Thoughts from Christmas Day...

I recorded these thoughts on Christmas day and thought I would share them here. Be warned that this is a bit long and there are no pictures to post...yet. I have not taken the time to get them from the camera and go through them. It has been a fun week. Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas holiday as well.

It's Christmas day and I thought I would record some thoughts before they escape me. This has been a really fun year for the girls. They are 3 and 6 and it is a fun age for Christmas. Regan has already told us she does not believe in Santa, yet she was very excited about spreading magic Reindeer dust and food outside on Christmas Eve. She received them from her Daisies troop and at her school party. Sage was full of questions about Santa and how he gets in the house and if she was going to get coal in her stocking or not.

This is the first year where I had the girls give gifts to each other. I took them each to the dollar store and let them pick out 5 things. They both did really well and had a lot of fun doing it. Sage gave away too many hints and Regan found out she was getting reindeer antlers. Other than that I was surprised how well she did at not telling Regan about the other four things she got her.

After sprinkling the reindeer food on Christmas eve, we sent them to bed. They were all wound up and super excited for Christmas day. I went downstairs and wiggled one of the stockings, making the bell jingle. It only took about 30 seconds for them to hear it and bust out of their room because they heard jingle bells and wanted to know if Santa was here.

The girls had been planning and practicing all week for when they would run into our room on Christmas morning and yell MERRY CHRISTMAS to wake us both up. Well, unbeknownst to me, Paul snuck in the girls bedroom at night and changed their clock so they would have to sleep in a bit in the morning. (They are not allowed to get up until their clock says 7 AM) :) With them still in bed when Paul and I woke up, we decided to turn the tables. We got dressed and snuck into their room and yelled MERRY CHRISTMAS! The look of disgust on Regan's face was priceless!! She wasn't too sure what to make of it. She sat with her hand on her hip, looking at us, not quite knowing how to respond. I thought Sage would cry, but she didn't (she was still sleeping, unlike Regan who had been awake and waiting since about 6:45 - it was after 8 am by this time).

Regan went downstairs and proceeded to hand out gifts to Paul and I in the kitchen. She was so anxious and had to be reminded that we would wait for Sage to come down and we would all go to the living room and open gifts. She was very sweet, in that she had predetermined that Paul and I should open our gifts first, since the kids opened first last year. Then, she proceeded to give Sage all her dollar store gifts before opening any of her own. I think she was genuinely as excited to give her gifts to Sage as she was about opening her own.

Sage was totally adorable, as one of the first things she did after coming downstairs was reach up and feel the contents of her stocking. She let us know that she was pretty sure she did not get any coal from Santa, as there was nothing in it that felt like rocks! Later she told us that Santa must have thought she was a really good girl!! :)

I made homemade cinnamon rolls again for breakfast. Regan had remembered that from last year and requested them again. I prepared them on Christmas eve and we baked them while opening gifts. Stockings were opened after cinnamon rolls.

Paul surprised me with an ipod. It will be a really nice gift for using at the gym and even at home. We got daddy a duck hunting game for the Wii. The girls got books from Mima and Papa. Regan got Scrapbooking stuff from Grandma and Grandpa B and Sage got a new lady bug lifejacket. She was quite excited about that and said it was the best gift ever! I bought the girls all new art supplies as their main gift - new markers, twisty crayons, playdoh, jewels, scissors. Their stockings were filled with stickers, toothbrush, toothpaste, fingernail stickers and dry erase markers. Daddy's stocking held the traditional bag of peanut m&ms. Despite his many attempts to trick them, the girls even kept from telling him about them before Christmas.

We will buy another year to the Aquatic Center as our big family gift. We kept our things to the girls pretty minimal, as they really don't need much.

I feel so blessed this Christmas season. God has been good to us, despite a difficult economy. Our needs are always provided for and then some. Our health has been great, besides a few sniffles. It is good to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There were days in the past few weeks when I lost sight of that, but today has been a good time of reflection.

It's November...

I know, I've been a bad blogger! Life just seems to keep me busy with other things!

Here is a peak at our cute little kittens from Halloween night:



And one from this morning. A quick photoshoot before church. I have been waiting a long time for some sunshine to be able to shoot these. You can see their almost fresh new haircuts! I love their new do's!



Quick update on everyone. Regan is doing well, loving school and staying pretty healthy. She had a short sickness this week that kept her home one day from school. At conferences the teacher told me we have a little writer/storyteller on our hands. The teacher handed me a stack of about 20+ stories Regan had written and said by comparison, most parents would be getting about 4 or 5 for their child. She loves to write and draws some great pictures to go with them

Sage is doing well too and has been able to avoid getting sick. She still tries my patience and melts my heart on a daily, or even hourly basis. She has a ball at the activity center everyday while mommy exercises at the gym. It is her own 'preschool' of sorts.

Paul is doing pretty well too. Work is surviving, but has definitely felt the slump in the economy. He leaves next week for his annual hunting trip with his buddy Joe. They weren't sure until just a couple of days ago if they would be going.

I am doing well also! Busy, but well. I have been able to avoid all the sickness junk going around, thankfully. I am excited to have taken on a new position at Scrap Girls, as an instructor. I will be teaching my first class in November. I was able to go to Utah in October and spend real time with my 'virtual' friends from Scrap Girls. I went early this year, to be able to really enjoy the area and see some sights and spend some time with friends. I was very enjoyable.

Well! That's it for now! Hope your fall is blessed!

:)

What's up with us??

Sunday, we made a trip to a local Cherry Orchard. We try to make it each year to pick some of the wonderful Michigan Sweet Cherries that grow here. They are so good and it makes for a fun family outing.

The cherries were $1.50/lb this year. We picked four buckets full or 30 pounds worth. What does a family of four do with 30 pounds of cherries?? Well, we eat a lot, but not that many!! LOL! We make them into sauce. We pit them and boil them down, add a little cornstarch and freeze them. Mid-winter, when it is bitter cold outside and there are no sweet cherries to be found, we enjoy a breakfast, or sometimes a dinner, treat of Belgium waffles with warm sweet cherry sauce. Yummmmy!

(And when you pick your own? Of course you have to eat a 'few' along the way! :) )

On Saturday, I finally followed through on Paul's Christmas gift...from 2007! There is a place about 30 minutes north of us that does Paraflights. Paul has been dying to go for quite some time. He absolutely loved it...even if it took a year and half!! LOL!







While we were there, we took the girls to Lewis', the local Farm Market and Petting Zoo. This place is always fun for the girls and they keep adding new things all the time. This time we paid for the girls to have wristbands so they could jump all they want on this huge 'pillow'. They also love the new tube slides that were put in this summer.







I'd say we had a pretty fun weekend. :)

Whose is bigger?

The smile that is?? Paul has been working with, pestering, bribing and cajoling Regan for some time now to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. She has been ready for some time, but the challenge has been convincing her of that. A couple of falls on the driveway took away the ambition to keep trying a few weeks ago.

This weekend, we were camping in Newaygo and another camper went by on her bike. Regan had met her and said 'that's my friend'. To which we responded 'Yeah, look at her go, on her bike with no training wheels. Isn't she six??'

Regan got that look of determination in her eyes and said she wanted to try hers again. Paul took the training wheels off, Regan put on a pair of blue jeans for extra fall protection and off she went!! Paul didn't even have to get her started. We had to do a quick lesson on how to brake, using the bike instead of your shoes and feet, and off she went!

She was so proud of herself and so were we. She really is a determined kid and once she decides to figure something out, she doesn't give up.

Old Meets New

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. I love the old vintage toys and this classic tricycle and the sepia tone on this photo gives the perfect feel of aged goodness to match the trike. Of course, the crocs are a dead give away that this is no antique!! LOL!



Hop on over to I heart faces and check out the other great entries! :)

Busted - I heart faces 'Birthday'

I had so much fun last week at the I heart Faces Silhouettes challenge, I thought I would give this weeks birthday challenge a try.

This weekend, we celebrated our friends Camden and AJ's 3rd and 6th birthdays on Sunday. It reminded me of this photo that I took last year of Camden snitching some frosting off his cake...not once, but twice!!

I am happy to report that he has matured a lot in the last year. This year, he used his fork to snitch, instead of his finger!! LOL!!


Be sure to head over to www.iheartfaces.com to see all the other fun birthday entries!!

(photo edited with Photo Basics action and Framed Ink style from ScrapGirls)

I heart faces - silhouettes

This is what makes enduring the long Michigan winters worth while...


Paul, Sage (on daddy's shoulders) and Regan enjoying a great West Michigan Sunset at Holland State Park.


I took this picture on Memorial Day, not knowing anything about the I heart faces challenge. My Launa told me about the silhouettes contest this week, so, I thought it would be fun to enter this picture!! Check out I heart faces for all the other great entries!


Thanks for looking!