December Greetings

So, Happy Holidays! I cannot believe that in two weeks, it will be Christmas Eve! Boy, do I have a lot to do between now and then! But I am going to do it all with a joyful heart and the knowledge that we are celebrating the most wonderful time of the year…the birth of our Savior! It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and stress of the Holidays…but I am not going to let that steal my joy this year! God is good all of the time and all of the time, God is good!!!!

It seems like so much has happened…and yet my life isn’t that exciting, so it is probably a bit boring! The most exciting thing (at least that I can remember) is that I completed the 5 Mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day! Hope, my friend from work, and I walked/jogged the 5 mile race and DID NOT FINISH LAST!!! It was an AMAZING experience and one that I know I will do again! I really want to do the Jingle Bell Run this weekend…so we will see. But the coolest part…..Scott, Isaac, Faith Anne, Dad, Jodi & Jimmie all came and cheered us through the finish line! It was so cool to be coming up on the finish line and see my family there cheering for me! What an AMAZING thing!!! Never in my life did I ever think I would have the will or the desire to do that…but I had both and it was awesome! And again….very awesome to have my family there cheering for me at the end. I was surprised to see them all there and very touched!

Umm…this Facebook stuff is pretty addicting! I have had a lot of fun reconnecting to people from the past! One really neat person that I have been talking to was a good friend of mine at college and now he is a youth minister and it has been really need to chat with him. God puts people in our lives when we need them….and he was such a great friend to me then and now. It is neat to see how God has worked in his life. And the people from high school….and just this morning a lady that we know from the small church I grew up in contacted me….it is WILD! The bad thing is…it is a big time-waster! I have too much to do to sit and play on it…but I do when I can!

Another very exciting thing is our bathroom is being remodeled as we speak! My Dad is doing it for us! I am so excited! We have been wanting to do it for a while, but he has been busy with “paying” customers. Well, he just finished a job and we are going to be hosting Scott’s Family Christmas (about 50 people) at our house, so he said he would get it done for us before then! It is going to be BEAUTIFUL! I wish we could’ve gotten rid of our blue tub, but that is major renovating – like tearing down walls and stuff…so we just went with new flooring, new vanity, new sink-top, new toilet (a tall one!) and new medicine cabinet! And he is going to put wood trim to match the vanity around our mirror so it will look better. I am so stinking excited! He started it yesterday and should have it all done tomorrow, I think. It will be so nice…and didn’t cost that much. The labor is usually the most expensive part…and he gave us a discount (lol) and then Scott’s aunt works at Lowes, so she got us a great discount on that stuff….so it only cost a bit over $500. That is a lot since we are tight for money at the holidays, but so worth it in the long run. I will have to post a picture of how beautiful it is! LOL

And yes….Christmas is almost here! I am totally done shopping with Faith Anne, although if we had the money I could just keep buying her all kinds of stuff. She was the easiest to buy for this year for some reason. I need to get a few more gifts for Isaac and Gracie….and a few other people. I have only really been out shopping once – the day after Thanksgiving. This weekend, my boss is having his Christmas party….we might try to get some shopping done after that if my parents don’t mind keeping the kids a bit longer.

We had our family pictures done last week at Walmart. I was really upset because we had an appointment t Portrait Innovations on a Sunday at 4:20. So, we got all dolled up and got there at 4:15 and they told us it would be over an hour wait. What? We had an appointment? What is the point of having an appointment if I have to wait over an hour? So, after speaking to the manager….we just left and got an appointment at Walmart. We actually went straight to my parent’s house and had my Mom take our picture for our Christmas cards…it was alright. I am not sure how you get a good picture of two adults and 3 kids under the age of 7. Anywho…the last family picture we had….I have lost at least 100 pounds since then and had my eye surgery….and Gracie was 2 months old! So, I can’t wait to get them next week!

Ummm…this past weekend was my Annual Girls’ Weekend with my friends at work. We went to Indianapolis and had a great time – shopping, food, dancing…just lots of fun. One of the girl’s mom just passed away in September, so this was a very needed trip for her. It was nice to be able to just be with friends and be ourselves. We laughed together and we cried together. It was a lot of fun. I can’t wait until next year!

Here is my person-by-person update…

Scott
He is doing great in Cincinnati (his new work “place”)! He is already moving to the top of her their sales people and just doing a good job. He is much happier with his boss and seems to like it. The drive isn’t too bad….and it helps that gas prices went back down. We don’t see a lot of each other because of our schedules and the kids, but things are going great!

Isaac
He is doing really good in school still. We had his football party and he loved seeing all those friends again. Basketball has started…but right now it is only one day a week and in January it goes to two days….that is nothing compared to football! He likes it so far – we will see! This is his first year playing this sport.

Faith Anne
She is good – just lots of drama with this little girl. She is definitely the middle child! She is doing well in preschool and we still haven’t gotten her in dance or tumbling yet. I need to get something secured for the first of the year. She is very creative and loves to color and create things. Deanna (our babysitter) always brings arts and crafts for the girls and Faith Anne loves that. She talks about it for days!

Gracie
She is such a funny little girl. She keeps us in stitches. She makes the cutest expressions. I can’t believe how good she is talking…she says Hannah Montana (oh dear lord) and just is really good for her age with talking. She is very demanding and throws a fit if she doesn’t get her way…typical baby! Oh wait, I was the baby…did I say that? LOL

So, there is never a quiet or dull moment in our house! Oh…we had to get a new couch too! We went to Morris and they had a buy the couch, get the loveseat free deal. So, we got that. It looks really nice…but still needs broken in…ya know? But our old couch broke…and again, since we are having Christmas at our house, we had to get a new one. One good thing about hosting a party is that your house gets really clean and fixed up! LOL

Well, I have to get going to get Isaac from school. Hope all is well with you all! I think most of us have migrated to Facebook because this is becoming a ghost-town…except for Kelley!!! I love keeping in touch with everyone….no matter how we do it!

Merry Christmas (in case I don’t get back here)!!!!