Annah got her ears pierced!

It was a big day for Annah today! She's been wanting to get her ears pierced for a while now, and Aunt Erin & Uncle Travis gave her a gift card to Claire's for Christmas so she could do just that! Today was the day!

There were some nerves when it came time.


But, the excitement won out. Sylvia watched silently, and Caeden added to the commotion.


Annah chose little crystal daisies earrings. She wanted me to hold her hand, but I was manning 2 cameras, trying to get video clips and photos at the same time. Annah was very brave!

The first ear...1, 2, 3!

Barely a blink! She said it did hurt a little, and more a minute after they were both done.

The second ear...and Mommy forgot to stop recording while taking photos, so you see my hair for half of this clip. Oops!

She did great!

Miss Tanisha was very helpful and explained things clearly before doing each step.

Here she is showing Annah how to clean her piercings.


And she explained how to turn them 3 times each day. Annah was listening intently.


She is really, really excited!! She said it hurt for a while afterward, but by a couple hours later she said she couldn't feel them at all.

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After the ear piercing, the girls and I all got our hair cut. Poor Caeden sat for an hour and a half waiting through that!

Then we drove through Culver's to get a little frozen custard and kill some time before heading to the movie theater. The girls each received new Disney movies for Christmas with free passes to see "Bolt" in 3-D! We all really liked it! It was super cute and family friendly! I would recommend it!

After that, we headed to get groceries. We got home just before 9:00, which was my intent. Jeremy is studying for a LOMA exam tomorrow, and I wanted to allow him some peace and quiet at home tonight. Ahhhhhhh...

Enjoying Christmas break

Daddy went back to work today, and Mommy and the kids stayed home all day. I thought I was going to go crazy. I get a to-do list going, and then wonder why it frustrates me when I can't get things done while trying to let the kids do fun things too. Nuts.

It was about 45-degrees outside, so I sent the kids out to play! I put together the baseball tee Caeden got from Gram & Krampa for Christmas so he could play. He was pumped to use it and his Cubs bat and ball!


He says it's thumbs way up super, super fun, Gram & Krampa! Thank you!!!


Sylvia loves to play on the swingset any chance she gets...usually on the glider. She said she was confused though, because it's supposed to be winter but it looked like fall outside.


Annah decided to stay inside and use her Easy Bake Oven. It took about an hour to make 2 chocolate chip cookies.

She loves it though. She even washed all the dishes, cleaned up all her mess, and put it all away without my asking her to.

All Day Long

So yesterday was interesting... It rained, as predicted, with big thunderstorms starting in the wee hours of the morning. By mid-morning, we knew for sure water would be coming in the basement, as the rain wasn't stopping. The weather alert radio went off continuously all morning, and during lunch we had to retreat to the basement for a little while because there was a tornado coming our way. Thankfully, it missed us, but the winds were reported up to 80-miles-per-hour! Not long after that, the sump pump couldn't keep up anymore, and Jeremy had to start running another pump as the water came in the basement. He spent the rest of the day until about 10pm pumping it out periodically. We did make the right decision to come home early though, because had we not been here, the water would have risen higher and higher. He was able to keep it under control and away from the furnace, hot water heater, washer, dryer, etc.

While all that was going on, I spent the entire day putting together Sylvia's huge new Barbie dollhouse. (It was a "Santa" gift that actually came from us, my parents, and Travis & Erin, and included all the furniture and tiny accessories like food and teeny-tiny toiletries.) I actually finished it this morning, and she has been playing with it since. She said that now, when she and Annah get home from school in the afternoons, they will just say, "Hi Mom." and go upstairs to play with it and I won't get to see them anymore. I'm glad she likes it!




She thinks it's cool that it's taller than she is. Check it out...It even has a 3-story elevator!
When I was asking her to take a couple pictures, she and Annah were trying to play with it for the first time, and she said, "Okayyyy Mom! Can we get back to playing now?!?!?!"

Gifts from Travis & Erin

Today we were supposed to celebrate Christmas with my parents and brother Travis and sister-in-law Erin back home in Indiana. Mom had bought a pork roast for dinner, and we had put off opening gifts earlier in the week, waiting until after the Christmas morning gift opening and until Travis & Erin would be back from her family's Christmas visit in Illinois.
But, we screwed it all up by having to come home early yesterday.

So, we brought their gifts home to Illinois with us and opened them while videotaping this morning.

We all love the gifts, Travis and Erin! Thank you so much!!


Annah received a HSM notebook, pencils, a cute pencil case, and a gift card to Claire's so she can get her ears pierced!!! She cannot wait to do that this week!!
Caeden received a way cool digger truck "Banshee" from Cars that eats little cars. It's awesome! And, he also received some Crayola Color Wonder Cars things too, which he can't wait to rip open and use!
Sylvia also received a Crayola Color Wonder Disney Princess kit, which she is already loving using. Also, Uncle Travis and Aunt Erin helped with Sylvia's BIG gift--a massive Barbie dollhouse with furniture!
Jeremy got 2 books he's been wanting, one about the leadership styles of Jesus, and on T.D. Jakes book. And, a giftcard to GNC, which he always loves!
I am super psyched about the box of goodies they gave me! It has some chai tea, which I LOVE, a great Pampered Chef oven mitt that matches my kitchen, and tons o' scrappy goodies!!! There are several Stampin' Up! stamp sets, lots of cardstock, ribbon, rubons, an accordian book, and I can't wait to play with it all!





Thank you Travis and Erin! You know us well!

Unpleasant Weather

Today we planned to hang out at Mom & Dad's house, let the kids play with their new toys and games, scrapbook (me), watch movies, relax, and get together with Jeremy's brother and his family tonight to celebrate Wilson's 10th birthday at Tokens & Tickets.

But, when we realized that back at our house the snow has all melted and there is to be a few inches of rain within the next 24 hours on top of all that ground wetness, we knew we had to get home immediately to make sure our basement wasn't flooded or about to flood. We quickly packed up, tried to explain to the kids why we had to leave 2 days early and miss out on more time with family and friends, and got in the car.

The roads were like a sheet of ice when we started out, and there were patches of ice in many spots on the way home. The fog was terrible for much of the trip! It was a real mess.

When we got home, we were actually very surprised there was no water in the basement--yet! But, the upstairs bathroom had some type of leak that ruined the kitchen ceiling.

We unpacked the car and are going to bed early.

Christmas Day

Although the weather and road conditions have been absolutely terrible since (well, actually before) we got here, it makes for perfect sledding! After the amazing Christmas dinner Gram made us, Daddy and the kids headed out to the nearest hill with the sleds!

Sylvia and Caeden have never been sledding before this, and Annah has only been once when she was about two! So, it was super, super fun and special!
It's so slick--completely a sheet of ice--that it's hard to walk and stay upright, let alone climb back up the hill dragging the sled! But it didn't stop them!


Grandpa even came out and played along! He even got on the runner sled and took a go after he pushed the kids a while!


I didn't have much luck on the saucer sled. It was my favorite as a kid, but apparently I'm too big for it now. Still, what a fun activity for Christmas Day!


Annah couldn't wait to bust out her new Easy-Bake Oven. Gram searched every light and lamp in the house until she found the specific type of light bulb it requires. Annah made a little yellow cake with chocolate frosting.


In the afternoon, some of us napped, I scrapbooked a little, some watched new movies,
and we all relaxed!

In the evening, we visited Grandma & Grandpa Lopshire.
Grandma made us some yummy chili, but the kids didn't tell her until after it was made that they don't like chili. So, she let them choose whatever they wanted to eat. They chose cereal--Trix, which they'd never had before, ice cream, and fruit snacks.
They were plenty happy.


Plus, they got to eat their cereal in these cool bowls with straws built right in--another
novelty to them!

Christmas Morning

It's Christmas morning! The kids didn't get up too terribly early. They even had some toast before we started festivities.

Before checking to see if Santa had left gifts under the tree, we took some time to read the real Christmas story in the Bible.


So much for "cutting back." There were tons of presents for everyone!


Before we opened "Santa gifts" Daddy and Mommy presented the kids with special gifts from us. We usually do this on Christmas Eve, but were in such a rush to get the kids to bed that it waited until this morning.
Each child receives a Christmas book from us each year.
And this year, we present each of them with a devotional Bible. They were very excited!


Stockings came next! They all 3 were glad Santa had brought the batteries they'd asked him for.


Sylvie got a watch to help her learn to tell time.


Caeden got a robot dog!


Annah got an "eye-clops" that is like a microscope you plug into the TV.


Jeremy and I reading the card from Mom & Dad and trying not to cry.
Also, I was opening my gift from Jeremy here--a great new lens for my camera! He spoils me!


He also broke our pact to not buy each other anything--"for real this year!" I pretty much kept the pact and only got him this DVD and a used video game. I feel like a big jerk.


Dad gave Mom this Pendleton wool Indian blanket for their condo in Arizona. He was explaining to us all what each symbol pictured on it means.

Christmas Eve

As traditional, we went to Grandma C's for dinner on Christmas Eve. There were "only" about 46 of us there, but it was so nice.

My cousin Brian was there from Chicago, which was cool,
since we hadn't seen him in at least a couple years!
(Aunt Jeannie [his mom] & Brian)


Most of the siblings ended up standing around Grandma,
so they called the others around and snapped photos.
(Jeannie, Roger, Nancy, Butch, Arlene, Vonda (Mom), and Grandma


The above photo inspired family photos with Grandma as she prepared to open gifts.
Here's our crew...(Travis & Erin had already gone to spend Christmas with Erin's fam.)


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The kids, of course, had "The Plan" devised. But, it was too late to do it all when we got back from Grandma's. They did make time to spread the Magic Reindeer Food, and sit out cookies and ice water for Santa. (Sylvia thought Santa was probably tired of milk).

Our Christmas Card to you!

(click to see full-size)

Christmas Play-/Sing-Along & Cookies!

Well, we didn't have a chance to do our traditional whole-family "band" or bellchoir play & sing along this year, but Travis did bring his guitar over to Mom's & Dad's. We played through most of the Reader's Digest Christmas book.

Dad came in after a while and joined in singing, then Mom came in to add some harmony.


Annah wanted to sing along, but doesn't know a lot of Christmas carols yet. She wanted to sing, "O Holy Night," so we did.


Gram is much more tolerant than I am, and let the kids "help" make tons of sugar cookies from scratch today! They love each part of it...making dough, rolling it, cutting it out...

...and decorating them.

And Aunt Erin was glad they waited until she was home from work
so she could help decorate too.


I'm so glad they enjoy doing this with the kids!

Ice Storm

We knew there was an ice storm coming in, and weren't surprised when we got the automated call yesterday morning saying school was cancelled--the day all kids actually want to go to school, for their class Christmas parties! It's a sheet of ice out there though! The trees are gorgeous all covered with ice! The roads around here are actually clear, with just a little slush on them.

So, even though it was treacherous where they started out, Mom & Dad made the trip over here yesterday! They brought a big table and chairs to give us, which has been in Dad's truck for a couple weeks--since the last storm they tried to brave to make it here, and didn't. They came, unloaded the table, loaded up the kids, and headed back to their house. They were probably here about 15-20 minutes, it seemed like!

On their way back, they learned that there was no power at their house, so they ended up staying at a hotel with the kids! They couldn't get a room at the first one they stopped at, and were turned away at the second too, until they were flagged down and offered a room... A crew of workers who had come up from Kentucky to help with all the power outages was checking in and heard my parents get turned away (They were holding tons of rooms with credit cards and couldn't give them up, even though no one was there to use them!!), and this very nice man offered to have 2 of his workers bunk up in a room so my parents and kids could have a room! So nice!! They got home this morning and were very fortunate their power was back on! Tens of thousands of people are still without!

Here at our house, Jeremy and I basically stayed in. He picked up some Papa Murphy's on the way home from work, and we mowed on that while we watched about 5 hours of "Heroes" episodes back to back. We're nearing the end of Season 1 now.

Jeremy also made an Angel Tree delivery in our town last night. When he called to ask if it was okay to deliver their gifts last night, the lady told him it was, but that she hadn't cleared her sidewalk and entryway to the house and her porch light was also burnt out, so he should be very careful. (This lady has 3 children, and her huband is currently incarcerated, so I'm sure she doesn't have the time to do these things herself!) So, my sweet thoughtful husband, stopped by our house and picked up shovels and ice melt and lightbulbs and cleared her entry way and made it bright again. She was very grateful for it all.

We are actually on the road now--Jeremy and I--on our way to Mom & Dad's. It's been very strange having a little time together at home and on the road without the kids. It's been nice, and we'll also be so excited to see them, as well as the rest of our family and some friends too, hopefully!

More snow today!

It snowed gently all day today, and we now have few inches on the ground. Caeden watched it so eagerly all day, and couldn't wait until his sisters got home from school so they could go out and play together! He watched and watched until there was no more grass sticking out of the snow...which meant there was enough to play in!
So, as soon as the girls camei n the door from school, everyone bundled up to head out!

It's even fun to play on the swingset in the snow!!

Santa comes to Arrowsmith!

Santa visited the Arrowsmith Fire Station this afternoon, and all the kids in town were invited!

Daddy helped the kids decorate their own sugar cookies.


Annah's said, "Angel Alert!"





Sylvie wanted to decorate cookies for each of us.


They had a little gift shop area where kids could buy gifts for parents/siblings/etc. for $1/item. Caeden really wanted to buy Daddy some screwdrivers, so I dug $1 in change out of my pocket and let him. He even helped wrap it and put the gift under our tree.


Caeden wanted so badly to play with the train next to Santa's chair while waiting for him to arrive...but he just looked and didn't touch.


Caeden told Santa he wants a Nerf Gun and a robot.


Sylvia told Santa she wants a hug from her sister!


Annah didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, and initially told him she didn't know what she wants for Christmas. He got it out of her that she wants a Webkinz, and he told her that lots of kids are wanting those this year!