Home Sweet Home

You never realize how awesome home is until you leave it. Peace just washed over me when we walked in the door late last night. All twenty-six times as we unloaded the car. I cannot believe how much stuff you can fit in one mid-sized sedan. :) Then, Rob and I - like the crazy fools we are - we stayed up way too late putting things away. Silly gooses.
What a great trip. I left with intentions of posting along the way, but we kind of got caught up in the undertow of visiting and it suddenly just didn't seem so important anymore. Lots of good conversations, many wonderful meals and more presents than our children could play with in a lifetime. So good to see family and equally wonderful to come home to our happy life here in IL.
We put 1700 miles on our rental car - in the week that we roamed from IL to AR to IA and back again. The kids were angels for the most part, Sarah got a little gritchy, but we don't think she feels well today - running just a smidge warm.
I'm putting up some fun pictures, one that is especially warming is the one of Sarah sleeping on Papa Doug. She refused to nap for me, but curled up in Papa's lap and slipped off to sleepyland - stayed that way for 2 hours! Also, there's a picture of the sun rising at Grandma Dee's house, we saw it every morning (thank you Sarah). And a great picture of me and my dad, mom was reluctant to be photographed. There is a picture of me (in cartoon caricature) on Jay's new Wii game. I thought it was so me, I may have to sketch it for a blog title, wouldn't that be fun?? There's a great one of the kids sleeping in the car - could they look any more alike?? I think their drool was even in the same pattern! And last, but not least is a a sad photo of my sad fridge - terribly empty after a week of neglect. Don't be fooled by that casserole dish - it's spoiled and I haven't' thrown it away yet - trash is a couple days away and I didn't want to stink up the house. I'm sure my fridge is in shock after being so heavily used for the past two months and then to drop to near empty for such a long period of time. Wasteful, really. So, you can guess where we are off to next. I am pretty impressed with myself though - yesterday's diaper run was my first foot in Walmart in almost ten days. That has got to be a near record for me.
Well, gearing up for a happy new year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's a chilly christmas here in Arkansas and I'm hoping the weather will hold up tomorrow long enough for us to make the long trek north.
Eli and Sarah were wonderful car companions yesterday, they played and laughed and sang all the way here, quite impressive, considering it was a 5 1/2 hour drive. I am much of the way through a new book "the Englisher" by Beverly Lewis - it's a very good read. We enjoyed a christmas celebration last night with Rob's mom and her new husband Charlie and step-son Zach and Aunt Bev. It's so good to catch up with family, and remember what this season is really all about. The kids did pretty well in the hotel last night, they had a hard time settling down, but then they slept all night. We are hoping to squeeze in some time in the pool this afternoon or evening.
I have some pictures to post, but they are on the laptop and I'm using mom's computer, so later, I guess.
Just super thankful today for our family. Driving down the interstate yesterday, in our rental car with our cell phone and our two kids snuggly in the backseat it just occured to me that we really are living the good life and we need to remember it, to not take it for granted. I am so thankful to God for all He has entrusted us with. Sometimes it is hard to keep it in perspective and I have a tendency to miss the big picture. Well, not today, Zurg... not today.

getting ready

Picked up our rental car this morning. That was pretty exciting. We are totally psyched about our trip. Who knew that twenty-six hours in the car could make people happy to travel??
Got a ton to do today - and barely a dent into it. details. I'm planning on rewarding myself with a quick trip up to the scrapbook store in Alton. Yay!
Two pictures for you this morning. One is of my planner - I altered it because it said 2006 in large numbers on the front - long story, I am using last year's planners cover pages because they are hard plastic, on this years flimsily covered planner. Anyhoo, after I finished my christmas projects last night, I played with this and I love how it turned out!!
The other picture is Eli, explaining God's salvation plan for your life. Yep, this kid is not quite six. Needless to say, he's pretty special!

Merry Christmas!!

I know it's a couple of days early in everyone else's book, but not for us. We awoke to thrilled children - having spied the pile of presents in the living room. We let the kids do stockings (while we slowly gained consciousness) and then ate breakfast and read the Christmas Story from the Message (Luke 2) then the chaos began. So fun. Posting a couple of pictures for you all to enjoy!
Eli just said "This Christmas Day is the best. The best day I've ever had." awww...

fa-la-la-la-la
All ready for the morning. But today wiped me out. Sarah didn't take a nap all day and I'm here to tell you that 13 hours with Sarah straight is about 5 too many! :) Love the girl, but she was driving me crazy!!
We watched the beloved Rudolph this evening, but Sarah didn't enjoy it as much as the cartoon. She was distracted. Once we finally deposited the kids in bed we set up all their presents. The art easel is their big present. Really looking forward to the morning. I made quiche tonight and bread braid for the morning. Yum.
Merry Christmas.

making a list and checking it twice.

Four days ago I would have told you it was unlikely that I'd finish all my holiday plans in time.
But today I've referred to my master plan, and other than wrapping gifts - I'm pretty much done. Even squeezed in the time today to make fudge for my dad - his favorite holiday treat! I'm going to start wrapping presents tonight, as soon as I'm certain the Blinkin and Nod are really sleeping! :) I'd had to have a certain two year old wander into a present-filled living room!
So, tomorrow I've added on a tiny project or two, and laundry (serious folding/packing will ensue) and then when Eli comes home from school we will just play. The original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be on at 7 and we are planning a pajama and popcorn party. Can't wait.
Originally we were going to do Christmas on Saturday, but now we are discussing the possibility of Friday, just so I can be more relaxed and leisure as we are leaving on Sunday for AR. Can't wait to give the kids their presents - it's totally my favorite part of Christmas.
I wrapped Rob's presents today, and I'm a dork because I added pretty ribbon to it all. I'm posting a picture because I am a dork like that. I'm also posting a picture of Eli with an art project he made in school and the clipboard we cooperatively made for his kindergarten teacher. He drew a giant picture, so it's mostly him.
I've been working on lots of fun projects, but I can't post most of them because they are all gifts. But I'm taking pictures, so maybe I can do a massive Christmas idea posting after I've given it all away. You can save the link for ideas for next year then. :)
Oh, and don't fall over, I actually mailed my Christmas cards today. finally.

second post.

I really posted yesterday, a great big long blog about the party and everything. But then my silly computer did the blue-screen-of-death thing and I lost it all.
Today is catch up day. Working on all my christmas projects. I'll be a wrapping fool tonight - haven't wrapped one single gift yet. Geez.
Here are the photos from my studio. Lori asked me to post my mess and then I thought I was all cool to post my cleaned up act.

holy night.

I love this time of year. This morning, I really caught the spirit of christmas. I mean, I've always loved christmas, but it takes me a bit to get into things. And today I just did. The music, the pointsettas, the lights, cherubic faces of the child re-inactment of the nativity - it was just all there. Not a moment too late for me either.
This morning's Purpose Driven lesson talked about love and busyness, how busyness keeps us from focusing on our purpose - having loving relationships. Wow. Timely. So today - in and amongst my duties as pastor's wife, sunday school teacher, and drama director - I spent quality time with my kids. We had a wonderful lunch with Nettie and the Nortons (our fun name for Kyndal's crowd) at KFC and came home for naps for the kids - catch up time for mom. When Eli got up we sat at the kitchen table and made snowflakes from paper - he'd never done it before and he was enthralled! I had forgotten how much fun it was!
The drama tonight went awesome. I was so proud of our students - they were phenomenal. Everyone remembered their lines. They all 'acted'. so proud.
Eli and Sarah had special parts too - Sarah was a very reluctant sheep, she was much more interested in holding baby Jesus. Eli was a proud Joseph. I was amazed.
So much love here tonight. Sarah is up in her room - getting ready to sleep - singing "Jesus Loves Me". I turned the monitor up to 6 so I could hear her. Tonight has been one of those nights where you realize how precious and fleeting life is and you just stop and soak up every minute of it that you can. Take a second to love on your little ones, give your husband an extra long hug, and don't take another moment for granted.

doesn't this make you hungry??

This is my freezer, stuffed to the gills with holiday goodness. Hope you were nice this year! :)

a new era.

For the first time since we've had Sarah, Rob and I both slept in. That probably doesn't sound like a big deal to most people, but Sarah wakes up (like an alarm clock) at 7am (or sooner, if she pleases) and has for years now. It's killing me - never getting a day to sleep in. And if we do - we take turns and alternate Saturdays and days off. It works out to about once every two weeks I get an extra 45 minutes of sleep.
This morning, our kids got up at 6:45. They came in, begged for breakfast and I told them 'in a minute'. Eli remembered that it was Saturday and turned on the tv. They sat together in the living room (Sarah furnished apples from the fridge - already the little hostess).
I regained consciousness at 9am. They were fine! Isn't that crazy?? They actually got along better without me, because as soon as I got up they started fighting, but they had been fine without us! Now, don't think I'm a terrible mom, our bedroom is two rooms away from the living room, I could hear anything going on. But I was so excited, our kids are actually almost old enough to let us sleep in!! Woohoo! This will have to become a new Saturday tradition for us!! But I think I need to wait a little longer, after I got up I looked around my house and realized all the crazy things Sarah could have gotten into if she'd thought about it - she's usually really bad about the fridge.
So today I'm thankful for two extra hours of sleep. Not sure what do with the day, might just spend it in my studio. :) Ooh, happy thought.

mmm.... holiday goodness.

It's probably against some internet standard to start a blog post with the word 'mmm'. Is 'mmm' even a word? Not sure, but if it is, it's definitely the word of the day.

If you were to look in my freezer right now you would decide that someone baked their face off. Really. It's crazy. I had to relocate the chicken to the fridge. It's like the inn the night Jesus was born - there's no room!

I say this because I have been baking for days. I started out on Monday - and dedicated this week to my holiday baking. I know that normal people take one day, maybe two, and bake for christmas. Oh no, that's too normal for me. I have to have five full days of holiday kitchen mayhem!

I probably could have finished sooner if Sarah wasn't being such a handful, but she is, so it took all week. I made.... Molasses Sponge Candy, Caramels (the kids favorite), Puppy Chow, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Kisses, Tuxedo Cookies, Spicy Nut Triangles, Snickerdoodles (Rob's favorite), Pretzel Turtles (too cute!), Iced Sugar Cookies (that was fun!) and last but not least, Raspberry Thumb Print Cookies. I had so much fun doing it!! And my kitchen is clean, I totally kept up with the mess as I went along.

So now I have the next 9 days to catch up on my christmas shopping/gift making and get my house up to par for our christmas guests.

Cool things on the horizon... The HAG pageant is Sunday night - I am super psyched and super nervous. Next Gen's party is Monday night at our house. Sweet! Rob's mom and step-dad and step-brother arrive a week from tomorrow and we leave for Iowa on the 26th. Just today we coordinated a MAG (our home church) reunion with some of our friends from ten years ago. I can't wait - it's going to be a blast. Plus, Kimmie is coming and she's bringing a new gentleman-friend.

Christmas truly is my my favorite time of year - mostly because Rob and I were engaged in December and it was the most magical time in my life. I relive it a tiny bit every year at this time. Makes me wish it would snow though - it would be a whole lot more romantic!!

hanging in there

My sinus infection really set in today. Which is funny, since I got a prescription yesterday. I kind of feel like I've been run over by a truck - at least my head feels that way. details.
We had our MOPs christmas party this morning. I'm posting two pictures of the ornament (I made - lifted and altered from Archiver's) and one of the box. It was too fun. The guest speaker gave examples of how to wrap gifts - fun little touches. Needless to say, it was right up my alley.
Having a rough day with Sarah, she's just been so sick for so long and all my patience was gone about ten days ago.
Oh, and the last picture is of Sarah holding a drawing she did. We watched her do it. It's a drawing of Daddy. See the eyes, mouth?? The girl is 28 months old on Saturday. She kills me - way too capable. Look out world!

blogging in my pj's

I've got a huge to-do list today, but I'm taking it easy right now. The weekend took it out of me. We had Cribs on Friday and the christmas party last night and I'm wiped out. Sarah's cold/pnueomnia is threatening to overtake me. I got to sleep in a bit this morning (thanks Rob) and I'm just trying to chill and not overdo it. Something that doesn't come naturally for me! :)
The christmas party went really well I think. Everyone had a good time. The gift exchange was fun and the kids liked the cds we made them. We had twenty-one students there - our second highest attendance yet. I got home last night and crashed - I hadn't realized how hard I'd been working to pull all that together!
Tonight we have the WM's christmas party, it's a progressive dinner, so that'll be fun.
This will be the week-o-baking at my house. I want to bring some treats to Iowa and I have several parties/cookie exchanges in the next ten days. I love baking, it will be fun.
Getting pretty psyched for christmas and then the trip North. Can't wait to see my family and a bunch of our friends, it's going to be a blast. Excited to do christmas with our kids too - it's too much fun to give them stuff!
Well, off to get productive. thirteen shopping days left people. No time for lazy bones now!

why do I blog when I have nothing to say?

I guess it's just cause I have a moment to say it. te-hee. Pretty productive day, in and around Sarah and her pnuemonia. Which - she may die from because she refuses to take her antibiotic. It seriously takes Rob and I both on top of her to force her to swallow a drop - and then we still manage to wear like 3/4 of her dose. I'm going to have to call the dr in the morning and get a different script - cause this just isn't cutting it. She's no better - probably because she's barely getting any meds. grrr.
But I managed to finish my cute little mintie-dos for Christmas Eve service. This was a fun idea Rob and I had a while back, a little way to thank all the people in our church over the holidays - without buying each of them a gift. We just made little matchbooks with a lifesaver inside. And I say 'we' because Rob did the printing/editing and I did the paper cutting/folding. Such a great team. Anyhoo, if you go to HAG act all surprised when we hand these out in two weeks. :)
I also have a hefty start into the bulletin board at church, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but I'm doing a more intensive project than previous boards. It's pretty artsy, but I think it'll be super cool. And I carefully coordinated it with the church christmas decor, cause I'm a dork like that. I will take pictures this time, just because it's been such an involved project.
We are finishing up our 'gifts' for our student christmas party too, I'm so excited, I think the kids will love them! Oh, and my kids and I made the grammies presents today, and I want to post them SUPER-BAD but I don't want to spoil the surprise on the off chance one of the grammies might read today's entry. I need to remember to post them after we head to Iowa. :) Super inexpensive but meaningful gift - so much that I made one for our house too!
Anyhoo, I know it's 6:30 and I'm off to put the kids to bed. No naps and sickness, it's definitely the needed option this evening. Toodles.

of course it's pnuemonia...

Up for mother-of-the-year again. But it will swiped away by another candidate with this last blazenly brilliant maternal faux paux. I finally returned to the dr. (if you can call them that) with Sarah and she has, you guessed it.... pnuemonia. Not sure how, the girl is on her third round of antibiotics in the past 5 weeks, but whatever.
It kind of kills me, cause I never let my kids play outside unless it's 50 degrees plus. They always wear their coats. The only germy place we ever visit is church. But they still manage to catch the creeping crud. Poor Sarah, she's miserable. Poor us, she's making every one around her miserable!
Oh well, hopefully this is all long behind us by the time we pack up and head for Iowa. Yep, Iowa for Christmas. They don't get much smarter than us! :) I'm just hoping we are done with all this weather by then, but not holding my breath. Very excited to see Mom and Dad. And Lori's new house. And Rob's dad. It will be great to get away for a bit. And we feel so grown up because we are renting a car! :) It's sad when you are 27 and you have to rent a car to feel like a grown up. details.
Anyhoo, I just baked a loaf of bread and it's seriously tempting me. Oh, and did I mention I have little or no willpower? good to know.

Gathering myself to start the day.
I am starting to realize how much stinking time I spend on this computer. It is pathetic. I think I might ask for a new computer chair for Christmas, since I spend so much time in it!! :)
Rob took Eli to school this morning only to find a closed building. I just have to laugh. We had the storm of the decade on FRIDAY people. This is monday, how can we possibly still have a snow day?? There is barely any snow left!! Maybe there is something wrong with the power. Who knows. Well, I'm not complaining. We are going to Panera Bread for breakfast and then Target to return something and price match on an already purchased gift. Then I think we will wander over to the mall and see the big guy. Eli will be excited!
I'm going to try and do a little shopping this afternoon for me, my winter wardrobe is sadly lacking and our Leadership Dinner is tomorrow night at a pretty fancy restaurant. Yay! Still haven't found a babysitter, but details, right?? I'm getting my hair done tomorrow afternoon - it's time for a chop again and I figured might as well schedule it for an event. I'm excited though, I love this hairdresser, she did an amazing job last time. It's pretty grown out though, I'm probably 10 days overdue. Yeah, I'd never survive on LOST. I'd be crying about my hair!! (te-hee)
We have scrapbooking group tonight - yipee! I'm going to bring some goodies and probably work on addressing my christmas cards. grrr. I ran them through the computer last year, but DH somehow managed to lose my mail merge. double grrr. So rather than do them all again I might handwrite them. Still debating.
Lots to do around the house today, it's a mess. Might ignore it till tomorrow, it's usually my rule to avoid housework on Mondays. Kind of sacred. But Rob's at church right now putting the fellowship hall back together because there is a funeral tomorrow. So, I should be equally responsible and clean up. details.
All I've done this weekend is Expo. I finished my 50 videos in the first 12 hours and I've been uploading ever since. Mine are up now, but Rob decide to join the fun and so now I am uploading his. Totally worth it though, this month they are giving away up to $350. Dude, that's a lot of money. I *heart* Expo!!
Well, I'm going to go be responsible now. maybe I could scrap today. Oh, that gives me hope!!

Good Morning Everybody!!

It's Saturday, December 2nd and I am in the mood to get things done. Do you ever just wake up and instantly feel productive? That's me today. I got an email late evening yesterday, that Expotv.com is doing its most awesome promotion as of yet, giving away $350 total in promos this month. Now that's enough to make your holiday bright, isn't it??? So check it out!
So I am working hard on that, almost done with my videos and knee-deep in uploading them. :) So worth it though. And I've been baking up a storm, getting ready to send a couple packages off to my brother and his buddies in Iraq. Made some caramels a couple days ago and chocolate chip cookies yesterday and macadamia nut today. Trying to finish up those cards too. Just had a neat idea for the grandmas for christmas too, so I might force myself to go to Walmart today and get started on that. The christmas clock is ticking!!
I stayed up way too late last night, uploading videos and chatting on the phone with my good friend Kim. Love that.
Off to get stuff done. Leave me a comment and tell me what you are doing to get ready for christmas!!

old man winter arrived last night

and totally kicked our butt. :) Seriously, caught Ameren unprepared I think. Dumped tons of water, ice, sleet, and snow all over the country. Our power went out at quarter to midnight and we awoke to 56 degrees in the house, which isn't that terribly cold, but it's pretty cold after a night of sleeping in it. come to find out they are saying 2 million homes are powerless. Wow.
So we laid in bed as long as the kids would let us - 7:15 or so. Then we got up and did cold cereal (just what you want in 56 degree weather) and we started playing physical games like Simon Says and doing jumping jacks till the kids didn't want to do it anymore. Then Rob had the brilliant idea of running the shower in the bathroom (gas water heater) for a minute or two to heat up the room and just hanging out in there - all four of us in our bathroom. We lasted about two hours without killing each other, singing christmas carols and preschool songs. Then Deanie's daughter called us to let us know that their generator was up and going and they had a warm house, so we went there to wait it out.
We had just made plans to move to my cousins house - about 2:30pm when the power kicked back on and I was so thankful that this adventure was over. We came home and Sarah and I laid down for two hour naps. whew. She's still crabby, but I'm feeling a lot better. long day.
Here are some pictures I took. Oh, and one from yesterday of Sarah in her truely unique outfit for the day. She's so her own person, it rocks.