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Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas

Well, Christmas has been here and gone. We had a nice Christmas. A lot of driving, but nice. We had Christmas Eve with Colin's family at his brother's house and Christmas Day at his parent's house. Ian got Legos so he was extremely happy. He was really cute on Christmas Eve. My mother-in-law bought the new Hallmark singing snowman for me and Ian was very excited for me. I opened it and he said" yeah! You got what you wanted!" Of course, we had to make it play music right then. Ian started laughing and dancing to the music. It was too cute! Colin got a chainsaw so he's ready to chop up everything tree related. I'll have to guard the Christmas tree, even though it's fake! I am getting a kitchen stool/chair for the kitchen similar to what my mom had in the kitchen when I was growing up. No more hollering for Colin to get something down for me, I'll be able to reach on my own.
I did a little after Christmas shopping yesterday and today, but overall, I'm not too impressed with the sales. I found better deals last year. I did find a gift for my niece and my nephew and a little something for Colin, but I had hoped to find more gifts for next year. I love having a head start. I'll keep looking.
Colin had a cold over Christmas and he's still fighting it. He went in to work today (Thursday), but only stayed a few hours. He wasn't the only one sick. His boss was at home sick as were several other coworkers. I think he will stay home on Friday, he needs a lot of rest to kick this thing.
I must say that in spite of my good intentions, I only got a few Christmas cards mailed out. I did find some on the after Christmas sale at Wal-mart and I'm thinking of addressing them now and putting them in the Christmas storage boxes. Then, I'd be halfway done when I get them out next year. Maybe you'll get a card from me next year!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Christmas is Coming Blues

What is it about this time of year that can get to me? I suppose it's getting to me a little more this year. I told my friend, Dottie that I have the "my dog died, my hair is falling out, haven't been home for Christmas in nine years blues". I try not to dwell on it. I wish my test results would match my symptoms soon, it's a big bummer.
I talked to my mom today and she had a little touch of the blues, too. She found out today in a Christmas card that one of her friends from Michigan died in August. That made her sad and then later, she was going through things and found the little log house that her mother had made and that made her sad (her mom died when she was 18 or 19).
I guess Christmas just makes us want to be with the people we love. ALL the people we love, which isn't always possible. I sure hope we celebrate Christmas in Heaven, there will be room enough for everyone and everyone who has trusted Jesus for their Savior will be there, no one will get left out.

Well, enough of the blues. On to the topic of Christmas lights. Boy, have our lights been a challenge this year. I started putting the lights on our tree before we went to Hawaii, but didn't finish until probably a week after we got back. I got all the lights on there, plugged it in and smiled. Then, all but one strand went out. I did some checking and found that a couple of older strands felt warm, so I took them off and threw them away. I repositioned the rest of the lights and everything went fine, until today. Ian and I were sitting in the living room when the lights on the tree went out. Colin checked and the bottom strand had blown a fuse, so he replaced it and all was well....for an hour or two, then it went out again. Colin fixed it again and everything was great for an hour or two. I told Colin to forget it, unplug that strand and after Christmas I will take it off and throw it away.
Here's something that should cheer all of us up for a little bit: we're going to dog sit a miniature schnauzer for a week. A family from our homeschool group has to go out of town for a funeral (at Christmas...sad.) and we are going to look after their dog, Pepper for them. It will be nice to have a dog in the house again, even if it's just for a week. Maybe those blues will just run off. I wish they would!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Christmas Program

The Children's Christmas Program for our church was last night. It went really well. I was able to go even though I've been sick all week. I'm on an antibiotic and I prayed that I wouldn't be coughing the whole time like I have been at home and I didn't! I just coughed a little bit a few times, so I was able to enjoy the program and so did everyone else.
Ian looked very spiffy in his Christmas outfit and he did a great job on his lines. He was pretty nervous about saying his lines, so Colin sat on the steps in front of him to prompt Ian if he needed it. He needed help a few times. He really did have it memorized, but I think being nervous interfered. Here's what he said in the program: Bells. "Who likes to hear bells ring? Aren't bells fun? For centuries church bells in every land have pealed out the glad news of Jesus’ birth. Traditionally, church bells ring for an hour before midnight on Christmas Eve. Bells ring before midnight as if to warn the powers of darkness of the approaching birth of the Lord Jesus. Then, right at midnight, they change to a joyous tune, ringing out the good news that Christ, the Savior, is born!"
Pretty big lines for a six-year-old! Ian's grandma and grandpa O came to the program, too. I know Ian loved having them there! We all had cookies after the program. Then they gave Ian a Christmas train to go around the Christmas tree. Since my tree isn't finished (despite my early beginning) we set up the train in the garage for now. That's all Ian wants to do. Make the train go. Hopefully, I can tear him away soon.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Home Again

Wow! I can't believe the week went by so fast! We had a great time in Hawaii. I'll give you a little run down of our days there.
Tuesday: We flew to Hawaii, arriving at our hotel in the late afternoon. It had been raining so we just got a little something to eat in our room.
Wednesday: After a very stormy night, we had a rainy morning and stayed in mostly. In the afternoon, Sean and Marisa got married at Magic Island. I took 520 pictures!
Thursday: Another rainy morning. We took Ian to the mall so he could make a Hawaiian bear at Build-a-Bear. I'll post a picture of the bear soon. He is too cute. Together we named him Kona Bear. He has swim trunks, a Hawaiian shirt, sandals, sunglasses and a kukui nut lei.
Friday: We had breakfast at the Shore Bird with Colin's parents. In the evening, we went to the changing of the guard at King's Plaza. After, Colin and I went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Saturday: We took a tour of the island with the whole family. We went to the Dole Plantation and rode the pineapple train (a thrill for Ian, who still was talking about the last time he went when he was four). Then we went to a waterfall. We "hiked" up to it. It was a paved path, but it was pretty long and it was really humid! After that we headed to Poli lookout, but ended up stopping at a beach on the way. All the kids except Ian played in the waves. Ian built a sand volcano and had a blast. He still doesn't really like the ocean. Must be something about how big it is. Ian started getting a rash on Saturday. I suspected the new sunscreen I had purchased and put on him.
Sunday: Ian and I stayed in our hotel room all day. He had a bad rash and later developed a fever. I gave him a Benedryl and he rested. By evening, I was the one feeling lousy and running a fever.
Monday: I still didn't feel well, but I forced myself to go do something as it was our last full day in Hawaii. Colin, his mom and I took all the kids to the Honolulu Zoo. We took a limo there, which was fun and helpful since I was not feeling so great. The zoo was really nice and the kids had a great time. I took lots of pictures. We walked to McDonald's for lunch and then very slowly walked back. I was very hot when we got back and decided to go swimming in the pool on the roof of the timeshare. I probably should have checked my temperature first, but didn't. The pool was freezing! Ian went in with me and we played in there for a while. We took Ian to the Japanese steakhouse for dinner. What a blast! Ian loved watching our chef cook the food and he loved the food. This was his first time at a place like this and he thought it was really cool! After dinner we went to the marketplace to exchange a shirt I had purchased. By the time we were heading back I was feeling very lousy. I packed a little for our return trip, but didn't get too far.
Tuesday: I woke up very congested (which I still am). I worked on finishing getting packed and then we went to the Shore Bird for breakfast with everyone to celebrate Marisa's twin boys' tenth birthday. They finally got to try poi, but they weren't too impressed with it! After breakfast, we did some last minute shopping, finished packing and headed to the airport in a limo (in case you are overly impressed with this limo business, they cost about the same as a van shuttle there in Hawaii and it's a lot more comfortable!) and went through the baggage checks. We started going through security when I noticed that I didn't have my camera bag. This led to a track down mission. Colin was pretty sure it was in the limo. Mom and dad called the limo service and they checked and said they didn't have it. Colin told them to check again and then he told them exactly where he thought they should check. It was there. We didn't have time to get it, so it will come back with mom and dad on Thursday. I guess if the trip out had to be eventful, so did the trip back!
I had a great time in Hawaii, but I'm glad to be home, mostly because I don't feel very well and who wants to be away from home when you feel lousy? Not me! Ian was so tired when we got home that he went to bed in the clothes he had been wearing and was out in about 2 seconds! Well that's it for me for right now. Aloha!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Getting Out

I may not live in Kansas anymore, but I know when to get out of Dodge! We had a very, very bad storm last night. The rain started yesterday morning and the wind just kept increasing until we were having gusts between 50-70 miles per hour. Our power went out at a quarter till midnight. Of course, I was still up trying to get my packing done. Colin set the alarm on his cellphone so he could wake up to go to work.
Colin's alarm went off at 5 am and we started checking to see how we had done during the night. We couldn't see much, so we tried to go back to sleep. Ian woke up shortly later afraid because his night light was off and the wind was howling. We comforted him and gave him a flashlight which seemed to reassure him. We tried sleeping, but that didn't work too well. I called and talked to my mom to let her know how we were doing.
Eventually we decided that Colin should not go to work and that we needed to gather our things up and get going. We had a couple of trees that border our property that fell that Colin will need to deal with when we get home. Our whole county was out of power. Bay City had winds up to 129 miles an hour! As we were preparing to go we got a couple phones calls. One from Colin old boss telling us about a mudslide on Hwy 8 and Hwy 101, and then a phone call from Colin's dad telling us another highway was closed. It looked like all the roads we needed to take north might be closed. We went one way and it was closed, then we tried another way and even though it looked like we were going to be blocked, it turned out that it was being rerouted around flooding. So we made it out of our county and got to Tacoma super early for my Dr. appointment. We were able to go get lunch and even visit a really cool toy store.
I got to the Dr.'s appointment early and was ready to settle in for a little rest, but they called me back 25 minutes before my appointment was scheduled. I got to talk to the Dr. about what has been going on with my body and he had a couple of ideas of what it might be, so I had a couple of tests done. We'll see what they say. After the appointment we headed straight to the motel that we're staying at. I am so glad that we are staying over in Seattle and don't have to fight to get here at 3 in the morning tomorrow. I don't know if we would make it if it came to that. It still sounds windy outside. We are definitely having some wild and wooly weather!
Colin and I were talking after we got to the motel and we just marvelled at God's provision and His timing. We were able to get out at the exact right moment. We were able to make it to my Dr. appointment. We don't have to stay in our house which might not have power for a week. Even the timing with Lucy was perfect. It wasn't what we wanted, but she would be cold and miserable and sick in the dark with our neighbor watching her, that would have been awful. So now we are trusting God's provision for the rest of our trip. May the storm clouds disapate. I'm ready for balmy breezes, not wild wind!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Aloha

Tomorrow I head to Tacoma for a Dr. appointment, Seattle to stay overnight and then on Tuesday, we head to Hawaii for a week. I'm looking forward to the nice warm breezes. I'm sure it will be an eventful trip as we will be traveling in a large family group. There are 11 of us going. The children are outnumbered by one adult. Six adults, five children.
While we are there, Colin's brother Sean will be getting married. I hope we have nice weather for the wedding and that no one gets sick. Ian was sick last time and it was such a bummer. He took a nap today, just to help boost his immune system! I've been taking Zinc and am hoping for a good energy level while we are there.
I promise to take LOTS of pictures!! I'll share some when I get back. Aloha!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

December Snow

We got up this morning and headed out to Ian's Christmas program practice. We about halfway there when I noticed some very tiny snowflakes. By the time we got to church, it was snowing steadily and there was a little sticking to the ground.
Practice took about an hour and when we came out there was at least an inch of snow on the ground. We headed home and were almost home when I decided that Ian needed a sled, so we turned around and went to our local hardware store. Hooray! They had sleds and they had just the kind I wanted for Ian, a round disc shaped sled, perfect for sledding down our big ditch.
After we got home I helped Ian get all bundled up and we headed out to the ditch. I explained how he should sit and gave a few pointers. I helped him the first time, then I explained how he could scooch the sled forward until it was ready to go down the hill.
He went down the hill over and over, laughing all the way down each time. He had a blast!
Right now the snow has stopped, I don't know if we'll have more snow or if it will melt, but watching Ian go sledding was so much fun!