Angel Alert!

This weekend was filled with 3 performances of "Angel Alert," the Christmas musical the girls were in at church. They've been practicing since August, and were all so glad to get to present it!



"Angel Alert!"


a little bit o' choreography...
(Thank you to whoever made it easy on us by putting Sylvia and Annah next to each other!)


Annah was one of the ribbon girls...so exciting for her!


Sylvia got to sing "Away In a Manger" with a group of little girls.


Signing "Jesus, Precious Jesus"


The Cherubim

Life Group Christmas

Our Life Group is such an important part of our lives! We get together every Monday night, and tonight we had a little Christmas gift exchange.
It was kept quite "lighthearted," for the most part!

I don't think anyone ended up with the book they initially opened, but Jeremy received a book about the similarities between parenting and caring for dogs...


Lisa was the one to first open the book called something like "The Great Sex Weekend." (You can see her husband's fist celebrating in the air in the upper right hand corner of the photo!) It was definitely the sought after book during all the "stealing" games. Not sure who ended up with it, but it wasn't us!


Brian opened the first book, called "The Struggle," about a, um, well, we'll just call it an "apparently common male problem."


Yes, this is our Bible study group, from church, and the group of people we're walking through life with, praying for daily, encouraging each other... We have many serious discussions, and we joke around a lot too. (And, they were Christian books, in case you think they weren't!)

Cookies & Carols

One of my very favorite events at our church is Cookies & Carols! What could be better than tons of fantastic cookies, Christmas, music, beautiful decorations, my favorite people, some silliness, and all of it to celebrate Jesus!?! A pretty great combination, I think!

Tonight, the girls and I took our neighbor/friend/piano student of mine, Paige, along with us. She and her mom came to Carol of the pianos this morning (I was SO excited!!!), and she wanted to come back tonight.
The girls were pretty patient while I practiced with the Praise Band for 1 1/2 hours beforehand.


There were oodles and oodles of amazing cookies! The girls filled their plates.
Here they are showing Chris Hole's cute little chocolate mice...


This year, the bakers were competing, and had to decorate a booth to go along with their cookies to be judged.
It was no surprise that Lori's super cute Whoville booth won the Peoples' Choice award. So fun!


A little view of the band from behind the grand...


It was a phenomenal event this year, as always. Over 300 people attended, and even 3 that came to Jesus for the first time!! Praise the Lord!

Carol of the Pianos

I can't even explain what a privilege it is to have this experience!!!

My friend Lisa and I have been meeting since the beginning of September, finding and choosing music, practicing, preparing the details... And today, we performed a piano duet concert during the worship services.
The Carol of the Pianos!

Our church has a gorgeous grand piano, and rented a second one for the week.
The church's piano is a Yamaha concert grand--one of the nicest, with a nice bright sound and easy touch. We are so blessed to get to play it every week!
This year the rented piano was a K. Kawai. It was beautiful too, with a very mellow, dampened sound and took a little rougher touch.
At first when the rented piano was delivered and we discovered how different the sound and feel of it was, we were a little worried. But, God worked had worked out the details beforehand, and we realized we could switch halfway through the program and each of us would be playing on the bright piano when we had mostly melody to bring out and the dampened piano when we had more of the lower, or "moody" parts! It worked out just perfectly, and we both got to enjoy the differences of the two instruments!
In this photo, Lisa is playing the church's Yamaha and I'm playing the K. Kawai. (Thanks for the picture, Mike!) And, he caught me mid-page-turn!


It really is such an honor to have a unique experience like this, and we just enjoy every bit of it! I'm so humbled by the privilege!!
Our friends, Pastor Todd & Kim Keller read from scripture the Christmas story in between songs and while we played. It is really the perfect touch for the service, and helps so much to show why we are doing this whole thing in the first place!

So many people complimented us and thanked us for our hard work.
But, definitely,what meant the most was to hear how their hearts were stirred toward the Lord in worship!



This photo was just after one of the services, and we were discussing how it went...


And to play with this girl, oh my, she is so amazingly talented!!!!
She played some stuff in this program that I would never be able to touch!
I am so inspired by her!
And even though, I am miles behind her in ability, we are very musically compatible, which makes it so fun to play together when we think the same way. And I also love to sing with her; I think our voices have a good blend.
She is a fantastic friend too, and I'm so glad we have had this opportunity (twice!!) to work and grow together musically and in the Lord!

School Christmas Program

Annah and Sylvia had their school Christmas music program tonight.
We had to sit waaay up in the bleachers, far away from the stage.


Caeden loved seeing his sisters and other friends we know,
and clapped and cheered "Wooo-ooooooo!" loudly for them


Sylvie and the kindergarten classes sang several songs first.
They sure looked like they were all having fun!


Annah and the 1st and 2nd grade classes began the "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" program. They were all dressed in their jammies!

Skin Afflictions

We knew the kids were exposed to chicken pox last Monday, but we didn't worry about it, because they've all had both parts of the vaccine. But, when little red bumps appeared on Sylvia's cheeks Sunday morning, we knew we better keep watch. By the time we got home from Indiana Sunday evening, she had itchy red bumps and in patches on her wrists, elbows, knees (front and back), ankles and legs. I figured, if any one of the kids was going to be sensitive enough to get chicken pox after being vaccinated, it would be Sylvie. She just has that sensitive (health) tendency. So, I decided to take her to the doctor Monday morning. Then we got snowed in. So, I took her Tuesday morning.

Aaaaaaaaand...the verdict is...it's not the pox! I wish it was. It's worse. It's scabies! When the doctor said it, I was shocked. I didn't know exactly what it was, but the word didn't have a nice connotation in my mind! It just sounds dirty and icky. Which it's not really; just highly contagious.

Scabies are tiny little mites that bite down into the skin and kind of tunnel underneath. Suuuuuper itchy and even painful. The itching can last for weeks, even after treatment. We have all covered ourselves from head to toe in the prescribed cream to eliminate them, even though none of the rest of us have a sign of them. I'm washing and drying all the bedding and clothing on 'hot,' and trying to clean the house from top to bottom.

We don't know where Sylvia picked it up, but apparently you can get it from touching skin of someone else who has it, or even just from touching their clothing. And, it can take 2-6 weeks after you're exposed before the rash shows up. We think maybe she got it at gymnastics, but we have no proof.

In any case, it is an adventure we would rather not be on, but we're doing all the steps to get rid of it and help her stop itching...

Cup-stacking

Annah burst in the door, as usual, today after school, and asked for 9 cups so she could show me what she's doing in P.E. class. Cup-stacking! She showed her brother and sister, and they are having fun with it now too.

Snow Day!

It was snowing when we left Indiana yesterday. Jeremy drove us home in the snow. There was snow here at home when we got back. And, it snowed more in the night last night. The girls' school was canceled this morning, so we enjoyed a snow-day at home.

I baked 4 batches of cookies, divided and bagged them up, and printed a Christmas prayer and message from our family on some pretty papers stapled to the top of each bag. We bundled up and delivered them to 9 of our next-door neighbors.


It took us about an hour to deliver all the cookies, so the kids only played in the snow for a few minutes once we got back to our house.
Caeden wanted to eat the snow today.


The girls found icicles on the house!


The first snow is always exciting!

Thanksgiving

We traveled to Indiana, of course, to spend Thanksgiving with our families there. We have so much to be thankful for; God has blessed us so much beyond what we need. It was wonderful to spend the weekend with family, celebrating.


Gram & Caeden building a garage for the Matchbox cars...


Great Grandma hosted the Crabill Thanksgiving gathering. She has been crocheting these little scarecrows for months, and let each grandchild and great grandchild choose one. She made 43 in all, I think. Caeden and Sylvia were so excited to get to choose the ones they wanted. They love them.


Sylvie and Great Grandma


Ada and Lucy found a fun place to play with their scarecrows!


We were able to spend a lot of time with Scott, Cathy, and Megan. The kids showed Megan all their favorite "secret places" outside at Gram & Krampa's. The girls were carrying little notebooks around with them all weekend, drawing and writing down things they saw.


I didn't take any photos at the McEowen gathering, as there were at least 6 other cameras flashing like crazy. Anyone who would like to e-mail some photos?

The kids and I missed out on the Lopshire gathering, and I am still feeling awful about it. Jeremy went for a little while, and we are really looking forward to seeing everyone at Christmas time!!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I saw this recipe in Wondertime Magazine (no idea how I got subscribed to it!), and thought I woudl try them. I made them for our Thanksgiving gatherings this year, and they are sooo yummy!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Makes 16 biscuits

Ingredients:
2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Heat oven to 400. Scrub sweet potatoes, prick them in several places with a fork, and microwave them until tender, at least 10 minutes. Carefully slice them in half, scoop the hot flesh from the skins, and add to a mixing bowl along with the butter. Using an electric mixer, whip together potatoes and butter until well combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in sugars, salt, and spices. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile stir together flour and baking powder in a medium bowl with a fork. Add flour mixture to potato mixture and use the fork to combine well. You may have to knead the dough by hand a bit at the end. On a floured surface, roll out or pat the dough into an 8-by-8-inch square about 3/4 inch thick. With a sharp knife or square biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut out 2-inch square biscuits. (Making them square means you can use all the dough in one go, rather than rerolling it.)

Place the dough squares 2 inches apart on a baking sheet that has been greased or lined with parchment. Bake until they're golden brown on the bottom and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes.