christmas memories

I never thought I would tell my son, Jaden, the Christmas story of Jesus' birth more times than I can count. I can easily retell it using words and phrases and describe images that he can understand. I didn't realize that this would be a challenge the first time I tried to describe what Christmas is about and why we have a tree and give presents. It is great that I have had the chance to tell him about Mary and Joseph and how baby Jesus came into this world so many times. It has truly refocused me during the holiday season, which can be quite crazy at times.

We had a great week with family in Jamestown and Fargo, ND. My greatest memories will continue to be the 2 concerts that Jaden and I put on for all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles. I am not a great singer but Jaden thinks I am so I do my best for him. We had such a great time singing Christmas songs for family. Here are some of the songs we sang.

Away in a Manger (Jaden is very good at the actions and Clay tries to do some too)
Jingle Bells
Joy to the World
Angel Band
10 Little Reindeer
Oh Come All Ye Faithful (Jaden and Clay's favorite)
Silent Night
Happy Birthday Jesus

Jaden loves to sing and I love to encourage him. It is so great to hear him sing at the top of his lungs without any inhibition.

It is too bad we didn't get a picture of either of our concerts so you will just have to imagine it. A video would have been nice too. I am looking forward to a concert next year with both of my boys.

Just a note. I am not looking forward to tomorrow when I have my wisdom teeth taken out. You can be praying for in the afternoon. My appointment is at 1:50pm. It isn't the greatest timing because Bryan is working all day and night. So, I have someone to be with me and drive me and someone to take care of the kids. All this planning just to save us about $500 because our medical insurance changes on the first of the year. Yep, we just squeezed it in on 12/31/07. What a great last memory of the year! This will be a New Year's Eve to forget! All of this is also happening in the same week that I am supposed to speak at my Bible Study on Friday to about 100 women. So, you can also pray for no complications from getting my wisdom teeth taken out so that I am healthy to speak Friday. Thanks for your prayers.

santa

We are having lots of fun in Jamestown, North Dakota with my parents. Today we are spending a little time on the computer tracking Santa all over the world through NORAD and AGI. I am not that big into celebrating Santa but if I can expose my kids to anything satellite and space related, I will. It is so exciting to see the kids reaction to the satellites tracking Santa.

You can track Santa too at http://noradsanta.org

snow

So, here are some pictures from playing in the snow. I probably won't get to posting them all on my picasa page until after Christmas so here is a taste for my family.

The first 4 pictures are from our time "freezing in the snow" when it was below zero. The next 2 pictures are from "playing in the snow with dad."

happiness

I am officially done Christmas shopping. Well, at least until I figure out that I forgot someone or something. I hope I am really done. I got an early start this year in the beginning of November thanks to a great day of shopping with my sister-in-law, Chrystine. I don't love to shop, in fact I sometimes dread it it, but she made it enjoyable. Thanks, Chrystine.

I have been on a happy-kick for the last couple of days because God answered a prayer of mine. I have been praying that God would compel some company, any aerospace company, to contact me for good or bad. I have applied for about 40 jobs, probably 25 in the Minneapolis area and dream jobs elsewhere and haven't heard anything back from any of the companies except the generic receipt of application or resume. Until 2 days ago!!! I got an email from Boeing Astrodynamics saying that they want to phone interview me in January. That just made my day and I am still happy because of it. Granted the interview is most likely related to a job in southern California which I will probably not take right now but it is promising and the guy will hopefully have a contact at Boeing in Minneapolis. God, thanks for answering my prayer. That is great motivation to keep going on the job search process.

happy pill

I am praying to Jesus for a happy pill today. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and haven't gotten enough sleep for awhile. I need God to change my mood and attitude today. I sent the kids downstairs to get a break. I had enough screaming and yelling from them and me. They are happily guarded by a gate and entertained by PBS and all of their toys. Now there is no screaming or yelling. God, please rejuvenate me.

I have way too many things to do this week because we are going out of town on Friday for a week to celebrate Christmas with family in North Dakota. We are all looking forward to it but it is a lot of work to get there. I have Christmas cards to send out and Christmas presents to wrap and Christmas cookies to make. But I still remember that Christmas is really about Christ. I love reading Christmas books to my kids because it helps refocus me. Thank you, Christ, for coming into this world to experience everything we are going through. Thanks for not leaving us alone.

I think it is so funny that my first posted picture is of Taco John's, my husband's favorite restaurant and not mine. Once he found out that I went there without him, he said that he wished he had known that I was Taco John's deprived and he would have taken me there. He said, "Wow, I guess that means we haven't been there for awhile." I said, "It was just the most convenient fast food at the time."

Hopefully more posted pictures will come soon before the week is over.

i love environmentalists

Well, truth is that I don't love environmentalists just for being environmentalists but today I was loved by one environmentalist that made my day. I was going through Taco John's drive through today which never happens without Bryan but it was close to where I was shopping after Jaden's Christmas Program (pictures to come soon). Anyway, I ordered a kids meal and got a Dr. Pepper to drink because the drink was for me. It usually comes in a small styrofoam cup. But when I pulled up to get my food and beverage, the lady handed me a large Dr. Pepper. I politely told her that I didn't order a large drink, thinking that they made a mistake on my order. The kind, older lady at the window then said, "It's ok. I didn't charge you for it. I just have a problem with the styrofoam cup that you are supposed to get because they take so long to degrade..." It made my day and I laughed about it in the car for a good 10 minutes. The kids laughed right along with me thinking I was crazy but it was fun. What made her comments even greater was that you could tell she knew she was breaking the rules and either thought people would think she was crazy or she would get in trouble. It was so cute the way she shyly said it but still did it anyway.

strep

Bryan and I have strep throat. I know I should be sleeping right now but I really wanted to write this in case my family has time to read it. I know that I don't need to right this down because I will remember how traumatic this is. About a year a half ago, Bryan and I, both had strep throat at the same time when Clay was about 3 months old and Jaden was 21 months old. I still remember how difficult that was. It was even harder then but not much easier this time around. We have been dealing with fever, chills, aches and pains, headaches, tummy aches, weakness and the worst sore throat of our lives. I had strep throat when I was younger many times and I never remember it being this bad. It has been way worse as an adult this time and last. The kids are a little easier to take care of now and it did help to have them in daycare on Tuesday but it has been a rough week. There were times we were barely making it by. I am on the upswing now--only dealing with a miserably sore throat still. I learned from the pediatric nurse that kids 3 and under rarely, if ever, get strep so that is good that we have healthy kids despite our illness.

Oh, there was one thing making this worse for me too. On Sunday night I fell down the stairs at Dan & Carol's house while I was holding Clay. I had very slippery socks on and was trying to shove my way through a small opening to get through the door to the stairs because we were really crammed in there. Dan and Carol hosted our small group Christmas dinner together with all of our kids. It was a little bit chaotic but all of the food was delicious. Anyway, I fell and hit my hip really bad and slid down 4 or 5 stairs and wacked my arm pretty good on the railing too. I did hear a scary snap from Clay when we dropped and we think it was just him biting his tongue, which did bleed a lot while he was crying from the scare. I managed to hold onto him tight and not drop him to fall down another 10 steps so that was good because it could have been worse. I am pretty banged up and have the biggest bruise ever on my left hip. I think falling down the stairs on Sunday night made having strep on Monday much worse because my aches and pains came from two different sources.

Ok, enough complaining, or sharing as I like to call it. I need to get sleep and recover.

merry christmas to me

Ok, I just have to write some more.

Last night I got my spur of the moment Christmas present. Bryan and I decided to go a performance by the Russian Ballet, The Nutcracker, at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. It wasn't in a beautiful theater nor did it have a live orchestra, which would have both made it better, but the ballet was beautiful and made me a very happy wife. We have very little spontaneity in our lives but last night was great. We ate some great Italian food at Victoria's and then headed to the ballet while our kids were at home with our favorite babysitter, Christen Murphy. We didn't have small group last night because we take the first Thursday to have date nights with our spouses. That is just one of the things I love about our small group. The ballet tickets turned out to be my Christmas present because I would much rather have an experience than a physical item as a gift, especially from my husband.

This was a highly unusual week because we actually have had two dates this week. On Sunday we went out to dinner after we met with some other small group leaders that afternoon. The date ended early because our kids weren't feeling so well but it was still a great meal together.

I love weeks with two dates nights because I can't seem to get enough time with Bryan. That only happens a couple of times per year but I will take it when I can get it. I don't like the months that go by with only one date night. That happens way too often. I love dates with my husband!

life is still moving on

Things just keep happening that I want to write down but I really don't have enough time to do it.

I have blog envy of all those people that are able to put pictures up on their blogs. Anyway, I can't decide what to do. Either I post pictures on my blog or I post them on picasa and I am used to posting most of my pics on picasa so I am not ready to switch.

Kids are napping and I am not today. I have been needing naps when they do because I haven't been sleeping well. It is mostly my fault because I am terrible about going to bed at a decent time. The kids have also not been sleeping well because of some wierd virus, maybe hand-foot-mouth. They have wierd rashes but they are both getting better now. I also have been getting over another cold.

So much stuff that I want to do but I need to find focus. I need to get a few things done but I really want to get out and play in the snow with the boys. It has snowed here 4 significant times of at least an inch with about 4 inches last Saturday. We have about a foot of snow on our deck that drifts up to almost 2 feet and I can't wait to play with the boys in it. We are all geared up with new boots and all the rest of the essentials. If they boys wakeup early enough today from naps then we will get some snow time. Here is hoping that they wake up happy but don't sleep too long. It just gets dark so early here.

Ok, I really have to focus and get some other things done now even though I could write all day.