TIME

I can't believe that we are at the end of 2008. Wow! It's been a very strange year to say the least. A lot of emotional ups and downs, personal and spiritual growth, some unexpected concerns, lots of blessings, and many treasured memories. My goal, sometime after the kids go back to school, is to sit down and write a little bit of a year in review. We'll see. I always have great intentions but then LIFE takes over and time slips away.

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I love this little girl! I love her little laugh and giggles!



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I wanted to share some more of our Christmas pictures with you!

Management's brother is a fantastic cook and made some absolutely delicious chili. He also made some mushroom soup that needed to be placed in a food processor. Rather than taking the time to scoop it in a little at a time, he made his own food processor. We just had to laugh at his resourcefulness!

It wasn't the drill in the pot that kept me from eating it, I just don't like mushrooms, but Management said it tasted terrific. I'm sure it was good but the chili was just out of this world tasty and spicy!



While we were there we attempted to put together some gingerbread homes. Now I know why the school uses juice cartons and graham crackers. We worked on these things for more than an hour and never did get them to stay standing. Perhaps if we were able to let them settle overnight then it would have been better. At least that's what I tell myself.

My wonderful sister-in-law helping WeeklyAd...





I'm not sure who took this picture but Y~U~M! The red velvet cake had mint in the cake and the frosting! It left enough of an impression on someone that they wanted a picture.



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Last night I went with my neighbor to see Marley & Me. I've wanted to/tried to see this movie since the day after Christmas but something (or someone) also interferes. Well, once again, I didn't get to see it. We were too late and so we decided on The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttton. It was long but good. I enjoy Brad Pitt and of course he did a fantastic job with the character but it's a movie that I will probably not see again. It reminded me a little of Forrest Gump (which I did see over and over and over) but a little slower and much more grim. It was great to be out with my neighbor though! Bedtime Stories was great! The kids loved it!

We've had a really nice vacation so far. Here are a few pictures of our time together tackling projects, enjoying our Christmas presents, and spending time together.

We are in the PROCESS of making Rock Candy. I had no idea that it can take up to 7 days. It will be interesting to see if it turns out. Hopefully it will fare better than our gingerbread house.



Enjoying some "quiet" time with our friends.



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Daddy & Son Projects:



"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." ~Author Unknown

I'm thankful for this TIME that Management has been able to spend with us. It's nice having him home for awhile!

Not Me Monday

I did not forget most of the funny, crazy, ridiculous things that I have done this past week. It would be mortifying to admit that I do so many crazy, ridiculous, funny things that there are too many for any one to really stick out. So I won't admit that. Not me!

I did not find out what my Christmas present from my parents was going to be 2 days before Christmas. I would never try to find out because once when I was little and found out what a gift was, they took that gift and gave it to my sister instead. I would never risk losing the Keurig Special Edition Home Brewing System to my sister by letting my parents know that I had guessed their gift. No Way! I was really surprised and thankful and am still 100% addicted to coffee..and tea...and hot cocoa..and...

I also did not change out of my pajamas at 9:00 at night to run up to Little Caesars and get a Hot~N~Ready pizza with crazy bread and garlic butter sauce for just my husband and I to enjoy while watching The Office. What kind of old maid do you think I am that would be in her pajamas at 9:00? As if!

Now the pizza thing I would do! Fleece pajamas at 9:00? Not me!

I did not, absolutely did not, go around the house after each Christmas party (6 total) and gather up gift bags to use next year. Even though that would be a lot of gift bags, I did not give in to the temptation to steal them away and hoard them. I'm really not that cheap...or tacky. Not Me!

Management and I did not decide Saturday night to take a vacation day from church on Sunday only to have not one...not two...not three...but four people from church call our home Sunday morning to tell us that church was cancelled. Four people talked to WeeklyAd and discovered that we were intending to stay home (she proudly answered the phone each time and told them mommy and daddy were sleeping). What is that quote about being sure your sins will find you out? Is taking a vacation day from church a sin? Well if it is then it's a good thing that I did not take a vacation day! It's a good thing that I was up and dressed and making a gourmet pancake meal and simply unable to answer the telephone before WeeklyAd grabbed it.

Is calling your grandma "SassyPants" a sin? Well, I didn't do that either. She and WeeklyAd did not spend an entire 30 minutes fighting and whining and force me to get so angry that I demanded neither one of them say another word. Wouldn't you know that my grandma said another word!!! I was very patient and kind and loving and never uttered the word sassypants. Yes I did but she deserved it (and thankfully she laughed about it too)!

Sisters

"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." ~Marion C. Garretty

With FOUR Christmas gatherings, my family certainly gets to spend a lot of time together. The cousins love to play and sing and dance and make up shows for the parents to ooh and aah over. The parents love to see the cousins playing together and of course we try to have fun too...especially my sisters and I.

"Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers." ~Pam Brown

Thanks to my younger sister and a special project she was working on for Christmas, we actually took the time to get a nice picture of all of us.

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." ~Isadora James

"A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams." ~Author Unknown

I had a lot of fun looking through different quotes about sisters and sisterhood and even some regarding family. Most of them are so true and very sweet and really do make me appreciate my sisters!

And then I saw this one...and truly laughed out loud!

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts." ~Author Unknown

From my NUTTY family to yours...

Rockin Around The Christmas Tree

Seriously, there is no way that I can choose just one foto for Favorite Foto Friday! After such a full and festive day, I can't choose just one! I'll try to choose a favorite of each person from the morning and then a favorite from our time together with family.

First, our early morning together.

WEEKLYAD~ Don't you just love the excitement!?



HOMEAUDIO~ Who is about to get a whole lot louder with his new electric guitar!



MANAGEMENT~ The Famous musical tie of course!


TARGETSHOPPER~ Unfortunately, not many of me as I spent most of the day trying to figure out my new camera and looking like this...



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Around noon, my extended family came over for a huge prime rib dinner (cooked by my mom and dad) and more presents. The food was fabulous! The family was fantastic! The festivities were fun and there are plenty of fotos to share!

Here are a few of my favorite things fotos.

The kids had a terrific time amongst the chaos. They each had a full pile of presents from grandma and grandpa and were so fun and fascinating to watch. We had 10 adults, 10 kids, and loads of fast hands working on packages.



The World's Best Father wore his fancy new tie plus a snowflake light up necklace from my sister. Doesn't he look fierce!? flashy!? He's certainly faithful with the light up necklaces and sported one several weeks in a row for the Fourth of July. It's now officially a funny, running joke in the family.



Isnt' this a fine one!? A father and his fiesty daughter sharing a tender moment. I love it! Look further (closer) and you will see that this father is also wearing a festive and fancy musical tie. This family is full of fearless men! Men who fervently love their children for sure.



I learned a fresh new word(s) today from my 9 year old...tesla coil. He's fascinated with his new tesla coil and had a great time showing it off to his papa. HomeAudio is so fortunate to have his grandpa and loves him so very much.



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And finally, another tradition...

The Lighting of The Nativity:

After my family left, we laid down on the floor with WeeklyAd's new (pink) Bible and read about Jesus' birth. As the characters were mentioned, we lit their candle in our nativity scene. This year WeeklyAd, Management, and I read the Bible (Matthew 1-2; Luke 2) and HomeAudio lit the candles. It's a very special time for our family of four!

The Angel~



The Magi~


Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus~




The Shepherds~

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

What a wonderful day we have had! It started at 3:00am with two little children standing beside my bed whispering something about Santa. Thankfully they were willing to go back to bed but it didn't last long. At 3:40 they were back again and once more were sent back to bed. By 6:20 they were bouncing on the bed and totally ready to dig into the presents.

Before I get into all of the fun and joy that came with this day, I wanted to share a little about our Christmas Eve. First I wanted to share a little surprise about Kringle. Our sweet little scout elf surprised us and flew home to the North Pole while we were at our candlelight service last night. We came home and found this...



Kringle left a sweet little note and two adorable Webkinz. Here is what the note said,

"I have had so much fun this Christmas season! I loved being at your house and thank Santa every night for letting me visit you! It has been the best job ever! I am really going to miss you but it's time for me to go home now and help the other elves with all of the finishing touches for Christmas morning. It's such a busy night and we need all of the elves to help. I am so sad to leave you and wanted to leave a little something here to help you remember me. As you snuggle in your beds tonight with your new little friends, know that I am thinking about you.

Can't wait to see you next year!

KRINGLE"

We are all really sad that Kringle had to go home. It has been so much fun having him here and has been a really fun tradition to start with our family.

Another tradition that we celebrate on Christmas Eve is getting new pajamas from Grandpa. This year he went above and beyond. He didn't just get the kids matching pajamas, he got each family matching pajamas.



And of course this included the MOMS too!






Thank you GRANDPA (and grandma too)!!

And as you can see from the very top picture, we continued our tradition of leaving out carrots, cookies, and milk for Santa and his reindeer. It was another blessed and beautiful Christmas Eve with some new adventures and some very old cherished traditions.

Oh and back to all of the fun and joy that came with today...check back tomorrow for Favorite Foto Friday and I'll try to Fit it all in.

Merry Christmas!

Carol of the Bells

I love the song Carol of the Bells. The lyrics really have nothing to do with our Savior but it's the music that I love. I love the anticipation and the build up and the excitement and the joy and the intensity.

The King is coming. As I think of the meaning of tonight and all that we celebrate, I think about anticipating the King and how oh so long ago the people were in chaos, looking for a place to rest. A place to sleep. A place to dream and possibly to hope. Waiting for a promised One. A promised King that would bring restoration. Most did not know that the King would be coming this very night. The King would rest in a manger, surrounded by animals but celebrated by angels. He triumphantly entered this world. The King came as a baby. He really did it. And through His birth He fulfilled prophecy and promises. The King was born to live and to die so that man no more may die. He came with purpose and with passion and brought peace. Not earthly peace in the midst of the chaos but everlasting peace. Peace that passes all understanding. Restoration and hope and much more than anyone could imagine.

We are headed to our Christmas Eve candlelight service tonight to worship The King that came as a baby. We are so grateful to Him and so full of excitement and anticipation for what He is doing and all that He plans to do. We pray that there will be many who meet this King for the first time tonight and find that everlasting peace in the midst of their chaos. May our hearts be focused on Him and praise Him as never before! He is the King and His kingdom is everlasting.

It's A Holly Jolly Christmas

We partied til we dropped...
My sweet little niece...

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Our hearts ache for a dear family in our school. A mother in her early 30's with three little girls went home to be with Jesus early this morning. She was diagnosed with cancer only months (one or two I believe) ago. She was surrounded by her family and had a very peaceful passing. I did not personally know her but it is still so unbelievably sad and my heart aches for her dear parents, her loving husband, her sweet daughters who are so so young, and her other relatives and friends.

In such tragic and devastating times it is even more important to remember the miracle of the manger and the HOPE that we have in Christ. Such gratitude I hold for my Savior who came to earth as a baby and endured so much in life and in death to rise again in order to conquer sin and death so that we may spend eternity with Him. What LOVE He has for us, what PEACE we can find only in Him, and what HOPE and assurance we have for being with Him and our loved ones again.

Please seek the Lord with me in asking for peace and comfort for her family in the many days and months ahead.

Keeping Busy

It has been so bitterly cold here that the kids have enjoyed little time in the snow. They had a great snow day last week but we've been staying warm inside for the last few days. Grandma's been with us, Management's preaching on Christmas Eve and has been locked up in his office, and so we've stayed busy (and quiet) with more projects. I'm not supermom, or an overachiever, or anything like that. I just need to keep my sanity and the sanity of those around me and maintaining sanity means keeping children active and keeping children active sometimes involves projects.

With that said, here's what we've been up to lately. Wait, did I mention that there were 6 kids involved in this process? Okay, well there were (my kids plus 4 neighbor friends ages 2 to 14), so now you see why I try to keep them busy. They are all so good but can be so loud and Management really needed quiet that day so that he could study.

Each child made some SOAP...it's actually very easy. You just melt some blocks of soap (we had a kit that my mom gave us), add the color and scent, and pour into a mold to dry. Easy.


















It's fun, it's easy, it impresses their mothers, and it's a great Christmas present for kids to give to others....if you can get the kids to part with their creations that is.

We also went over to our aunt's house to do some Christmas baking. Two grandmas, four aunts, and seven cousins all gathered in one kitchen. It was really nice and festive! And MESSY! You can only imagine what the floor looked like after this...














Wait, did I say we were baking. Let me re-phrase that, SOME of us were baking! SOME of us were playing!















Eventually the kids wandered into the kitchen and made some adorable sugar cookies. Thank you Aunt S for openning your home and especially for your neverending patience!

Do You Hear What I Hear...A Thud?

Check below if you're looking for Not Me! Monday.

I just had to give a little update on Kringle. Our poor little scout elf had an accident this morning.


He was safe and sound in the living room this morning, perched up on the curtain rod and enjoying a nice view of our bacon and egg breakfast, when the accident happened. He was sitting there so happily and then the next thing we know, poor Kringle fell asleep and fell right to the floor. It must have been a terribly long and bitterly cold night for him and he just closed his eyes for a few minutes. Well, those few minutes were all it took for him to find himself asleep on the job and stuck on the floor.

Of course we aren't allowed to touch him so we used a duster to pick him up and laid him on the piano so that he could finish his nap and think about what happened. We assured him that we would not tell Santa about this as we would hate for him to be demoted back to the Toy Assembly Line.



Well by the time we finished breakfast and had a chance to check on him, he was back up and ready to go on with the day. WeeklyAd found him resting on the lampshade and exclaimed, "this day is getting weirder and weirder by the minute." We all chuckled and assumed that Kringle was fine and happy and had learned his lesson.


But now we found him like this...and we feel so bad for him.


Poor Kringle must have flown back to the North Pole for some much needed TLC. We hope he feels better soon and are very thankful that Santa took care of him and allowed him to return to our home. I'm sure he'll be much more careful in the next couple of days. Aferall, he only has 2 more days with us and then he flies home for Christmas. We sure will miss him!

Not Me Monday

Wow, it's already the Monday before Christmas! I can't believe it but boy is our home filled with excitement and anticipation. It's NOT filled with dust and laundry and crumbled Christmas cookies.

My grandma has been visiting with us this weekend and we sure took advantage of our time together to catch up with each other. We did not watch numerous Christmas movies, eat ourselves sick, and most definitely I did not get her hooked on The Office!

Maybe it was Management! I didn't get him hooked either. Not Me!

I did not just offer to look online for a toothbrush sanitizer for my grandma in order to sneak in here and write a Not Me! Monday post for my blog. I really am looking at different sites so that she can find one for a friend of hers in time for Christmas. I did not find one online within 10 seconds and then spend the next 5-10 minutes writing out this blog.

Oops, I did. I need to get back to her but maybe you can check back and see if there are more Not Me! confessions later. I doubt it though because I really didn't do anything worth confessing. Not Me!

More Than Charity

"We can clothe the naked, feed the hungry, house the homeless, free the prisoners and heal the sick, but if we deny them the eternal glory of knowing Christ, we make no lasting impact on their lives. Without words, we cannot impart the only power that can transform the soul and society."

~R. York Moore
Outreach Magazine
November/December 2008
Page 70

Santa?

Who needs to go to the mall?

Snow Day

Well we finally got our SnowDay! As luck would have it, our first snow day fell on our first day of Christmas Break. Oh well, I'll take snow anytime, especially around Christmastime.

There is no set theme again this week for Favorite Foto Friday so I'll just post some pics from today and maybe a few from past snow days if I can sneak away for that long. LittleMiss is here today along with her big sister and the 4 kids are anxious to warm up with hot cocoa, watch Christmas movies, do some more crafts, play with puzzles, and oh so many more ideas.

But they sure burned some energy outside this morning...with a little help from Management of course. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or dad.















LittleMiss was very disappointed about staying inside. She really wanted to play in the snow but she squealed with delight as HomeAudio threw some snowballs at the window. She was also very happy to help me get the hot cocoa ready for the frozen foursome.















And here are a few of my favorite fotos from snow days over the years.