Merry Christmas

I hope this finds everyone enjoying the Christmas Season! Tomorrow I plan to finish my baking by letting the girls decorate cookies. They have been anxiously awaiting that!
We plan to make our way to PA on Friday morning and will head back South on January 1st. Our visit looks busy and will fly by I am sure. David and I are looking forward to a mini Honeymoon getaway for two days and two nights! We thought it was about time since we cannot remember the last time we did!
We hope you have a great Christmas!!

Rissa LOVES to color. I have been surprised with how well she does for two years old!

We had our family Christmas last Sunday. The girls had fun opening gifts, but are still waiting for their big gift! Daddy has been busy making them a play house for the back yard at the shop and they cannot wait till it is finished and can be brought home!

Playing with some new toys.

Each of the girls got new PJ's

Rissa can now pretend to be at her favorite place all the time!

Rissa thought her new Dora puzzle was great!

Rissa will now be ready to head to the North Pole, I mean PA, with her new warm boots!

Even Treyton got in on the fun!

Amber had her school Christmas Play last Thursday. It brought in (as always) quite a crowd. We fed 350 people a full course supper, who then all stayed for the play.

Amber was nervous, but she had fun. As a first grader, she only got in on the singing parts of the play.

Treyton liked the music. He has started this new thing of bouncing whenever he hears music. (:

Projects

Yes in case you wondered, we are still here! Seems like life is busy, busy! Every spare minute I have is spent baking. Now this week I have to make 4 pumpkin pies and three batches of cranberry salad for the school Christmas banquet/Christmas Play Thursday night, on top of baking my cookies.
All the while, Treyton is dealing with another ear infection that just won't go away. He has been on antibiotic for a week now. He could not have amoxicillin since he just had it, so this stuff must not work as good? Plus he just got two more teeth. So goes the life of Motherhood! (:
We have been having colder than normal weather, in the 20's through the day! (: Oh, well, it should not last too long!
The last week, the girls have done a couple little extra projects for fun as you will see below. (:

Our librarian told us about making a gum-drop tree. I thought it would be a cute and unique thing to do. (:

They thought it was interesting!

Jenny and Rissa had fun making reindeer antlers at the library story time.

The girls helped unwrap candy for my cookies, I tried to make sure that the candy was put into the bucket,not their mouths (too much anyway, it is Christmas right? ) (:

They enjoyed putting the candy into the cookies.

One Sunday night we tried our hands at home-made soft pretzels, they were pretty good!

"Mommy's Little Heart-Breaker"

This past Sunday I stayed home since Treyton was sick. Rissa stayed too, so while Trey slept, I took the opportunity to have quality time with JUST Rissa! We read books, colored a picture and did a little swinging out in the cold.

Peek-a-boo!

A pretty South Carolina sunset!

I recently was talking to a friend who said that sometimes we Christians are more like the children of Israel than we would like to admit! We are not easily satisfied; we complain when it is hot, but complain when it is cold too, maybe our house is too small, but if it were bigger we would not like how much more cleaning we have to do, or our vehicle is rusty and has tires that fall apart cause they are too worn, (yes we had another flat, but all are now new!), but we don't have payments to complain about each month, our kids are always getting sick, but we complain when they are FULL of too much energy. It is so easy to think that things can always be better than how it is at the present! I was challenged recently with a story/song I heard on the radio recently, that makes my complaints look small, and made me feel guilty for not being more thankful for how God has blessed me and my family! Especially at this time of year where family togetherness is thought about even more than usual.
Click on the link below to see a song that was written about a true story. Maybe you like me will think twice about complaining about the little things. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye39mgcHC3E

Our Thanksgiving and More

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving! We did! We were just ourselves for lunch. In the afternoon we taught the girls how to play the table game "Aggravation" (which they enjoyed). Then in the evening we went bowling, a first for the girls.
This has been a busy week spent in the kitchen. I had to make a ham for widows supper, make a meal for a friend who had a baby, and tonight we are having company for supper. I hope to start Christmas baking next week, so it will not be any better! (:

The girls had fun helping to decorate for Christmas!

Treyton and his best buddy!

Waiting for Thanksgiving lunch.

Amber had insisted that she did not want to bowl, but we made her try, she cannot wait to go again!

Sometimes we wondered if Jenny's ball was even going to make it to the end! (: Like the time the ball slowly rolled up the lane, bumped into a pin and stopped. lol, reset...

Even Rissa liked it!

You just never know where you might find Treyton anymore!

I think the cotton fields ready for harvest are pretty.

Happy Thanksgiving

I love this time of year! The leaves are beautiful this year, it is 80* outside and everyone around is in the cheerful 'Christmas Spirit' mode!
I am thankful for the wonderful husband and children I have been blessed with! I am also thankful for our wonderful families! I am thankful for a great church that is filled with wonderful Christian friends. I am also thankful for eternal life with the promise of a home in heaven!
The other day I had a funny experience that made me thankful for my guardian angel! On the way to school the other morning, Levi, (the guy I car pull with) was digging in his back pack that was on the van floor. All of a sudden he kind of yelled and flew back in his seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I seen a huge black thing flying right towards me. Of course it had to land on my shoulder! Now, I HATE bugs, so of course I reacted, especially since it was the biggest bug I ever had on my person! After a few very desperate swipes, I flung it back at Levi who stomped on it. I then realized I was not holding on to the steering wheel, but the van was somehow going straight and on the right side of the road! It ended up that the bug was a 3 inch cockroach. It was funny after it was over, but I could not help but think how not smart I handled the whole thing and we could have ended up in a ditch, or worse!

If you remember a few post back, I had a picture of David working on the shower pipes, where he had to remove kitchen cabinets and make a hole in the wall. Well, my sweet Honey got a brainstorm that a dishwasher could fit in there. He worked very hard, and managed to get one in. I am so thankful for the luxury of having my dishes getting washed on their own. I cannot believe the time it saves!
Treyton likes to 'help'.

Best friends

The JC Penney Christmas toy catalog came the other day. My girls spend a lot of time drooling over the 'cool toys' in it!

Amber lost her first tooth the other day!

An art project

Enjoying warm weather!

David borrowed a tractor and worked up our whole back yard.

Here is a song for Thanksgiving, and for the coming Christmas season. ( you will have to wait for the blog background music to finish before you can view this video)

Visitors and Happy Birthday Jenny

We had a fun last weekend. David's three sisters came to visit. We had a wedding at church, Marcia was also invited, so we left ALL the kiddos with Nitz, and Mance. It has been ??? since we went to a wedding alone!
When we got home we had a surprise waiting for us! While we were at the wedding, David's Dad and Mom came and were waiting for us at home! What a nice surprise!

Late night snack

Treyton was his friendly little self. (:

With some help, the girls finally have gotten a little leaf pile (:

One evening David gave bike rides to those who wanted one.

Jenny turned five on the 15th, but we had her party Sunday night. She thought it was great to have Grandpa, Grandma and Aunts here for that!

Grandma had also made a cake for Jenny

Anxiously waiting for the highlight of her day, present time!!

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY JENNY!