Christmas Musical Wrap Up!

Last night was the Christmas Musical and all I can say is that it was a great success and how proud of all of the kids I am! The kids did such a great job! I just want to say thank you to all the kids and their parents. Without the parents bringing the kids we would not have a show to put on!

We will be watching the video next weekend during class, which is always a fun time for the kids. We have a little party and this year the kids will be watching it on the big screen. I am sure they will all feel like movie stars! I hope to have pictures from the show up soon and hopefully Jason will have the video ready in a week or two for those that are interested!

Now that the show is over, life can slow down a little bit. I have to do my laundry and Christmas cards. I look forward to a little down town, enjoying the holiday season with Jacoba and Jason. We are also looking forward to Christmas Eve, when we pick up Chelsea and Matthew and they get to stay with us for nearly two weeks. Jacoba misses her brother and sister very much right now and next Wednesday can't get here soon enough!

Merry Christmas Everyone and I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!

Excited! Part Two

So Jason just informed me that our set for the Christmas Musical is nearly finished! That means, Jacoba and I can stay home tonight, I can work on my budget for church and get my Christmas cards started and work on the piles of laundry forming in the basement! I know, I am totally lame, but to take a break from the craziness of the musical is a blessing. That also means that once dress rehearsal is over tomorrow, Jason, Jacoba and I can go home for a little RnR before Jason and I have to leave for my company Christmas party that I actually get to attend because we got the set completed!

I am also excited because our Musical is Sunday. The kids have been practicing so hard for Sunday night, that is will be truly awesome to see them perform it for an audience! On that same note, I am excited that the Musical is Sunday so that it will be complete and we can have a little down time from the busy prep of a show. We don't start our next show until February 1st. That gives us about a month and half to relax! YEAH!!!!

I am also excited because Christmas is just 13 days away! Jacoba is so excited and I can't wait to see your face on Christmas morning! I can't wait to see Chelsea and Matthew either, but as many of you know Jacoba is very dramatic in her everyday life and she is only more dramatic when she receives gifts! It is hilarious to say the least!

Jacoba is just priceless!

Ok, so I had to share this. Last night Jacoba and I finally had the chance to decorate our Christmas Tree. We have lots of ornaments, so this is a long process. When I got to Jacoba's first Christmas Ornament from my mom and step-dad Jacoba looked at me all excited! She said "Mommy that is my very first Christmas Ornament!" Now she is only 4 years old and was only 5 months at her first Christmas, how in the world does this child know that was her first Christmas ornament! The only thing I can think of, is that over the last three Christmas' I must have said this is your first ornament each time I had her put it on the tree! Which that alone shocks me, because that means that child remembers that from last Christmas! Amazing is all I can say!

While we were decorating, she kept telling me that we have the most bootyful Christmas tree every! Yes, she says booty at the beginning of beautiful! This would be why I can hardly get anything done in the evenings! That girl keeps me on my toes and keeps me laughing the whole time!

Jealous!

Ok, so I hate to admit this, but it is how I feel. I am totally jealous of Chelsea and Matthew. At the same time, I am so excited for them. Tomorrow they will be on their way down to Disney World. This will be Matthew's first time and Chelsea's second time. Chelsea was four when she went the first time and remembers going, but does not remember much about the visit. They are at good ages now to enjoy it. Matthew being 9 and Chelsea being 12, they should have a great time. I so hope that they and their mother and her family have a great time on this family trip.

My jealous comes from being 28 years old and having never been to Disney World. I don't begrudge Chelsea and Matthew this memorable trip that all kids hope that they will be able to do. I was one of those children that wanted to go to Disney, but never had the chance. I know someday that I will be able to go, I just hope that it is not when I am taking my Grandkids!

I hope Chelsea and Matthew a wonderful trip and someday my wish will come true! LOL

Frustrated

Ok, so I know that I am slightly biased as my husband works for Ford, but I am beyond frustrated with the Southern Senators that are completely opposed to giving a LOAN to the domestic auto industry! They did not even think twice about bailing out the financial sector and they are beating the auto industry up just to get a LOAN! The bail out of the financial sector was a gift, not a loan and it was so easy for them. The Loan that the domestic auto industry is requesting is as if they are taking money away from the senators' themselves.

I do not disagree with the fact that UAW works should pay a portion of their health care like every other person. I have always wondered why the workers always thought it would be so horrible if they had to help pay for the insurance. If they worked in any other industry, they would have to.

At the same time, the senators want the UAW workers to take a huge pay cut and pay for health insurance. My response to this, is well I hope they like my house, because if Jason takes a pay cut like what has been suggested and has to pay for health insurance we will lose our house faster than those that are slipping into foreclosure due to ARM mortgages adjusting. We pay our bills each month and have a little leftover at the end of the month. But we do not have enough luxuries to give up in addition to the little left over to cover our necessity bills if Jason were to have his pay cut in half. Just like everyone else that makes an honest living, our mortgage is based on our income that we currently make. To suggest that it is no big deal to force the auto workers to take huge pay cuts is ridiculous. To me it suggest that those senators think that the UAW workers and their families don't matter. So what if they will lose their house, they make too much money and don't deserve it anyways! Well, Jason and I have worked very hard for our house and thank God for the blessing of having a home to call our own. If those senators have anything to say about it, that blessing will be ripped away from us and there is nothing we can do about it!

Ok, so I will step-off my soap box now. Just had to vent, because this is just taking too long for LOAN!!!!

Exhausted

Ok, so it is only Tuesday and I already feel wiped out from the week.

Saturday was a busy day of praise team practice, kids Christmas Party at church. Jason and I worked on the set while the kids had their party. Then we had a fun evening with friends before returning home at about 10:00. The roads were a mess, so it took us a lot longer to get home. We also came to the realization that Chelsea does not pay attention to her surroundings when she is in the car. When leaving Matt and Beth's she told us she had never been in that area before. She had never been to their house, but she had been on West Road a lot since we moved down here since Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart and Kroger are all on the road! Trust me the weather was not that bad to prevent a person from recognizing landmarks they pass hundreds of times! It was a good laugh for Jason and I!

Sunday was church as usual and working more on the set. We ended up going out to dinner afterwards, so it was nearly 10:30 when we finally got home.

Last night I was up at the church until nearly 10:00 working on the set and cleaning up after all the work was completed. Ryan was having a pastor's meeting at church and wanted to show off the set from his last series.

So tonight I look forward to a night off. When I get home from work I am just going to crash on the couch with Jacoba for a little while and enjoy not having to run out. I have to decorate the tree, but with Jacoba's help we should get that done pretty quickly. I also am in desperate need of doing laundry! Being at church all weekend prevented me from my usual weekend routine of doing laundry. The mounds in the basement are embarrassing! Other than those two things, I am going to take it easy tonight.

At some point in time, I will get my cards done, but that will probably have to wait until next week. I also need to wrap gifts for 6 kids prior to Sunday morning and get my budget ready for church, but I don't know if those will happen tonight. If not tonight, they have to be done Thursday, my only other free night this week.

Jacoba has been such a trooper over the last few days, but I can tell it is wearing on her. Last night I ran to Sam's Club to get gas before I went to church and from our house to Sam's club Jacoba managed to fall asleep. That tells me that little girl is one tired out little girl! She will appreciate a restful evening tonight as well.

Crazy Busy Week Ahead!

Well this is the week leading into the Christmas Musical at Church. This year we are doing "It All Happened in the Country." A cute show that lets our city slickers play cowboys and cowgirls for the night while sharing the message of God's grace and love for us! The set is moving a long nicely and hopefully it will be done by Wednesday evenings practice! Practice Wednesday, dress rehearsal Saturday and the show Sunday, wow such little time and so much to do! I know that it will come together as it does every year! I am so thankful for all those that are helping with the show! There is no way that Jason and I could pull off such a large production all by ourselves!

We have such a great group of kids involved in the show! This year, including our teens that will be about 41 kids in stage! God is so good! What a blessing it has been to have such a growth in our church this year!! The kids are doing great and I know that their parents, grandparents, guest of all kinds will just love the show that they put on this coming Sunday! I also know that each and ever guest will be so proud of all the hard work that has been had over the last 3 1/2 months of practicing.

The holidays are here and with the show, I am not ready at all. Most years I have my Christmas cards ready and mailed out the day after Thanksgiving. This year I have not even started them. We usually put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and decorate it and the house in and out. Not this year. Our Christmas tree is up and has lights on it and about 8 ornaments. By the end of this week, I have to have it done because the totes for ornaments are in the living room take up space and with family coming in for the show on Sunday, it needs to get put away. Sometime next week, Jason will have to decorate the outside of the house. If all of that is not fun enough, Jason also has to find the time to replace our garage door opener! Once this weekend is over, things will slow a little and we look forward to Christmas Eve when we get Chelsea and Matthew and we get to spend the next week, just hang out as a family.

Excited!

I love the holidays and all the time that I get to spend with friends and family!

Tonight is our Thanksgiving service at church and we are truly blessed with special guest from Northridge Church praise team! They are so uplifting and exciting! I always feel so uplifted after they have lead worship! Holy Spirit is always strong when they are around!

Thanksgiving mom and Kevin are coming to town and we get to spend a nice day at home with them and the kids! Its so nice that we don't have to travel to much for the holidays! The travel always made the holidays so stressful and we don't have to have that added stress.

We are still working away on the Christmas Musical! Things are coming together nicely and we just can't wait for the show. The next few weeks will be very busy as we get ready for the show, but it is exciting to see it all come together!

This year we get to have Chelsea and Matthew for the majority of their holiday break. I am also blessed to have the time off. Its nice for the five of us to be home just enjoying each other! Well I say that now. By the end of nearly two weeks together, we all may want our space, we shall see!! LOL

This holiday season will be so enjoyable, I just can't wait for it to get started!

Out of the Mouth's of Babes

So Jacoba being 4 always comes up with things that either make me cringe or make me roll on the floor with laughter. Sunday evening was not exception. We went over to Ryan and Amy's to watch the premier of 24. Great night, with great friends! On the way home was when the magic happened. A little background:

We were driving down Inkster towards Sibley heading home. As we came closer to Sibley you could see flashing lights up ahead. I of course was keeping my mouth shut because Jason must no something I don't! As we pass by Pennsylvania, I finally ask, why did you not turn there, we are not getting through up ahead. Of course, Jason is convinced he can get through! So needless to say we get to the corner and there are 6 cop cars, a car in the intersection, three large fire trucks and 2 or 3 ambulances. So, yeah we could not get through. We had to turn around and go back to Pennsylvania to get home. As we turn around Jacoba says Mommy, just say to the police, excuse me and they will let us through. I try not to laugh as I try to explain to a 4 year old that there is an accident and they won't let us through. She says back to me, well if you are polite when you say excuse me, they would let you through! There was no changing her mind. She was convinced if we just said excuse me, we would get through! Priceless is all I can say!

Family Photos

So we had our family photos done the beginning of the month! Some are great, others not so much. The middle child syndrome sometimes gets the better of Matthew and he forgets that he can speak up. For instance, the following picture Matthew looks like he is in pain! Most people would say, hey this hard floor is hurting my knees, but not Matthew. He is the silent cute type that will just look like someone is pinching him in the picture.

So the family photos were ok, but the pictures of the kids turned out great! Having three kids, they always seem to end up in very similar positions from year to year. This year, Jacoba got to sit on Chelsea! That made her day!

Each of the kids did great individually too! It was really hard to pick just one, so we opted for two! Even then, it was hard to pick!

Chelsea has grown into a very lovely lady! She is getting too big, too fast. I can't believe she will be 13 in April! Ugh. Her is our eldest beauty! Jason is already talking about sitting on the porch with a shot gun when her first date comes to pick her up! Can we say, my husband is the exact reason why I never dated in high school! Yup, my dad had similiar ideas!

Here is our middle child! Our handsome son, whom looks happier when he was getting idividual shots, although he could not relax enough to give a teeth shot! How handsome he is at 9! We are in trouble in a few years!

Finally, here is our youngest! Sassy as always, but sweet as pie! She is a camera hog like no other and can charm anyone into believing that she is the sweeties thing there is! Jacoba almost fought with the other two kids to be the first kid to have individial shots! She loves the camera and really, it loves her back! She is 4 going on 40 and she will tell you as much!

So the family photos did not turn out exact as I was hoping, but my three supermodel kids did pretty good on their individual shots! What can I say, I am biased!

BUSY WEEKEND AHEAD!

We have a very busy weekend ahead. Matthew's birthday party is Saturday. Tonight I have to get Chelsea and Matthew and than I have to frost Matthew's cake, he wanted spiderman again! Than I have to make the Macaroni and Cheese salad, per Matthew's request! He wanted Macaroni and Cheese and Hot Dogs for his birthday dinner, so we agreed to disagree and I opted for the macaroni and cheese salad. It is cold and has veggies, so makes a little more healthful than just straight mac and cheese. He is getting the hot dogs as well, just not exactly as he was wanting them. He wanted Mac and Cheese with hot dogs in it! Good for a quick run out the door dinner, but ideal for party food. Plus it is not one of my favs. I know, this day is supposed to be about him, but it I won't eat the food, it is not a good day! Saturday we will get up and enjoy a little quiet time before the guest arrive. My mom and step-dad are driving over from Grand Rapids with my niece and nephew and my dad, step-mom and little brother are driving down from Flint to share in Matthew's day! The party is from 3 to whenever, but since my mom and step dad are making such a drive, they will be over early. I am sure Matthew will have a great day! Mom, Kevin and my niece and nephew will stay the night, it is too long of a drive to make it twice in one day! We usually stay the night when we drive out there as well. Sunday will be its fun craziness as always. We arrive at church around 8:45 to prep for service. Praise team practice starts at 9:15 and service at 10:30. Services usually gets over around 12:00 and we usually get home between 12:30 and 1:00. Mom and Kevin and their bunch will go to church with us and will probably head home after church. Home for a couple of hours and back by 3:45 to prep for Junior Praise practice and Christmas Musical Practice. We are in full swing with the musical and things are coming along great! We are truly blessed with a great bunch of kids. No rest for the weary! God's work must be done and as lame as that sounds, the kids musical touches so many lives! This is the kids' ministry to the world and many of them look at it as a privilege to lead people to Christ! God is Good All the TIME!!!!!!

Too Cute!

So last night was dance night! As always, the kids are too funny to watch. 10 to 15 4 and 5 years olds giving the teacher and her assistant a run for their money! The parents cannot help but laugh the whole time because I think the teacher actually teaches about 15 minutes of the 30 minutes! Hopefully as the year goes along it will get easier!

Well last night the teacher show us the dance costume the kids will be wearing! Very cute! It looks like they will be doing a throw back number to the 20s and 30s. The girls will be wearing little flapper dresses! Of course it is in my favorite color! BRIGHT PINK!!!!! NOT, pink is my least favorite color, but it will make Jacoba happy as it is one of her favorite colors!

Jason and I can't wait until next Thursday, it is parent night and we get to see her current routine performed! It looks cute as well. Jacoba runs around the house singing the song "Kickin it country, I got my hat, I got my boots! Kickin' it country! Kickin' it country!" It repeats a lot or at least Jacoba sings it like it repeats a lot. It will be interesting to see the whole song put together! I can't wait!

Lesson never learned!

So, yesterday was Bosses Day and every year we, the secretaries and I, make a lunch for all the attorneys. This year I volunteered to make the dessert! No big deal right! Well there are 11 of us that will participate in the luncheon, so that requires 2 pies since a standard cut of pie only gives off 8 pieces. Anyways, I had planned to go pick up a few things on Wednesday evening so that I could make one pie Wednesday night and than do my big grocery shop on Thursday and make the other pie after shopping. Again, no big deal. Well Wednesday night I came home from work just wiped out and decided that I should just hang out with Jacoba and just go shopping once and bake once. Well the plan sounded good Wednesday, not so much Thursday. Jacoba has dance from 6:15 to 6:45. This week happens to be my late week at work, which means I don't get out of work until 5:30. So I left work at 5:30, met Jason and Jacoba at the dance studio for dance. Left there and got gas in my truck. I was close to Sam's club and there gas prices are better than most. Then I went to the grocery store. I did not get home until about 8:30, then I need to put all the groceries away. So finally at 9:15 I was getting my chance to eat dinner. Although you would have thought I was killing Jacoba because she could not even allow me to warm up my dinner before she had to have snack because she was starving! We have to break her of the habit of eating because someone else is eating! Anyways, it was 10:00 before I started on the pies. While one was baking I assembled the other, so I was productive, but it was 1:00 before the pies were done! Needless to say I am dog tired right now!

What is the lesson we should learn from this, but that we probably will never learn, Procrastination never pays!

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

Ok, so Jacoba can say some doseys! Well last night she got Jason. As usual, I was driving home, talking to Jason on the phone while he was making dinner. Jacoba was in rare form wanting to talk to him continuously! She kept coming in asking what he was doing, what he was making. Finally he got a little frustrated of saying he was making dinner and telling her what exactly he was making for the tenth time. He started to respond with nothing. She walked over and said well your making something. He responded with nothing for you! She walked away a little stunned and a few seconds later came back saying, you have to share daddy! He told her that he did not, again stunning her. She finally comes back into the kitchen and very calm and collected looks at Jason and says, "Daddy, Jesus says that you have to share with me!" Jason stood there in complete shock! He was silent, so she walked back into the living room and started watching TV. I was laughing hysterically! I finally told him, she got ya! You can't argue with logic like that! Those are the moments when you can feel good about yourself and the teaching that you are doing!

Not Me! Monday (thanks Beth!!)

I did not spend all last week sitting in front of the TV or napping after work, rather than doing laundry and cleaning my house! My house is very clean all the time! I would never be embarrassed to have company just drop over unannounced!
I did not wait up until 2:00 Saturday morning reading a book waiting for by husband to get home from work! I always go to bed early so that I can be well rested!
I did not sleep in until almost 11 on Saturday! I am never so lazy as to waste half the day in bed.
I did not decide on Saturday that it was better to go to the apple orchard, and out to dinner rather than working in the yard!
I did not forget to take the whole chicken out of the freezer so that I could make a home cooked dinner on Saturday!
I did not go to Sam's club on Saturday specifically to buy M&Ms for my daughter, because those are her favorite snack!
I did not forget to hand out the new schedule to the kids of kids choir, again!
I did not convince my husband that we should stop and pick up pop and chips on the way home from church yesterday! I never snack on junk food.
I did not lazily flop on the couch and watch TV all Sunday night rather than do laundry!
I did not leave all the clean laundry piled on the table in the basement rather than putting it away where it belongs! I always put our clothes away, rather than going to the basement each night to get clean clothes for the next day!
I did not look at the mess on my kitchen table and say I can take care of that Monday night!
I did not decide that a good snack last night for my daughter would be a donut from the orchard and a Gatorade followed up with some chips and chocolate milk! We always eat good food!
I am not so OCD that I already have the spring musical and Christmas musical ideas for kids choir at church already picked out for the next two years! No one is so obsessed to do something like that!
I did not put my sweet girl to bed last night without reading to her! I am a good mom, that reads to her every night before bed!
I did not decide to have a pop for my first drink this morning! I always drink lots of water!

What didn't you do this week!

Stealing from a friend (Beth's out of the mouth's of babe's)

Ok, so Beth got me thinking about the things that Jacoba has said over the last couple of years. I swear that child has a lazy tongue. Not that I think she needs speech therapy or anything, but there are days that I know she can say a word, but she just screws it up.

For instance:

As many of you at church know, Jacoba calls Victor, Mr. Bigfur! She can say Victor, when you go through it slowly with her, but the minute she throws in the Mr. it comes out Mr. Bigfur. Well last night after dance we had another one of those weird word moments. As we walked to my truck, Jacoba asked if she could have a Dora lopsicle. I had her repeat what she said and sure enough, she said Dora lopsicle. I asked her if she meant popsicle and she said popsicle right after me like it was no big deal. As soon as we got in the house, she said lopsicle again. She has the ability to say the words, but when she is in a hurry, she manages to mangle words with the best of them.

It is so true, that kids say the darnedest things!

Dancing with the Stars!

Ok, so I have to admit, I love the show. Although at the moment, I am a little offended. I think some of the stars are great dancers and deserve to be on the show, but all I can say is Cloris Leachman is not one of them! I think she is offensive and her behavior on a family show is out of line. I give her a lot of credit, I hope at 82 I can even think about dancing! Her language is out of control and after she dances, she thinks the show is completely about her. They always run over, because they cannot reign her in. The judges and the hosts don't even know how to react, it is just sad that a woman her age thinks that the only way she can get a laugh is making a complete fool of herself. I have to say that the next few weeks will be long on the show. Rocco will go this coming week and all I can say is I hope Cloris goes the following week.

I guess you could say, I just need to get this off my chest!

TV - I truly am lame!

I think Jason and I are addicted to television this season. It seems like there is not a single night of the week that we do not have something dvr'd. How sad is it when you run home to find out what has recorded. How lame am I that I am thank for dvr, because having a 4 year old in the house means I don't get to sit down many nights when the shows I like are actually on and watch them. God forbid I miss anything! What a vice TV has become. Its pretty sad when two grown adults sit with the remote and boo hoo over the fact that we have too many shows on Tuesday to dvr everything we like! Sad Sad times.

This season does have some pretty good shows. I will admit, I am somewhat of a reality show junky. I like dancing with the stars and America's next top model and American Idol when it comes out in January. None of which have any real value to them, other than watching petty drama! Yup, I am officially lame!

This is how our week works out:

Monday - Dancing with the Stars and CSI: Miami
Tuesday - House, Fringe, Knight Rider, Dancing with the Stars Elimination show, Without a Trace
Wednesday - America's Next Top Model
Thursday - CSI and Eleventh Hour
Sunday - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

With all the things in life to accomplish in a week. TV always seems to find its way in. I guess the biggest problem is that it is easier to be lazy and say I will get something done tomorrow, than to just get it done now! TV helps in that way too much. Although I have to admit, last night I could careless what was on tv. I was very engrossed in the end of my Thomas Kinkaid novel and wanted to finish it. Now that is a vice I can truly give into! Too bad my four year old thinks my novels are not good reading and that her books are the only thing I should read. Someday she will appreciate something other than a picture book. I have to be thankful she loves reading!

First Blog

Hello everyone! I just thought I would try out this blog thing. I know I have a lot of friends at church that are faithful in keeping everyone up to date via their blogs, so I thought I would try!

Hmmmm, where to start. Well Jacoba had dance last night. It is amazing to me how 4 and 5 year olds can actually pay attention for 30 minutes and learn an activity, when they actually want to. Jacoba loves dance. She is very excited each week when she finds out that dance is the next day. She has not quite grasped the concept that it will happen each week. When we leave dance each Thursday, she always ask me if dance is over. I always respond with, well dance is over for tonight and you will have it again next Thursday. She gets so excited as if this the first time she ever heard it! I have to say that I think her dance teacher is a saint. She has 15 kids and only one assistant. Now if you don't have any experience with dance slippers, they are constantly coming untied. One of the other parents made the comment last night that the assistant should be called the official shoe tier, rather than dance assistant. He was right. She must have spent 20 of the 30 minutes of last night on her knees tying ballet slippers. I also have to say that I am truly blessed to have a wonderful little girl. She loves dance and listens to her teacher very well. I cannot say that is true for a set of twins that are in her class. At the beginning of the season the girls could not agree on which class to take, jazz or tap. So their parents decided that they would put them both into both classes for a few weeks and once they decide. Well of course 4 year olds cannot decide, so they have kept both girls in both classes. More power to them if they have the money. Well these little girls have two dance classes right back to back and Jazz is their second class. Well after about 10 minutes in Jazz class, they are at the door asking to go to the bathroom or asking if they can have apples after class. Their teacher's assistant is always gracious and politely escorts them back to the rest of the kids and tries to continue on with class. To make matters worse, the mother of the twins is overdue and they are taking the baby next week. So this poor mother has no patience for her girls asking questions about snack after dance. She finally told them last night if they come to the door again, they were leaving. That seemed to work! We shall see next week.

I have to admit, years ago I never thought I would have children and I definitely was not going to have a child in dance! Now, here I am with two step-kids and my sweet Jacoba and I can't imagine life any different. On top of that, I am trying to convince all the kids not to do sports. Jason and I both have bad knees because of the sports we played. Some how my brain has convinced me that they won't get as hurt doing dance or something else. As a fan of Dance with the stars, I should realize that they can get just as hurt! Look at Misty May-Trainer! Hello, great athlete blowing out her achilles tendon dancing! Scary!!! Dancing with the stars is a whole other story that I don't have the energy for at the moment!