Here we are at the end of 2010. I feel like we just rang in the new year with our goofy glasses! There have been lots of Christmasy things happening this month. Christmas with Derek's family. Watching all 3 of our boys perform in the church's Christmas musical. Baking goodies and shopping with friends. Wrapping teacher gifts and making treats for their classroom parties. Maybe I can post some pictures of those fun times to brighten up the dreary January days ahead. Tonight I'm thinking about family. Spending these days with my extended family is so special to me. It only happens every other year. Today I went out with my mom, dad, and brother. Just the 4 of us. It was weird and completely normal at the same time. We've done a lot of laughing together! Ginger and our boys can't play enough in all this snow. Derek gets to rest with our dog at his feet. :) Pretty soon we'll welcome 2011, along with all the changes it will bring. We'll even welcome a nephew in 2011. :) This year has been memorable for me in so many ways. When I look back at 2010 what will I remember most? Hard to say. But this wraps it up for me:
"It is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
Celebrating this blessed Christmas season, and wishing you all a very Happy New Year!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Pictures Pictures Pictures
Since pictures are worth a thousand words, this post is told through pictures!
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| Their yearly ornaments from my parents: a firetruck for B, a tractor for K, and an airplane for A |
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| Aaron drew our family and wanted to hang it on the tree. Of course I said ok! |
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| It's been windy here. Our jeep is usually parked with the back against the bricks. It turned the corner and ran over my solar light! |
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| Aaron's playing soccer at the YMCA. He's got quite a kick! |
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| Concentrating on dribbling that ball |
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| We went to our first hockey game as a family, and thanks to Derek's brother, we sat in a suite! |
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| This really is the best way to watch a hockey game! |
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| Back at home we ate supper by our tree |
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| little smokies, cheese & crackers, apples & carmel dip, yum! |
Pictures help us remember moments in time. That's why I take so many! Hopefully my kids will look at our pictures and say, "I remember doing that!" :)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Middle of December
It's 7:15 and Derek and the boys are presently playing the Wii in our family room, while I'm hiding out at the computer in the living room. I'm hearing MUCH laughter float up the stairs! What a perfect sound to write to. :) I wish you could hear it. Sometimes I hear Derek laughing louder than our kids!
This past summer I joined a board of directors for a local non-profit ministry. Besides church and school volunteer work, it's the only time I'm doing something apart from being a wife and mother. This particular organization concerns something very close to my heart, and I just love the opportunity to be part of it. We just had our monthly board meeting this afternoon/evening, and I'm wondering where God will take this ministry in the future. It's obvious that His hand is all over it. On another note, I also love these monthly meetings because Derek steps up to fix supper while I'm gone. I come home from "work" and find the boys cleaning up the dishes and my plate ready and waiting for me on the clean table. Tonight's menu? Crispy chicken salads and muffins!
Turning my thoughts to Christmas, I'm about 2/3 done with my shopping. I found a deal today that, as my sis-in-law likes to say, really gave me a shopper's high! I'm so excited for Kaleb to open it! I mailed my Christmas cards today, and I even got it done by my personal deadline of Dec. 14th. Why is that my deadline for Christmas cards? I really don't know when I started this, but somewhere along the way I equated my cousin's birthday with a benchmark for completing my cards. Some years I succeed, other years I don't. This is one year where I met my goal. I even touched base with my cousin to wish him a happy birthday. I love that guy!
Do I sound super-organized? Don't worry, I'm not. I have mountains of baking yet to do. I haven't wrapped one gift. I don't know what I'm doing for my neighbors or my kids' teachers this year. The bird cage doesn't clean itself, but I keep hoping it will. I won't even describe the bathrooms. . .
But Christmas isn't about all the tasks on my to-do list. It's about Jesus, and where would I be without Him? Sometimes I like to "check out" of all the goings-on around me and align myself with my Savior. The other stuff will somehow get done, and my relationship with Christ needs to take center stage.
Now it's 7:40 and my noisemakers are all upstairs getting ready for bed. I guess that means my time at the computer has ended! We're half-way through "Santa Paws on Christmas Island," and I'm sure I'll be reading another chapter tonight. But before I go, a few funnies. . .
Tucking Kaleb in last night, he complained of a stomach ache. I guess the cabbage in the casserole didn't agree with him. His response? "Mondays just aren't my kind of days!"
Aaron's been singing Christmas songs all over the house. Yesterday he sang a verse to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." He sung it like this: "Now bring us some baby pudding, now bring us some baby pudding...!" I tried to tell him it's "figgy pudding" and we both got the giggles.
Finally, if you know Aaron, you know he injures himself easily. He trips. He runs into walls and sign posts. He's an accident-waiting-to-happen kind of kid. I thought he was safe in his bed. Nope. He held his water bottle above his head while lying in bed...and dropped it on his ear. Right on a scab. After lots of tears and screams, he FINALLY went to sleep. Let's hope tonight isn't a repeat of last night!
This past summer I joined a board of directors for a local non-profit ministry. Besides church and school volunteer work, it's the only time I'm doing something apart from being a wife and mother. This particular organization concerns something very close to my heart, and I just love the opportunity to be part of it. We just had our monthly board meeting this afternoon/evening, and I'm wondering where God will take this ministry in the future. It's obvious that His hand is all over it. On another note, I also love these monthly meetings because Derek steps up to fix supper while I'm gone. I come home from "work" and find the boys cleaning up the dishes and my plate ready and waiting for me on the clean table. Tonight's menu? Crispy chicken salads and muffins!
Turning my thoughts to Christmas, I'm about 2/3 done with my shopping. I found a deal today that, as my sis-in-law likes to say, really gave me a shopper's high! I'm so excited for Kaleb to open it! I mailed my Christmas cards today, and I even got it done by my personal deadline of Dec. 14th. Why is that my deadline for Christmas cards? I really don't know when I started this, but somewhere along the way I equated my cousin's birthday with a benchmark for completing my cards. Some years I succeed, other years I don't. This is one year where I met my goal. I even touched base with my cousin to wish him a happy birthday. I love that guy!
Do I sound super-organized? Don't worry, I'm not. I have mountains of baking yet to do. I haven't wrapped one gift. I don't know what I'm doing for my neighbors or my kids' teachers this year. The bird cage doesn't clean itself, but I keep hoping it will. I won't even describe the bathrooms. . .
But Christmas isn't about all the tasks on my to-do list. It's about Jesus, and where would I be without Him? Sometimes I like to "check out" of all the goings-on around me and align myself with my Savior. The other stuff will somehow get done, and my relationship with Christ needs to take center stage.
Now it's 7:40 and my noisemakers are all upstairs getting ready for bed. I guess that means my time at the computer has ended! We're half-way through "Santa Paws on Christmas Island," and I'm sure I'll be reading another chapter tonight. But before I go, a few funnies. . .
Tucking Kaleb in last night, he complained of a stomach ache. I guess the cabbage in the casserole didn't agree with him. His response? "Mondays just aren't my kind of days!"
Aaron's been singing Christmas songs all over the house. Yesterday he sang a verse to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." He sung it like this: "Now bring us some baby pudding, now bring us some baby pudding...!" I tried to tell him it's "figgy pudding" and we both got the giggles.
Finally, if you know Aaron, you know he injures himself easily. He trips. He runs into walls and sign posts. He's an accident-waiting-to-happen kind of kid. I thought he was safe in his bed. Nope. He held his water bottle above his head while lying in bed...and dropped it on his ear. Right on a scab. After lots of tears and screams, he FINALLY went to sleep. Let's hope tonight isn't a repeat of last night!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Aaron's Circles
This is the year for Aaron to circle what he wants for Christmas. He fills catalogs and newspaper ads with his penciled circles. It keeps him occupied quite nicely, and we get a kick out of what he circles! Here's just a sampling of items he circled in the most recent Target ad:
- penguin pez dispenser
- Kodak red digital camera
- snowman paper plates
- reindeer paper plates
- Black & Decker cordless drill
- digital coin-counting bank
- HP digital photo frame
- portable blu-ray player
- Disney Cars battery powered 4 wheeler
- a bag of peanut butter M&M's, with the hershey kisses crossed out :)
- a box of Wheat Thins
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