christmas 2011

christmas 2011

School Closed...

I thought it would be fun to surprise Khloe with a sign in her school room! She LOVED it!

These are a few of my favorite things

Emmanuel God with Us

The FIREPLACE

Garland Galore!

The perfect little felt trees

Aren't they HAPPY?

Our skinny Christmas Tree

Hanging in our breakfast nook a series of ornaments hung with twine, white glitter trees, a white glitter pinecone, a ring of silver bells and these ADORABLE red boots (my favorite purchase of the year)

"Lovebirds" thanks to my MILie (Mother-in-Law)

Gift tags turned into what else...GARLAND! Peek a Boo it's me

Every year every child gets new ornament for the tree, a tradition my Mother started with us! This sweet angel was Pia's. BTW I was given ALL of my ornaments when I got married to start my families own tree BEST.Gift.Ever.

Caleb picked Yoda his light saber lights up!

Khloe picked Rudolph the tree behind him lights up!

Our church does an amazing event every Christmas called Celebrate with Family. This is this years ticket.

Advent telling us only one week til Christmas!

LOVE this cork board kitchen mat it makes me smile!

Of course our cookie's for Santa plate and mug!

My Christmas ornament from when I was 10!

Like most people who decorate their house for Christmas, each year I try to add a few more small Christmas decor items to our home. This year I LOVE Christmas trees if I could have little Christmas trees all over I would. Bringing the outdoors in is something I REALLY love. We live in a small house though so I opted to buy smaller decor items. Ornament type things and garlands another thing I am also obsessed with at the moment! My house never quite feels like Christmas when my husband is gone so to put me in the mood I have been watching Christmas movies every night with the kids and decorating the pants off my little house!

The fireplace is quite busy I am afraid when I take everything down it will look like we are moving out. The kids rooms are not decorated at all this year except for the fact that they each wanted some lights hung. They each have one window in their rooms so around the window I have lights and that seems to be enough to warm their hearts! The living room is the craziest and a few things here and their in the bathroom and kitchen.

I went around snapping a few pics of some of my favorite things of Christmas 2011, hope you enjoy as much as we do!

Christmas Program

Caleb enter's stage left

Lined up giving the first of MANY thumbs up!

Cheesing for the camera

Caleb and David ROCKED the show!

It was so great to be together at Caleb's Christmas Praise Program. I had a bit of a headache but we all made it and Caleb shined like a star! They sang several songs with motions and Caleb did them all and sang with pride it was great. After almost every song he took a bow and gave Kyan and I a very enthusiastic thumbs up, yes he was the ONLY one doing this.

Each child's class walked out with their teacher and when Caleb walked out and saw that Daddy was their his mouth dropped and he said,"Daddy!" He then proceeded to tell the boy and girl in front and behind him that, "Hey, my Dad is here!" Proud Papa moment for sure. He even told me after how happy he was that Daddy was there.

Later that might we celebrated with watching Kung Fu Panda 2 and getting Yolotti. Here are a few pics and a short encore video!

Glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace and Goodwill to all Men!

Found this little gem last year on youtube and I JUST LOVE it! I literally cry and laugh every time when I watch it!

Advent Calendars

Nativity Manger Advent... add a person every day

Pia LOVES chocolate and Christmas

CJ LOVES chocolate and Christmas

Khloe LOVES chocolate and Christmas

...hung by the stockings with care. In hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be there!

My Mother got these for my sisters and I as children and I have kept the tradition for my children as well. I must say they love chocolate before breakfast!

We also had a teddy bear advent calendar growing up that moved from room to room until finally Christmas day it was in the living room under the tree. My Aunt made it I believe. I think it got ruined in the basement my mother said but non the less advent is a very important part of our Christmas tradition! I love that these little things have become just as important to my children as they are to me. The LOVE is in the details!

PINSTASH is back!

Pinstash is our Christmas Elf. I bought him on recommendation of a friend when my oldest daughter Khloe was 4. His box said "The Newest favorite Christmas Tradition" why wouldn't I have bought him, I love traditions old and new.

Since the day he first arrived Pinstash has been the newest favorite tradition the kids love him I love him and though my husband thinks he's a little well "off" to be politicly correct we all really do LOVE him and enjoy the Christmas mischief he brings.

I hope you have fun Christmas traditions of your own if you don't you should it's never to late to start. It will bring out the kid in all of you and keep happy memories warm and close to your heart forever. I promise you won't regret it if you do and I promise you will if you don't.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My little prayerful boy

Table with Daddy

Table with Mommy

Yummy

Kyan wanted this picture, he said, "BEST sweet potato pie ever!"

Sweet Pia and baby

Playing so well together

Mommy cooking up the deliciousness

Cooking in our little kitchen :)

1 pigrim, 2 Indians

Potato shaped like a heart, Khloe wanted to keep it.

The BIRD!

My little helpers

We had a great Thanksgiving, my husband graciously said it was the best meal he had ever eaten, the kids pushed and poked it around their plates but politely said yes it's yummy Mommy is the best cook :). I got up early to make everything so that we could eat at 1 so my husband could nap and then leave for Dallas where he will be flying out in the morning to recruit.

It was great though to have all of us at our Table For Five, laughing, complimenting, being thankful, praying, telling stories and loving each others company. The rest of the day Khloe and Caleb played computer games and Khloe decided to teach Caleb how to read! It was so cool not that he really got it but that she was teaching him the same way I taught her. I even heard her say, "Well Caleb we don't quit," hehehehe. Caleb picked to watch Incredible's, Pia napped and Daddy watched football while I cooked.

After lunch we all took a nap, well everyone else took a nap I was awoken 20 min in to our dog barking in the backyard :/ I did get Christmas cards ordered and saved 35$ though and another present so it all worked out! When everyone else got up we had pie and ice-cream and Kyan got ready to leave, but not before getting the Christmas decorations down from the attic.

God has been so good to my family. His blessing are new every day! We are so thankful for his blessings. I feel like one lucky lady to have all the happiness I have. Thank you God for your goodness, love and promises. We are because YOU are.

Hoop Dreams

I am always so glad when I catch a sweet moment on camera. I have these moments a lot thankfully bc I always have a camera close, (learned this from my father and my father friend Dr. Held) thank you, thank you for always having that camera in my face!!!! With my own children I finally get it EVERYTHING they do needs captured :)

Like one of my favorite quotes, " Silly scattered images will represent our past, so I'll keep on taking pictures never quite sure of our lasts."

Caleb has been going to work with Kyan these days. Some guy time now that he is a little older, appreciates the gym and not so attached to Mommy :) I love this because it gives Kyan and I each some time with our girls and boy. My children all LOVE "the gym", even Pia. We pulled in the parking lot the other day and she yelled out "DADDY!!!!!!" Yes even my 1 and half year old is a gym rat and knows Daddy is in that building, precious.

Anyway my obsessive need to capture every moment, I can finally see rubbing off on my husband and thanks to camera phones it makes picture taking very convenient, ( if you do not have a good camera phone GET ONE). This is a sweet beyond words picture he took of Caleb at the gym watching Basketball.

Kyan took him to work before our game for some guy time and to hang out in the gym. I am afraid Caleb now thinks he runs the place! Locker room , Basketball offices, gym floor, practice gym, he runs the place. Thank you Kyan for capturing this moment!

Chatting with my 7 Year Old

My life is filled with all sorts of noise. When you have three kids and two dogs and a very loud husband it can at times be overwhelming. I myself am a chatty person so it is no surprise that my daughter is the same!

I LOVE listening to all of the things she has to say and when she GETS GOING there is NO stopping her!! I managed to film a conversation without her knowing...hehehehe!!! She was talking to me about her favorite show "Good Luck Charlie".

******Hang on to the end Caleb chimes in from the bathroom that he accidentally pooped in his pants!! PRICELESS, CLASSIC, PERFECT TIMING!!*******

I LOVE my simple ordinary, extraordinary LIFE!!!!

Body Parts Project

Khloe with her human body project!

All the organs, bones and muscles we learned

Didn't she do GREAT?!

This semester in CC (Classical Conversations) Khloe did an amazing project with the human body. Every week we learned about and added to the parts on the human body. First we traced her body on to a piece of paper. Then every week we colored and cut the different organs. Learning along the way about what each part did. At the end we got to assemble all the hard work into an amazing, fun and cool project! Here is Khloe with her body and parts!!

JOB WELL DONE!

Friends!

Khloe, Janie & Lucy

Me and Bianca

Jane, Charlie, Khloe and Caleb

The Springfield Crew

Khloe and Ava

TJ and Khloe

Jack and Caleb... a mischievous twosome!

Poppy, Sophi Kate, Khloe and maggie

I have been beyond blessed with friends! A fear of moving place to place a lot of the time is the things you are leaving behind and the unknowing of what is in store. I am so blessed to have friends all over the country and now the world with one of them living internationally now.

Every place we have moved I have been able to make some life long friends. We don't have dinner and movie dates. Our kids can't go to school together and have play dates. We may only see each other every 5 years but we are friends...good friends.

Kyan has a joke with me because it always takes awhile to make friends in a new town. It seemed for awhile as soon as I got settled into liking where we lived and made some good friends we would move. He say's " Oh, Suzanne has friends this must mean we are moving." ;) It's true it has happened like that so far.

I was blessed here to make some great friends quickly. A group of girls took me in at our church. We have children all the same ages and enjoy doing the same things. We are all Christians, we love our families, we love our husbands. We play together, shop together, eat together, go to church together, watch silly romantic comedies together. We sharpen each other.

My children have also been able to make some GREAT friends. When you homeschool your children having friends and social interaction is everyone's concern. Not mine because I have such great friends and families surrounding my children some from Classical Conversations our school group, others from church and others from my husbands work. I feel so overwhelmed and grateful for all of these people. Incredibly blessed to have their families around my children I wouldn't have it any other way. We know some amazing people, there I said it my friends are AWESOME! They help me to be a better friend, a better wife and better Mom and a better woman.

Thank you, thank you God for putting these people in my life and lives of my children, my family. We are beyond blessed to have them.

Thank you friends

Emily Kessinger The ORU Crew

Adiel Abalu Amy Matlach

Tanya Paulson Amy Teague

Courtney Weddle Gretchen Whistler

Jill Lovett Isaac & Ari

Amy Long Cade & Ella

Meldoy Bryngelson Tyler & Addison

Monnica Williams Shaylen, Sherronn & Sanaa

Katie Levell Jane & Charlie

Bianca Woodeberry Francis, Lucy, Elliot & Zuzu

Sommer George Seth, Micah & Levi

Sarah Kruse Sam & Sohpi

Heather George Maggie, Poppy & Jack

Caleb, Tanner, Hudson, Cole Ava, Alec, Abby Sue, Laylee & Max