Christmas 2010

We had a good Christmas this year.  My sister came to visit the week before Christmas, and had to leave on Christmas Eve eve.  But the boys enjoyed visiting with her.

On Christmas Eve, the children of our church had a little program prepared for our Christmas Eve service.  Both Micah and Caleb were in it.  Their parts included carrying a couple of letters from the words Merry Christmas up to the stage while their cousins read some scripture.  Then all of the kids sang Hark the Herald Angels Sing and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  Of course, my kids had to ham it up.  (They get that from their daddy.)  But it was very cute. 

When we got home, we sprinkled reindeer food on the front lawn so Santa’s reindeer knew which house was ours.  The boys got into their pj’s and we left peanut butter cookies and milk for Santa (we have it on good authority that they are Santa’s favorite).

The boys went to bed, and we anticipated an early morning, so we went to bed pretty soon after them.  I’m glad we did!  They were up bright and early at 5:30.  They climbed into bed with us.  We thought that meant we would get a little more time to lay in bed, but then Caleb wanted to go play.  They hadn’t realized yet that it was Christmas morning.  We told Caleb he could go play, and he came back pretty quickly, saying, “Fanta ate the tooties!”  Translation:  Santa ate the cookies! 

And with that, our morning began!  We all got up and John got the computer fired up so we could Skype with my parents and Christina while the boys were opening their presents.

After we opened our presents at home, it was off to Nana and Popo’s house to have breakfast.  Fred always cooks a big breakfast for everyone on Christmas morning. 

I think the family may be starting up a new band.  The kids got Paper Jams guitars for Christmas and Nana and Popo got the grandkids a keyboard that, thankfully, will stay at their house.

It was kind of ironic because later that day, Susan and Fred went up to visit his family.  They gave Fred an electric guitar and Susan a 77 key keyboard and for the grandkids they got a karaoke machine.  So the family really can take their show on the road and be like the Partridge family!  I guess it was a very musical Christmas.

We spent the rest of the afternoon being pretty lazy, which was nice.  Our friends the McGraths invited us over to enjoy Christmas dinner with them.  We had a good time eating and visiting with Susan and Wes and Susan’s mom Alice (I just realized that Susan McGrath’s mom has the same name as our Susan).  The boys enjoyed getting to play with Jeremiah and Jonathan. 

It was a very nice Christmas. 

Just a little something I whipped up…

My sister Christina is in town visiting until tomorrow.  Before she left, the boys wanted to give her her Christmas present, as well as open one of their presents from her (I suspect that they really only cared about opening their present).

She gave them some really cool interactive books, and they gave her a personalized calendar.  John and I got her a cover for her new Bible.  When Caleb saw that, he started asking about having a cover for his Bible.  He has a board book Bible that he enjoys taking to Sunday school.  He said, “Mommy can you make me one?”  How could I say no?…even though I have never made a Bible cover before.

I didn’t have any fabric that he liked, but I did have an old denim shirt with Thomas the Train on it.  He said he wanted that.  So I cut the shirt apart, and saved the piece with the Thomas applique, the row where the buttons go, and the row with the button holes.  So, the finished product has a pocket on the front, and handles that can even button up if you want your Bible to stay closed (I didn’t plan to be able to button it up, but it just worked out that way!).  His little Bible just fits in there snug as a bug in a rug!

I’m pretty proud of myself, and once again have my cousin Kim to thank, since she was the one who long-distance talked me through my first sewing project at Halloween.  So thanks, Kim!

Oh, wait…you probably want to see a picture, right?  Well, here you go!

12 Days of Christmas

Micah had his Christmas program at school the other day.  Here is his class singing their interpretation of The 12 Days of Christmas.  Enjoy!

12 Days of Christmas

Got Jokes?

I got to have a sneak peek of Micah’s Holiday Program that his class will be putting on next Wednesday.  I’ll be uploading the program piece by piece, but it is just taking so long to load every video into YouTube.  So they will come a little at a time.  But in the meanwhile, I have some jokes for you, courtesy of Micah and a few other kindergartners.

Got Jokes?

Where Are You, Christmas?

John and the boys were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas last night while I went out to eat with a girlfriend.  When Cindy Lou Who started to sing Where are you Christmas, Micah told John that he knew that song too.  So he sang along with Cindy Lou Who.  John of course thought it was adorable, and talked Micah into singing it for me this morning.  Here it is:

Micah singing Where are you Christmas

Not familiar with Cindy Lou Who?  Well, here she is:

So Many Things to do with Shutterfly!

Well it’s the time of year when everyone is getting ready to send out their holiday cards.  Am I on your mailing list?…Hint…hint….

I was checking out Shutterfly and there are so many options to choose from.  Ever since discovering the wonder that we call the photo card, it has been so much easier sending out Christmas cards.  I was never really good at buying Christmas cards, then signing them all, and then getting them sent out.  But now that you can customize the cards with pictures, greetings, and decorations, it has revolutionized Christmas card sending as we know it!  It might, I repeat might, just be better than sliced bread!

Here are some of my favorite Christmas photo cards so far (and I’m still looking through all of them):

 

And you can now even forget the whole idea of buying invitations where you have to fill out all the information by hand.  Shutterfly also has invitations!  Here are a few that I like:

I like that cute little birdie and all of those circles.

You can’t go wrong with cookies…EVER!

And I love these snowflakes!

You can even make customized calendars on Shutterfly.

And when I say they can be customized, I mean that you can add my birthday (December 13th) or my anniversary (February 7th).  These are just a couple of suggestions!  But on to the calendars!

There are so many different things you can do.  And if you are a blogger, you have a chance to get 50 free photo cards, if you hurry.  Their Christmas card promotion ends soon (December 10th)!

Go here to learn more!

Thanksgiving Preparations & The Feast

Micah’s class has been preparing many Thanksgiving decorations for their families.  I’m so glad they were so thoughtful or we wouldn’t have had any decorations for our holiday table.  And Micah was so helpful.  He told me where to place all of the decorations.

We start off with the Pilgrims.  John and I especially love the eyelashes.  I really need to ask Mrs. Pilgrim what kind of mascara she uses, because her lashes are luscious!

Next up is the turkey and an Indian.  As I was looking at the painting of the turkey, I noticed that the turkey may have feathers growing out of his head…not sure.

And finally, we have the centerpieces for the table.  There is Micah’s fall book that he wrote, a stuffed turkey with feathers made from Micah’s handprints, a canoe, and a teepee.

Every Thanksgiving, Ballard School has a Thanksgiving feast on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  The kindergartners dress up as the Indians, and the first graders dress up as the Pilgrims.  All the families are invited to attend, and we just have a good time of eating with our students.  This year Micah was an Indian.  I didn’t get any pictures of him while we were at school, but I did get some once we got home.

This is Micah shooting his bow and arrow at me.  On his back he is wearing a quiver filled with arrows.  It was really cute because the girls were wearing papooses (or is the plural form called papeese?) and there were little baby Indians in them.

Now he’s showing us his bow and arrow.

And now he is showing us the rest of his headdress.

I love this little Indian!  Happy Thanksgiving!  We all have much to be thankful for!

2010-2011 School Pictures

Micah took his school pictures a couple months ago and they just came back.  If I do say so myself, he looks pretty darn cute!  I also had to have my picture taken for the yearbook (ugh!) but at least I don’t look too horrible…no I’m not fishing for any compliments.  The nice thing is the photographer gave the teachers and staff pictures of themselves and their class pictures free of charge.  So without further ado, here they are:

How to Cook a Turkey

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Micah’s kindergarten class was kind enough to give us their recipes for cooking the perfect turkey. 

Here’s Micah’s recipe:

Go to the store and buy a skinny turkey.  Take it home and then take out the eyes, pop out the feathers, cut off both feet and put it in the oven.  Pour ketchup inside of the turkey before you cook it.  Apples inside of the turkey will taste good too.  Sour apples are the best to use.  Cook the turkey for 10 minutes on hot degrees.  Then, put it in the freezer to cool down for another 10 minutes.  Sprinkle candy on top of the turkey before you put it on the table.  Cut the turkey in half to share with lots of people.  After the people are done with the turkey dinner, serve cake and candy.  Drink soda with the meal.

I’m sure all of the recipes the kindergartners provided will end up being delectable.  If you try Micah’s recipe, please let me know how it turns out.

The Day That Might Have Been

Today, November 12th, might have been different.  Today was my due date, and we should have been meeting our beautiful baby boy.  But we won’t be doing that today, since he is up in heaven. 

I’m a little down today, for obvious reasons.  But I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and I’ve had such wonderful love and support from friends and family.  This is what I’ve learned.

My baby boy is one of the luckiest boys around.  He is in the presence of God right now!  He never had to go through the trials and suffering that we call life.  He never knew sadness or had to experience pain.

For my own selfish reasons, I would have loved to have him here with me and John and his two wonderful big brothers.  But I am rejoicing in the fact that one day when I finally get to go to heaven, he will be waiting up there for me.  I can just picture him with a huge smile on his face and running up to me to say, “Hey Mommy!  I can’t wait to show you around this wonderful place!”

So, yes, I’m sad.  But I also know that there are better things  waiting for me one day.  And until that day, I am going to be thankful and rejoice in what I do have:  my relationship with God, a loving husband, and two sweet boys who make my heart happy!

The Craftiness Continues

It’s holiday season, so the boutiques, bazaars, and craft shows are in full swing.  I had a show last weekend at the Boys and Girls Club hosted by the Soroptimists. 

              

              

I did pretty good.  Tomorrow and Saturday I have another show at Trinity’s Holiday Bazaar.  Since I had today off, I’ve been busy being crafty. 

               

My wonderful and talented cousin Kim talked me through getting my sewing machine to work a few weeks ago.  Thanks, Kim!  Since then, I’ve been making therapy packs.  They are rice-filled pouches that you can warm up in the microwave to soothe your aches and pains away.  I made 23 of them today.  I’ve been busy. 

So that’s what I’ve been up to today.  I think I am ready for tomorrow’s show.

All you ever wanted to know about Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween Micah wanted to be War Machine from Iron Man 2.  Caleb told us he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear.  Micah was pretty excited, and Caleb was too…or so we thought.  We had gotten invited to a Halloween party, and we were all getting ready.  I was getting Caleb’s costume on him when he all of a sudden decided he didn’t want to dress up.  “My just want to be Caleb,” is what he told us.  OK, then.  We went to the party dressed as a Jedi, Pippi Longstocking, War Machine, and Caleb.

Fast forward to the Friday before Halloween.  Ballard has a big Fall Carnival every year.  They let the kids out at noon so they can go home, eat lunch, and change into their costumes.  Susan brought Caleb up to Ballard so that he could enjoy the fun as well.  I got myself and Micah dressed in our costumes, but again Caleb decided he just wanted to be Caleb.  That’s ok.  The entire school lines up and walks in a parade around the neighborhood.  It’s really a lot of fun.  Micah of course was at the head of the pack with his teacher, Mrs. Carlson, who was dressed as the Tooth Fairy.

The boys had fun playing all of the games.  Somehow, I didn’t get any pictures of Caleb.

                  

The next day, John and I went to another Halloween party.  We had a really good time. 

On Halloween, our church had a Fall Festival.  Caleb once again decided he didn’t want to wear his costume.  But the clothes he was wearing looked western, so we used a cowboy hat and stick horse.  Now he was a cowboy!  The girls came with us, and afterward we went trick or treating.

Halloween was fun!

Just a little randomness…

I really have good intentions of getting out of this once-a-month-blog-posting rut that I have been in.  Then life ends up getting things all wonky and crazy and my good intentions go out the window.  I have been justifying my laziness by telling myself that I am at least posting the pictures on Facebook, but it really is slacker-ish.

So here are some random pictures that I was finally able to download from my cell phone.

My silly son at the doctor’s office.  I don’t know when the picture was taken.

Me and the boys.  We were in Texas and I was waiting to get called to go get my massage…I need another one.  HInt, hint…

You always have to have a silly face picture, right?

Can he get any cuter?  This was just taken last week after his haircut.  He and I had nursery duty at church on Wednesday night.

Micah Starts Kindergarten

If you will conveniently overlook the date of this post, we can pretend that I am up-to-date on all my posting.  Then we can pretend that my baby just started kindergarten.  In all actuality, he’s been a kindergartener for a whole month now!

He started the last week of August.  His teacher is Mrs. Carlson.  She is great with her students and we have actually been talking about Micah coming to Ballard since I worked with her 3 years ago. 

He was so excited about the first day of school.  He picked out a brand new Star Wars backpack.  I can’t believe how grown up he looks all dressed up for his first day of school.

      

Caleb wanted his picture taken as well.  But he wasn’t dressed for the day yet.  He was still in his mismatched pajamas.

We have a half hour drive to school.  So we spent the drive talking about what he would get to do while he was at school.  He was so excited that he was finally a kindergartener.

Here he is waiting in line with his class for the school bell to ring.  The real bell rings, then everyone gets in line with their class.  Then each day a different student gets to ring the old bell in the little red schoolhouse.  That student then leads the class in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

One last wave to the mommies and daddies.  Mrs. Carlson is the blonde teacher in the white sweater, and Mrs. Birkholm is the teacher’s aide.  She is in the pink dress.

And that’s how my boy started off his first day in Kindergarten.  He had a great day!