My favorites from Christmas

I posted the outtakes, then I forgot to post my favorites. Well that just goes to show you how busy life has been in the Gilbreath home. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas. Better late than never right? :) 

Out Takes

Sometimes the outtakes are the best part of taking pictures. They are the pictures that show how real life can be with 3 kids 5 and under. A child's personality can be seen through a look, and you get a glimpse of how little minds' work. The are not the prettiest pictures, but they sure are funny! And they show my childrens' personalities to a T :)

 But we are smiling!

 Clap, clap, I'd rather be dancing!

 I'd rather be doing anything else...

 Yawn... This is boring

 The promise of a sucker for good behavior and Josiah was all smiles. But then 

Titus discovered a hat and thought it was too funny not to wear it.

 Big Smiles

And yes, they did great and received a sucker :)

Titus's 1st Christmas

My sweet Titus is enjoying his first Christmas. Actually, He seems to enjoy everything. His big smile and bright blue eyes bring a constant joy to our home. He turned 5 months old this week. Time seems to be flying by so quickly!  At his last check up he weighed in at 17 lbs. and 8 oz. and is 24.5 inches tall. He's a BIG boy just like his big brother.

There seems to be a constant comparison of who He favors; Eden, Josiah, Larry, Larry's dad, and me. I think he looks like Titus :) There are times I see a glimpse of Eden and Josiah in him. But he is so much of his own person, He's going to have a great personality!

Bright Blue Eyes :)

Always smiling :)

I know this is out of focus, but I wanted to show my mom how hard Titus is trying to crawl. He gets up on all four and hikes his bottom in the air and has started rocking forward. I tried to take this picture while trying to catch him. It's not going to be long before I'm going to have 3 kids running around the house!



Out takes

I'm convinced that my children take better pictures for other people or when they are running around just being kids. I've tried twice to get the kids to sit in front of the Christmas tree and take pictures....yeah it's a crazy mix of frustration and laughter.

Here are a few of our out takes:

 Sweet Titus, Josiah not looking

Sweet Josiah, Deer in headlight look for Titus

                                           Sweet moment when Josiah decides to "kiss the baby" :)

                                                     Sweet Eden and Josiah, tired Titus.

                                                 Titus.... I'm Ready for a meltdown or my nap!

The best of the Gilbreath Kids :)

Merry Christmas!

Go Tell it on a Mountain!

We might have a musician in the family. Josiah LOVES to sing. His current favorite song is Go Tell it on a Mountain, which he sings daily, over and over! Lately he's been pulling down the hymnals we keep in the bookcase, opening the pages and he begins to sing. It is so Cute!

Josiah has also joined the hand bell choir.

Sorry the picture is kinda blurry,

but you can see how happy he is to be a part of the Joyful noise.

Total concentration on ringing his bell.

500th post/ Christmas pictures

It's fun to think of all the adventures and antics that I've been able to share through our blog. I started this blog when Eden was born as a way to share our daily life with family and friends who do not live close by. It is amazing to see how our family has grown and life has changed through these last 4 years. I love that I have this as a record of my children's growth because I am doing a horrible job keeping up their baby books. In fact, I don't even have a book for Titus yet!

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying our Christmas tree. 

Blowing out the Advent candles.

Happy St Nicholas Day

Traditions are what make holidays special. Things like baking coconut macaroons with my mom. I can only remember making them for Christmas, And each year I looked forward to it. Now that I have a young and growing family, creating Christmas traditions for our family has become important. You can see my post from last year some of the traditions we have started. The kids love “doing Advent.” Actually they love blowing out the candles at the end of the Bible reading, singing and prayer time. Josiah makes me smile as he asks to sing Go Tell it on a Mountain every night, multiple times. He LOVES that song!


In starting traditions, We want to be very purposeful about what we are teaching our children. We do not want to just go along with what culture or tradition tells us. It’s hard to raise our children outside of cultural norm. To be that family. Much thought and prayer have gone into these decisions. Our biggest desire is for our children to know Jesus through a personal relationship. We want them to celebrate His birth at Christmas. There is no need to teach them to be selfish wanting gifts and things, it comes naturally. It’s our sin nature. And selfishness is not just a toddler issue. I know many adults, (myself included) that struggle with selfishness daily.

We are training them to be other focused, not self focused, especially during this season. What we hope to get across to our children during this Christmas Holiday is to love and serve others, as Christ has loved us. At 4, and almost 3, Eden and Josiah are just beginning to understand most of what we're trying to teach. We believe that the Word will not return void. Little minds absorb so much. Only God knows what Truths are being planted in their hearts each day we sing Christmas carols and talk about Jesus' birth and death.

Just today, Eden was talking about communion, and how some red dots reminded her of the blood of Christ. She said, “You know Mom, Jesus, Jesus Christ. He died on the cross. And you drink the cup to remember his blood” Wow! At 4 she is already putting this all together. I’m so excited for my little girl!

So how do we teach our children that great work on the cross started in a manger? And what do we do with Santa? Larry and I have decided not to have Santa be a part of our children's Christmas tradition. That's not an easy task! People often ask our children what Santa's going to bring them or if they have been naughty or nice. Santa is in all the stores, he even comes to the Christmas party for our church. He's everywhere this time of year.

The kids have been easily distracted from Santa, until last night. Santa comes to our church’s Christmas party. I talked to Eden about it before we left home and told her that Santa would be there, but that we were not going to talk with him. She seemed ok with it until we were at the farmers market and all the other children went to sit on Santa’s lap. She asked if she could go and kept asking, “but why Mommy?” It wasn’t a disrespectful why, it was a why am I different why. Man that was a hard moment for me as a mother. It was hard to think how I could explain it so that my 4 year old could understand it. I was well aware that I was around others and didn’t want to come across as a super spiritual or judgmental of other families enjoying this tradition. I took Eden to the other side of the building and joined a group of ladies. We talked and she enjoyed the attention, soon forgetting that Santa was there.

So when people ask Santa questions, I am the one to answer that Santa is not part of the way we celebrate Christmas. Most people just look at us strangely, others don't know what to say and it leads to a moment of uncomfortable silence. A few people have encouraged us and said we were doing well to teach our children the real meaning of Christmas. My hope is that I can be a good example when responding to people's questions and that Eden and Josiah will learn from that how to respond with kindness and Truth to people's questions.

There are many reasons why we have come to this decision. I know there are extremes to this position. Please keep in mind, we're not trying to kill Santa, and No we do not believe that Santa is an acronym for Satan. Larry and I feel that legalism fuels most of that thinking. We don't think we're better Christians or more holy than families that do have Santa in their family traditions. If you want to leave foot prints in your carpet and cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, that great for your family. We’re not judging you, please don’t judge us! We desire to have hearts that seek God and want our children to enjoy the holiday without the commercialized aspects that our society places upon it. We want Christmas to be about Jesus and His humble birth. And we always want to keep in mind the Cross behind the stable.

Last year, we decided we would celebrate St Nicholas Day on Dec 6th.  Here is a neat website a friend posted on Facebook on the real St. Nicholas with activity sheets for children.  Do yourself a favor and do a  little research on St Nick. I loved this article from Cyberbrethren.com. St Nick was a feisty Christian. He was a man of conviction who was one of the writers of the Nicene Creed. We  don't want the commercialized Santa in our home. But the heretic slapping, children loving Bishop, St. Nick,.... I hope my children love him :)

Merry Christmas from the Gilbreath :)

We've had a great day here at the Gilbreath house. Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning as I experience it through my children. As we have made new traditions and spent time teaching Eden the real meaning of Christmas, it has become so much more meaningful to me. 

Tonight we finished our evening by having a Birthday Cake for Jesus. Eden was so happy to celebrate Jesus' birthday. She sang to him and played with her nativity set. I am so thankful that we are able to focus on the real meaning of this most amazing holiday.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Outside toys

We were super blessed by Grandparents with some awesome outside toys. Eden and Josiah love their new toys. Now I've just got to figure out how to supervise both of them while their running in opposite directions!

 Side saddle on the Kawasaki!

 Josiah driving the Mini Cooper

Eden's turn

 The princess on her princess scooter.

Happy St Nicholas Day

Larry and I are trying to develop Christmas traditions for our family.  You can see my earlier post for some of the traditions we have started. In starting traditions, we have asked ourselves what it is that we want to teach our children about Christmas. We want to be very purposeful about what we are teaching them, not just going along with what culture or tradition tell us. We have examined the traditions that we grew up with and that our culture, even our church do to celebrate the Birth of our Savior. We have kept some and have chosen not to engage in others.

Our biggest desire is for our children to know Jesus through a personal relationship. We want them to celebrate His birth at Christmas. There is no need to teach a toddler to be selfish,  it comes naturally. But we are training them to be other focused, not self focused, especially during this season.  What we hope to get across to the children during this Christmas Holiday is to love and serve others, as Christ has loved us. At 3 and a half and 22 months, Eden and Josiah are just beginning to understand most of what we're trying to teach. We believe that the Word will not return void. Little minds absorb so much. Only God knows what Truths are being planted in their hearts each day we sing Christmas carols and talk about Jesus' birth and death.

Now what do we do with Santa? Larry and I have decided not to have Santa be a part of our children's Christmas tradition. That's not an easy task. People often ask our children what Santa's going to bring them or if they have been naughty or nice.  Santa is in all the stores, he even comes to the Christmas party for our church. He's everywhere this time of year.

At this point, I am the one to answer that Santa is not part of the way we celebrate Christmas. Most people just look at us strangely, others don't know what to say and it leads to a moment of uncomfortable silence. A few people have encouraged us and said we were doing well to teach our children the real meaning of Christmas. My hope is that I can be  a good example when responding to people's questions and that Eden and Josiah will learn from that how to respond with kindness and Truth to people's questions.

Eden is beginning to be aware of what is going on. We have told her other children celebrate with Santa, But that her Momma and Daddy are the ones who give her and Josiah their gifts. Then we tell her that all gift come from God. Everything we have comes from God. "OK mommy." is her response. No big deal, she takes us for our word and that is enough for her. The trust of a child is a blessed thing.

There are many reasons why we have come to this decision. I know there are extremes to this position. Please keep in mind, we're not trying to kill Santa, and No we do not believe that Santa is an acronym for Satan. Larry and I feel that legalism fuels most of that thinking. We don't think we're better Christians or more holy than families that do have Santa in their family traditions. We desire to have hearts that seek God and want our children to enjoy the holiday without the commercialised aspects that our society places upon it. We want Christmas to be about Jesus and His humble birth. And we always want to keep in mind the Cross behind the stable.

Last year, My cousin Kelly posted this about celebrating St Nickolas Day. I was intrigued. I had never heard of St. Nicholas Day. Another of my favorite blog Mom's Molly Sabourin, wrote about their families St. Nicholas day celebration.  Larry and I started to talk about it, and I  have done a little research on St Nick. I loved this article from Cyberbrethren.com. St Nick was a feisty Christian. He was a man of conviction who was one of the writers of the Nicene Creed. We still don't want the commercialised Santa in our home. But the heretic slapping, children loving Bishop, St. Nick,.... I hope my children love him :)