Where does She Come Up with these Things?

Every year, instead of writing real names on Christmas gifts, such as To: Shaelyn,
we assign fake names. Last year, I used, Happy, Dopey and Sleepy. This keeps the kids guessing as to which presents are theirs. This year the names are Dasher, Prancer and Cupid. I was wrapping a present the other day and brought it to Shaelyn to put under the tree. Here's the conversation:


Me: Shaelyn, You can put this present under the tree.
Shaelyn: Who's this one for?
Me: Prancer
Shaelyn: Another one for Prancer? That Prancer sure must have been a good little reindeer this year. He's getting a lot of presents.

Wreath Making Night

Tuesday night, I was invited to a wreath making party, courtesy of Mari's sister-in-laws - Karla and Diane. There were a few of us bloggers there - Nancy, Cheri and Laura. I have never done this before so I wasn't sure how it would go. It was great fun. Thanks to a lot of help from Diane, my wreath turned out pretty good. Us "sisters" arrived at early bird time, thus we were able to complete our wreaths before supper time. We were treated to an exceptional meal of soups, sandwiches, little hot dogs and even dessert. Sorry I don't have pictures of the meal but my batteries were dying on my camera. This was so much fun, even though my hands were a little sticky and sappy by the time we were done. I can't wait till next year (if they decide we're allowed to come back). I'm keeping my eyes open for things to use in the future.



Mari and Nancy, before all the hard work began.














Karla and Diane, our hosts for the evening. Thanks you guys!














This was truly a lot of serious work.




















My work in progress.

















This is my finished wreath. Cheri will try to tell you that I stole all the red berries, but really, I just used what was mine. I do like that red bow - it truly compliments the red berries!


















Here's Mari's finished wreath. She's got some nice gold stars in there. I'm thinking about adding some gold to mine next year.

















Here is Cheri's finished wreath. You can see that she kind of hogged all the pine cones from me.


















I didn't get a picture of Laura's finished wreath because she got there later than we did. But I did get this great shot of her excitement and amazement in working.

Wordless Wednesday

What do you Think?

I took some Christmas pictures while Katelyn was home this weekend. I like one, Katelyn and Chelsea like another - Katelyn thinks she has a funny smile on one of them. Which one should I use?
Give me your opinion!

Choice #1




Choice #2



Choice #3

A busy weekend!

We had a nice Thanksgiving Day. It ended up not snowing so we went to Dave's sister for dinner. Then we headed back to our house for supper with my family. We enjoyed playing games and supper together.


Shaelyn and Halle sneaking into the crackers.













Cheri and Ann playing a game of Skip Bo.














Katelyn, Chelsea and Nick enjoying supper on Thanksgiving. We always have leftover turkey on buns. Yummy!!

















Our tradition is to put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Dave ended up having to work, so he wasn't able to help. But we managed to do it ourselves.


Shaelyn getting in some play time before working on the tree.














The snow was beautiful while we were putting up the tree. I love it when it snows while we are putting up the tree. It really helps you to get into the Christmas spirit.

















Hanging up the stockings.

















Katelyn and Chelsea working on the lights.



















Shaelyn working hard.

















It's finally done.















The girls with the finished tree!
















This is what a cat looks like when it's stuck in a Christmas tree.

Happy Thanksgiving to All

I know many of my blogger friends have expressed this same sentiment for today. But I also want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know some of you out there will not be celebrating this holiday because you aren't in the USA but I am thankful for getting to know you too throughout this past year. May those of you who are here enjoy the time together with friends and family. In spite of the complaints we may have, we have much to be thankful for. They are predicting some snow for tonight and tomorrow, so stay safe.

Michael W. Smith cd

I won a new cd of Michael W. Smith. It's his new Christmas cd. Check out the link in my sidebar. There were 150 free cd's that were going to be given away. You can take a listen to some of the songs that are on it too. I'm sure it's going to be one of my favorites!

TIme for the Holidays!

We went to a holiday parade on Saturday. It was a bit chilly so we went to McDonalds and got Mocha's to drink. We've gone to this parade every year and it's usually quite a bit of fun - unless it's snowing or rainy. The route ends at the fire station where they serve hot chocolate, coffee and doughnuts. Here's some of the highlights.





Shaelyn, Katelyn and her friend Erin. Staying warm before the parade started.














Here comes Chelsea's band. Don't they look nice?














Chelsea is the shorter one in front. They played "Joy to the World"














Shaelyn loved the little ponies














Here comes Santa Claus (and Mrs. Claus)














Live reindeer at the fire station













At the fire station, enjoying hot chocolate

Who's turning 5?

Happy Birthday Shaleyn! (alias bunny herman, kiersten anne leigh, linseed,
sparky, gloria, rain, jane - it's amazing all that we've come up with through the years and I think there's still more)
I cannot believe you are 5 years old already - even though you think you're older than that. We thought our family was complete with your two older sisters but God had planted a seed in my heart since I was 10 years old. I wanted a special little girl from China, even back then. It was a long wait to get you but you were the one God chose for our family. What a lot of joy and laughter you have brought into our family. Even though you are a boundless ball of energy and you wear me out - I can still smile over what you say and do. We love you so much! Have a great birthday!

I apologize for the quality of some of these pictures. I do not have them on disc so I had to take a picture of the picture. This is Shaelyn's referral picture to us. She was about 3 months here.

















This was in her crib in China - what a huge smile!














I took this picture when we got home for her adoption announcement.















She always loved baths. This was after eating spaghetti. I think you can still see some in her hair.



















Look at those baby rolls of fat. This was about 1 and 1/2 months after she came home!














Sweet innocence!

I've been Tagged

This is what you do. Link to the person that tagged you, that would be Karen and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my 7 random things:

1. Katelyn, my oldest daughter, was born 5 weeks early and only weighed 3 lbs. 9 oz.

2. My ancestry comes from the Netherlands in Holland.

3. I love cappucino's in spite of the fact that I do not drink coffee. Must be
because there is chocolate in it!

4. If my Mom had her way, my name would have been Michelle.

5. I have always lived within a 10 mile radius of where I grew up.

6. My poor husband is the only male in the family. We have 3 daughters and even
our 3 cats and 2 dogs are females. (We tell him that he's just very blessed)

7. This may be hard for some of you to believe but I used to pick on my sister, Cheri when we were younger. I would tell her
that a bug named Ben, (who I could talk to) would go in her ear and eat her brain
if she didn't do what I wanted her to do. We love each other a lot now!


Now I'm supposed to name 7 people to tag but I'm leaving this open to those of you who would like to participate. If you do, just link back to me.

The proper way to lose a Tooth

Shaelyn and I were heading out this morning and I told her to brush her teeth good. She had to go to the dentist today to get her cavity filled and I explained that she probably had that cavity because she didn't brush good enough. A few kids she knows have lost teeth lately, and she wants to also. So she asks me, "So my teeth will come out if I don't brush good?" like it's a good thing. I can just see the wheels spinning in that brain.
Sometimes, I know she's thinking way too much.

By the way, the dentist said she did great. Hopefully we won't have to be back for another 6 months.