Happily Ever After

It seemed like it would be just another day. And then it happened. The satellite went out, the trash truck forgot to pick up all the holiday trash, the dr. called and cancelled my desperately awaited appointment, and then, Abba wanted to know if we had ingredients to make fried chicken. Well, I haven't made fried chicken in about 10 YEARS so off we went to Popeye's. I had already had the discussion with the kids that fast food was out of the question till next week so wherever we picked I knew we'd have to go inside to sit so it would feel like a restaurant and not "fast food". Oh, is it possible to make something simple so complicated? YES. Needless to say going in was a VERY BAD idea. We took our chicken in sacks and left, in a hurry (a very BIG hurry). The only way I got the kids out of the "restaurant" was to tell them we would eat at the park. Of course, it was too cold so we left the car running and sat in the back and watched tv and other kids playing in the brrr cold. In the meantime, sitting in the back of the Tahoe I see a dog running around the park. Needless to say I bribe the freezing fella with a chicken bone and throw him in the back of the car and we head for home. This cute fella had no tag but the best manners of any dog I've ever rescued. He was house trained, didn't growl, didn't bite, didn't bark, sat when you asked, played amazingly with the kids and others pets AND ate the crumbs off the floor. Well, after posting on FidoFinder.com and with the help of a friend we found his desperately seeking owners after 2 nights at our house. His name is Buddy and he's 4 years old. I thought my son would be the one having a hard time letting him go but he actually remembered the last dog we "babysat" until his owners came. But Abba shed alot of tears and didn't understand. She kept asking "Can we go play at his house anytime we want?" It may have been a hard lesson but a good one. Kids need to understand that it's good to help. It's good to be honest and give things back (even a dog) without a reward just a THANK YOU. Boba was right, she did get past her tears and maybe she'll be less tearful next time we "babysit". The point is that even though this day began a little "ruff", it had a very happy ending.

I've always repeated this Psalm during desperate times. This day may not have seemed so desperate. But this day was a reminder of some terrible troubles and I just want to thank God for the struggles that brought me patience and the trials that brought me wisdom.

Psalm 71:20

Though you have made me see troubles many and bitter, you will restore my life again. From the depths of the earth, you will again lift me up.

You can call me alot of things....

Abba feeding her Baby Alive
Matthew with his treasured Bumblebee

Christmas Lunch at Uncle Eddie's & Aunt Libby's

Today was a wonderful, yet napless, day. I awoke at 5:30 this morning to start the homemade apple cider, and of course, put on my face. Dad, Patricia and Aunt Jean arrived about 5 minutes after the kids woke up (7:30) and were digging into their stockings. We had a morning full of hauling out trash, putting in batteries and undoing countless twisties on those adult proof boxes. Who packages those things anyway? We had a HUGE lunch with all the family and the cousins played so great together sharing all their new toys.

You can call me alot of things, even scrooge, but you can't call me a procrastinator. YES, I took down all the Christmas decorations by 8:00 tonight, after all it's tradition! It's not in boxes but it's all out of sight in the garage. I'll wait for a pretty day this week when the kids can ride their bikes and draw with chalk and I'll pack it all away till next year. I was actually a little sad to see it go this year. It wasn't cluttery or overdone which tends to drive me crazy. But now for Abba's birthday, which is in only 10 days away, and I have lots of planning and preparations.

One final, Merry Christmas!

It looks like a toy store

Well, I plan for months and now it's finally here. As I layed everything out to stuff in the stockings and put in front of the tree. Mark said "it looks like a toy store in here". My response of course was "I don't want them to be disappointed". So here it goes the magic of Christmas morning is only hours away.

It's been a true blessing not to be stressed today and rushing from one place to another. We visited some of our family and had a relaxed lunch. We baked over 5 1/2 dozen cookies and fudge this afternoon for Santa and shared some with our neighbors. We also played Hungry Hippo, which has been a hit with the kids, it's easy to play and doesn't require any batteries. YIPPEE.

Mark miraculously got the kids practically running to bed. He came in from outside saying he could see a red light in the sky and he thought it could Santa. The kids were amazed, Matthew declared it must be Rudolphs nose and they couldn't get in their pajamas fast enough. We barely had time to brush their teeth and read about the true meaning of Christmas. Mark was pretty proud of his discovery and I have to say I was grateful they were asleep by 7:30.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND MAY ALL YOUR CHRISTMAS WISHES COME TRUE

Balloons to Heaven

It was cold and extremely windy but we let our balloons float away this morning. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and watched them drift away. Matthew needed reassurance that they would get to Heaven in time for the birthday party.

There's a mouse about the house...

I laughed and I laughed and I laughed so hard I nearly cried. Mark and the kids were watching Ratatouille a couple of days ago. The living room was dark and I had been cooking in the kitchen. When I 1st walked through the living room I didn't even notice the cat also watching tv. We don't allow her to have free reign on any furniture through the house and that was the 1st time I had ever caught her perched on the tv stand. Of course, the funny part was that she was mesmorized by movie. Yes, look closely and you can see the Rat on the tv. When Mark scolded her to get down she reached up and started pawing at the TV. Well, we have no mice in the house but she's going to try and catch them any way she can.

You raise me up Music Video – Music at Last.fm

You raise me up Music Video – Music at Last.fm

Peace on Earth

As Christmas and the New Year approaches we begin to think about what's really important and what we really want. In my head I keep hearing "Peace on Earth". Actually, that's a little bit troublesome. It's a daily challenge for me just to stay organized, iron the clothes, make the beds, run the errands, cook the food and what about the really important stuff like praying, teaching my children right from wrong and reading to them. So with all that I've decided what would be nice is a little Peace within myself. Start small I say. And you know what? That's HUGE! With the constant turmoil over one thing or another. I would honestly like a little Peace. I'm not talking Peace and quiet, even though that is hard to come by and deeply appreciated. What I want is inner Peace. So during this beautiful season my prayer for all of us is to find Peace within ourselves about whatever troubles us: Family, friends, finances, grief, depression, illness, work or whatever it may be. If we let go and pray for God to heal our troubled hearts there truly will be more Peace on Earth.

Christmas Blessings

How do you display your Christmas cards? Mine are all attached with clothespins to a wreath by the front door so everyone can enjoy them when they walk in.

Thank You for all your beautiful cards, letters and well wishes. I love checking my mail everyday to add to this beautiful collection of friends. Truly you make my heart smile! I have to say one of my favorites was beautifully hand decorated and really hit the spot for me with a simple saying we all know:

Wise men, still seek him.

Feliz Navidad

It was Abba's turn for her Christmas Program. Truthfully, I'm not biased she WAS definately the STAR of the show. She sang very loud, well maybe it was screaming but it was adorable. I was busy tending to my own class but I got some great glimpses and thanks to Boba we can watch it on video later. Truly, thanks dad for driving from Lake Tahoe to Reno, flying from Reno to San Angelo, and driving from San Angelo to Abilene and still making it to Abba's performance. P.S. Isn't his girlfriend Patricia a cutie? She's a delight to have around and we truly welcome her to the family. If she'll have us of course.

Jammies

Don't you think they look too cute for bed?

The Gingerbread Dadda

Well, today was a great day! Mark actually took his 1/2 day off. WOW! I'm so glad I picked up that Gingerbread house at Sam's today. Mark and the kids did it all by themselves. Usually it's me doing all the things with the kids, like the zoo, and b-day parties, and school luncheons, and gingerbread houses and on and on and on, but not today. It was nice to enjoy watching the 3 of them with their creation while I took pictures and drank my coffee. Being the unprofessional cake decorator I steered very clear of telling them how to do it and just enjoyed the very messy, sticky process. We all listened to Christmas music and enjoyed each others company. I love how good it feels just to spend time with my family.
Thank you god for today, it was a Great Gift.

The 6 Muskateers...

Quality Family Time

Matthew is very loving by nature, he is concerned for others well being and he tends to be like a Shephard watching over his sheep. He is a rule follower and is sure to let me know when someone is not following the rules, especially his sister. He follows instructions well, if of course he doesn't get side tracked. He loves to be outside exploring, inside transforming or building legos and now that he is learning to read he really loves to learn new words. Today I used the word "seeping" because his marker seeped through the paper and he was impressed. Right away he told me he hadn't heard that word before and he had to repeat it in a sentence immediately. Right now I would expect him to be a builder of robots, or some type of car engineer or possibly a zoologist. Oh, how I love to watch him grow.

Christmas Kinship

Matthew's Christmas program was a blast. They were all so cute I caught myself laughing, crying and being immensely proud. This is Matthew with his other 5 classmates and very patient dedicated teacher. Because there are only 6 of them they are very close; truly they are like a little family to each other. Even though they are young I think they will remember this year in particular forever. To be able to have the deserved attention from their teacher and bonding from such a small group of friends, maybe, just maybe they will be friends forever.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Well, we went to see Santa. I love it that we've had the same Santa at the mall ever since we've been visiting Santa. Believe it or not I didn't want the kids to believe in Santa. I wanted Christmas always to be the same. I feel like so many children are let down when they realize that Santa doesn't exist. My thought was that if Christmas was always exciting without Santa it would always stay exciting. The great thing about Mark and I is that when it comes to situations like this whoever feels more strongly about their point of view "wins". And at the time of this discussion I was outnumbered by him and all of our friends.

So here we are visiting our Sweet Santa. Before we got there Matthew said "How come Santa asks my name, I thought he knew who everybody was?" Smart kid, how in the world did he remember that from last year. Now where was Mark to lie to my sweet son. I hate lying to him even about Santa but I did of course, to carry on with tradition. I don't even remember what I said but he believed me. Then I reminded the kids to give Santa at least 2 choices of what they might want for Christmas and this is what they said:

Abigail " I want a CareBear and aBarbie Island Princess doll."

Matthew " I want a Transformer keychain and a minicon."

Yes, I have a CareBear and a Transformer keychain already stashed away hiding in a brown paper bag in the back of my closet. But seriously of all the things how come Santa got off so cheap?

At our house the kids get one present from Santa on Christmas morning unwrapped with a BIG Red Bow and he fills their stockings with all kinds of cute nick nacks. This year it will be lipgloss, minicons and lots of arts and craft supplies. The only thing we let them open on Christmas Eve is what they gave each other. That way what they give each other is made to be significant and will be remembered.

Our holiday traditions are still in the making but here are a few that I love:

1. We all release a White balloon to Heaven and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. (usually on Christmas Eve so we can still get helium filled balloons) This tradition was started a couple of years back when Matthew said we should send Jesus balloons for his Birthday.

2. We always leave out cookies, milk and deer corn for the reindeer.

3. Every year the kids get new Christmas pajamas and they wear them all season.

4. We ready Christmas books every night by the Christmas tree telling the true story of Christmas along with Frosty and Santa too.

5. We pick an ornament off of the tree at church and buy a gift for some sweet little boy who would be Lindsey's age.

Even with all the hustle and bustle I just want to say that I love this beautiful time of year. We all have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for a warm house to sleep in, plenty of food to eat, that the kids are tucked safely into bed each night, that I have such a loving, devoted, honest, hardworking husband, and that I'm living the life I've always imagined in my dreams. Thank you God for all the hard times, sad times, and challenging times I've ever faced to be able to appreciate and cherish what I have today.