Tuesday, December 30, 2008

To: Anna From: God

When I was little there was a family that lived down our street that had a little boy. This little guy had huge brown eyes. I remember my mom asking him, "Where did you get such big brown eyes?" He replied, "Sears.".

This morning I told Anna I liked her toes. I said they were pretty cute toes, too. Then I asked her where she got such cute toes. Anna said, "From God."

Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Celebrations

We had a super duper Christmas. Lots of fun, many memories and laughs. It started with Christmas Eve. We have a birthday party for Baby Jesus. What's a birthday party without cupcakes? We spent a few minutes in the afternoon decorating birthday cupcakes.




After supper Matthew read the Christmas story from the book of Luke and then a children's story about the first Christmas. Then Anna, being the youngest, got to hold the Baby Jesus from the manger scene as we all sang Happy Birthday.

After an evening of gifts around the Christmas tree...


we watched the Christmas Story, the one with Ralphie...Matthew had been waiting 9 years, since we found out Isaiah was going to be a little boy, to give his little boy a real Red Rider. Christmas Eve, during the movie his waiting ended...Christmas Day we opened stockings and then went to my mom and dad's for the day. We all had a fun time of gifts and food. My mom made the most amazing meal that day. Thanks, Grammy.


Opening hand painted ornaments that Grammy secretly did with the kids one day so they could give to us during Christmas.
My mom and grandma made a sock monkey for Anna.

Isaiah and Anna made recipe cards for Grammy. Anna did a recipe for blueberry pie and Isaiah did one of his own creations Po-tacos. It's where you get all the fixings for tacos and pile it on a baked potato. It's actually really good.
We gave my sister a toaster but how fun is that to open so we spiced it with a little mystery. First she opened blueberry jam. She was thankful but understandably a bit confused with a jar of jam. Later, when she opened gift #2 she was even more confused when she opened a wrapped package of Lender's bagels. She was a very gracious recipient. She laughed and said she was probably THE only person that received bagels for Christmas.

Isaiah had a keyboard unit in music class this fall and LOVED it. Auntie Sally thought he should continue the skill. She thinks he'll receive a Julliard scholarship one day. I personally feel she may be a bit biased but, we'll see...

Gramps and Papa putting the Nascar racetrack together. Gramps and Isaiah are the champion racers for sure.


We are so thankful for the fun of the last week and are the most thankful for God's gift of His most precious Son, Jesus. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Three's a Charm?

I am bravely claiming Anna is now potty-trained for the third time. I do hope this is it.

Also, I have a bone to pick with all those folks out there who say girls are easier to train than boys.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

You Think YOUR Job is Tough?

My dad periodically sends me emails he receives from friends at work. This is the one he sent me this morning. All I can say is - give that brick toter a raise.

He'll need it for the chiropractor's bill that is sure to follow.

Ouch.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Afterthought

Dear Self,

Just because you have a headache after Thanksgiving supper is no reason to forget to label the FoodSaver bags with their contents.

You see 2 1/2 weeks later you'll want to have some leftovers. You'll open the freezer door and think which one of these frozen, hard as rock bags has our Thanksgiving leftovers? You won't know. You won't be able to tell. Surprisingly, raw frozen chicken thighs look very, very similar to a frozen bag of turkey, potatoes, gravy and dressing. You never would have guessed this to be so. It's true.

Next time, suck it up and get the Sharpie.

Sincerely,
Self

Sunday, December 14, 2008

December Fun at Gramps' and Grammy's

We needed a break. Matthew and I have been working pretty long hours on stuff for the company and we needed a "downtime" day. Grammy has been working hard on the same stuff but that is a long, long story that probably won't get told. Suffice to say we wanted to hang out and do nothin'.

Grammy said we should come on over. Grammy had some secret stuff she needed to work on with Isaiah and Anna so Matthew and I went out for a couple hours and knocked off some items from our Christmas "to-do" list. Can I just say shopping is much easier when it only involves adults, in case you weren't aware.

When the secret items were accomplished Grammy made some cookies with Isaiah and Anna.

I'm assuming that Gramps and Auntie Sally played with Isaiah and Anna while Grammy was most likely cleaning up the frosting, sprinkles, cookie crumb and M&Ms explosion that quite possibly occurred in the kitchen. This is just a guess of course.

Thanks Mom, Dad and Sal for a very fun day. You have no idea what a nice break it was. We really enjoyed our day with you guys and feel blessed to have been able to hang out and laugh.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Not What I Meant

The steps going downstairs are wood. If one is wearing socks it can be slippery. This is the reason I like Anna to hang on to the railing if she is going up or down.

The other day Anna had her hands full with items she wanted to bring downstairs. She had a lightsaber (not a real one), a plastic plate, toy truck and one other thing I can't remember. This meant her hands were full and she couldn't grab the railing.

As we were about to walk down the steps I said, "Anna, you will have to hang on to something when you go down the steps."

Anna said, "Mama, I am hanging on to sumpin'."



ps "lightsaber" is not in the spellcheck, I think we should let Mr.Lucas know

Refreshing

Isaiah goes to a public school. Nothing private about it. Yesterday was his concert at school. This was the title of the concert, "A Christmas Celebration". Can you believe it? They actually referenced Christmas!

There are only three grades at his school kindergarten, first and second. Each grade sang four songs. Each grade sang at least one song that actually mentioned the REAL reason for the season. It was absolutely wonderful. The kindergartners sang a song entitled Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine. The first graders sang, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and the second graders sang In a Manger. Nobody was pretending that Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus' birth. I was amazed and impressed and very thankful.