Beach day!

Nothing like breakfast on the beach, especially on Christmas day! The Lord has truly blessed us, letting us live out here the last couple years! Such a beautiful and relaxing place to be. Although on our way there the big kids were asking "Why doesn't it snow in Hawai'i?" and " Can the next place we live have snow?" I assured them that chances are the next place we move will have snow and that they'd have the 'fun' job of shoveling the sidewalks and driveways then.
It was a little cool for us today(hey, now don't laugh so loud!)
#2 was the first to jump in.

Then #1 joined.

and then #3 joined in the fun.

#4 and I stayed on the beach. He was happy to eat and play in the sand. I was happy to watch everyone and the lovely calming scenery.

He was cracking me up with this toe curl thing. He'd dip his feet in the sand and then lift his legs up and curl his toes and then dust the sand off.


The kids taking a break to warm up and eat a little more. I had made my grandma L's breakfast ring. Can't have Thanksgiving or Christmas without it, so yummy!



A little reminder of what today is all about, here's a picture from part of our Christmas Eve Service at church. (Recognize the wise man and shepherd?)


I was reading First John today, Which if you look at is about Love. It was just one of those times were it really hit me. Am I acting loving to others? And by others I mean everyone, not just family. Do my actions show this? What could I do differently? Read 1 John 3:18-19 This is what really made me take a closer look at things today, maybe it'll speak to you also.
There is also a quote in my Bible from M. Scott Peck an American Psychiatrist and writer. "Love is an action, and activity. It is not a feeling."
How are you showing love?

Christmas

This is what our house looked like last night. Due to dh's work schedule we rearranged our usual Christmas schedule. So we had a lovely spread of appetizers last night.



This morning, checking stockings

wow, look more gifts!

#3 got a new train in his stocking!


#1 & #2 playing with their stocking presents, they got daddy's old gameboys with mario cart

Such happiness. Love hearing them play and giggle with delight at their new toys.

#4 finally getting into the idea of unwrapping. hey, did you know you could tear something without getting in trouble?

He played with his toy like this for quite awhile. We finally took it out the box, and that was fun too;)

Multitasking

Sometimes it isn't such a good idea! I'm still laughing about it so thought I'd share. We have some pumpkins that we had got in October that are still good. So I cooked 2 of them today and set off to make some goodies. Made some pumpkin cookies and some bread then took the kids off to bathe. Get back upstairs and start washing the dishes so we can make some more cookies(Russian teacakes this time!) I grab the bowl that the pumpkin had been in only to find pumpkin still in it-Yes I made pumpkin bread without the pumpkin, interesting concept isn't it!! #3 and I went on to make the cookies and I made another loaf of bread with pumpkin after that. I guess we'll see which bread they like better in the morning LOL
I have 3 more pumpkins to cook and bake tomorrow, I'll make sure to stay alert;

Homeschooling

A friend shared this video with me. It gave me a chuckle, hope it does you too! Homeschooling with humor:)

they say.....

Earlier today we got a call asking if #1 and #2 wanted to dress up like a wise man and shepherd for a song at church. We said yes and were discussing what to wear during dinner. #3 pipes up "I want to be a dinosaur for Christmas!" This cracks the older kids up-sorry kid there are no dino's in the nativity scene...although if you got a Christmas card from us last year you would see that he played the part of dino in the nativity scene at our house. Guess he's still stuck on that idea!

Oh, and if you haven't heard, #3 wants to be a donkey when he grows up! In case your curious on his choice of occupation, he has seen Shrek and loves donkey!

Great Company!

It's not often that you can work for such a great company. I had placed a small order for a customer last week. There was a little bit of a delay in receiving the order because of the winter weather going through OKC. I received my package today, to find the President of our company had packaged and signed my order! How neat is that, when the top guy helps out where ever needed. I plan to be more active in the book business this year. It's fun to share the love of books!

How to play in snow

in Hawaii. 1. Wear tennis shoes(we found out last year slippers are not a good idea). 2. Wear gloves and hats. 3. Have fun!







A little rain didn't slow them down. #4 Played with a little snowball but wasn't too interested yet.

A Favorite

Picture from our trip. #4 shows his love of animals!


The kids initials confuses one of my sisters(Sarah!) so I have decided to call them 1,2,3,4 yes their number of birth so hope that will be less confusing for you!

We are back

We've been working on settling back in. Started school again this week. We talked about robins, Connecticut's state bird. Afterwards we made edible birds nest.
They thought it was icky to mold the nest. We made these with grass(shredded wheat) twigs(sesame stick) and mud(melted peanut butter and carob) and the eggs are grapes.




They did think they were quite tasty!

We've been working on putting up the Christmas decorations. Kitty has decided that the tree skirt makes a good sleeping spot. Little one has discovered this and takes the opportunity to get close.

trip updates

We got to watch the planes before we left.


We did a little rock climbing at the science center.



We saw some dino's......J played in dino poo.

On the road

or in the air. Vacation time is here. After a long plane ride we finally arrived to the cold air of LA. I7 keeps asking me, why is it sooo cold here. I & I chatted someones ear off for the whole plane ride. The nice lady did get a bit of a break while she covered up and tried to sleep...or was she trying to get away from the endless chatter?? Whatever it was she was a good sport and seemed not to mind, although hmm, I think she did walk rather fast off of the plane!
J & L both had a nap on the plane, although not long enough for me;) After a few hours the thrill of the plane soon wore off and J was ready to get to California. (Which btw it is so cute to hear him say CA in his little 3yr old voice, he just draws it out so) When are we going to be there? Can't we just land now? L was happy as long as he was eating, as they no longer feed you on planes anymore he had lots of raisins and granola bars as that is what I had brought.
First thoughts of being on the mainland again.....it's cold(well most of us agree this is a fact, I thought CA was suppose to be sun and beaches and beach boy songs). We see billboards again, although most of them didn't have lights-so you couldn't really read them. The signage in the city must be different then we are use to because we kept missing the signs we needed last night-although on the plus side we didn't have traffic to deal with!
We went to play at the science center today...will share more of our fun their with pictures later.
Right now I'm enjoying the awwwwwww sound of silence. James took the big kids out for some fun and the little ones are resting so they will be up and ready to go for a fun filled adventure tomorrow. You might see us if you see a group of people tied together. It was a little crazy today with everyone getting caught up in their own thing and forgetting to stay together. I think it may be a good plan to leash ourselves together:)

Packing

Someone thought he'd jump right into the packing idea.....you'll have to excuse the red eye, fixed it as best I could.

Happy Halloween

We made some web dip for supper tonight. It was a big hit, especially with the little one. He much preferred it over the pumpkin pasta. He doesn't seem to be much of a pasta eater, also tends to throw the food he doesn't want to eat. He will give you a bit of a warning first but if you don't get it fast enough.......down with the food!

We had some nice pumpkin decorations tonight. The kids went to a pumpkin patch today. J painted his and the other 2 drew on theirs(they also got 2 each) They will come in handy as we are doing a Thanksgiving study this week and need some pumpkins for experiments.




Isn't this a great spooky photo of L? Red eyes,the strange glow and of course the food, he must have thought that was paint! Hmm, I know where he got that idea from.... I & I had made masks and when daddy got home they quickly put them on. J didn't have a mask so he put some pumpkin(from the pasta) on his face and said he was a pumpkin monster!

Weekend

What a great weekend! James, L and I went out for some Jamba Juice while the older kids were at Awana's Friday night. Saturday I was gone all day at a conference and today we had a great day at church then went to pick up groceries and James' belated birthday gift. He's been patiently waiting and today Guitar Hero for the Wii came out. So we are all taking turns trying to play. Here is our Guitar hero:)

belated pictures

Outside

I've been enjoying watching the sun rise and shine on this tree in the mornings. One thing I really like about our home is it has these nice big trees around it. (one thing I don't like about our home is these nice big trees around it! Any given time of the year they are dropping something!) Ah, but on to the good, they provide shade, flowers, I love to hear the wind blowing through them. And to watch the sun glance off the branches as I'm watching the landscape wake up in the morning.


I & I made ink out of blueberries and quill pens last week.

We all watched The Nutcracker today. I was surprised that they enjoyed it so much. I didn't expect them to sit and watch it all. They did have a couple comments. They kept asking why didn't the people talk. I6 wanted to know why the guys had tights on...and she thought they looked funny in tights. It was a little different then the book we read and they noticed the differences.

I have a few photos to add but blogger isn't playing nice today. Hopefully all will be working tomorrow.

Heart stopping moment

I6 caused me to have one of these today. We were almost home and I looked back in the rear view mirror and I was missing a child! I was positive they were all buckled up before I got in the car, could she have somehow gotten out in between me shutting the back and getting in? I asked I7 if she was back there somewhere. "yes, she sleeping" came the reply. Big sigh of relief! Poor girl had said she had a headache and totally conked out and had sunk down very low in her deep slumber.

This little guy of mine is just too cute! Yes I know I'm a little partial but he is! He doesn't say much more than momma and dada but he loves to talk and will talk and point and tilt his head...just makes you wanna eat him up!

cat update

James took the cat to the vet while we went to church today. Can I say what a difference between the vet we saw yesterday and the one we saw today. One way relaxed and the other very aggressive. Turns out I should listen to my mommy cat instincts as what is wrong is something that flittered through my mind yesterday but as the vet made no mention of it, I didn't dwell on it too much. Kitty is being treated overnight with fluids and antibiotics, they might keep her 2 days to make sure but should be on the mend with no troubles. The bill for all of this of course is VERY high....I think it shall change some of our plans on our trip that is coming up shortly. I7 didn't like leaving her there and we had to explain that we would be picking her back up but she needed to stay at the hospital to make sure she got well.

Ever feel like time was getting away from you. Many times this week I wanted to stop and post a little note yet never found a moment to do so. Now do you suppose I remember all those random thoughts? LOL If you do you are sadly mistaken;) It's taken me 2 hours to work on this post so far......dinner time called!
One day the kids were playing. First they were pretending J was sick and they were bringing him presents. Then they were all playing games to help him when he was 'sick' They had the magna doodle out and were playing the letter game(aka wheel of fortune) I was happy to see they were practicing spelling while I was dealing with a cranky baby! I just remembered after this the decided to pretend it was J's birthday. They were wrapping toys up in blankets and clothes for him to open. They invited me and L to the party and we got to all sit around and watch J open the gifts and help him as needed. Fun times!

We've been getting magazines in the mail, the kids love these. I do too! I was telling James that I wish we got these magazines in the mail when I was a kid.
Some of our favorites are: MindWare, museum tour, and magic cabin. The kids are earnestly making lists of things they like. Then they will mark out things and say well I really like those but instead of those you could get me this.;) Problem is I'd like most of what they pick too!

Here is a random picture from last weekend. We went to an airshow. Although I have no pictures of planes I did take this one. I7 was especially impressed by the size of this wheel!




Our cat is sick. We took her to the Vet to get her shots updated and when they were doing the routine exam they discovered that she had a pretty high fever. I thought she was napping a little more than usual yesterday but otherwise no displays of anything going on. So no shots today, they did a little bit of blood work and we are to go to an emergency vet tomorrow if her fever isn't down. Taking that temperature should be fun...she was not happy about having her temp taken twice today and then for the blood work they took 4cc's from her jugular....poor cat had a rough day!

Hasty pudding

Ever wonder what it was like? Well wonder no more...here is what it looks like.



and as you can see the kids gave it a thumbs up. I7 said it tasted like cream of wheat-which he loves!