Advent

This post is out of place but I don't know how to put it in the right order. Every year we do Advent with the boys. Years ago I made Advent stockings. Inside each stocking is a Bible verse and enough room for a small treat. Each morning leading up to Christmas we read the verse and talk about what it means. Then the boys open the small gift. One day I got them the funnies suckers with lips on them. I had to post this picture.

Fun with Austin

We have a dear friend, Austin, who Rusty and I have had the privilege of watching grow up. His dad is one of Rusty's closest friends and we just love their whole family. Well, once Austin went away to college he never returned...for more than a visit. We all knew it would happen but we sure miss him. So just about every time he comes home he makes time to visit with our family. We see him less now that he is a minister in Guam so this visit was especially nice. The boys love him (even though he teaches them very bad things). This year Austin, Kevin (his dad), Rachel (Kevin's fiance), and James (one of Austin's friends from Boston) all came to dinner. One of the traditions the boys have with Austin is some kind of battle. One year it was marshmallow shooters - which ended up in my Christmas tree!! This year all three boys got an automatic Tommy 20 Nerf gun from my parents for Christmas. They were so excited when I told them Austin was coming because they couldn't wait to blast him with their guns! So after dinner the boys brought each of the men a single shot Nerf gun while all three boys had their automatic Nerf guns. The boys went upstairs and the battle began. It was hilarious! It went on forever and I found many Nerf bullets in my tree and one on my ceiling! The two funniest moments were when Austin shot Benjamin right in the forehead and the bullet stuck - so funny. And the funniest moment was when Kevin ripped his jeans in the battle! I laughed til I cried! He had to take off his shirt and wear it like a skirt - pretty pretty! We are sad that Austin is back in Guam and look forward to seeing him again.

Room Makeover Mom Edition...

For part of the boys Christmas I gave them an envelope with a card that I made on the computer. It says "Extreme Makeover - Mom Edition....coming to a room near you!" I told the boys that I was going to redo their rooms. They are going to go to my parents house one weekend while Rusty and I spend the weekend getting their rooms ready. We are tearing down walls and painting and buying furniture and linens! It's gonna be so fun. The best part is that the boys have no idea what their new room is going to look like. I haven't told any of them what I'm going to do - as in they don't even know what the theme is going to be. I can't wait!!
Sooo in preparation for the makeover I started cleaning out attics. In the two upstairs rooms there are 2 small attic spaces. The ones in Matthew's room have Christmas decorations and the air conditioning unit. The ones in Kaleb's room have sporting equipment and teacher stuff from when I taught first grade. The plan is to clear these out so we can make a nook for them or another closet. I started on the Christmas closet - got it done then moved on the one of the two huge attics. On either side of our house we have a huge (way bigger than a bedroom) walk in attic. Great for storing stuff but a pain to keep organized. Well, in order to put the Christmas stuff in there I had to first get it organized and cleaned out. We decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Rusty rented a storage building for a month so I'd have a place to put all of it. I finished the one side of the attic, finished the Christmas closet, am finished with my half of the other big attic (the rest is Rusty's tools and stuff), and am almost finished with the sporting equipment. Are you ready....the storage building a full! And we have 8 boxes in our entry way!!!
About mid way through some friends of mine decided we should take a girls' trip to Utah to go snow mobiling and stuff. They suggested I have a garage sale to help pay for the trip. That motivated me to really get rid of some stuff. We are planning a sale in a couple of weeks. I still have a lot to do to get ready (haven't priced a thing) but boy does it feel great to have so much stuff gone. And I'm going to get rid of bedding and furniture and decorations from the boys rooms to get ready for the makeover next month! Woo Hoo! I'm on a roll!!

Upward basketball

This year both Matthew and Kaleb are playing Upward basketball. We love this program. They play through a church in Marshall. Kaleb played last year and it was such a good experience. This year Matthew decided he wanted to play. Again, it has been so much fun. They play every Saturday for 6 weeks. And they only practice once a week so it doesn't take too much time. Benjamin stays with Mom and Dad sometimes because he gets bored being there that long. We end up being there about 4 and 1/2 hours each Saturday because Kaleb plays before Matthew but there's not enough time in between games to come back to Harleton. I haven't taken many pictures yet this year because we still have games to play but I'll post a few.

Letterboxing

Letterboxing - the funnest family activity to do. You can learn more about it a www.letterboxing.org . Basically it's like a treasure hunt. People all across the US and other countries hide these boxes (think small Tupperware containers). Inside each box is a stamp and small notebook. You get the clues online. You bring with you a stamp, ink pad, pen, and a small notebook. Once you find the box you press the stamp you find into your notebook and press your stamp into the notebook in the box. That way you have a record of all the boxes you have found and the person who hid the box has a record of every person who has found their box. You need a compass too.
We love it! We have went letterboxing in Tyler, Harleton, Jefferson, and all the way to Colorado on our vacation last summer. So we decided to go to Dangerfield State Park and find the boxes that were hidden there. We had such a good time. We found all but 2 of the 8 or 9 boxes hidden there. Here are some pictures of our fun day.

Christmas

Christmas Morning the big boys woke up early and came to our room (they know not to even peek into the living room until they wake us up) bright and early. Of course, Benjamin was still asleep. We talked to the boys and wrestled in our bed until we couldn't wait any longer for Benjamin. We have had to wake him up every year on Christmas morning! We all gathered on our bed to read the Christmas story and then to pray. Then it's off the living room to tear into the gifts. Here's a run down of what Santa brought.

Benjamin got a fully stocked art table, an EZ Bake oven (his daddy wasn't thrilled with Santa), a sword (to go with the ten other swords in his room), a bath toy/soap maker, a sleeping bag set with a flashlight that he wanted, Wii Nerf game, and some Spy gear.

Kaleb got an awesome electric scooter, Guitar Praise (like Guitar Hero but it has all Christian music), a remote control car that drives on the ceiling, air gun, and a portable DVD player.

Matthew got an IPod to replace the one he messed up, a safe for his baseball cards (to keep his brothers out), baseball cards, a remote control R2D2, Scene It Nickelodeon game, Wii Mario cart game, and an antique dime bank he has wanted for years.

They got way too much stuff. Rusty was not happy with Santa this year! :)

After the boys opened gifts and called the grandparents to tell them what they got we played and played. Usually I go into crazy mode getting ready for guests for lunch. Not this year. I decided that I was going to enjoy playing with the kids' stuff. I didn't even shower and put make up on for lunch!!! Can you imagine. And I didn't make the house spotless like I always do. And I didn't make fancy food. Soooo not like me. I was just exhausted and decided that if I did all of those things I wouldn't have the energy to play with the boys. So there you have it. Family came over for dinner and no one fell down because of my frightening appearance and no one complained about not having a gourmet meal. I don't plan on making a habit of looking my worse on Christmas day but this year - well this year - it's just what I needed!

Cookie Party

I have a tradition that started many years ago...I love to bake and decorate Christmas sugar cookies. Love it! So when I got married I did it with Rusty (he felt sorry for me so decorated cookies with me). One year like 14 years ago Traci mentioned to me that she dreaded going home and decorating cookies with her kids. My ears perked up. I said "Let them come to my house. I'll do it with them. I love it and Rusty will be so happy to have a replacement." She was more than happy and so it has been that way for at least 14 years. The party has grown from just Kristen, Adam and I to 13 kids (yes, I'm still counting Kristen as a kid even though she's married) and 5 adults. I was worried last year that Kristen wouldn't want to come b/c she was married but was thrilled when she came with her sweet husband, Mark, in tow! One year I made everyone an apron to wear. This year I bought chef hats for everyone. Super cute! This year I took time to really watch Adam. He is in college and could probably come up with 10 things to do other than come to my house and decorate cookies. But he comes - every year he comes. And he never complains. And he doesn't leave early. I pray that my boys will be as kind of a man as Adam is. He is a great role model for my boys.
Some years we have prizes for the prettiest and ugliest cookie. This year we decorated gingerbread men in addition to sugar cookies and did a white elephant gift exchange. Each year it's a little different but it's always the same people and we always have a blast. I love looking at pictures from past years. It always makes me thankful for the wonderful friends God has blessed me with.