Christmas with Lisa

My friend Jane gave me this cool apron. And if you know Jane (and me) then you're probably rolling laughing at this too. You'll have to excuse the no makeup/up too late/not quite awake look I'm sportin'. :)

In other Christmas miracle related news, remember this from a while ago? Note that the date changed a bit???>>>>

AES stands for American Education Services AKA: "You owe us a lot of money". They are the lender for my student loans and a while back I posted about a federal loan forgiveness grant I was applying for. Well, actually, I applied for it a while back but didn't qualify because I didn't have enough experience. Then my friend Maegan insisted that I apply again (even though I told her over and over and over and over and over that I wouldn't qualify).

On Dec 26th, I opened the letter and started skimming for 'denied' 'we're sorry' or 'don't qualify'.
I couldn't find those words and the whole letter was like, two sentences long, so I started from the beginning reeeeaaalll slow...then I came to the last line and started totally screaming:

This is a complete and total God thing. I mean, I prayed and prayed and then He sent me this cool letter. He truly does answer prayer, huh!!!!???? WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

Christmas with JD

Ryan got this super cool lego set from my parents on Christmas Eve. And so while he and JD were putting it together, I was definitely up to something...

So was my brother, Jason.

And my dad.

Blizzard. Broken tools. Cold. Somehow though, it all worked out and bless my dad and brother's hearts for working so hard to pull this surprise off for JD!

My sil kept JD busy playing games and he never did catch on :) About midnight or so, I told him that he had to open his Christmas gift a little early...Inside that little red box was a scavenger hunt of sorts...pictures of my dad...pictures of my brother...pictures of JD's truck being worked on...and in another small box were the instructions for installing a leveling kit and lift on one's Ford pickup. Lucky for JD, it was already done! :)

Christmas with Gage

Christmas was magical for Gage, pure and simple.

Christmas with Ryan

Okay, so before you watch this just know that I've already had

every thought you're about to have about this particular subject matter.

I know that guns are not toys. Believe me, I know. And it took quite a deliberation for this to happen. I was assured that it would be a daddy/Ryan activity, that no animals would be killed OR aimed at, and that it would remain locked in JD's gun locker and only brought out when they two could 'shoot' together:

Happy Birthday Jesus

Ryan wanted to make Jesus a BLUE birthday cake this year. Well, honestly, the cake was my idea but the blue was all Ryan.
Last night at dinner, Ryan wanted to say the prayer:

"Dear Jesus...ummmm....what? Ummm....please and thank you for Uncle Aaron with us". {smile}

Then, after eating for a bit, he quite enthusiastically points out "I SEE GOD!!!"

"Where?"

"Right over there....they one with the hook in his hand" as he points to a shepard in my parent's nativity scene. I'm glad he's noticing God around him. {smile}

My heart has been heavy lately. I want my kids to know the real gift of Christmas. I want them to know Christ's love and love Him. Yesterday, Ryan told me that he loved Santa.

I grew up knowing and 'believing' in Santa and it's magical, it really is. But sometimes I just feel like throwing in towel, you know? So when I hear that Ryan sees God...and that he thanks God for his uncle Aaron...and that he tells me that baby Jesus likes it best sleeping in the window of the manger, not the hay, I {smile} a bit. Christmas can be magical and I suppose Santa can stay (for now).

Enjoy this Christmas friends. Enjoy breaking bread with those you love:

Tomorrow, these sleeping babes will wake but for now, let the sugar plums dance!

What you don't know...

...is that the same man who hunts big game bakes...and......dances!!!! I assured him that when I post this picture people will laugh with him, not AT him...right? HAhahahahaha....Hohohohohohoho.....HAhahahahahAHAHAHAHAHere are some other stinkin' cute pics from our snowed-in day at home (JD has NINE days off and we're coming up with some pretty fun and creative ways to spend our time).

Gage's favorite thing these days are STARS. That's why we made a BAZILLION star sugar cookies. Here he is taking a 'stab' at frosting one:

I think Ryan has had 18 too many cookies...

I hope you're making the most of your snowed-in days too!

When I'm not lookin'...

I think I'm allergic to Christmas trees. I love going up in the mountains and getting them...smelling them...watering them....smelling them...did I mention I love the smell of a Christmas tree? But alas, allergic.

So last year, right after Ryan got out of the hospital (on our way home, really) we stopped in at Home Depot in Spokane. Let me tell ya, nothing puts a gal more in the Christmas mood than signing discharge papers at a major children's hospital. And even though our car was JAM packed, JD and I stood in an ice-cold parking lot very gingerly packing this Christmas tree into the holes of our already-too-full car:
I love it. It's nothing real fancy but I love it. It has red berries on it. Well, actually they are orange but JD spray painted them red for me. What a guy, huh? So while I was blog-readin' and admiring this fabulous tree, my oldest boy was keepin' himself occupied:

Note the kite strings here:

and here:

and even here:

What cha doin' Ryanie?

He said he was making a 'store'- you know, the kind you can get in but not out of? Sounds sorta Wal-Martish to me.

Let it snow...

Daddy and his helper...

Meet our snow removal crew 2008.

SNOW DAY!!!!

School is cancelled and now JD is the coolest dad in the hood :)

Lesson Learned

You know, I have this list in my head. I don't really like to admit what's on it because then I might actually have to do the things on it (like organize all the pictures on my computer or dust the vaulted shelf in our bedroom). I suppose if I keep it to myself then I don't feel guilty when I don't (can't) (won't) (don't wanna) follow through.

Let's just say that when you post something to your blog about doing something, it opens a whole new can of obligated worms. Lesson learned!

So as promised...the before picture of my kitchen catch-all:
and because the after picture would include about 4 million no-bake cookies (that's no joke), then I've decided to take an after of my new filing system. Fancy, huh?

More proof that it's actually working- do you have one of these? These sort of pin-whatever-you-want-t0-it message boards? Well, let's just say that we're afraid to throw stuff away. Check out this beaut:

After filing:

So here I am. One organized chica. And while I'm looking forward to coffee with a friend, I can honestly say that I won't be doing this again until AFTER the holidays.

Date NITE

I had a hot date tonight. :) Ryan had been looking forward to our 'date' allllll day long. Just ask his babysitter. I picked him up 'promly' and off.we.were. We headed to our first "Little Steps" night tonight and boy, was it ONE FANTASTIC DATE!!!!

We read a great story about three little fish and a BIG shark (Ryan hates sharks, or so says...every five seconds). Then we made these cool shark's teeth necklaces: And examined some seashells:Even did a bit of fish finger painting. GOTTA love fish finger painting!

We even bar graphed fish crackers! Seriously. How stinkin' COOL is that??? FISH crackers...fish story...this is AMAZING stuff.

And our favorite part? Yes, yes, I get kinda 'in' to this...our favorite part was making a tinfoil boat that could hold 20 marbles. It worked!!! (and after I grabbed the camera, all the marbles got dumped. But I swear they were in there...!!!)

Tonight I'm feeling very blessed that {our} town is so great to kids! This program- the thought that went into the activities- the tenderness of the teacher- the enthusiasm of parents and kiddos- the laughter- we are SO blessed to live here and be part of this. And I am so blessed to have such a FAN.TAB.U.LOUS kid!!! (Thanks for a great date, Ryan pie).