Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

& Happy New Year

from our family

to yours

Little Miss Christmas

Our little Miss Christmas

wishes all of you a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Trying to get....

We like to send Christmas cards with a family photo on it. We also like to take the photo ourselves. It saves us time (usually) and we can aim it for a time when everyone is in good spirits (you hope). Getting our family photo & a good shot of the three wonderfully behaved children (because it was after nap & feeding time, and my children are always well behaved) should have been easy. Right? I mean how hard can it be to keep the baby happy, the toddler from having a melt down or being the human blur, the (almost) teenager from moving, set the timer, auto focus on, look at the camera, remember to smile, don't squint, don't blink, and make sure we're centered in the shot. Here are a few of those shot's to put you in the Christmas mood.

Everyday

I was recently informed that it had been 17 days (but who's counting) since my last post and that I needed to post some new up-to-date things. So for those of you who check just for cute shots of the kids, here ya go:

"Look what brother taught me."

The offical diaper sniffer

"Aren't I cute.

Thank you Grandma Betty for the outfit!"

Ethan wearing Papa's hat.

Merrick unwinding after Student's of Promise induction cermony.

Induction

Well Merrick was inducted into Students of Promise (SoP) on December 13th. Turns out, they only chose 3 students from Clare. They had a very nice ceremony where the President of the college, one of the SoP board members, and the co-ordinator Jessie Gordon spoke.

They were given a card to write on that Ms. Gordon read as they approached the sign in book. Merrick had to write who he came with/was supporting him and what he wanted to be when he grew up. Tim, Ethan, Sophie & I were all there for Merrick. Grandma Betty, Grandpa & Grandma Mann, and Grandpa & Grandma Fiero were also there. Merrick mentioned that he wanted to be a police officer.

If you want more informaiotn about SoP, check it out at
http://www.midmich.edu/students_of_promise
In the meantime here are some photos of the evening:

The inductee's listening to one of the speakers

(Merrick is the last row,

1st on the end)

The co-ordinator

Ms. Jessie Gordon

Having signed the book they recieved a certificate

After the induction there was a reception for all the student's and their parents. It was a lot of fun and we are so proud of Merrick. Merrick is also a member of Student Council. Keep up the good work Merrick.

'Tis the Season...

'Tis the Season for Christmas parties, lot's of food, icky snow/ice, snow days, and spending extra time with good friends and family.

This past Saturday (the 1st) I had 2 Christmas parties to attend. The first was for our womens group from church, and the second was for the Christian Cowboys. That Saturday was also the day all the nasty snow/ice started to pour in. We made it safely to each party and more importantly, we made it safely home. Here's a shot of the two youngest dressed up for the fun:

Ethan's shirt says: "Dear Santa, I can explaine."

We all snuggled in for the winter storm and enjoyed the rest of the weekend together. Merrick ended up having 2 snowdays. He enjoyed the time at home and outside.

We don't live far from our church, and during the winter Merrick enjoys sledding/boarding down the large hill that the church sit's on. He was sledding down the hill, that was covered in a nice layer of ice, when he put to much weight on the front part of his sled. It caught under a lip in the ice and sent him for a header.

The sled survived, it came away untouched, with nary a scratch. Merrick on the other hand. Well the photo shows you his head. What you don't see are is cut up hands, and any other bruises that he may have gotten in his tumble. I don't think he'll be going down it much this winter, at least not after it beat him up.

So I'd like to leave you with the following links. My Aunt Ginger sent my mom the cutiest email, and mom sent it me. Once I saw it, I knew I had to 'elf' the kids. That turned out so well, I had to 'elf' the cats. Then I figured I'd better 'elf' Tim & myself as well. I hope you enjoy, and elf youself.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1214590935 - the kids

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1221312760 - the cats

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1221456674 - Tim & I

Enjoy!!

Sleeping

How nice it would be to be able to drop off to sleep anytime, anywhere, in any position.

The other day I gave the two youngest kids a bath (yes, I was home alone). It wasn't that bad, Ethan is a regular fish & doesn't need much hands on except for washing. Sophie was fine if I kept her covered with a warm washcloth. My purpose for the bath was to tire Sophie out so I could put Ethan (who has broncitis) to bed for a nap.

After the bathing, diapering, lotioning and dressing of both children I was able to sit down & nurse Sophie. Ethan wanted to stay upstairs and play in his room. Okay, I thought, I'll clean his mess up later. So I went down and nursed Sophie. Well as you can guess, I was tired. So while I dozed, Sophie ate & Ethan played. And then IT happened, you moms know what I'm getting to.

I awake with a start (no it was not to the clatter of 8 reindeer on my roof), IT was quiet. There was NO noise. All was not right. Sophie was finally asleep, so I carried her to her bed. When I entered their room, the toys were all over the floor and I found my youngest son like this:

The funny part is he's laying on top of the heating vent. Come to find out his daddy liked to throw a blanket over the vent and then curl up under it. Don't worry his face was not on the vent. I did what any good mom would, I laughed (quietly so as not to wake his sister) and then grabbed the camera. Oh yes, I also picked him up & put him in bed.