Christmas Vacation part 2

well....on Christmas morning all the adults were up first and we were waiting for the kids to get up...believe it or not! And when Caleb came down he had such a sad look on his face and said, "My head and my tummy hurts."...uh oh. First it was Caitlin, then Brian, and then Brian's poor mom got it and now Caleb. We decided to wake Christopher up and the first thing he said was, "My tummy hurts." Gee wiz. This virus is taking us down one at a time! So Brian took him to the bathroom and while he was standing up peeing in the toilet he pooped all over the floor. Awesome. Welcome to our Christmas morning:o)
The boys opened their stockings and were real excited about that. Christopher thought he had only one gift under the tree since we lost all of our gifts so he was very excited to know he had lots more:o) After we opened all the presents poor Leslie starting feeling bad, and yup, he got the virus too. I have no idea why I haven't gotten it....other than someone needs to take care of this poor houseful of people plagued by the tummy bug.
Even in the midst of tummy bugs Brian and I have taken the boys sledding twice which was loads of fun and we took them bowling today....it was their first time to go and they thought it was really cool. We are about to go tie-dye some shirts with the boys and are making some for their cousins too...so even though it's been a pretty sad Christmas with no gifts and tummy bugs we are making the most of it:o)

Our Christmas Vacation...so far:o)

The night before we left for our flight to Michigan, Brian and I watched our favorite holiday movie...Christmas vacation...it never fails to give us a few good laughs. But who knew we would get a little taste of the craziness that's in the movie!
Within 10 minutes of getting on our first flight Caitlin had a blow out and got diarrhea all over Brian. She HATES bathrooms and when she saw how tiny and loud the airplane bathroom is she freaked out. She had about 3 more blow outs that flight until we finally landed in Minnesota. We had a very long layover so we went to a restaurant to have dinner and I had a martini that made all of the "mommy, mommy mommy" go in one ear and out the other;o)
As we were waiting for our flight for Michigan the boys were wrestling in the hall, all the while, bumping into people and ramming their cars into them when Brian looked at me and said, Where's our luggage with all the x-mas presents in it?" I said, "I have no idea." After backtracking in our heads we realized we had left it at the gate in DFW. Nice. Brian started making phone calls that didn't get us anywhere and it was time to board. Caitlin had a few more blow outs and cried a good 15 minutes straight until she finally passed out in our arms.
We landed in Michigan and Brian has filed a report to see if we can locate the luggage...we are suppose to get a call and we have not gotten a call...yet. Caitlin has the rotovirus and now Brian has it too...I guess the chances of catching it are pretty high if you walk around all day with poop on your shirt.
Well, my guess is we won't see those presents anytime soon....I'm hoping we can find the bag at somepoint though. But all the more to remind us that Christmas is not about gifts anyway. So I thank God that we arrived safely, have family to celebrate Christmas with, have snow for the boys to play with, children's faces to watch as Christmas nears; and most importantly, a Saviour
that loves me more than I can comprehend.
One last thing....since Brian and I have no gifts to give his parents we are going to snatch things in their house and wrap it up with a piece a paper inside that tells them what they would have gotten if the presents were here:o)

Last day of school!

Today was the boys' Christmas performance and school party. The boys were very excited for their performance; which is unlike Caleb to be excited about getting infront of people, but it looks like he is getting more comfortable with it. And Christopher...well, he's Christopher...he can't get infront of peoplpe without trying to get some laughs...and he got some:o)

After the performance they had their party where each class celebrated a different country. Caleb's class learned about how Germany celebrates Christmas and Christopher's clas learned about Australia. I was a helper in his class and was in charge of the snacks....I made ANZAC biscuits which is what the army of Australia and New Zealand ate during WW1 due to an egg supply shortage. I also made pavlova which is like a big meringue cake with whipped cream and fruit ontop...both very yummy. Here's a picture of it.... (We also had Tim Tam's...Australia's favorite cookie and Aunt Nancy brought some home for us when she went to Australia a few years ago))

Christopher's class also made wreaths and sung carols on 'beach towels' by 'candlelight'....

I didn't get to see much of Caleb's party since I was helping with Christopher's but I did get to see these neat ornaments they made...

After school let out we went to celebrate the last day of school with friends at Chic-Fil-A....and then I came home and took a long nap:o)
Michigan here we come!..............

Caitlin would like to know....

Nothing more precious than a sleeping baby

I couldn't pass up posting this adorable picture of Caitlin sleeping in her crib while using her bumper pad as a pillow...precious.

Dallas Heritage Village

Last night we went to see the candlelights at Dallas Heritage Village in Old City Park. It was a field trip coordinated by the boys' school.

What is the the Dallas Heritage Village? Well it is a living history museum portraying life in North Texas from 1840-1910. The museum is composed of 38 historic structures & boasts a working Civil War era farm, a traditional Jewish household, elegant Victorian homes, a school, a church & commercial buildings. (Dad you would LOVE this place:o)

They had all kinds of stuff like hayrides,

people dressed up as cowboys, and...is that a harlot??

We got some yummy kettle corn and the boys got to make christmas ornaments...

and we went on a donkey ride..yes a donkey ride. it was quite comical. the donkeys had a mind of their own and would stop every minute or so and just hang out. i think we heard "step up!" about 70 or 80 times. as we were passing their stables they tried to turn in to go home...poor donkeys.

we got to run into some friends....(and you can see in the pic the boys made me some new jewelry:o)

and the boys got these lovely flutes. non-stop they try and play the star wars theme on these things. i think the government should use these as a new form of torture.

It was a fun family outing and Caleb said he wants me to write down on a piece of paaper to go back again next year so I don't forget.:o)

Christmas with family

Last night Brian's mom, grandparents, brother and his family came over for dinner to do x-mas with us. We fried pork tenderloins outside which came out wonderful due to Brian's smart thinking on timing:o) And the kids always have so much fun playing with each other when they see each other...they had even more fun opening their gifts, take a look....

This morning I made chocolate chip banana pancakes and oh my goodness I have not seen this girl stuff her face so fast!

Happy Birthday Jesus cake

Today I went to Christopher's school to share a Christmas tradition of ours; which is to celebrate Jesus birthday with cake. This year we are getting more creative with it thanks to Katie:o)

There are 3 layers...the bottom layer is brown which represents our sin, the second layer is red which represents Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, the top layer is green which represents our new life in Christ and the icing is white which represents Jesus purity and righteousness. Then each kid got a heart with their name on it which they placed on their cake to represent that Jesus loves them and then they put their candle in it to represent how they are to be a light in the world just like Christ is.

It was fun talking about this with 4 year old kids and getting to hear their answers. Christopher was beaming as he got to sit next to me while I shared and he got to pass out the cake.:o)

Caleb's first recipe

Last week I was setting aside my old pots and pans to give away since I got new ones and Caleb asked if he could keep one. I asked him why and where he would put it and he said so he could make stuff and that he would keep it in his room. So it's been in his room and then he brought it out today and said he wanted to make something. I asked him if he had a recipe and he said no so he got a piece of paper, sat down and drew out a recipe. He named his recipe 'Bread Carradas'. Sounds pretty neat right? Well let me tell you the recipe...

First he boiled some water, then he put 3 slices of bread in it, a tablespoon of butter and lots of pepper. That's it:o) (Brian and I get some serious brownie points for indulging Caleb and trying it because just looking at it was making me want to hurl) Caleb was the first to try it and he said it was 'kinda good'.:o) I will say that Caitlin seemed to like it! Enjoy the pics...

(By the way, you can see in the first picture where Caleb is holding up his recipe that he lost another tooth! :o)

Funny girl...

Brian went to get Caitlin from her nap this afternoon and this is what he found....she had taken her pants off and half her shirt off. She sure is a funny little girl:o)

Our time in Houston...

was filled with fun outdoor activities; such as, tennis...

riding bikes and cars...

taking lots and lots of walks down to the end of the street to see the peacocks...

(yes there are wild peacocks that roam my parents' meighborhood. They've been there for years and when the city finally found out about it years ago they picked em up and took em but the neighborhood fought it and got their peacocks back. The boys LOVE to ride down there and see em.)

and wonderful food!...below is a pic of my dad frying a turkey and it was phenomenal! fried turkeys are definitely the juiciest and tastiest!

Thank you Mom, Dad and Nancy for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thinking through a thoughtful Thanksgiving

Last night we had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with our community group. After a great meal we did a "thankful tree" where everyone, adults and children, wrote down on a leaf what they were thankful for and got to put it on the 'tree'. We all sat down and James opened up reading through Psalm 100 and then one by one each peron got to go up and share what they were thankful for and put it on the 'tree'. The kids loved this and got a kick out of listening to each other talk about what they were thankful for. At one point, I had Caitlin and Caleb in my lap and Caleb and I were laughing hysterically. I am thankful for that moment.

This morning we went to church and our pastor talked about how our body has been helping those in need in Africa. Many members of our body have gone over there through ALARM to help, teach and encourage teachers, pastors, government officials, lawyers and those traumatized by war. We were challenged and encouraged to help...not just financially but through prayer and teaching our children what is beyond their front door. Our pastor, Todd, gave us a practical example of what they are doing as a family. Which is, for 1 week they are only eating rice and beans and a banana for a snack to help them understand life through other people's eyes and to also cultivate thankfulness in their hearts. So after talking with Brian, we too, are going to take up this practical example. (Not for a whole week just Monday and Tuesday before we leave for Houston) Even though it's only for 2 days I imagine it will be humbling...not only for them but for me as well.

So right before lunch Brian and I decided to tell them the news when they saw their lunch and started complaining (which was day 3 of leftovers)...and they usually complain 99% of the time.... so I was looking forward to having a response to their ungratefulness. But, lo and behold, this was one of those 1% times. Caleb just sat down and prayed a sweet prayer and Christopher looked at me and said, "Thank you mommy."

Ouch. I was looking forward to addressing their thanklessness yet I got the 1%. Brian and I just smiled at each other and explained to them anyway what we are going to do. They didn't seemed phased by it and said they didn't think it would be hard. Hmmm. We'll see.....:o)

Christopher's Party

Christopher had his Thanksgiving party at school today where they had a feast, made chocolate turkey cupcakes, and all shared what they were thankful for. It was cute:o)

Caitlin sure is having a lot of fun now on the floor, where as 3 months ago she would have thrown a fit if you put her down:o)