Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year's Eve!

Six New Year's Resolutions Worth Keeping
(as posted in the Calvary bulletin on Sunday)

1. Forget the past and honor God more.

2. Live for Christ in the world.

3. Trust God with a strong faith.

4. Remain faithful to your church.

5. Witness to the lost.

6. Cultivate the talents God has given you for His glory.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

MEAT ! ! ! ! !

Every year, there is a gift exchange at my aunt and uncle's house on Christmas Day. My cousin, Sara, got Braden's name again this year. When she asked what he wanted for Christmas, Braden replied, "a ham!"
Ham was his favorite thing at Thanksgiving and obviously, he's an eater.
He changed "ham" to "meat" and guess what? Meat is what he got for Christmas, a whole bag full! Braden got a 1 lb. bag of beef jerky, 2 large containers of Slim Jim, a small bag of pepperoni-somethings, and a salami roll of deer meat and cheese made from a deer Jared had killed recently.

He was beyond thrilled and paraded his bag-o-meat through the house!




Saturday, December 29, 2007

Christmas Morning

I don't have many pictures from Christmas morning. I videoed most of the morning so that Grandma and Grandpa could see Brady open his gifts. I did take a few and I have a few more to post from later in the day.

Braden with the last of the Boys v. Girls series. Thank you G'ma Peggy & G'pa Gordon!

Dunk the Duck Carnival game from Phil & Haley. (Oh, how I wish this game had a volume!)


The boys' new video rocker. This was one of our Day-After-Thanksgiving purchases.


This is my gift from G'ma & G'pa. I had said I wanted either new dress pants or curtains for the front room. So G'ma made me a window with curtains and a mini pair of pants with some cash stuck inside! How creative is that?!?!?! ---Jon and I found curtains last night at Penney's. I need to go to Wal-Mart today and get new rods and 2 sheers.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

I Don't Look as Pale This Way


Daddy & Dallas

Daddy's reading a dog book...... with the dog. (ha!ha!)

Please, Mom, no more pictures!

Seriously?

Is it too much to ask that we take a nice picture together? Here are a few of the better outtakes Braden took after church on Christmas Eve.

Smile for the camera!

What were you doing?


Grrrr! You guys are both NUTS!


Well, that's not too bad, despite the stockings growing out of our heads.

Jon - Christmas Eve

Jon looked great on Christmas Eve! Don't you agree?



This one is from Christmas Day at Uncle Bill's house.

Pictures of Jon and I will follow later. (Thanks to our photographer, Braden.)

The Not-So Good Pix

Braden looked so nice this Sunday when he sang in church that I told him I wanted to take a few pictures before he changed. Here are some of the sillier pictures.....


The Good Pix

Here are the pictures I took that came out well. You can't tell how much he complained the entire time!



Wednesday, December 26, 2007

#41

I ordered Jon a few items from mavgear.com last week. They weren't actual Christmas presents, so he's already wore his shirts several times. He was so excited!

His favorite: the Adidas commemorative 06-07 MVP tee

My favorite: the Dirk '07 All-Star tee


And the clock for the game room.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Braden & Dallas

After playing in the snow.....

Last Weekend....

we had approx. 5" of snow on the ground. This weekend, it's all melted, the yard is a mud hole, and it's been raining. I don't foresee a "white" Christmas this year.
Here are a few pictures of Braden being silly out in the snow while Jon was out searching for Dallas. She came back, on her own, about 20 minutes before Jon did.

Go Mavs!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Our Tree

I put up our tree Thanksgiving morning, but didn't finish decorating it until the afternoon AFTER Thanksgiving. Last year, Braden and I had gone shopping and purchased new lights, garland, and ornaments.
The week after my tree was up, I went to a Mary Kay party at Ali's house and loved her tree way more than mine. It was so much brighter! So........... the next day, I pulled everything off the tree! I moved up all of the lights and added another strand. I put up the garland (and left it on this time). I put up my old purple and silver ornaments too! Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

This is just a ball covered in purple feathers. Purple is my favorite color! This has been my favorite since I found it way back in college.

Jon's parents sent this one to us this year. Obviously, it is now Jon's fave!


Braden has tons of ornaments on the tree that he has made over the years. It was tough to decide on just one to take a picture of, but I finally decided. Someone made these for all of the kids in his class last year.


Penguins are big! Jon loves penguins so there at over half a dozen scattered throughout our tree. I think this guy is the cutest.


And here is the finished product!


***Please note that the tree has been moved since I took this picture. I couldn't see it from the living room couch. Friday night we had a party, so Thursday night I had Jon drag it across the room. It now is next to the stairs, and makes me smile from the couch where I spent most of this weekend, coughing! I would feel better it I could stop coughing. Then my head would stop hurting. And maybe my voice would come back!!
**Also, after Jon moved the tree, I had to again take the ornaments off the tree and rearrange! If I don't put up a tree next year, we'll all know why!

White Christmas?

Maybe not, but it sure is white this morning!

We were supposed to get 12" of snow Saturday. We only got about half, but it was enough to cancel church today. Jon will think it's a good thing (I've been coughing on-and-off most of the night), but Braden's Sunday School class was supposed to go caroling at the homes of shut-ins this morning. I was excited about this new experience for him.

Ah well! It appears the Lord would like me to work on laundry today.

Braden is supposed to have a soccer game at 3:30. Last week's game was cancelled due to ice. I wonder if this week will be cancelled due to snow and wind. And do I get a refund if they only play half of their scheduled games?

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Annual Gingerbread House

Last week, the boys spent some time decorating their gingerbread house. It should be noted that the icing bag sprung a leak early on. Jon, after getting angry, had to use a knife to spread the icing.
It's not a pretty house, but it's a tradition at our house, so..........



Saturday, December 8, 2007

Whirly Twirly Week

This past week was a blur!
Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal/busy. Braden had hip hop on Monday and a million things on Tuesday. Then Tuesday night we got 3.4" of snow (said Jon).
Wednesday morning began with a snow delay soon to be followed by a cancellation. Soon this would be followed by a phone call from the Children's Director at 1st UM. Apparently we had a Seeds meeting scheduled for lunch that day. Due to the snow, we would still meet but for pizza. Braden and I went and he was forced to sit at a table with the 3 Exmen girls (4th gr, 1st gr, and preschool). It was simply painful for him most of the time. Then they hit it off! We went home. He rushed me to get his clothes changed. He ran across the street to have a snow war/fort building afternoon with the Exmen girls. I finished shoveling and then also went across the street to visit with Lesa. (I should have been at home baking/cleaning/doing laundry/you get the point.) We had a nice visit and Braden didn't come home until after 5pm! Thursday Lesa and I were having our Cookie Lee jewelry party, so I spent the rest of Wed evening baking and driving Braden to/from Awana, until I ran out of eggs. (Pix of the party below)
Thursday: snow delay! Preschool was crazy. Then I had to rush home, let Dallas out, rush to Brady's school and work their "Santa Shop" until school was out. Then we rushed to the grocery to get the eggs needed to finish the cookies. Rushed home to bake. Loaded up all of the food and headed to Lesa's. We had a great party, but I didn't walk home until almost 11pm!
Friday morning: snow delay! Preschool was crazy, and we were even missing 5 kids! Rush home and let Dallas out. Rush to Brady's school to work "Santa Shop" again. Rush to bank. Then home for a late lunch at my way messy house. Back to pick up Brady. Over to the Exmen's to collect table, food, etc from previous night. Brady comes along and stays until after dark. Lesa walks the weasel home where she then trips and almost crashes into my tree. We walk down the street to be nosey. (There was a house fire or something a block down.) Jon and I stay up late watching Oceans 13.
So today, despite the laundry and run up to my classroom, I had a fairly relaxing day.


The Cookie Lee Party........



Food was my area. We co-hosted. Lesa cleaned her house and opened it to our guests. I provided all of the goodies! Jon made queso. (There was NONE left!) I baked white chocolate chip cookies, peanut blossom cookies, caramel pecan chocolate chunk brownies, and a chocolate peanut butter cream pie!

We had a great time. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite the cold weather. And Lesa and I got several fabulous pieces of jewelry! I highly recommend co-hosting. You invite more people and only have to do half of the work.

Keep us in your prayers this coming week. Jon and I are having a couples party next Friday night! (And I need a babysitter.)

Monday, December 3, 2007

Science Rocks!

Several weeks ago, the boys and I went to Toledo to have my rings inspected/cleaned at Jared. While we were there, we had dinner and did a little shopping. Brady brought his wallet and found two science kits at Borders that he decided to purchase. He and Daddy have only used them once. Maybe I should try and be a better mother and help him build another something. (I just hate science!) But you know he won't do anything all by himself!

Here they are as Brady reads the directions. (I think they made a motor.)

A close-up. The red coil in the center was spinning rapidly.


He's such a cutie..... some days.


And he's pretty easy on the eyes. Don't you think?