Wonderful Christmas

Well, once again, Christmas has come and gone. Christmas for us is an unusually calm and laid back time of year.

We celebrated with my brothers and their families on December 16th. We had a fun time! This year we skipped the kids' gift exchange and played dirty bingo instead. Of course, Aunt Jenny couldn't help herself and bought the girls each a gift! The kids had a great time making gingerbread houses from graham crackers.


Christmas weekend was very low key for us, with no extended family get togethers, we got to just hang out together. We even braved the stores together on Dec 24th, walked the mall and finished our morning out with lunch at a pizza buffet. Last year I started a tradition of buying the girls matching PJs and letting them open them on Christmas eve. We continued that tradition this year.


Christmas day was fun with the girls. After I put a batch of PANAKUCHEN in the oven, we opened gifts. We sat and ate breakfast and I was amazed that Regan had completely forgot about her stocking! So we finished the gift giving after eating breakfast.

It was an Elmo and Disney Princess Christmas. We bought Regan Belle shoes, Princess book w/magnadoodle and a Disney Mix/max (to share with Sage, for housing all their music), and a Digital Arts and Crafts Studio from Mima V. In her stocking was underwear :) - which we are still at an age to think is fun!, sippy cup, M&Ms chapstick, gum and candy necklaces. She also opened the rest of her gift from Gma and Gpa B - some grandma pants for Scruffie and some beads.



Sage got Elmo DVDs, Elmo book/w magnadoodle, Little People nativity set from Mima V. In her stocking were Elmo crackers, safety suckers and a sippy cup. She also got grandma pants for her animals and some play-doh tools from Gma and Gpa B.


Paul had arranged to give me a wonderful surprise for Christmas...a new iMac computer. After ruining his surprise, having some mis-dealings with the local Mac dealer, lots of research and much prayerful contemplation...we are ending up with a pimped out PC, complete with my dream software - Photoshop. After much a-do, I am VERY excited with what we are ending up with and have great peace about the decision.

When all was said and done, we were thankful for another wonderful, blessed holiday season where we can enjoy time together and remember the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After the gifts are used and have lost their appeal, after the lights and decorations are tucked in their boxes, after our schedule returns to its normal busy routine...we will still have and cherish that most precious gift of all...a promise of eternal life because God sent His Son to be born and to later die for us. That is our true gift of Christmas! We hope and pray that you too have received the only gift that really matters!!

10 Blessings this past week....

It has been a week since Paul left for Kansas to go hunting. When he is gone, it gives me new respect and compassion for single moms! Here are 10 blessings from this past week:

10 - The girls and I are all still alive :)
9 - Sage is learning to sleep in her bed in Regan's room for the first time and it is going pretty good!
8 - We were all able to go to church yesterday for the entire morning, both services (because I had to sing)! We had not gone in a month due to different illnesses.
7 - Everyone has stayed healthy, with the exception of minor lingering cold symptoms.
6 - The Lord spoke to me through His word when I needed some comforting on an issue, using Psalm119 for the second time this month
5 - The girls and I are still alive :)
4 - I have not had to cook a 'real' meal in a week! We have had waffles 3 of the 7 nights and my girls think I am a hero!!!
3 - The house is not completely falling to pieces, a little messier than usual, but that's OK!
2 -We have stayed warm - yes, I have even remembered to keep the pellet stove 'fed'!!! (so much nicer than wood!!)
1 - We only have 3 more days until daddy returns...YEAH!!!

Thankful for...

A lot of things! We had a great Thanksgiving at Great Wolf Lodge. We were able to avoid any nasty weather for our travel time. We spent Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning hanging out in 80+ degrees, having fun in the waterpark. We also enjoyed a great feast of Turkey, roast beef and a chocolate fountain, among MANY other choices. A trip to the craft room and arcade rounded out our stay. I think this is one tradition we will continue...Regan already asked on the way home if we could come back next year!!

A little about Sage...

Sage will be 21 months this Friday and it is hard for me to believe she is almost two!! She is developing quite the personality and this is an age that I just love.

Her vocabulary is really starting to expand! I don't quite know how to type things the say SHE says them, but her words right now include: apple, juice, water, ice, eyes, button (as in belly), nose, banana, cracker, cookie, grapes, sticker, kitty, OW!, poo-poo, coat, cold, arf!, roar, elephant, giraffe, and just about any character on Sesame Street!!!...oh, and my favorite 'wuv ew!' (love you!)

Our daily routine starts with me waking her up, most days, at 8:00. When I walk in the room, she says 'dada', I reply "dada's at work", "bu ba", "yes, he's bye-bye", "NA-NA", "Regan is down stairs", "pooh", "no, pooh has to stay in bed", "baba", "no blankey stays in bed too!",she clucks to tell me her drink is gone, "yes, we will get more drink downstairs", I change her diaper and we head down for breakfast.

Once we are downstairs, she climbs in her chair and attempts to buckle herself in. If she can't get her buckles done, she voices her displeasure, and there is no eating without buckling in...she is a little OCD about this!! We have our breakfast, usually cereal, and go about our day.

When bedtime comes, it is time for 'caca', some crackers. When snack is done, we pour a cup of milk and she willingly heads up the stairs. After diaper change and PJs, we lay her in bed, put pink pooh in one arm, blue pooh in the other, hand her her drink, cover her with her blankie and exchange "wuv ew's". It puts a smile on my face everytime!!

Her sleeping has been much better! She has not woke up and cried extensively for over a month. When I hear her wake now, she wimpers and stirs a little, but seems to know how to put herself back to sleep now.

Despite the drama that she can put on when being told 'NO' or when she doesn't get her way or when she has to share Mommy with sister, she is a good kid and this is a fun age. Her smile can still light up a room and melt your heart. She can make even the grumpiest mommy laugh and smile when she covers her eyes and pretends to count as the 'seeker' in her game of hide and seek.

What a blessing it is to be her mom!!

A great time!

Last night Regan had a great time trick or treating at AWANA. The church decided to not cancel AWANA because of Halloween, but rather hold Halloween with their own approach. They held trick or treating in the gym and had the kids say 'Jesus Loves Me', instead of 'trick or treat'. Regan was bouncing off the walls before even having an ounce of candy. She had decided weeks ago that she was going to be Belle. About an hour before we left, I mentioned that Eden was going to be Sleeping Beauty...thus, Regan also went as sleeping beauty. She couldn't wait to be 'twins' with her buddy!

I also had a great time last weekend. I was able to get away Friday night and all day Saturday with some friends and attend the Hearts at Home conference for moms. A couple of the girls spent the night while Paul took our girls camping at Double JJ. Saturday morning, I found out I had won a layout competition at Scrap Girls (with the layout above of Regan) and would get to be a 'designer for a day' (which also meant free stuff for me)! Sunday morning put the icing on the cake when I won a $10 gift card to Starbucks at Church!! It was a nice weekend for re-charging the batteries, per say!

Another neat thing happened with the competition at Scrap Girls. In my layout I submitted, my journaling subtly shared a little about my faith. Part of the 'prize' for winning is designing another layout that will be featured in an upcoming newsletter. When I found out I won, I was praying for an opportunity to share more of my faith in the next layout. On Sunday night, I started putting together what I thought was going to be my submission. I thought the layout was 'open ended', meaning I could do whatever I wanted. Monday, I received my instructions, including the 'theme' that I was supposed to follow. The theme was COMFORT, what gives you comfort, how do you comfort others, or anything related to comfort. I knew immediately what I wanted to scrap. My greatest comfort comes from God's word. What a GREAT opportunity to share my faith! So, on Saturday, November 10, this layout will be featured in the Scrap Girls newsletter. I have no idea how many people get the newsletter, but I know Scrap Girls community has over 9000 members. So I would guess it goes out to quite a few. I pray that someone is touched by what they see in that newsletter.




A funny side note: In some emails I have been exchanging with one of my Scrap Girl friends this week, she asked me "Do you think your engineering skills play a part in the planning & design of your LOs?" I told her how funny I thought that was and how she must not know many engineers! (they tend to be pretty BLACK/WHITE thinkers) I said "I think I can design layouts DESPITE my engineering background!!!!"

Hope your week is Blessed!!!

Just Checking In...

It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I would just ramble a little bit today. We have had typical, but busy lives here lately. Paul's work is going well, but busy. That is a two-edged sword for us. We are thankful for the blessings of the business being successful, but it comes with the price of time. I just feel for Paul, because his life outside of work doesn't stop and wait when work gets busy. I know it is a challenge for him to balance family, chores, hobbies and everything else that has to be squeezed into the few hours that remain each day after work. Exhaustion also plays it's part in trying to sort it all out!!

Despite the challenges of long work hours, I do have to say I am so pleased and blessed with where our relationship is at. We were just reflecting this week how, after 14 years (on Oct 16th), we don't really sweat the small stuff any more. We have both grown a lot, especially in the last 5 years or so, to the point that what would have been a blow-up in the past, just amounts to almost nothing now. We both feel a peace in our relationship about the fact that we are here to stay. No matter the seasons or speed bumps, we will get through it all, together.

I have been busy with the girls, my Bible study and, of course, scrapbooking. My bible study is going well. I am so encouraged by the feedback I receive weekly from the moms. I really feel like God is using this study in the lives of these women and myself, and that is what it is all about.

The girls are still their typical crazy selves! Sage is really starting to say and comprehend a lot! There was a time when we were thankful she was so cute, because we weren't so sure if the elevator was going all the way to the top!!! But she is really learning and displaying signs of understanding a lot now! My favorite part of her learning right now is that she understands the 'barter' system when it comes to eating! If you want this, you have to eat that. Typically it is if you want fruit, you have to eat your meat! The other night wasn't such healthy choices though, when I was bartering smarties for mac and cheese! My how spoiled the second one is!!

Regan is very excited to be going to Cubbies (Awana) at The BIG Church (Calvary). I am so thankful for this, because she wasn't so excited initially. I am excited for her to grow up memorizing scripture, a big part of the Awana program. It is something I wish I had more of growing up.

Well, I pray you are all as blessed as we are! I guess it is the season to start thinking about what we are thankful for!!

October Picnic

You have to love when you can wear shorts and have an outdoor picnic and popsicles on October 8!! These are photos from Monday! I figured we better enjoy it, before our picnics relocate to the living room floor!

Today is definitely feeling more like fall. My thermometer in my car said 36 deg when we left this morning! Brrrrr!!!! I do love this time of year though. Paul started the fireplace this morning, the sweaters and turtlenecks come out of hiding. The leaves changing color...it is all just fine by me! I like living where there are seasons, instead of just warm and warmer! It makes you appreciate things more, I think!

While we were having our fun outside, a lot of leaves and acorns were falling off the trees. Regan said "Look Mommy, it's the first day of fall....everything is 'falling' off the trees!"

Hope your day is blessed!