Two Reasons to Party!

This New Year's Eve, we had another reason to party--Ada's first birthday! I've been looking forward to having her birthday/New Year's party all year long.

Some people ask if I'm bummed that I couldn't hold on to her for one more day in hopes of her being the New Year baby at the hospital. I can honestly answer "NO!" Being able to claim her as a 2007 tax deduction was a much more profitable gift than any prize the hospital would have given us.



The celebration began by eating carrot cake cupcakes with pink and white frosting (Jennabee insisted that Ada's cupcakes have pink on them), singing Happy Birthday, and opening presents. Then I put Ada to bed and the New Year's celebration began!

We played "limbo" and I found out I can go a lot lower than I thought, but not low enough to beat my sis-in-law Angela who amazed us all!


We also had jumping contests and Joe and his brother Jeff proved that white men CAN jump:


The night was also filled with lots and lots of Wii. It was so much fun watching Grandma cream everybody doing the ski jump on Wii Fit! She's got some serious balance. All of the kids (except Ada) stayed up til midnight. How an early bird like me gave birth to a bunch of night owls is beyond me!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas, Finally...

Our house was wonderfully FULL for Christmas. We normally spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa's house but this year we decided to have Christmas celebrations at our home. Since our house used to be Grandma and Grandpa's house, the change didn't seem like much of a change at all. We had our family, Joe's parents, Uncle Grant, Jeff, and Derek, and Aunt Julie, Aubree, and Angela, and friend Todd.

Christmas Eve:

For dinner, we ate the traditional meal of split pea soup, cheese and crackers, jello, etc. Fortunately, we skipped the oyster stew. By the time we finished the cinnamon rolls I made for dessert, we were too full to move, but somehow managed to mosey into the living room so we could re-enact the nativity story. Ada wasn't too thrilled about playing the part of Baby Jesus surrounded by Aunt Julie and Grandpa dressed up as animals in the stable. Jennabee, on the otherhand, loved being Mary. She thought the donkey ride on Grandpa's back was so comfortable, she just snuggled in and rested the entire ride to Bethlehem.

Ada's perfect pout; Jennabee curled up on Grandpa's back

After the nativity story, we let the kids open their "pixie" presents that they bought for the sibling whose name they drew out of a hat. Then Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Grant, Derek, and Aubree went home to sleep in comfortable beds while Julie, Angela, and Jeff stayed the night and graciously helped us wrap all our presents. There were A LOT of them to wrap because we had procrastinated and not wrapped a single one. Joe and I would have been up all night if it wasn't for them.

All the presents wrapped. Now, to get them neatly under the tree....

Christmas Morning:

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Grant, Derek, and Aubree came back first thing in the morning with cars full of presents. The "natives were restless" downstairs (as Joe's Grandpa Harris would have said), pounding on the wall, anxious to get the morning started as the grownups stuffed all of the presents under the tree. When everything was ready, Grandpa led the kids up the stairs in a long chain with their eyes closed, walked past the tree and led them to one of the bedrooms upstairs. Then, the kids were let loose, youngest first, and they ran to the Christmas tree with huge smiles and shining eyes.

A couple of hours later, the last gifts were opened, and it was time for the traditional breakfast of Finnan Haddie (codfish, cured in a special brine), skorper (toasted cardamom rolls), and steaming mugs of Hot Cocoa. Austin helped with the huge pot of hot cocoa, wearing his Chef's hat and apron I made him. He loves to cook and has been begging for a chef's outfit for months. It was the first gift he opened Christmas morning and he was VERY excited about it. Thanks to Aunt Jana for giving me the link to the free chef's hat pattern online.

After breakfast, everyone was sleepy, so most of us took naps and Joe took this lovely picture of me, Jennabee, and Angela sleeping on the floor.

Grandpa Davey got the kids a wii fit and the kids had fun testing their bodies and setting up workout routines. Joe brought home a bunch of wii games from China, so those, with the wii fit, kept them occupied for hours.

Austin, Jennabee, and Ada got a play kitchen from Grandma Kimball and they have been "cooking" for me non-stop. It was a perfect gift for them!

Christmas Afternoon and Evening:

In the afternoon, Uncle Grant and Jeff got stuck in a snow drift driving on a country road. Joe and Derek left home to pull them out of the drift, but when they arrived on the scene, a kind man had already beat them to it.

In the evening we had a delicious Christmas feast and spent the rest of the evening playing games and visiting with each other.

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful for our many blessings!

Dessert of the Week + Party = Yum + FUN

I didn't have time to make cookies this week. I was too busy planning a birthday bash for Joe's dad. We convinced everyone to come to our house for a dinner party last night and had a great time celebrating his special day with him.

Some party highlights:

• Doubles Ping Pong tournament
• My best batch of homemade rolls yet--I wish I would have made more...
• Grandpa having to answer "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" questions correctly in order to open a present.
• Joseph giving all of his prized transformers to Grandpa for a birthday present--a true gift of love.
• Hoffman's stopping by to drop off some of Mark's DELICIOUS homemade smoked sausages which we all got to sample.
• Everybody getting to see our cut out wall finally finished off and trimmed! I told Joe it was the only thing I wanted for Christmas and he hired a carpenter to do it this past weekend. It looks great and I promise to post a pic when Christmas is over.
• Watching Grandpa enjoy the Chocolate Cherry Trifle we had for dessert which combined two of his greatest loves--chocolate and cherries.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

• 12 Chocolate chip muffins cubed (I made mine from a box mix in standard sized cups. If you use jumbos, you won't need 12! You could also use chocolate pound cake)
• 2 boxes of chocolate instant pudding prepared
• 2 cans cherry pie filling
• 1 tub of whipped topping
• chocolate shavings for garnish

Layer all ingredients in a clear bowl or trifle dish in the order listed above several hours before serving. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Signing off 'til after the holiday...

Carol of the Week: Little Drummer Boy

My oldest boys were asked by our church music director to sing Little Drummer Boy for our Christmas program this Sunday. The first time I practiced it with them, I couldn't hold back the tears as I read the words as they sang. The first verse is sweet enough. The second verse starts to tug at your heart strings. The third and final verse brings tears to your eyes. This song captures the feeling of inadequacy that many of us may feel when we think about "being good enough" and helps us to see that offering our best to the Lord is a gift that truly pleases him.

Here are the lyrics if you prefer to read along as you listen to the boys sing in the following video:

Little Drummer Boy

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give our King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

Carol of the Week: What Child is This

I had big plans to sing one carol every week until Christmas (just like the cookie-a-week thing), but last Tuesday, when I wanted to experiment with recording, I came down with a nasty cold. Now, six days of laryngitis later (and a ruptured ear drum causing deafness in my right ear), I can still barely squeak out a pitch. I'm starting to despair that I won't get any carols in at all, so I reluctantly decided to post my experiment from last week. It's a wimpy recording from my regular camera, next time I'll use the video camera. Since I'm already a week behind, I plan on posting Joseph and Grant singing "The Little Drummer Boy" as part of my next Wordfull Wednesday post.

What Child Is This
(arranged by Sally Deford--see defordmusic.com)

My Sister is a Saint

We traveled to Western Washington to visit my family for Thanksgiving. My sister LeAnn and her husband Russ offered to house our huge family in their small two bedroom townhome for three days and nights. They don't have any kids yet and are not used to the noise six kids can make. I'm sure we drove them absolutely bonkers, but they were very gracious hosts anyway.

The Arrival: When we arrived in the Seattle area Wednesday night, we all got together at Chuck E. Cheese's to eat dinner and let the kids burn off all of their pent up energy after sitting in the car for 6 hours. The kids were calm and ready for bed by the time we got back to LeAnn's that night. I can't say that the the rest of the time in her home was as peaceful.

The Dinner: LeAnn also offered to host Thanksgiving dinner at her home. We were excited to have my mom, her husband Mitch, and my little sis Sheraden, and Joe's sister Julie. My mom made a tasty turkey and stuffing, Julie made some delish rolls, LeAnn baked not one, not two, but THREE mouth watering apple pies, and I made the potatoes and "other stuff".

clockwise from left: Hans, Austin, my sis Sheraden, Jennabee (Joseph and Grant not pictured)

clockwise from left: Mitch, me, Julie, Joe, Russ, LeAnn, Mom

Black Friday: Thanksgiving night, Julie took ALL of my kids (except the baby) to her house for a sleepover and kept them with her the following morning which gave us a chance to shop. Our shopping trip was not typical Black Friday shopping. Joe and I slept in until eight or nine, met up with my mom, and satisfied my thrift-store addiction. We went to four thrift stores and I found lots of great stuff for my sewing projects, eccentric gifts, and adorable Laura Ashley dresses for the girls for a dollar each. I was thrilled.

Saying Goodbye: We left my sister's house Saturday morning, travelled to Marysville for a brief visit with some friends, then stopped at my mom's for one last goodbye before heading home.

Thanks LeAnn, Mom, and Julie for making our trip a fabulous one. I can't wait to do it all again!

Trick-or-Treat!

We ALL dressed up for Halloween this year--even the grown ups. I wasn't going to dress up, but as evening approached the kids were trying to come up with last minute costume ideas for me. Austin suggested I dress up as a cat, and I liked the idea. He helped me with my costume by offering tips such as "make your lips black", "you need black fingernails--well maybe just black gloves", "don't forget your tail" etc. I appreciated most of his suggestions but drew the line at painting my entire face black. When Joe came home and saw me dressed up he decided to join in the fun by dressing up in his soccer gear. So here we are on Halloween night all decked out, being silly for the camera.

I loved this picture of Ada experiencing candy for the first time. One of the kids gave her a sucker and she was instantly hooked. She had a fit when I took it away from her.

Happy Halloween!

Wonderful Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Joe's family here in town. There were seventeen of us for turkey dinner. We had a great day, the kids spent the night, Grandma told the Thanksgiving story, we played football in the snow, ate great turkey and pie, had a fun song/poem time, and enjoyed dancing.



Joe's mom compiled a video of our "Turkey Ho-Down". We danced and danced after our Thanksgiving meal to burn off all those calories. Everything started out pretty mild, but ended up rather wild. Enjoy!

Halloween

The Whole Gang

The Little Chicken (or chick)

"Up Up and Away!"

(We heard plenty of jokes about his head wound like "Someone must have thrown a piece of kryptonite at Superman's forehead!") My dad said we should have dressed him up as Frankenstein.

"Black Spider"

(we weren't counting his own legs as part of the eight)

"Construction Worker"

Are you looking for the ghost? Well he must have turned invisible when it was picture taking time because I can't find any individual shots of him. We'll have to see if Aunt Angela caught any on her camera.

We had a fun Halloween night. Joe's little sis, Angela, spent the evening with us. The kids had fun seeing their friends' costumes at the church "trunk-or treat" activity and all ended up with big bags of candy.

Then we headed out to a few of our friends' houses to say hello. We stopped at Pam and Gene's house first and they treated us to some yummy hot apple cider and gave each of the kids a treat.

Next up was Grandma and Grandpa's house where Uncle Jeff had prepared a scary greeting for the kids. He was dressed as a were-wolf, popped out of the recycle bin placed by the front door, and jumped out and started chasing them around the yard. The kids totally ate it up. They LOVED being terrified. Of course when Austin walked up to him, Jeff knew just what to do and pretended like he was afraid and started screaming and running away from our little Superman.

After calming down from the thrill of the chase, we went to see our friend Mark who lives down the street from Joe's parents. We had fun chatting with him for a few minutes and then it was time to go home!

The kids counted up their candy as soon as we walked in the door. Hans won with 113 pieces, although we ended up dumping everything into a communal "bribery" pot. They only get one piece of candy a day after finishing all their school work. I'm such a boring mom!

And my dreams have come true. I failed the 1 hour glucose test that the OB doc makes you take when you're pregnant and had to take the 3 hour test yesterday. I figured I wouldn't pass because I failed the three hour test while pregnant with Jennabee and had to do lots of finger pricks everyday, test my blood sugar, and control it with diet. I got depressed thinking about the upcoming holiday season. No raiding of the kids' Halloween candy, a boring Thanksgiving feast, and forget about any Christmas treats. BUT....

My results for the three hour test came back today and I passed! Now I'm once again excited for the holidays. Joe chuckled at me when I told him I was still going to eat sweets in moderation. He knows my sweet tooth too well.