Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phillipians 4:8

Merry Christmas!


I hope your Christmas has been blessed! We have enjoyed a wonderful day together today. We started with some fresh homemade cinnamon rolls and a hot cup of coffee at about 7:30 am. The girls were actually up around 7 am, but it took us about 30 minutes to convince (read cajole, poke, prod, remove blankets from, tickle....) daddy to get out of bed.

The girls opened their fishing poles first (because I decided to not even wrap them! lol!). They have had a ball all day 'fishing' from the loft!!

They also love their new fuzzy mock crocs and have been wearing them all day. A water coloring book, toothpaste and toothbrush filled their stockings, all if which they love.

We also spent some time outside using the new snow tubes and Regan and Daddy attempted to do some ice fishing on the pond.

The girls couldn't wait for daddy to open his yankee candles and light up frisbee and mommy is grateful for her photography classes that daddy registered her for! ;)

It has been a fun day and a Merry Christmas!

Dreaming of a white Christmas??

If you are the one 'Dreaming of a White Christmas'....STOP.....PLEASE???? lol!

A week ago, 40 degree weather nearly melted all the snow on the ground, but since then we have accumulated about 30" of new snow and it isn't stopping!. It is pretty, but........

Not a creature is stirring...

well, except me that is! LOL! Paul is in bed sleeping, which is how he spent the majority of the day. He has come down with a pretty bad cold that is wiping him out. The girls are in bed and both fell asleep quickly after staying up late to watch 'I want a dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown'.

Tonight, I took them to dinner at G&L and to see the Christmas Lights/show at Harbor Island. This is the third year of 'the lights', as my girls call them. It started out as this, at a house in a subdivision. The amount of attention it got didn't please the neighbors too much, so they moved it to some city property last year. They do a great job with it and my girls love to go see it. Regan was a little disappointed that she didn't go in her PJ's this year (like last year), but I didn't think they were appropriate for going out to eat! (I tell ya, that kid doesn't forget a thing!) :)

We spent quite a bit of time outside this morning, enjoying some sunshine to go with our foot of snow we accumulated on Friday. We couldn't seem to locate the sled, so the girls had fun on their playground and found the slide just as entertaining. Regan then found another place to slide...down the steps on the deck. She also enjoyed standing below while I shoveled some snow from above. She giggled and grinned the whole time. Anything clothing or body part that wasn't smooth and slippery accumulated clumps of snow, including her eyelashes. It was quite a sight! Sage loves being outside too. She cried when it was time to come in.

I bought myself a new kitchen toy last week and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is a Vita-mix, a commercial blender of sorts. We have had delicious fruit smoothies almost everyday (including things like kale, which is supposed to be really good for you). I think Regan has asked for ice cream almost every night since we got it. I haven't perfected a true ice cream yet, but I make a pretty mean fruit sorbet type thing from milk, frozen fruit, sugar and a little bit of ice.

Earlier this week I made a loaf of bread with it. It mixes and kneads the dough for you. Although, my loaf was a little crumbly and I may have to do a 'little' hand kneading next time. It wasn't too bad, considering it was 100% whole wheat. I am hoping to track down some wheat berries soon, as it will grind them into flour for you.

Last night I made homemade pizza. Sauce and dough from scratch. It was actually pretty good! I haven't tried my own pizza crust in a long time because they were always like cardboard, but this one was nice and fluffy. Regan now wants pizza for every meal!

Today, I made Taco soup. The recipe called for everything to be blended into a thick broth, but I like some 'stuff' in my soup, so I added ground venison with onions and corn after the blending. Topped off with broken tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream and I think we have another keeper. Blending most of the ingredients up is a great option for us, as any food with kidney type beans in it is a no-go with Paul.

It's fun to try some new food stuff again!

I am an odd duck!

According to the 'Jung Typology Test' I am an 'INTJ', in other words, I am classified by the following criteria: Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging. The name they give this type of person is 'Mastermind' - which comprise less than one percent of the population . It was very interesting taking this test and reading the results. I found a lot of what it said to be true of my personality.

Joy....


One word, that's all it takes to sum up Regan tonight at her first School Christmas Program. She has been buzzing about it for weeks. It is a big deal for the kids. They practiced during music time at school and then the last couple of weeks there have been extra rehearsals in place of gym and some other activities.

They sang songs and some of the kids even had speaking parts. A few weeks ago, Regan came home with a slip saying she was going to be doing one of the speaking parts. She immediately told me to send it back. I was a little suspicious, as I was quite sure the teacher wouldn't assign' something like this unless the kids volunteered. After some investigative conversations, I figured out she didn't want a speaking part because that required wearing a costume. And, a costume meant not wearing her 'Santa' dress. 'Cuz it is all about the dress, you know! LOL!
(Paul and I discussed the situation briefly and decided now was not the time or age to start forcing her to follow through on her commitments.)

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care....doesn't this just look warm and inviting? I got the stockings hung up a couple of days ago and thought I would snap some pictures today. Have I said how much I love my fireplace?? It adds to the ambiance of Christmas, but I also just love being able to curl up in front of it when our harsh Michigan winter leaves me chilled to the bone.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!


Inside and out!

Mother nature has been doing her part. Last night and all through the day today, she graced us with almost a foot of snow! The girls had a ball on the deck this morning, playing for almost an hour. Brrrrrr....I stayed inside, enjoying a hot cup of coffee.

Regan always enjoys playing outside, but sometimes I wonder if it's just so she can come back in and have a cup of 'hot' chocolate with marshmallows. (Luke warm chocolate would be a better description!) Sage is now joining in the tradition too. Today, mommy made them a special white chocolate raspberry treat, using my flavored coffee creamers. After about two sips, Regan was saying 'I could drink this all day'. By the end, she was telling me it was too sweet!

The tree is up and finally decorated. It was a process that lasted a few days. Assembly and lights one day, bows and beads another and finally decorations Thursday night. The stockings are still in the closet, maybe we'll have to get those out tomorrow.