Holiday Blessings to You and Yours!

I still have much to blog about, but am not gonna worry about it until after the holidays. We take off today for many days away from home. Many days to spend with family. Cherished Christmas memories. We've already had many memories here at home as we've already had our christmas with the kids. For now I leave you with this holiday blessing.

And a little holiday funny. The kids big present was a karoke machine. I'm not talking a little boom box one, but a big tower that has the screen right on it. It took them no time at all to break out the microphone and get the music going. Anyway, the real funny is Jim in the background. If you know Jim, you know that man never misses an opportunity to be a goof. We all got many a laugh over this video clip.

new hair do

I was looking for new ways to fix Carmen's hair. It's in that eh stage where I don't have too many options. It is getting quite long, but it's also very wispy. And she has a whole under layer that is much shorter than the rest. Anway....I tired this the other day and thought it looked so cute!

Happy Birthday Carmen

I know....I know....I'm totally slacking on the birthday post for Carmen. Sorry no slideshow of the 100 million pics I took of my baby within her first year. I did get some on her big day though. We had planned on having a party with a few family friends who also have children Carmen's age. It was set for the evening. However the weather forecast was giving a grim outlook and a good dumping of snow was heading our way. I called Jim about moving the party up to the lunch hour. The downside to that would mean that it cut Jim & the 4 big kids out of the festivities. Although Jim didn't care that I moved the party, he suggested that I just cancel all together. Why bother with it? I insisted. It's enough that she's A) the last child and B) born the week before Christmas. I don't want her to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to her special day. So I held it over lunch, everyone was able to still come. It was already snowing like crazy outside. We had a delightful time and definately some birthday fun.

Later that night we had another small hoorah with just the family. The big kids wanted to be part of the celebration as well.

YMCA holiday party

Every year the Y hosts a holiday party of some sorts. We've had everything from pizza & bowling to a family evening in our Y building. In many years past I've been in charge of organizing this event. I got the year off though as some others jumped in to take the lead. They held the event at Knox College and had the party a bit more dressed up & formalish. No kids this time, just adults. We enjoyed a very nice dinner, a slideshow and, of course, some gifts.

It was a nice change of pace. I got a lot of oooohs and aaaahs when I walked in all dressed up. (Of course most people are used to seeing me in my Y attire which would be a t-shirt and shorts, hair pulled back in a ponytail and quite often covered in sweat too). I wore an old bride's maid dress that is all black and flows all the way down to the floor. I knew when I bought it years ago that I would get a lot of use out of it. When I walked up to my table a co worker said to me "do not tell me you have that just sitting in your closet" I chuckled and said...."yep, it just sits there waiting to be worn." (which for the record I have now worn it 3 times). I didn't get any full length shots of me, but here is a nice one of Jim & I.

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

I usually get the Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen this year. When I finally get around to the garage where I store the tree I came across a problem. I couldn't find the tree. I looked high and low, all over that garage, for at least 1/2 hour. I finally gave up on the tree at the time, but did get some Christmas light drapped around the front porch. I wanted some points for being productive.

I said something to the kids later, Angel pips up that she thought I threw the tree away last year. I blew off the thought, that would be impossible. Later I said something specifically to Jim and he confirmed what was already said....I threw the tree out last year. I was completely stunned and baffled. I mean....really, I did? First of all, why? And secondly, why for the life of me can I not even remember doing that? Seriously I have no clue.

Upon further pondering I came to vaguely remember my doing this act last year. The tree was "old" and quite worn. We bought it 10 years ago when Mandy was a baby. It's had it's use. And one way to guarantee that we get a new tree was to just pitch it. But we never replaced the tree and with the ever so tough economy this year we didn't have any extra money sitting around for another one right now.

So I dragged out an even older tree that I had hung onto for many years. It was the first Christmas tree that Jim & I ever had, a little bitty 3 footer. My mom had used it for many years in her sunday school class and gave it to us for our first Christmas cause back then we didn't have any money for a tree either. (Huh, somethings never change.)

Even though I would have loved for Jim to go out and just buy me a new one, I really didn't care if we had a big fancy tree. Christmas is not all about a tree and how pretty it is. I also thought it would serve as a good "remember when" story for the future and a lesson to the kids. A perfect lesson in contentment, doing with what we had. We could have no tree, but we at least had this. When I explained things to the kids, they didn't really care either how big the tree was or wasn't. They just wanted something up to put presents under. So we made a family night of it, playing the Christmas music loud and clear, working together to get the job done. All of our ornaments didn't fit on there so we picked what we could to fit on. The star would reach all the way to the top either. So we just patched it together. I call it our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I like it.

oops

I started that last post by adding some pics. I meant to take the post in one direction, but headed in another and never got around to the pics. They were just silly ones of John taken recently. The simple things that entertain boys.

snow day

YES! They FINALLY cancelled school due to the weather. (Can you hear the choirs of Hallelujah singing in the background?) It's become a well known fact that our current superintendent is very hard on school cancellations. Which in some ways I can appreciate, especially when June rolls around. But some days, it's like "COME ON! SERIOUSLY?" Even if they would use the occasional late start or early dismissal it would make a huge difference. But in my 9 years as a parent in this school district that has never been used. Anyway...

That's not what I meant to start this post about. It's a snow day, it's friday, which was suppose to be their last day of school before a 2 week break. So instead of school sing alongs, holiday movies and class parties we're home. I'm staying put to be safe. My van is so big and heavy, we really need new tires and I've spent a good portion of the recent weeks spinning my way out of intersections. And getting up into my drive way is always entertaining. So we're gonna stay put for today, most of it anyway, we'll see how things look later on.

I'm ready for a day of baking, watching movies and getting last minute things ready for Christmas. I also have a lot and I mean A LOT of blogging to do. For the moment though, Carmen is in her highchair & wanting down. So until later, have a safe & warm day.

Living Windows / Christmas Walk

Angel & Mandy performed in a window for the public to view. It's an annual event held in Monmouth where their dance studio is. I took video of each of them, but Mandy is in the window with other girls. I try to not put other people's children on the blog unless it's family or close friends or I have specific permission to do so. So I decided to go with the picture of Mandy in action.

Angel danced in the window by herself. She made the paper again this year. It wasn't a head on shot and she was unidentified in the pic. Here is her video.

Grandpa & Grandma

My parents came over for a day last weekend to spend with the kids. Not everyone knows my family situation, but in a nutshell, my parents have custody of 3 of the grandkids. That makes it hard for them to be available as "just" grandpa & grandma. The opportunity arouse for them to come over and spend time with just our kids. Grandma spent a good portion of the day baking with the kids (remember all that zuchinni I shredded....it's all gone out of my freezer). The kids loved the one on one time. Jim & I slipped out of the house for a bit on a "date". We came home & found them all playing games. My dad is so not a game person, but there he sat entertaining the kids with marbles. It meant so much to me to see them spend the day & their time with my kids.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great & wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had more than one get together/celebration spread out over the week.

It started the week before when we went home to Muscatine to celebrate with the rest of the Luna clan. Not everyone was there, but a good portion of us was. My brother in law deep fried the turkey....mmmmmmmm! After we stuffed ourselves with good food we got a good game of Phase 10 rolling. We had fun sitting around and being Luna's. It was a very nice visit home.

The evening before Thanksgiving we had our friends the Baileys and Lujans over to play games. The kids played around the house while the adults sat around the dining room table. In addition to some good game playing we had plenty of yummy food to snack on. We had so many good laughs and a great time enjoying each other's company. We are so blessed with friends!

On Thanksgiving day we went over to another friend's house, the Potter's. We joined them with some of their family and another set of friends the Aplands. We did not have the traditional food fare of turkey. That doesn't mean there was any lacking of good food though. We stuffed ourselves plenty and enjoyed a more relaxed day. Again, the kids were off and about playing while the adults sat around the living room by the fire. It was a great day.

Thanksgiving Turkey

John was in a little class play at school. He had the leading role & did a wonderful job. Part of his role included dressing up as the thanksgiving turkey. His costume was cute, but I found this even better. He had to carry it to show during the play (while dresssed in the turkey costume). We got to keep the poster too!

Mom, look....I'm a pirate

I've got the cutest picture of Andrew. I've gone back & forth between posting it or not. So I'll just describe it to you.

To set up the scene I hear Andrew playing in my room. He's jumping on my bed and yelling "aaaaargh, I'm a pirate". So I go to look and there he is buck naked standing on my headboard. I ask him....what are you doing? That when he says "mom, look....I'm a pirate" and he jumps down in all his naked glory. Normally I don't condone jumping on my bed, especially from the headboard. But I told him to do it again while I ran to get my camera to snap a shot. So maybe I'm not gonna post it on the internet for all to see (this is a public blog afterall) but I'm sure it might surface when it comes time for his highschool graduation or his future wife to see. : )

Kuk Sool Won karate tournament

Brianna & John participated in an intraschool karate tournament. They both did very well and placed in each of their events of Korean wrestling and sparing. My kids can really kick some butt!

14 years

Today is our anniversary. We didn't know it at the time, but we picked the worst time of the year for this special occasion. We just had Andrew's birthday, then thanksgiving, Carmen's birthday is right on our heels with christmas a week later, then another 3 weeks is Brianna's birthday, then John's as well. Not to mention that with Jim's job there is no mercy to this time of the year. So amongst all of that our anniversary always takes a back seat. It's ok though I'm used to it. I'd woo and wow you with one of my infamous slideshows, but honestly I'm not up to all of that work and I don't have an hour to spend doing it. So I'll leave you with this wonderful present that Mandy gave us. It came with a german chocolate cake. She devised this plan all by herself, then recruited one of my friends who also has a daughter that is Mandy's friend, to help out. And now without further ado......

Annaversary Song (there is no editing on my part)

Chours:
They're my special folks
They gave me life----
Now these 2 special people
are celebrating they're marriage

Verse 1:
You thought you were the only
people around when you met
didn't see didn't hear anything
around It was just you two

Repeat Chours

Verse 2:
ou're getting married you
say those special words "I do"
Your on honeymoon----You're loving
it.

Repeat Chours

Verse 3:
It's been 14 years You have 6
kids you're extraordiary people

Repeat Chours 2

Oops, I did it again!

I've gone M.I.A! I've been beyond busy. Seriously I have another 10 posts or so to enter. I didn't even stop to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I am very grateful for each and every one of you! God put you into my/our life for one reason or another and I'm glad He did!

It's probably be another few days before I can really sit here and get it all out. Right now I've an hour before the kids get out of school and I need to finish up some cleaning & organizing.....oh and have I mentioned that I've been up since 4:30 a.m.!!!! I can't sit here now, I need to go. I'll be back soon!

*hugs*