The wait is over!

Santa must have come around 2:00 and Parker woke us to tell us that he had been here around 3:30, I think. It was all a blurr. However John thought quickly, in the midst of the stupor, to tell Parker that we needed to stay in bed until 5:00. I am not sure how long it took Park to fall back asleep but we successfully slept until 6:30. It was a miracle.  
After tearing through the pile we headed to my parents house for a biscuit and gravy feast. We lounged around there for a while visiting my brothers and their families. Then we went home to relax. John wasn't feeling well the earlier part of the day but hung out for a little while in his new chair and caught a football game. It is nice being close to my parents house because I ran a breakfast plate home to him. He was able to come and be with us in the afternoon. We didn't have the white Christmas Parker has been praying for. The weather felt more like thanksgiving. Parker had asked for a super sled for Christmas and hasn't been able to use it yet. We have our fingers crossed for snow because we aren't willing to give up hope. John had Monday off and we have been vegetables since. We did fit in a few games of bowling and rollerskating with the scouts. And our good friends came over for some family time. But other than that we are chillin like a villain. We enjoy finishing the year in a state of mellow.

Christmas Eve 2011

Day at Daddies work

John has been working off and on at Notre Dame since the beginning of his apprenticeship 15yrs ago. Friday we met him after work so he could show us around this amazing campus. It was very quiet because the students were off for Christmas break. It was a desolate place with not more than racks of bikes and busy squirrels taking advantage of the extra time to gather more for winter. We went for a 2 hour hike around and popped into buildings every once in a while to check out the architecture. It was fun listening to the stories that daddy had to tell about the inside scoop on the campus known for sculpting the body, mind, and soul. It was a sunny winter day. Surprisingly beautiful and still. I can only imagine how it's beauty increases with each season. I took advantage of the scenery and caught a few shots. I particularly like seeing my boys walking toward an open arm Jesus. That is exactly what it is like. We are looking forward to another visit of this beautiful campus and to see it in full bloom.

Do your chores or else!

Payton had a chore of brushing Izzy. However Izzy hates to be brushed so he came up with the idea to put her in the cage and lock her in so he could brush her. We were impressed with figuring out how to complete his task.

rockin the Jesus

John had the kids brainstorm what they wanted to do for the Christmas program this year. And the sky was the limit. So the ideas were flying. Since majority rules and there is only like one girl vs 5 boys. They voted to have a live action comic of the story of the birth of Jesus. The highlights were the Beatles references (bet you can't guess who came up with those) and cute little baby Jesus. We got a couple laugh bursts from the audience at various parts and Baby Juan (Jesus) was completely shocked of his roll up on the big screen. 

































SARHAphin angel dropping the bomb on Joe.

Mashed potato Martini?

Went to a Christmas party at the Kramers this year. My friend Kelly and I love to be creative and stretch ourselves to new levels of party planning. She is especially gifted in entertaining. She is quite the party animal and knows how to throw a doozie. This years festivities included me being introduced to the movie Bridesmaids. Gut splitter by the way. Total chick flick. Also tried a mashed potato bar that we ate (with our pinkys out) in martini glasses. The mood was light and everyone was estatic to be on the guest list.

The ambiance was so perfect that someone proposed to their future Mrs's right there in front of us. That was another first for me other than my own magical moment.
Kell is already working on the Oscar party. Looks like I need to carve out some time for a 2011 movie marathon to be able to cast a fair vote.
Thanks Mark for letting your wife whoop it up for us and thanks Kelly for being a creative junky.

Carmel corn

Here is a picture and recipe for delicious EASY carmel corn. We made extra for others. If you didn't get any we apologize. We just couldn't stop eating the stuff! But here is the recipe. If you don't believe me You can try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.
 #1 make 4qts of popcorn

#2 In a microwave safe dish
cook in microwave for 5 min.
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter
1/4 c light karo syrup
and a dash of salt


#3 place popcorn in large brown bag. When carmel is all melted pour over the popcorn and fold down the top of the bag.

#4 place in microwave for 11/2 min. Take out and shake up. Return bag to microwave for 1 min. Pull out and shake bag to mix the carmel corn all around. Then return the bag to the microwave and heat .30 seconds. Remove and shake.

#5 Pour the popcorn onto cookie sheet or foil lined counter to let cool. Please try a piece while it is still warm it is the very best at that point.

This is compliments of my mother. She would make this occassionaly for us and my children are forever grateful!

12 days of Christmas list

1. Make gingerbread cookies, buckeyes and lemon drop cookies
2. Go look at christmas lights
3. Watch Christmas movie and string popcorn and cranberrys for the trees outside.
4. Christmas program at church.
5. Make carmel corn.
6. Take a tray of cookies to our recently widowed neighbor. ;o(
7. Go to Michaels and make a Christmas ornament.
8. Take holiday photos.
9. Make annual Cheese trees.
10. Donate some unused toys to someone or something.
11. Deliver grandpa his mixed nuts and sing them Christmas carols.
12. Candle light Christmas Eve dinner. Read the Christmas story. Open (jammy) gift. :o)

Tree farm 2011

We have the Christmas spirit. We shared an early Christmas celebration with the In-laws. The boys have been enjoying the early gifts. They each wrote their notes to Santa which will be framed for all time. Soo Soo cute. I love all of the mispelled sounded out words. You know like the "Santa, I wut for kissimis"....(I want for Christmas). Both boys were modest this year. They had 1 to 2 things on their lists. Slowly they are thinking of more things but I was rather happy with their simple wishes. This season is wonderful isn't it? I enjoy the music, the hustle and bustle, the traditions of old and new. Sharing it with my family is warm and magical. I will treasure these memories forever!

Christmas tree 2011

We tried a new Christmas tree farm this year. Grandpa and Grandma Hall came along. Parker missed having snow during the event. Payton loved playing hide and seek in the trees with papa. John picked the most perfect tree. And I enjoyed watching the giddyness of it all. John used his hunky big muscles to load the tree and tie it down on top of the van. I would say that was one of my favorite parts too. That man is so handsome. We went on a hunt for the perfect tree stand. Had a little lunch then we ended the evening with Christmas music, tree decorating, and watched the ELF. A family favorite.

Awesome love

Here is our Christmas tree uprising 2011. In no particular order. Here is my awesome hubby who makes all things fun and is such a blessing to our lives.

Consumerism and Christianity

Consumerism Vs Christianity

Here is a bit of a little article I found interesting.

"It is not a stretch to say if you compare a Christian with a non Christian, they will both want the same job and the same money for the same reason resulting in the same purchases of consumer goods and services that produce the same sense of getting up and going to work so you can live in your house so you can sleep there and get up so you can go to work, and so on ad infinitum. Then the Christian and the non-Christian will both indulge in the same forms of entertainment, regardless of the lewdness or blasphemy presented in movies, books and computer games. Does this mean that the only advantage of being a christian is that when you die you go to heaven while the non-Christian goes to hell although you both have lived esentially the same life style?"
http://www.agrarianbible.com/Principles%20&%20Notions/DB27061C-92C8-4F6A-B539-65417890F122.html

Lets just say that I have been questioning the way my brain is wired. The big question for me is how much do I think with a mind of a consumerist?

Glory Bound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_IyJO9djA&feature=player_detailpage#t=183s

Here's a thought

I just love my friends. The older I get, the more people I meet, and the more I appreciate the diversity of Gods creation. I met recently a senorita from Bolivia and had such an enriching conversation. She was saying that when her mother came to America they moved all three of her children into the same bedroom. She talked about how she shared a bedroom with her sister when she was a girl and through the late night talks and the close proximity they formed a bond that still remains today. This struck me because for one I have been learning about how Americans are discouraged to co-sleep.
First of all you could roll over and smother your baby and for another co-sleeping may cause the child to be co-dependent. I find it interesting that co-sleeping is the norm in 90% of the worlds population. A study was done on children at the age of 18 revealed that children who co-slept (shared the same sleeping space or room) were no different from others in any aspect of adjustments.  With all of this said, we have some visitors coming to stay with us over thanksgiving and we are combining the boys rooms to create a spare-oom (get the Narnia reference?). But I am thinking about, depending upon those involved (kids), keeping the arrangement until they can't stand it anymore. You could call it an experiment. A life long experiment that I will not get to see the results until my children reach adulthood. How's that for intentional parenting?

day in the life

Well last night Payton woke up in the middle of the night and was having trouble breathing. I had thought he had strep (from bro) and his throat was swollen so i gave him some medicine and got him calmed down and breathing through his nose. So I took the day off of work and hung out with him. He acted fine all day and said that his throat didn't hurt. I had called the doc to get some meds and she said she wanted to see him because it was past the incubation period for strep to show up. So I took him to the doc and she said he didn't have strep and couldn't find anything wrong with him. She told us to watch it closely. So we went about our day. We ended up going to an activity for boyscouts and sure enough it is night time and he is barking like a seal. Took a trip to the pharmacy for some meds. It sounds just like croup. Not sure what to do now. I gave him some chest congestion medicine and allergy meds in case it was related to that. My cold mist humidifier is broken so that is off the list. He is sleeping but I can occasionally hear this terrible cough. Poor guy.

Nothing feels better than......

getting my homework done. I actually feel like I can breath. The world feels as if it is in order. Last week I was done with everything Friday which left the rest of the weekend for festivities without the big black cloud hovering overhead. We hit the trails for a long bike ride last week. And this Sunday I took the boys to buy more apples and pick pumpkins. I gave away a bunch of my applesauce that I made so I went to buy another bushel to replenish. We have had it everyday for lunch and dinner since Friday. I can see us gobbling it down by the end of the year at this rate. I remember growing up we always had pickled beets, that my mom had canned, on the table at every meal (except for breakfast). It looks like applesauce is going to be a staple at our family table. Sorry dad the beets are all yours!

littlest scientists

We have had this volcano project on the list to do since this summer. And I was getting sick of seeing the ingredients sit on the counter so I  decided to do it this week. In fact I have a list of things I would love to do with the kids. And before life slips away and I am left with memories of doing homework and cleaning house. I decided to do 1 of my "wish I could do this" thing a week. Whether it be food art, science project, crafts or what ever I am going to do it. Sorry house, you loose. My kids are more important!

flag football 2011

Payton told me a few weeks ago that football was his life. The kid can sit and watch a football game with John and be totally interested in what is going on. He has been practicing with his team and goes to brothers practice and practices on their team to!

Flag football

Here are the guys this year. Park is enjoying the game. He has written a couple of the plays. He declared today that he is the 4th fastest on the team and seemed quite proud of that. We are heading into the tournament soon. Just in time for the weather to change!

All time favorite food

On our little trip to Vancouver we had dinner at the Keg. I tried, for the first time, Lobster Macaroni and Cheese. It has become my top #1 most favorite meal in all the world. I am attempting to make it for dinner tonight. Fingers are crossed.

breathtaking view

Beautiful wedding location