourage faith in an unseen living God."  

Afternoon Fun

Sawyer had a little fun yesterday after we went grocery shopping

She found some chalk


Then heard the neighbors


Tried to figure out what they were saying


Went and looked in their house to see if she could find them


Then she thought she could color the grass with the chalk


Climbed our other neighbor's steps to see their pumpkin


Gave mommy a funny look after I told her to be careful


And then ran around having a ball!




Today marks 13 months of life for Sawyer!!! She sure is a delight. But is also getting more personality that can be fisty at times. She can for sure throw a fit (not sure where she gets that from, hehe). We are working on discipline at the moment. I'm trying to figure out what is the best form of discipling her. A lot of my friends have recommended the book "Don't make me count to Three" by Ginger Plowman. It is wonderful so far, and has given me some great pointers!! I'll share some quotes from the book later!

Sawyers favorite thing to eat is vegtables. If I put pizza and green beans on her tray she will always eat all the green beans first and then a few bites of pizza. Sometimes for lunch she will eat a huge bowl of mixed vegtables and then some bread/crackers and fruit. I hoping this keeps up! =D

She adores being outside and playing with her best buddies Jane, Gianna, and Marissa. She will follow these girls around for hours giggling and watching them play.

Her vocabulary is growing. She will try and say "hot" "hat" "baaa" (like a lamb) "woof" "momma" "dada" "whoa" And then lots and lots of babbling! She knows where her head, toes, belly, nose, ears, and mouth are. If I ask her to get her pants, or shoes, or shirt, etc...she will go and get them and bring them to me to put on her. She loves taking her socks off and try to get them back on, she will do the same thing with her hats and bows. She is taking all of the world in and it is too cute to watch. We still have some snow in our parking lot and she LOVES it. She will walk real slow up to it, squat down and slowly touch it. Then she looks up at me a smiles, and then touches it again. She will do this for a good 10 minutes!

Sawyer, you are a delight and we love your full personality that we know will continue to grow and develop into a wonderful young lady one day! We are praying that you come to know Christ at a young age, and that you will have a compassionate heart for others and desire to make Christ known wherever you go. We love you so much and can not wait to experience Christmas with you this year!!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween night! We had the Rogers' over for dinner last night: pork, butternut squash, stuffing, and pumpkin cupcakes! Our neighbors, Mike and Kellie and their girls came over for cupcakes. All the girls played and giggled...it was precious! Sawyer was our little winter bunny. Her bunny ears would only stay on her head if her hat was on...so that is how she became our winter bunny. But, I thought it was fitting since there was snow on the ground.

I am so excited for next year because I think Sawyer will understand so much more!

Here is our little bunny




I asked her to give the pumpkin a kiss, and she did!



She loved looking at the snow. She would squat down and look and talk to it...she is going to love this winter I think!



Now we can focus on Thanksgiving!!! Happy first day of November!