Christmas 2007

This year when I asked the kids to write their letters to Santa listing what they wanted, my ulterior motive was to have a list to give to Peepaw and Granma. It proved helpful with Cole and Annalisa's lists, but my Jacob does have a great imagination! He not only asked for the Lamborghini that he could drive, but as I mentioned in an earlier blog, he was also dead-set on Super Powers! He didn't care which ones, he just wanted Super Powers! Sadly, that is not something that Santa delivered to our house on Christmas Eve, but I honestly don't think he even noticed because the only thing he mentioned that he didn't get was a bike---you know, one of the "last minute, 3 days before Christmas" add-ons to the Christmas list! We got to spend the days leading up to Christmas with Peepaw and Granma, and the kids really enjoyed the time with them. It snowed and the wind was FREEZING, but still we went out and enjoyed the town. On Christmas Eve we had a special service at our church, and aside from me allowing my kids to hold those tiny candles and get wax dripped on their little hands, thus burning them during the singing of Silent Night (it wasn't silent anymore!) it was very good! Hey, at least they didn't catch their hair on fire while their Grandaddy was praying---Jeffrey!!! On Christmas Eve Ben and I were sleeping on a cot and the couch in the living room (because we were nice enough to give up our bed to our poor old parents) and Annalisa informed us that if Santa came down the chimney we were not to talk to him or acknowledge him in any way or else she wouldn't get presents. Man, that was difficult since I have been waiting all my life to see the guy in action, but I kept my eyes closed and slept! Before we went to bed, Cole wrote a message in the snow that said "Santa, stop here!" and I think Annalisa put her name in the snow too so Santa would know who he was stopping for! Now, when we were kids we woke up early and counted the minutes until 6:00 a.m. which was when mom and dad would wake up.....but my kids have never done that. They have slept as late as 8:00 on Christmas morning, and even though I am sometimes up before that I have never had a problem going back to sleep so they can rest. But this year, Dad and Lynn were up around 5 getting their showers and stuff, and at 5:45 I went to check on the kids, who were still sleeping soundly. I said to myself that I had a good hour and half to 2 hours before they would get up, and went back to sleep. Exactly 15 minutes later they were ALL by the tree with Peepaw and Granma looking at everything and still trying to wake up--they had a little extra help getting up so early! We did the birthday cake for Jesus and then opened presents. During the opening of presents we realized that it was SNOWING! I knew we would have a white Christmas because there was already snow on the ground, but we had an ACTUAL "it's snowing!" white Christmas!! It was beautiful! We took Dad and Lynn back to the airport after lunch and said our good-byes, and all of the kids were asleep in the car before we got there!

P.S. I Love You

I have to take a minute to give a shout out for the movie P.S. I Love You. This was the best movie I have seen in a while. Lissa called me up yesterday, and after having been cooped up in her house all day with a sick child, wanted to go catch a chick flick. We drove in 9 degree weather with snow on the roads to watch this amazing movie. Once we got there we loaded up on junk food and made our way to the top row of the theater. I thought it would be a tear jearker, but I had no idea it would make me cry from laughing so hard. I missed some of the lines of the movie because I was laughing so hard at what was happening. Before the movie was halfway over, I knew it was something I will definitely own. If you haven't seen it (and you are a girl!), grab your best girlfriend and go watch this funny, tear-jearker of a movie. Oh, and did I mention it has good looking guys in it too!

Sledding With Dad and Lynn

Dad and Lynn....Peepaw and Granma....came to visit us for Christmas. They got here late (midnight) Thursday (Dec. 20) night, so I sent Ben to pick them up from the airport while the kids and I slept. The kids didn't know they were coming, so Peepaw and Granma woke them up for a minute when they got to our house and told them "hi!". When Annalisa woke up on Friday morning she told me that she had dreamed that Peepaw and Granma had come to our house and her prayer was answered....she had been praying for them to come see her for Christmas. I then took her out to see that they really were here, and she was so happy! On Friday it snowed pretty hard and was very cold, so on Saturday we woke up and went sledding! The kids had a blast, but I think Dad and Lynn had just as much fun, if not more. Below is a video I put together of them sledding. At one point Cole is sledding towards a tree, then turns and continues down the hill. We finally got Jacob to do some sledding, and you can see him at the end sled over a ramp that was made by some other kids. I am glad he finally had fun on the hills. I will write again soon about Christmas, but enjoy this video for now!

What's Up....

We have been having lots of fun these past few weeks, and this week we got more snow! It is 18 degrees outside and still snowing as I write this. It snowed a bit last Saturday, so we all got on our snow clothes and made the trek to the school where there are big hills for sledding! The school is about a 1/2 mile from our house and the snow was blowing in our faces the entire way there. Ben tied the inner-tube to Annalisa with "Caution" tape, so she could drag it behind her fairly easily. Once we got there, Annalisa, Cole, Ben and I had a blast sledding down the big hills. We went fairly fast too, but Jacob was pretty scared and he would stop himself everytime, so he never made it down the hill. Cole had icicles on his eyelashes and a small wind burn on his cheek by the time we left. We went home, turned on the fire, and made hot chocolate so we could warm up. It was a true winter day!

Today the schools started an hour late (trust me, they would have been CLOSED in Texas!) and Ben had to start shoveling the driveway at 8:00. He was finished right when it was time to go at 8:40. That is a super work-out!


Last week Cole was in his first play....Colorado: A Land Through Time. He was Francisco Coronado and he did really well. Check it out at Feeling Froggy!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we were much further from family than we usually are. The only other time we have been far away was when we lived in Washington. The kids knew that Nana, Papa, and Susan were coming and had been anxiously awaiting their arrival for weeks. They got here on Thanksgiving afternoon, and were here in time for snow! We spent 3 days with them and it was a blast. The kids got to do their Christmas shopping on Friday and we all got our Christmas tree on Saturday. Ben and I even enjoyed a date night on Saturday while Nana, Papa and Aunt Susan took the kids ice skating. We all watched Enchanted, which is a GREAT movie! I hope they stayed warm enough because it snowed most all of the day on Friday, even though that wasn't in the forecast! They left on Sunday afternoon to head down to New Mexico to visit Jamee, Jason, Kate and Josh. I am glad they got to be here with us for worship on Sunday morning, though because that was an important time for Ben to share with his family. I am very glad they made the trip and came to see us! Annalisa cried when they left...she already missed them, but a visit from Uncle Bub that evening got her spirits up again. Jeffrey surprised me by coming in with John on Friday night (the day after Thanksgiving). I really had no idea he was coming, but I knew John was, and Jeffrey's phone call to me Saturday afternoon got me very suspicious! A few minutes later....after Melissa lied to me (I am thinking about forgiving her, but I am still not decided yet) they showed up at Wal-Mart and I got a great big bear hug from my favorite brother! Jeffrey and John came over and let me cook dinner for them on Sunday night, then me and Jeffrey, John and Melissa all went to the movies Monday night to watch The Mist....not scary at all, but it was filmed on Cross Lake so we couldn't miss it. It was a really fun time and I am so glad I got to see Jeffrey! On Wednesday of last week I had to fly to San Diego for a Canon event for work. It was really nice there and warm. I had an appointment at the spa on Thursday and I got a 50 min. full body massage....nice! Then I got to spend the day outside in the hot tub reading my book. It was very relaxing. I flew home Thursday night and saw snow on the ground when we landed...my tropical vacation was short but sweet! It has been a good past couple of weeks, and I look forward to the Christmas season when we will see more family!

P.S. I asked the kids to write their Christmas wish lists and my favorite thing was on Jacob's list...he asked for super powers. When I asked him which one he said he didn't care, he would take any! Then Melissa told him if he got the flying super power he would have to take her for a flight, he looked at her and very seriously said, "Then I would need super strength." My boy isn't going to get too many dates with that kind of honesty!!