Happy New Year!

Is it hard for you to imagine that it is really almost 2009?

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration. Happy Birthday Jesus!!!
My children didn't wake up yelling and jumping. Rather, Daniel awoke first and asked for something to eat and I responded with "Merry Christmas." He said, "Merry Christmas Mommy, I'm hungry. You make me something to eat please?" We woke everyone else up and all snuggled in our bed while Peter read the story of the birth of Christ from the book of Luke. After that we are prayed together. The children waited patiently at the top of the stairs while we went down and lite the fire and poured a cup of coffee. I remember my parents doing this when I was a child and my siblings and I were so anxious to run down the stairs. It always seemed like they took forever. Now that I am the Mom, I understand why it is nice to take 3 minutes to yourself before the rush of the morning. The children came down the stairs and went to their stockings. We had one gift per child set out with their stockings and had them take turns pulling one thing out at a time. After all was opened they were so thankful. It was sweet to see them appreciate all the goodies and the one gift. But we were done only in appearance! We handed one last gift to them. It was the same thing for everyone so they all opened them at the same time. It was a Wii remote. Peter and I had set up the Wii in the basement so that it would be ready to go. They ran down the stairs and started bowling. We have had such a great time with it over the past few days. My parents bought us Wii Fit and we are all enjoying that as well. What a great morning with my wonderful children! Although Peter was on call for work, he didn't get called in until yesterday. He was able to be with us during the 25th and 26th. Such a blessing!
I am a bit tired after running here and there for the several days of Christmas get togethers. Someone at church told me that I looked tired this morning. Don't we all love the honesty of fellow believers?! At least they didn't tell me that I had gained a few pounds from all the holiday cheer. :)
The children and I are off to my parents to watch Polar Express this afternoon. We will relax, snack and recover from running around the past few days. Peter will be home this afternoon and we will play Wii late into the night. We have quite a competition going...well, at least I do, I am not sure he knows about it yet. Heehee. Last night I played Wii Fit for 23 minutes after the kids were in bed. I know the exact time because it keeps track for you and you earn points for how long you work out. I beat his high score on one of the strength exercises. I can't wait for him to see it. If the "surprise" is ruined and you are reading this, don't worry Babe...you will always beat me in Jiu-Jitsu!

Relaxing Saturday

The children and I enjoyed a relaxing Saturday. The weekend was supposed to be jam-packed with parties of all types: 40th Birthday Party, Ladies Christmas Party, Concert and Dinner. It was an hour before we were leaving for the surprise 40th Birthday Party that Peter got "The Call." For those of you who are Believers, no, not that kind of call...yet! He was off to work "just for the evening" and I was off to a party where I would only know a hand full of people. On the way to the airport, Peter's schedule and destinations were changed three times and now we are husband-less and father-less for the weekend, but of course never in spirit or in Spirit. The Ladies Christmas Party was exactly that, only for Ladies, so the girls and I had to back out because you can't leave a 5, 4 and 1 year old alone at home while you go eat chocolate. Instead we played at the park in the 30-something degree weather, watched a Christmas movie (we are doing this as part of our advent calendar) and then jumped around/worked out to the Hillsong Kids video. Tomorrow is another story! We will leave for our usual 9am church service, stay for 11am to watch Ashley sing and then drive to PA to watch my cousin sing in her High School Christmas concert at 2pm. By the way, we have 2.5 hours to make the 2 hour drive. Please pray we make it as we cannot back out of Ashley's concert and do not want to miss Katie's. It should be a fun drive as we are taking my parents with us in the new van. Whoo-hoo!

Gingerbread Train

Peter has been gone so much lately we decided to have an extra fun family night of make-your-own pizza. We had a meeting yesterday that turned into a trip to Costco, which turned into a trip to Outdoor World, which turned into a longer drive home, which turned into a later night! So, being the smart parents that we are, we decided to have pizza at Costco (definitely not the same, but the kids still liked it). While there the smart Mommy decided to purchase a Gingerbread Train kit. Now, I need you to know that I am a make-everything-from-scratch kind of person, ie no boxed cakes, no boxed brownies, no boxed gingerbread, etc. But, it was $7.00 and included everything! I just couldn't pass it up. My wonderful husband looked at me a bit cross-eyed because he likes me to make everything from scratch as well. I reassured him that it was a good plan, so we went with it. It came with all the candy, 2 gingerbread men, pre-made frosting (yes I usually make this too), the train cookie parts and a stand to build it on. I thought about who would do what while we were driving home. Which of my older four children should get the gingerbread men? Well, another example of God's goodness and how He cares for even the small things in life...we opened our box to discover they had mistakenly put 4 gingerbread men in our box. Yea God! Thank you for caring about the small things. We love you Jesus!

Ok, so I lied...

I told you that I took the Vision Forum special banner link off my blog because the sale was over and it was. But, check out the new banner to the right and the FABULOUS deals they have going starting Monday. You won't be sorry if you pick up some of these great finds for your loved ones for Christmas gifts. You will also be supporting a wonderful company with employees who (from everything I have seen and read) are living out their family values. Check out the deals and get free shipping for Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

PS We made a huge order this past week. Yes, we do really like their products. ;)

Vision Forum again

Vision Forums big sale ended on the 11th. I took the large banner out, so ignore that last post. I will tell you that we really like their books, toys, dvds, etc. It is worth it to pay them a visit. You can get to their site from my affiliates section on the right side of this page. Just scroll down a bit.
Have a wonderful Saturday!

Vision Forum

Are you looking for great Christmas presents for anyone??? Vision Forum has it all. Click the large banner to the right and start shopping!

Kid Quote

Today, while making cookies, Abigail lined up the chocolate chips. This is our family as represented by chocolate chips!


Today's quote:

John: "Mom can I have more pancakes?"

Daniel: "John, you can't have more because you still have some on your plate. You have to finish those first."

John: "You're not the boss of the pancakes Daanniieeel."

Mom: "John, you need to finish what is on your plate first."

Funny homeschool video

Thanks to MamaArcher for posting this at her site. I had to embed it here. Too funny. Especially in light of our new purchase. Enjoy!

My house is shrinking

Yes, I am convinced. It's shrinking. The good news is we can move part of the stuff, or people, or maybe the Christmas tree out to the van, because frankly, it's huge. I l-o-v-e it! I was overwhelmed today with that same feeling that has been hitting me recently. We need more space, a better flow, room for the kids to run... My boys spent their day riding tricycles around the "circle" (hallway that connects the main living spaces of our house) while pulling their suitcases. They were playing "We are going to the airport!" Hmmmm, any idea where they might get that game idea? (See photo right.) I think the game might have been more fun and perhaps more quiet had they been in an unfinished basement. It's cold outside and we happen to live on a fairly busy street so no bike riding unless Mom is standing there and frankly I just didn't feel like doing that today. No, today I wanted to stay in my pjs, eat bon-bons and watch the snow fall. No, "they" don't make bon-bons anymore and yes, that is a proper noun and should thus be capitalized. Instead I got dressed and attempted a short schooling day in order to make up for all that we missed during our wonderful family reunion the past few weeks. I didn't accomplish much for school and I didn't eat bon-bons. I did get dressed and the snow fell for an hour. Beautiful. I remain thankful knowing that "He makes all things beautiful in His time." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Look what we bought!

We are now the proud owners of a 15 passenger Chevy Express van!


I wish I had photos of all the kids reactions...


This is what Daniel thought of it:

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, complete with a new nephew being born just a week prior. Welcome Payton! He is wonderful and his parents are so pleased that he has arrived. Peter's Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother-in-law, their 3 kiddos, Gramma and Auntie all flew in from Cali to meet Payton and celebrate all for which we are so very thankful!

We celebrated an early Christmas while they were all visiting and hired a photographer to take family photos. I am sure there will be an update to my blog header before you know it!

We have been out of school mode since everyone arrived. Tomorrow we dive head first into a 25 day Christmas Unit before we take another break (maybe!). We will also attempt to put the house back in order after our fun party week.

Happy December First!!! Remember when the years went slowly?