Grandpa and Me!

Grandpa came over today to cut back our grape vines. Shaelyn spotted him and thought she would have to go out and scare him. After that, they headed to the bench to have a little talk. I know the picture is a little fuzzy but I had to take it with the screen in the way. I didn't want them to know I was there. I love seeing the two of them together. As shocked as he was when he found out we were going to be getting a little girl from China, I don't think he can imagine life without her. These are the kind of pictures that you treasure forever.

A little quiet, please

Shaelyn was supposed to be picking up her things in the living room last night. I go upstairs and she says something to me. I couldn't really understand her and I look and she's got tape on her mouth. "What are you doing?" I ask her. She tells me she's got duct tape on her mouth. "Why?" Her answer was, "She would like it a little quiet in here while she's trying to pick up"Obviously she knows she is the main reason our house has noise issues.
Now this may look like something I do regularly to her but I am innocent. She came up with this idea all by herself.

Going to a party

Shaelyn got to go to her first birthday party yesterday. Lauren, a friend from preschool, who will be going to Kindergarten with her next year, invited her. After dropping her off at Lauren's house, they went to Build-a-Bear for the party. You can see the bear that she made. Her name is Brownie. Can you think of a more fitting name? One other girl named hers, Cutie-Bear. I thought that sounded like something Shaelyn would have picked too.They also got to pick out a shirt for their bears. Now she thinks we have to go back to get pants and shoes. When they finished at Build-a-Bear, they headed back to Lauren's for cake and ice-cream. She had a lot to talk about last night. She had a good time. I suppose next year, she'll be asking me to go there for her birthday!

Daddy's helper

Every time it rains (or the snow melts), we get this huge runoff from the hill up the road. With that, comes a bunch of gravel and stones that settle on the end of our driveway. Last night, Dave decided it was time to shovel it up again and then of course, Shaelyn has to help. First, she was thinking of getting the green broom. Dave had to remind her that that broom is not meant for driveways - it is meant for scrubbing cars when they get washed. "Which broom will you use then Dad, I'll take the big brown one." So here she is, helping him again. How did we ever get anything done before we went to China? I can only hope she keeps this helping attitude when she gets older!

Todd and Playworld

Well, here you all are. You asked for pictures of Todd at Playworld and this is what I've got. The first is when he is happy with Shaelyn in the balls. The next one, he was a little busy doing something else and didn't really want to be bothered by picture taking. Hope you like them.

The busyness of a Saturday

After a great night of scrapbooking, I slept in a bit this morning. Shaelyn woke me up wanting breakfast at 8:30 and I wasn't really ready to get up. Dave had to go to work with AMR this morning and the girls were at an overnight youth retreat from church. So Shaelyn, got some cereal out while I continued to lay in bed. The owner of Dave's shop called and wondered if he could come in this afternoon for a special project. When he came home at 3:00, he got dressed to go to that job. As we were talking, the girls came home. Their retreat was a mystery so I was interested in finding out where they went. They ended up at the Double JJ resort. They both had a really good time. They said the water slides were a lot of fun. They got to stay in the cabins which were nice. (as some of us can recall) They were given the double jj breakfast. What a deal - they only had to pay $25!! I think it was a pretty good weekend.

It's a scrapbooking night!

Yes, Friday is finally here. I'm heading out to the scrapbook store tonight with family to spend an evening at the tables! I know I have much to accomplish because I am still about 2 years behind. Hopefully, I will continue to make some much needed progress. I can also only pray that my sisters will be kind to me - they have this tendency to always pick on me and it makes for a long, sad night for me. Unfortunately, Katelyn can't make this one because she has a youth retreat this weekend. She's pretty bummed about it. So, I hope the store is ready for us. Now, I have to go and finish gathering pages before Cheri heads over this morning.

It's play time

I decided to take Shaelyn and Todd to Playworld yesterday. I figured this would be fun because we didn't have Micah so we could go out to do something and this could be the last chance for something like this. Shaelyn had a lot of fun. Todd had never been there so it was a little overwhelming for him. We couldn't get him to go down the slide but he liked the balls and cars. We went around 10:00. This was a great time to go because we were only the 2nd people there. It was so empty unlike the time we went in Feb. and couldn't find a seat. It was just a nice morning out.

It's car washing day everywhere

As you can see, every car owner was outside washing their vehicles today because the weather was so nice. After a long winter, it's time for the salt and grime to get cleaned off. Shaelyn was busy too, scrubbing and a washin'.

It's important to get it clean, inside and out. Here she is when it was all completed - look how shiny it is. She will feel proud driving that car around. If anyone needs a ride, there might be room in the passenger seat. What an honor to ride in that beauty!

On the hunt

Yesterday was another exciting day for me. I'm standing in kitchen putting dishes away after breakfast and I take a look by the door to the garage. And what to my amazement and horror do I see but a little grey mouse running past. Missy is frantically going after her. I'm trying to scream, "Mouse, Mouse" but the words just couldn't get out fast enough. Chelsea is like, "What's the problem?" It manages to run behind the couch. Then I see it take off behind the piano. I go to grab a flashlight to look by the piano and can't see anything. Shaelyn is sitting on the floor in front of the windows eating her breakfast. I'm telling her to pick it up in case the stupid rodent goes flying by her. (Now I say stupid because what kind of dumb animal would come into a house with 3 cats and 1 dog still inside it?) Well the girls get ready to leave for school and they tell me it's my turn to pray. I mutter some prayer about me being left home with a mouse and out the door they go. I'm still on the prowl for it when Kelly comes to drop Todd off. When I tell her my exciting news, she decides to put his bag on the kitchen table instead of the floor and she too deserts me with this creature. I decide to move the couch a little again and the little bugger goes scurrying back out and behind the piano again. Who knows when he made his last move to the couch. Meanwhile, I'm looking for any of the cats who might be of some help to me and they are nowhere to be found. We finally find Missy lounging on Shaelyn's bed. She grabs her and points her behind the piano. As soon as I move the piano a little bit though, she takes off. Once again, I am on my own. Shaelyn was holding the flashlight and I'm telling her to keep an eye out in case he darts into the kitchen area when I'm moving the piano. I was trying to move it far enough for me to fit back there - yes I had to move it quite a distance and plus it's extremely heavy. Shaelyn says that she thinks she sees it there. So I continue to push the piano farther out. Finally, I think I spot it too and I can fit back there with my flashlight. Yup, there the stupid little critter was. Now this will really explain how demented that bugger was. He ended up getting rolled over by my piano. There was his squashed and bloody little head laying there, contaminating my carpet!! Who knows why he didn't move when I rolled the piano but I figured at least he was dead. I knew Ken was coming to drop off Micah so I figured he could do the rest for me otherwise Grandpa would have received a call from me to take care of that problem. So Ken comes and I tell him he has to pick up my dead mouse. What I didn't know is that he really doesn't like mice, himself. Apparently, if he was home, he probably would have made Gail do it. But I figure he's a male so he can do it. So into a lunch bag he goes. I had him check to make sure it was a mouse because the night before, Chelsea's hamster had died and was put in the garage. It just wouldn't have been cool if it was the hamster making his was back in and then getting a death sentence again. But it had a tail so we were safe. I felt much better knowing the problem was gone. The other scary part was that I had slept on the couch the night before because Dave was making too much racket sleeping so who knows what was barreling all over me for the night. The thought of that thing snuggling next to me is appalling or that a cat could have killed it and I would come wandering through and step on it laying there! Oooh, I just hate those things.

My solo debut

I got a call from a friend from church on Saturday. "Terri, can you please do my a HUGE favor?"
She was sick from a sinus infection and she is the leader for the cherub choir. (kids who are 2-5 years old) The kids were supposed to have a practice between the 2 services and she knew she wouldn't feel good enough. So she wanted me to take over. That wasn't a problem but they also had to sing at night for the congregation. "Are you going to be able to make it at night?" I asked. No she knew she wouldn't. Great, now I get to lead the kids at night in front of everybody. What can you say but that you'd do it. So I'm going over the songs with them. We haven't had practice for about a month. They were originally scheduled to sing when we had that blizzard and it got cancelled. So they weren't really remembering too much of the songs. I'm telling them they have to sing loud for their mom's and dad's. Yup, they could do it. So the time comes and I finally lead them to the front of church. First, one of the little boys shoes fall off on the way down there. So I get them all situated and get ready to sing. There isn't a tape or anything for them to go with - it's all accapella. I get them started and of course have to keep singing - "Sing, shout, clap your hands" Meanwhile, I can hear my voice carrying throughout all of the church. Well I know if I sing less, so will they. The next song is "Oh be careful little eyes, ears and mouth" Lot's of times, I'll hold my hands to my ears to symbolize singing louder but you can't really do that it you're doing motions about your eyes and mouth! I'm kind of telling them between verses, "Louder, Louder!!!!" It would work for the first sentence but then kind of dwindle off. We finish singing and everybody claps. Tammy, the leader asks if we would like the parents to stand. Yes I say, so she proceeds to pick up the microphone that was sitting on the pew next to where I was singing. No wonder my voice was carrying everywhere! Now I'm just a little concerned that they have heard my hidden talent, they are going to want me to be joining the praise teams too. I just feel I'm busy enough but I just don't know how to say "no" It is just a problem being so talented!!

Katelyn's back

Katelyn got back home Sunday morning around 1:00. She had a great time. In this picture, you can see her. She went parasailing. They had to talk her into it but she said it was fun if she would let herself relax enough to enjoy it. They had nice weather every day but Thursday, when it rained. She collected a ton of seashells. You know Katelyn and her collecting!! She saw a jellyfish in a tide pool. She's got a ton of pictures she has to develop now. A scrapbooking night would be good for her except she's busy when we're going. It was a chance of a lifetime for her and I'm glad she was able to have a great time!

Welcome home

Katelyn is supposed to return home tomorrow. I really don't have any idea what time, it just might depend on the weather. Won't she just love returning home to this?
An update on Dave's job. So far, he's still there and is planning on heading back on Monday. There has been a rumor that they did get a job or two but nothing official yet. I think he'll be checking out any available jobs at the hospital though that he might be able to get something steady at. Time will tell!

No news is good news?

Alright - I'm sorry I haven't posted again but really there is not much to say about what's happening here. Katelyn is gone and apparently enjoying Florida. We did get a snow day on Monday so that was nice again. We've had quite a few of these lately. (Can anyone explain to me what Al Gore is talking about with the global warming bit? I don't believe it!)
Actually, the thing on my mind lately is Dave's job again. They laid off 2 people last week because they got all the work done and there really isn't much coming in again. I'm quite sick of this stress level. Then he comes home to me and says maybe we should take spring break in North Carolina. There is a lot of work there and we could check it out. And I believe he's serious. He's just sick of always getting laid off. His former foreman moved there over Christmas and told a bunch of the guys he could use them there. None of the work is coming to Michigan - thanks Jennifer Granholm for all your hard work. (do you see any repetition to my love of the democrats!!!) I just heard yesterday that Toyota was deciding on building here or Mississippi and they chose Mississippi. Why? I have no clue. So anyway, that's my life. Sorry for the depressing blog but I know some of you (Laura) have complained about me not writing and this is all I have to tell you. I'll try to update you on what's happening.

Goodbye Katelyn - Hello Florida

Katelyn is leaving for Florida today with her friend's family. She is very excited - seeing that she's never been to Florida before. Hopefully the weather there will warm up! She is allowed to take 1 -yes I said 1 duffle bag. That was a challenge for her to pack. She will be gone for about 8 days. This could also prove to be a challenge for me. I'm so used to having her around to help out. This will be practice for me for when she goes to college I guess. I hope she has a great time.

Here's an update on the lady from my church with cancer. They gave her an option of a different type of chemo. She's going to go for it and said she's not ready to give up. She also has a new doctor for managing the pain. He specializes in pain control and feels he will be able to help her control it. The family was very upbeat on Wednesday - when her mom came to Bible study. So we'll just continue to pray that all goes well. They appreciate your prayers also.

Hurray - It's a foggy day!

Yeah - because it was foggy out today, we had a school delay of 2 hours. That would mean 2 hours of extra sleep. Gail called me at 6:00 to say her school was delayed and I should check mine. Yup - onto the computer I went to find that both schools were delayed. The girls actually woke up enough to understand that they got extra sleep. So Shaelyn was the first one up this morning. Chelsea and I decided that school should start this time every day because we were all so wide awake. I should get a lot accomplished today because I've gotten enough sleep.
On a side note: I've told some of you about a lady from my church that has cancer. She is a single mom - in her late 30's with a 12 year old daughter. She went in for surgery yesterday to try to help with the pain. I was called last night that they pretty much just opened her up and then closed again and there wasn't really anything they could do. If this means that so many more tumors had grown or what - we're not sure - but it was very disappointing. So I'm sure that family would appreciate any prayers for them.

It's warming up

Well, it seems that the meltdown has started. It's amazing what a little sun can do to a driveway. I was outside scraping some of that ice off of our driveway today. There's still some pretty thick ice in spots but it's going down. I'm really not ready for spring yet but I must say that it is nice to be able to drive on the roads a bit better. Except that now, we have to let Chelsea drive again and it's still a nerve racking situation. Tonight, I'm heading out to get our taxes done - eeek. Wish me luck - I know we're going to have to pay but we need the information to finish filling out Katelyn's FAFSA forms. Enjoy the weather, it's supposed to rain for the weekend.

Wow - it's cold!

We had to deliver papers again today. It was so cold out. This is so unusual because I am not usually cold - I'm always hot. Well lately, I have been cold. Typically, when we have a fire downstairs it gets so hot but that has not been the case. This almost makes me ready for warmer weather. Here's my update on Youth Supper at church Sunday night too. I put the meatballs on before I taught Little People's church at 8:30. I had gotten 3 large pizza sauces. After fighting with the can opener I finally suceeded in opening them. I realized that 3 cans would not be enough. I ended up going to Costco again at noon to buy another can. Everyone arrived there by 5:00. We got it all set out and when those kids went through the line, it was like a madhouse. They just seemed to keep on coming. Apparently though, it was a small group. We ended up with a ton of leftovers which turned out good because we had a lot to take home. And it only ended up costing the 5 of us $26. So it went okay, but I am GLAD to be done.

I'm back

Well, I have returned back to my computer. As most of you know, I have been working with Laura at the floral shop for the past few days. It started as just going in to help out on Thursday night. I kind of enjoyed it (minus the bouquet making) so I worked it out to go in Friday night too. Well then I really wanted to finish out the week, so I went in till noon this morning. My fingers look a little worse for the wear now but I feel like I accomplished something and I even have a little bouquet that I took home. Now I'm working on the menu for high school supper at church tomorrow. You may know that I'm more than a little stressed over this project. I've planned meatball subs with some side dishes. I hope it works. You can think of me tomorrow at 6:00 while this is going on. I cannot wait till this is over. Tonight we're heading over to Playworld with Cheri and my cousin. Hopefully, we can somewhat sit back and relax because I'm somewhat tired from the last few days.

Dad's Night

Shaelyn had a special night with Dad last night. Even though school was closed for the day, they held their Dad's night. She's been looking forward to this ever since she heard about it. They both got to go and play games and make crafts. You can see the hat that they made. Isn't it beautiful!!? They also made the drum she is holding. Some of the games they enjoyed were bowling, bean bag toss and hopscotch. (I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to watch that) She also came home with popcorn. What a great night for bonding with Dad!

You gotta love it!

I love a good old fashioned snow storm. Mostly because I don't have to drive in it. As you can see, our picnic table is covered. We even made snow ice cream! I love seeing it all piled up. Thanks to Cheri, Lexi has made it indoors too. She called on Friday and said it was too cold for her to be out. So in she came. Chelsea and I did the work of giving her a bath. She has her kennel in the basement by the woodstove. I was really hoping she would remember where to go "potty" So far, she's done pretty good. She had 1 little accident in Katelyn's room. When we put her out Friday night, she gave us this pitiful little look about why she was outside. She seemed to say that she was an indoor dog now. I think she loves it when it gets really cold because she gets to stay inside. We'll see how long this lasts. I must admit, I feel really bad for her outside. She is having to much fun in the house. It was really nice staying home all day Saturday and Sunday and then having a snow day today too. Dave had to work Friday night and Saturday. He said the roads were horrid on Saturday. I was really glad when he made it back home. But Katelyn had to go to work this morning. I was a "little" nervous about that. Especially when I saw her slowly creeping up the hill by our house. I was just waiting for that car to go sliding backwards down. She said it was an interesting trip in. She also wondered if she was going to go down backwards too. So I told her to take it easy on the way home. Hopefully, things will be a little better then. Hope you all stayed safe too in the Blizzard of 07.

She earns her keep!

Shaelyn loves being out in the snow. Last night, Dave went out to blow the driveway. She found this out and decided that she needed to go out too. Later, he went to carry in some wood. She decided that the patio needed to be shoveled off so he could get through. He comes in and tells me that she is shoveling. I look and see she got it nearlyn all cleared. You can see the pile of snow behind her where she shoveled it. I'm thinking we had about 7 inches out there and she shoveled it all - all by herself. I'd say she's earning her keep!

More of the winter dance

Katelyn didn't think it was fair that I posted about Chelsea dancing with guys at Winter Dance - So, here's a picture of her and her date - Nick. Yes, she danced with him too! She has some nice pictures from here camera but I can't get them to transfer over so I can get them up here. So for now this will have to do. Maybe in the future I will figure out how to get them moved and will be able to show better ones of the dance.

The Zoo

Shaelyn's preschool class went to the zoo last Thursday. Thankfully, it wasn't snowing then. It was pretty cold as you can see by the pictures. Most of the kids were wearing snowpants and boots to stay warm. I guess the classes like to go when it's colder because the animals are more active. You can see that the tiger was up close. Most of the animals were out except for the bears - they must have been hibernating!! Can you spot Shaelyn in the picture? She's the one wearing a blue coat and snowpants - 3rd from the left. It was nice that they went on Thursday. I didn't have daycare kids so I could go along. She had a lot of fun.

Katelyn's birthday gift

Here was one of the birthday gifts that Katelyn received from Nick. He thought he ordered 1 dozen roses but somehow got the information wrong. These were all miniature roses so there are about 10 on each stem. When we counted though, there were about 72 miniature roses in all. It was really a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Although we could have used Laura's help a little bit. We had to take them out to cut the bottom of the stems off and then had to arrange them back into the vase. We didn't do too bad of a job getting them back in though!

Happy Birthday, Katelyn

Happy Birthday, Katelyn. I really can't believe you're 18 already. That seems like such an old number. I think I'm really to young to have an 18 year old. You've brought a lot of love into this family. What would Shaelyn do without you? Next year, you'll be in college! Hope you have a great day. We love you.

What do you want to be?

The other day, Shaelyn was watching a program in the morning. It was talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. So I asked her what she wanted to be. She replied, without any hesitation, "A Cinderella princess" I thought that was a lofty goal so I asked her if that didn't work, what else would she like to be. "A Cinderella princess" she answered again. So I guess that is what she is in training for. Actually, she's doing quite well in the training process already. So I would like to warn all of you to keep your lives clean because you will probably all be investigated in the future. It's good to know that we should all be financially stable though for the future, isn't it!

Bull Riding

Well, another week has come and gone. It was kind of an unusual week. The girls had exams this week, so sometimes, one was home and the other was at school. Next week, they will be starting a new semester with new classes. So we bought tickets to go see the bull riding tonight. Unfortunately, we had to pay the full price for these tickets. We like to go to the hockey games because we get cheap seats through AMR. But we do have some tickets for free food so that works out well. We've gone to the rodeo in the past but thought we would try out just the bull riding for the night. It's usually a lot of fun watching them try to hold on. Shaelyn is also excited because they are offering pony rides before the show and if you know her, she loves anything to do with horses. So hopefully, it should be a fun start to the weekend.

Winter Dance

Here are pictures of Katelyn and Chelsea for winter dance last Saturday. Sorry about the incorrect order. Here is Katelyn with her friends - April, Jenny and Erin. Katelyn chose to wear pants because it is something she can use for work.

Next is Chelsea with her friend - Kristie. This was her first dance so it was kind of exciting. She even danced with a couple of guys! Both of the girls really had a lot of fun.

Here is Chelsea getting her hair done by our professional hair stylist. She always does a great job and the girls really appreciated it. I think their hair turned out beautiful!

Happy Birthday Chelsea

Happy Birthday Chelsea. You've turned 15 today - well actually around 6:00 tonight. Every year I say this, but it just seems unbelievable that you are a year older. You've brought a lot of life into this family as well as a lot of laughs. Can you believe that 5 years ago we were in Chicago getting ready to come home from your surgery? Hope that you have a great day today. We love you lots!

My "boring" life

I'm beginning to feel like Heather - not that I'm complaining (I don't need anything wacky happening to me) - but I really don't have much to blog about lately. Now that school has started again, life has become routine. I even looked through old pictures and nothing struck me to blog about. I mentioned this predicament to Katelyn and she said her interesting fact was that she saw a fox run across the road on the way home from work. This weekend, the girls have their dance to go to and I should have some pictures of that. So - no - I haven't forgotten my blog but life has just become blase. Bear with me until next week and I will have more for you to see.

The Funeral

Just wondering how many of you watched the funeral of President Ford yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to be gone for a while in the afternoon - so I did tape some of it. I really didn't think I would be that interested in it but I was. I thought it was a really beautiful service - especially the eulogy from Jimmy Carter. I've really learned a lot about this family through the past week and have gained more respect for them. Watching the cannons shoot and the flyover was incredible. I wish I had gone down there and waited in line like so many others. Everyone said that it was worth the wait and the family really appreciated all the people that came out. This was just some of my thoughts on it. Anybody else have any moments that really touched them?

Christmas pictures

Finally, here are some pictures of Christmas. Here are Katelyn and Chelsea with their new cameras. Actually, this was not on their list and I came up with this idea all by myself. They were a little worried when I told them this but they loved getting new cameras. Now, mine won't be snatched all the time.



Here is Katelyn trying on her 3D glasses. When you look at the lights, you can see crosses around them all. Shaelyn was busy opening her stocking too. Stockings are a lot of fun.





Shaelyn got some cool markers also. You can mix two colors together and get a different color. They are pretty fun to mess around with. She's been busy with these and a lot of the papers have already been colored.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. We've just returned home from a night with friends. We watched the ball drop in New York City. Wow, what a crowd! It's amazing seeing all those people there. Can you imagine all the paper that needs to be cleaned up? Hope your new year is great.

President Ford

Cheri and I went to the Ford museum today to sign the condolence book for President Ford. It was kind of a neat moment. We figured that it was a historical moment that could probably never happen again. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera. We could have kicked ourselves! We didn't really have to wait all that long to get in to sign either. There were a lot of people there with their kids to sign too. We walked on down the path to see where the burial plot was also. It's really a nice area that I never really knew was there. I don't know if I will be heading there next week during the funeral because I'm sure it will be extremely busy. If anybody else gets a chance, I'd say to head down there. Yes, there will be a wait these next few days, but I'm sure you will not get the opportunity again.

Christmas

I don't have my pictures ready to post yet - yes I am slow getting these done. We spent Christmas Eve day at church and then with Dave's family. At night, we always open our own family's gifts. We start off by reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then light a candle on our birthday cake for Jesus. Shaelyn was pretty excited by most of her gifts. She would open them and say, "Wow" and then, "what is it?" Katelyn and Chelsea received digital cameras so they were busy trying to figure them out. We got to bed pretty late and knew this would cause problems for the morning. Chelsea and I had to be up by 7:00 to get to church to play in the orchestra. So lucky Dave and Katelyn got to work with Shaelyn who was tired from last night. But they all made it there. We had an excellent church service. For dinner, we went to Dad's house. Mostly, we hung around throughout the day, enjoying pool and other games. We took the Christmas tree down at night, much to Shaelyn's disappointment but I was ready for it. Now, we get to enjoy a little vacation and hopefully some rest. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.

Christmas party

We had a family Christmas party last night. What a lot of fun. Next time, I'll hopefully have some pictures to post. We knew this would be full of laughs because there was going to be a lot of practical jokes going on. First of all, Laura has this thing against opposums. Cheri had her name for a gift so it worked out perfectly. She found an opposum skin on ebay. She stuffed it and put eyes into it. Then she put it in a box filled with styrofoam peanuts so Laura had to dig for it. She dug and felt something furry. She didn't suspect anything because Cheri had her name. She eventually found the opposum. This was revenge for when we went to the Shack and Laura and Aaron put a dead squirrel on Cheri's van. Then it was time for Santa letters. First, I undeservedly received one about talking too much and then Dave received a shock collar to put on me when I wouldn't leave people alone. Lastly, Cheri received a letter from Santa. This, I may add, was very appropriate. It was all about teaching her to be kind to others that she may meet. I only hope she will learn a lesson and be able to be put on the "nice" list next year. We had a great time, despite Mari getting sick. After Christmas, I'll be able to put up pictures and post about our remaining holiday fun. Merry Christmas all.

Does anyone have a bed?

Here's how Katelyn found Shaelyn sleeping last night. Now you tell me how it can be comfortable enough to fall asleep in a laundry basket! I took that basket out of her room yesterday because she was playing with it. Apparently, she took it back in last night without me realizing it and decided to make a bed in it. Dave ended up moving her into her own bed later. What a goofy kid!

Shaelyn's preschool program

Shaelyn had her preschool christmas program today. This also was very cute. They sang about 8 songs and said a memory verse. Here they were singing, This little light of Mine" while holding their candles. She thought that was pretty cool. They ended with "we wish you a merry christmas". Then we headed into the other room for cookies and pop. Usually for snack, they have fruit or something healthy but today they were allowed sweets because they were being sent home with us. :)

Here she is with Grandpa in her room afterwards. He was able to skip out of bowling early to come and watch her program. She sure loved it that Grandpa came. Now she's ready for Christmas break. The true question is ,"am I?"

Shaelyn's Christmas program

Shaelyn had her Christmas program at church last night. She was in the cherub choir. This is for 3-5 year olds. They sang Away in a Manger and Glory to God in the Highest. After the singing, they recited Isaiah 9:6. It was a very nice program and she sang great. I thought she looked adorable.

Christmas candy

Today was the day we decided to make Christmas candy. Here's the girls with everything we made. Chelsea made puppy chow, tiger butter and peanut butter balls. (we still have to add the chocolate to them)
Shaelyn made pretzels with kisses and M& Ms all by herself (Well, I heated the kisses for her) and we both made popcorn balls.
Katelyn worked on white chocolate mix, a toffee cereal mix and pretzels with chocolate. I did the chocolate and vanilla fudge and sugared peanuts. Tomorrow we will be decorating our Christmas cookies. On Thursday, we're going to make a mint candy, peanut brittle and chocolate truffles. It's a lot of work but it's really fun to do together.

She's special

Shaelyn was chosen to be special person of the week for this week. Wow, what a big deal. She needed to cut out her favorite foods and glue them onto a plate. Then she had to have pictures of her family and pets. Well needless to say, we didn't have a family picture so I quick snapped one of us all Sunday night before we went to church. Then Monday morning I took some of the cats and Lexi. I had to go get them developed and of course there was a line. For my few pictures it would be and hour and a half wait because people had orders of over 100 before me. So I had to go back at night to pick them up. Then we had to find things that start with J because J was letter of the week and the "J" box needed to be filled. I had a felt "Joseph" and baby Jesus. For some reason she kept wanting to call them Moses. So I tossed out the Joseph and hoped she would remember "Jesus" She went to school quite excited this week with all her little goodies. She had fun so I guess it all was worth it.

The race is on

This is one of Shaelyn's favorite things to do with Chelsea. It's racing. They've been doing this since she learned to walk. They run up and down the hallway. Chelsea has to make extra laps because she's bigger. Now Shaelyn is starting to do this same game with Todd - my daycare boy. Except when she's with him, she has to make the extra laps. She doesn't care though because she's bigger. Ready - set- go!

Christmas cookies

Cheri and I made Christmas cookies yesterday. We tried a few different recipes. Cheri wasn't real happy with the way they turned out but I thought they would be okay. We tried some that you tie into knots and then frost. They weren't the favorites but were okay. Then we were going to do stars that you connect 2 together to make 3 dimensional. Well, they broke when we tried to put them together but found out later that they would work if we let them totally cool down. They look pretty neat when assembled. Last, we made cutout cookies. She had found a different recipe. She was totally bummed when they came out of the oven because they were somewhat cakelike (soft) but when she decorated them later, she found out that they tasted fine. So at least we've got them done but I guess from now on we'll just go with the old tried and true recipes!

It's snow fun

Here are Halle and Shaelyn playing out in the snow. Cheri and I spent the day making Christmas cookies and they wanted to go out. We were up for a little quiet so out they went. They look so stinking cute when they are working together. They were up on the slide trying to get that sled to cooperate and positioned. Grandpa would have loved to watch them manuever. The next time we looked, they were climbing a hill they shouldn't have been, trying to rescue a dead pumpkin. When they came in, their clothes were soaked - literally, we could about squeeze water out of them. We questioned them about the creek, but they didn't confess to any creek action. And I know they would tell us if they were in it! Oh well, coats will dry and they had a lot of fun.

It's back!

After a long weekend with my Webkinz being down, I was finally able to get back on today. For those of you who don't know what this is - let me explain. You buy a special stuffed animal at the store with at code. You go online to their website and put your code in. Then you get to take care of this interactive online pet. You can go play games to buy clothes, rooms and decorations for your pet. You can also go to the tournament area and play games against fellow webkinians. It is for kids but adults can also have fun with this. You don't know until you try! This was rated as one of the top 10 Christmas gifts this year!!! For some reason, they were working on the website this weekend and I was not able to do any activities all weekend long. I was having webkinz withdrawal. :( Now I am feeling better and was able to make some money again today. Hopefully, it will stay up and running now that there is going to be many more kids learning about this wonderful game. Gotta go now and feed my Fluffy a goo goo berry!

Christmas party blues

Well, I am more than a little bummed out. The Christmas party we were supposed to have tonight has been cancelled. They cancelled it before 10:00 this morning. I think they should have waited. This is always the first party of the season and the kids always look forward to it. We get to see everyone and visit again and the kids also get a present. I was just on the roads and there is snow but I thought they were drivable. You just have to take it easy. We did get a snow day so that was nice to be able to sleep in a little (although with my youngest child, I was not able to get much sleep) but that's a story all on its own! We did get her room cleaned after a long drawn out battle this morning. So we'll hope the rest of the day goes better. Enjoy your snowy day and if I may mention - I believe I predicted this weather yesterday. I hate to say I'm always right BUT......