hangin' with the cousins

It was the first time in three years that everyone on my side (my sister, me, parents, spouses & kids) were all together. What an awesome weekend! Here are some glimpses of the cousins hanging out together.Grandpa got the older three boys remote control cars for Christmas.Snack time!

Races in Grandpa's yard--and yes, Nathan did just take down his little cousin Hannah

And, alas, (or maybe not alas in your case) my computer battery is quickly dying so I must wait to post more later.

Tree climbing at Grandmas in December

Check it out--December 27th and no coats--and no, my parents do not live in Florida!

Christmas Favorites

Here are some shots of the favorite 2008 Christmas gifts:The new rocker in the family. His guitar has pretty much been attached to his hip since he got it

Ashley: new shirt, new jeans, new Webkinz (Jessica), and, if you look really closely, new fingernail polish

There's a new sheriff in town. He's not real fond of the caps but likes the badge, holster and guns. He's also very fond of his new bow and arrow.

new shirt, new jeans, new Webkinz (Lovely) and again, if you look really closely, new fingernail polish.

Christmas isn't over for them yet though! We are headed for the Horn side tomorrow.

Holiday Happenings

So I realized it has been a couple of days since I posted. We've been in the midst of holiday happenings which have included:

• the best Christmas day ever...it gets better and better as the kids get older. Just wait until you see the pictures of the new rocker in the family. We also made cupcakes with our new cupcake maker and all got addicted to Webkins.
• traveling to Indiana in the rain and making a record number of stops ("I really have to go this time mom! I didn't have to when we stopped for so and so.") This actually was a monumental trip. It is the first time in 8 years that we have traveled without diapers and wipes. Now that, my friends, is a milestone.
• hanging out with the Snow family..all together for the first time in three years. I'm afraid our children are corrupting their cousins--a lot of new maybe not so good tricks (some involving cap guns)
• it was in the 60s here today...WOW!--lots of Christmas frisbee and tree climbing

and now it is time for another game of Settlers of Catan. I'm determined to win at least once and maybe could if they told me all the rules before the game started (no, I'm not competitive at all). Just thought I'd give you a quick update. Look forward to lots and lots and lots of pictures (probably a lot more than you care to see.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE HORNS!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

2008 Christmas Program

Our church had their annual children's program a couple of weeks ago and I thought you'd like to see a couple of pictures of the angels and Joseph & Mary.

Ice Storm 2008

I realized I never posted a follow up to my ice storm preparations. Hopefully I wasn't holding any of you in suspense (I'm sure y'all sat around wondering and wondering...does she have power or does she not). Anyway, we did have a whopper of a storm. We were very blessed and maintain power throughout the whole weekend. I must say that I think it is a miracle considering the state of the weather conditions outside. My new ice storm motto is....always be prepared. Even if you don't lose power it's fun to light candles and lanterns for a Christmas party.

The biggest difference between this ice storm and others I've watched from the warm indoors is that our ice isn't going away with this one. They think it may melt on Friday. They are predicting it to reach 40 degrees. I'm somewhat skeptical because it has been arctic cold here and now we have a bunch of new snow on top of the ice not to mention a small layer of ice and snow under our 1/2" of ice. We'll see if it's gone by March. Thought you might enjoy some pictures of our glassy wonderland. It has made some of us feel as though we are living in Narnia.

Yep, that's part of our tree in the road. They had to cut a big limb off so the snowplow could get through the street.

A Merry Open House

Last night we held our annual Christmas Open House. We started this when we were in Iowa with our neighborhood. We've expanded since we've moved here and now invite the neighbors, church attenders, and pretty much anyone else we know. We think we had around 80 people come through the house last night. We may need to go to two nights next year....especially considering that yesterday was perhaps one of the nastiest weather days we've had in all of 2008. People had to bear -20 wind chill, slick roads and blowing ice chips to get here. Taking pictures crossed my mine several times, but as you can see there are none. So you will just have to use your imagination. On the menu last night was Joe's fried turkey, BBQ cocktail wienies, chips, salsa & cheese, mini pecan pie muffins, brownie bites and mini chocolate chip cookies and a vast supply of coke products. I think Sara summed it up well "Mom, this party is AWESOME!" It was awesome fun and if you didn't make it this year then hopefully you can come next year!

my exurberant peparations

Well, I'm getting ready to eat my lunch and am wondering if I am completely prepared for the impending ice storm. The last ice storm I experienced was about 2 1/2 years ago (actually now that I think about it, I think it was only 1 1/2 years ago). In any case, it was when we lived in the wonderful great plains state of Iowa. We were in a job search process and anticipating that we were going to have to sell our house, so we were in preparation mode for that. The day that it iced we were painting 2 rooms--Nathan's room and our upstairs bathroom (a gorgeous red color!). As you can probably discern, I was not ready for the power to go out. My house was a big mess. Once it got dark it was somewhat of a problem because I couldn't find anything and I kept tripping over stuff. Then we packed a bag to go over to our dear friends' house (we miss you Gehmans!!!) and that was an even bigger challenge due to the big mess. So this time I am determined to be prepared. I have:

• done about 5 loads of laundry--it's not folded, but you can do that in the dark, right? It won't have to be done in the dark because I'm going to fold it this afternoon before it gets dark--hopefully!.
• completely cleaned my boys' room--wow! that was a mess, but very necessary! It does not feel good to accidentally step on a toy combine.
• cleaned the basement
• cleaned the girls' rooms
• cleaned the bathrooms. Have you ever tried using the bathroom in the dark and it not be cleaned? It can be painful to find the sink when you accidentally lay your hand on a hairbrush or, worse yet, your husband's razor! ouch!
• got out all the lanterns
• brought in extra firewood so we don't have to chip away at the ice on it outside
• got lots and lots of books from the library although we will probably spend most of the time reading The Tale of Despereaux--great book! We got it for the kids as an early Christmas present. Joe's been reading it to us all each evening and then we are all going to see the movie. (I kind of got impatient and read ahead--only a few pages--I started feeling guilty so I stopped....shhhhh....don't tell anyone in my family!)
• I know exactly where the lighters are and where the batteries are and I got the right size batteries this time!
• ironed my hubby's shirts
• have meals planned out that we can use for our gas stove

So now that I'm prepared it probably won't happen. Which would be AWESOME--no ice and a clean house! I'd rather have snow, but they keep insisting that it isn't going to be snow--it's going to be ice. The schools have already started dismissing and the sun is still shining. My last step to preparation--a nice, long nap!

Sorry to perhaps confuse you with the new blog layout...but they had some great Christmas ones and I couldn't resist...