Christmas Day Pictures 2010

Christmas 2010 was a bit different. We were 5 hours from our families. It was our decision, an agonizing one. Though the weather they were calling for went west of here, you never know what it could have done. Our dogs had a good Christmas for sure, which was one of our main concerns, them being at home in their own environment. I have to say we enjoyed one another's company, and being able to relax a little. It was different, yet my kids were more excited than ever before. Dalayna knew many secrets about what everyone was getting, and she said to me,"Mom, I can't wait for tomorrow to get here. My bottle of secrets is about to pop!!" So, here we are first thing Christmas morning. We hadn't been awake more than 2-3 minutes. Can you tell?

Terry finding lots of candy in his stocking, which Dalayna has purchased with her own money the past couple of years. She loves this job, and it is her idea. She loves stuffing everyone's stocking with candy.
Remington opening his gift. He tore open the present, then ate most of the paper, unfortunately. He opened it completely by himself.

Ranger, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about opening his present.


Remington waiting anxiously for Terry to take the tags off his toy. He played with it for a few minutes, then Ranger stole it and chewed the ball right off.

Notice Ranger in the background. We bought him a large rubber bone we thought would be hard to destruct, but I am telling you that dog, as little as he is, can destroy the most indestructible toy!! Here Remington and Terry are playing tug-of-war.




Colby opening the broadhead arrows we bought him for Christmas. He is all set to go hunting again one last time before the season ends. Let's hope he will come home with a deer this time.

This one picture of me, minus make-up. I figured I can post ONE picture like this in my lifetime

!!






Terry and Colby opening a gift from Dalayna.

Here is what was in the box: Mizzou hats in camouflage. They were definitely the favorite gift of the day. In case no one knew, we are huge Missouri Tigers fans in this house. If you question that, just look at how many Mizzou clothing items hang in our closets. Better yet, ask my mom how much she has spent buying Mizzou gear for us since we can't get it up here!! We will forever be Missourians at heart!!

Colby's big gift of the day: a bow and arrow case. By that evening, he had his bow and arrow all ready to go for the next and last round for the year.

Dalayna's long-awaited doll. This wasn't a very good picture of the doll, so there is one of the doll just below this. It is such a pretty doll, and she is happy because it looks Chinese.

Dalayna has named her Lucy.

Snow pants, a must for living up here in the frozen tundra. :)













Last but not least, the ham Terry's company gave us for Christmas. It is huge. I estimated it weighed between 15-20 pounds. It tasted delicious and we have so much left over it is unbelievable. We will probably be eating ham up until it is time to eat an Easter ham!! Can anyone think of different ways you use leftover ham?

Christmas Eve Pictures

Here are the pictures we took Christmas Eve. Dalayna and Caillou had matching outfits and coats for tonight. Caillou even went to church with us last night. Someone at church said I should have picked out an extra large in the girls section and matched them. :) I sure do love the sparkle in this dress!! My 2 precious children.

My handsome son, who just can't seem to stop getting older and taller!!

Terry and me. Of course after we take these pictures we are checking out if we are showing signs of aging!!

I love this picture. Terry always takes a good picture.

Dalayna forgot to smile, but overall still a good picture. Maybe it's the photographer....?



After church we decided to let them open one gift each.

I followed in my cousin's footsteps and bought them new pajamas to wear for Christmas Eve. Colby's are Star Wars sleeping pants. He loves sleeping pants!!






Baby Caillou all dressed up for Christmas Eve.

For an added twist, we decided to sleep in the basement on Christmas Eve. Terry and I were in the guest bed, Dalayna on the couch and Colby on the air mattress bed. So, to all a good night!!

The Biggest Leaf Bag Ever

Long before the snow fell we had plenty of leaves to rake up. They were giving away these extremely large bags where Terry works during the "raking season". Terry brought one home for us to put our leaves in. It was perfect for the job and Dalayna turned it into a personal sleigh. I had my own story with this large bag. Terry and I were out raking leaves one afternoon and I suddenly realized my wedding rings were missing....all 4 bands. It was chilly and my fingers had shrunk, and without even realizing it, all 4 were gone. Thankfully, after a thorough search inside the bag(me crawling around inside with all the leaves while Terry held the top of the bag from falling on me), I found all 4. I wonder what all the people driving by were thinking. Anyway, I was almost in tears as you can imagine. Raking leaves was really hard work, so here she is taking a little break while her daddy pulls her around the yard. This thing was about the size of a double bed in width and very tall. Just perfect for little girls to be pulled around on quite comfortably.

Lots of laughs and smiles!!

And away they go.................................

Meanwhile, big brother can hardly keep his eyes open after getting up at 3:30AM to go hunting.

All Dalayna Wants for Christmas is Her 2 Front Teeth!!

Well, we have started our Christmas weekend with a bang!!! Dalayna pulled her other front tooth this evening. The other tooth has been out since early August with no sign of the new one yet. So, now she literally could sing the song about wanting her 2 front teeth for Christmas. She said it feels so weird, like she has 2 gums. She said she hopes one of them hurries up and comes in. I lost my two front teeth when I was 6 years old, and I used to stand in front of the mirror for however long it took to get those loose teeth out, just like she does. It is amazing how God gave me a child from the other side of the world that is so much like me!!

We Don't Have to Dream About a White Christmas!!

I won't be dreaming of a White Christmas. I will have it most definitely.....all 25.2 inches of snow according to the National Weather Service. I took these pictures before we got the last 7+ inches last night. This section is now up to my waist. I did my aerobics in my back yard today wading through the snow. Actually, I was racing Colby and I didn't do too bad for an almost 40-year old person!! It is beautiful, and just like last year, we are enjoying being outside in it. This storm was a little bit different with all the blowing, drifting snow. It actually shut down schools, Dr.'s offices, businesses. Things never shut down here, so you know it must be something. We were even on the Weather Channel!! This snow drift is gone now, but I am amazed at how the snow can just hang there!!

Can you spot my air conditioner?

These drifts may not look very high, but they were up to my knees. I realize that doesn't take much to get to my knees, but it is still quite a bit of snow.

This is the biggest drift of all since our garage faces north, and the winds were coming straight from the north. As you can see, it completely covers our truck's front tire. Like a kid, I just had to go through it to see how high it was. It is up to my backside!!



Colby with the front drifts,which didn't seem to be so high.

The Snowy Season Begins

I have been dreading it. All along I knew it was coming..... the snow.... all the snow......inches and inches of it. It is here now. The snowy season has begun. It's not so bad, I guess. It is beautiful, and most of all, makes everything feel so much like Christmas. Remington, our black lab, can't be out in it enough. Neither can my kids. The white dots in the picture are snowflakes. We have about 6-7 inches on the ground. I know that number will grow, and for now, I am used to the idea.

Closed for the Season

I have jokingly told people our "inn" is closed for the season. We don't really have an inn, but our line of weekend guests has come to an end for the year. Our "inn" had 14 sets of weekend guests, so that is 14 weekends out of 2010 for overnight guests. We figured that on average, each guest stayed at least 3 days, making that 42 days of company. It was a lot of fun and we are thankful to each person who took the time out of their busy schedule to come visit us. Our thanks goes out to: First, my parents, who made several trips out here. Also, my wonderful mother and father-in-law, who also came several times. Thanks to Aunt Ina and cousin Jordan for coming this year. Thank you to my Aunt Jan, who came for a weekend, and dropped by another day to see my new house. Thank you to my cousins T.J., Amy, Adley, Jaylyn, and Leighton who came to see us for a weekend. Also, my Uncle Terry and friends, who enjoyed the fishing up here. Thank you to our friends Ron and Angela, and daughters, who came 2 weeks ago for a visit. We also had other friends from F.W. drop by for an afternoon, as well as my Uncle Clancey who came to see our house. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anyone!! Thank you all for making our 2010 a good year!!

Season of Thanks

It has been a while since I had time to post, but I am hoping I can start with a renewed commitment over the next few weeks. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would spend some time reflecting on the past year of our lives.
The past year has been full of spiritual ups and downs for our family. We struggled with the whys of moving again, yet being thankful we had a job and a place to live. We realize several things: 1). God is in control, and I have no choice but to believe He will meet my needs, because that is what he promises in His word. I am not in control, period!! 2). You realize how much you don't need, and there is so much you can do without. We learned that we wasted a lot of our money. That is a lesson I hope we never forget. 3). It gives you a heart to help others facing the same thing. You know the fears they have of losing everything. You will do whatever you can do to help them out, specifically lifting them up in prayer.
Many people have asked if we are involved in a church here. I hope people would know our family well enough to realize church is an integral part of who we are. We have a great church family. They took us in immediately and when we aren't there, someone never fails to let us know they missed us. They made sure we got involved. Colby and I worked in VBS this summer, we have served in Children's Church and Terry and I work in Awana. We were also just asked to be involved on the Missions Committee. Terry and Colby were involved in helping on a project at our parsonage. Colby is an active part of the youth group. He takes guitar lessons on Wednesday night from our youth pastor, and Dalayna received her first lesson this past Wednesday. Dalayna is in Awana, too. There are always things going on at church. We have been attending there a year now. I remember how hard it was to think about getting to know yet another church family, yet we made it through the first year just fine, by God's grace. My advice to anyone facing that situation is to GET INVOLVED, don't sit on the sidelines, be a part of the action.
In my mind I have kicked and screamed about being in a place where I don't really want to be, yet despite my complaining, God has continued to be so good to us. Life here is different. Terry and I have decided we must have been living in different world before. There are so many people who have had tragedies happen in their lives. I have NEVER seen so much tragedy. There are so many people with needs. At first, I thought, "Get me out of this place!", and maybe someday God will, but for now, what a wonderful opportunity to minister to someone. Please pray that God will use our family in some way for however long we are here.
I have also met a lot of wonderful homeschooling moms. They have been very helpful in telling me what is available for homeschoolers around here, especially the ones that have been in my prayer groups at co-op. None of them read my blog, so I can say, honestly, they are wonderful ladies. One of them is from St. Louis!! There are a lot of neat kids in the group, too, so I don't have to worry about who my kids friends are.
One of the other blessings we have received is more time as a family. My husband has the first job since our marriage began where he is home in time to eat dinner and never works weekends. The 70-80 hour weeks are a thing of the past. We have enjoyed it so much. Would we ever take another job where we would have more money but see him less? Not by choice, because we have come to realize the money is not worth the sacrifice. The company he works for is so good to their employees, too. They give rewards for safety, gift cards for birthdays, parties for the employees. You just don't see that much these days.
I am more content with where I am. It has taken a long time to get there. My friend Betsy was very blunt when she said that we were supposed to be content with where God has put us. I cried, because I knew what she said was true. In this season of thanks, I have much to be thankful for, as God continues to grow and stretch me. May I never forget all I have to be thankful for!!

Fall is Here

Ah, the colors of fall... brown, yellow, orange, red; all in brilliant array. I also love the rustle of crunchy leaves, and for the most part, don't mind raking them. We have plenty to rake in this yard. So, yesterday afternoon we started on the side yard. The kids were having fun running and hiding in them of course. So they decided Ranger needed a little fun, too.

One pile of leaves, which serves as a good hiding spot. All these leaves are from this one tree. As you can see, we only raked up half. It is hard to believe this is all from one tree. Also, notice our privacy fence. We could not afford to fence the whole yard this year, so our friend put up this one section for us. It gives us plenty of privacy from the street pictured here. It is a very busy street.

There are no colors here, but this was just a neat picture as the sun began to set last night. This flagpole is in our sideyard next to the driveway.

Our maple tree just turned yellow in the past day or so, and it's leaves are falling fast. One of my favorite trees is the blue spruce next to the maple.

This tree is amazing to see. It is totally split in color right down the middle, and the colors get brighter every day. Have you ever seen a tree with a green side and a side turning colors? By the way, this is my neighbor's tree, but I just had to take a picture because it is so unusual.