Hey, you sunk my battleship!

Ben and I decided to play a friendly game of Battleship this afternoon. Actually it was kind of a tag team event, as Sarah played half of the game too. Can you believe they beat me? They did, those goofballs beat me fair and square. Here's the proof:

I don't know though, these don't look like very innocent faces to me!

The Cat is Out of the Bag

So, I've tried to hide this fact for some time now, but after our trip to Chuch E. Cheese last night I can hide it no longer. How this picture- taking machine knew this about me is nothing short of a miracle. Here you have it:

Yes, you read that right folks, I am a hip-hop dancer. As the following picture proves, I have old skool style, can "Pump Up the Volume", have done a little street dancin' and I can definately get giggy wid it.
So there you have it. I feel so much better now that I don't have to hide this anymore.
(Okay Tasha, you can stop laughing now! I mean it, stop it!)

The After Christmas Post

I know that's an original title and all, but it is what it is. Anyway, after spending the day yesterday cleaning up the mess that Christmas morning can leave behind, I can finally sit down and write something.
We started our celebrating on Christmas Eve at Eric's parents house with all of his family. We had a great time playing games and opening gifts and being together. Oh, and we ate...a lot.
The kids' great - grandma made them all a blanket. She has been working on these for some time now. She has had to stop for illness between her and Eric's grandpa, but she finally got them done. The kids all love them and Ben carries his all over the house.

Everyone was able to be there all day except for one. The kids had to wait until 4 to open presents because that was when Cindy got home, so Eric's mom decided to let them have their stockings earlier to hold them until then.
We have 8 nieces and nephews on this side, all but two are age 10 or under. Then you add in our 3 and I'm sure that I don't have to explain the volume in the house. The one thing that did ring out over all the noise was the song "Leroy the Red-Neck Reindeer" because, well, we are a classy bunch!
I can explain this picture in one word, "ORNERY" Can you see it?
Santa came for a visit too. This was the first year that he came to the house. The kids were pretty excited about that.
On Christmas morning, we were awakened by child #2 around 5 o'clock A.M. We sent here back to bed for another hour. I know, we're mean like that. I asked the kids yesterday what their favorite gift was.

We went to my parents house on Christmas Day. On this side of the family we have 10 kids, 8 of them 10 and under. The kids love getting together with their cousins to play. And again, we ate. It's hard to think that in, say, 5 short years this picture will have 5 teenagers in it.

The highlight of the day was the Heelys that my mom and dad got for the older kids. They spent most of the day in the garage learning how to use them. Ben chased them around with a remote control car because he's kind of ornery like that. He was a little blue that he didn't get any, but I thought he was still a little too small still. He didn't think so.

On Christmas night, My sister, mom and I went to Indianapolis and picked up our cousin from the airport. He came up here with the hopes of seeing snow, but so far all he has seen is the dirty piles in the parking lots! We are looking forward to having fun with him over the next week.

After all is said and done, we are so thankful to the One that came to this earth to be born to die on Calvary for the sins of this world.

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Romans 14:11

You better watch out....

Santa Clause is coming to town!

Have a Blessed Christmas

We've been a little under the weather this week. Three of us have had some form of this sickness that is going around right now. We are hoping that we are all over it by tomorrow.
I finally got everything wrapped and now I have to finish Cassidy's scrapbook. After that, I think I will be ready to relax a little bit.

I saw this on Bigmama's blog and I thought that it was so beautiful. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Merry Christmas!

welcome to our world-nativity

Pride, it came before the fall...literally

A few days ago, I wrote about this trip that I took with my girlfriends last weekend. On this trip I got to do something that I haven't done for about 15 years. I got to buy a pair of jeans in a size 8. I was so excited and so proud!

Monday morning, I decided to wear them. I put them on, glad that the whole box of Good & Plenty's that I ate on the way home hadn't done any damage. And as long as I'm coming clean, I ate a Reese's Big Cup too. In my own defense, I did run on Monday night...out of guilt.

On with the story. I came downstairs, put on my boots and went into the bathroom to do my hair and take a gander in the mirror before I headed out the door. I thought to myself, "You're looking pretty good in those size 8 jeans, girl." (I know, I know, it's so bad. I am so embarrassed that I am telling this.) So, I proceeded to walk through the kitchen and into the laundry area. As I stepped down the one and only step, I got the heel of my boot caught on the step and fell flat on my face.

This is the first thing that I thought of:

Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before the fall. (KJV)

Thank You Lord, I got the message...as did my knees and elbows. ;)

What's Cookin'?

It's been crazy around here since about 2:45P.M. yesterday. Tuesday is always my busy day, with choir and piano. Yesterday we added an ear doctor appointment and a Children's Choir concert, in which I was also singing. For their 20th year celebration, the LCC had an adult choir of parents and friends of the children that are members. It was so much fun to sing with the kids. They are so very talented. They have a top-notch, I-take-no-hooey-from-anyone director. The kids respect him because he demands it, and they understand that.
Somehow I ended up on the very top riser (8 steps high) and I was feeling a little light headed and was hoping that I didn't fall of the back because it was a LOOONNGGG way down!! I made it through. It was so exciting.
Oh, and I would have pictures, except my hubby forgot the camera. He had a good excuse though. When he stopped at the house to get it, he walked in and the dog had been in the trash and on the table (what?) and had knocked over garlic butter and it was a mess.

Fun times in our home last night, fun times! By the way, anyone want a poodle??

We took this picture after we got home.

On to today. We have a caroling/chili supper tonight at church. We decided to make taco soup because it's pretty close to chili. So, here are the ingredients:

It's pretty easy really. You just dump all of those cans and packets of stuff into the crock pot, juice and all. Next you add the hamburger, browned. Cook for 6-8 hours on low. Serve with nacho chips and shredded cheddar. YUMMY!

Then we made something with these ingredients. Can anyone guess what?

Did I mention I have to have music when I cook? I love music and I usually end up doing some dancing to and from the sink, stove and fridge. Please tell me that someone out there does that too...Alana maybe?Suzi? Oh well, if you don't then you need to try it. It's great. This is what I was listening to:

I love this CD. It has some really good Christmas dancing- around -the -kitchen tunes on it. The whole thing is wonderful. I got it here. Their new CD is really good too.

This is actually the cook in the family. He's better at it than I am. He's a really good candy thermometer reader too! And boy, can he stir! (he doesn't dance though)

This is one of my favorite kitchen tools. It works really well with Crisco, when I'm making cakes.As it turns out, it works well with peanut butter too!

I thought that you might like to lick the spoon.

Here's the finished product.

That was pretty much an hour out of my day. I actually got some wrapping done this afternoon.

What? What's that light I see? Oh, it's the end of the tunnel--yeehaw!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I hope that it's alright for me to use a previous post for Tiny Talk Tuesday. This will always be one of my favorite papers that Sarah brought home from school. (Some of you may have already seen it!)

A Bloggy Little Christmas Tour

So here is my cozy little house decorated up for Christmas. I started out in the kitchen.

Another view of the kitchen
Our good friends gave us these mugs last year. I bought a paint pen and wrote our names on them because heaven forbid we drink out of the wrong one! That's Eric's favorite plate. Hmmm... wonder why?
This is what you would see as you walk into our home. This is the top of our computer desk/scrap booking/homework/blogging area. Obviously, my husband thinks it is also his toolbox. (note the screwdriver on the books!) By the way, I'm sitting here right now!
This is our living room. As you can see I am watching some quality television. This was the day that Anita Renfroe was on Dr. Phil. She sang her "Total Momsense" song that day. I have decided that the game cube is just part of the decor. You win some, you lose some.

This is the piano and stairway...obviously. As I am sitting here typing at the computer desk, this is what is behind me.
I love this Christmas tree and I LOVE this little "pilot"
The entertainment center with my favorite snowmen and kids. I guess I should have turned the room lights of so you could see the white lights in the holly better. Sorry!
When I look at this I am thankful to Jesus for coming to earth to be born in a manger...
... and I am thankful that the story doesn't end there.

Merry Christmas!

Digging Out

The snow held off, and I think it was just for us.

This was it. The weekend we've all been waiting for since October. I think that I have been spoiled lately. I have been able to spend more time than normal with my friends, and it's been fun.

This weekend we traveled to Michigan to see Phillips, Craig and Dean and do some serious shopping. What's more fun than spending four hours with your friends in a van listening to PCD, VeggieTales and Jake Fabry? (wink,wink Suzi) A couple hours into the drive we saw some outlets and well, you can't pass those up now, can you! So we stopped and shopped.

Speaking of shopping, Tasha and I cleaned up at The Children's Place outlet when we happened upon tights for .19 a pair.

Yep, you read that right, 19 cents.

They were regular $4.50 a pair, marked down to 99 cents and then they rang up at... you guessed it, 19 cents. I called my sister, the one with the twin girls and she was SO EXCITED! She is always looking for a good deal since she has to buy double. I got her 33 pairs of tights in 3 different sizes for $6.65. I ended up with one extra pair for some reason. Oh well, for 19 cents...who really cares? This was one of the happiest moments in my shopping career. I was so proud!

After we got to our hotel and cleaned up and changed, we headed out for supper. We decided on Macaroni Grill. Our waitress was Tina. She reminded us of Debra off of Everybody Loves Raymond, or the hot tub lady off of Saturday Night Live, we couldn't decide. She was awesome and so kind as to take our picture.

Next, we headed of to the concert. This was the best concert yet. They sang so many great songs. We ended up in the second row, which was awesome. What a wonderful time of praise and worship, mixed in with some fun and laughter.

Here's Randy, singing "Sleigh Ride"

After the concert, we got to spend some time with Randy and Dan. These guys are so nice. Here is a sample of one of the conversations:

Tiffany: So Randy, can I ask you a personal question?

Randy: Sure, okay.

Tiff: What's it like being Darlene's second cousin?

Randy: (laughter)

Tiff: Because I'm like kinda jealous that you get to be her second cousin. I want to be her second cousin.

Randy: (more laughter)

Me: Thanks for that, Tiff. (as I try to find a place to crawl into.)

Don't worry, I still love you babe! So then they wanted to know who all had been to a concert before. Tasha and Kim had, but Tiffany hadn't. She did tell them that she sang one of their song with Encounter for two years and did sign language with it. They asked to see it and she did it as they sang along. This totally made her night.
This morning, we all got at least 500 phone calls telling us that we needed to be careful coming home because of a big storm heading our way. We weren't really worried about it. We didn't even hit snow until about 20 minutes from home. We were thankful for that.

Tasha also woke up today with a bad headache. Because she is expecting, she can only take Tylenol, which basically does nothing. To make a long story short, she tossed her cookies and had to get out for some fresh air. Thanks for the memories Tasha. Love you much! She did fell better after that. (Notice the blankie Alana)

This was Kim's first outing with the three of us. She will never be the same.

I needed wiper fluid and even after I added it, it still didn't work. Sounds like a job for Eric. I swear I poured it in the right little thinger. Not too convincing am I?

In the end, this will be a time that I will always remember. I am so blessed to have these friends.