Merry Christmas!

In just over a week we managed to construct one gingerbread house, have one visit to the ER (Luke - he's fine. He stuck a bead up his nose at school. And, no, I'm not joking...), participated in a live Nativity (Luke was a sheperd and Blake was toddler Jesus), was a part of our Christmas play at church (Blake was the sheperd this time and Luke was a wise man), and traveled close to 700 miles total. Whew. Christmas was celebrated with the Elsea Family on December 23 with MeeMee hosting. We had a great time with family and watching everyone open their packages. Too bad Nanny forgot to bring the thong this year (It's a family joke! I'll tell you about it if you REALLY want to know!). But watch out! It's sure to reappear next year! Christmas Eve was spent quietly with just the four of us. We enjoyed a dinner of steak and potatoes, opened gifts, and Justin read the real Christmas story from the book of Luke. Christmas morning we traveled to Winchester. We first visited with Nanny and then Ma. I took today off to recover (and clean and do laundry!). Unfortunately, the Lusk Family is recovering from a nasty stomach bug and won't be able to join us for the New Year as in year's past. We were looking forward to your visit and will miss you! My brother Paul spent Christmas Day in the hospital suffering from dehydration. He's doing much better. Get well soon I have a cool gift for you! Though busy - Christmas was special. I also received a holiday phone call from my childhood best friend, Valerie! Gosh, girl! I miss having a friend like you close by! It was such a treat and gift to get to talk to you so long! I mean it when I say we need a girlfriend vacation! (You're invited too Becky P.! We really need to plan something!) Merry Christmas friends and family! We love you all!

Luke Wins First Prize in Reflections Contest

We attended an awards ceremony this week to honor Luke for his work with his Reflections project. This is a visual and performing arts program sponsored nationally by the PTA. Luke took first prize in his category for a photo collage of pics he took at Chuck E. Cheese. The topic was "My Favorite Place". Kids sure do love Chuck E. Cheese. Of course we all know it's a nightmare for parents! Luke's project will move up to competition at the District level - so we'll let you know how he does there! Luke shares so many similiar interests with Justin that it's nice to have a couple things that we have in common. Luke began taking photos this past summer on vacation (and I have loved taking pics since elementary school!) and we've also found we enjoy hiking together. He proved himself to be a real mountaineer this past summer in the West Virginia hills. So - we're proud of him!

Luke's First NFL Game

Justin took Luke to his first NFL game this past Sunday. Even though they were in Redskins territory they proudly sported their Falcons gear (Go Vick!). They had a great "guy time" - tailgating before the game for both breakfast and lunch! I even let Justin take my grandmother's iron skillet to cook on and threatened to beat him over the head with his mother's old rolling pin if he didn't come home with it. Not only did he bring it home but he admitted that it really does bring extra flavor to the foods cooked on it! They had a wonderful time but the icing on the cake was when Luke was able to stand on his feet and cheer the Falcons to victory! Sorry Redskins fans (as Luke likes to say "Redskins stink")!

"Once a King or Queen of Narnia..."

"Once or King or Queen or Narnia, ALWAYS a King or Queen of Narnia!" Even though we've all been feeling a bit under the weather this past week, we had a chance to really get in the Christmas spirit by attending a show at our local dinner theatre to see "Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The boys were thrilled to have MeeMee join them for the performance! Those of you who have not had a chance to see this movie - you are really missing something special! It's a great movie to watch with your family during the holiday season with so much sweet symbolism illustrating the love of Christ and His sacrifices for His children. The play was beautiful and Luke especially loved having a chance to get dressed up. I have to say that both of them looked and behaved like perfect gentlemen!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! What a feast! We hope all our friends and family that couldn't join us had a wonderful Thanksgiving - celebrating our blessings with some of the folks that we love the most. I worked my big momma butt off the day before our big day preparing all the sides so I could actually enjoy the next day. On Thanksgiving morning as the boys were having breakfast, Poppy (Justin's Dad) helped me get our 18 pound bird in the oven. The boys got a thrill out of seeing the unprepared bird in the sink and wanted to "touch it" before it went in the bag! Is it just me or are turkey necks the most disgusting thing you've ever seen?! Three hours later the bird looked perfect and the sides (sweet potatoes, mashed potates, corn, green beans, stuffing - all the classics!) were warming. We had enough desserts to feed a few families. So our waistlines are paying the price! We were joined by Justin's Mom and Dad, Nanny, and Uncle Steve (who recently relocated after years of fun in the sun in Florida)and Uncle Rex and Aunt Julie. We missed our family from West Virginia but will see them for the New Year! Just before the blessing each of the boys shared something they were thankful for - Blake melted my heart when he said he was thankful for me and Luke said he was thankful for being able to attend church. We sure do have some days around here that aren't perfect but we do have a lot of things to be thankful for - family, food, shelter, being able to openly proclaim our Christian faith, and being with those we love. Happy Thanksgiving!

Retro Playtime

What a beautiful day we had today! The sun was shining, Justin's team won the flag football championship and family friend Alex turned a year old today. We joined his family to celebrate. As at most celebrations for one year olds, Alex was wearing most of his cake by the end of the evening! Happy Birthday little buddy!

This afternoon the boys enjoyed a game of "Hungry Hungry Hippos". I had this game as a little girl and I just loved it! One of the neatest things about becoming a parent is sharing the books, toys and activities you loved as a child with your own children. I can still remember sitting at the dining room table playing "Hi Ho Cherry Oh" with my mom and now I'm playing it with my boys hoping they'll remember this fondly as well. Luke and Blake also have one fantastic stash of retro GI Joe men complete with guns, knives and rucksacks compliments of Aunt Julie. And we can't forget the simple classic wooden blocks that Justin played with that are now part of our boys' play things. At the end of the summer I taught the boys and some neighbors a little rhyme the kids on our street used to say when playing tag to determine who was going to be "it". They loved it. Even more fun was actually playing a few rounds of tag with them. I didn't realize how quick they would be! Now - if I could just find Milky the Marvelous Cow (anyone remember this one?!) on ebay! We hope you've enjoyed some play time this week with the kids you love!

Operation Christmas Child

The boys are finally pulling through their Halloween and Birthday "detox". Wow. Sugar and a full moon have made for two very energetic lil' boys this past week. Today we put our energy to good use by putting together two boxes for Operation Shoebox. Check it out at samaritanspurse.org/occ (shipping begins next week - so don't wait!). It's a great project to teach children who are blessed with toys, clothing and other personal items that there are children in some parts of our world who get nothing for Christmas except the shoebox we send them. Luke and Blake packed each box with Matchbox cars, a slinky, crayons, t-shirts, socks, soap, toothbrush and paste and other small gifts that will hopefully bring the spirit of Christmas to a couple of special little boys somewhere in this big world of ours. Believe or not, neither of them asked to keep any of the items placed in the packages. Next year we're planning to collect items throughout the year rather than from one shopping trip in hopes we can fill more boxes. We hope the spirit of Christmas will be in each of your hearts as the holiday season quickly approaches.

Spooky Night

We had a spooky night last night trick or treating in our neighborhood! We were joined by Becky P. and her children and Yuliya and Alex. Between the three of us we had 8 children to keep track of and almost lost one near the end! (oops!) The children did a great job thanking neighbors for their treats. Blake did however hold his bag open after receiving his treats as if saying "That's it?" He pulled this almost every time and almost every time received another treat. Lil' stinker! Luke was Sir Peter of Narnia and looked like a true Knight in Shining Armor. We attended Spooky Stories on the Lawn at the Library Monday night and he won first prize in the costume contest. Now we have enough candy for a hundred kids... I have to find a way to get some it out of the house...