And So the Party Begins...

Merry Christmas!! in just a couple of days anyways. I just wanted to give a little update. We had a chicken pox run this past week. Joshua had them all over his chest and belly. Thankfully they did not spread beyond that. They are all gone now and we are looking forward to the holiday weekend. Andrew and Aria have not shown any spots and we are praying that it's all over.
Tomorrow starts our annual several day Christmas party. After our morning service at church Nathan's family will be coming to do our gift exchange. As I've mentioned before we draw names so it should be very interesting to see what everyone gets.
After our gift exchange we will be going to our Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. Nathan's family is going to join us this year. It's usually not long but very enjoyable with readings and carols and of course....candles.
Afterwards the hilarity begins. My family will be exchanging our gifts at Mama Lily's house. These gift exchanges are NOTORIOUS!! There are always gag gifts included in with our presents and we just enjoy being together and having a good time.
Christmas morning we will do presents with the children at home. We just got them something little to open and a family zoo pass for their BIG gift. It will be something that we can use all year.
Afer presents we will go to Castalia to have brunch with Nathan's family. This will be the first time we've gone to their house on Christmas day. After that we will go to my parents house for Christmas dinner. Auntie Linda and Mom have been planning this for awhile. It will be amazing with prime rib on the menu. It will definitely be a busy day.
Merrry Christmas everyone. I'll be back after Christmas!

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 things that I love about the holidays.

1. Christmas music playing everywhere.
2. Decorations on anything and everything in my house. I love lights.
3. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?"
4. Buying presents.
5. Wrapping presents.
6. Unwrapping presents.
7. Getting cards in the mail cause you never know who you'll get them from.
8. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" again.
9. Lights on houses...although I'm pretty picky about how they should look.
10. Spending time with family.
11. Playing in the snow with my kids....by the way...where's the snow???
12. Making cookies and other things that just smell great.
13. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" AGAIN.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to Wordless Wednesday or to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Special Christmas Ornaments

I've decided to share some of my special Christmas ornaments that I cherish. This little reindeer is made out of pipe cleaners. I made him in the third grade. He's been on our tree every year since. In fact, last year we used him as an example for our Wednesday night children's group and they made some interesting reproductions.

This is my other little reindeer. I've had him for as long as I can remember. You can sort of see where he's been broken a couple of times. Much sobbing was done on my part. My dad has glued him back together each time. Thank you daddy. Now that I look at him it sort of looks like he has chicken pox. That's pretty funny.

This little bear has been in our family for a long time. I'm not sure how I ended up with her but she's really cute. She makes me smile.

This ornament is older than me. It's one of several that my mom has had for years. Each of us kids have some from my mom. They are funky colored with glitter on them with cool designs.

This was taken when I was 1 year old. It also makes me smile.

This is one of two little Nigerian men that my parents brought back from there. I always remember our Christmas' on the mission field. He's hand carved and playing a drum. I love unwrapping them each year.

These are just a few. I'm saving the whole tree for the tour of homes in a few days. Stop back by.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!

Two years ago today, on Pearl Harbor Day, our second son JM was born at 3:03 a.m. They were going to induce me later that morning but sometime around midnight my water broke. YEA!! Our little man was born just 3 hours later. As always my helpful sister was there to coach and of course my husband. He was just a bit green when it was all over.

When JM was almost 2 months the Lord gave him a special cousin who was just 3 days younger than him. The two of them have grown so much, even though they are small for their size. Joshua has always been faster until recently. Our theory has been that he's trying to escape from Little Buddy.

JM has a great gift for humor. He loves to make people laugh and seems to be pretty good at it. He's very adventerous and can definitely hold his own with his older brother.

Happy Birthday JM, Mommy and Daddy love you very very much.

Oh The Hilarity Continues...

This was by far the most hilarious thing I think I have ever seen. Thank you so much Sister for putting this on your blog. Remember to keep your eyes on the mama bear. there is no exagerration in compairing this to me...lol. none. at. all. Me as a panda baby. This almost might make me reconsider my beliefs about reincarnation.

Ornament Exchange

I joined an ornament exchange over at Stranded in the Mountains. I got paired up with Tammy in Alaska. Here are the two ornaments that she sent me. I LOVE them SO. MUCH. Thank you Tammy. The first is two little Eskimos doing an Eskimo Kiss. And the other is a moose wearing butterfly wings holding a little flower. Thank you so much!

It's Got My Funny Bone

In the spirit of extraordinarily humorous things and Christmas, you all much check out this link to something really funny. It's just too funny.Make sure you watch all the way to the end.