And Then...

It SNOWED! About 6 inches worth. We were supposed to go back to STL early this morning, but the snow was coming down in buckets. The day turned out to be a nice one with the temps around 35 or so and no real wind to speak of...

We found a great set of hills for sledding, not too far from my parent's house...

Kelsie and Natalie (Brant & Jenn's 2 year old)...

Kelsie and Sydney (Brant & Jenn's 6 year old)...

My sister got in on the action -- no, I didn't, I just went to take pictures. Kenny scarred me from winter activities if I don't have proper clothing. When I was 18 years old, no, 19, he came to visit me and took me skiing at Snowstar. I had never been before; he hauled me out there to flounder on the rope tow in jeans! It was a miserable experience, one I have never recovered from. So now, unless I have proper winter clothing, I keep my distance. :)

We also managed to get some cropping in this afternoon and tonight. For those of you who scrapbook, my sister has some new contraption that she can cut out a bunch of stuff with! We cut out letters and more. That bee on my page below and those things that are around the words "Grant's" "Farm", those were cut out using her machine -- crazy! I missed the cute cut-outs on my sister's pages :( she was still at work when I took that picture.

Road conditions permitting, we are off to STL tomorrow. Until next time....

And then...it was Christmas!

But first, it was "Family Day". Saturday before Christmas, we spent the day together, just the 4 of us, as has been our tradition since Kelsie was a baby. Normally it's a movie (this year, 'Fred Claus'), dinner out (this year, Chick-fil-A, nothing fancy this year, but one of my favorites), a visit to Santa Claus (Cameron notified us that that would be embarrassing this year), so we just waved to him.

The kids and I arrived in Illinois Sunday afternoon. Just in time for Cam to make his public piano playing debut at my parent's church Sunday night. A solo of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and...

...a duet with me, "We Three Kings". Wow, he did a great job! I was very proud of him.

Christmas Eve morning, my sister made gingerbread houses with the kids -- very creative people...

Traditional Christmas Eve noon/afternoon activity includes a trip to Chuck E. Cheese -- we have a lot of fun -- it's normally pretty quiet there, which is unusual, so we have an especially good time. I normally beat the group at basketball :) yes, it's true and this year, I took a picture of my score...the high score for the entire game. Brant will try and tell you that later he beat my score, however, he did it on an easier version of the game :)

After Church on Christmas Eve, we head to Village Inn for dinner -- here's my sister, Shayna and Maddie.

Christmas morning. I was going to flip this picture, but I think I look skinnier from this angle :)

Santa brought Kelsie a cell phone...we are going to have to arrange for unlimited text messaging I guess. The gift that keeps on giving, or taking :(

Santa brought Cam a cool bike -- not the best place to get a new bike, since, as you will see later, there was snow on the ground....but, I think he managed to ride it in my parent's garage.

My dad reading from Luke chapter 2...

Cam & Devin...ho ho ho...

Kels & Jessi -- ho ho ho...

A present for my sister...Vicky, click on this picture and you will be able to see this better, what I was trying to explain to you about this gift :)

Cam got a sled and Cody a snowboard, so they had to head out and give them a try. There wasn't too much snow on the ground, but they managed...

Guitar hero...

No explanation needed...

A Christmas afternoon tradition -- the bingo Queen is in place....

My LOSER cards!!!! We play for things like laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwashing liquid, quarters, oh the list goes on -- it's a lot of fun...

That's it for now! We had a great visit here with my family. We missed all of our other family that we couldn't be with. Ken is looking forward to his trip to New York next week. Happy New Year to all!

Announcements...

No, Kels & Cam, we are NOT having another baby. Oh, before I forget, hope you all had a great Christmas -- I have some good pictures to post, but that will have to wait for another day. Back to the announcements.

Kelsie was elected to the National Junior Honor Society just before Christmas break. We are very proud of her. She had to complete a pretty detailed application, which included descriptions of her roles in leadership, community service, school activities, church activities, sports, jobs and more. It was amazing once she started writing how many things she has already worked and helped with. Her grades contributed to her selection too. I keep forgetting to tell my parents and Kenny's parents, so telling you all now :)

My sister-in-law Patricia has started her family blog (yay). I hope she does a better job keeping it updated than my sister :) I have given up on hers :) I am still holding out hope that my sister-in-law Jenny gets hers going again. I have bookmarked Tricia's on the right side here (THISfunctional family -- cute name).

The kids and I are at my parent's house until early Friday morning. At least that's the plan...it's snowing pretty hard right now, we'll just have to play it by ear. My parent's live on the Illinois side of the "Quad Cities", just across the river from Iowa. Do you know what happens in 7 days in Iowa? Well, just come here and watch tv for a few minutes and you will figure it out. Yikes -- these political ads are scaring me -- I am not ready for them to start in Missouri. 4 out of 5 commercials are political ads. I don't pay much attention to them, but one did catch my eye and I just have to mention it. Did you know Hilary Clinton has spent 35 YEARS effecting CHANGE? Makes you wonder. I want to research the details of the changes in my spare time.

This is what Christmas is all about

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SNOW!

It started Saturday and by the time Sunday rolled around, we had about 7 inches of snow on the ground! They said that we haven't had this much snow in 7 years. The kids are having a blast with it -- even today after school they were out sledding. Check the pictures of Jewel out. Too funny -- She thought about it...explored...then came to her senses and hightailed it back inside.

'Tis the Season...Christmas

December brings with it a lot of activity around here. As we look forward to Christmas, here's a sampling of what has been happening this past week or so...

Cameron has about 3 months of violin lessons at school under his belt, so it was very exciting to see him play in his first concert! He said he was nervous, even had a hard time eating dinner beforehand :) The kids did a great job!

I can't wait for his first piano recital in the spring!

Kelsie and I started out the day making cookies. She is much more of a cook & baker than I am, so after a couple of batches, I pooped out and she finished up. Unfortunately, I sampled a few too many -- :(

This picture is for my sister. I wanted a radio for my birthday -- nothing fancy, just a small AM-FM that I can plug in when I want to and throw in the cabinet when I am done. I guess it's kind of hard to find one of these -- with all of the technology advancements now, not many people make the basic radio -- that's what my sister told me when she gave me this one for my bday. Kelsie and I listened to Christmas music while baking cookies -- 102.5 plays only Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving - Christmas day -- that came in handy today. Anyway, I love the radio!

The finished project!

Here is the tree...

I love the angel....

A closer look: I love Christmas ornaments. This ornament probably started my love for ornaments. YEARS ago, my sister got into making crafts. She made a bunch of ornaments and gave me a set -- this was one of them and it still hangs on the tree, along with a few others from the collection. If I remember correctly, she made a set that I gave to my in-laws YEARS ago :)

I added this ornament this year. Thanksgiving weekend, my mom, sister and I went to a craft fair. We ran across an older gentleman and his wife there -- the man was whittling items that were amazing. I said, "this man deserves money"! And I meant it. He was so talented. I bought this ornament and a santa that I have on our mantle.

I know, you barely recognize me. Kenny looks the same :) My mom made this, I think for our 1st Christmas, 1985. Talk about YEARS ago!

We all love this ornament. To this day, the kids still thank God for Chase every night in their prayers.

A few years ago, probably 5 or 6 now, I decided I would make some Santa ornaments - here's how he turned out!

One of my favorites that my sister made...not too many YEARS ago!

Somehow I didn't get this one flipped right, but it's new this year too. During our "night after Thanksgiving" trip to Circa '21, the women have an ornament exchange -- of course I love this tradition -- I got this ornament from Jenny this year and it hangs happily on the tree.

Jewel loves the tree, unfortunately. Cameron and I caught her trying to climb it tonight. When she came down for a rest, I snapped her picture...such a trouble maker :) She has her own ornament on the tree too, I'll save that one for later....

THIS is really what it's all about. I have wanted a nativity for our front yard since my parents made theirs several YEARS ago. I hinted around for a long time for them to make me one, but...finally I took matters into my own hands :) My friend Ruth P's father-in-law made this for us and I was so excited to put it in the yard this week. We even have the floodlight timer working now (thanks Ken) so it is lit up at night. Love it!

Hope you all are enjoying the month too!