'Tis the Season...

For lots of love!

Aren't those boxes just cute? A dear friend is starting a cookie baking business and after putting Colin down for his nap on Friday, I peeked out my door, only to find my 3 boxes of cookies on my bench! Of course, I had to sample each of the 4 varieties in each box (she even tweeked one of the recipes to not have nuts, just for me!)...and after sampling, my response to her was "Do I have to share them with the other Glynns?!" Yum yum.

We also got our 1st snow on Thursday....1st "real" snow, that is--and we didn't even know it was going to snow! I even got the van washed Thursday morning, not knowing that I was just wasting my money!

When the kids got up Friday morning, Ava was ready to go--she had on almost all of her gear prior to breakfast and as soon as we dropped off the big girls at school, she was out playing. Colin joined her and our experience this year has been much different than last year--he LOVES the snow!

Ava taught Colin how to eat snow....this might be a problem as the snow loses it's pure white color...

The other girls have also enjoyed their little playmate in the snow, he's up for anything they are doing and all 4 kids come inside with BRIGHT red cheeks!

This morning, we rang the bells for the Salvation Army. This year, my goal is to find many opportunities for our family to volunteer. This can be challenging with 4 small kiddos and with 1 allergic kiddo (we'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to do a soup kitchen or serve a meal on a holiday...but that's still too risky!). So far, we've taken "tickets" at a cancer fundraising event, we've handed out water at the Fox Cities marathon, we've (Ava, actually!) sorted many pony beads for a teacher, and today, we rang bells and sang songs for the Salvation Army. We learned some things about this event: 1) Ava and Colin are a little young--they were pretty silly and there wasn't much room for that in the vestibule. 2) People are very generous--a LOT of BILLS being stuffed into the kettle--I thought people just threw change in there! and 3) People LOVE children, especially when you have singing children!

Colin was VERY into the bell ringing. The kid has rhythm!

Ellie and Jayna REALLY got into it...and they were the singers.

In between ringing bells himself, taking 1/2 of the kids for lunch and making sure Mr. Wiggle didn't dance off into the parking lot, Andy did snap the photos and some great video. These aren't long, and if you have time, they are all worth watching. You will see Mr. Wiggle in action, you will hear the girls' voices singing Christmas carols, and you will see someone giving money...but giving money to each of the children to stuff the kettle!
Ringing the bells, part 1
Ringing the bells, part 2
Ringing the bells, part 3
Ringing the bells, part 4
Ringing the bells, part 5

And while we're on the subject of 'tis the season...for lots of love, we ended our day with a Christmas Open House....numerous families braved the weather and had wonderful fellowship at a friend's home....celebrating friendship and the true meaning of love. Merry Christmas Season, everyone!