Thursday Thirteen #1 (for me)

13 goals for this year

It's not my list of New Years resolutions, it's just a few goals that I want to strive for this coming year.


1. Pray more with the kids: I just purchased a great book entitled "Creative Family Prayer Times" and I'm hoping it will help them want to pray more!
2. Complete a year of school without feeling rushed: Each year goes by and we struggle to complete all the work before my own preset deadline. I need to relax more and realize we'll finish the work when we finish it...no biggie.
3. Relax more to ease daily stress: Again this goes with the last one. I need to just take more time to enjoy life and my family. The work will always be there so why stress over it.
4. Practice the flute more: I've played since I was in 4th grade, but haven't practiced as much these days. When I was in college I practiced 4-5 hours (yes, hours!) a day! I'd be happy for just 30 minutes every other day now.
5. Smile more: I'm generally a very joyful person inside, but I know I need to smile more and show it. It's so easy to walk around looking glum.
6. Organize my scrapbooks: No comments needed on this one! ha
7. Tell my husband I love him more: I adore my husband but I should let him know that more often than I do!!
8. Hug the kids more (if that's possible!!): These years are so precious and will pass quickly, so I need to get in as many big bear hugs and cuddles as I can!
9. Play more games with the kids: They're always asking but Mommy seems to always be too busy - something I'm not proud of! This WILL change!
10. Eat better: Self explanatory.
11. Share Christ more with others: I need to be more 'prepared to give an answer' when I come in contact with those who do not know Christ!!
12. Trust God more than I already do: I do trust in Him, but I think I need to let Him take charge of every area of my life, not just the ones I 'let' Him have.
13. Read more with the kids: I absolutely love reading and I want to share that passion with my children more than I do.

The list certainly could be a LOT longer, but this is already quite a challenge for me. Hopefully I'll remember this list as the year passes, and then next year when I blog about it, I'll be able to say I did my best and achieved most of my goals, if not all of them!!

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Admire?? Who are they kidding?

Now, I don't really like to blog about politics or pop culture (blech!), but I just couldn't pass this one up!

"Which woman do Americans 'admire' the most?" That's the question that stared me in the face when I signed online....along with these two photos!



I have to admit that I just cringed when I saw this! To answer that question would be like picking the lesser of two evils!!! I am praying that Hillary doesn't even come close to stepping her pretty little feet in the White House, and although Oprah does some pretty impressive things to help others, she flaunts it, and also influences people in a way that is unChristlike and immoral! So...my answer? I don't admire either!!! There, I said it and I feel much better.

Now...on to our regularly scheduled blogging....

Saturday Photo Hunt #90 MESSY

When Lionel was 7, I caught him right after he dumped an entire Lego collection all over his bedroom floor because he was mad. WHAT A MESS!!! He was even more upset when I told him he had to pick up every piece before eating his dinner that night (which he did)!!



We put an addition on our home a couple years ago and while they were excavating for the foundation they made a huge mess of our yard! It rained a few times too which made it even worse!

A few of their favorite things...

We know that getting presents isn't what Christmas is all about...yet it's still fun to see your family open up gifts that you gave them and totally flip out about getting them! Here are a few of the gifts Sweet-Pea and Lionel got that had them screaming with excitement as the wrapping paper was torn off...

Both kids got a new iPod...they were totally and completely surprised!!!
Gotta love moments like this!


Sweet-Pea absolutely loved her new Pony - Butterscotch.
She hasn't stopped playing with him yet!!


Lionel got another Lionel train set, but he knew about it already, so we didn't get any good photos of him acting surprised...instead, this photo is of him after getting the ENORMOUS beanbag chair from his grandparents. Both he and Sweet-Pea got them. They were ordered online, but they did not look this big in the photo. What a shock we had when they arrived in the mail!!! The funny part was that they were vacuumed sealed. After opening the box and the seal, they began to grow. By morning they were almost triple the size of the box!!! Good thing we didn't need to return them.


My hubby's favorite gift was a new telescope. He LOVES anything to do with outer space...stars, planets, etc. He is looking forward to using it a lot. I don't have any favorite gifts (I don't like to have to choose), but I'm thankful for them all. Sweet-Pea gave me wind chimes, Lionel gave me scrapbook supplies and one of my gifts from dear hubby was Channel No. 5. Yipee!

Have a blessed day!

Laughter truly IS the best medicine!

Well, it's hard to believe that Christmas day is already in the past. We had a great day. We got up early, spent a good part of the morning with the kids reading the Christmas story in Luke, opening presents, and having some great quality family time. Around 11:00 a.m. we headed to the home to visit with my Dad and bring him a few gifts. We stayed a couple hours which was enough for him. He tires easily now and one minute is just like the next - he truly lives for the moment since his memory doesn't last long. As many times as we reminded him that it was Christmas, he forgot every one of them. It did make it easier for us to leave though - knowing he wouldn't know what he was missing out on.

We got home a bit after 1:00 and got ready for Edward's family to arrive for dinner. We enjoyed our time with even though there were only 10 of us. Gone are the days where my family was around to spend the holidays with - there were probably between 25 and 30 at my parents home every Christmas - it was wonderful!!

Anyhow...this posting isn't about the day, but about a few of the gifts my beloved gave to me. I absolutely love to laugh, but lately with all the stresses of life, I haven't done much laughing. These gifts from my husband changed all that - at least for the moment! I enjoy good wholesome humor - mainly from Christian comediennes. My favorites? Mark Lowry, Chonda Pierce, and Anita Renfroe. Here are a few of the gifts he gave me which I HIGHLY recommend...

Anita Renfroe's "Purse-onality" DVD is hilarious! I just finished watching this one and I couldn't stop laughing. She points out how although we think everyone else 'has it together' and seems so much better than we are, we are all still the same on the inside...and God loves every one of us!! She is real, down to earth, and leaves you feeling that God is the one who completes you, not your accessories! (Yes, she does pull out a few purses and explain the purseonality that goes along with each style - good stuff for you women in the 40+ age range like me!)


Oh my goodness, I couldn't stop laughing at these next two DVD's!!! "The Best of Mark Lowry & Bill Gaither" - Volumes 1 & 2. Edward went up to bed early one night (from pure exhaustion) so I decided to watch this Mark Lowry/Bill Gaither DVD with my cup of tea (made with my Keurig - which I also highly recommend!!!) Lionel heard me laughing, came down, and ended up watching nearly the entire DVD with me! (I know, I'm a bad mom - I should have sent him marching back up to bed to sleep!) Mark and Bill are quite the pair and it's just so easy to relate to Mark and all his antics. He's like a 12 year old trapped in a 40-something body!

I can't end this posting without mentioning this DVD by Chonda Pierce called "A Piece of My Mind". The way she talks about life and her family is "just so precious" (one of her phrases). Her voice is amazing as well as her humor, and she uses both to present the truth about Christ.

So...as you can tell...I've been sitting around each night at the end of the day simply enjoying life and lots of laughter! God said it's good for us to laugh and to rest...so I thought I'd listen to Him and be obedient! Now that I've done that, it's time to get cracking on those dirty dishes, piles of laundry and all the Christmas gifts scattered about under the tree. Christmas is wonderful, but the tornado after-effects are something I don't like to deal with. My mind now goes into clean up mode...get the tree down (before the end of next week), the house cleaned, and prepare for New Year's Eve...not to mention school - which must resume in full force on January 3rd! Argh...Calgon...take me away!

Merry Christmas!!!

From our home to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of wonderful memories !!

Fun with Chrismas Cookies!

This afternoon we had our annual sugar cookie decorating day...just the kids, Edward and I. The cookies are baked the day before so they have time to cool before decorating. So, today we spread our supplies out on the dining room table, put on some Christmas music and had a great time.



Here are some of our favorites...









They're not perfect, but we sure did have fun making them! Before you ask...yes, that's a fish...Nemo to be exact. Sweet-Pea loves fish, so we had to use the fish cookie cutter! We also have dog bone shaped cookies because Lionel loves dogs.

Here's Sweet-Pea having fun decorating her cookies...


Here is Lionel and Daddy...also having a great time...Lionel was decorating the Nemo cookie for Sweet-Pea here in this shot.


What a fun time we had...we're done now and the cookies need to dry before putting them away. Hope they taste as good as they look!!

I wanna be a kid again!!!

I'm sitting here wrapping the kids Christmas gifts and I'm remembering how much fun Christmas mornings used to be when I was young. Like my post title says..."I wanna be a kid again!" It IS a lot of fun giving to the kids though - seeing their faces light up when they get not only gifts that they wanted, but gifts they'll LOVE that they didn't 'know' they wanted. Those are often the best kind. Here's one example...

Sweet-Pea will be overjoyed (an understatement) when she opens up this gift! She LOVES her American Girl dolls, and she enjoys dressing them up and putting them to bed, but she doesn't have a 'proper' bed for them...so...we got her one.



Can you say doll envy? Oh my, if I had a bed like that when I was a kid I'd have been in heaven! I'm not going to wrap the bed, but the box it came in. Some things you have to assemble ahead of time so they're all ready to be played with on Christmas morning. This is one of 'em. There's nothing like unwrapping all your gifts only to have to put them all together - yuk! Know what's worse? Trying to untie all the little twisty ties from toys like Barbies and Sweet Street Fisher Price things. If it's one thing that makes me say 'Bah Humbug', that's it! ha ha Fortunately there won't be many toys like that under our tree this year.

Well, back to wrapping. Later I want to post about what we did this afternoon. We had a great time decorating all the sugar cookies we made for Christmas. Yum!

Saturday Photo Hunt #89 - LIGHT

Light weight...



Light from fireworks...



Light fixture...



Light in motion...

A visit from Santa

Today the kids and I went to see Dad at the nursing home. As we walked down the hallway towards his room, we saw all the nurses and aides putting presents beside each doorway for the residents. When we got in the room to see Dad, he was fast asleep, not even realizing the commotion in the hallway. Well, only a few minutes after we arrived, Santa shows up! (Sweet-Pea went crazy - she was so excited to see Santa!!!) He came in and handed Dad 3 beautifully wrapped presents. It was such a wonderful thing to see...this place really cares about the people who live there. Santa visited every resident in the place to give them gifts and wish them a Merry Christmas...an early one, but most probably didn't even realize it!

Waiting for Santa....


Here's Santa giving Dad his gifts....


You'd think that the gifts would be simple inexpensive gifts, but they weren't! Dad got a cd player (walkman style), a nice long sleeve shirt and a navy blue sweat suit! It's nice to see them make the holidays enjoyable for the residents. You should see all the decorations...trees, stockings and lights, everywhere!!!!

Here are the kids posing beside the big lit up 'wooden' soldier at the entrance. Gotta love it! Outside are all sorts of lights, garland and a huge snowman! These people know how to decorate!!!


I'm so glad we were able to spend this fun time with Dad! It's days like this that make me feel good about where he is. His needs are many, and they are taking really good care of him. Of course it's still hard emotionally, but deep down, I know this is the right place for him.

A good laugh!

OK, if you homeschool your children like we do and you need a good laugh, check out this video! It's hysterical! We, of course, do not have 10 children (with another on the way!) like the couple in the video, but pretty much everything else they sing about in this video, we can totally relate to! Oh the stereotypes we homeschoolers must endure!!! Enjoy!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO

Ceramics Fun!!

Today we had an awesome field trip to a local ceramics studio. I used to do ceramics with my Mom when I was young, but I never really thought about bringing my kids - I guess I just figured ceramics was outdated. Well let me tell you this - IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! The kids had a total blast...and so did I!

Lionel chose to paint a dog...


...and Sweet-Pea chose a dolphin.


Lionel was very creative with his dog. He stippled him so it looked like fur, while using several different colors and shades. Cute puppy!


Sweet-Pea was so into this craft (as she usually is with any sort of crafts), but her face was priceless! The colors she chose were so vibrant - perfect for a dolphin.


Call me biased, but I think they did a fabulous job!!! I'm so proud of them both. They chose their own colors and painted the entire pieces on their own.

While we were at the studio the sun was out and it melted the ice/snow just a bit...enough to cause this to happen on the way home!!!!!!!!! I nearly had both an accident and a heart attack fom the loud noise...not to mention that I couldn't see a thing. This photo was taken after I pushed off the piece directly in front of me. Pretty scary.



Fortunately there was no one else on the road. I tried to use the windshield wipers, but I soon found out that wipers don't work on huge blocks of ice, they only compound the problem.

My bit of advice for the day: the next time your entire van roof is frozen with snow and ice, remember to use the gas pedal more and the brake pedal less - this way it'll fall off behind you instead of ON you! ha ha