Christmas Caroling

I asked Schane' yesterday morning if she wanted to go caroling with people from church & she said no. I then told her that one of our friends was going & he was bringing his kids so she said yes. I told her that if it was raining then we wouldn't go. When we got home from work & school she said that she didn't want to go. To bad, we're going I said. I was looking forward to getting in the spirit of the holiday season & seeing a bunch of friends from church.

The weather was great when we started out. It was actually kind of warm, a lot different from last year. We were frozen by the time we got back to the church for hot chocolate & goodies. Approximately 20 mins later it started to rain. There was no downpour but it was enough that our hats got soaked, shoes were wet, & the little ones wanted to walk in puddles. I thought it was great. It really felt like Christmas. I only wish the people in the neighborhood felt the same way.

After awhile Schane' & other kids were getting really disappointed because no one would come out of there house to hear us sing. A few actually used their brains & opened up their garage to listen to us. I just told Schane' that we need to pray for them.

After we came back to the church we socialized, got warm, & ate some great cookies. I'm really glad that we went & made the effort to sing around the neighborhood even if people were not in the mood to hear us.

Before we started out we played a bingo game. I know most of you have played this in some manner. 20 boxes & you go around and ask people questions trying to get a bingo. Anyway, one question on the paper asked who was naughty this year. I had her go over to one of our friends, Mr. Christofferson (Mark) & ask him something. She just happened to ask him this question & he got down to her level & whispered something in her ear. The pic that I got was right after he whispered something & it looked like it was a great response.

This next pic is my friend Jenny & her son Sam. She has a daughter Emily that is Schane's age but she wasn't around at the moment. Jenny helped in my Sunday School class last year & is just as bubbly as I am.

This was taken right after we got back to the church. You can't tell how wet we are but we sure were a tad bit cold. That hot chocolate tasted sooo good when we got inside.

Spirit Week...

My understanding of spirit week was usually the week of homecoming. Lately it seems like whenever they want to have a spirit week they have it. Schane' comes home with a slip of paper on Friday stating that this week we would have spirit week & to listen to the announcements on Monday to know what to wear for the week. She already knew that Monday was crazy sock day which she said she didn't want to do. Tuesday was pajama day, Wednesday is Christmas crazy hat day (something like that) & I'm not sure what tomorrow is. So I took a picture of Schane' in her pajama top & sweats for yesterday & an elf hat that she bought at the dollar store for today.

Dinner at the neighbor's...

Tim, Schane, & I went over to the neighbor's last night for a farewell dinner before we leave next week. Nicol will be taking care of the house & collecting our mail while we are gone. We're missing two kids in this picture because they have 6 kids but everyone here was playing around on the couch & I told them to stay put for a sec so I could take a pic. In the back we have Timmy & Aaron, & in the front we have Cerys & Peter.

After dinner we had coffee & goodies. I even brought over my shortbread cookies. On Monday Nicol & her mom made some greek cookies that were out of this world. They are from Greece by the way. We also played Christmas charades. It was just something we made up. You had to think of something to do with Christmas & act it out. They usually play Christmas Carol Charades but Schane' couldn't think of many Christmas songs to act out so we just used the Christmas theme.

Here's another picture of Cerys. I couldn't believe how cuddly she was last night. Usually she walks away from me & hides beside Nicol but as I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to Nicol she came beside me & said "up". I picked her up & told Nicol to quickly take a picture with my camera. Isn't she just cute? She has got the biggest brown eyes ever.

Rain, Rain, Rain...

Wow, have we had a lot of rain. I'm not complaining either. I have had to drive Schane' to school the past couple of days. She would have rather walked in the rain but it was me who said that I would rather drive. This picture was taken yesterday morning as I was getting ready to leave. I am standing in the driveway looking west down the road. The rain finally stopped before noon today. When I came into the office I was hearing that Lilttle Rock CA had snow & Deb's sister in Vegas has snow. Flagstaff has a lot snow too.

This next picture is the front of the house that I live in. I took this yesterday too. You can't tell by this picture but Tim put some lights on the house but it only goes from the front door to the middle of the garage. He thought he had more lights. I told him that I can't switch the lights on when they're only half done. I didn't want to be the laughing stock of the neighborhood. My feeling is either you do it right or not at all not half way. Lately though Schane' has been wanting the lights on so I figure why not. At least it's something & it did look kind of nice the past couple of nights while it was raining.

Cookie Exchange...

On Friday I talked to mom about what cookies would be pretty easy to make & the ingredients cheap. We were supposed to have a cookie exchange on Monday & I didn't sign up but then thought that maybe I would bring something because who wants to be excluded on a whole bunch of goodies? Not me that's for sure. Mom suggested her shortbread cookies. I didn't have to think twice about that because I love those. I saved this container from last year when I bought some cookies. I was surprised that it didn't get smashed or broken in the Christmas tub because it's just plastic. As you can see we had a variety of items. There was peppermint bark, pineapple upside cake, muffins, chocolate chip cookies, eclairs, & on & on. It was a great turnout & I'm glad that I participated.

A Bunch Of Pics...

Yes, I know it's been awhile. It seems like when I think I have time to upload pics something comes up. Then I've got Schane' who's 9 & realizes that I'm always on the computer & doesn't like it. What am I to do? Tell her no that I won't read a story or play a game? My point exactly. Right now I have a few minutes so I thought what a better time than to quickly update you on what's been going on.

These pics where taken Thanksgiving weekend. You can tell that it was pretty warm outside considering what Schane' is wearing. She had so much fun bringing out everything. I let Schane' decorate the tree by herself after I got the lights on. She was making a mess actually because she was on a mission to find her stocking to hang it up & she couldn't find it. It took awhile but after taking everything out of the buckets I finally found it. I didn't tell her I found it either. I laid it on the couch to see how long it would take for her to find it. I have to tell you that it's a High School Musical Stocking. Oma made her a stocking when she was a baby but I hadn't been able to find it. On Sat when I talked to Oma she said that it's at her house. I was really excited because I couldn't believe I had lost it. Well, I am a bit unorganized, I know, go figure, but the stuff that REALLY means something to me I try to keep close by. By the way, my Christmas stuff is really organized. I bought a bunch of tubs last year & organized everything.

I took the Christmas tree pic just the other night. I was trying out the self timer on my camera. I thought that I would take a pic of Schane' then I would take another one with the two of us. As you can see I didn't get to take a pic with the two of us. Maybe I'll get a chance to try it again this week.

As Schane' puts it "her dream came true". Meaning she was finally old enough to be in the Christmas church play. She has been wanting to be in the play for 2yrs now and you have to be in 3rd grade in order to be in it. As you all know I had stopped all other activities due to the struggles we were having in school. I almost said no to this but I told her that if she worked hard on her school work then I would let her be in the play. Saturday there was a 4 hr rehearsal & then Sunday was the program. The program was for all 3 services. By the time the 11:00 service came around she wasn't smiling as much. Of course that was the service that her dad, nana, & Deb & the kids were at. She was half shepherd & half angel. I didn't get a picture of her being an angel though. I didn't even realize it until I was uploading pics today. I was having a hard time with the lighting in the church so this last picture didn't turn out so good. Looks like its a bit dark.

After the last service was done we decided to go out to lunch. Nana (Sharon) suggested The Cheesecake Factory. It can be a bit pricey but we didn't turn her down because we just love the place. Most of us anyway. Tim had never been there before & Schane' doesn't get anything fancy. You can't leave that place without getting a slice of cheesecake either. Oh is it good! Nana wasn't going to get a slice because she was going shopping afterwards but our waitress told us of a holiday one that wasn't on the list. It was peppermint & white chocolate. She said if you love peppermint you'll love this. We both decided to order one, which turned out to be a mistake because I ate off hers because she couldn't eat it all & I took my whole piece home.



As we were walking back to Nana's truck Tim noticed this Rolls that he just loved. I thought I'd take a picture of it just to show something different besides Schane'.

Black Friday II

A highlight for the girls was trying on clothes in the stores. On the left Schane' has a robe on pretending that she just got out of the shower. On the right Schane' tried this coat on from The Children's Store. Both girls just loved this coat, we of course did not get it though.

I can't remember what time we finally stopped & took a break. It was probably when the kids kept complaining that they were hungry & couldn't go any further. You know the drill with kids. We decided to stop at Cinnabon. Who doesn't want a giant cinnamon roll for breakfast? We needed that sugar to keep us going for a couple more hrs. It tasted great & it rejuvenated all of us.

We kept on shopping after this & then when we were in Mervyn's I realized the time & said let's go stand in line to see Santa. I figure it will be the last year that they believe in Santa so I wanted to get one last great picture. Schane' is already coming home saying that her classmates said there's no Santa. She said that only she & her friend Emma believe in Santa. Not sure if I believe that but I wasn't going to say anything. We had to stand in line for about a 1/2 hr. but we were also pretty close to the front of the line, Santa hadn't arrived yet.

I thought this was a great shot. We were actually done shopping & started heading out of the mall when Deb said Oh, I didn't make it to Victoria Secret. Great. I was fine with it but the kids were starting to moan. These chairs were outside of the store & we were able to snag two. The girls were fine for a few mins then they really started getting tired. That's when I took this picture.

We made it back to Deb's by noon. We had some lunch, sent Abbey off with Grandpa to a hockey game, let Schane' watch cartoons, & take a nap. She really felt like crap that day. She kept saying that her head hurt, her stomach hurt, & everything else hurt. Welcome to the club child. Both Deb & I were complaining that our feet hurt & then I became loopy because I was so tired. We were laughing hysterically for awhile & that was mostly at nothing. You know remember doing that back in college don't you?

If you can't tell we had lots of fun & made some great memories. We're already talking about going back next year, maybe earlier this time!