From our family to yours....

.... and from the sweetest little elf I've ever seen!!!



Have a fabulous Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!

Not sure when I'll be able to post again.... just wanted to wish you and your loved ones a very, merry Christmas! With much love!!! :)

Fun Day!

We have had a fabulous day, including LOTS of playtime in the snow! It's a gorgeous, snowy, sunny day here in Buffalo! Our little snowbirds sure enjoyed it!

Making snow angels, of course!

Our snowy days wouldn't be complete without a ride on the scooter! Our boys have always loved to pull out their bikes and scooters once the drive is cleared on snowy days!

Fun times with our neighbor, Cassie!

Yes, friends.... that is a snow pile that is nearly as tall as Isaac!

And thankfully, because of the new to us snow blower, we're all dug out.... and ready for the possibility of another round of snow tomorrow?!! Bring it on!

Hoorah!

Just read these words online: "The winter storm warning for Buffalo has been cancelled."! Whew, we made it! We probably got a foot today.... with drifts nearly as tall as Isaac!

Did I ever tell you the cool deal with our snowblower? When we moved here, we had a small one and felt completely blessed to have one.... Long story short though, one of Scott's coworkers recently moved to Cincinnati (her husband had a job transfer). When they were preparing for the move, her hubby called Scott and said, "I need a little snowblower in Cincinnati; you need a BIG snowblower in Buffalo; wanna make an even trade?!!" WHAT?!!!! We got the good end of the deal! We call this big ol' machine "THE BEAST" at our house!!! :) Please note: this high-quality picture (HA!) was taken during an earlier snowfall this week.... the snow in the pic does not even BEGIN to compare with what we have now! Yippe! Fun snow day outside tomorrow!

Snugglies, strep, and snow....

Yep, that is basically what is new at our house.... snugglies, strep, and snow!

Yesterday, I went to help out in Aaron's class with the Christmas party. We gave Mrs. Gervase the blanket that we had put together. It was my co room-parent's idea..... yep, I wasn't totally in favor of the idea, but Mrs. Gervase seemed to like it so I guess that is all that mattered. Each student decorated a gingerbread man.... then, we assembled the blanket. Lots of hand stitching.... LOTS. I'm glad that it is finished! (for all of your teachers out there who are thinking, "How impractical!".... we also got her a $75 gift certificate to the Bonefish Grill. I'm SURE that she and her hubby will enjoy that!)

In other news, at the party, Aaron nearly fell asleep during present-opening and refused any treats. Yep, something was not right! He had a temp of 102 by the time that we got home.... and fell asleep on my lap within 5 minutes of walking in the door (isn't this THE sweetest picture?!! I can't even think of the last time that my little active-bug fell asleep on my lap! The ONLY good thing about a sick kid!) Thankfully, the doc got us in at 8:45 this morning.... strep. Boo! So thankful for antibiotics right now!
And yes, we are getting completely dumped on today! It started at about 8:00 this morning and hasn't stopped. This is the picture from our back door.... I am guessing 6-8 inches, but it is impossible to really tell because the drifts are CRAZY! Glad that we are done at the doctor and can just enjoy being cozy together! Scott and I are hoping for fabulous naps this afternoon!!!

What is it about this song....

.... that makes it so addicting?!! Thought I'd get it stuck in your head, too! :)

And for your viewing pleasure....

My favorite two-year old with one of my snowman blocks on his head. He's walking around saying, "I King" (translation: "Dearest mother, I am a king"). Maybe there are MULTIPLE reasons why I didn't get all of my decor out of the rubbermaids this year.....

Our very first gingerbread houses!

Aaron had been asking for nearly a week to make a gingerbread house this year. This was a first for us.... I decided to make it easy on myself and just purchased a kit at JoAnn's, and we dove into our little project on Saturday. I'm thankful to say that it turned out great, and we had a lot of fun in the process, too!

Aaron and I worked on "the big house...." Here we are, just getting started. It ended up being a 4-5 hour process.... first the walls, then the roof, then the real fun: decorating!

My husband had a brilliant idea.... a graham cracker house for Isaac! Hoorah! Isaac, of course, was very intrigued with our little project, but we couldn't keep the walls up with his little hands around. Daddy to the rescue!Aaron was so proud of his little project!

And truth be told.... much more ended up in the boys' little mouths than anything, of course!

The beautiful, stunning product (don't ya just love Aaron's initials on the roof?!! Again, thanks to Daddy's brilliant idea!) Aaron has eaten one piece of candy off the house each day since.... I figure that it certainly can't cause major digestive problems, right?!! :)

Mission: Christmas Tree 2008

What an adventure! I was thinking about doing an artificial this year.... until I discovered how much everybody wants for them! Geez! It's a fake tree, people!!! :) Anyway, we decided to cut one down instead.... on the day that we decided to go, we were racing the sun as we waited until Isaac was up from his nap, and we lose our sunshine fast here in NY! Mission: Christmas Tree!

Last week, on the hunt.... look at the boys' faces, checking out every tree while we were trying to take a posed pic! :)

Here it is! The winner.... or loser (whichever way you look at it! HA!)

Enjoying the fresh snow at the tree farm.... it was a COLD day! BRR!

Not so sure about the guy with the saw (aren't their faces sweet?!).... Scott was excited that he didn't have to lay on the ground to cut it himself this year!

In the midst of the decorating party that night! Ooh, I just realized that I never took a picture of the finished product! :)

Simplify....

I cannot tell you how often that word has been ringing in my ears and beating in my heart over the past week. When we got home from Indiana last week, I was a stressed out, sick momma. Just getting over a stomach bug.... and still wanting to accomplish EVERYTHING during the month of December to make our Christmas "perfect." And what happened?! I became a grumpy momma. I wanted to get the whole house decorated perfectly for the season in a matter of 60 seconds. Yeppers, didn't happen. But.... a change has come over me during the past week....

This year.... I've decided to say NO to some good things to say YES to the BEST things....

-NO sending Christmas cards.... to leave time to actually sit and color with my boys (so sorry though.... maybe we'll do Valentine's cards this year instead?! If you need our new address, drop me an email or comment!) :)
-NO making dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies for everyone under the sun.... to leave time to make our first gingerbread house as a family! (Aaron's been begging.... we're tackling it tomorrow)
-NO to pulling every decoration out of the rubbermaids.... and YES to pulling out a few of my favorites in order to SIMPLIFY and declutter our Christmas season (the garland is on the stairs.... and I am happy!)
-NO to spending hours and hours at the mall and Walmart, trying to come up with a perfect gift.... and YES to sitting at my kitchen table with my boys, CREATING the perfect gift together!
-NO to spending money on gifts that people don't actually care about.... and yes to giving a piece of our hearts.... AND clean water to kiddos in Africa

NO, NO, NO to getting blinded in the busyness of the season and YES to our best Christmas ever.....

And in lieu of my husband's awesome Christmas card creation, here is a pic of the cutest kids with the meanest Santa ever (he certainly had the "Santa-look" down but actually wasn't very friendly at all.....)

Let's do it, my bloggin' friends.... let's simplify TOGETHER!!! :)

Thankful Thursday...

Today, I am thankful....

1) For the fact that we are FINALLY getting our Christmas travel plans figured out! We are so excited to see family in Indiana again!!!!
2) We are ALSO so excited that the Lakin's are planning to come to NY for New Year's! HOORAH!
3) We found a Christmas Tree Farm!!! And yes, we have a REAL tree again this year (pictures on another day!)
4) For our Mom to Mom group at church. Had a great discussion with the ladies this morning.... it's kind of a mix between a Bible study and mentoring.... really good time today!
5) For the show, "Chuck." I know, that might seem like a silly thing for "Thankful Thursday".... but I'm officially hooked. Scott has liked it since he started watching it over a year ago, but just recently got me hooked, too. It's one of the first shows EVER that we have both enjoyed.... it's fun to snuggle up and watch it together. Good writing.... pretty clean.... very entertaining!

Have a blessed day!!!

Another laugh for the holidays....

.... for the record, my husband is a wonderful and thoughtful gift-giver! :)

Just say it!

Read THIS great post today. What a wonderful reminder!

A smile for today!

Remembering....

It's been a whirlwind....

But today, more than choosing sadness (although the sadness does come so easily), I am choosing gladness as I celebrate my Grandpa's life. As I reflect as I type this, one of my favorite memories and one of the things that I will miss most about Grandpa were his big, strong hugs.... hugs so firm that there was a GOOD ache afterwards.... and the sound of his weathered voice saying my name. I have never been able to see or eat a peppermint or a spice drop without thinking of my Grandpa, and I never will. And I'm smiling as I think back to playing in Grandpa's bus and around the farm as a very little girl. Yep, my Grandpa was even the first one to teach me about an "electric fence"! :) His life has etched mine, and I am grateful. I am a very blessed girl to have known all of my grandparents for 32 years.... a very blessed and grateful girl....

The services were well done; the thoughtfulness of friends was wonderful (thank you....); the time with family was, indeed, priceless.

These are some of my very most favorite pictures of my grandpa ever.... meeting and holding Isaac in June of 2006.

Ollie loves "baby", too...

.... if you have no idea what I am talking about, click HERE.

THIS baby changes everything.....

Saw this on Youtube and loved the song.... thank God for THE ONE baby....

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a fun dinner with my mom and dad and sis. It was fun to cook all of the fixin's..... and yummy, too!

Shortly after they arrived, Isaac woke up from his afternoon nap. He sat and loved on grandma for quite awhile.... it was so sweet.... and I'm sure, warmed grandma's heart!

Isaac rubbing his hungry tummy!

A few hours before.... prepping the turkey! I did a trial and mixed olive oil with McCormick chicken rub in a bowl. Then, I peeled the skin away from the turkey, rubbed the mixture directly on the turkey breast, on top of the skin, and inside the cavity.

And it turned out quite yummy! I love it when an experiment turns out well!What a handsome carver!

The highs.... good family times!

Aaron ate nearly the entire turkey leg... and had fun doing it, too!

Our littlest turkey!

The highs and lows and realities of life....

It's been an eventful two days.... a little summary:

High: I had all of the ingredients necessary for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner when my mom, dad, and sis decided to come a little bit earlier than originally anticipated and make it in time for Thanksgiving dinner! When my family heard that we weren't coming to Indiana for Thanksgiving, they SO generously offered to make the drive here to celebrate with us. It was HUGE to us to be with family for the holiday.... so thankful for that.
Low: Scott and I tackled our first turkey together. Thankfully, he helped me "find" the neck and giblets (ooh, gross....) but we had a dilemma when trying to determine which side of the turkey was "up".... thankfully, we guessed correctly! :)
High: Mom, Dad, and Deb arrived safely from Indiana, and we had a wonderful dinner together. Everything turned out wonderfully (except for some weird dessert potion that I tried.... but thankfully again, I had made other options!).... and the turkey was juicy and browned perfectly! Hoorah for oven bags and the wonderful, HUGE pan that I borrowed from my friend, Beth.
Low (the BIG low....): My dad called home after dinner and found out that my Grandpa had died 5-10 minutes earlier. He had been struggling for awhile, but they had just called in Hospice last week. Everything went very, very quickly at the end. We had no idea that it would go quite so fast. My heart is very, very sad. I've been so blessed to know and have a relationship with all four of my grandparents for 32 years of life.... yes, yes.... I know how very blessed I am by that. But my heart continues to be very sad.
High: Thankfully, when dad talked to my Grandma last night, she was doing pretty well and was thankful that Grandpa is no longer suffering and died peacefully. I'm sure that there will be many hard days to come, but I was thankful to hear that she was in pretty good spirits last night. Dad, Mom, Deb, and I ended up staying up pretty late last night.... connecting deeply, loving deeply. It was good.
Low: My Mom and Dad left to head back to Indiana this morning. We were all sad to see them leave.... especially Aaron.
High: After good naps, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some FUN therapy.... with Aunt Debby even (she stayed and will be heading back to Indiana with the four of us on Sunday). It was good to get out and just enjoy our kiddos.... and some pizza, too.

I do hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of friends and family. I was reminded that the holidays are not always happy for all.... if that includes you, know that I'm praying for you this weekend. I love you.

Have a blessed day!

Today, I am thankful....

1) For God's abundant love and grace.
2) For the love of friends and family!!!!


In honor of Thanksgiving, Aaron's class had a little feast yesterday. Hope that you enjoy these pictures of our little Pilgrims and "Native Americans" (I slipped and said Indians and was quickly corrected by my little Squanto!)

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! Hope that you have a fabulous day!!!

Please, please pray....

.... for Christians living in India. Read more here.

Sometimes, little ones "get it"....

.... more than WE do!

Such a cool story.... I may not get all of the details exactly right, but this is the story as I heard it:

Friday night, we hosted a big Family Ministry event at the church (specifically geared towards families with 1st - 4th graders). It was great, and I think that the families that were there were very blessed (I know that I was!) Every month, we focus on one specific virtue with our kids.... this month has been gratitude.... and Friday night, the team introduced December's: Generosity. As a means of introducing the virtue as well, they called it "Give Away Friday" and gave away TONS of great stuff.... autographed Bills stuff, Sabres tickets, Darien Lake Family Passes, AND a Wii.

This is where to story gets VERY cool.... I think that everybody wanted the Wii. The family that won was excited..... AND on the way home, the daughter of the family said, "I think that we should give it to a family that doesn't have one."

Seems simple enough.... I assumed that they already had one.

But NO. They didn't.... BUT this girl "GOT IT." She understood generosity. While other people will be knocking each other down on Black Friday to grab a Wii, She GOT IT.... and WANTS TO GIVE IT AWAY! Did you hear me?! She wants to GIVE IT AWAY....

What an example.

If only we would all learn to hold our "stuff" loosely.... with open hands....

In honor of Thanksgiving....

....enjoy a laugh. Click here.

(thanks for sharing, Becky!)

What a difference 3 weeks makes!

Wow! We just took another trip to The Falls today, only three weeks after our last trip! Woa, woa, woa.... what a difference three weeks can make....

November 1

November 22

November 1

November 22

He's lucky that he's so cute!

Well, it's 6:45 AM, and I am wide awake! The more interesting news is that I've been awake for over an hour already. It's official: Isaac is an early-bird.... an early, EARLY bird (did I mention that I am a night owl?!!) Anyway, thought I'd share a little clip of his sweetness.... this is what he yells EVERY time he wakes up. If I don't answer quickly enough, he does switch to the "daddy" version....

In case anyone wonders or is feeling like lecturing me..... no, we don't put him to bed at 6 PM.... he's usually a 8:30 - 8:45 bedtime guy. And no, I am not willing to give up naptime yet either....

But he is lucky that he's so cute at 5:45 AM..... :)



(sorry about the freaky "night vision" eyes.... I promise that he really is still his cute, adorable self!)

Thankful Thursday...

Today, I am thankful....

1) That I won a FREE meal of stuffed shells for my family at MOPS this morning. It was fun to win something! But even more fun.... GREAT conversation with my table of women today!
2) For my family's health. Three of my precious neighbors are really struggling with some really tough stuff.... it has reminded me that we never know what our days and our future will hold.... but FOR TODAY, I am thankful for the gift of health, and I will choose to not worry about tomorrow or the day after that!
3) That Aaron continues to love kindergarten. He is always SO happy to go to school and that is a blessing!
4) For Vetriselvi and Melkamu.... our Compassion kiddos in India and Ethiopia.
5) That God is messin' with me on many levels. I am so thankful that He is a gentle God and GENTLY nudges us towards growth. I am continually in this season where I feel challenged to wrestle, really wrestle with being obedient.... with having open hands and an open heart.... with being abundantly generous with all of the blessings in my life. A good reminder.... check this out:

Footie Jammies!

I love that my boys both love footie jammies.... and it's even better when they BOTH are covered in glow-in-the-dark dino jammies! Hoorah!

The softer side of our boys...

A crazy thing has happened at our house in the past month.... we've started noticing a softer, more nurturing side in our boys. It all started about a month ago when I was visiting with a friend at her house.... a house that includes girls. Isaac found a baby doll and LITERALLY sat in a rocking chair, loving on that baby, for nearly 45 minutes. If you've met our boys, you know that for either one of them to stay in one place for that long is nothing short of miraculous!!! I told Scott that night that we should buy a baby doll in order to get Isaac to stay in one place.... daddy's opinion trumped mine as he declared that as a "no go" for our boys and stated that they could work on their nurturing skills with their stuffed animals instead (come on, Dad!) Anyway, Isaac has declared this little lion to be "baby".... and Aaron has actually followed Isaac's lead on this one. It hasn't happened every night but has been so sweet when it has! Yea.... I'm raising future DADDIES! :) Maybe SOMEDAY we'll have lots of pink and baby dolls in our house (NO, that is NOT an announcement!), but for now, sweet little lion will do the trick!!!



Tonight when I came downstairs, I discovered that Isaac had put his doggie to bed, too!