A Boy and his dog(s)

I love dogs.

I think every boy should grow up with a dog, if at all possible.  There are many lessons and comforts a dog brings to the life of a boy.

I found this sight the other day.  It was too precious to pass up not capturing it.

Samuel trying to make sure Reilly was smiling for the camera.  Reilly was trying to figure out what Samuel was doing, but letting him do it anyway.

Daisy is a little whacked in the head, but we love her anyway. 

So, Joe is allergic to everything.   I mean EVERYTHING.  When he comes over, he is totally pumped up with drugs so he doesn't die sneezing on us.

His mom is also a big believer that a boy should have a dog.  But when you are allergic to EVERYTHING, the situation doesn't really lend itself to achieving the goal.

Well after much research, she found a non allergenic dog!!!!

Meet Jack!!!!  (or Toby) (Or Toby Jack) ( Its not been decided yet)  Still.....he is a cutie pie dog!!

He is a Havenese and he sure is cute.  He will only be about 15 pounds soaking wet after a big meal, but Joe now has his dog.  And both boys are thrilled!

Tonight we went over a friend's house for Christmas.  I know, I know, its the 30th.  But since they are Catholic, they celebrate Christmas until the Epiphany (Jan. 6)  So, their Christmas parties last long into the New Year.  We had such a great time.  They have 7 kids so far.  6 girls and 1 boy.  It just so happens that their son is exactly Samuel's age. 

 

And so tomorrow is New Years Eve.  We have been invited to several places, but for the first time, I just want to be home.  I am too depressed to celebrate.  

But I sure hope you all have a wonderful New Year!! May the blessing of our Lord Jesus be upon you home, and may this coming year bring with it all the hope & grace God has to give! 

See you on the flip side!!   :)

Sad Times

We have a radio station here, that start playing 24 hours of Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving.  Its fantastic!!  I love it and immediately tune to it and leave it on in the car for forever.

When I got in the car today, the radio went on and guess what???!?!

They were playing NON CHRISTMAS music.

Sad times.  

:(

Well, till next year..........

JOY TO THE WORLD!!!!

THE LORD IS COME!!!!!

WISHING A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! 

Remember the reason for the season, and be blessed by the Gift. 

For unto us a Child is born.....

Take time for HIM, and take time to enjoy your family. 

Keep the focus

I put this on top of my piano because whenever I get overwhelmed by the season.... I'll just go stand there are look at it, and remember. 

Notice my cute Advent "wreath" on the right?  (before I put the candles).  I picked that up 2 years ago, and have never regretted it.  We have Advent at church, but this family has never had the honor of lighting the candle. 

 

So I decided that we would get our own, and do our own Advent celebration and devotions at home.  It has become one of those"good memories" family things.  We look forward to it, and the kids love lighting the candles, and seeking our Lord's coming in a personal way. 

On another note, my friend Tina, has a nativity set out on her front lawn. It is one of those cement ones that weighs a ton.  She asked her love to build her a little house to put it in this year.  She went online and got directions and measurements for him to follow.  He stated he was a contractor, and not to insult him by giving him directions.  He knows how to build houses, and this was small potatoes. 

I went over to the house 2 days ago.  There was this ENORMOUS "garage" in front of her house.  It was well built and nicely painted.  And it took every bit of my self control not to burst out laughing.  By the look on her face, it was best to just tell her how nice it was built and leave it at that. 

She is thinking since its so GRAND, she is asking her friend who has a farm, to let her borrow some live sheep for Christmas Eve to put in there and make it cute.  Meanwhile, her nativity set is lost in the grandness of it.  I think after the holiday season, it will go in the back for an extra shed.

Oh those husbands of ours. :)  They are a joy and delight.  But sometimes you just gotta love them inspite of themselves.  And learn that life is good, and God is great.

What will this day be like?

I wonder.

Today is my Spanish class' last day before Christmas break.  You know what that means?

BIG TEST.

Poor kids.  I'm sure they will do well though.  

And today is Chloe's last final.  She went to bed at 4:30 this morning studying.  I told her we will celebrate and to meet me a Chipotle for lunch.  She is soo happy its over. ( Or at least until next semester.)  Well, at as happy as someone can be with 3 hours sleep. 

And today it is warmer then yesterday!!!! It is now up to 32 degrees!!!***doing the happy dance***

And tonight, the love of my life & I are going on a date.  To go Christmas shopping.  We are actually going shopping for him because he is a pain in the rear end, and this way he can pick out his own gifts.  And he likes it that way.  And I have grown to accept it.

And so what will this day be like? Lord willing pretty darn good.  :)

9  UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

How did that happen?

Well, I don't know, but I better cram a whole lot of Christmas spirit in these next few days.  :)

So, this is my first blog entry on our NEW APPLE COMPUTER!!!!

As excited as we all are, and amazed at how nifty it all is, we are still a bit lost. lol. 

But its coming along.

And it sure is nifty.

It even comes with a remote control.     Yeah.  Remote control.  I don't know, but there it is......

But here is the deal.  I need to track someone down and have them tell me how to copy & paste!!  So if you, out there in blog world, know how to copy& paste on an imac, LET ME KNOW HOW!!!!!

Thanks. :)

So, I went looking for my daughter and this is what I found.

Now in all reality, I love my puppies, but I DO NOT like them on the furniture. It makes me a little insane that no one else in my family shares my view on this. I am fighting this battle on my own, and I am losing.

In fact if you look closely, Chloe even put a blanket on Daisy!!!!

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Get that dog off the couch!!!

Part 2

Before I go to NYC part 2, I thought I would show you all one of our walls decorated for Christmas.


As I mentioned before, Samuel is a bit of a Nutcracker fan. This is one of the gifts he BEGGED for for his birthday. HE BEGGGED FOR IT! Well, he got it. :Þ



Notice the Nutcrackers. The Rat King is in the middle of the window. Thats one of his favorites.



More Nutcrackers. My mom got him the one on the floor. It holds candles in the back and you can light them so it looks stainedglass-ish. Quite cool actually.



And I have to mention, Chloe had her Dance concert. It was the first time she didn't choreograph her own piece. With 21 credits this semester, she just didn't have the time. Here she is with the girls from one of her pieces. It was called something creative, but I called it deranged farmwives. They all looked like farmwives (except the one in the front) and yes, it was "creative". Chloe is the one next to the water fountain.


Okay, back to NYC. The Egyptian temple!!


If you look into the water, you may be able to see what got the boys attention. There was 1/2 a dollar bill someone threw in there. They thought it was neat and wanted to do the same thing. Heck to the NO. But I gave them all the pennies in my wallet.


This is the 2nd prettiest tree in NYC. It is at the Met and it is stunning. The whole thing was donated in 1964 and it was made in Italy. The picture is crummy & doesn't do it justice. But still, it sure is pretty to see.


The boys in the armor hall. Life is good.


And of course, Samuel's favorite place. Again.


Saks 5th Ave was in the back, the Tree in the front. I made them stop to take this picture.



Its just so darn pretty.


Chloe ( & the boys)under the tree.


The boys/men. So John is actuall quite thin. Irritatingly so. I mean, when first married almost 23 years ago, he was a size 28. Now he is a 29, but buys 30s. Yeah. He hates wearing jackets, so he wears like 18 layers, throws a sweater on top, and then looks like this! LOL!!!


Now, I really have to start Christmas shopping. My best friend ( Joe's mom) & I have a day cut out to just shop till we drop. We will probably drop before we finish, but I believe it will be great fun just the 2 of us, shopping for the right gifts while solving the world's problems while ignoring our own. lol.

And the day before Christmas Eve, we are all going to go see the Nutcracker Ballet.

I think this little boy has us all a little looney to go along with this.

Christmas in NY part 1

We did go to NYC today, as planned.

It was a LONG but funny, delightful, nostalgic and interesting day. And it snowed.

Before we left, I took a picture of Samuel & Joe by the Christmas tree. Oh yeah, Joe came with us. (Notice the Mets ornament in the background.)



First thing we did after being in the car WAY too long, is we went to the Metropolitan museum. We have been studying Tapestry of Grace's Ancient Egypt, and we had to go see the mummies & the temple, and whatever other Ancient Egyptian thing there was. It was way cool seeing stuff & knowing what it meant. So, Samuel was so excited to see a real mummy with his own 2 eyes.


He couldn't believe that something was written in real letters!!! Not hieroglyphics. The reality sometimes hurt. We haven't gotten to the part of the end of the Egyptian dynasty and the beginning of the Roman. I read ahead though, so I know. :)


I will post more pictures of outside, but here are a few. I was trying to get the boys to stand in front of the ginormous Christmas balls, but they were in total tourist mode. They just kept staring at the height of the buildings. They have both been to NYC loads of times, but for some reason, this time they noticed that. lol.


John & I at the tree. It was a bit nippy. :Þ


The ride home. Funny thing. The whole family went, but Lance & Chloe sometimes went and did their own thing. Obviously, the boys were with us all the time. We often take Joe with us places, almost since they were both potty trained, and people have always looked at us and given us sweet smiles. I came to the conclusion that they think both boys are ours. And that they are twins. And we each "got one". One that has my coloring & one that has John's.


They sure act tlike twins.

Me-ism

So, my youngest son got this crazy birthday gift from my parents, this rider car thing that goes fast, but you have to ride it on the street and you are low to the ground and cars can't see you.

Not so much. Not with my jump-before-you-think son.

So we returned it, (my parents were totally okay with that) and with the money, Samuel went crazy at the Vision Forum website.

The All American Boy's Catalog is a dream catalog for Samuel. He would buy everything in it if he could.

Anyway, as I was browsing through their book selection, again, I came across this book and was intruiged by it. I decided to buy it.

http://www.passionatehousewives.blogspot.com/

I have only read a little less then 1/2 the book and already it was hit a sore, tender spot, as well as strengthen that self same sore, tender spot.

It is an old, yet radical to this day and age, idea.

One of the things they talk about, that no one else is talking about is Me-ology, which has crept slowly but surely into our lives. And Christians are not immune by any stretch of the imagination. If anything we Christianize it by saying God would want us to be happy. Or some other ridiculous idea like that. I remember reading Elizabeth Elloitt's book Passion and Purity about 15 years ago. One comment she said in there stayed with me all this time. When a young girl complained to her that she felt God wanted her to be happy, her response was, " God wants you to be holy." Period.

Thats like cold water on a shocked face. But oh so true.

SO I have "stolen" her line. Often. Not just for teaching my children purposes, but for myself. It has helped me to try to develope a servan's heart. Note: I said try. I am in the slow process of achiving it. lol. But I keep trying.

It is a radical idea to serve.

Hoops is trying to discover himself in Jesus, trying to discern life. One day he was talking about trying to find a church that is radical and different so he could be different than this world. John just told him " Son if you want to be different, then just serve." Hoops wasn't to crazy about the idea at the time. In fact, I think most Christians want to do something radical and glorious. Not the get down on your knees and wash feet kind of radical. There is nothing glorious about that. And yet, thats exactly what our Master has taught us.

So, I think this book was a good deal. It will be one of those well worn, reread books on my shelf. I think I will have Chloe read it during her winter break. To try to counter act some of her college teachings.

And remember. Jesus wants you to be holy. And in that holiness, you will be happy. :)

Christmas Tree hunting

We have been going to the same Christmas tree farm for, well, I can't remember since when. Probably working on 13 years or more.

This year we took Josiah & his little brother, Noah.

And this year it was RAW,COLD, and SNOWING. It was bordering on miserable, except we are hunting for our Christmas tree, And that in it of itself cannot be miserable.

No matter how long we were out there in the cold.

Which always seems to be way too long.

John took the boys on a "rickshaw" ride. Running up & down on the carrier. The boys were having a blast.



After being there for a while I turned around and saw this. I was not surprise in the least bit. I remember Chloe begging her daddy to carry her all the time. He always did. And I remember her having the same exact look on her face then, too.



Hoops found the perfect tree. It was the perfect height & perfect width.



First Noah & Samuel were sawing away at the tree. Then John took over. Meanwhile Hoops was wondering why they didn't bring their sawzall. He has no Christmas spirit when he is cold. He just wanted to get the job done and go in the warm car.


The boys dragged the tree to the carrier, loaded it, and then carried it to the car.




Walking back. It was still snowing/ sleeting. And cold. It was about high 20s, but since it was also wet, it was just, well, raw. To the bones raw.


After loading on top of the car, the boys went into the shack and got their hot chocolate. A job well done. :)


It was so nice to get in the car and blast the heat.


Now its time to decorate!!!

Oh Christmas Tree....

I was talking to Claudia tonight, and she mentioned she was watching the lighting of The Tree!!!!

I love the tree at Rockerfeller Center!!!

It truly is so beautiful, such a sight to behold!!

So, Samuel and I quickly ran downstair ( our tv is in the basement) and watched the show. When they light up the tree, it made me so excited to go see it with my own four eyes!!

We take an annual family day in the city during Christmas season. You know, go to Macy's, see the decorated windows all over 5th Avenue, FAO Schwartz, the tree, St Patricks, skate, one of the museums. Whatever delights us for the day.

We will be going on Decmeber 7, Lord willing!!

Samuel & I can't wait!! I think the others enjoy it also, but the older kids are busy finishing up papers for school, so they haven't thought about it as much....

I found some pictures from last year's visit. Here are the kids in front of the tree.




I don;t know if I have ever mentioned this before. Samuel has the most unusual tastes. Not weird or wrong, just different. Since he was little there have been 2 things he has a not-so-mild fascination with. Turtles & Nutcrackers.

Yup. Nutcrackers. I KNOW!! Every year I get him a new one, and he adds it to his collection. I need to take a picture of our home and show just how much Nutcrackers have taken over our Christmas decor. lol.

Well, across the street from Radio City Music Hall is one of his favorite spots. I think you can tell why by this picture.



He wants one of those soooo bad. Of course, not only does it not fit in our house, how on earth would we get one home?!?!?! lol. We always have to drag him away from this spot. He has already claimed time in this spot. He can't wait.

And have I mentioned how great honey roasted cashews taste from the street nut vendors?? THEY DO!!! Those nice warm sweet cashews on a cold crisp day? Life is good.

AARRGGGHHHH

Its that time of the year.

Again.

Time to get just the right picture for our Christmas cards. This is usually a painful process. Or else the kids have WAY too much fun with it and it takes forever until they stop horsing around.

I found some pictures from years past.

This one is from 2 years ago. After I sent them all out, I realized Samuel had a hole in his pants!!!! Of course I send one to my mom because she wants the picture. Yup. The moment she got hers, she called to point that out to me. :::sigh::::



This was from last year. Lance was going through his Jimmy Neutron hair style. Thankfully it only lasted about 6 weeks. But of course, it was during Christmas picture time. Once again, I didn't notice that my son was wearing a BEER SHIRT until some people** from our nice BAPTIST church**** happen to mention it. At this point I decided to just move on.




I found these pictures from Rockport. Maybe instead of taking time to try to take the perfect picture I may just use one of these.





Though I may try to get a picture with Lance not wearing the bandana.

The weird thing is that Chloe actually looks younger this time around then in the past.

Huh. Weird.

Well, Steelers are on. I will be back later.

And I will probably try to take more pictures.

Maybe.

And so....life is good

Yesterday was Samuel's birthday.

My baby is 9. I can't believe it has been 9 short/long years since he was placed in my arms.

His friend party was on Saturday, but we always have the family party on the day of. We had a house full, and we had such a good time. I haven't laugh so hard in a long time. My mom was in specially fine form.

My sister couldn't make it out from PA, since the kids had school, but my "adopted" sister , Claudia and her kids were here.

Claudia is actually my cousin. My parent brought her here to America, and she grew up with us. She is right smack in the middle of my sister & I. She is 2.5 year younger then my sister, and 2.5 years older then me. She is one of the most joyful person I have ever known, and it is a privilige to have her in my life. Even when her heart is breaking, she finds something to be thankful for. It is a rare character,and I wish I had it.

Her husband Alex didn't come. But since he was in Ecuador visiting his dad for his 85 birthday, I guess we will forgive him. :)

And now.......

Since its only 2 more days .......

I wish everyone a beautiful Thankgiving. May we trust our Lord and be thankful for all HE has done.

Party time!!

Today was Samuel's 9th Birthday party.

It was a Daniel Boone party, so basically we gave the kids possible bags, each a pocket knife, a walking stick to wittle, some outdoor survival food, and took them to the reservation and threw them in the woods to have a good time. When I say we, I mean John & a couple of dads. I stayed home and "kept the home fires burning". Okay, maybe some football was on too, but thats not the point.

I gave Lance the camera and lectured him to take LOADS of pictures. He called me and asked what was wrong with the camera. He couldn't get it to work. That when I realized I forgot to take the battery out of the charger and put it in the camera. I am still kicking myself!!!

Anyway once they got home, and after pizza, we went out for the pinata. What kind of party would it be without a pinata?? But thats when the kids saw the leaf pile, and started wrestling. I mean truly, they are boys. Duh.


Here is my Joe. Okay so I not his real mom. His real mom is my best friend, and he and Samuel are best friends. I took this picture because he is wearing Chloe's slippers. He is such a goofy.


We called this master piece, football on a rope. It didn't work. It finally flew off the rope and we couldn't get it back on.


Here Sarah and John and trying to figure out another solution. Notice Samuel's possible bags. I sewed these babies up on $3 worth of heavy duty material from WalMart. And I have still have some material left. I love WalMart.


While the "mature" people were trying to figure out what to do, Noah offered to become a live pinata. Joe thought it was a good idea. We put a stop to that real quick like.




John finally decided to throw the pinata up in the air and let it splat. And it did. And all the candy went in one centralized location. And 10 kids dove into that small area. Yes, there are 10 kids here on top of each other. I know......


Cake time. Okay, I think there is a faulty gene I inherited from my mom. My whole life growing up, my mom would forget to buy birthday candles. Or she would buy them, but forget where she put them. And all my pictures of my birthday cake growing up were JUST LIKE THIS. I think my kids think this is the way its suppose to be. Just grab a candle form somewhere and go for it. None of my kids see anything wrong with this picture. Its all they know too. BTW, I DID buy some candles, back in the summer so as not to forget when the time came. I forgot where I put them.


I love this picture. Its Joe & Samuel, when he was reading Joe's birthday card. Sometimes I think they share a brain, but at times like this, its very sweet.


Here is most of the gang. Some had already left. I forgot to take a group picture before they started leaving. Heres the funny part. It looks like its Jonathan's birthday. lol. He is front and center.


The last 2 friends .



I have to put this picture in. I asked Rachel to guard the football for me so no one takes a swing at it before its time. When I came back out, I realized how serious she took her job. She is such a cutie pie.



All in all, considering it was done by the seat of my pants, the children had a great time and went home exhausted.

OH!! I have to tell this story. So, John wanted to buy pocket knives for all the kids, so I went all over pricing them. The cheapest I could find were $8.99. Multiply that by 10 and ....not so much. Then last Saturday I had the brilliant idea to go on eBay. So I got 10 Boy Scout knives which were brand spanking new still in the box, for 14.99!!! 14.99!!!!!!!! That came out to 1.50 a pocket knife. I could do that. And the kids loved them. I should have taken a picture of their walking stick they wittled. They came out so cool! Anyway, it all worked out and everyone was happy. Even Joe,who cut his finger.