What a Christmas!!!

My apologies for being so absent from the blogging world for a few days, but my oh my was it busy!  It hasn't helped that my hubby is doing much of his studying from home these days so he uses the computer much more than I.  Regardless, I just have to share our Christmas blessings!!!!

Dan and I were literally dreading this Christmas due to our financial situation.  We simply did not know how we were going to do anything.  We both made it a matter of prayer.  We always seek to be cautious to be sure the kids understand what Christmas was truly about.  We were very honest with them for months that they should not expect much materialistically.  The kids handled it all so well, and it was been such a lesson for us all in how commercialized our ideas can be.

We set up the tree, and we did all of our normal holiday traditions.  They are all so much fun.

As December 1st came about, we began to see God do some amazing things in our family!  It really started before that with Abby, our oldest daughter.  She so wanted a pair of boots for her birthday.  She knew that our cash flow was low, and she wanted to use as much of her money as possible.  She was so excited to be just over $50 short.  She didn't want us to just assume the remainder.  She began to pray.  In two days time, she received $45 more for her boots.  What a great lesson in faith for her and all of us!

The first Sunday of December, Dan was greeting folks as they were leaving church.  A couple in our church handed him some cash for our family to have for Christmas.  Another couple came through and gave him a card.  This happened every Sunday throughout December!  We were able to pay some looming bills and buy presents for our kids all without spending any of our money!

Our fear was an empty Christmas tree.  Instead we got some excellent deals, and our kids were so blessed. 

 

It was amazing! What a true lesson that God will always provide.  It was an incredible lesson in giving for our kids to see.  I remember one of my kids asking, "That person really wanted to give us that much money and be happy about it!"  It was truly what Christmas is all about! 

Here are a few pictures of the kids favorite expressions while opening their gifts!

Cast Free!

On Tuesday, we all got a taste of freedom.  Of course for Sarah it was the most rewarding.  For the past four weeks, she has been so limited in her activities, but she has made lemonade of her lemons.  She simply learned to find new ways to do things, and often, we had to limit her resourcefulness!  We were all relieved to finally have simplicity at shower times, and Sarah was super excited to hit the water for swim team practice. 

Needless to say, Sarah was definitely willing to pose for a few pictures!

Christmas Time

We LOVE to decorate for Christmas.  This year has been a new adventure with our cat, Sophie.  We have heard so many stories of cats with trees.  Some are so funny, but all made us a little leery of how Sophie would do.  As we unpacked the tree and began to place the branches this is what we got.

Our tradition is always to decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving.  The kids always remind us.  They love being a part of it.  It is great as they have grown since our tree is quite tall.  They all have a blast attaching the branches and making the tree look beautiful.

 

I always grew up with a real tree.  When Dan and I married, money did not allow for a real tree.  Someone gave us some money to buy a tree.  We were able to buy this artificial blue spruce for $28.  It was on a killer sale at Walmart.  We bought the last one the they had the day before Christmas, but I love it because it really does have a real look to it.  It has lasted us for 13 years!  I dread the day that we will have to retire it.

We really enjoy decorating with our Christmas village, lit garland on the mantle (our bass really loves the highlight colors he gets), and of course the piano top.  I love evenings with it all lit up and glowing.  We just purchased some lit garland for our deck too.  I can’t wait til the hubby gets home to help me string it up.

Really?!

There in moments in life when we see something take place, and our only reaction is to scratch our head and wonder what truly that one was thinking. 

We seldom ever enter the world of McDonald’s anymore.  I have to say that I truly don’t miss the place, but after swim practice, the girls begged and begged.  Dollar menu it was.  We met Dan at a local McD’s, and we planned to have an enjoyable meal.

We had begun eating our lunch when we watched a guy come to the counter with his empty fry box.  It was odd to me that his fry box was empty.  I know that there are free refills, but I thought that was limited to only drinks.  He spoke to an attendant, and she took the box.  I was quite intrigued.  Was she really going to give him more fries?  Then, the manager approached.  She asked the man again what was wrong with the fries.  He complained that the fries tasted funny and seemed to be burnt.  The manager smirked and told the man that she would like to help him, but since his fry box was empty, she couldn’t find anything wrong with the fries.  He huffed and started to complain but decided to just drop it.  I watched him walk back to his seat with his family of small children and wife (I assume).  The wife asked him, “How’d that go?”  He shrugged, and he began to eat the fries he had dumped out in an attempt to get more.  Based on the way he was shoving them in, I would see no reason to complain.

Really, to go to that extreme for free fries!  I mean we are talking fast food, drenched in grease, not really a potato fry!  That deserves a Monday Football, “C’MON MAN.”

I forgot…How horrible is that!

My kids absolutely love homeschool activities.  We have a great homeschool group that does skating, bowling, and swimming every month.  It has been a ton of fun.

My kids are always at the pool. My three are a part of a swimming team, and they practice two days a week. They are always begging to go to the pool to just swim for fun. I get tickled when they beg because I know that shortly after they enter the pool they will begin to challenge each other to races in the swimming lanes. I love it that they love it! They beg to go back for more!

Yesterday was our first homeschool swim.    So needless to say that when I announced we would be homeschool swimming, mass celebration erupted by all three. 

I left the dining room table feeling that wonderful feeling of awesomeness as a homeschool mom.  As I sat on the couch to talk to my husband, Sarah arrived at my side complete distraught and in mass tears.  I looked at her and asked her, “What is wrong?  What happened?”  In the most broken words, she said, “I can’t swim.” Without thinking I asked, “Why not?” All she did was hold up that little broken hand!!! Oh man, I felt so very horrible.  In that moment of excitement, we had all forgotten. 

Poor Sarah is such a trooper!  She got DSi privileges from her big sissy’s, and that seemed to alleviate all of the traumatic effect I had caused!  Daddy even let her put her feet in the water.  She asked me numerous times, and I was the bad guy who said no.  I just had this vision of her falling in with cast dripping.. UGH!  I had the perfect plan.  I would just have her text Daddy and let him agree with Mommy, right?  It would have worked if Daddy wouldn’t have said yes!  Oh what fun!  She did well, and after a little dip with the feet, she was perfectly content the rest of the afternoon.  December 6th cannot get here fast enough.

Skateland USA

My kids and I love homeschool event days.  This week we chose to go roller skating.  The kids love to skate, and due to the cost, we definitely do not go often.  This was a great deal.  For five bucks we all got to skate, eat as many hot dogs or pizza slices we wanted, and drink as much soda as we wanted for three hours! Wow!

As I took to the floor, I was quickly reminded why I do not skate often, and it is for this reason that no cell phone or camera pictures were allowed.  I was thankful that Dan could not join us for this trip as it took me a while to get my skating legs.

It was so much fun.  The kids are all great and daring skaters, but me... I like to cling to the wall a little bit more.  I did eventually get the hang of it, and I was able to be in the throes of everyone and feel confident.

My girls were quick to see that I had ventured from the wall and came right over to express their pride at my feat.  I was feeling good.  In the whole time, we were there I had not fallen.  We only had twenty minutes left of skating.  Sarah and I were zooming around the rink, and it happened.  I managed to hit a small piece of plastic that some one had dropped.  It stopped my front skate dead! I struggled to get my center of balance, and then plop, right on my bottom I went.  I must say I was very careful to not place any hands out to break my fall.  We already have one broken bone in the family at the moment.  The nice staffer who patrols the kids skating came to my aid.  I was even glad when he believed me that I had run over something.  My kids had all rushed to my aid.  "Mom, are you ok?" "Mom, you scared me!" "Mom, is anything broken?"  I assured them I was fine, and the nice gentlement helped me up.  Off we went skating again.  My kids barrage of questions simply reminded me that I was thirty -five and no longer able to bounce as well as I once used to!  UGH! 

I was so pleased when the staff man who assisted me found me to let me know he too had rolled over the plastic, and it had removed.  It was so very apologetic.  I felt like asking, "Do I look that old?"

I was truly thankful that all that working out paid off, and I am not even the least bit sore today.  I just have a little wounded pride, but there were only a handful of us parents out there.  Celebrate the little victories.

Homeschool skating was a success, and we are all looking forward to next month!

Oh the Joy!

Here we go again. This morning Sarah Joy and I made a visit to the ER. She had a major bike wreck Friday night. It was one of those crashes one witnesses and then is afraid to go see the damage. I was scared to look. I am not squeamish when it comes to many things, but when it is one of my own, I tend to get sick.

As I assisted Sarah to her feet, I noticed the way she manuevered her left hand. We were all getting ready to meet Dan at church. I think my words were, "Get in the car. We are going to ER." Well, after having Dan check her out, she seemed ok. We let it go and thought to watch her. When she didn't use it much yesterday and she couldn't do simple things like pick up a brush, it was time.

So here is my bundle of joy, she is not enjoying the life of a broken bone. Thankfully we got in and out of the ER without incident. The doctor was so nice. Since he only used the word fracture as he splinted her, Sarah had no clue. After we were discharged, Sarah says to me on way to car, "See it wasn't a broken arm just a splinted one!"

We go tomorrow to see the orthopedist. The nurse made her day when she told her that she could get a cast in any color. We shall see. She is such a cutie pie.

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