Christmas 2014

Trying to cherish every single moment with these sweet kiddos God has blessed us with. We are so happy with the way they have learned to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. 

Shopping online, I was able to get a great deal on everyone's Christmas outfit. I paid less than $15 for each outfit with the exception of daddy and Kaderick. Why are men's clothes more expensive than women's? Maybe because we buy more on average? :)

Kayla, Kalli and my skirts/ dresses were $7 shipped! Kammy and Kaite's were closer to $15, but still pretty amazing deals. 

I loved having girls in the kitchen with me this Christmas. In fact, sometimes they were out there alone. They are very quickly learning my love of cooking and baking and do an amazing job! We made more than one batch of these White Chocolate Cranberry Bliss Bars.

We ended up with either 4 or 5 batches of these Gingerbread Cookies. Plates went to work, church, piano recital, the neighbors houses and even the mailman. There were also daddy's favorite Coffee and Cream Brownies, several batches of Cathedral Windows and a couple of Pumpkin Rolls.

I still love the sign hubby and I made a few years ago, and I love having such a meaningful scripture verse displayed this time of year! 

We had to "UN-light" our pre-lit tree this year, so after hubby, with his great dose of patience, completed that unpleasant task, I gave it a light coat of "snow" in the form of craft paint. I used 2 parts water to 1 part of white craft paint in a spray bottle. It was quick, easy and looks professional! We love it!

A new item this year is the table centerpiece that hubby made for me out of wood scrapes. It's filled with snow, pinecones and candles for this season, but I can see it adapting easy for many times of year.

We did most of our shopping online this year, from the germ-free comfort of my easy chair. Shopping just almost gives me hives, so I'm just fine with this arrangement.  

A friend of mine admitted to being a plastic bow snob, I'm not sure I'm ready to admit to it myself, but I'm teetering on a fine edge. I do love wrapping in coordinating papers and using twine, yarn, or tulle. Not only is it prettier, it's a money saver too. We've also been using tags over from year to year. Even when you limit gifts to about 5/person, tags can get spendy for a family our size.

One fun craft we did this year was the huge Popsicle stick snowflake. We saved sticks throughout the summer for this one. 

The girls did an amazing job on their recital pieces this year. They also played their songs for the Christmas program at church. 

Along with the piano pieces, they had special reading parts relating to the songs and to the author finding PEACE. Peace was the theme of our program this year, Below are some excerpts from the pastors notes.

I'm not a writer, but I dabble in it a bit, so I wrote new words to a verse of "Wonderful Peace" to fit with the program theme. 

Far away in a manger, lay a baby one night

Peace on Earth, wrapped in swaddling clothes

So sufficient, this gift, for my sin to atone

In my heart, now this peace, is my own.

Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace! Coming down from the Father above!

Sweep over my spirit, forever, I pray

In fathomless billows of love!

Christmas Eve found us arriving in Greenleaf, Idaho at my parents house, just as our white Christmas snows began to fall. I love this picture of Kade. He seems to be saying with that wink, "Haha! I made the nice list!"

Tradition has us driving by this sweet little church every Christmas Eve and snapping a photo. This is where we were married almost 18 years ago. God has been so good to us, and we'd happily do it all over again!

Cocoa at Grandma's table on Christmas Eve. Making memories.

Kaderick watching the snow fall gently to the ground.

Christmas Day was a fun day with the family. The kids dug into their stockings early, anxious for their new toothbrushes, lol and a few other small items. Next was breakfast! Homemade donuts and daddy's scrambled eggs and sausage. 

Finally it was time to open presents. While we were spoiled with plenty, our blessings are many more, and much more important than the items wrapped and placed under a tree. Dinner later included little smokies, a yummy Neiman Marcus dip, bacon roasted brussel sprouts, plates of fruit and chips and dip. 

Kaderick and daddy love playing with the boy toys. They are really good at fixing things!

We are still enjoying having daddy home, gathering around the tree in the evenings, and just being together without the pressure of work and school. I'm not in a rush to take the decorations down. We are expecting more snow tonight, so it's all staying right where it is for a while. 

I even got a new rug (60% off) when we ran to get groceries today. It looks great with the "Bambie" wreath I made many years ago! 

Hope your Christmas was amazing, dear friends and family!

Kade's Lightning Party

Months before his party, Kade talked about what he wanted....it was always the same, Lightning. 

Since he does not do well at all with any kind of cake icing, we went with powdered donuts.  

In the story of Lighting McQueen, Luigi sells Lighting a set of nice white wall tires, so we called these white walls. 

We also had licorice which we called Tow-Maters tow cables. 

Kaderick is a huge fan of cheese, so we added colored bell peppers and called these stop lights.

In the story, Fillmore sells organic fuel, so we called Kade's favorite drink (water) organic fuel.

He also loves "chiten" so we called the chicken nuggets, falling rocks.

Guido is part of the pit crew, so we named Kade's favorite veggies nuts and bolts.

We made roads on the floor from cheap black tablecloths and scraps of paper. The balloons are supposed to be stacked in the shape of a stoplight, but we got the colors backwards. Honestly, I don't think Kaderick even noticed. LOL

He kept blowing out his candles before I could even get them lit.

He was all about unwrapping presents.

He loved his "Wheeee!" As he calls it.

He was so excited to get what he thought was Lightning otts (socks), and so disappointed when he discovered they were big-boy underwear. 

He held them up with a disgusted look and said, "don't fit!"

Then his face lit up and he said, "hat" and put a pair on his head! 

Later he discarded them for a real Lightning hat and he also got a remote controlled Lightning McQueen. He thought the remote was a phone at first.

Two year pics

Loves cars. Especially firetrucks! He also loves the mailman. 

Likes to snuggle with mommy and sisters. 

Loves playing with daddy.

Is a little gentleman. So handsome and charming. Usually friendly.

Talks clearly, takes his medications willingly and even asks for it as needed.

Favorite color is red. Favorite number is 9....yes, he does have a favorite number.

We are planning a party for this weekend, but the stomach bug has bit our house. We are trying hard to squash it with frequent hand-washing and lots of Lysol and bleach.

We are praying that it does not adversely effect Kade with his mastocytosis. He's done so well this year and we hate to see a setback.

Last year. Our Little Boy Blue.

And 2 years ago. Our sweet Christmas boy. 

We love him so much and still claim our precious Christmas scripture verse from the year of his birth. 

To our son, may God's son always be 

"Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace."

Winter, Hunting and Teeth

It's currently about 9 degrees out and that's a heatwave! We have about 7 inches of snow. It's truly beautiful!

I'm sitting here blogging and nursing some pretty serious jaw pain. I just had oral surgery to remove my 4 wisdom teeth and my extra wisdom teeth too. A total of 7 teeth literally cut out of my jaw bone today. It had to be done and I am so grateful it is behind me--well, except for the recovery and the starvation part. I don't think I will miss the teeth much as neither set ever seemed to "work." Smile.

The guys had a successful hunting trip a week or so ago. Kaderick loved cousin Brootz's deer, but he looked at the lineup of deer and chose the smallest to say "mine" about.

Rick took some beautiful pictures for me with his iPhone. He knows I love sunsets!

The picture of these juniper berries he took for me is a favorite as well!

I love ALL these men in VERY different ways, but all very much. 

Oh, and this little future Hunter, I love him a lot too--in yet another special way.

Creative Costumes

We've chosen to allow the kids to dress up in fun themed costumes on Halloween night and visit a few select family and friends. The rules say that they must write a short paper on their subject of choice and that the costumes must be homemade from materials on hand. I love to see their creativity. Okay, let's face it, mommy loves getting involved in the creative aspect of things too. I must admit to having made a purchase this year though....Kade's yellow pants were purchased in the girls clearance section of Ross. Less than $5, so I'm good with that.

Nurse Kayla. She's thought she might like to pursue this field and loves anything retro nursing/emergency.

Kalli still wants to own a bakery, but she added a twist to the costume this year by being an oven. The pictures speak for themselves. 

Kammy has always been a cowgirl or an Indian, but she's recently become quite enchanted with the bravery of Queen Esther of the Bible. What a great hero to have! 

Kaite was our little baby deer. A theme she chose all on her own. I love her spots. 

Kade loves his handed-down-from-daddy Curious George, so I thought, what better to be than The Man with the Yellow Hat? I made his little tie and Safari pack with scraps of felt. It was daddy's idea to cover his cowboy hat. The cover was easily executed with a bit of hot glue and felt. It is completely removeable. 

Kaderick made a perfect little Man with the Yellow Hat and he seemed to know exactly who he was. Of course he can't have any chocolate and very little sugar, but he happily gave away all but one piece of his candy to his sisters anyway.

Our supper baked in the oven all day. In a pumpkin. Pumpkin Soup! It was served with garlic toast and candy corn style fruit parfaits.

For dessert, homemade maple bars!
Oh, and this from Kirk Cameron, just because I can.....

“Early on, Christians would dress up in costumes as the devil, ghosts, goblins and witches precisely to make the point that those things were defeated and overthrown by the resurrected Jesus Christ,” Cameron continued. “The costumes poke fun at the fact that the devil and other evils were publicly humiliated by Christ at His resurrection. That’s what the Scriptures say, that He publicly humiliated the devil when He triumphed over power and principality and put them under his feet. Over time you get some pagans who want to go this is our day, high holy day of Satanic church, that this is all about death, but Christians have always known since the first century that death was defeated, that the grave was overwhelmed, that ghosts, goblins, devils are foolish has-beens who used to be in power but not anymore. That’s the perspective Christians should have.”
Cameron also encourages Christians to celebrate Halloween by having the biggest parties in order to show that death was already defeated because of Jesus’ resurrection.
“You should have the biggest party on your block, and you should have the reason for everyone to come to your house and before anyone else’s house because yours is the most fun,” he argued.
“Halloween gives you a great opportunity to show how Christians celebrate the day that death was defeated, and you can give them Gospel tracts and tell the story of how every ghost, goblin, witch and demon was trounced the day Jesus rose from the grave. Clearly no Christians ought to be glorifying death, because death was defeated, and that was the point of All Hallows Eve.” 

Personally, I don't really care if you celebrate or not. As a friend of mine said, chances are some people on both sides of the issue need a bigger candle in their pumpkin so to speak.