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.

This is what Samuel thinks of Thanksgiving at Nana's.

As Thanksgiving tradition demands, my mom cooks enough for a small nation's army. There are leftovers to last about a week for all of us. And dessert?? I am already stuffed thinking about it.

I think Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday, because it revolves around our thankfulness to our Saviour for all the good HE has done for us. And HE has done alot of good for us! And it unites family and friends without the hubbub of gifts. Not that gifts are bad, but it just plain old thankful. We usually have about 22 people around the table, and it is great!

Before my sister & I got married, we used to have paella, or lobster, maybe a ham or some other type of meal for Thankgiving. The turkey had little to no appeal for us.

But then we married americans. Who were SCANDALIZED the first time they sat around the Thanksgiving table. ( Both my sister & I married the same year. My other "sister" married 2 years later, but married a hispanic.) So, we have been americanized and now we eat turkey EVERY year. And I guess thats okay. I mean it IS an american holiday ........lol.

So, as my mom and I were planning the meal yesterday, I got so full, I couldn't even eat lunch. Truly.



One more week!!

Its A Coming.....

Its a coming..........

Christmas season!!!!!!

My all time favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love it, love it , love it.

But really, who can not love Christmas season?!?!?

I love the music, the crowds, the hustle & bustle, the colors, the mood, the shopping, the catalogs in the mail, the cards from long ago friends, the decorations, the movies, the lights, the tree, the baking, the parties, the talking to strangers while waiting on those long long lines and showing off our bargains to each others, the trip into NYC, seeing the whole family, the parking far from the doors cause everyone is there.....

Wow, this list could go on forever, really.

And who could forget the Story.

Yup, 11 more days till Christmas season. Chloe & I will be up at 5am Black Friday hitting the stores and loving every minute of the beginning of this wonderful season. :)

Do I trust?

I got my car back!!!!!!!!



After almost 8 weeks of driving around Chloe's little SUV, I finally got my car back. It took a little bit to get used to the size & weight again. It sure is a monster. But its my monster again,and I love it. :)

So, all this has a point. See, now that I have my car back, I have all my cds again! If I had a brain, I would just have taken all my cds from my car and transfered them with me. But I don't, so the world is safe.

SO, back to the point. Again. I really enjoy country music. I am a big Brad Paisley fan. So yesterday I was playing his stuff, then all of a sudden, randomly, I put on a Kenny Rodgers cd. I KNOW!! Really....anyway, this song, " She Believes in Me" which I am sure everyone has heard before, came on. It got me thinking about how I want to be that woman.

For the first time ever, having heard this song for years and years, I realized, I REALLY want to be like that. I think scripture encourages us women to cherish, love and trust our husbands. The trust part is hard for me, even after almost 23 years of marrige. But when this song was playing, I thought about how time & time again, in God's word it talks about our roles as wives. And the whole trust the headship thing that comes with it.

Coming from a hispanic matriarchal society, walking out this part of my faith is the thorn in my flesh. I think it is a women thing to begin with, but when being the head is what you have been raised with, and taking up your mantel is expected, but then having to surrender it. ...

My poor husband. He is ever so patient and loving.

And he needs to have a wife who believes in him. Trust that he is doing the right things before God for this family. Trust him, even though he will make mistakes. Trusts he can do a good job spiritually & emotionally, even when I don't understand it.

We just purchased The Austronaut Farmer. What a good movie. Once again dealing with this issue. I want to be her when I grow up.

Now if only I could grow up.

PS

PS, how awesome was the Patriots / Colts game?!?!?!?

And what on earth happened to my font in the last post?!?!?!?!

I will survive

I survived.

If I can say it that way.

I did end up getting bronchitis. It is just so miserable to cough & cough & cough. And then cough some more. I couldn't sit because I threw my back out. I couldn't eat because it would just, well, not be there long enough to digest before I had another cough fit, and couldn't keep it down. I couldn't teach. Which of course, Samuel "took one for the team" and was okay with it. Actually he did do some school work, and when Chloe was home, she schooled him too. He really is not far behind. Specially since we never take any of the school holidays off.

And the worst part was, that I couldn't go outside and enjoy the trees. They were so BEAUTIFUL. I saw them from my window. And now, it is now cold outside. Not cool anymore. Just plain old cold. Like 40 degrees cold. Like almost freezing at night time.

AND HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT ITS LIKE AT 5 PM????


DARK!!

Not , you know dusk. Not the sun setting. Not an evening hue. But plain old dark.

Welcome to winter. It forgot that its okay to be a little late. It seems to be early, almost to the point of being rude.

But I will stop my whining now.

Because I can sit.

I can eat a little.

And I can assign work again.

And I can almost talk. I sound like a dying frog, but people can understand me. Most of the time. And maybe talking is overated.



And God has supplied our needs for today. And HE has sustained me in the turmoil, misery and helplessness of sickness. And the turmoil of life.

So, ...... I am thankful. I survived.


OH! And just in time for Samuel's birthday party. Which is in 11 days. And I have nothing prepared except date. And we have 12 kiddies showing up. Expecting fun.

So, excuse me while I run to the library for game ideas, and the store for supplies. Having a Daniel Boone party (such pathetic homeschoolers) sounded like a good idea at the time.

Hmmm. Would throwing candy out the back door be considered fun?