TRADITIONS AND MEMORIES

We enjoyed a truly wonderful, blessed Christmas!

First and foremost, our Christmas starts at church at a beautiful Christmas eve mass. Hearing God's word, singing praises to Him, and sharing fellowship with other believers.

Having Sarah home with us for the holiday was the greatest gift!

~My gorgeous kids~

~The little ballerina searching the night sky for Rudolph~

~The kids putting together our traditional Christmas breakfast, "bubble bread"~

~Making name tags for their stockings (they pick different ones each year)~

~Selecting cookies for Santa's plate~

~Doug reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"~

~Hanging the stockings~


~Happy Kids!!!!!!!!~

I would have loved to have had a white Christmas, but no luck again this year. As a consolation though, the weather was nice enough for a lovely hike in the woods on Christmas afternoon. It was my favorite part of the day!!

Best wishes for a fun, safe New Year's eve.
~I'll be back in '08~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid"

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people"

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." Luke 2:8-14

~~Merry Christmas from our family to your's~~

INGENUITY

Billy went to a caroling party last night with a large group of his homeschooling friends. He has been working on learning to play a lot of different Christmas carols on his guitar so that he could accompany the group (and also so that he could get out of singing I think!)

Yesterday Billy searched the house for a guitar strap that he was just sure we had at some point. No luck. He begged his brother to try to find his. No luck.

What to do...What to do...

"I know, let's try to make one out of baling twine"

Billy went out to the barn where, luckily, there is always a good supply. He brought in a load of it and he and Andrew set to work braiding.


And braiding...

Then they braided the braids...

Adjusted the fit...

Voila! A guitar strap, redneck style!

OUR AUTHOR

Many people say that they are going to write a novel. I imagine not many of them actually do. Well, Tommy has!!

Several years ago, when he was just 9 years old, Tommy began writing a story that has turned into a book. He carried it around with him constantly and wrote it by hand over the past 3 years. He would write notes to himself when he had an idea for it. He'd write lists of characters and ideas for their names. He even created a different language to be used in certain places in the book. Amazing!!

This past June, the 28th to be exact, he wrote the last word. Of course I caught it on camera!


Here it is. 366 handwritten pages!!!! Isn't that so cool!! He actually plans on this being the first of 12 books. He's quite an ambitious young man isn't he?
He's so proud and so are we!
Immediately after he finished writing, he began to type it into the computer. As he was typing he did a lot of re-writing. He found that he is a much different writer now than he was when he was 9 years old. Because of all of the re-writing, his typed version is almost as long as the hand-written one. It is 343 typed pages, 34 chapters.

He is printing the chapters out a couple at a time. Several of his friends have been reading it and he has gotten very positive feedback. They eagerly await the next chapters. One of his friends told him that she kept forgetting, as she was reading, that he was actually the author.

He would love to get his book published. We know nothing about how to begin to go about this. He's been reading a book on getting things published, and I imagine that we'll be doing plenty of research on the internet about it.

In the meantime, he's started on the next book. He's written 50 typed pages already!!

PICS OF ANDREW'S 19TH YEAR

19 years ago today Doug and I welcomed our second child and first son into our lives. Andrew was born at 9:45am and was my shortest, easiest labor (if you can call 14 hours short!)

Andrew has matured into such a responsible, dependable, hard working interesting adult. It has been so fun, and challenging at times, to watch him grow up.

Now onto 19 interesting, cool facts about Andrew ~

1-He has bright red hair.

2-He sucked his thumb as a baby.

3-He had a piece of my nightgown that he carried around when he was little. He called it a shushu.

4-He could throw a fit like no other child I've ever known.

5-He's a huge animal lover and also a hunter (go figure!)

6-He's decided to follow in his father's footsteps and be a farrier.

7-He got his driver's licence before his older sister.

8-He is NOT a picky eater.

9-He loves to hunt, fish, hike, and camp.

10-He's played soccer, baseball, roller hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse.

11-He broke his arm in ice hockey and his leg when he was skateboarding.

12-He had stitches in his leg.

13-He built a cabin in our woods until our landlords made him tear it down.

14-He can crochet hats.

15-He can beat anybody at poker.

16-He taught himself how to play the guitar and he's really good!

17-He chopped down a tree in our yard with just an axe.

18-He can tie flies for fishing.

19-He's had 4 different bedrooms in our house.

We're so proud of the man you've become Andrew.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NUTCRACKER

It's Nutcracker time again!

Doug and I, along with the boys and Doug's mom, went today to see Sarah perform with her company in the Nutcracker ballet. This is the 12th year that we have had the pleasure to watch Sarah in the Nutcracker.

I have cried every year. This year was no exception. Happy, proud tears! Watching Sarah dance is one of the greatest pleasures in my life. BEAUTIFUL!!!!




We saw the first show today, so Sarah didn't have a ton of time for visiting afterwards. Our show was over around 3:30 and the next one started at 4:30. We were able to squeeze in a little family time with lots laughs and pictures of course.

When I see Sarah dance now, I realize that all of those countless hours of driving to classes, rehearsals, and auditions were totally worth it!

We're so proud of you Sarah!