BANG!

I know, I know. Christmas is long gone. We are off into the new year. Off with a bang, I might say. Like, oh, say, home renovation bang. Topped off with sick kids bang. Ya, BANG.

Here's the skinny:

New Year's Day: Hooray for 2011! Let's really make the most of daddy's long weekend and tear down that wood paneling in the living room that's been driving us nuts for the 5 years we've been here! It should be simple, really. Just take off the paneling and paint the wall behind it. Hmm. Back to the 5 years we've been here- in ALL the projects we have started on the his house in the past 5 years you'd think we'd have learned by now that there is ALWAYS some sort of surprise just waiting to pop out at us on the other side of the demolition. Why should 2011 be any different? Well, it's not. Take off the paneling and find...

...this:



Well hello there cyclops wall! There is just nothing that says "Happy New Year" better than a gaping hole in your sheetrock where a fireplace has once been attached. I'm not feeling very warm right now. Let's not even discuss the big gash Jacob got on his nose from said metal fireplace attachment thingy that is still trying to heal.


And really, why should someone fix it when they can just throw up some wood paneling to cover it up? Really?

So, now the project has quickly expanded to new sheetrock. Down it goes:


Up it goes (thank heavens for good neighbors):


What a great Mr. Fixer. Handy and handsome. Some guys just have it all.

But wait. New wall needs new paint. So, if you give a mouse a cookie.....

...if we paint the new wall, then mom will want all the other walls painted too. Out with the old! I was tired of just plain old white walls anyway. Let's tack on another good BANG to this project and paint the whole room! And if we're painting, that pink carpet will clash with the paint. Not to mention it's pretty gross. It's just going to have to go. And those base boards...well, they need some serious attention too. Ah, heck- let's just live at the Home Depot and have our paycheck deposited directly to them.

*sigh*

At this point there aren't any new pictures. We're still in the process. But, good things come to those who wait, right? That's what I tell myself anyway.

So, didn't I mention something about sick kids? Why yes I sure did. All 3 of my little cherubs came down with a cold. Not a little cold, mind you, but a horrible niagra-falls-out-of-the-nose-with-3-miserable-kids-in-bed-with-mom-and-dad cold. Of course my little 6 month old seemed to get the worst of it. I think we're at the tail end of it now, but BANG! That really added to the new year, let me tell ya.

Now to finish on a great note. Check this out:


My kids don't have to be squished together in a car anymore! I am loving my new van. Jacob is still getting used to the idea. He was POSITIVE that some ladies were laughing at him in the next car over at the stoplight the other day because he was in a van. I think he looks smashing. Nothing like a handy and handsome Mr. Fixit driving in a van. BANG!

Joy

I have to start with one of my favorite happenings over Christmas- Allie's reaction upon finding Santa made it to our house. The girls woke up and came into our bedroom, so we told them to head on in to the living room to see if Santa came. We could hear their little shouts of joy and then they came racing back in to our bedroom to let us know he had definitely made it. My little Allie stood in our doorway, the excitement just oozing from her little body. She held her hands out and exclaimed, "Santa has comed!" I can't even give it an adequate description of how darn cute it was, but it was the perfect start to the day.

Actually, the Christmas weekend started off perfect on Friday when my parents arrived. I was giddy like a little school girl all week just waiting for them to come. Having them with us was so nice. We haven't been with family during Christmas for 6 years, so it was perfect.

Thanks to Grandma, we read lots of Christmas books. When your mother is the elementary school librarian, books are a plenty.


Grandpa Kerry chillin' with the Ty man. Maybe Santa should have brought Grandpa some new Christmas socks. He he he. Love you Dad.


Of course the girls got to open their Christmas Eve jammies. And in perfect timing I might add. Take a gander at what Allie had chosen for her sleeping attire prior to opening the new jams. Yikes!


Santa definitely "comed" to our house this year. Mostly in the form of incredibly generous family and grandparents. Yes family, you spoil us every year. You are much too good to us. Here are the girls ready to crack into their stockings.


I tried to keep a good balance between taking a gazillion pictures Christmas morning and just enjoying the time, so I'll sum it up with a picture of what the girls had been asking for for the past few months: pillow pets. Unicorn for Miss Kenna and a ladybug for Allie Gal.


I think the smiles explain everything. Having children at Christmas is so incredibly delightful. We had such a perfect day just lounging and eating and enjoying each other. Of course the next few days left us with disaster clean-up, but it was all worth it.

For Christmas, Ty man got his very first tooth. Here he is chewing away on a piece of jerky. It's a great teething tool. Hopefully number two will pop up soon. He HATES it when I try to get a peek in his mouth, so you'll just have to trust that his sharp little chomper is there.

I think we're ready to welcome in 2011! As of yesterday, we are going to welcome in the new year with our new van. Well, "new" to us, but it should be a great little vehicle for us. Yes folks, we have joined the ranks of the family van. Jacob is still getting used to the idea, but I am really pleased with our purchase. Haven't gotten any pictures yet, but stay tuned to meet the newest member of the family!

Merry Christmas

I received this little story in an email, and really liked it. So I share it with whoever lands upon my blog to wish you a very Merry Christmas.



The "W" in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations -- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas. My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love." The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W." Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

And, I believe, He still is.

Amazed in His presence...

Humbled by His love.

May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His amazing love for us.

Christmas Elves

Our two little delivery girls:


And don't they look so proud? These girls LOVE helping to take things around to the neighbors, and Christmas gifts are no exception. This year they decided that they were going to sing too. So they grabbed a goodie, bounced their way up to the door, handed over the gift, then Kenna put her arm around Allie and they sang "We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a happy new year!" It really was so darn cute to watch. Not bad having little runners to do all the deliveries! Someday I will learn how to hook up my video camera to the computer to download my little clips. Someday. But by then, video cameras will be obsolete and there will just be some microchip you can slip in your eye like a contact lens and it instantly copies itself to your computer which will be the size of a nickel. Ya, someday.

Kenna's Party

Blog neglect.

But for very good reason.

Last week for some crazy reason I got the cleaning bug. Perhaps my nesting instinct was oh- 6 months too late. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I'm not complaining. Every major closet and cupboard in my house got a serious makeover. We're talking garbage bags full. I figured a pretty good rule of thumb was that if we haven't used it in the 6 1/2 years we've been married, then we won't miss it. Crazy how we hang onto stuff just in case we might need it. I just hope someone doesn't pick it up at the DI simply to store at their house for another 6 1/2 years!

So, as promised, here are the highlights of Kenna's birthday party (and whatever else has been going on while I've been filling up the garbage can).

Kenna tends to be a bit of a socialite, so she was so very excited for friends to come over for her party.

To break us in, we started with a rousing round of "hot potato." Gotta be honest- these little ones have obviously never played hot potato. It was a bit more of entertainment for Jacob and I than anything, but after a few rounds they got into it a bit more. Of course the camera didn't make it to this game.

While we had the music going, we just threw in another little game where the kids danced around until the music stopped, then they froze into random positions. It was pretty cute. Once again, camera was MIA.

Next up we played "Don't Eat Pete." The game where one person goes out of the room while all the others designate a little character on a poster board as being "Pete." The person then comes back into the room and starts to pick candy off the poster one piece at a time. Hopefully they get as many little candies as they can until they reach for "Pete" and everyone yells "Don't eat Pete!" Petty cute, they really get into it. And yippy doo, I finally remembered to take a picture! This is minus one little friend who came late, and two friends who couldn't make it. Boo. But it turned out great.


Next up we decorated gingerbread houses. I had rushed to the store in the morning to make sure I had the decorating tips to use for putting the frosting on the houses, and of course I did something screwy with the bags and they really botched. So, I just put the frosting into bowls and let them use knives. I LOVE it when I make extra work for myself. Love it. But, it turned out great and the kids loved it.



Allie, with a plate full of candy sitting in front of her- It's as though she could hear heavenly hosts singing above her. I tried my darndest to make sure these little bodies didn't go home needing detox from sugar overload.


Next was time for gifts. Is there any question this little lady likes attention?






About halfway through the party, we decided to have Jacob go hook up the pony cart to take the kids home in. I'm so glad he did, they LOVED it! It was so cute to watch. What a fun daddy!




Hooray for surviving our first official birthday party!

Now if you haven't yet met your quota of cuteness for the day, get a load of this: (take note of the major DI pile behind Ty in the first picture- told you I was crazy).





Oh you just wait, there's one more. Love him!


My favorite part? The fuzz on his head. I can try to gel it, but within an hour it's straight back up. He's got me hook, line, and sinker.

Brumphey Explained

After I posted about Brumphey, I remembered that I was going to explain about how this silly little Santa creature was named.

First of all, Brumphey was a random ornament that my mom was getting rid of, so I threw it into our pile. When I was pulling out our Christmas stuff, I decided that he would be our little helper. I figured it wasn't worth all the extra effort to find an actual elf. That's my incredibly practical side coming through.

When I introduced the ladies to Brumphey, I told the girls to come up with a name for him. Kenna quickly chimed in with "Brumphey." I have absolutely no idea where it came from, but sure, we'll roll with it. It's not the easiest name in the world, and poor Allie usually ends up calling him "Grumpy."

Hmm. Who knew the 7 Dwarfs were part-time Santa helpers?

Don't know why we couldn't have scored Happy. Maybe next year.

Brumphey

Meet Brumphey:


Brumphey is Santa's little helper. He showed up at our house a few days ago. Brumphey watches over Kenna and Allie to see all the good things they do so he can report back to Santa. He is magic and moves all over the house. The girls never know where they will find him next. In this picture he is on top of the microwave. I would have never imagined how excited the girls get over this! Whenever they see that he has moved, they squeal and go crazy until they find him again. It is so fun to watch them.

BUT...

...the other night I was lying in bed and had a moment that I think is probably shared by other parents. I had a twinge of guilt. I told Jacob that essentially I'm lying to my children. You know, the whole Santa thing. The magic of Christmas is so fun and wonderful, and I really want my children to experience that, but at the same time.....

Well, I decided that as fun as Brumphey is and whatnot, I am really trying to emphasize that Christmas is about Jesus. We can have fun finding Brumphey, but essentially we are making good choices because who we really are trying to please is Jesus and our Heavenly Father. The magic of Christmas is feeling the Spirit. Trying to be a little more nice, finding ways to serve and give to others. At the heart of those things is charity, the pure love of Christ. THAT is what Christmas is about, and why this time of year is so special. Hopefully that is what I can teach my sweet little children. And perhaps give myself a good reminder too.