Christmas Day

Christmas Day started at 7:30am, much too early for me. There was no fancy breakfast like we usually make as there was so much company this weekend, Mamma took the morning off. We lit our last Advent candle and finished our advent readings. We found a wonderful Advent devotional online that we all enjoyed greatly this year.

   

Before stockings were open, I made the remark that we needed Christmas music and so Daniel pulled out his fiddle and serenaded us with Jingle Bells, Adeste Fideles and The First Noel. Thank you Danny!

 

After stockings, which are usually one small gift and some fruit and candy, Jessica handed out gifts one at a time to the children. Elijah was a bear. His overstimulation from the night before reared it’s ugly head and he was mad at the world, lol! Like I said in yesterdays post, he was only up for about an hour and a half.

 

Here is Elijah in all his glory that morning, poor thing.

 

Waiting patiently for a gift. The older children all gave gifts to each other that they either made or bought at the dollar store.

 

We gift practically!

 

Grumpy little boy bringing a gift for Mamma to help him open.

 

The aftermath

 

Grandpa bought the boys Winchester knife sets. These boys have more knives in their room than I have in my kitchen. 

 

Michael’s gift cards, once again, good idea Grandpa!

 

Pockets!

Christmas Evening was another dinner with family. Paul’s brother, two nieces, mother & father joined us for dinner. We feasted on baked ham, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, fruit salad and buns. I have heard for 17+ years about his mothers sweet potatoes, never could I come close to duplicating them. Well, we had them last night and he was right, they were to die for. She also made the broccoli casserole and after having that before, it will become a regular around here.

My favorite gift.

My son Daniel spent an afternoon hand-making this candle holder on his father’s lathe…just for me ;)

And to add to the blessings of the day, as I was resting in the big chair, the baby, for the first time, made his presence known as I felt his wriggles for several minutes.

Merry Christmas!

“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah.

The scorched land will become a pool

And the thirsty ground springs of water;

In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,

Grass becomes reeds and rushes.” Is 35:5-7

Christmas Eve

 

Every year the children get up and ask to open just *one* gift on Christmas Eve. Daddy always says no and the bribing and pestering begins.

 

Daddy was given a blanket to warm himself and then he asked for a shoulder massage….then coffee….then BREAKFAST…then a FOOT rub. And the worst part is they DID it all! That stinker!

 

 

The children all rejoiced when they *won* and opened a  gift…I think Daddy won…not them.

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Christmas Eve Night

Christmas Eve night my side of the family came over. We only do white elephant gifts(good ones) and play the game with the children then the adults. We stopped drawing names for each other as the cost was just not do-able. Dad and Mom still bring gifts for all us children and their grandchildren.

       

Our family photo on my camera. I am hoping my siblings may have a couple better ones!

 

This year we tried something new. We had a baked potato feed, salads, cheesy bread and veggies. I think it went quite well and clean up was a cinch.

 

Emily and Ali played another beautiful carol for us, Jessica played O Holy Night, Jacob Carol of the Bells and Danny played O Come All Ye Faithful with Emily.

 

 

 

 

Micah received a headlamp that morning and never took it off all day, it was so cute. Now he can go out in the dark woodshed to help the big boys fetch wood.

  

Gracie got a Bitty Baby from Grandma. It has two arms! Her old dolly has been one armed for months ;)

    

This was the neatest gift. Ali, Jessie’s cousin and best friend, built a jump with her Daddy for Angel and Jessica to work with. Jess has used everything from sticks and small logs to jump over and now she has the real thing! Christmas Eve came to a close around 9:30pm and the house was cleaned and children tucked in by 10:30. It is SO much easier when it is at our home!!  Elijah is pretty over stimulated. After waking this morning all he could do was whine and cry so we fed him breaky and put him right back to bed. He slept until 12:30! He is a much more enjoyable boy now. ;)

Here we go a caroling..

Tuesday night- Every year our little neighborhood celebrates Christmas by gathering at Mrs. F’s home, singing carols then eating our hearts out, it is always a hoot.  

We all visited for a while then gathered around, passed out the song sheets and all sang carols. Mrs. VB and Gracie accompanied us on the piano.

 

We have the sweet blessing of all our close neighbors are fellow believers in Christ, so we all celebrate Christmas rejoicing in the birth of Christ.

 

After the singing comes the food. I took this picture after everyone had eaten, we had a plethora of food, Mrs. F and Mrs. VB are of Dutch decent ;) and boy can they put out a spread! Hot chocolate, brewed apple cider, bars, dips, veggies, deviled eggs, cupcakes, breads, meat stuffed buns….yum.

 

We stayed until 10:30 then packed it up and drove a half a block home. Thank you everyone for all the memories!! We missed you Johnstons!

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Wednesday – Affordable fresh green veggies are hard to find in the winter and I try to not spend over $2lb. The Green Barn had fresh brussels sprouts for sale for 1.09lb the last two weeks.  Our family is weird, we looooove brussels sprouts. I told Dave(the Green Barn guy) that I was going to come back and get about 20lb to put in the freezer. He said if I bought a 25lb box I could have them for .58lb!

 

So we trimmed, blanched and froze 6 full ziploc bags full and I’d like to do one more box ;)

Silly Boy

Hokey pete, where has the time gone? My little man will be two in less than three months. He is a babbler, which is the most aDORable thing. Some children are quiet, some in between and Elijah...well..he doesn't care that no one understands him, he will still talk your ear off in the most adorable baby chatter nonesense.

As of late, he discovered his pockets and walks around the house with his hands in them. I can't help it, everything about this child is adorable, I LOVE this age. He is such a little man! He loves HotWheels and trucks, but he loves his baby dolls, too. He sweetly cuddles Gracies baby dolls and holds them on his lap, gives them open mouth kisses(as he has yet to learn to *pucker*) and hugs them.

He recently found a belly button(!) on his tummy and since he thinks this is a rather startling new discovery, he needs to let EVERYone know as he walks with his shirt tucked under his chin with a chubby finger on his *button* until Mamma asks him to lower his shirt. He really is quite proud.

Blurry, but a cute photo. I rarely catch him in a belly laugh.

His brothers have taught him well how to wrestle.



And Gracie...well, Gracie has taught him how to handle three Ritz crackers at once. I will hand him one and he will say "uh...uh...uh" until I give him another in his other hand. Then he will say "uh...uh...uh" and open his mouth wide until I stuff another cracker in his third *hand*.  He is such a joy!

The Week Before Christmas...

Ahhh, the week before Christmas. A week is filled with daily festive activities, caroling, home organization, Advent readings, wrappings, *holly berry* candles, toddlers opening presents prematurely, ornaments tucked in hiding spots around the house, Christmas cookies, questions of angels, magi & Christ. This weekend we offered to celebrate Christmas at our house with my family on Christmas Eve, then Paul asked what I thought about having his family over on Christmas Day for dinner. I LOVED the idea. No, I haven't lost my mind, it really does sound like fun to me. It just so happens this year that Paul's father, mother, brother, nieces and his uncle will all be able to make it! His family has been rather scattered across Washington and Alaska so this has never worked in the past, we are sooooo excited and it is such a blessing to him. 

The kids are rather irked that we are not on Christmas break from school. They *know* the school children out there are! I'd rather keep them busy this week and maaaybe take all of next week off.    

Paul and the kids taking a Sunday afternoon snooze.

Only one of these pranksters isn't pretending, can you guess who?

Washing the Cookies

Jessie was making chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and no matter how hard I watch, someone snitches cookies. Daddy walked into the kitchen nook(old dining room) and found Gracie peering so innocently, and closely, at the cookies. 

A cookie was soon accidentally flipped onto the table and she carefully bent down and started licking it.

It was at that time Daddy stepped into the kitchen, startling the poor culprit. He asked her "Gracie, what do you think you are doing?" and she matter-of-factly looked up at him and said "I'm washing the cookies for you Daddy!" No, my children don't lie.

Worth 4 min of your time...

We often listen to KWPZ in December because they play only Christmas music for the month. I am not a big music lover, but I loved this rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas. O.k., I was rolling, now the children turn it up, just for me, when it comes on. You MUST take 4 minutes and hear these guys, they are so talented. Paul and I were the only ones who *got* the ending of the song that involves the band Toto's Africa....odd's are, you will too ;)

I looked these guys up online and wouldn't mind picking up a couple of their CD's, and that is a rare for me. I think the last CD I bought was Andy Griffiths Hymns, lol, several years back. Hey, I love that old man, I own every one of his albums now. 

Shopping..

my worst enemy. I somehow wasn't given that womanly gene upon my conception that makes a woman enjoy crowds, spending money and trying on clothes.  Never have, never will. Tonight Paul and I spent three and a half hours of shopping in B-ham, the only enjoyable part(highly, I might add) is that my Beloved always took my hand as we walked around.  That was worth the crowds, the lack of good deals and the cold rain. He even took me to The Woods for my decaf latte toasted marshmallow, half the flavor...dreamy.

We did exceptionally well for our first of, usually, two nights out together. I spent the first part of the morning planning this years shopping to keep it economical and easy...it worked great. We had a hoot of a time playing with these new Nano Bug things? They are SO intriguing, so real, but we refrained from buying one. I want one in my stocking though! We came home to a clean house and the smell of popcorn in the air, what a blessing! That is a gift in itself to Daddy and Mamma! Thanks children! We will overlook the spat that took place because of that. ;)

On the baby front, tonight was the first night I was getting dressed up to go out and when I put on my favorite skirt there was this bump that I couldn't hide. I little bump, but a bump nonetheless, and I couldn't suck it in. I tried, but to no avail.. I went for my first appointment with my new midwife, Ann, this last Tuesday. I was really bummed when she couldn't find the heartbeat. At 12 weeks it should be easy to find, but I'll have to wait until Jan now. And no, I am not concerned, neither is my midwife, I still feel yucky and am obviously growing.  

Isn't it cute? I enter my second trimester later this week!  

Breakfast of Champions

About 15 minutes before our usual breakfast time, the power went out. Everyone whooped and hollered excitedly because this is some cause for rejoice in children, I have learned. They hauled out the oil lamps and candles even though the sun was just rising high enough to light the house. A un-named child flushed the toilet...twice...because Mommy said that the toilets do not work when the power is out. Fact is, we have about 5 gallons of pressurized well-water to the house before it fades out. So we were immediately out of water, too! 

Our wood stove had died down overnight as outdoor temps were warmer and the house was warm...so cooking on it was out of the question. The cupboards were bare & all I could come up with was this; tortilla chips, bananas and milk. Everyone was excited and didn't seem to mind the unique food served. I, however, grumbled that I missed my cooked eggs and cheese with hot coffee.

Thank goodness for Grandma and her offer to make lunch for all of us....I was even served my hot coffee...with irish cream. Thanks Mom. ;) 

It feels good..

...to own a camera again. I have two litters of puppies that have needed their pictures taken and sent all over Washington to sweet, but impatient, customers. One litter of ShihTzus and one litter of ShihPoos, my first with the new stud, Stetson. Stetson gave me exactly what I hoped after shopping pedigrees for months. Solid brown/apricot puppies. O.k., so I got a black one in there, but looks like she is already sold! I can now start saving up for my June birth and the 2011 school year's curriculum...and taxes. ;)
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 Aren't they precious? Born Nov 26.

Here is our new living room, complete with furniture and a napping Daddy(It is Sunday after all) We are all moved in downstairs! Upstairs  the girls are moved in and the dividing wall is being built, the boys will be in soon. The house has been very cold upstairs as our woodstove isn't handling the added floor space too well.

Here are the children all reading books together...eh-hem...alright, playing Wii. The one thing I said we'd NEVER own...thanks Grandpa. O.k., I admit, Paul and I get in serious Mario Cart races, but I am awfully good at placing those bananas so I end up winning!

Another blessed day at Silver Beach. Our sweet Pastor is on roll, again. Ever since we started the book of James, the teachings have captured the attention of  even the younger ones and the Lord has used them to sanctify us all throughout the week. Traveling to Bellingham gets tiring and costly, but we could never give up the unique body of Christ there and the solid teaching that cuts deeply at times, but just what we need to hear!!    

Enjoy your Lord's Day

Be Prepared

...for blog posts. Tomorrow I get a camera...yeah!

It was surprising to log into my blog and see that pregnancy ticker...the baby is 3" already?! When did that happen? I almost forgot I was pregnant, hokey pete. If it wasn't for the little bit of queasiness. ;) Skirts still fit as usual, nothing seems to be different. My first appointment is next Tuesday and I can't WAIT to hear that little beating heart, Lord willing! I have eight different pregnant friends I am praying for right now, what a blessing that is to have so many!! There became so many I had to write their names down on a sticky note and post them beside my bed, lol. 

I get emotional when I am pregnant and it does bother me as the tears come on over little things. It can be embarrassing as I think other people may think I am looking for attention when it is sooo the opposite! I was driving the van the other day and I simply looked in the rear-view mirror at my children who were joyfully singing Christmas songs, it sounded like a choir back there! I burst into tears and had to keep looking out my drivers side window as the thoughts of "These are the years I will always reminisce and never get back" Amidst the typical family struggles of dealing with laziness, complaining, arguing, there are many moments, like that one, that just make me so, so thankful for what the Lord has undeservedly given us.

Last week, our family attended Jon and Kelsie's wedding. Another beautiful courtship laid out for our children to watch, with the first kiss at the alter(and for you skeptics, I can assure you, it was a first kiss! :). In the slide show after the wedding was Kelsie wearing a couple of the jackets their family has passed onto my daughter that she now wears. As I was talking to the mother of the bride she pointed that out to me and said "My daughter was your daughters age just 6 short years ago."  It just goes to quickly, there is sooo much to teach and experience and do with her! Yikes, 6 short years. May the Lord help me use the time wisely for His glory.

We went to Jessica and Jacobs piano recital this afternoon and it was another one of those times I had to battle my emotions to remain kept-together. Jessica has gone from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to O Holy Night that sounded absolutely amAaazing. She has surpassed my piano skills just this year and I have to say I am a little jealous ;)  Jacob played Carol of the Bells, from memory, and his music is expressive and heart-felt, he often modifies his music. Daniel will have his violin recital next weekend, that will be a hoot, he and his fiddle are best of friends. I just started teaching Emma piano this week, and boy is she excited! It will be interesting to see how she does(as long as I keep up with teaching!) as she was my girl who could play songs by ear at the age of 4 and already sings harmony by ear with Jessica.

In closing ;), our Mamma's were right. This time goes so quickly. Time is too precious to spend pitying our sleepless nights, busying ourselves outside the home, fretting about all the daily duties that need attention, or falling for the worlds lie that our children need to participate in X or Y to be complete. May we keep our eyes on the only things that matter, that we love the Lord our God, love our husbands, love and teach our children, be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind and subject to our own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored...time is too short.

It hard to get in the mood to blog when you don't have a camera and yoru keyboard doesn't work. It's quite sad, really. That laptop has cost us plenty in the last three months so I refuse to take it in again and spend money, so it is back to using the dinosaur PC in our freezing cold bedroom, thankful nonetheless. We had oodles of snow on Thanksgiving Day...for 24 hours, which most of you know as you live here. The kids, my husband included, took out my old three-wheeler from days of old and hooked it up to sleds and inner tubes. They spent hours sledding in the cow field, though Jessica said taking a frozen cow pie in the back while riding the innertubes was not fun. What blessing for these children, they have no idea how good they have it!

I have been on and off the couch since last Sunday with a nasty head cold, which makes the days fly by! We are all moved in downstairs and loving the space!! I am not a mother who restricts running in the house, within limits. There are just days when the children need to run off energy(that is, children under 7) after being cooped up and so I let them, but in the old house it got quite loud and I just had to put on a smile. I was sipping my tea the other afternoon watching as my young ones ran laps around the living room and not around my feet! It has just been a sweet week of praising the Lord for this sweet blessing, We could have lived without it, and happily, but boy it is appreciated. I remember moving into this house thinking we HAVE to build on in the next couple years...ha! 8 years later here we are, thankful we waited on the Lord as He provided it debt free, instead of pushing it through and carrying a load of debt. That would have been a mistake and there were a couple times I whined about not having more space, putting an unneeded burden on my husband that I regret. For crying out loud, even packed in our seemingly little 1400 sq ft home and 9 people, it was a mansion compared to what other families across the world live in.

Mr. Turkey was mighty tasty last night and tonight we are enjoying turkey soup with homemade egg noodles(Thanks Renee) They were so much fun to make and every child could participate. With that said...off to the dinner table. Hope to own a camera soon. ;)

"Hello, Poison Control"

Am I the only mother who uses Poison Control every 18 months or so? I wish I could go back and see the log on our family(you know they have one!) and see what all the reasons were. Daniel(5) bit a glow stick in half one night in the car and accidentally drank some of the *juice* which burned his throat, we called from a pay phone. Jessica(4) ate a gladiola tuber she dug up in my garden...yes, the whole thing. Micah(3) drank Windex. I know I have called at least 5 times since having children. It's free, quick, medical advice, what can I say? If I call the family doctor, they inevitable tell me to come in, thus $80 later am sent home with a "no threat". Poison Control will tell you the straight truth, immediately, for free. That brings me to my story.

My Grace. My dearest Grace. She is a very obedient little girl, but still has a sneaky side that rears it's head every so often. My heart is still pounding. Elijah was given Tylenol today because he is cutting two very nasty eye teeth and has been perfectly miserable. Grace saw me take the bottle out, dose Elijah and she asked for some. I told her "no" and explained why. She seemed intrigued by the red liquid, but satisfied with my explanation. The Tylenol went back in the cupboard and on went the day.

About a half hour after putting the little ones to bed, Jessica found the child-proof bottle of Children's Tylenol...OPEN and mostly gone in the upstairs bathroom. We woke Gracie up and after coaxing the tired thing, she admitting she drank it. "Did you give any to Elijah?" "No, Mommy, I didn't, I drinked it." She drank at leeeast an 1/4 of the 4 oz bottle. Go ahead Google "child Tylenol overdose" It is SCARY!! After glancing at a couple pages I grabbed my syrup of ipecac and went for the phone.

I found the number for Poison Control, picked up the phone and....no dial tone. I messed with the plug and...no dial tone. I ran to the upstairs phone...no dial tone. I ran out the the addition and keeping myself in control told Paul that I needed to call PC because Gracie drank the Tylenol from the child proof bottle. He quickly came out to the main phone box on the house and sure enough, our lines were dead! What are the chances of that!!! Our cell phones rarely reach a tower from our property, but I ran to an open space and did get ahold of PC on one bar. A sweet young man quickly took down her weight, age and amount she drank and said she was safe. Ahhhhh, thank you Lord....Her count, he figured, was around 62 and we would have had an "emergency" on our hands if she hit 150, so we were well within a safe range. Phew.

3yr old opening a child proof bottle of Tylenol + dead phone lines = My first gray hairs? 

Poison Control usually calls back in the morning(isn't this sad, I know these things!) to make sure everything went well. That is one public service I am very thankful to have! Thank you Lord for your tender mercies given to our inquisitive little children and the Daddies and Mommies who love them so dearly! 

A Fall Calf

I know nothing about cows, I assumed they cycled like other animals and gave birth in the Spring. Well, I guess I was wrong. Jess jumped on Angel this afternoon and went for a quiet ride when all of a sudden she can rip-snort’n back to the fence. She jumped off the horse and ran in the house, “Mamma! There’s a calf in the field!” Our neighbor Mr. C, recently bought a gob of meat cows, several of them were pregnant but he wasn’t sure which ones or when they were due.

 

We expected calves to come in the Spring, but this one looks to be at least 24 hrs old. Will he be o.k. this winter? Any of you cow folk know?

He’s awfully cute and if I trusted the cow I’d go snuggle the cute thing, but I’m afraid she might not like that.

 

Awwww, isn’t he cute?

I was on the couch until 11am, it just about killed me as I felt so unproductive, but alas, I guess I have a reason. As soon as my feet hit the floor this morning my stomach was churning and my head pounding. For some reason with this pregnancy I have had all day headaches. At first I thought it was lack of caffeine as I abhor coffee after about 6.5weeks, but withdrawals only last 1 week maximum, say the experts. Thankful and joyful to feel sick and this too shall pass…