This Christmas was a different one for us. We spent the normal Christmas Eve with my family but that was about the only "normal" thing we did. Usually K's family comes up and stays with us and his oldest brother's house for a couple of weeks, but this year his Mom got a new job and couldn't get that much time off work. They were not able to be here for Christmas Day, so when we heard of the community dinner that a couple from church was putting on we decided that we would volunteer there. It was great! We had a large group of volunteers (most of them coming from our church!) and we had the kids sing Christmas carols, one of the boys played his guitar, a few played piano, and a few of us sang. I sang the song that I had sung at our Christmas Eve Service at church. PM picked it out, and I loved it. It was called The Christmas Star and was by the Winans, I believe.
Before the community dinner we had gone out with a couple friends to the Mission in town for breakfast. They had a HUGE breakfast! You could have omlettes, scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, lots and lots of choices. After the dinner we came home to rest a bit and went over to A&A's for dinner. They had a semi traditional Italian Christmas dinner. It was delicious! We had an Olive Garden recipe soup, antipasta, stuffed shells and chicken parmesan, and lots of cookies and candies. I ate way too much! We played some games after wards and talked alot. C's sister and brother in law came in as a surprise from Pennsylvania and they taught us a new domino game, Chickenfoot. We played that for hours! I bought a set of dominos for us on ebay and I got them today and was a bit disappointed. I knew they were used, but the seller put one domino from a non matching set in there to make it a whole set and the tin that they were in was really beat up. Ahh well, guess I just have to go to Wally.
K's parents made it up at about 2:45 on the 28th, and the 29th we had the H family Christmas. It was alot of fun, one of his brothers brought his Wii and we played games almost all afternoon. And of course I took plenty of pictures!
I did ok in the Wii bowling, I took first one game and second in another, but the most fun was one that I am sure not alot of people can say that they had the joy of during their Christmas celebrations.....I got to box my mother in law! Ok so she knocked me out, but I did put up a fight dropping her to the ground first! Gotta love those Wii games!
I found out that my niece and nephew know me well...they got me a digital picture frame for Christmas! We put a 2G card in it and have loved choosing the pictures to go in it and watching them as they change in the frame!
New Years was also different. I didn't have to work New Year's Eve day so I stayed home and did laundry and cleaned up the house a bit. We were just about to head out to take some pictures and check out a couple things at the church when PM called and invited us to their place for food and fun, as well as inviting K to ride along on a trip to Wal Mart. We accepted on both and ate too much that night as well! C had fixed breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, a bunch of dips for chips, and shrimp. Yum! We sat around and talked for awhile. J left early and we tried to get the boys down (PM and C were babysitting their grandsons too) so we could watch a movie. That didn't go as well as we had hoped, so C took the boys back to A&A's and the rest of us headed downstairs to watch some tv. We ended up watching a guy jump the length of a football field on a motorcycle and set a world record. C came home after one and we sat and talked a bit and finally K and I headed home to get some sleep.
New Year's Day I woke up around 8:30 and just could not go back to sleep! I grabbed a shower and headed downstairs to do some ebay shopping and soon after K came down and took me out to get a cappucino. At one we were back at PM and C's for meatball sandwiches. Delicious! We sat around the table and talked some more until L had enough and wanted a story read to him (PM and C had the oldest of the gradsons again, A&A went shopping and he didn't want to go!) so the rest of us went downstairs to watch some football. PM fell asleep, K fell asleep and J headed home for his nap so C and I watched football and talked until the guys woke up. We snacked a bit more and watched the movie "Amazing Grace". I loved it!!! We talked for a bit longer after that and headed home around 9:30 since all four of us had to work in the morning, but C and I first made plans for Thursday as it looks like we both may have the day off.
This year has also brought me a new hobby/collection. PM and Collen have given me a small Precious Moments figurine for the past couple of years and I decided that I loved them and with the money that my Grandparents and my Parents have given me for Christmas I would shop ebay and buy some more. I'm having alot of fun, and it has made for alot of interesting conversations with PM and C!
Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day! Wishing you all a blessed 2008!

You Are Thanksgiving

You are a bit of a homebody who enjoys being in the company of people you love. It doesn't take a lot to make you happy. You're enjoying life as it is. You have many blessings in your life, and you are grateful for each one. You believe that life is about what you *do* have. You feel like you have enough of the good stuff. What makes you celebrate: Family, friends, and the changing of the seasons. At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The host of the party On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Spend so much energy preparing that it's a full time job

What Holiday Are You?

You Are 44% Shy

Although you live a pretty normal life, you tend to be a fairly shy person. Many situations make you feel uncomfortable, and you sometimes find your shyness hindering your life.

How Shy Are You?

You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament

Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace. You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions. You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected. It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional. You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others. While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well. At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything. You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams. You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.

What Temperment Are You?

You Have Low Self Esteem 64% of the Time

You tend to blame yourself when things go wrong, regardless of whether it's your fault or not. You're anxious to please others and rely too much on their opinions. Learn to please yourself first, and your confidence will soar.

How is Your Self Esteem?

You Are Blonde Highlights

Men see you as flexible and versatile - you fit in to every situation You've got the inner glow of a blonde, the intensity of a redhead... And the wisdom of a brunette.

How Blonde Are You?

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is in a very different place (both physically and mentally) from where you are right now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

We must be in for a snowstorm or something. The three boys who are normally my sweethearts and so good for me are just ORNERY today! I can't wait for 5:30!

Your Old Fashioned Name Is...

Cecily Raudell

What's Your Old Fashioned Name?

You Are 76% Happy

You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world. Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up.

How Happy Are You?

You Are 24% Weirdo

You're a little weird, but you'd be even weirder if you didn't have a few quirks. You are just strange enough to know it, but nobody else seems to notice your weirdness. That's because, deep down, everyone is a little freaky!

Are You A Weirdo?

You Belong in Greenwich Village

Avant garde and bohemian, you're quick to adopt new ideas and lifestyles. And while you're a bit less weird these days, you still have a "live and let live" philosophy.

Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?

You Scored an A

You got 9/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

So.very. tired. must. get. caffiene. We had the funfair for Awana last night, we didn't have as many kids as normal, but it was Halloween night, what do we expect. Afterwards we had to put the auditorium back together (we had moved all the chairs out to set up the "booths" for the funfair) and then we had music practice. Actually two music practices. A small group from our group practiced for a song that they are going to do for a Veteran's Banquet coming up on Saturday evening. Then we got to practice. We went through the songs a few times, talked and laughed, and even did a few extra songs just for the fun of it. It was about 11 when we left and 11:30 before I got to bed and I had to get up before 6 for kids to come at 6:30. Naptime can't come soon enough!!

Things I never thought I would say until I started dealing with kiddos....A, get that pig out of your nose!

Ugh crabby kids making me crabby! I can not tell you how many times I have heard the word MINE screamed at the top of someone's lungs!
On the plus side I have finished two big projects. I have at least two more to do yet, but it is sure nice to have two done!

I have gotten back into my goal of Bible reading. My goal is to read at least on chapter a day. I have now read for 31 days in a row, 32 after today. And I have finished the book of Matthew. I am still reading in Psalms and have now started Mark.
We went to an Awana leaders conference near Des Moines on Saturday. We had to get up at 4:15!!! I was so excited (I knew what to expect, I had gone last year) that I could not sleep on the way down and we were all talking and supercharged from the conference that I could not sleep on the way back either! We got home around 8pm and then I got a call to go work on a printer so one of the kids could print something for school and that went quickly, but then I still had Sunday School to work on! I was so tired on Sunday!!!
I have a subject that I want to do a Counsel time on from the conference too, I think it may end up being a two part deal. And we are working on trying to get some of the devotional books that they had at the conference to hand out to the kids when I do my Counsel time.
It was great! Twelve of us went and we all came away from it so excited and pumped and ready for Awana!
It's a busy week with kids...I have the baby four days this week. I am trying to get as much done today as I can. More laundry and some work here on the computer. I just hope the kids don't stage a revolt!

Well, we survived the weekend last weekend and our friend's wedding was beautiful. The only glitch that I know of was my fight with the second video camera....I found out about an hour before the wedding that I was to tape from the back....I think the video camera won. :( Oh well, they had the first, and most important one up front with another friend taping so I don't feel so bad, but still feel bad all the same.
It's been a long week with kids, I'm glad it's almost over! I can't wait for this weekend to be over though. That will have to wait for explanation later.
I am so behind in laundry and house cleaning....that will occupy part of the weekend...and then Tuesday my inlaws are coming up for a working visit. I just hope that mil settles down and is less detail and every second planning oriented than she has been on the phone with us for the last week or I may just be asking to move in with someone else for a while!

Another rainy night last night. Joy. And we lost power for a bit again. I'm really getting tired of all this rain! Awana starts this week too, and we have our big pizza picnic out at the park....hopefully we can still do that.
K is going in for another dr appointment this afternoon with his asthma. He really hasn't had much of a voice for a week now and he is still using the inhaler every four hours so he is going to have things checked out. Part of his problem is that he expected to feel better instantly...well he didn't go in to the dr until he was pretty sick, so I told him it is going to take him a while to feel better too....men.
It's a slow day today daycare wise...just me and little A. The rest of the week picks up a bit. I have the new family the rest of the week, I am just praying that it goes well.

Another post for k8's scrapmonkey contest...if you haven't checked it out yet go over and take a look...it's pretty cool!