NYE 2014

Well, the last day of 2014 is spent.  

My goofy kidney stones have been bugging me the past couple days, as I've been moving around a lot.  The kids have been incredibly helpful getting our house cleaned so we can have company tomorrow.  Sylvia and Caeden even mopped the kitchen.  

Jeremy came home from work mid-afternoon today because he is working through the night while a huge, important project is implementing.  

I used some of our Christmas ham to make a yummy ham and cheddar potato corn chowder tonight.  Pretty good stuff, I must say.  

Jeremy went to bed around 6pm, for a little bit.  The kids and I watched It's A Wonderful Life--much to Caeden's protest.  Now that it's over, he says we should make it a tradition to watch it every year on New Year's Eve.  It is a beautiful movie, to be sure.

Sylvia went to bed as soon as the movie was over, around 9pm.  Jeremy just left for work a few minutes ago, and the rest of us are hitting the hay at 10pm.  

I'm feeling bad because I didn't remember to buy balloons so we could keep our NYE tradition of popping them at midnight--or even "fake midnight." I haven't even thought about resolutions. I haven't chosen "one little word" to focus on for 2015.  I feel like time is speeding by before I can even really think about "planning" things.  I'm not caught up, and I'm not ready.

But I came across this today, and it made me realize the only thing I need to plan to focus on in 2015...

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

- James 4:8

Grocery Shopping

Today, the kids and I had a running about day.  We did some picking up and cleaning around the house this morning.  The girls had haircuts in Lexington at noon.  They both basically just got trims, but it was much needed.  

Then we went to Bloomington for groceries.  We went to Aldi first, which is pretty quick and easy--minus the packing (especially when one has kidney stones.)  Then we went to Meijer to get what we couldn't find at Aldi.  

I love my children.  But, oh my goodness, even at 10, 11, and 14 they still don't behave properly in a grocery store!!  Well, I should say, the 10- and 14-year-olds do not.  Sylvia was very helpful and grateful.  Caeden makes everyone in the tri-county area aware at every moment that he hates shopping and is miserable.  Annah kind of goes into a fog and doesn't realize that there are hundreds of other people in the store around her.  I don't get it.  But we did accomplished what we set out to do.

After Christmas, I still had several hats left I haven't sold yet.  I let each of the kids choose one, and they've barely taken them off since.  I'm glad they like them.  And they do look pretty cute.

It is getting chilly tonight.  I can hear the wind howling, and feel the temperature dropping.  Good thing I wore a turtle neck today, so I could warm up my nose!

A night out

Jeremy went to work today, but he not many of his coworkers did, so he had a day to clean out the thousands of emails in his inbox.  We met him at 2:15 and went to the movies!  Jeremy chose movie tickets as his holiday gift from work, so we all got in free!

We tried something new today.  

Jeremy and I saw The Hobbit.

And the kids saw Big Hero 6.

The Hobbit was about half an hour longer than Big Hero 6, but it started earlier.  So, we got set up with snacks and Jeremy went in to pick out our seats for the Hobbit.  I waited with the kids until they could go into their theatre and watch previews.  Our movies both ended about the same time, and I'd told the kids to watch the credits all the way to the end.  I went in and found them sitting all the way up in the top row!  It worked out really well for us to see the movies this way this time, and we all enjoyed it.  The kids said they cried during theirs, but really enjoyed it.

After the movie, Jeremy drove us to the mall.  I needed a new winter coat, so we shopped around.  No luck at Kohl's, JCPenney's, or Sears.  We had a fun time at Macy's.  At first we thought this coat was really funny looking...I tried it on just because Annah thought it was hideous.

The collar seemed strange, and I specifically wanted a coat with a hood.  We soon discovered that the collar pulled up into a hood, which was nice...

But the hood was huge, and I felt like I looked like a whale!  We were all giggling!  Annah groaned and begged me not to get this coat!

 

Once I fastened the belt, I actually decided that the coat was pretty cute.  I don't think I could pull off a light-colored coat though.  

In the end, Jeremy bought me a beautiful navy blue coat, which I don't have a photo of yet.  Next, we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream.  It was a fun evening out for our family.  

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas morning.

The "creatures" started stirring around 7:30 this morning in our house.  Not really as late a sleep-in as I had guessed (after not getting to bed until after 1am), but we made our way downstairs and found gifts under the tree.

Last night, we had each opened a present--cozy new throws for the living room!  

We decided that we weren't in a hurry and we would open presents one person at a time.  We chose Sylvia to go first, because she usually has to be in the middle for everything we do.  She took the bow off her new bean bag chair and sat in it to open her presents.

New duct tape for crafts!

Caeden's turn was next...a new Lego Movie set.

He collected everyone's bows on his head.

Annah's turn!

She loves this t-shirt from her siblings.

I went next.  Jeremy gave me all kinds of dark chocolate and coffee!  Perfect!!

The kids all gave me the best kind of gifts--homemade with love!

The girls made these with paint chips in Art Club!

My darling.

Jeremy received a few of his favorite movies on dvd and blu-ray.

When everyone was done, we found 3 more presents under the tree.  Kindles for the kids.  It was fun to see how very surprised and excited they were.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and loving every moment of just being together in our home.

Finally, around 3:30 we sat down for a meal.  Jeremy's dad had given us this beautiful ham.

It was SO yummy, and will provide several more meals for us as well.

We had wassail warm on the stove all day too.

After we ate, we snuggled up and watched movies...

It's not the presents that are the blessings; it's not the stuff.  I'm so grateful for these souls that surround me, this family God has blessed me with.  I'm so thankful for the love of Jesus, connecting our hearts today and always.  Merry, merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Always one of my favorite services of the year, 

the beautiful 11pm candlelight Christmas Eve Service...

Annah and Sylvia played some violin/cello duets while people arrived.

We were led from the manger to the cross, and as we prepared to receive communion we were led to think about how Jesus, the Bread of Life, was born in a feeding trough...He is food for our souls.  

We were given water to cleanse our hands before we picked up a gift bundled in the manger--the body and blood of Jesus given for us.

As we passed the flame and lit each other's candles, we sang Silent Night and prayed that we will share Jesus, the beautiful Light of the world.

Love my Lord, and love our church family.  

Merry Christmas Eve!

LEGO Advent Calendar

December 1

The awaited day has arrived!  Caeden was SO excited to open the first door on his Lego advent calendar from Uncle Travis and family!  

Tuesday, December 2

mailbox

Friday, December 5

It is the first the he wants to do every morning!

Monday, December 8 

Being home sick from school today with strep throat = a chance to play a little!

Thursday, December 11

Today, he opened a police officer.  Yesterday it was a little catapult and "snowballs."  Today, the police officer was stopping the little boy from firing snowballs with the catapult at his sister.

Sunday, December 14

It's becoming quite a scene, although he likes to leave the doors open so he can see 

how many he's done and how many are left.

Friday, December 19

Caeden was really excited about the whole roasted turkey piece today!  The table, wine and glasses were also in today's package.  

And there was joy again on the last morning -- Christmas Eve--when the last door was opened. 

The scene is now wintry and festive!  What a fun activity this was for December!