Christmas Day...YAY...!

 We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my parents' house.  As always, we had plenty of food, plenty of laughter and plenty of fun!

 We may have eaten right away.  Is it totally lame that I cannot even remember?  I think the main reason for eating first was so the adult men didn't miss any of the football game. (that goes for Caleb as well...and apparently he can entertain himself regardless}

 After months of faux cuts, the boys finally had a schedule that allowed them to get into the salon.  Unfortunately, it has been so long that I think Annie forgot they need I prefer bangs!!

 The annual cousins picture turned out a bit better than this but I decided it's fun to get the other kind...and hey!  Kyle is actually behaving in this one!

 Since not everybody can be a rock star all the time, I'm also sharing this man photo...

We all received lots of fun gifts.  {opened after the game of course} The kids sprawled theirs out all over the house.  Later, we played a game {or two or seven} of Catch Phrase then headed to church.  Anticipation was building because this was our first Christmas Eve service at our new church.  We were the first twelve of fifteen there but then the pews quickly filled and the buzz of people filled the sanctuary.  It was definitely a different service than I was used to-no organ music, no boisterous voice giving the sermon- but the message was good and we sang Silent Night by candlelight, which is my fave.  Pat, Jen and {sleeping} Abbi met us for the service and took the bigs home afterward.  in anticipation of the arrival of Santa.  Andrew even brought home peanut butter fudge for the jolly guy.  Ahhh...traditions.

It's never easy being non-traditional, especially at Christmas, but with our situation, it is what it is. ☺  Every other year the boys come over early afternoon to open gifts and it has worked for us so far.  Until this year.  Kyle is finally old enough to notice and it was killing him to have to wait!  All day he asked if it was time to open presents and he kept trying to make deals with us and other times he flat out cried.  It was so unfair to him.  We settled on letting him dump out his stocking.  Next year will be easier but the year after that...?  I'm really concerned.  Although the bigs will be fourteen and sixteen {sigh} I will never change want to change them opening their gifts together.  Lucky for us we have some time to figure it out.

yeah...hand warmers...originally the gift on Santa's list...

 You know by the look in this kid's eyes that Santa was not the smartest guy in town on Christmas day...

 I love that Santa knows everything...even Kyle's favorite gum flavor!

 And have you ever seen anybody, a kid or otherwise, ever get this excited for a new scrubbie?  Maybe I'll start buying them from now on!!

 This is a "YYEESSSS" in case you cannot quite get what he's saying...Kyle loves him some Charles Woodson...and this guy is straight out of his Michigan days...{he's jumping in the air}

 Another WOOT!  A big want on the list was NFL pink ribbon stuff to add to the uniform during game time...wrist bands it is!

 The older I get the more I lose focus of taking dang pictures!  I had a little voice to my distant right saying, "Did you get that?" while all the fun was happening.  Yeah, I got it in my brain...but we all know what happens from there!  I remembered to snap shots of Kyle with his stocking because it was still calm in our home at the time.  Since I'm not sharing these in order, you would guess I just don't enjoy the bigs' faces at Christmas but in reality, we were half way through opening when I realized I was not taking pictures!!  Oh well.

It amazes me that a boy can get so charged over another v-neck tee...but he does!

 {he seriously needed a new shirt on or a new opening location...colors are just bad}  Diary of a Wimpy Kid's pre-ordered book...glad he didn't get it before he opened this!

 "Sweet!"  For the price of these babies, that was a perfect expression! 

 I suppose it's a good thing this new air soft gun shoots 400 something per something..?{I really cannot remember what it was...I was out of my mind when I bought it}

 I totally felt bad for Caleb this year.  He only asked us for clothes and shoes.  He wanted clothes so bad {against the laundry superintendent's better judgement} that when eight year old Isaac mentioned not knowing what he wanted for Christmas, Caleb told him he should ask for clothes and said something about wishing he did when he was eight and if he only knew then what he knows now...WOW!  He really wanted some Sanuks from Santa...{they are not shoes, they are sandals-whatever}hope he wasn't disappointed that he got them from us.  I had already purchased them and wrapped them when I heard that's what he put on his wish list.

 I still cannot get over the bangs...

Santa was good to all of us this year.  Almost everyone got what they had asked for...actually we all did...Caleb's gift was just apparently altered a tad due to my being on the stick. {see above}  First, Kyle had asked for a new camera.  His broke and we couldn't figure out how or what to do about it.  I guess that idea didn't count because technically it was stated before Andrew wrote the letter to Santa.  Once paper and pen came out, he changed his thoughts and gave a list.  We explained that we only ask Santa for one gift...something we really, really want.  The bigs know to ask Santa for something I would never spend my money on.  Good ol' Santa... So Kyle wanted a football.  Then he didn't.  Then he asked for hand warmers.  I'm sure Santa would have come through for him but I felt totally bad not telling him to ask for something else instead.  By the third letter, he settled on a Nerf gun.  I had already purchased dart tag for two of them {Target was running a mean sale} but knowing that boys like {Nerf} guns, I didn't return it.  I just had to tell my mom {again} to change her gift idea.  Santa came through with a Nerf disc gun...super great!

Andrew remained consistent with his wish.  He has let it been known that he wanted the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon.  Because he basically only asked for games and Legos, I made it known I was not going to be purchasing this extravagance for him.  Thank goodness for the jolly one.

Caleb was sooo hard to buy for.  I may have already mentioned this.  He really is easy but hard at the same time.  He said to me, "I have a football.  I have a basketball.  What else do I need?"  What a kid.  Love him.  However, at Christmas...I needed him to love me back enough to give ideas.  Finally, days before Christmas, Caleb gave an answer to Andrew so he could finally send his letter to the North Pole.  He wanted Sanuks. {again, I went over this}  Lucky for him, not only did he get what he wanted already, but Santa brought him a new pair of kicks, too...{and they are much sweeter in person...and light!}

My darling husband asked Santa for new underwear.  I know, I know...we dream big!  He's a big fan of the comfort waistband from Hanes so these are a new treat for him.

I asked Santa for knee socks.  It just keeps gettin' better, doesn't it?  It's actually surprising since I don't even like wearing socks...even in the winter!  I guess that's why I asked Santa for them...definitely something I can use but not really into paying for myself.☺

After presents were opened and the house was {mostly} cleaned, the house filled with crickets as I finished up getting ready for the next party.  Everyone disappeared, not to be seen again til our guests arrived.

We celebrated Christmas evening with the Stratton clan.  As if we weren't already stuffed enough, we pulled out more food just to be sure.  We hung out, snacked a bit, opened gifts, snacked some more and then my BIL opened one of his gifts and we played Taboo until the evening came to an end.

We are so blessed with wonderful family.  So many wonderful friends.  So many wonderful things.  We have a home.  We have heat.  We have running water.  We have food on the table.  We have jobs.  We have school.  We have love.  We have each other.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.  May you all be as blessed as we are in two thousand twelve.

The Week In Review...{not very clever}

I left work last Friday in the middle of updating this blog from the week before.  I saved it, totally intending to finish the post at home.  Here I am still not past the eleventh.  Sigh.  Every single year I plan to slow down.  Enjoy the little things.  I should be doing that every day but at the very least at Christmas time.  I was so proud of myself for having over seventy five percent of my holiday shopping done in November.  Then I stalled.  cheerleading is kicking my butt.  I remember this from the past.  I'm usually gasping for air mid January.  This year, I feel like the life has been sucked out of me a tad bit earlier than normal. 

For Life Group, I made a list of my "priorities"...the things I do outside my home on a volunteer basis.  I, myself, was shocked to actually read the list.  And I kept adding to it.  Everything I do is important to me.  I don't really have the issue of saying yes out of obligation or hurting feelings.  I used to but it seems like I don't get asked to do those things anymore.  Instead, everything I say yes to is everything I want to do.  Unfortunately that list is just getting too long.  I volunteer so my kids {kids in general} can be afforded the privileges they have.  With budget cuts and non funded activities, without volunteers kids wouldn't play league sports, belong to after school clubs, be able to go to youth group...there would be no fundraiser money to buy new equipment.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I have friends who do plenty of this also.  Often I do what I do because there doesn't seem to always be a big surge of others to help out and it is oftentimes the same people over and over again doing the helping.  The difference, I guess, between those friends and myself is they know when enough is enough.  I really have to work on knowing that same thing.  My boys are getting older and Caleb will be in high school next year.  Ideally, I want to be able to volunteer less and enjoy more because in my heart I believe other parents will want to also help early so they, too, can enjoy later. {doing work for the high school before our kids are in high school}  I know I will always volunteer no matter what but in my fantasy world, I can give some of it up because others will want to take over.  In reality, however, I don't think I'm wired that way.  I've had this convo with KR and she knows where I'm coming from.  I'm going to try to use her as a model and choose what's most important.  I doubt I'll succeed successfully {does that even make sense?} but my goal is to start small and eliminate three things from my list. 

So here it is, December twenty first, the shortest day of the year.  It's foggy, rainy, dreary and...blah.  There's no snow and it just doesn't feel like Christmas is in four days.  It's time to start thinking about the resolutions I will make but will most likely not follow through with.  No, I need to make the resolutions more meaningful.  I'll make them ongoing goals...nothing I can fail at...only work to succeed at.  I vowed to make my thirtieth year my best yet and it was...at the time!  I think I'll take sort of the same approach for my thirty eighth...Merry Christmas to me!

Sooo...

The run down of the week went a little something like this...

Monday...it"s all the same...practice, practice, practice!

Tuesday...I set my alarm for five a.m. so I'd have time to pick up the bagels for the staff.  Of course I woke up at four twenty and couldn't stop watching the clock so I got up a bit earlier.  All kiddies had to be up by the time I left at five thirty so they'd all be ready when I got back.  My Kyle woke up at five thirty, arrived at the school at six thirty and made it til noonish when Mr. Huizenga did me a favor and gave him a ride to school.  The breakfast and lunch went perfectly fabulous and I am, again, so grateful for the friends and acquaintances I have for all the wonderful help provided to me.  After, I started my week long gig as Santa's helper, delivering gifts to all good girls and boys.  I was beat for practice but clearly made it through.

Wednesday...Got ready early so Kyle and I could deliver gifts to all his "specials" teachers.  Aside from the office ladies, only the librarian was there.  He did not want to leave gifts in the office so I told him we'd try again Thursday.  K took the day off to do his annual shopping trip.  Don't think he did too well this year.  After work I headed to Caleb's ball game.  His team rocked the house the first half.  I mean they slaughtered the other team.  However, the other team came balls out {lol} and that's all she wrote.  I think I know what coach had them working on the next day.  It was a sad loss with what they accomplished in the beginning.  I dropped off a friend to youth group, hauled it to Muskegon, in the rain, met my seester at VS, paid for her purchases and headed home to pick up from youth group.  Oh, yes I did.  And I totally know what guys feel like hanging out in that store.  I was totally Kristin's boyfriend that night.  I looked at nothing.  I just hung around, arms crossed, waiting for her to be ready.  then I pulled out my card, swiped it, signed for the purchase and walked out the door.  I think I felt a little used. ☺  That's what I get for bartering.  By nine thirty, K was called into work. 

Thursday...Got ready early again to play delivery girl.  Not only were the teachers still not there but it was their holiday breakfast.  I told Kyle we need to leave the gifts so we snuck in the mail room {I'm sure nobody at the breakfast noticed} and placed the gifts in the appropriate mailboxes.  Practice as usual.  Keith arrived home {from his call-in} sometime after I went to bed at midnight.  Yowza.

Friday...Had our office Christmas lunch and gift exchange.  There's definitely shopping in my future! {thanks, NIS}  I had to skip out early to make it to Kyle's sing-a-long at school.  My super mom got there early and saved me a seat right up front...and in front of Kyle. {thanks super mom}  after singing, the class had a little party and then the kids all sat around while Mrs. J. opened her gifts.  It was very cute.  She made me cry twice.  I'm not a teacher.  But I sure do admire those who are.  Then the kids all got to open their gifts from Mrs. J.  The original story of the Gingerbread Man.  The kids all loved it!

{Friday continued}...I chaperoned the dance that evening.  Drama!  At least I got to laugh {and make faces} with all the girl drama.  I don't believe for one second girls were so whiny when I was in junior high. {it's  my story and I'm sticking to it}  You won't believe this though...a boy's fist went through a window {blood everywhere} and one boy's uncle dies {in an accident maybe} and another boy's grandpa had a heart attack and died.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  I don't think any of that is the kind of excitement the kids needed!  I was supposed to drive after the dance then go out with friends.  Instead, another parent drove and the "out" plans were cancelled.  I stopped at the hut to eat with a couple moms whose kids were all sleeping over together {Andrew was one of them} and headed home. 

Saturday...Kyle's second soccer game was all for show because he had a crowd there to see him.  It totally worked in his favor because he scored his first goal indoors!!  He was asked to go out for pizza and cookie baking afterward so K and I spent some time {apart} shopping for gifts.  Still not done but one step closer.  Went home and wrapped more gifts.

Sunday...Pat and Jen visited our church.  Both the adult choir and the children's choir sang.  I could tell Kyle was singing his heart out.  His shoulders kept raising every time he sang the chorus to The First Noel.  Loved it.  Although I know I made the right decision for my family when we left our former church, I also know I made things difficult for the Tallquists.  We were all together in one church with our kids and I changed all that.  Even though I had Pat's blessing, I still felt a little guilty for making it harder for them to attend their own church because of the boys.  I'm not sure how they felt leaving the service.  Hopefully they enjoyed it at least a little. ☺  And how can you not when the choir sings Christmas music?!☺  That evening we took the boys to the Christmas concert in the basement of the church.  It really was a younger crowd...thought about leaving the bigs there and heading home, but we decided to stay and it was a fun time.  The music was played by a church band.  They played traditional Christmas carols in not so traditional ways and added a few original songs to the mix.  There was dancing, pizza, pop and lots of fun.  I can confidently say all my little guys had a good time.

Whew!  Caught up.  I took Monday off and Tuesday was my regular day off.  Took the boys shopping yesterday for gifts for each other.  needed to cut things short so I could get home to bake cookies {didn't I swear off that?} for the Friends and Family night we hosted for our competitive cheer team.  I was so nervous.  it's been a slow season and I was actually impressed with the girls last night.  Their nerves got to them...in a positive way.  We've got such a long way to go but it was all good.  K, Caleb and Kyle made it.  Andrew stayed home.  No more practice til next Tuesday!  I wish you could totally feel my excitement!☺  We ended the night with Jim Carey's A Christmas Carol.

I am a very lucky girl.  Very lucky.  I will try harder to remember this and to be more thankful for the gifts I have been given.  Life is short.  And precious.  And not worth wasting on pettiness.  Or grudges.  Why can't we all just get along?! ♥

Are We There Yet...?

We had a busy weekend last weekend.  It was the only one until Christmas with all my dolls.

Friday we hit the rival ball game.  Wasn't feeling particularly well so kept things low key.  Caleb went to a friend's and Andrew got sick.  Stopped for some cough drops, 7 Up and saltines and headed home for bed.

Saturday we did an amazing thing.  We volunteered to deliver gifts and food to local residents for the Giving Tree.  The boys were right in the mix, grabbing boxes and hauling them to the car and then ringing doorbells, bringing gifts inside and wishing everyone a very merry Christmas.  We listened to carols all the while and were only sidetracked once when K and I got into it regarding addresses and whether the ones we were looking for were on the north or south side of the road. {darn cops ☺}  I could have done it all day but we had a soccer game to attend.

Andrew was delivered to the Bolles' so the kids could design their annual Christmas card for the staff luncheon.  I've got to tell you...I know the most amazing people.  I didn't do much...just organize lunch for our amazing middle staff.  The friends I have, however, said YES to me when I asked for their help.  That makes them awesome and deserving of a huge shout out!  Thanks, friends!!!

After the soccer game we took a few random pics {trying for a Christmas card photo} and then bundled up for some holiday fun. We hit Holiday Road, this amazing neighborhood of homes all decked out in lights and synchronized to music. Off the highway we were at the one hour forty five minute wait mark but we already had plans {and cocoa}to take in the show by foot. We drove five minutes to the church situated right next to the neighborhood and ventured out.  The show was awesome!  It was easy to tell which house the mastermind lived in.  Pictures simply do NOT do the show justice.  If you've never been...go!  If you have...do it again!!!

We headed home, not too bad off cold wise, and settled in with a Christmas movie.

Sunday, after church, I put together invitations for the luncheon and then we spent the entire afternoon baking goodies.  After it was all said and done, I asked K to please remind me next year that I plan to never bake again for Christmas.  I never enjoy it the way I intend to, sadly, and the boys always lose interest half way in.  While the fun lasted, however, it was good.

Done!  Tired!  Ready for bed!