To all my friends here on Xanga.  Thank you for being my friends.  I wish you a very happy week especially Merry Christmas.  I may be here on and off.  My kids are out of school for break and we are just enjoying hanging out with each other.  We are making cookies and fudge today.  Tomorrow we are making gingerbread houses.  And then we are having a bunch of teenagers over so we can go caroling in the neighborhood.  YAY  Oh.. and it is my birthday tomorrow, but I’m not worried about that.  I’ll be having much to much fun with all the kids in the house.  Blessings to all of you!

Have a happy day!

Recently I was chatting with a teenage boy that is a friend of my daughters.  We were talking about school and the play he was in with my two girls and foriegn languages.  He is a nice kid.  Our whole family likes him.  Somewhere during the conversation about foriegn languages, I mentioned that I had spent a semester of college attending a Japanese university and I knew a little bit of Japanese still. The next thing he said was a bit surprising, but I took it as a compliment.  He said  “dinner party at your house!  I’ll bring my girlfriend and we can have a date.”   So they are coming for dinner next week.  After dinner I’ll teach them how to introduce themselves in Japanese.  Should be fun. 

The gift in there is not the dinner I’m going to make or even the phrases I’ll teach them.  The gift is the fact the he felt comfortable enough with our family to invite himself over for dinner and bring his girlfriend.   I may not know all the teenage boys in the world, but I’m pretty certain that they don’t just invite themselves over to people’s homes that don’t also have teenage kids their same age.   I felt honored that he wanted to come spend time with our family.  Also a little confused that he was calling it a date with his girlfriend since there will be six of us at the table.  He said any group of less than 10 people qualifies as a date.  HA!  Interesting definition. 

Another gift came in the form of a surprise visit from our friends that moved to Wyoming.  They called and said they were going to be in town for a certain event and they wanted to bring our kids with them.  So our girls went with them to go see Disney on Ice.  WOW!!!  So much fun for them.  They got to sit in a fancy suite.  Big sister was most impressed that they had their own personal bathroom in the suite.    First class treatment. 

Sometimes, the best gifts aren’t things at all!  We are trying to instil that in our own kids, especially now in this season of the year.  We get gifts every day.  If we just open our eyes and pay attention, we will see all the fabulous things we have been given.  See if you can find ways to give something that doesn’t cost money.  You will be surprised at how happy that can make you and the receiver.

Have a happy day!

Tis the season of excess and wastefulness.   Spend a lot.  Eat a lot.  Run yourself ragged.  Fret about what you ate or spent.  Go to party after party. Decorate to the hilt.   SO much to do and we let ourselves get bogged down with all of it. 

Over the last several years, we have chosen to scale back on things.  Not our cheer, just the stuff.  We still decorate, but not every single inch of the house (inside or out) is decorated.  We still go to parties, but not ALL of them.  We still give gifts to each other, but not truckloads of them.  We still make yummy treats, but only one or two not 15.  The interesting thing I’ve noticed is that, we are still enjoying the holiday time.  We are still having fun, making memories and celebrating. 

I think we’ve been lied to.  Advertisments and culture in general want us to believe that if we don’t have Martha Stewart decorations in our home with all the baubles from Madison avenue under our perfect tree, we are somehow missing something.  That is a lie.  I have ornaments on my tree that are made solely out of glitter and glue.  I have a tube of slice and bake cookie dough in my fridge.  I have only one or two gifts for my hubby and kids.  They will still be happy. 

We are going to invite the theatre kids over one night for a caroling party.  That will be a blast.  And you know what… I won’t have to clean my house or make a pile of cookies or even decorate because we won’t need that.  We will just sing and stroll around the neighborhood.  It will be grand! 

It is pretty simple really.  It’s about relationships, not stuff. 

Have a happy day!

My mom and dad are going to be at my house today!  YAY!!!!   They are staying for Thanksgiving. 

Have a happy day!

I slept in today.  Well, ok, I didn’t sleep in.  I got up and dressed and got the children off to school… and I went back to sleep.  It was glorious!  I have not been sleeping well lately and I think I just hit the wall and crashed.  I feel much better now. 

My girls are both in a show. It is so much fun.  I love helping with that.  It has been keeping us pretty busy. 

My parents are coming for a visit and to see the play and be here for Thanksgiving.  So, I need to start preparing for that. 

Did I mention I slept the morning away.  I feel so much better.  Lack of sleep really wears me out.

Have a happy day!

 Has it really been more than a week since I was here?  Where did the time go?  I’ve been teaching school, running kids to and from rehearsals, finding stuff for a party, planning and throwing a party and well… life in general.    Big sister has finished the painting of the rose.  It looks great.   School is going well for both girls.  Their show opens a week from Friday.  WOW!!!  So just to catch you up a little.. here are some photos of our life lately. 

This is the finished painting.  She roughed up the stem, added a contrasting color to the edges of the petals and defined the glass a little more.  Not to bad in my estimation.

This is me, hubby and little sister dressed up as the Weasley family.  Arthur, Molly and Ginney Weasley.  If you are unfamiliar with this family, well… they are good friends of Harry Potter.  The best part was.. I didn’t have to spray my hair red like little sister and hubby.  HA!

This is big sister.  She dressed like Raggedy Ann and one of her friends dressed like Raggedy Andy.  This was for our church party.  For trick or treating she dressed like Professor McGonagall, a teacher at Harry Potter’s school.   Not that you can really tell from the picture, but her dress is a dark green velvet and OH so pretty on her. 

I suppose that is all for now.  I hope you have all had a great week and maybe I’ll be back again soon. 

Have a happy day!

 Here are the most recent pictures of the painting big sister is working on.  She says there is still more to do, but it is getting done.  I need to check on the color.  This seems a little dark to me and I thought it was supposed to be lighter, but maybe not.   Anyway… here it is. 

She wants to add some definition to the rose and make the glass a little more visible on the right side.  I like it.  I think she is doing well.

Have a happy day!

We had mashed potatoes for dinner last night.  They were tasty.  We grew them here at home.  Somehow that made them taste a bit better.  I took some pictures for you to see.  Some of them were really small!!!  So when I peeled them, I had to make sure and not peel my fingers.  Take a look.  The photos have not been edited at all and everything is exactly as you see it!

These potatoes I actually got at the store.  I needed to supplement what I had grown to make enough for dinner.  Peel on and peel off!

These are the ones we grew.  PURPLE POTATOES!!!   Peel on and peel off!

Going into the pot, you can really see how purple they are next to the white potatoes.  There were only two little ones in there, but I wanted to show the contrast.    Then I mashed them.. and they were a lovely shade of lilac.   

I love the variety of things God has created.   This was fun!  The kids really liked this.  Little sister was hoping we could save these purple potatoes till Thanksgiving, but we wouldn’t have had enough.  It was just perfect for the four of us.

Have a happy day.

So I haven’t been here.  Anything wonderful happening?  How are you?   I’m fine.  Busy teaching and doing life.  We are all healthy here.  Big sister had a great birthday.  Now I’ve got to think of little sister’s birthday.  I like teaching school.   It is fun!

Have a happy day.

 Today, my first born child is 13!  An official teenager.  The years have just flown by.  Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Today is also my sister’s birthday.  She is not a teenager any more.  She is actually in Brazil today scoping out the area to move as a missionary by next summer hopefully.

Today, my brother is getting married in the Philippines.  I hope there will be a lot of pictures.  I didn’t get to go.  That is sad.  But still a happy occasion.

This is a big day in our family. 

Have a happy day!