Christmas Morning

I am in the middle of working on a real work project but I couldn't help wanting to look at some Christmas photos. Turns out we didn't take much. I was trying to be good with video this year and so my photos were very little! I am so sad. But I do have a couple of fun ones.

It's our family tradition on Christmas Eve to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and then the youngest throws the first piece out to the birds. My Nana says she does that because she had wanted to show that God cares for "the least of these" and the tangible way to show that to children is giving it to the birds. Caed was able to throw the piece out this year- what a fun memory for us! We were all at my cousin Karen and her husband Graham's home. (Look at my niece Olivia with her hands in the air at the end of Happy Birthday- Precious!)

Throwing the piece to the birds (with help from dad)

Christmas Morning we got up from my sister Kristen's home and went to my Nana's in our PJ's. That's where we opened gifts.

My mom, Caed's Nana, reading a book Christmas morning. (no, it's not the Christmas story, it's just a book of trucks!)

The cousins with my Nana's Hess truck collection. (Caed was in heaven!!)

No more grass

So I know I am skipping Christmas photos- but I wanted to post this in follow up to a picture I posted before the leaves on the Willow tree fell. They almost all fell while we were away and you would never believe we have an actual lawn with the way they cover the ground. Thousands of tiny skinny willow tree leaves!! Since I am suffering with a cold I'd say this was going to be my husbands project this year. I took this picture this morning before I took our lovely dog out for her mandatory walk. Shortened of course, because my energy level is low!

Back after Christmas

Sorry for the depressing nature of sickness in my last post. I wrote it shortly before leaving before Myrtle Beach, and unfortunately we couldn't get out the door before my grandmother passed away.

We've been in a sort of haze, enjoyed being with family at Christmas, and we are back home. I am unfortunately under the weather with what is hopefully only a severe cold. I am taking day quil and nyquil like it's going out of style. I think it's helping me to be able to manage looking after Caed with only minimal TV occupying his attention while I lay on the sofa.

Too bad I couldn't have gotten this while I was in Myrtle Beach with lots of family around! Oh well, we are working it out.

Christmas photos to come soon.

Change of plans...

we weren't supposed to be leaving for Myrtle Beach for Christmas until tonight. My mom received a call about 5 am this morning that she needed to head to the hospital for my grandmother, her heart rate was dropping. My mom made it up there along with my sister Kristen and Ken. She seems to be doing okay again, but we are packing up and heading down now. We were just at a family funeral this week for another family member and waiting any longer to hear my grandmother be better and worse is too much. 8 hours in the car today will seem like years until we are there with her. But better on our way then waiting around.
I'll repeat the same prayer on the drive down "please Lord, let her hang on a little longer"

Live Nativity

Last weekend our church put on a Live Nativity for the Capitol Hill community. It was a great way to keep focused on the reason we celebrate Christmas- not for santa and presents...Jon volunteered to be a wise man with camel (llama), and so we went down and hung out there for awhile. Caed took a late nap, and so he woke up late and this was a great way to burn off some energy. He loved seeing dad all dressed up, and some of our other friends as well. He even warmed up to the animals and pet them himself. He was a little too comfortable! It was also a good reinforcement of learning animals and their sounds.

Caed and sheep: Baaa!

Donkey- He was only a little scared after the baby donkey backed up into him!

Here's the baby:

Caed looking very enthusiastic to be sitting with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus (real baby!):

Isn't dad looking handsome? I think he should try this look more often!:

Dad's "camel":

Friends, Mom, Grace, daughter, Violet:

Looking at the baby goat:

Building Zone

We went to the Building Museum a few weeks ago and a few of the mom's joined us. They have a great (free) kids area. We had a great time, and it really was so great for Caed- I think we'll be visiting more this winter. They had a life size playhouse and Caed loved the locks. Miss Katrina tried to show Caed how to lock and unlock things. What a nice friend to do that to his mom!

Knocking over Lego's with Aliyah:

Pushing trucks off the porch:

Caed loves "trina". (probably because he senses that she's one of 3 girls):

Grace was so funny with the goggles on!:

Aliyah was having a great time too:

David was having a little of a hard time, probably because he wanted to do everything the older kids were!:

Doing okay

My grandmother came through the surgery well. My mom visited her yesterday evening with other family members and she was awake and aware. She held my mom's hand and asked the other's questions which showed she was alert. We thank God for her ability to get through the surgery.

First day is over, now for continued progress and her comfort as she deals with the pain management...

We just had the rest of the work completed on the back of our house yesterday- our third back door was converted into a window and our bathroom had a window in it onto the back room, so we had that closed up as well. Done until Spring!

Just trying to take one day at a time getting ready for Christmas...I still have pictures to post, so hopefully I'll be able to get to that soon.

Not too busy

I'm not too busy to think of my grandmother Mary tonight. She heads to triple bypass surgery tomorrow morning. My mom e-mailed us family tonight and I am just reminded of my grandmother's faith. This is what my mom wrote in her
e-mail, after talking to my grandmother on the phone:

the surgeon met with her and after discussing everything he asked her if she wanted to discuss the risks and she told me that she told him basically - "Please don't worry about the risks - you just do what you have to do and know that if anything happens I know I am going to be with the Lord and I have complete peace about all of this and please don't you ever feel bad - I don't want you feeling bad if I don't make it."

What a woman.

I am reminded of this verse as a comfort: Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

very busy...

Who wouldn't think it was busy this time of year? I think it's compounded with the extra events for the season and just trying to make it through planning and budgeting and keeping my one child occupied with meaningful activities while I try to keep crossing the things off my list.

Not to mention the fact that we found out my grandmother, my dad's mom, is having open heart surgery on Thursday. She has hardly ever to have to be at the doctor's and although we trust the Lord with her care, this kind of event in your 80's is a little worrisome. We are planning to celebrate with her at Christmas so we keep looking to that and praying for her health and recovery.

Last night we had Jon's company holiday party and it was at a Moroccan restaurant. Wow was it an experience. Auntie April stayed home with Caed, so he was in great hands, although I think he was on the cranky side. I wasn't thinking that Moroccan was exactly holiday-like, but a wiser friend of mine said that it was probably better then the standard hotel catering room party. I agree. We did have a good time, 7 courses of Moroccan goodness! There was even a "belly" dancer. Although since she had a six pack it was less "belly" and more "toned abs" dancing. We ate everything with our hands, and although we didn't really know the other couple we were sharing our community plate with, it was fun. And the other couple was really nice and since the wife used to work for Jon's company he enjoyed getting some insight from her- so it was good. Other then the belly dancer, the other interesting part of the evening was actually arriving. The restaurant is on the border of a sketchy area of the city. The only indication that it's the restaurant that we were invited to was the ornate red door, and some Moroccan writing on the front of the building that was otherwise void of any restaurant signs. You have to actually knock to get into the restaurant. Apparently this is a very popular restaurant with celebrities (mostly the political type) as pictures are adorning the hallways.

We did have a good time! Now I probably won't be posting for a couple of more days, I've got this logo project that is keeping me busy and making this time of year even more hectic, because I have to work at nap time, not clean up and plan like I would prefer to be doing.

Still Snowing...

Wow, two posts in one day- must be an important day! Lots of snow and it's still coming down. I think it was supposed to stop at 8, so I bet it won't go on very much longer, but it's beautiful out there. I took a couple more shots of just the snow- and one fun one of Caed while I was making dinner and he was goofing around.

I am always trying to get different shots of snow instead of the same photo of the house in the snow- one snowy house in the snow looks the same year after year...

Christmas light:

Flowers:

Cool overgrowing plant at the back of our house:

potted plant:

Caed lifting the stool from underneath:

Tonight's snow:

And a couple with flash since I didn't want to bring the tripod out but still be able to get the snowflakes. Jon shoveling like a good husband!:

Snow!

Today we got some early snow! I am sure that the global warming debate is mum for the day. It hardly ever snows this early. But if it were warm, I am sure the debate would be loud and clear.

Anywho. When I first showed Caed the snow this morning out his window he looked baffled, and then I brought him downstairs to check out the snow out our front storm door- and he exclaimed "Truck!" as a truck drove by that was timed perfectly to our arrival at the door. The excitement was clearly lost on him until Caed and I went to visit our friends on Capitol Hill for Bible Study. He enjoyed tromping through the snowy leaves and so I took a few photos when we were outside. We happened to arrive with Taylor and mom Laura, and left at the same time as them too, so both directions I got the kids together in the fun.

You can tell what photos were taken arriving and leaving...and it's still doing some sort of precipitation out there! FUN!



Checking out to see if Taylor is playing along. It gives Caed such satisfaction it seems when he can get another kid to do what he's doing, or laugh with him. I wonder how that plays out in our adulthood and if I could identify that in either Jon or I.









Taylor and her gloves- Caed doesn't keep those things on! Taylor is obviously privy to the fact that if you keep them on your hands feel better!

New Doors and a fridge moved

So here are the pictures of our new back doors- properly opening. They were delivered earlier in the morning the day the construction guy put them in. It was one guy "delivering" or doing a drop off service from Home Depot. I, nor Jon knew this detail, and so the guy was flexible and delivered them himself through our back gate. Luckily our back alley was paved last year and made it feasible to drive up in the back. Caed enjoyed watching the construction a lot and getting him away from the workers for nap time was hard. But our doors are so nice- and they obviously aren't decaying like the replaced ones were- and pretty soon we'll have our new window to put where the other door is and the back room will be in good shape until we do some more work in the spring on our kitchen and bathrooms. We are really blessed to make these upgrades when we need to and honestly thank God for providing for us.

No more fridge in the dining room! (moved the Monday before Thanksgiving) and notice the new artwork on our wall- Thank you to Jon for the wonderful birthday gift! I think that wall is a nice home for our two headed person! (I like to think of it like two getting married and becoming one..)






Our new out swing opening french doors (blinds in between the panes of glass!):






The new home for our fridge:






And the old home of our old fridge. Notice the radiator- that used to keep our freezer from opening completely up which is why we didn't bring the fridge back to this spot.

To-Do's

I thought I was going to have more pictures to post, but evidently, I didn't do it. Something to add to my to-do list.

Speaking of which, I just read on the Blogger page when you sign, in about this blog that posts to-do lists. http://www.todolistblog.com/ The Blogger apparently has just published a book about to-do lists, and it makes me smile. I love lists. Recently we ran out of notebooks around here and my lists have been created on the back of receipts and anything I can find- but for the most part I haven't been writing as many lists because of this paper shortage in our home. (yes, I do have computer paper, but that large white space isn't conductive to good list making for myself.) In fact when preparing our budget and gift ideas for Christmas, Jon grabbed his computer notebook and starting putting his list in there. This evening I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that she doesn't have the time to do the things on her list and how unsatisfactory it feels to only cross off three things on lists that she's made recently. My advice was to write more things that she can cross off, and she named her favorite list item "get dressed". That's a good "crosser off-er" if I've ever had one myself.

Lists also help me as a new mom keep track of the things on my mind. Lately I can have the thought of something I want to accomplish, and I go to the place where the task needs to be done and it's left my mind. So I try to write my lists more often. I did come across recently a spiral notebook and that did help with my lists for Thanksgiving day. I don't think that the back of a receipt would have cut it for the 5 pages of lists just for the day. I can even write lists of what I want to communicate with someone- or e-mails I want to write. It's a busy world out there and you don't want to fall behind!

Well back to my lists- yes, even at 10pm at night! Oh and here's one photo from the small amount of fall photos I took. With the way the weather turned today, I am sure all the leaves have been pummeled to the ground.

And this is the willow tree in our back yard that before today's incredible wind still had most of it's leaves! I hate the willow tree's leaves. So I am dreading when they fall.