Christmas Coma

That is what I call the last few days. We have stayed in our jammies for most of the day and have played games and did puzzles. We our hosting a New Year's Eve party for our Sunday School class on FRIDAY! I looked around today and wondered when the last time I vacuumed or anyone did for that matter :) I put the kids to work and they did a great job helping. I am happy to say that all their new stuff has a place to go for now. I totally want a organizer for the closet in the family room and then everything will have a permanent place! I am feeling better about having a party here that is for sure. We have really enjoyed the few gifts the kids got this Christmas. Lots of games and puzzles...PERFECT! I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Letter 2010

I'm not sure when the last time I did one of these letters! I got some motivation today to write one so I'm going with it :)

Let's start with the youngest! Peanut just finished her first class of gymnastics and had so much fun. Bonus she just got some money for Christmas so that she can take another class! She is in preschool this year and is learning so many things. She is just so funny and when the teachers have stories to tell me I get a little nervous because that girl has an imagination! They had their Christmas program on Friday and she did so good singing her songs and it showed on Sunday when the toddler Sunday School class did their Christmas program in front of the church. She pretty much had a solo for Away in a Manger! She is not shy in the least and my parents tell me all the time she is much like me as a child. The funny part is that I can totally see me in her! She loves to help me clean when she is home from school and she does a really great job. She still takes naps and I want to hold on to them as long as I can...that girl has energy!

Red is in Kindergarten, which means I get to spend the afternoons with him alone every day and I really cherish that time we get together. He is able to get his homework done and have some down time before the other kids come home from school. I LOVE listening to him and see how his brain works. Just the other day we had a conversation about bed sizes at the water park. There was a king size in the one room and a queen in the other room. He asked what size his bed was and we told him a "twin". He gave us a funny look and said "What's a twin? Isn't it a prince?" He is so logical and I love that about him. He is very excited to grow another inch so that he can be 48 inches and can go on rides. He was very sad he wasn't able to go on a few rides at the water park. He is still a real snuggler which I hope lasts a long time.

Monkey he had a big year in the teeth department! He lost his first tooth, then a second one and has one loose. Those adult teeth make him look so much older. This year in school he is doing great. He had on his first report card straight A's. He loves to write poems and draw pictures both of which he is really good at. And that isn't just my opinion his teacher has told me this on numerous occasions. He got a set of drums for his birthday this year and really wants to take lessons I just need to get on that. He also had a first week at away camp over the summer. I missed him so much. But he was in good hands with his dad and other men from church being leaders at the camp. He still has a smile that melts my heart and has such a sensitive spirit. I love that boy!

My oldest GlamorGirl. Where to even begin with this girl. She wants to do everything and wants to be great at everything. She gets that drive from her daddy! She started playing violin at school October 16th. My birthday is the 31st of that month and she taught herself how to play Happy Birthday! She is certainly a natural on the violin. She had her first recital on Dec 15th only 2 months after starting lessons! I am so proud of her and her determination to learn to play the violin. This year she has her first male teacher and is loving school. She is also in the Junior Liberty Choir because she loves to sing. Her dream is for our family to start a band with her playing the violin and singing, Monkey on the drums, Jeff on guitar, Peanut on piano, Red on bass and me singing with her. She is so cute. I have made it a priority to spend every Thursday night with her after the other kids go to bed and I love hearing about what she does at school and her friends. She is going to be 10 in less than a month so this is the last year of single digits for her!

I am loving being mommy! It definitely has its rough times but the good times far outweigh the hard times. This school year I became a Junior High Ministry (JAM) leader on Wednesday nights during the kids Awana and then on Friday nights for the out reach night. I love getting to know the kids. But the high light is that this year we are doing the Bible Instruction Class (Wed) and I'm learning so much more about the Bible. I have joined a mom's Bible study at my friend Melissa's house and we just started Daniel and am really excited to get into that book. Jeff and I just celebrated 11 years of marriage on the 18th and I love him more today then I did 11 years ago. I also understand more what loving someone truly means.

Jeff is still doing the school police officer which has blessed our family so much. I love the schedule this position gives him. He is so involved with the two older kids homework which frees me to make dinner. He is leading in the Junior High (JAM) for the second year now. He leads worship for JAM and also has a worship team he leads once a month on Sunday night. I love hearing him sing to God in front of the church. He really has a heart for God. We have just recently bought our second home and it has kept us busy with updating it room by room. He loves getting the kids involved in helping in the destruction phase of the different projects we have completed. You can see some of the pictures on his blog! We are so blessed to have him as the head of our household.

As for trips we just took the one and only family trip this year to the water park for the kids Christmas present! We had a lot of fun but are so glad to be back home. Other than that I took a trip to California for the first time in January with Peanut and it was so beautiful there. Hopefully in the year to come we will take more family vacations...here's looking forward to a wonderful 2011 :)

Cookies and Junior High Girls

That is a very fun combination! Today I invited all the girl JAM students and leaders. I think we had a perfect turn out. Not too many people but not a super low number either. We had 6 girls and 3 leaders (well 4 if you count Jeff but he's a guy and it was a girls only thing) and also my GlamorGirl helped. After we made, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal butterscotch cookies we played celebrity. The girls liked it so much they wanted to play it again! That game is always a crowd pleaser and is SO easy to play. Then we had a chat session about the ever so fun topic of BOYS. I thought it was extremely funny when my 4th grader says, "And why are we talking about this?!" She couldn't wrap her head around why they were so obsessed with this subject matter! I'm sure she will get like this at some point I just hope it isn't until she is much older and can really understand liking someone. I can hope right!

On a totally separate topic today was the toddler program at church today where the little kids get to go on stage and sing and say their lines. It helped that Peanut is in preschool and they just had their Christmas program on Friday singing the very same song they sang this morning. She was the loudest singer! I was so proud of her. I hope to come back and update this post with the video of her singing but the video is on the computer downstairs and I am all cozy warm in bed upstairs! Another funny thing that happened this morning is our friend Josh asked Peanut, "Who's the present?" Referring to her dress. She simply replied, "Me," as she pointed to herself. That girl cracks me up. She refused to take a nap today while the girls were here and on the way to church totally conked out complete with drool running down her coat, to that I say, stinker!

11 years ago today...

I married my best friend. I don't have the motivation to look at past anniversary posts but I do want to say that I fall in love with my husband more and more each day. He brought tears to my eyes this morning and melted my heart with how great of a heart he has. I hope he doesn't mind if I share this with you. This morning he did Shop with a Cop at Target. He has done this the last several years. Target donates a good amount of money on each gift card and several student gets picked. Most of the time they are students that could really benefit from this program. Each student gets a Cop to shop with hence the name of it. When Jeff came home from his time he was telling me about the little boy he shopped with. I don't want to get into too many details. Jeff said in years past all of the kids he has shopped with spend the most money on themselves. This little boy used the last dollar he had left to buy himself a pack of gum after buying for the rest of his family, FIRST. Jeff asked him what he would want if he could have anything. The boy answered him. While the boy was checking out Jeff went and got that toy, bought it, gave it to his mother and told her to give it to him for Christmas from THEM, not HIM. It brought tears to my eyes because this is my husband's heart. He is such a great man and generous with his time and money. I really do love him. I am so grateful for a godly man who demonstrates the love of Christ in the most simple of ways to others and mostly to his family. The last 11 years though they haven't always been easy or fun I have been blessed by God through them.

Today we took the kids to go bowling which was Peanut's first time and I didn't bring my camera. UGH. But we had a great time and really do love spending time with them. Though I am really looking forward to tonight when Jeff and I get to go out ALONE! :) We don't even know what we are going to do yet...

Almost done!

We went out last weekend to get end tables and lamps for our living room. Which was somewhat fun and some what frustrating. We had picked out end tables online that we both liked but when we got to the store they were junky and not the right color. I say we are almost done because we would like to get art work or something for the walls and also crown molding for the ceiling. I really like the way molding looks and want it in that room. Here are a few pictures that my hubby took of the new tables. We even have some pictures out finally :)

The couple that we bought our house from had a package delivered to our house. We contacted them and they came and got it. I offered for them to come inside but they said another day. The lady looked into the living room real quick and said, "Oh you took down the book cases." I kind of felt bad, but not completely, it is our house now. Anyway, they brought us a gift for holding on to the package and getting it back to them. Totally unnecessary but just shows you how sweet they are!

My Oldest Boy

He is so creative and wrote the sweetest Christmas poem. I thought I would share with all of you!

Christmas

Christmas is a special day,
because Jesus was born on some hay.
He wasn't rich or ungrateful,
He never had to have a plateful.
Wise men and shepherds came to see him
while the sunlight was getting dim.
King Herod was really mad
but an angel told his dad.
Remember Christmas is a special day
and also remember that Jesus was born on some hay.

The End

Miracle on 34th Street

Last night we went to take the kids to see the play Miracle on 34th Street. My mom-in-law got free tickets and invited us to go with them. She got there super early and was the first person in line. When we got there we line jumped so we could sit with them. There is no assigned seating. Because we were the first in we got some really great seats. Though there wasn't really any bad seats in the place. Before the show started the kids were approached by the stage manager and asked if they wanted to be apart of the show. GG and Monkey were in the front row and they both said yes! Then he came back to the second row and asked Red who said yes but at the last second he got scared and opted out. It was really cool. They had Santa on the chair and a few kids in the play sat on his lap first and then it was Monkey's turn. Santa asked him his name. If he was in school. What his favorite subject was. If he had any brothers or sisters. If he helped out around the house. And finally what he wanted for Christmas. It was really cute and some of his answers were pretty funny and interesting. Like his favorite subject is Reading! I have struggled for so long to get that boy to read. It was funny the answer he gave for helping out around the house too. He does the dishes and the laundry...haha. He unloads the dishes with his sister and he puts his own clothes away after they have been washed and folded. Then it was GG's turn. Santa had a hard time with her name. One because it is unique and two because she talked SO quite. He had to repeat everything she said so that the audience could hear her answers! He asked her the same questions and the same two answers I thought were funny for her too! Her favorite subject she said was HISTORY! This was news to me. She has always LOVED reading and grammar. What she helps out with around the house was funny too. She takes out the garbage and rakes leaves!?! They did such a great job. People came up to me and them telling them how well they did. One lady even said that GG could be on the stage next year as one of the cast members! That made her night :) We had such a great time. The only thing I wish I would of done is gotten a cup of water for Peanut. About the last 30 minutes so was SOOOO thirsty. I was having a hard time keeping her quite. Other than that she did great and really enjoyed the signing parts of it but the acting parts didn't hold her interest that well. It was really a neat play and I'm so glad we went to see it. The guy who played Santa was amazing. My sister-in-law took some pictures afterward with the kids and Santa so I will try and get them from her to show you.

Finally feel a little more grown up!

We had bought furniture for our living room back in October during the huge sale for Columbus Day. Well the arrived today! I am so excited to have furniture in that room. I am hoping it will help with the sound not travel as much. We have no carpet in our house and so any noise is LOUD! We still need to get lamps and end tables. Otherwise the room is pretty much unusable after dark as there are no lights in there! But that will happen eventually...maybe I should ask for IKEA gift cards for Christmas. That is where we found the end tables we wanted. They have a really good selection of lamps too. Here are a few pictures of the new furniture.

There you go our new room!

Surprise!

Now I remember why I don't try and surprise people! I'm not good at it. GG's teacher's birthday today he is 60 so it is a pretty big one. She wanted to throw him a surprise party. Since I work in the cafeteria I was asked by his wife who is a 2nd grade teacher to help organize it. The organize part I can do. I sent to school a list of items needed for the party for the kids to sign up for. Then I sent out a letter to each student the week of the party of what they were bringing and where to take it. No problem I can totally handle that part of it. The tricky part was getting his students into his wife's class before him without him know why. The original plan was that his wife was going to call him to have him come open her window and then his class follow behind him. This made GG sad because her class wouldn't be there for the whole surprise part of the party. So on the fly I told his wife I was going to set up a meeting with him and the principle. I told the principle the real reason for the meeting...the surprise party! That way his class could get to her class and then she could call him to come to her class. This is the part where I freak out. What did I just get myself into. A meeting with my child's teacher and the principle. I am NUTS! All day long I was trying to think of something to talk to them about that would be worthy of having a meeting with both of them. Most of the stuff I could think of would only require me to talk to the teacher. Basically, in the meeting I wanted the principle to know how good of a job this particular teacher was doing. Most of the time principles only get parents in their office to complain about a teacher and I wanted to do the opposite. The teacher was shocked and didn't want me to stop talking :) It ended up being perfect because another teacher poked their head in needing the principle for an urgent student matter. As the meeting ended his wife called about the window. I got him to walk with me in the direction that would not allow him to stop by his empty classroom! I small talked him about my daughter. Then waited for him to go up stairs and followed him up. He was so SURPRISED! It made all my freaking out worth it.

**Update**
I just got back from a girls night with my two girls, their friends and my friends. We went out to eat and then went and saw Tangled. It was a really cute movie. Peanut got scared at some of the action scenes and would hold my arm tighter and tighter. It was really funny. Then she sat in my lap for a good portion of it. But ended the movie in her own seat. GG was laughing through the whole movie and she was laughing LOUD! I love hearing her laugh. The girls and I had a ton of fun and just reminds me yet again I need to spend more one on one time or in this case two on one time with the kids, we always have such a great time!

I want a new stomach

I haven't felt sick in over a year and it has been wonderful. The last few days my body is fighting something. I feel sick to my stomach but no other symptoms. It almost feels like I have morning sickness but I'm not pregnant. I would just like it to pass quickly. On the upside of it, it has been over a YEAR since I have felt like this in any way shape or form. Praise the Lord for restoring my health!!! I know my body is still healing from everything it went through but I feel so much better and if this was a year and a half ago I would be bed ridden for the duration of this illness.

I'm in love...

I just found this awesome giveaway @ 4 little men and girly twins that I really pray I win. I have read through the whole site Hazelaid and I am so excited about these products! Go check it out!

Decemeber 1st!

What a great way to start December this year with snow falling! I love watching snow. I think it is SO pretty. However, having said that I really don't want it to accumulate, it can fall and then melt away and that would be fine with me. It can accumulate around the 24th of this month :)