The Christmas Pictures...

see, I'm only a little late -- it's not even New Year's Eve yet.

my boys

gangsta Ethan

Jacob and his Hulk Transformer

Action figures from Santa

The livingroom after the bomb (A.K.A. Christmas morning)

Ethan at my parents

Jacob ripping in

Have a Happy New Year!!

Did ya'll have a Merry Christmas?

We sure did. All of the parties and running around seeing family was great. But, Christmas Day was the icing on the cake.

We spent the first few hours at home opening gifts with the boys and then playing with those gifts. Curt spent a bit of time setting up the new Wii (that we bought for the boys, ahem..) so it would be ready to play after we got back from my parents house. Unfortunately, it was already passed the boys bedtime so Curt and I had to do it ourselves. The sacrifices that we make as parents is limitless...

After our gorge on new toys we traveled 45 minutes to my parents house and had dinner with my family. Both of my sisters, their husbands, and their children were there. We have such a good time together, it starts as soon as we walk in the door and the talking and laughter don't end until we all get home. I love my family. They are the best.

After dinner my Dad did a reading (I'm not sure what book it was from) but it was regarding the birth of Christ the King. It brought me to tears, I was so moved by the thoughts of the author. Picturing our King... Lord... God... coming down to Earth, a lowly place for sure, to sacrifice himself for us. Us... you know we don't deserve it.

Once the reading and weeping was done we ripped into the remaining gifts. I am pretty sure that the kids all liked what they got, they've done nothing over the last 4 days except play with all the new toys. Curt and I made out pretty well too. My parents went above and beyond this year. Thanks guys!!

Well, that's all I got for now. I'm sure I'll post pictures someday soon. Have a great Monday!

Hello Dear Friends

You may be asking yourself this very moment "Where in the world is Kristy and what has she been up to?

Well, I'll tell you.

I've been around and doing a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing.

Yup, I've been neglecting my bloggy friends.

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't run upstairs first thing in the morning and peruse all of your blogs, it just means that I haven't taken the time to share with you what we've been doing. Unless of course you follow me on Twitter, because I do like to Tweet.

I don't think our stuff is nearly as exciting as your stuff, but today I'm going to share with you anyway.

Lately we've been getting snow (which I cannot claim to love, because it is so very cold) so the boys have been outside making snowmen.

We've been Saturday mornings at church preparing for our Christmas play which was performed this past Sunday.









We've been hanging ornaments and other decorations





We've been eating oatmeal with honey



And we've been making Christmas presents that I can't show you until after Christmas. The recipients of these gifts tend to frequent this blog so they can catch a glimpse here and there of their grandchildren.

What else, I've been recovering from bronchitis which is mostly better, but now I have a sinus thing and I keep sneezing all over the place. I'm pretty sure that Ethan has it too. We are a great little pair.

Other than that its laundry and dishes and a little bit of reading. OK, OK, if you know me at all you know that by a little I mean a book a day. But still, what else can a girl do when it's so cold outside? Assuming of course that she doesn't want to open the doors and go outside in that coldness.

Tonight we start with our first of 4 family Christmas celebrations. Tomorrow we will be making cookies with both Grandma's and getting haircuts. In the evening we will be having family Christmas party number 2.

I hope that you all have a wonderful and safe weekend. I will hopefully be sharing more pictures and stories in a couple of days. With Jacob and Curt home for the holidays I am sure I will have a bunch of inspiration!

My First Bloggy Award

This award (my very first) came from my dear friend Wendi. Apparently, it is only given to those who are honest. I am glad that I am thought to be an honest person, I do try. The stipulation attached to this award is that I must list 10 honest things about myself. So, since I really want to keep this award, here we go.

1. Some people (I won't list any names, but they know who they are) have described me as stubborn. I will not deny it. I am.

2. I tend to put things that scare me or that I think I may fail at off to the last minute. (Curt was not a big fan of the night before semesters end when I was in college!) It is not limited to any one area in my life either.

3. I love to give, but receiving is hard. Again, this is not limited to any one thing. It could be gifts, compliments, love....

4. My family, extended included, is everything to me.

5. I don't consider my friends to be merely friends, they have become part of my family.

6. I sometimes worry that if my friends knew who I really used to be and the things that I have done that they wouldn't be able to stand the sight of me any longer. I am ashamed of that person.

7. I am so very thankful that the blood of Jesus is covering all of my sins.

8. I tend to dwell on something someone says that is negative towards my character either real or implied. I have been known to believe them and then berate myself for that character flaw, which may or may not actually exist.

9. I have made my child sit on the potty after they've yelled "I'm aallll dooonnnne." so I could finish reading a blog post.

10. Although I try, I find it difficult to open my heart to others.

So, there they are. I hope it isn't too heavy. In some ways, posts like this are good for me because they take me out of my comfort zone. It is easy for me to talk about my family, but myself.... that's way harder.

I also understand that I am to pass this award on to 7-10 other bloggers. But, I think I will just choose 3.

Christine

AmyBeth

Rachel

Enjoy!!

The Doctor says....

I have bronchitis. And, if I hadn't gone in, it would have turned to pneumonia. So, here's to strong antibiotics, cough medicine (so you can sleep at night), long naps, and friends who (gently, yet efficiently) encourage you to go to the doctor. I should be feeling better in 48 hours or so.

Mom. Are you gonna die?

Yes, that is the question that Ethan asked me as I pulled off the side of the road today while on our way to pick up Jacob from school. I didn't think I was going to die, but revisiting the breakfast I ate YESTERDAY looked like it might be a possibility. Remember me mentioning that I was coming down with a little tickle in my throat, but that I thought I was feeling better. Let me give you the FULL story.

Saturday I was running a fever of 102.5. I thought that I might have a slight fever because my eyeballs were burning.

This is sometimes a sign.

One that I often pay attention to.

I also developed a cough that I was sure would end up in a broken rib or two. It hasn't... yet, but I did hear a snap in my back and am sure that I need to visit the chiropractor.

I also had the energy of a sloth. I took about a 3 1/2 our nap and then felt a little better. Mind you the coughing was still going on quite regularly, but as long as I didn't move I felt almost normal (by this time the fever had been brought down by Advil).

Sunday I thought that it would be best to stay home from church. I was feeling better, but again the less I moved the better it was.

Curt took the boys and I had a quiet morning.

I was able to make the beds - one at a time with a significant rest between - I even hung the lights on the Christmas tree.

Yup, I was on the mend.

Until I took a bath.

Then I went downhill.

Until my 3 hour nap.

Yesterday I was doing pretty good. Unfortunately the more I talked the worse the coughing was. Ethan was on a roll and our friends and family who hadn't heard from us over the weekend called to check in. It was very sweet of them to worry. I felt very loved. I skipped a nap because aside from the coughing I was feeling great. I even went so far as to wash some dishes and empty the dishwasher. I gave up and went to bed at 7:30.

Both of the boys were still up watching a movie with Daddy and I went to bed.... at 7:30.

This morning I woke up refreshed. I mean really, who wouldn't feel refreshed after 12 hours of sleep.

I got the boys around and took Jacob to school. Things were going pretty well.

I just couldn't breathe too deep outside because that tended to start that horrible "tickle cough", you know the one. So, I didn't and we (Ethan and I) made it back home without a hitch.

Curt, bless his heart, left a sweet little note on the counter reminding me that I needed to pick Jacob up from school since he had a debate thingy and wouldn't be home until later.

Ok. Things are going well. I even let Ethan stay up from his nap.

Off we go to get Jacob and you know what?

About 7 minutes down the road (thank God we were off the highway) I started a coughing fit.

I was sure that I was going to revisit something horrible (see above).

I pulled off the side of the road because I couldn't see anything through my teared up eyes and I thought, "can't breathe, can't see, driving not good". I got myself together as much as I could, but I still had that little cough in my chest that wouldn't go away. I continued driving down the road, coughing, but not too bad.

Ethan: Mom.

Ethan: MOm.

Ethan: MOM. Are you gonna die?

Ethan: MOM. I SAID. ARE. YOU. GONNA. DIE?

Me: honey, mommy can't talk right now. (I can barely breathe)

Ethan: (very disgruntled) I KNEW IT.

If you happen to be with Ethan during an emergency, you don't have to worry about him freaking out. He might be a little upset that the situation is causing a kink in his plan, but no hysterics. And, just so you know, it is now 8:05 and I am going to bed.

Rebel For a Cause Raffle-way MckMama Style!

MckMama has done it again. This time, she is giving/raffling a great camera package away to raise support for String of Pearls, No Hands but Ours, and The Elison Project. If you are interested in finding out more about these causes, click on their names (I've handy-dandy like linked you up). To donate/purchase your raffle "ticket" go to MckMama's blog. You can also click on the cute little button on the sidebar. I would wish you all luck, but you know how I feel about luck.