Finally....New pictures!!

Yes, finally, here they are...some new pictures, of things nearly a month old. Will I ever get back to normal? Honestly, I'm not sure if I even remember what that is!

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In the last 5 weeks, the kids have only gone to school for 9 days. Yep, out 2 weeks for Christmas break, back to school for a week, out for another week due to snow, out on the 17th for the holiday, then a bit of "normal" (just a taste) last week for 4 days. And now there is another possibility of snow tomorrow night, into Wednesday. And again on Friday (I think). UGH! I am so sick of winter! Is it spring yet?! And if the kids miss anymore days of school, they'll have to make them up either on Saturdays, or they'll take them out of spring break. They have already taken away 2 teacher workdays and a holiday, and extended the year by 3 days!!

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So, enough of my grumbling, let's get on with the new pictures....

Christmas morning....

Such a happy, wonderful time,

a perfect chance, even an excuse, to take lots of pictures....

We were having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures along the way!!

DUH!!

I did get a couple of "before" and "after" pics, like this cute one....

...and this one, poised with his favorite new gifts...
....and this one, too!

Does anyone remember the snow that fell on Christmas day? It was so beautiful....
at first....
(this picture was taken on Monday morning, after a second dusting during the night.)

The best part about snow is the fun....

WHEEEEE!!

WHOA!

YAHOOOO!

(silly dog!)



One of our proudest moments....

We all were so excited, and anxious, to the point of being "antsy."

We had to wait for a while, and that was just too much for these two!

Finally....about to enter the baptistry...

Josh, watching the video messege from Mom and Dad...

They had Ben step down into the water, so he could also watch the video.

It almost looks like he wants to help....

I could never get a good shot of Ben...the Children's Minister was in the way...

o-well...

I assure you, that is Ben down there!

Afterward, a short messege of encouragement from the Senior Pastor....

(Where's Josh? At the front of the line...first born syndrome, I guess.

I wouldn't know anything about that. {uh-humm})

They both were given new bibles that night. And they both like to read them.

They literally cling to them. Even sleep with them...

Literally cling to them...Ben's is tucked up under his chin, under the sheet...

So, that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

And thank you, as always, for stopping by.

We'll be back in about a month.

(snicker, chuckle, chuckle)

;D

Take care, and God bless!

Happy New Year!

(Yes, I realize that we've only just started winter,

but I am already looking forward to spring!

I'm sick of being cold!! :D)

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I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their new year. And that you all had a blessed and happy Christmas. We are, and did.

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Yes, it would seem that I have been absent (minded) (;P) again. But there has been just way too much fun going on for the last 3 or 4 weeks. What, with last minute Christmas shopping, trying to get in done before the last day of school before the break, when the boys would be around and way too nosy! To wrapping those gifts, and finishing up cards. To playing with the kids, especially after those gifts were unwrapped. I don't know if I could stand any more fun!! lol

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I hope to get back to some sense of normal soon, especially now that the boys are back in school. I guess my first priority should be get the tree down and all that goes with it put away. Then it's putting away the gifts we (mostly the boys) received. I'm tired of looking at it all, and ready to see it gone, but just don't have the get-up-and-go to do it. Oh well.

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Some spectacular news:

Ben and Josh will be baptized tomorrow evening.

We are so happy for them, and looking forward to seeing them grow in their walks with the Lord.

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I hope to get some pictures uploaded and edited soon, so I can get some of them posted here. Especially if I get a few of the baptisms!

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Have a great week!

And TFL.

:)

A Birthday, Thanksgiving, a Space Derby, and ?Christmas?...

Hello, all. Were you wondering where I went? I've been here. And there. And school. And,...and,...I'm not sure I remember every where...

And I thought October went by fast! Where the heck did November go!! WOW!! I think I must have blinked one too many times or something!!

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Well, anyhow...I guess I'll do another "month in pictures" post. WARNING: Following are A LOT of pictures! Not suited for the easily tired. :)

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First, let's look at some pictures of a Happy Birthday Boy. He had to go to school on his birthday, but he was recognized over the intercom and got to wear a special ribbon all day.

But the real fun didn't begin until the following Saturday....

Josh's friend from church, Matthew, came to play with us...

I think the best fun of all must have been the bumper cars, 'cause they rode on them three times!

....A little mini-bowling....

....A ride around the track with Dad....

Back at home, there was cake. (Made by Mom...)

And present? Just one? (Hehehe...Mom wrapped several gifts and put them inside a big box to try and fool him...But he was too clever for me...he already knew it! Shucks!)

....a couple of new books....

....a new movie....

And the mother-of-all-gifts, the long-awaited, much anticipated, Lego X-Wing kit that he had been wanting since last Christmas!

....oooohhh...aaaahhh....COOL!....

...and a new transformer...

He was indeed a happy boy by the end of the day.

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Then came Ben's class play. It was so neat seeing Ben do the same play the Josh did just a year ago. (Not to mention that he is wearing the exact same clothes that Josh wore in that play a year ago!!)

And since he played the part of a pilgrim in the play, he dressed in his Native American attire when we got home...

..."HOW"...

Here's some of the crafts that I either helped with, or prepared for the class...

Our Thanksgiving "spread"....

The boys, with help (a lot of help) from Daddy, made space ships/shuttles for a derby in the Cub Scouts. I wish I had pictures from the derby to share, but {I can't believe it} I forgot to take the camera!!!!!! UGH! :P The red one is Ben's, the black, Josh's. Josh's won two of four heats. Ben's didn't win any heats, but was very quick out of the gate!

And last Friday night at school was Cookies and Cocoa with Santa. And the Gingerbread Shoppe. And a musical by the second-graders, called The Twelve Days of Christmas in North Carolina. It was really cute. Everything related to NC in some way...state bird, state flower, state insect (which is the honey bee, in case you didn't know), etc, etc...You get the idea.

Well, now you're caught up. But I, on the other hand, am not. I should be working on a craft for tomorrow--not done yet. And scrapbooking? I have no clue what that is lately. I was working on vacation pictures when I had to set them aside to work on crafts for Mrs. Y, and to make Christmas cards, which I have been feverishly working on. And Mrs. Y said that she could use me EVERY day until Christmas break!!! UGH!! I think I'll stick to two days a week!

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In the event that I don't get back to post before Christmas...

I wish you all a very merry Christmas.

May you find yourself truly blessed.

Love you all.

:)

October Crafts

Last week, Ben was finally able to bring home all the crafts that he made in class for the month of October. And I finally got a photo of them to post on the blog! YAY!

The first one that I helped with was the owl. He's stuffed with crumpled up paper. The kids loved it when I told them to make some trash for me! :)

The second craft we did was the bat. He looks fairly simple, but sometimes to a child that hasn't had much experience with crafting, it can be more difficult that it looks.Next was the spider (the one with the colorful legs). He's so cute. He was from a kit bought at Michael's. The one on the left is Ben's. The kids also had to write about each critter we made.

The one on the right is Josh's. He had seen the kit when I brought it home to sort out, and wanted one badly, so I asked Mrs. Y if I could bring one home for Josh to make.

The last one we did was the jack-o-lantern. He's made out of foam. I like the touch of the ribbon/vine.

The spider in the middle was one they did in class (nothing to do with me). I just wanted to put him in there too. I like his eight colorful eyes.

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So that's it. Nothing new. Just wanted to share. :)

That's for looking, though.

Have a great week.

:)