Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we drove to Winchester where we met up first with the Elsea's at Nanny's home for dinner. Following dinner, we headed out for a walk around Nanny's farm. The walk was definitely the best part of my day. What I can't figure out is why we've never done that before. I guess I always thought that someone had cattle on the property or for some reason, we couldn't walk it, but now that I know, I'll be out there every time we visit for any period of time.

We also visited with Ma and some other family members and talked with others by phone who we couldn't see.

I miss the simplicity of the gatherings we had while I was in West Virginia and guess I always will.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a quiet day for us. No travel. No shopping. Just family. We followed with our tradition of the last few years of going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast on the morning of Christmas Eve. We spent the rest of the day baking cookies (the boys made some great sugar cookies with very little help), wrapping some gifts and just hanging out. We opened a couple gifts that evening after a simple dinner of ham, biscuits and green beans. Luke and Blake both received a new pair of pajamas. I believe this is the last year I'll be able to pull off a matching pair. Luke now prefers a plain tee shirt with pajama pants or shorts. It will always be a tradition we hold to though regardless of the how old these two get. They may be miles away someday as adults but you can better believe they'll be receiving a package of new pj's from Momma. We then settled in on the couch for Justin to read the real story of Christmas from the Bible. My favorite version is from the book of Luke. The boys headed to bed and we headed to our secret storage areas. We set out their gifts, ate the cookies that Blake had dropped on the floor at least three times and then headed to bed ourselves. Perfect.

Christmas Treat

The day after Christmas, we headed back home, napped on the couch and headed off for a "surprise". Justin usually does a horrible job in keeping the "cat in the bag" so I was really shocked that he didn't tell the boys we were heading to a Captials game. We hadn't been to a hockey game in years and the boys had never been to a game. It was a lot of fun and the crowd was great. We went to a Wizards game last week with my brother and had two towels taken from our seats and a man behind me pretty much ripped a t-shirt out of my hands. His friend called him out on it and I thought he'd tap me on the shoulder any minute and give me the shirt - fat chance. I just let it go. It really wasnt' worth it. Blake made buddies with everyone around us at the Caps game and Luke was given a puck right off the ice. Also - check out the pic - it was taken with my new camera (a gift from my hubby).

Just to Keep You Posted

Good news - my friend, Christina, had her scan on Wednesday. The cancer is only in her neck and has not spread to other areas! Yay! She should have surgery by the end of January! Whoo Hoo!

Cancer Sucks

I usually try to keep my blog on the positive side. And I will still try. However sometimes life just happens. Last night, I found out that my friend, Christina, has cancer. They will do a scan tomorrow to see if it's spread from her neck to her lungs. She has two small boys that call me "Aunt Rebecca". She's been through a lot and I just haven't been able to stop thinking about this. On a positive note - she is very optimistic about the treatment ahead and is praying. I'll keep you posted... Until then - say a prayer... or two.

Are you ready?

Christmas Day is drawing closer and it seems a frequently asked question is "Are you ready?" I have decided that from now on, I will answer that question with a strong, "Yes! I am ready!" What does being "ready" truly mean? I am doing my best to teach my children that in a material world - being "ready for Christmas" means being ready in your heart to reflect on the time of Christ's birth in a manger and how a tiny baby was sent to save the souls of man. So - if you ask me if we're ready, I'll say yes. This in no way means that I have cards filled out and sent, the packages wrapped, and every nook and cranny decorated. But it does mean that we've celebrated Advent by counting down to Christmas, giving to others in need, caroling to lift the spirits of those who have experienced loss, reading simple Bible stories and not losing our minds by spending every last penny we have to grant Luke and Blake's every wish. To be honest - they haven't asked for much. So just maybe we're on the right track..

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

This is our "little" tree decorated with some red and silver bling. I grabbed the ornaments on sale Friday for around $12 (That's right - $12 for the whole tree full!) Aside from the price and me just loving the colors, they are plastic which made for stress free decorating. Luke and Blake did the whole thing almost all by themselves. I only put the hooks on the bulbs and moved a couple pieces around. The "big" tree is
up but not decorated. I think the boys did a great job on this one!

Give Thanks

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I hope yours was filled with blessings as well. We cooked two big birds for almost 50 pounds of turkey! Whew! We had a ton of delicious side dishes and great company. We were joined by Justin's family - MeeMee, Poppy, Rex and Julie and family friends, Bill and Linda. Our after dinner entertainment included Uncle Rex reading a Dean Koontz poem about an "evil Santa". LOL! He bought this book for the boys a couple years ago and we're just now comfortable about reading it! MeeMee and I hit the town for a some great girl time on Friday as our reward for the big feast but avoided the really crowded stores and hit craft stores, a local children's bookstore and an old town toy store - truly a highlight of my weekend.

Signs of the Season

Congratulations, Luke!

Luke received three awards at the first grade awards assembly - First Place Reflections Photography; Second Place Reflections Visual Arts and a Citizenship Award. Way to go little buddy!

What a Day!

Don't let the smiles in these photos fool you! We had a morning of pure torture. Fortunately, it all ended well and the boys are sleeping in their warm little beds right now.

This morning we had annual checkups scheduled for Luke and Blake. No biggie. Usually! Dr. C. is always prompt and his office runs like clockwork. In and out. We spent well over an hour in the waiting room as a little fella who looked to be about two got stitched up and received 7 shots after being attacked by the family dog. The whole family came along for the adventure. Grandma was wearing a 2Pac shirt. Just for the record, MeeMee and Momaw, if you ever wear a 2Pac tee I'm not going anywhere with you! LOL! The boy is fine but what a mess!

So - of course - this gave my two plenty of time to build anxiety, get tired, hungry and grumpy. Blake was scheduled for 3 shots and Luke 2. Blake started screaming and flailing around and then the tears started with Luke. This came as a pretty big shock for me as both of them usually take shots with no problem. Luke has even rolled up his sleeve in the past and said "Right here!" They made up for all that today. To top it off Luke had to have his blood drawn. After several minutes of crying and rocking around the sweet little nurse went to get a big burly guy with a thick beard who had a grin on his face as he held Luke down. It was crazy! I haven't seen fits like this over needles since my brother was little and tore the pictures of the cute kittens off the wall in our pediatrician's office. After a couple hours of this I was toast. I took the boys to Carl's ice cream after we left as a reward for all they'd been through (and me, too!). Carl's never tasted so good.

Then it was off to Luke's teacher conference. That was actually a bright point. He's doing great and has adjusted well to first grade. I LOVE his teacher.

Around 5pm my friend Pam arrived with a pizza. God bless her! She and Tyler accompanied us as we cashed in our saved coins at Bloom and went shopping at the Dollar Store for Operation Christmas Child. The collection date is coming up but you still have time to pack a shoebox. We do this every year and is pretty much the official beginning of our holiday season.

I'm glad this day is over. I'm going to take a bath and watch "House".

Something Hot for Cold Evenings

This is really for all the momma's out there who may check out my blog from time to time. As cooler weather sets in, we love making chili in our family (well, I like making it and Justin loves eating it!). This is a new recipe that was shared with me on Sunday by my pastor's wife. It's a Paula Deen recipe. It's similar to chili but with a twist! Enjoy!

Taco Soup

2 pounds ground beef
2 cups diced onions
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn (drained)
1 can Mexican style stewed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes with chiles
2 cans diced green chiles
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 package ranch dressing mix

Brown beef and onions, drain any fat. Transfer beef and onions to either a large stockpot or crockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on low in crockpot 6-8 hours or simmer over low heat stovetop for 1 hour.

May top with crumbled corn chips, sour cream and/or shredded cheese.

Enjoy! I hope it warms your cold days ahead!

Happy Birthday, Luke! (And Momma, too!)

This is a busy time of year for birthdays in our family and circle of friends! As you know, Blake just celebrated and Luke and follow just a week and a half later! Luke's teacher is so sweet this year and knows that birthdays at school are special occassions. Luke has become very good pals with Aidan this year (they've played on the same ball team in the past) and Aidan's birthday happens to be November 3rd. So, Aidan's mom and I planned together and brought the boys a photo cake of them playing ball, ice cream and drinks to class on Friday. Luke spent the night at Aidan's home for his first big sleepover (Angie was a brave girl hosting all those boys!) where he had a great time!

I also received a suprise when I mentioned to Mrs. Stalteri that it was my birthday as well. She had me hold her music book (as she does the birthday students) and played happy birthday on her flute! Isn't that cool?! Also - Friday Night Group really made a fuss over me on Friday and Justin treated me to a Van Halen concert on Thursday night with my brother and his wife.

We concluded our round of birthday celebrations with a trip to Pancho Villa with Momaw and Popaw and Uncle Rex and Aunt Julie on Saturday night. Until next year...

Questions Answered

Those of you who have read the beloved Mitford series by Jan Karon will be happy to know her new book has finally hit bookstore shelves! I've been so busy lately that I didn't even realize it had been released. Justin suprised me for my birthday with her newest novel in what is to be the first in a series about Father Tim's upbringing in Mississippi. The first book is called "Home to Holly Springs" and within the first couple of chapters a big question that was left lingering in the last Mitford book is answered! Hint: It involves the Barlow siblings!

This is the perfect book to read leading into the holiday season and cold weather!

A Dream Fulfilled

... A Pirate's Life for Me...

My Pumpkin Masterpiece

Congratulations on a Great Season, Raptors!

Happy Birthday, Blake!

The Ripken Way

Cal Ripken is coming to town! Or I guess I should say came to town. Cal visited our hometown last week to mark the beginning of a partnership with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. We had a chance to attend a local baseball clinic sponsored by the foundation. Admission was free and the guys from the local college team were on hand teaching the kids about some of the basics of baseball. Luke jumped right in after watching for a few minutes and we were keeping Blake with us at first. After all - he is three and as Justin would say "has the attention span of a spider monkey" at times. Well - Blake yelled out "Hey! I wanna play!" So - of course, who can turn down a cute 3 year old? The guys call him over, give him a baseball and teach him how to "pitch". He was on top of the world. Luke really enjoyed it as well especially since he began the day with a game of his own during which he got a big hit. I'm really looking forward to seeing how our community and the foundation partner in the years to come.

Window Washer

We never really had to worry about Luke smudging handprints all over the windows when he was a little fella. For whatever reason, this just wasn't something he was interested in. However, we certainly have made up for it with Blake. He LOVES rubbing is hands, fingers (sometimes tongue!) over every piece of glass he can find. After cleaning the doors and windows every other day or so I was hit with a brilliant idea. I sprayed the door and handed Blake the paper towels. So - now he also cleans up afterwards - which he seems to enjoy as well. So much for making him not want to lick doors but at least he's now helping with clean up. And - the added benefit is that this is just plain cute. And I know in reality that one day we'll miss all those dirty little prints.

American Girl

Our family had the privilege of hosting a party Friday night to celebrate Yulya's recent milestone of becoming a US Citizen. We love her and we're proud of her dedication and hard work in making this dream a reality.

Our Baby for a Little Longer

We've been riding a 2 1/2 mile loop in the neighborhood in the evening. Sunday night we pulled into the driveway only to find Blake asleep in the carrier. He must have still been tired from Saturday's festival. I understand why the youngest child is so often referred to as the "baby" into adulthood. It seems like the first child grows up SO fast and you're just left grasping for one last sight of chubby fists and sleepy heads.