Saturday, December 27, 2008

Update

  • Finally left Tuesday night around 7:45pm. Stove was fixed. Had to stop on our way out to buy a cord for the DVD player... A must on long trips!!!
  • Arrived at 5:30 AM CST. 24 hours and 10 minutes since I climbed out of bed. VERY short cat nap on the way. Drove half of the trip. Rain the whole way.
  • Mother in law spoiled and pampered the weariness out of us.
  • Lots of holiday traditions.
  • Friends, new and old, caught up with.
  • Ham, roast, fudge, cookies, pizza, peanut butter and Jelly, salad, lasagna...
  • Spoiled again by Aunt Lois who knows I LOVE Chilis!
  • Round 2 of gingerbread decorating. So glad for family willing to undertake such an ordeal with our 5!
  • Headed home today. Need to crash!!!
  • Pictures to come!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hodg Podg

Phew! Finally! I have a moment to set down! I think I'll post about Jesse's birthday. Let me find my Camera....... Oh, yeah, it's in the Suburban.

Hey! I LOVE that car! I need to post a picture of it...Oh, yeah...

Maybe I'll check my e mail. Opps, the laptop is in the Burb too....

Come to think of it, I'm supposed to be in the Suburban right now, headed out of state toward the in-laws.....

It has been a day! Each workday AM starts at 5:20 for us. Don has the stove to tend and his commute is a bit longer. I was working on his breakfast when I discovered the water was not working, frozen at the pump in the pole barn. The pipes thawed around 10:30 eating up time I had planned to be packing. Yeah God! Now I can do the dishes so they aren't waiting for me when we get home.

Things went pretty smoothly from there. The kids got out of school early, but I still had some loading to do.

Last thing on the list, check the wood stove. Long story short. It blew a fuse, and another, so Don is headed home to get it working before we head out. By the by, he doesn't have a vehicle at work. Thankfully my grandpa was in town and is picking him up. Again Praise the LORD!

Who knows when we will be leaving... or get there.

Oh, and the best part about my new vehicle is, drum roll please, REMOTE STARTER!!! It's the BOMB!! I can even be in the middle of a store, or church, or at the school and push the button, and TA DA! it's warming up when I get to it!!

About "Home Church"; when Jon heard Saturday night that we would most likely not be having church Sunday (due to all the drifted snow, and below freezing temps)he requested to be the "Pastor" for Home Church. As soon as he woke up Sunday AM he was busy fashioning a podium out of my step stool and a quilt rack.

After breakfast we all gathered in our living room area. Don to the "pastor's" left and Jesse on his right. The rest of the "congregation" was assembled on a couch.

Jon opened in prayer then helped Jesse read a verse, followed by his "sermon" on the death of Christ. Homer quoted John 3:16, and then Jesse asked to do his own "sermon". It was based on 1096 (the page #) and had something to do with pirates and God and a big fish. Don stepped in to check and see if he was talking about Jonah, Jesse replied, "No". Don thanked Jesse for his willingness to preach, and encouraged him to stick to preaching ONLY what is found in the Scriptures.... Too funny! Jesse was cool about it, and we said it would be easier when he could read.

After all the preaching and Don sharing why the story of the cross is important at Christmastime, we got to sing!! Everyone picked out a song and Jesse took the stage and was the song leader. He did a great job of starting on pitch! I was surprised "Bold As A Lion" wasn't requested, so I picked that for my song. (in case you don't go to our church, the adults are almost out numbered by kids, and on Sunday nights when we get to pick songs, there are usually multiple kids requesting that song. I think they like it b/c they get to shout in church!)

Jesse got to have the kids home for his birthday due to another snow day. He received Prince Caspian (the movie) from Mcs and bought a Playmobile pirate ship with his birthday $. He also received a football and a set of "armour" at my family Christmas. So, now he is strutting around in his armour and pretending to be Prince Caspian. He isn't allowed to throw the football in the house. I am sure the "Fantasy Football" games will be back with vengeance, now that he has a foot ball, once it gets nice enough to play outside.

I have some cute pictures to share...later. I'm very tired, and I think I'll try to get the kids fed so we don't have to make a stop and eat in the car.
I am very excited about our trip and all the people we will get to see! I am especially excited to get to meet this wonder mom for the first time!!

(I finally got my nails painted during this down time!)

Monday, December 22, 2008

Pause

I have much to write about "Home Church", snow days, and Jesse's birthday, but this video on a friend's blog stopped me in my tracks and brought me to tears. THIS is what it's all about!


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Saturday, December 20, 2008

Post #100

I had plans of doing some sort of 100 bullet points for my 1ooth post, but I want to share our day QUICKLY, so my 1ooth post post will have to wait

Yesterday was the Christmas for my side of the family. It was a GREAT time together. Sadly we had to cut it short due to inclement weather. Thankfully the kids have bunches of new things to keep them occupied while we are snowed in!

With all 22 of us in one room there were a lot of these shots...



Also a lot of candid, and posed family pictures. Too precious!

Santa Baby



Jessica and B (both newly out of braces)



Stephen and Ellen



B and Me




Don and Princess 1






Silly Sisters


Dad, Mom and all 8 sibs





If I had waited 24 hours I'd have had a picture of the whole family for Christmas...Oh well!


Us




Kaylee's first gift was clothes... She was NOT happy!

Don got a sweater and carried on the "clothes for Christmas pout"

Jessica DID like the sweater she received

Soup lunch. Yum!! Samuel hamming it up. That is a smile.... REALLY!

Don and Princess 2 (with her princess blanket)





Presents!!!


Kaylee and Samuel trying out the sled Aaron made

































Samuel FINALLY warmed up to Don. He almost fell asleep during the devotional, led by the baby of the family, Daniel. Samuel even initiated a hug AND kiss for Don when Don was leaving!




Friday, December 19, 2008

Photo Catch Up

Our first night in the basement

Benjamin David Moore
12-18-08


Paige Thanksgiving 2008
(all present and accounted for)
More Benjamin...
Thanksgiving night head wound..
Bruised nose 3 days later


First Christmas tree set up in our house
(Ceramic trees are a tradition on my side. Thanks mom for getting me one! Now to find the red bells for out side)

Finally! A real tree on December 11th! The smallest I've ever had, and also the most expensive. Menards only had 4 trees left, and they were scrubby. I found one at a nursery. It's from Wisconsin. I miss cutting one down, any size, for $10 in Michigan! Decorating

It is VERY hard to get good pictures of Marlene. Once the camera comes out she gets "funny".
I actually got a bunch of nice pictures of her in the last 24 hours. This one
had help from daddy trying to get a "tickle smile" out of her.
Our Christmas card picture FINALLY taken today.
I didn't think I was going to get them done, but we had a snow day today,
so I got time to organize it.
I was hoping to take a family picture outside the house after siding for our Christmas card...
maybe next year.
We got BUNCHES of snow last night! It is beautiful!
I am very thankful for 4 wheel drive!!

I Will NEVER...



......wear leggings! No matter how in style they are! My great grandmother may have said, "I'd rather be dead than out of style!" But I'd rather be dead than wear leggings!!!



And, I would definitely NEVER put them on my poor girls!!! (Unless of course they come in handy at school for under skirts, or I completely cave and loose all sound reasoning and decide they may actually be cute, for now)







P.S. they are super comfy....

Saturday, December 13, 2008

TGFF 2nd Edition

Thank God For Friends

(especially the ones who are technically "Equestrian Podiatrists", but also moonlight as plumbers)

Yeah!!! We have a shower!!!

Many thanks to our friends Pete and April Mc Cloud for spending the afternoon/evening with us hooking up our shower. Pete also took the initiative of getting our 2nd toilet set up and running! That's another BIG yeah!! Our mornings should go MUCH smoother now!!


I tried to get a picture of Pete hard at work, but I think his exact words to me were, "Sarah Dagum McCallum!!!! Put that camera away RIGHT NOW or I will undo everything I just spent the last 4 hours installing!!!" No picture was worth that!!!



April on the other hand, though not thrilled about being photographed, is gorgeous and a much better picture to post anyway!



I tried with the camera again while Don and Pete were hanging my OH SO CUTE shower curtain, but had to settle for this shot of Don "breaking in the bathroom". He was pretending, I promise!!!