Sooooooo, I know there are no pictures in the Christmas photos below...the problem is that Blogger says I have exceeded my photo storage quota. What?! I didn't know this was possible. Guess so. We will be figuring out the technical difficulties and working to resolve them, in the meantime, sorry you can't see cute photos of my kids. Might this involve a switch to Wordpress?

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was a little different. We had a white Christmas, the first that I can ever remember. We had so much snow and ice the week before Christmas that the news is saying it's the worst season for retailers in 40 years. We spent a wonderful day at William and Heather's house and luckily Poppop (who tried to cancel Christmas--thinking they weren't going to make it) and Nana were able to hike down their hill and be with us.
Ava and I were listening to Christmas music the other day and a chorus of "Salvation is here because of Christmas Day" came on. She said to me, "Momma, that's not true! Salvation is here because Jesus died for us, not cuz of Christmas Day!!" I said, "But what if Jesus was never born, Ava?" "Ohhhhhh!" she said (A little light bulb went on).
Merry Christmas!!

Jonah on Christmas

"I'm going to close my eyes and when I open them I will be surprised!"

"Yay! A mini disc catcher!"

"Now I have $70!!"

"I've always wanted my own CD player!!!"

Ava on Christmas

"I can't believe it's finally Christmas!"

"Yay! A tea party set for my dollies!"

"Oh...my....word...I've always wanted a Target Dollie!"

Brynne on Christmas

"I'm not sure how to open this..."
Sidenote: Brynne saw these babies in my closet and was freaking out because she wanted them and was crying for them, and of course, the mean mom that I am, I said, "Nope, those are for Christmas!"

" OOooooohh! I love those babies!"

"Cheese!"

"See ya later--I'm not taking any risks on Momma taking these!"

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!!

Even as I write this post, the snow is falling. . . again. The picture above is before the deluge of snow hit this past Monday. You can see the snow was barely covering the ground...that was then.

This is now! The kids could no longer get the Gator out to drive around (it doesn't have chains, darn it). You can hardly see the pruned rosebushes...

Ava scooping the snow off the grill. She is up to the tops of her boots in a snowdrift! The patio set below is about half-buried!

Would you Like a Cup o' Tea?

Having a spot with Momma from a beautiful tea set hand painted by GG (Grandma Grace), while wearing a ballet ensemble. No tom-boys here.

Nothing Says....

Pregnancy like spaghetti at 9:20 am

Day Two of All-Day "Morning Sickness"

How on earth can anyone call this "Morning Sickness?" I am calling it my couch sickness, because that is where I have to stay all day long. I just finished catching up on all your wonderful blogs and most of you are making cookies and yummy treats and doing wonderful Christmas-ey crafts with your little ones. I am dying to do it, too, and yet my (forgive me) vomit-reflex does not allow. My poor kids will have to be satisfied to live vicariously through you all while they watch movies and do workbooks and color some more pictures as I lay on the couch, once again.
As I lay I have been praying for a lot of you (hey, I've got some serious time on my hands) and also for my own growing family, Jon and the kidlets, especially the one growing inside me. That our Father would grow him or her strong and straight; that he or she would not be easily influenced by this world. For the kids and Jon, that Christmas would not be something to "get through" this year while Momma's sick, but that the meaning would penetrate their hearts. And also that this sicky-season would pass quickly!!

Volition

This is a powerful 15 minute film I found on Randy Alcorn's blog Eternal Perspectives.
Click here to watch "Volition."
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves...defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8

Numero 4

We are going to have another one of these cuties in August!

Jonah Turns 8 (Can you believe it?!)

Jonah celebrated his birthday with a few friends, cake, and pizza. It was a great time!

Happy Birthday Jo-Jo! We love you so much and are very proud of the brother, son, and young man who loves Jesus that you are becoming more each year. Yay for EIGHT!!

Just to Get You in the Christmas-ey Mood

It goes on and on and on

I know you all were wondering "How's that kitchen coming?" Well, I thought I would let you see some of my progress. The curtain is on the back door, complete with red rick-rack and the magnetic spice rack is mounted on the wall, thank you Moopie. You can see that I took the time and care to organize my kitchen before I took these, so please no looking for cake crumbs. haha! The cabinets are still waiting to be painted, but all in good time, my friends. This week my Moopie is installing new black outlets and light switches for me!

Performance Night 2008

Ava, "Did you see my earrings?"
Paigey, "Shhhh!"

"If I were a robin in a tree, I'd thank you Father, that I can sing!"

We joined a homeschool co-op this fall called First Class Central Portland, or what everyone calls "Friday School" (cuz it's on Fridays). The kids LOVED it and so did I. We got to know many, many Christian homeschooling families and it was a blessing to go every week. The fall term is over but the last week they put on a performance night, where classes had a chance to show parents and families what they learned. Ava's kindergarten class as well as her Spanish class both sang songs, but Jonah did not have the chance to perform anything. They were asking for parents to sign kids up if the kids wanted to sing or play piano, or whatever, but I didn't even ask my kids if they would want to (normally they don't appreciate being in front of crowds). Well, it turns out Jonah is more like me than we thought and craved the spotlight. He was volunteering to even turn cartwheels across the stage in order to get in the program! His science teacher, our friend Jessica Zeigler, was kind enough to let him stand by the table she had set up and demonstrate the experiments as people came by. He was so stoked and bolted back there as soon as the official program was over. Now we are counting down until Friday School starts up again in mid February.