I love my father as the stars –
he’s a bright shining example
and a happy twinkling in my heart.
~Adabella Radici
Happy Birthday, dear Dad
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
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My sister Amanda and her husband came for dinner yesterday, and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of her, I love the big belly! She says this baby is the last, so, we want to carefully document the memories. . . .
Amanda has always been the smiley one. . . .
with dimples. . . . .
Now she’s waiting for her baby boy. . . .
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Sisters Forever
One with blond hair, one with brown. . . .
one with blue eyes, one with green. . . .
Memories
Two years ago. . . .
Summer afternoon at the park on Ahern Ave, with magazines,
our babies, and a quilt on the grass. . . .
At her wedding, kissing Dad. . . .
In New York City together. . .
March 2007. . . .
And yesterday. . . .
One of the things I am most thankful for is my sister.
I couldn’t do with out her!
So many memories. . .dancing on the lawn, giggles, sharing a room.
She was my maid of honor in my wedding.
She was the first babysitter I ever hired.
She is such a good aunt to my babies.
She’s a lot of fun, when we’re together we do nothing but laugh.
I hope I never take our relationship for granted.
My next project will be a scrapbook of the two of us. It will be fun
gathering all the photos and memories together.
“We are sisters. We will always be sisters.
Our differences may never go away,
but neither, for me, will our song.”
~Elizabeth Fishel
we interrupt these Christmas festivities with a little Buzz and a little Woody
I got these costumes for the boys on clearance in November and wrapped them up for Christmas. I think I got more fun out of them than the boys did. David got too hot in his Buzz suit but Caleb was Woody all day long.
These were just too funny not to share. Hope you’re laughing today! If not, maybe these pictures can help you.
“To infinity and beyond!”
“This guy is so cool. I’m totally impressed.”~ Woody
“Wow. What was that flying by my face? I almost caught it.” ~Woody
Jumping for joy!
“You’ve got a friend in me!” ~Woody and Buzz, best buddies forever
Merry Christmas!
Christmas wishes for you
may you be filled with. . . . .
worship-extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come before Him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” 1 Chronicles 16:29
contentment-feeling or showing satisfaction with one’s possessions, status, or situation
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6
joy-a state of happiness or felicity
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10
peace-a state of tranquillity or quiet
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:1
love-warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.” Ephesians 5:2
We are spending Christmas here, with a trip to church this afternoon. My dear sister and her husband are coming tomorrow, along with my little niece. Our house has been a place of fun, excitement, and love, as we prepare ourselves for Christmas day. Yesterday evening, we were busy in the kitchen making caramel popcorn and peanut butter candy. There are a few more presents to wrap, a few more hymns to sing, a few more Bible passages to read, and a lot more praise and thanksgiving to God for this beautiful time of year to remember our precious Savior’s birth.
To you, my dear friends, I wish much happiness and love this Christmas, with an emphasis on Christ and the bond we have in our heart toward each other, in Him. O come all ye faithful, let us adore Him together.
“The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”
my Christmas present
It’s here!
We had to wait all day yesterday, and it was finally delivered at 7pm.
I found all my old piano books in a box downstairs, along with my old year books. It was strange to look through the yearbooks, public school is a dim and distant memory. However I did chuckle over one thing. . . .
In my Jr. year of H.S., my future husband Rich wrote in my yearbook! One of the things he wrote was, “who knows, maybe we’ll become closer in the future. . . .” Isn’t that funny? We had gone on 1 date but little did we know we would some day be married with five children. Yes, Rich, I guess we did become closer in the future! And, here’s to many many more years together. 
I’m so thankful for my husband, and our wonderful life.
Grace
I bought Grace a Christmas dress (from Costco, only 16 dollars!) and I decided it would be really cool (no pun intended) to get her dressed up in it and go outside to take some Christmas photos. We had lots of fun, she’s such a good sport. Enjoy!
Our hearts grow te
nder with childhood memories and love of kindred,
and we are better throughout the year for having,
in spirit,
become a child again at Christmas-time.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder
my new piano
I have a lot to do this morning but yesterday I had something exciting happen that I need to write about.
When I was in 2nd grade I started piano lessons and took them all the way (on and off, I did skip some years now and then) through to college (1 year as a college student). I have always played for the joy of it–I can lose track of time while sitting at a piano. I never had desires to achieve any sort of level . . . I simply love to play. My parents bought me a piano to practice on as a young girl and when Rich and I got married, I took my piano from my parent’s to our new house.
However, when I was expecting Grace, Rich got a job offer that we could not refuse and so we moved away from our little first home and my first piano! We would be living in apartments for the next few years so we sold the piano with the house. I still have the photo that I took of it when the house sold.
Needless to say, I haven’t felt quite the same without easy access to a piano. This year I had a special request, I asked my husband for a piano for Christmas. . . I’m not a choosy type of person, any piano would do as long as it played okay. Honestly! However my husband likes to spoil me and I did have to talk him out of a baby grand! LOL
I was hoping to avoid the dirty work, but I did submit to his desire to travel an HOUR and a HALF yesterday to the piano showroom. . . . .
Here we are in the driveway, about to leave on our trip. We took all the kids with us but in the picture you can only see three of the boys. . . . .
It really was a beautiful night to go, we traveled into the sunset and David kept yelling, “Take a picture, mom!”
We had to stop at a McDonald’s drivethru. Caleb started singing as we waited in line, “Old McDonald had a farm, E I E I OHHHHHHHHHHHHH”.
We found the piano place. The man (can’t remember his name at all but he had wild curly hair and was a fun guy) showed us the pianos, talked to us about them, played them for us. I couldn’t decide between two and so he would play on one and the we would race over the other other one and he would play that one. Meanwhile, the kids were all over the place touching everything. Ethan disappeared and we found him in the other room with a lady who was giving him a piano lesson! Anyway, we finally decided on this beauty:
The top and front both prop open and the quality of sound is absolutely amazing and rich. It’s still way too much for lil’ ol’ me, I felt so strange and out of place when Rich said I could pick out anything I wanted.
It’s so beautiful and it’s all mine! I’m so grateful. . . . .
The piano mover already called this morning at 7:15am! He is going to deliver the piano this Friday, Lord willing!
Now we just have to figure out the perfect place to put it. I dreamed about pianos last night and I’m so excited to see if years from now, one of my children will be able to play amazingly well. If so, that particular child will have to live with us always, so I can have live music at any time!
I can’t wait to start practicing again! I want to go online at some point to see if I can find some easy piano/violin duets to play with Jacob!
I’m so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello from a snowy house in a snowy state
I just saw two people on a snow mobile go speeding down the road.
As I sit at my desk, I can see a gray sky and snow falling, swirling, and blowing down. Church was canceled because of the snow storm, which is a very rare thing indeed. We are taking advantage of the cozy morning together. I got up this morning and made homemade biscuits and fried eggs. Jacob made the bacon. After everyone was fed, Jacob and Ethan went outside. They have enough snow piled up from shoveling the driveway that they have made a fort. Even the dog goes in with them and digs, digs, digs. Ethan said, “Mom!! It’s cold out here, but when we go in our hut, it’s WARM!” They go in, wait a while, and then go back out to “take care of the animals”. (pretend animals). . . . . .
I went outside briefly to watch them play and to fill up my birdfeeder. The snow is half way up to my knees, light and grainy, and it is very windy and cold out there. I wasn’t even tempted to go for a walk.
When I came back in, David and Caleb were sitting on the counter, playing in the flour canister, making a big floury mess. I should have known they would get into mischief while I was out.
I had fun playing around with my camera until the battery ran out. The children were all busy playing their new favorite game, “button store”. They pay for them with bottle caps. Rich and I sat and watched the action. . . . .
action!
the “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” sale!
Ethan was the store keeper
Our little cat, Patches, has a new favorite place to sleep; in the dirty clothes on top of the washer. You should see how she vibrates when the washer is in the spin cycle! It’s so funny.
Now, my husband is sleeping in his big recliner and Jacob is begging his siblings to go outside with him. No one wants to.
We’re cozy. How are you doing today?
How’s the weather where you are?
Have a blessed day!
December memories, thus far. . . . .
(from the notes I’ve been taking during the day)
-finally finishing the CS lewis biography that I’ve been reading for weeks
-Caleb with his “baby”–Tiger–holding and carrying him around
-Caleb looking at his Thomas book
-walking away from the stress of putting together the gingerbread house, only to discover that they could do it just fine without me
-the dog following me outside, happy, as I decorated the porch and filled the bird freeder.
-the flock of bluebirds I saw on Dec. 6
-kids making tents in the livingroom and kitchen (remember doing that?)
-kids ice skating during the day, and at night with Rich, using the headlights from the truck to see
-all of a sudden being homesick for mom and dad
-the huge mess we made making cookies together
“Blend equal parts of Faith and Hope mixed well with Charity;
Stir in Good Will and Sweet Content and Precious Memory.
Add Kindness, Helpfulness and Joy; of Gratitude don’t spare;
Then drop by drop Love’s Essence sweet, and Praises freely share.
And don’t forget such spices rare as Laughter, Smiles and Fun,
Taste often for the best results, (‘Tis sweet to mince upon).
Now add a
Thankful Heart and then, the recipe’s complete,
Your ‘Merry Christmas’ all will like … so try the season’s treat.”
–Esther Lloyd Dauber (“Special Treat”)
-going Christmas shopping with Ethan, Grace, and Caleb
-Ethan holding the door open for an older lady who stopped in her tracks to praise him
-the funny thing Jacob said after eating a grapefruit, “Wow, Mom! This grapefruit is like sledding! It’s gone faster than it took to get ready for it!”
-standing in the bathroom one night, tired, yet content as I dried Grace’s hair and then braided it so it would be curly in the morning (always thinking of my mom, when she used to do the same for little me)
-reading Christmas books to the kids
-David making “hmmm” noices every time I read something that impresses him. (he doesn’t even know he does it)
-Caleb in his striped footie pj’s
-Rich loving my Christmas cookies (jam thumbprints and raspberry bars, so far)
-quiet lazy mornings
-feeing so sentimental. . .tears come so easily these days
-wrapping gifts (can’t ever keep track of the tape!)
-watching the martha stewart show every day
-making glittery pinecones all by myself, and feeling so content with the children just sitting around me, watching, and talking my ear off. I used to do the same thing to my mom when she was busy in the kitchen–perch on the counter and talk and talk . . . . . .
-drinking homemade hot chocolate
-decorating the trees
-Jacob dangling his army men from hooks to make ornaments
-the wonder on Caleb’s face
-hearing him say “Christmas tree” for the very first time
-the non stop motion
-fleeing the house for a walk one morning, calling behind me to the kids, “behave yourselves and put in a video for David and Caleb”
-completely enjoying my little walk and the beauty of God’s creation
“Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years… Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.” — George Matthew Adams
Good to be Home 