Christmas Happenings

We have had a BUSY Christmas season. We've had so much fun doing new and old traditions and visiting with lots of family. It has been a very blessed time for us. I thought I would do one big post for all the fun we had. So.... here we go!

We ended up getting our Christmas tree later than we normally do with being so busy but we did finally do it. It was probably early according to other people but I'm a crazy woman and I like things the way I want them. Christmas cards go out the day after Thanksgiving then we get the Christmas tree that Sunday and the house decorated. None of that happen in my time frame this year but I think I did pretty well with the change.

We didn't do a lot of traditions when I was young (especially with my dad) but one thing that we did do for many years was go out to cut down our own Christmas tree. I know with everyone "going green" these days it's probably not the best thing for us to kill a tree every year but well..... oh well I guess. Anyway, I remember running through the tree lot yelling for my dad at which one April and I wanted and then he would have to crawl down in the snow to cut it down. It was very cool to be able to go to the same lot that we went to when we were kids and this time Jack was the daddy that got to crawl around on the ground and cut the tree down.We got the tree on a Sunday and we had so much going on that it sat empty until Thursday because we just didn't have an evening to decorate it with the kids. The thing that was so neat about that is that we had started a new tradition this year of doing the advent calendar (with chocolates!!) and devotion book with the kids each night before bed and that Thursday's lesson was all about Christmas trees and why we have them. I love when things line up like that!!

They did a great job helping decorate this year.Doing the Advent calendar after decorating the tree

Another thing that was new for us this year was that Emma is old enough to be in our children's choir at church called The Love Notes. I also decided to help out with it this year. I got to be the choreographer which of course is so fun for an ex-cheerleader! We practiced every Wednesday night and a few Saturdays and everything came together perfectly. It was such a joy to sit and watch these kids work so hard to praise God. We had an amazing group of women that I got to team with to get this production rolling. I was very blessed to work with them.

The Nelsons did an amazing job making the set.I was so proud of how well the dancers did. (they are all staring at me)But of course I was mostly proud of my little star. Emma got to wear a star costumes with a few other girls and during the program there was a part where one of the angels says "How about Dancing With the Stars!!" and the little star girls came out and danced. It was very cute. The only downfall of the whole Love Notes program was that Emma got sick. The church had two services that day so there would be enough room for the visitors coming to watch. Emma did great during the first service but in between she started throwing up. My family came to the second service so they didn't get to see her. :( The good thing was that my mom was there and was able to take Emma home because I had to stay and direct the choreography for the second service. At least Grandma Mary got pictures at the first one!

Christmas Eve the kids were definitely READY for Christmas. I think they woke up with ants in their pants. They were running around the house like crazy people! Jackson literally ran so many laps down the hall and back that he could barely breathe! So, I decided that we needed an organized activity or mommy might just go postal! We had already planned to bake our birthday cake for Jesus so we figured since we already had the kitchen a mess, we might as well make some Christmas cookies. I had found a huge box of sugar cookie mix on clearance at Bailey's (gotta love Baileys!) a couple months ago so I pulled that out and we had a grand ol' time :) I had talked to Grandma Mary ealrier and she said she wanted to bake cookies so we invited her over to help us. Turns out neither Grandma Mary or I had really ever done this on our own and neither of us had cookie cutters. I thought she could help teach me and she came ready to learn! We all figured it out together :) Uncle Kevin ended up stopping by then Papa Tom got off work and came over so we had a little cookie party and were able to use the guys are guinea pigs.

Sneaking a taste of dough when they thought I wasn't looking.Grandma and the kids hard at work.Getting grumpy because it was past nap time so I thought I would joke with him and throw flour. He didn't think it was funny.The finished product.The other big thing that happen on Christmas Eve is that my dad turned 50. We don't get to celebrate his birthday in style very much with it being so close to Christmas but since it was a big one this year we all cleared our schedules and went out to the Bass Pro Shop for dinner. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant so we basically had our own little room with a big fireplace and lots of laughs. I just love to watch my dad with our kids. He is such a great grandpa, laughing and making up stories to get them going.

Dad and the kids decided to have a little dance party in the resturant.Papa and all the kidsOur whole fanily. The first picture ever.When we got home from our Bass Pro adventures it was time for bed. The kids put out some of those yummy cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning Emma ran straight to the table and saw the cookies missing and then made a mad dash over to see what Santa brought.I'm pretty sure this was the first Christmas morning we had ever had with just us and the kids. I think when Emma was just a few months old we had a Christmas morning in Michigan by ourselves but she wasn't very entertaining at three months old and we both really missed our families. It's so nice to be able to spend the time on our own and still be able to see everyone else without having to spend all of Christmas day in the car.

Jackson was excited about his new Thomas set.Emma loves her new Disney castle.Santa brought these fun balls to bounce on.We saw Jack's family for a little bit in the morning and then spent the rest of the day with my family. It was a wonderful time filled with wonderful people. We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas

Emma has been doing so great at her memory verses for school. I thought I would share this to get you in the Christmas spirit!

Crazy shopping!!

Well, I know I'm going a few weeks back but here is our crazy shopping experience.

My mom, my sister and I always do the day after Thanksgiving shopping. It is our one girl's tradition. It's actually a little harder for me since we moved because Jack doesn't get that day off of work but since my dad's around he offers to watch the kids.

This year my sister had the crazy idea of going to the outlet mall which opened at midnight! She tried to get us to do it last year but we wouldn't, so this year she brought it up again on the afternoon of Thanksgiving and my mom and I laughed and then April started to laugh along and then "ha ha ha, I'm SERIOUS!" So we thought we would give in to her this year. I just wish I had known a little ahead of time because the night before Amanda was here and we stayed up until after 1:00 and then I got up at 6:00 so I was already pretty much exhausted.

April picked me up at 10:45 and we were off to mom's to jump in with her. We drove the 40 minutes up to Michigan City to the mall and it was INSANE!!! It took us an hour to park! IF we ever do it again we will have to leave a lot earlier to get a parking space. We did get some really good deals though.

From there we went over to Merrillville for our usual shopping. April, as always, had all the stores mapped out for which ones opened when and what deals we could price match at Walmart. We shopped and then stopped for breakfast around 10:30 I think. Gotta love IHOP!! We did some more shopping after breakfast and got home around 4:30. It was our usual fun day. I usually get all my shopping done that day and by the end of that weekend have everything wrapped. To me it seemed like the sales weren't as good this year either that or the depression of not having as much money to shop with but I didn't get my shopping done. I actually still have a few things to buy and nothing wrapped yet. I better get on that!!

Us in our annual exhausted picture. I think I might actually be sleeping :)

Ah, computers!!

So I was gonna put a blog together this morning but now my card reader on my computer isn't working. I have a couple of cute videos and pictures of us cutting down and decorating the Christmas tree! Grrr!!

Stay tuned!

Angie

Out of time

OK, so I know it has been ridiculously long since I have blogged. I have a few things that I want to write about but I'm running out of time each day and also don't have the pictures I need for them. I was blogging before the kids got up in the morning but I started a new bible study and it takes time each day for devotions and I have been using that time for devotions. How dare Jesus take time away from my blogging :) Anyway, these past two weeks have been crazy, I don't even know why I'm taking the time to write this now except I want everyone to keep reading this because you're the reason I write it. I promise to get some new things on here soon. Don't give up on me :) Hosting Christmas parties every weekend since Thanksgiving, swim lesson 2-3 times a week, new bible study, dentist appointments, eye dr appointments, room mom for a Kindergartener, helping plan a worldwide mom's day of prayer in January, bringing meals to the sick and people who had babies, groceries and errands for grandma in the nursing home, spending time with family........ Well you get my drift! My mom told me today "and I thought you said that you were gonna slow down since you moved." I'm taking that to heart and getting back to less crazy come next week. Keep watching for a new post!!

Grandparent's Day

Our school does Grandparent's Day a little later than other schools in our area so last Friday Emma got to have her first big show for her grandparents and she was counting down the days!! Another thing that was different about it at the Christian School is that the whole morning was dedicated to it instead of it just being an hour in the middle of the day. I'm not sure which they would prefer but Emma was SOOO excited that she got to share so much with them. They had coffee and cookies for them from 8-8:30 then a program from 9-945. The program was so cute because it was a whole school affair and they themed it for Veterans day. Each class prepared a special song and then all the kids sang a few songs together. Emma's class did "This Land Is Your Land." Wow!! That was a blast from the past! She got to sing a few songs with all the students but her favorite was the "Fifty Nifty United States" which she had been practicing around the house for weeks. She had been singing it so much that one night when we put Jackson to bed he started singing "New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota...... OOOOHHHIIIOOO!" It was the cutest thing ever. He's really got a great memory. He recognizes most of the letters of the alphabet and can count to 20. I'm so proud of him! Anyway, After the program the kids got a short recess and then got to take their grandparents to their classroom to spend sometime doing fun activities. I left for this portion; I was actually not invited to come at all but I just couldn't miss it! I bet I'm that mom who everyone hates because she always wants to take a picture of everything her kid does.

I actually got pretty sappy about grandparents day thinking about how blessed we are to have our family here. If we had still been in Michigan Grandma Mary and Papa Tom wouldn't have been able to take turns leaving the shop to each be able to come and Grandma Kathy wouldn't have been able to leave her classroom for just a few hours to spend that time with her and the great grandmas probably wouldn't have been able to make it at all. (Great) Grandma Hamstra wasn't feeling up to leaving the nursing home that day and I was pretty sad about that but totally understood. I just keep thinking about how we only have each moment we're living in right now to share special things with our loved ones. I think that maybe she won't still have all her great-grandmas for the next grandparents day but really no one of us knows how long any of us has so I'm trying to make everything that I do count right now. I hope you are too and realize that something like a grandparents day can be something that memories are made of if you seize each opportunity.

I hope all of you are doing well and have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thinking that I'll have a post the week after about the crazy annual shopping adventure my mom, my sister and I have the day after Thanksgiving. Shop Till You DROP!!

Walt Disney World!!!!

Disney was an experience unlike any other. I'm still trying to recover being home and having to live in the real world and get things done (like my blog :) It is very funny how the magic and the carefree lifestyle are hard to let go of. We planned our trip with all expenses taken care of a long time ago, including spending money so it was a HUGE relief for me to just let loose for a few days.

I took the five days to be "Fun Mom." With all of the pressures of raising kids and trying to teach them right from wrong and trying to raise a polite young lady and a gentleman, most of the time I feel like all I do is say no and correct them. I know that's not the case but it builds after awhile and I really want to give in to societies view of being their friend. I don't because I know that is not the reason why God gave them to me and I have to persevere but man, it is so hard sometimes. Anyway, that is the reason why I thought I would take this time to be in a magical place and be able to transform into "Fun Mom." I prayed for months that God would just let me relax for awhile, have patience and that the kids would realize that it's vacation and that things change when we go back home. Well, that is just the way that it worked out.

We bought the dining plan with our package so all meals and two snacks per person per day were included on our room key. So..........

The kids were pretty much always choosing these HUGE lollipops. They couldn't believe I let them have it. Yay, Fun Mom!!!!We flew out of Indy on Thursday and my parents drove us to the airport. The kids had flown the airlines one other time and that was when we went to Colorado two years ago. Since Jackson was 18 months at that time we were able to have him on our lap. That was not a good idea. He was kicking the seats and didn't want to sit still and people were asking to be moved away from us. THANKFULLY, we did not have that experience this time. Everyone had their own seat and we brought lots of activities and snacks and they were both very good.

Jackson sat with me (which by the way was pretty much the only time he wanted to have anything to do with me)Emma sat with Daddy. Doesn't she look so grown up?!?!When we got to Orlando, Disney had everything taken care of. We didn't even have to get our luggage. The gave us special tags and then delivered our bags from the airplane to our room within three hours. They have a special bus that brought us right to our hotel and they even have a little area playing the Disney channel for the kids to watch while we stood in line to check in. Jack and I came out of this trip thinking that with the way Disney has all their bases covered and pretty much thinks of everything you need, maybe they could rule the world ;)

We checked into our room and went to check it out. It was very cool! We stayed in the All-Star Movies resort so there were huge characters on every building. Later that night we even took some pictures out there.

My camera doesn't do well in the dark but if you look close, you can see Emma & Jackson sitting on Buzz's feet.Since we were on the dining plan we also got to eat where ever we wanted to which included the character dining. We were there from Thursday through Monday and already by Saturday afternoon the plan had paid for itself.

I had planned a reservation for our first night at Chef Mickey's. It ended up being a great idea since we didn't actually go into the park that day since we arrived in the afternoon and didn't want to pay for park tickets. The kids were itching to see some characters and Chef Mickey's was a great place for that. The nice thing with the character dining is that each character comes to your table for pictures and autographs so there is no waiting in line and the kids aren't asking if they can get up to go meet someone every few minutes.

Here are some pictures from the fun at Chef Mickey'sFun Mom let them have anything they wanted on their ice cream so she chose everything!Also at the character dining, about every 10 minutes they play a special song and all the kids get up and dance and twirl their napkins around. It a very good thing to get the ants out of their pants :)We had to take the monorail to the Contemporary resort where Chef Mickey's is at so here are a few pics of our first monorail ride.Emma got a little glimpse of the castle ;)The kids slept really well in the hotel. We've never been ones to let our kids in our room with us so they don't usually sleep well when we're all packed in one room but I think Disney was so exhausting that they didn't even notice.

We got up Friday morning to get ready for our first day in the Magic Kingdom. It happen to be Halloween so they were all ready to get in their costumes.Once we were all ready we headed over and were actually able to get in early because I had made breakfast reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table. Yep, that's right, in the castle!!! We walked through the gates of the magic kingdom and their excitement level rose to overflowing. It was like we couldn't walk fast enough to get to that main street where.............

There it is!!!!!The castle!! It's real!!!!They kids were so excited and I just don't think I would ever take it back. In a time where our economy is so poor, yes maybe we should've put that stimulus check in the bank, but to share this excitement with the kids was so priceless. With Christian school tuition, we do not know when we would be able to do this trip again so we took the opportunity and I'm so glad we did.

We had a little time for a few of the classic favorite rides like the Dumbos and It's a Small World (which was Emma's favorite. Try riding that five times and then get that song out of your head!) then we were off to the castle for our royal breakfast. This was the moment I was waiting for; Emma meeting Cinderella. I just knew she was going to flip out. I can not tell you how many times in her life she was asked me "is she real? is there a place that you can see her?" Well, she was real and it was so real that Emma couldn't say really anything at all. She got to the front and walked up to Cinderella and had this blank stare on her face. You know that scene in A Christmas Story where the kid has his speech for Santa all worked out but then when he gets up there all he can do is stare? Well, that was Emma! It was hilarious! She was pretty much that way every time she met a princess. If she did talk it was sort of with her mouth open and in a monotone awe. Ha!! Anyway, here are a few pictures of her favorite princesses.They had a wishing ceremony during breakfast that was really cute.

We spent the rest of the day exploring and riding rides and having lots of fun. Jackson's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. It's sort of like being in an arcade game. Emma was scared of it the first time we rode it because the evil Emperor Zurg talks in a creepy voice but then once she saw Jackson go on it several times, she thought she better be brave so he wouldn't be scared :) She is a pretty big scaredy cat but she overcame that a lot on this trip. Some people asked me where Jackson was for the pictures at the princess breakfast and whether or not he was interested. I'm pretty sure this was his thinking "sausage....... picture with a princess........ sausage........ picture with a princess..... I'll just eat." He was sort of hit or miss whether he cared or wanted to be by the characters so in some pictures he got down and some Jack had to just hold him. He was very much a Daddy's boy during the whole trip. Jenni said he probably just liked the fact of spending so many days with Daddy off work and right there playing with him and he was holding on to that. She's probably right.

Here's Jackson with his favorite rideHere are some other characters we met in the Magic KingdomOn Saturday we visited Hollywood Studios (MGM). It was a lot of fun as well but the kids preferred the Magic Kingdom. MGM has some great rides but most of them are for older kids. We saw a lot of neat shows but after awhile the kids just wanted to ride rides. There is one great ride there that just opened called Toy Story Mania but the wait was so long that we only got to ride it once.For lunch that day we ate at the Play & Dine which was a lot like Chef Mickey's but it had Playhouse Disney Characters. They had fun dancing with Jojo and Goliath and some of the Little Einsteins.The parades at Disney are incredible. They go all out! I liked the Hollywood Studios one the best because it is actually a block party. The parade goes the length of the street and then stops and it's a big dance party for all the kids. If you remember from the video that we made for Emma, I had Kevin put a picture of her in the parade with Boo from Monsters Inc. and if you see below it actually happen in real life!!We also got to go to this great restaurant for dinner that was like a drive in movie theatre. There was a big screen and you eat in cars. Very fun!Here are some characters we met in Hollywood StudiosSunday was back to the Magic Kingdom. We forgot about the time change so when we arrived hoping to be 30 minutes early but we were actually 90 minutes early!! We decided to jump on the monorail for a ride and we got to sit with the driver which was very cool. We rode the monorail over to Epcot since we weren't going to go in the park we thought we would at least check it out from the monorail.We spent the first half of the day in the Magic Kingdom and had lunch at the Crystal Palace with the Winnie the Pooh characters. Then we were all pooped!! We found out that the Magic Kingdom was going to be open until 11 pm for resort guests that night so we all headed back to our hotel for a nap. A much needed nap for all of us!! We got up refreshed and we spent the rest of the day having fun and enjoying each other. We hit our favorite rides again and also tried some new ones like Splash Mountain and Aladdin's Carpets. I stood in line for Emma to meet Tinkerbell which was well worth the wait. It was more of an experience than just meeting her. Very fun!The hallway you walk through that shrinks you down to fairy size so you can see her.Some of the fairies from the new movieAnd of course...... Tinker Bell!We also go to see the great fireworks show that they have. It was beautiful and Tinker Bell really flew through the air which Emma is still talking about.Monday we just hung out at our hotel. We let the kids swim while Jack and I took turns watching them in between packing.We ordered our last meal which was pizza. I thought the box was kind of fun :)Then we were back on our bus off to the airport. We let the kids sit in their own row and when we turned around this is what they looked like.Definitely exhausted!!We had a smooth flight home. I tried the whole way to get Jackson to fall asleep but he just wouldn't and then we touched down in Indy and he said "I didn't want to land, I want to go back......." and then fell asleep. He was a nice pile of dead weight to carry to get our bags!

Well, now that this goes down as the longest blog post in history you all understand why it took me a week to get it on here. Being home has been a challenge for me just trying to get back on track but here's one more thing to cross off my to do list. Be watching for our fun Christmas card (yes, you all know it will be coming soon!!) because it has some magic from our trip on it ;)