Jan

YIKES!!!!! I can't hardly believe it is almost Feb! Where did January go? We are already having a great 2010 and know it is only going to get better! Baby is crawling and trying to stand, Chloe is busy planning her birthday party and Logan keeps me laughing daily! Jeremy and I have set goals for 2010 and I am going to have to change one of mine already! I wanted to do 8 wedding cakes, 10 birthday cakes, 5 shower cakes and 5 misc. I am already booked for 4 weddings, 4 birthdays, and 3 misc. And all by May! I think I will have to stretch for higher goals!


Logan has finally figured out that he doesn't have to do everything Chloe says or play only what and how she wants to play. Rough adjustments for Chloe! Sometimes it feels like all I do is referee. Ahhh, siblings.... The other day Logan was in Chloe's room banging on a drum. She asked him to stop but he ignored her. It went from "Logan, will you please stop doing that?" to "Logan, stop banging on the drum. Please." After several pleas had been ignored, we heard "Logan, stop it! That' annoying!" Again, no reponse but to keep playing his drum. She snapped! "Logan, STOP it! You are annoying and I don't want to listen to you anymore. Stop IT!" This finally got a response from him. "NO, Chloe. I WONT stop!" And he proceeded to play even louder. I couldn't help laughing to myself.

2009

I thought I would post about some of the highlights of 2009 for our family!

-I turned 30! I had a HUGE party- with over 100 people at it :)
-My Dad and brother, Jake, came out to visit for a week
-Jeremy and I went to Vegas for a week vacation with NO kids!
-We went on Lift Winter Retreat with our teens
-Chloe had a birthday celebration at school
-Chloe had her first slumber party!
-Chloe turned 6
-Logan turned 2 and got his "big boy" bed
-Vision Conference was amazing!!!
-My Mom moved out here
-One sister got engaged
-Jeremy went to lunch with Brian Houston, Pastor of Hillsong, Australia
-Baby was born!
-We got to coach a Couple's Communication course
-My niece was born
-I hosted 2 tables for our Cherish Dessert/Breakfast & Fashion Show
-I made 6 wedding cakes, 8 birthday cakes, 2 bridal shower cakes, 1 bachelor party cake, 1 baby shower cake, and 4 misc cakes!
-Chloe finished Kindergarten
-Logan is potty trained!
-Baby and I took a trip to MO
-We surprised my Dad for his 50th birthday!!!
-Jeremy now oversees most of the North campus
-Jeremy is teaching in Vision College
-I started teaching in Wordshop
-Chloe went on vacation with Jeremy's parents
-We had our Revolution Youth Conference, with approx 550 teens
-Jeremy taught at a youth camp in ID
-Jeremy went with Pastor Casey to a conference in Hawaii (lucky!)
-Chloe started 1st grade
-And she has learned how to read
-The kids enjoyed Fall Fun Party and Trick-or-Treating on Halloween
-I got away for a few days to our Women's Conference
-We had a great Thanksgiving with great friends
-I did NOT go shopping on Black Friday this year
-We attended several Christmas parties
-We enjoyed Christmas Eve with my Mom, then went to Candlelight service at church
-Christmas morning was relaxing and fun
-Christmas night was spent with Jeremy's family
-Logan and Baby are pacifier-free!!!!!!!!
-We paid off one car, all credit cards and loans, most of the midwife- now just have to finish off the midwife and the other car then we are DONE!!!!

We definately had a very blessed year in 2009! There were some rough spots in the road, but mostly it was a great year :) Jeremy and I are looking forward to 2010 and are expecting GREAT things to happen.

Christmas

Well, we made a HUGE Christmas mistake!!!! We thought we were being smart. At Chloe and Logan's first Christmas we bought them tons of gifts, yet their favorite part was the box or paper. So this year we wrapped a bunch of empty boxes for Baby's first Christmas. I really just needed the boxes for pictures. We figured she would love playing with the boxes or chew on some paper. OH HOW WE WERE WRONG!!!!! The gifts that she got from my parents and grandparents brought absolute delight to Baby's face! Each time she opened a gift (and she did tear through the paper) she would light up and squeal with excitement at the toy or clothes inside the package. At first we thought it would just be one or two then she would lose interest. Nope. She reacted the same to every gift! We took the toys out of the packaging and she would play with the toys. She played with hers and rolled over to Logan or Chloe's and played with theirs too. We were laughing so hard that we completely forgot to get a video of her excitement. But I did get pics!

The kids had a great Christmas and got more than they could have asked for! We spent Christmas Eve day with my Mom then went to the Candlelight Service at Church. We were 100 people short of reaching the building capacity. So many extra chairs were brought out that we eventually had to bring out the plastic school chairs.

Christmas morning was low-key and amazing. A friend of ours came over, since he doesn't have any family around here. We opened presents and made a huge breakfast. The kids played forever with their new stuff, and their siblings stuff :) Later that day we went to the grandparents for dinner then out to Jeremy's parents for the night.

All-in-all, it has been a great Christmas season but I am glad to be done :) Now, on to planning 2010~~~~~~

Christmas Eve Service

It's kind of long. But the first minute or so is Chloe's part of the song. I also tried to find Logan but he was hiding in the crowd.

More pictures to come....

Christmas Time

Holidays are always a big deal around our house. The kids get excited; Jeremy & I get excited. And this year is no exception! Logan is old enough to really enjoy Christmas- so he and Chloe are besides themselves with excitement. So far I think we have done a great job of showing the kids that Christmas is not about gifts, although that is a fun part. Around Halloween I started asking myself, "If there were no presents at Christmas, would my kids still be excited about holidays?" And the answer has been YES! Don't get me wrong, we are having presents at Christmas. I just don't want that to be the main focus or their only memories. We have had weeks of parties, activities, special nights out, baking, decorating and gift/letter making.

This year we had to make a decision about Santa. In the past, Chloe hated him so it wasn't an issue. We just didn't have Santa. But Logan likes the guy and Chloe is now interested because of kids at school. So the verdict in our house...

There is a great book that talks about the fun of Santa and St. Nicholas. The basics of the story is that St. Nicholas was a God-fearing man who gave gifts to orphans and poor families (coins in shoes). He shared God's love in such a great way that we honor his memory each year, now in the form of Santa. Our kids know that Santa is not real but it is fun to pretend- and to keep the secret! I just loved that this explanation allowed for the fun of Santa but still focuses on God's love and the birth of Jesus!!!!

This year we added a second tree. I decorated the one in the front living room and let the kids decorate the one in the family room. It was a big moment in our house. I didn't do any of the kids' tree!!!! The lights are not evenly dispersed, the bulbs have clumps of the same colors, there are gaps, UGH!!! But I made it through and I have not "fixed" any of it. I even took pictures of it (below) as proof that I let everyone else do it :)