Christmas Day

We went ahead and went to my parent's house on Christmas eve because we were afraid we might get snowed in.  Ti was up at 5:30 and the other boys got up around 6 and we opened presents.  Everybody got new pajamas that night for our Christmas Eve present except for Tim.  HE didn't want any new pajamas.  Obviously HE thinks you only need a couple pair of pajama pants.  BahHumBug.

We got the whole family a Wii for Christmas with a few games.  We are all enjoying it.

Out of four Christmas celebration we made out like bandits.

I got a new flash for my camera.  I haven't really figured it out yet.  I got a lens cover, bible, cupcake carrier, lotions.   My mom made me a backdrop to take the boys pictures in front of.  I got silverware (Which we really needed.  We only had one butterknife and most of the spoons had issues with the garbage disposal after 14 years of marriage.  Not for sure where I lose the knives at.) and a crockpot with a lid that seals down so you can carry food without it spilling.  Next time I bring someone soup I wont have to worry about it spilling in my car.

Tim got a cordless drill set for his big gift.  He also got a calendar and some tool bags and various tools to keep in them.  He got a few clothes also.

Noah got binoculars, knex, bopit, clothes, magnifying glass, books, ps2 controller,  American Idol for PS2 (which I am not very good at and it is quite funny), night vision goggles and some more stuff that I can't think of.

Andrew got star wars men, light saber, tent, tool bag with tools (which I think he really enjoying), books, a gorilla, costumes.

Ti got a rocking horse, toy that you play with standing up and it makes music, rattler, blocks, jack in the box, toy telephone and clothes.

The kids at least the older two really enjoyed all their presents.  Well I don't think that Andrew enjoyed the stuffed pig I got him because he said that Ti could have it.  I did catch him asleep with it this afternoon though.  Ti wasn't to impressed with his rocking horse.  I think it kind of scares him he did like the blocks and telephone though.  We celebrated with my family on Christmas day and Tim's family the next day.  We are so blessed with such a giving family. 

Look Whose Trying to Walk

Ti has got the crawling down and now is on to the walking.  Well at least he is pulling up and trying to scoot along the furniture.

We Might Have Another Star in the Family

Ti played baby Jesus in his school play.  Of course I thought he did a great job. 

Ti - "no autographs please"

Ti -10 Months

Better late than never.  Here is a few 10 months pics of Ti.

Proud Momma Moment

Well today was the big day for us.  The church play was ready to be performed.  I was so nervous for both of the boys.  I made both of them eat a sausage and biscuit for breakfast.  I thought it might last a little longer than a bowl of sugar cereal that they usually have.

The Cubbies sang two songs before the play began.  When we first started talking about the play I was going to let Andrew be in it also.  I soon realized that this would probably not work for him.  The practices were two to three hours long.  No napping on Sunday and that long of a practice spells lots of crying (from him) and threatening (from me).  Now looking back I am certain that this was the best choice.  He was a little sad about not being in it but He would have not done great with all those long practices.  He did get to sing with the Cubbie though.  I could tell that Andrew knew all the words to the songs and he really paid attention to do all those motions.  Praise the Lord there was no crying involved.  HURRAY 






Noah did great on his part also.  We only recorded his solo part.  He sang with two other kids earlier in the play.  I was so proud of all the kids.  They all worked so hard and they did great.  I heard that they counted the people at church and there was about 500 people there to watch them.



I asked the boys afterwards if they were nervous.  Noah answer was NO.  Andrew said that he was a little nervous because there was a lot of heads out there but he sang anyway. 

A Star In The Making

Noah has a little part in the Christmas play and of course we think he does great.  Here is what we videoed in rehearsal today.  Isn't it amazing how when it is your child that is performing it is perfect no matter how they do.

Christmas Pictures.

I had big plans to go to the Fayetteville square and take wonderful pictures with all the beautiful lights.  And then it was a windy 30 degress.  NO THANK YOU.  That just spells torture when you have a baby.  So we headed to the mall instead to get pictures with Santa.

They wouldn't let me take pictures with my own camera when we were actually with Santa but I did get a few in front of the Christmas tress they had set up where we were standing in line at.

This was the best one we got.

It just went down hill from there.

I had asked the Hesters to go with us so that I could be in some of the pictures.  I can't very well take pictures of the whole family if I am the one taking the pictures.

Aren't they cute

I really liked this one.

It was bring your pet night.  If I had known I would have brought Laci with us.  Oh well maybe next year.  All the animals did keep us entertained while we were standing in line.

I Quit

I QUIT
     I have decided that friendships are hard.  It is hard to make the effort to be nice.  It is hard to forgive when you feeling are hurt.  It is just plain hard.  I am going to be a hermit and never have to put out any effort or trust people ever again.  I Quit.

I QUIT
    I have decided serving at church is just too hard.  Really having to deal with all those people with all those different personality is no fun.  You are always going to have somebody mad at you or talking about you.  So it is all just to hard.  I will have my church at home. If the lost want to know about Jesus they can just come knocking at my door and ask me.  I am more than willing to show them the way.  But all this church stuff is just to hard.  I Quit.

I QUIT
     I have decided that raising children is hard.  Really does it matter that they don't obey a word you are saying unless you are screaming at the top of your lungs.  It is just to hard to try to help them learn to be decent people and to make them not fight constantly.  Maybe they are training to be a football players with all those tackles or maybe a boxer with all the swinging going on.  Is there a sport for pinching????? Surely they can learn how to act on their own.  They don't really need anyone to guide them.  I Quit

I QUIT
    Taking care of a house is just to hard.  Does it really matter how much dog hair is on the floor.  I am sure this is just protein for the baby right.  Do the clothes really need to be that clean to wear them.  Green on each knee on every pair of jeans is good.  It adds color.  This is the time for greenary right?  It is just to hard.  That egg shell in all the cupcakes that you are having to make for the parties is just protein.  It ranks right up there with dog hair.  Do we really need groceries.  I say that bread and butter should surfice for a meal.   That ring around the toilet just adds color to the bathroom.  I am all for a variety of colors in the bathroom.  Pink for the toilet and brown for the bathtub and white for the mirrors.  Colorful....Colorful.   I Quit.

I seem to want to say "I Quit" a lot lately.  You might of course never want to give up.  If I was perfect I would never want to give up on doing good too.  Unfortunately I am not.  It seems that friendships, church work, the house and children are a lot of work and sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it. 

This morning God smacked me upside the head with this verse.  2 Corinthians 9:8  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

I guess I need to be praying for a little of God's abundance in all my "good work".

Giving A Little

Well in trying to teach my children about giving we tried to put it into practice a little.  Of course anytime you give you always get more in return.

A while back I posted about our visit to the nursing home.  While we were there the kids wanted to take one of the angel wings and get a gift for someone at the home that would other wise not be getting something for Christmas (proud mama moment).  The first lady we received I found out before I  got the gift that she had been transferred (not for sure what that means).  Anywho so they gave us another name.  Mrs. Williams.  We got her a new gown and house shoes and a stuffed animal that the boys chose from their own stuff.  She had put a gown and a stuff animal or baby doll on her list of wants. 

After school one day we made some cookies and off we went to deliver our gift.  This was probably my most favorite part of this Christmas season so far.  Mrs. Williams could not hear very well so everything we said had to be said shouting.  You can only imagine what we looked like talking with her at a decibal that would cause hearing loss for most people.  I was laughing so hard by the end of our visit.  Mrs. Williams has dimentia(sp?) her short term memory is not good.  She was for certain though "that we were not to leave the cookies we had made for her out in the waiting area because someone would steal them".  The problem was she didn't remember where her room was.  Finally one of the nurses offered to take them to her room for us.    She asked me repeatedly if I was married since I had these three kids with me and where I lived at.  One of the funniest parts is that she loved to give kisses.  You can just imagine my boys excitement over having to let her kiss them.  They actually were pretty good about it even Andrew let her kiss him once.  Anyone that knows Andrew knows that this is a big deal.

Big Stuff

We have a child who is ten months old that got his first tooth and learned to crawl in the same week. Time is flying by.

Who knew all we needed to do is put a Christmas tree up and our baby would start crawling like a pro.

Ti is 10 months old. He has one tooth and has just started to crawl. Which all came about last week.  He is a very happy baby. He is taking about two naps a day now. He doesn't consistently sleep through the night yet. He does sleep better at home than we are away though. We might never spend the night away again. It is pretty much torture for everyone involved. He eats two or three meals a day. He hasn't refused to eat anything yet. Sometimes I have to mix some fruit with the stuff he doesn't particulary like. He is loving those baby puffs right now. Anything he can put in his mouth himself.  He is wearing 12 to18 months clothing. We hardly ever put a pair of shoes on him so he is not to use to them.   He isn't really saying any words yet except maybe dadadada.  Which I am sure means mama I love you and you are my favorite person in the whole world.  (loosely translated)

He is a joy to be around and we are so glad that God has blessed us with him.




I will post 10 month pictures as soon as I can get him to sit still long enough for me to do it.  Seriously, I have to chase him from one room to another these days.  Maybe I should take sleeping pictures of course the noise would probably wake him up.

Christmas Tree 2009

One of my favorite part of Christmas is this nativity set.  We have had it for many years and the kids still love to play with it.  Yes, some of the figurines have been chewed by babies and dogs but still I love it.  I have already caught baby Jesus in Ti's mouth this year.  Usually we have a few extra figures that are set up with it.  Such as a big gorilla or a power ranger,  who knows maybe even a crocodile or two.  If anyone reads my blog that has small children I would definitely recommend a child's nativity set.  I got mine from the Bible Book Store but I think that Little People have a set out to but it is just a little pricey for me.  Playmobile has one and it is only about 20.00.  This was one of the best Christmas decorations that I have ever invested in.

Can you see the teeth marks on the donkey.  At least he still has all of his legs.  I think the sheep might be missing an ear.

Andrew was a great helper this year with setting up the Christmas tree.  Okay, I admit it you won't catch my kids with clothes on at our house even when it is winter time.

Ti loves the stocking

Tim at least had the game muted and Christmas music playing while putting up the tree.  I guess it was a compromise.  He does all the decorating for Christmas except for putting the angel on top of the tree.  That is my job.  I am very grateful that he is willing to do the decorating part.  I don't enjoy that part.

Everything has got to be organized.  lol  Tim likes precision.  Have you seen the lights on the front of our house.  Very evenly spaced.

I didn't help with the tree but I did make cookies for everyone to eat while they decorated.

Just a little bit of fighting with the garland.

Ti kept on trying to pull the nose off of Santa Claus.

This snowman is activated by movement and sound.  OH THE JOY.

Putting up the Christmas tree is hard work

Every year I get a new ornament to put their picture in and put the year on it somewhere.  Someday when they have their own tree I plan on giving them all of their ornaments .

I happen to love how our tree is decorated.  We have no theme and a variety of ornaments.  Of course some people might say it is in a little bit of disarray with all the variety but oh well.  It has "us" written all over it. 

My One Job

The finished product.  Thanks to Tim and the boys for doing such a great job.