Fa la la la la la la la la

Once again the Lord has showed me "the error of my ways". Today as I am doing my route, listening to the radio, I was thinking through my to-do list. Quite frankly I have had a bad attitude. And if I am being honest with myself, it has been going on for years at Christmas time. I have tried to keep it hidden from everyone. I knew that it was stemmed from repressed feeling from the past. I wanted to think of myself as a "scrooge" and heaven forbid that anyone else would think that of me. But as Christmas approaches I cringe, and then it becomes stress, then fear and anxiety, and then bitterness. I procrastinate everything that has to be done and it all compounds.Finally after years of being overwhelmed by it all, I broke. Cari and I talked and although it helped to release that secret, I didn't let it go. She would tease me a little, razzing me with Ba-humbugs, but she prayed for me.

Today as I was listening to the radio, they were talking about Christmas candy and cookies. What their favorites were and recipes for forgotten favorites. It made me think of my mom and how she has always made Christmas candy and now (tomorrow actually) we are going to our 2nd annual Candy Makin' day. Where she is trying to pass the tradition down to us girls.

A 14 year old girl calls into the radio show and says that she is enjoying the "cookie talk" because she has never had "Christmas cookies". This is the first year that she has gotten to celebrate because her step father wouldn't allow their family to celebrate. She was sooo excited. The DJ's were listing off all the things that she needed to do this Christmas. She needed to have eggnog, drive through a lights display, ham for Christmas dinner, candy and cookies, She needed to peek into a package under the tree because all little kids try it at least once. She would just giggle and say okay, okay, as the list went on.

It worked, as I found myself overwhelmed in empathy, I started to tear up. God used that story to make me realize I didn't hate Christmas, I was just letting the commercially driven, financially inadequate, greedy selfish thoughts crowd out the wonderful things of Christmas.

So I went to buy Christmas cards. I wasn't going to send them out. But I think I've changed my mind.

Warming my heart

As I sit here freezing, I am opening some pictures that was just sent to me a few minutes ago. These were taken this summer, by Greg, Travis's boss. We went to Branson for Trav's company picnic. It was boiling hot that day. Here's the proof. Poor Lilly was dripping sweat from every pore. We all were. But it just isn't as cute on the rest of us. She is miserable in this first picture, but she is doing fairly well when it was time to eat.

Look at this shot of the drool. I don't think she could get any hotter. I think I can hear panting.

I'm pretty sure that she is trying to tell me that she would prefer the island weather.

There's my happy girl. Did someone say brisket?

Happy Thankgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. What a crazy busy year it has been and we are still have more to come at Christmas. But it is always great to remember the blessings that we have been given. We spent the day with family, my dad's side of the family that we see once a year at Thanksgiving. I have to giggle at the day that we had getting here to spend the weekend at my parents house. First off before I got around to brushing my hair or teeth...(yikes) my next door neighbor locked her keys in the car at Wal-mart. She called and I raced over there. As I am rearranging the car seats in the car for her and her kids, I catch a vision of myself in the car window AHH! But anyway I take them home to find her spare keys so I can take her back, I walk in my own home for a second and I hear Luke saying "oh yuck..Moooom". So I go to the bathroom where he is and the plumbing is backed up and it has been in the bathtub and on the floor. So I have Travis call a plumber and I go take Melissa back to her car. We get all of it taken care of and after waiting all day to do laundry, we finally get on the road to Sugar's and Papa's. We are halfway to KC and we have a blowout. Yes a flat. The ironic thing is that we were going to buy a new tire yesterday, but because of the unexpected plumber we decided to wait. Ha! Somethings never wait. So I call mom to tell her not to worry, we are back on the road and she says "well maybe you don't want to come because I have the flu". So we debated and decided that we would go ahead and come to KC. Luckily it wasn't the flu but a bad reaction to Tylenol.

Needless to say I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful my family and their health. I am thankful for my sweet dear husband, that rolls with the punches well. I am thankful for friends and neighbors that we can call on in our times of need. But most of all I am so thankful for Jesus and the peace that passes all understanding. When we are hard pressed on every side He keeps us from being crushed. I pray that through this year we are always mindful and more thankful for everything that He gives us.

Fabulous Blog Award

My friend Cari awarded me with this! Fabulous Blog Award Thanks!

Of course these things come with a few requirements...
I must list 5 of my favorite addictions, and then pass this award along.

So here it goes....

1. Coke. a cola that is. Sad but true I have given it up a million times, but even today I gave in a had a coke on the way to Scammon...this morning...for breakfast.

2. Paper crafts. More specifically the tools to make the crafts. Oh the money that has been spent on the tools!

3. Blogging. nough said.

4. Sweet little girl things. I have to say that little boys are ripped off. Girls come with the cutest stuff and it is harder to resist.

5. Wow I am having a hard time with this last one. Please I can think of plenty but they aren't anything that I would want anyone else to know about! hehe (I try to keep some of my OCD issues as private as possible! LOL!) I am going to concede, if I am allowed. If I think of something later I'll let you know.

But in the mean time I pass this award onto Shannon, http://shannondawn.squarespace.com/journal/ your blog is Fabulous!

Weekend Hangover

It's not a secret, that in my younger days I could "party" with the best of them. Staying up all hours of the night. Go to school, work and out with friends, repeat. I lived on hardly any sleep and never really thought about. I have given up on that life, needless to say, for more important things. But I never thought that I couldn't "hang". Well this weekend I met my match. Friday night was our annual Coffee night at the church. The women's ministry hosts an evening of fellowship, food and COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE! Kim and I thought that it was a great opportunity to take our craft stuff up to the church with us and after everyone went home we could craft something cute while our caffeine buzz wore off". Our first mistake was underestimating the ability of the other ladies to "hang". The last one to leave left at 12:30 am.

Of course we were still feeling great, our caffeine was kicked in. Second mistake, underestimating the caffeine euphoria. Third mistake was starting our craft project at 1 in the morning. But we started the cutest calendars, by the way, we are not finished with them yet and I'll post it when it's all done. We left the church at 4 am yes 4 AM!

I had made some cinnamon rolls for snack and had almost all of them left. So when I walked into the house, Trav was awakened and I told him that I had made breakfast already so don't wake me up. ha! Lilly did the honors after a total of 3 hrs sleep. My father in law was coming over to look at our plumbing. I needed to get around and get the dirty clothes off of the bathroom floor anyways... I started Saturday tired and it snowballed through the weekend. I am just now getting rested up. Staying out until all hours was not as fun as it used to be. Let me rephrase that... Staying out was a blast, paying for it the next two days stunk!

Happy Birthday, Jen.

Today is my little sister's 35th birthday. The said thing is that her and her husband are in New Hampshire and I can't tell her in person. She said that after living in Tucson AZ for forever that she was ready for a climate change. I hope that it is all that she is hoping for.

Happy Birthday Jen-Jen. Hope your new diggs in New H is great. And I hope that you are snuggled in for the winter and it snows up to your eyeballs. (That's what she wants, really) We were so cool back then, weren't we? Love you sis!

Yum yum!

This yummy concoction was our breakfast one morning at the B&B. Cari and I got the recipe and this pic is Cari's shout out to the Pioneer Woman. I made it this morning for a baby shower. It received great raves. I do want to add that when it says use a large bowl for your eggs and cream mixture, grab a bowl bigger than that one. Enjoy!

Crème Caramel French Toast


*Any type of bread may be used in place of the cinnamon raisin. Ex: cinnamon, cranberry raisin, blueberry, banana nut…

Serves 12
2½T corn syrup
1C brown sugar
¼C butter

1 ½ lbs. cinnamon raisin bread (16 slices)

6 eggs
2C milk
2C cream (half and half or whipping cream)
1/3C sugar
1T vanilla
½ t salt

Unsweetened Whipping Cream, whipped (to cut the sweetness)
Fruit to top with

In saucepan, combine corn syrup, brown sugar and butter. Melt until smooth and bubbly. Spread in a 13x9 glass baking dish. Overlap bread like dominoes on the syrup. (I cut the slices into thirds twice, crumbled them on top of the caramel.)
In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread. Cover with foil, and refrigerate overnight.
Bake @ 350F for 50-55 mins, then uncovered for 10 mins more. Toast should be puffy and golden, Cut into 8-12 pieces and invert to serve. Whip up some cream to top and accompany with fresh berries.

Playlists

Playlist are fun but the particular site that I got this player from is hard to search for music. You basically have to know what you want because the browsing is scary.

So help me out, What's your favorite song? Title and Artist.



"My One and Only Love" was the song that Travis and I danced to at our wedding.(Not the Sting Version) The music at the reception was old jazz love songs, greats like Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole. The classics. Aaaahhh, It was so beautiful. I'll have to find a picture to post.

The Last of the San Antonians

Isn't it pretty?

See that yummy bucket of delicious crab that is sitting in front of me? Thanks to the fact that my son is VERY allergic to shell fish, that will be the last bucket I see for awhile. Just one of those sacrifices that you make when your a mom. Goodbye sweet crab.

We found this authentic Mexican bakery "deep in the heart" of SA. The prices weren't as authentic. But it was fun.

Our last day. We finally found the Japanese Tea Gardens. It was beautiful. Very peaceful.

Bye SA thanks for a good time.

More Pics of Our Trip

Just thought I would share some more photos of San Antonio.

The first day after our drive in, we stopped at The Filling Station, and this photo doesn't leave any of the rest of the decor out. It's really that tiny, one person at a time please. But it was great food.

Did I say that we had a wonderful time once before??

At the back of our B&B, on the riverwalk, pretty enough for a picture.

On the way down

To break up the drive down to San Antonio, we decided that we needed to stop outside of Dallas. Cari and I had predetermined that if we going to stop for the night, we might as well stay cheap to save us some cash along the way. Being fairly unfamiliar with what your money will buy you, we stayed at a Motel 6. Which I have renamed "Motel Sick". I very sure all Motel 6's are not as disturbing as this one happen to be. And I have to add that some of the guests were the most disturbing part. As they say, I think that we have learned our lesson: Sometimes twenty more dollars is a far better value than twenty less dollars. If you know what I mean. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures of the fine establishment to share. They might have confiscated the evidence as we checked out. ha ha

Well we made the best of it and put it behind us as we drove south. This is one of the quirky things that we stumbled onto as we stopped for gas. A giant cougar. Luke's school mascot is a cougar. Photo op! Poor thing must have lost his hand in a hunting accident.

I'm back in bloggerland!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long absence. But I'm back and although I don't expect life to slow down as we approach the holidays, maybe I can find some time to keep up better.

Well Travis and I are home from San Antonio Tx. We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary with our best friends that we have also known for 10yrs ago. So it was kind of a double celebration. Our trip was awesome, I can't think of a bad moment. I think that traveling together with friends can be a true test of your friendship. So I have to admit that I was nervous about the unknown. But we had the BEST time. Travis kept us in stitches the whole time. I don't have the pictures of the trip yet I'll post them later. I have some pics off of the website from our B&B that I'll tease you with for now.

This what we drove up to Thursday morning and I was so excited to find out that it was exactly what I expected. It was a beautiful home and it was expertly decked out with fabulous antiques. This was our room. The Elder room. Cari and Alan's room was beautiful as well, it was a little more Asian inspired. Which I was secretly jealous of. jk. Well there is a sneak peek of our trip. Actually I have to go pick up Luke from school, so I'll blog more tomorrow!

Obama speaks on Religion

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXcvbnzNIjg

VOTE!!!

Today was my first day volunteering for the Republican Committee's Office. Taking surveys for the party to get a pulse for how the election is going. I have to say that I am surprised that I was surprised with some of the responses that I received. People seem to be clueless to what is at hand. If you listen to the media, they would have believe that the country is so outraged at the way GWB has governed us that we have only one logical option for the presidency. I realize that people are busy and the last thing they want to do with their day is to talk to me about the election. But I certainly got the impression that people who had an opinion, aligned themselves with party that would by no means would support their needs. One lady was a Pro-life democrat, (which don't get me wrong I am happy she was pro-life) but you just wanted to say, Realllly???

Obviously I don't want to sound condescending, but people, live your life with conviction. Know what matters to you. Support the issues that are important for you today, because our kids will live with our choices tomorrow.

This message was not approved by John McCain or paid for by the Republican Committee's Office.

Go McCain and Palin!

Fun in the sun!

This weekend was Charis' 3rd birthday. It was a sandcastle theme. Oh what a cute party. Just look at that cake. Cari had her father in law build a stand up sandbox like Luke's. All the kids were standing around and little Lilly was just tall enough to peek her nose over to see what all the fuss was about. It was a perfect day to be outside with the kids. The neat thing about the party is that is was supposed to be a swim party, but with the hurricane bringing in all the bad weather, Cari had to change almost all of her plans for the day. But when the day was over and done I couldn't have imaged it being any better!

Three Cheers for Johnny B!

This past weekend, some great friends of ours hosted an open house. They have been working to remodel their house for a couple of years now. Also for as long as I can remember, John has been stockpiling woodworking tools for the day when he would have a workshop to put them in. Well that day has come and how neat it was to see a dream come to fruition. For us also, as it turns out, John had some pieces that he has handcrafted through the years to raffle off. Bryan their oldest just went off to college and this was his "Lego table". We won it! Luke was so excited. On the way home he says "thanks mom for winning it for me. Your the greatest mom ever" like I spent a hundred bucks on it. We rearranged his room and he set up two seats. He says "one for me and one for Lilly" which John also made for Luke. He was so excited about it he sat there and did his homework. Here he is just before bedtime tonight, playing with his army men. So he has been there pretty much all night. Thank you John for the awesome table. I can see that it will be used ALOT!

Learning too quickly

Today for breakfast, my son pulls out the french toast sticks out of the freezer. As he is putting them on his plate he asks me "are you going to Walmart today? I asked "why?" from the living room where I am getting Lilly dressed. Luke lifts the box and raises his eyebrows like a 14 year old and shakes the empty box at me. He says "french toast sticks...." like duh. I thought to myself are you kidding me. Travis is famous for this, for example, Travis is fixing a sandwich and he'll say, are you going to walmart? but what he doesn't say, is that we need bread. So I get back from walmart without the bread (of course) and he'll say I thought you were going to get bread! What!!! Seriously! The next ten years of reading their minds flashed before my eyes. Just another reason why God makes them so cute at first. So you won't give them away when they are annoying! hah!

here are some more

Luke is 7 today!

Even though we had a party earlier, Luke's actual birthday was today. Because his birthday fell on a holiday this year we celebrated on his "Gotcha Day". Today was low key but fun. I wanted to look back at some cute pictures and remember him as he has grown.

Home for the holiday

Well Kansas City isn't my home, it is where my parents live. They moved up there together when my younger sister graduated from high school. It has been a long time, 16 years I think. But when you are with the ones you love it always feels like home. We went up for Labor day weekend and to celebrate Luke's 7th birthday with my parents. Lilly hasn't spent much time there, I think this only her second visit. She did ok, except for the whining, which was her response for not being in a familiar place. But when she was on, she was on. She was very entertaining. She had us all laughing our socks off.
Mom wanted to take Luke shopping on their own, to have some alone time, so I was dropped off at Archivers. Which was fine with me. I love that store. I really wish that we had one closer. But they were off to BestBuy and he got a DS game and a Mp3 player. His dad and all his cousins got a Mp3 player for Christmas last year and I think that Luke has wanted one ever since. So he was ecstatic. But other than that it was a quiet weekend. We enjoyed some good food, great company and the kids for our holiday. I hate for our time together to be over, so it makes long for a time when we can be closer without all the miles between us. And unfortunely I forgot the camera, but mom got a few shots, maybe she'll email to me. hint hint.

L I L L Y!

Today while Lilly napped and Luke was at school, I actually crafted!!! Yay me. Lilly has had these letters hanging in her room over her crib for some time now. I had them all white with pink flowers on them, which was cute but kinda boring. I kept telling myself that one of these days I would spice them up. Finally, they are spicy. So I thought I would share my excitement.

Back Into Our Routine

We are starting to get back in the routine of school once again. At the end of the first week, the Dad's got together and decided they would treat the boys to an afternoon matinee. The Clone Wars. Was it really for the little boys? I'll let you decide. But the topic of conversation at our house for a week was STAR WARS. It is so a guy thing. Then after the movie a couple of the boys, Hayden and Blake, came over and played the night away. Hayden spent the night, but Blake had to go home. Maybe next time.

Over the weekend, when we had moment to ourselves, we were listening to some Christian music through the satellite. And Luke took Lilly and started to dance with her. She loved it. Here is the dip, which caused Lilly to just cackle. Just one of those unplanned spontaneous Luke ideas, that he is famous around our house for. I'm glad I had the camera handy. Love it.

First day of school

Yesterday was the first day back to school for Luke. He is in Mrs. Cruse and Mrs. Smith's class this year. The teachers share a class room. Hayden is in his class so he is happy about that. Here he is in front of the new van.

Wahoo what a fun party. We celebrated early on Luke's "Gotcha Day". We just figured that it would be easier to have a party before school started. Plus Gotcha days are special too. We had a X-games/sk8r party. So everyone brought their scooter, roller blades, skate boards, or bikes and they all had a blast. In fact I don't have a great picture of all the kids because I couldn't hardly keep them in the pavillion long enough. Our guests were Selah, Bryson, & Charis Aberle, Joseph & Emma Shaner, Blake Tash, Tyler Cox, Cael Yenzer, Thomas Doughtery, Elizabeth & Isaiah Kingery, Isaac Hibbard, Hayden Sommer and Aaron Skiles. Then their were some siblings there too. I think that it was one of Luke's favorite party's. Although we had a great time, one if the little girls that came with her brother, had an accident and broke her arm in two places. She was on her scooter and fell. Oh I hate that. I felt so bad. Hayden's mom is a nurse and was a huge help with everything. Other than that it was a lot of fun.

Family getaway

Travis had a company picnic at Celebration City a couple of weekends ago. We decided at the last second that we would go up at spend the night before and do some outlet shopping in the morning before the park opened. Since it was on a whim, really we didn't take into consideration the heat. It was so hot that day. We would duck in to any place that had air but it felt as though the air conditioning wasn't keeping up. But we made the best of it and had a good time, spending quality family time.


Lilly didn't enjoy the chair very much!
Look at Luke's sweaty head. He is in the tea cup.