It's That Time of Year...Girl Scout Cookies!

Sara and Ashley are once again selling Girl Scout Cookies this year. Below are the selections. They are $3.50/box. This year you can also buy some cookies for our troops overseas as well. (The money for the cookies for the troops will be collected at the time of the order instead of when the cookies are delivered.) If you don't live near us I would be more than happy to ship your cookies to you at no additional cost. You can email your order to me by January 31st (or you can leave it in the comment section.) Here's the yummy selections:

Caramel deLites
Peanut Butter Patties
Shortbread
Thin Mints
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Thanks-A-Lot
Lemonades
Reduced Fat Daisy Go Rounds

Thank You!

My limits

So yesterday I proclaimed myself a techy, but today I proclaim my limits to my techiness. Last year I had a brilliant idea to put my calendar online. I can't afford to have one of those fancy PDA's that keeps your calendar online and in your pocket for you, but Google has a wonderful calendar feature that I can use on my laptop. So I transferred everything over to Google and planned out our lives...including Joe's which meant he needed to sign up and keep his calendar on there so we could see each other's. This seemed very important to me...not so much to Joe. But it worked great for the first couple of week's. Then as the year progressed I developed a longing for my notebook calendar. I wanted to want to keep my calendar online, but the planner in me wasn't liking it. So before my surgery I went shopping and bought my calendar for this year. It is a nice paper version and I'm feeling so much more peace now. I guess deep down I'm still "old school". I can pretty much guarantee I'm not going to join the Kindle band wagon either. I like paper and books to hold in my hand while I'm reading (unless it's a blog, of course!). Alright, time to update my paper calendar with Joe's meetings.

Happy Monday!

Wow, it is really cold. We are out of firewood because we like the ambiance of having a fire at Christmas. In retrospect we probably should have saved it until it was brutally cold like it is now. Joe has a source for some more wood. Now to just convince him to go out and load it in the cold.

I've discovered a few things about myself while I've been on surgery rest. First, I get bored easily and can become a grumpy patient. I also found that I really enjoy watching movies (let's see, I think I've watched five in the last couple days...maybe more. My DVR is cleared off now) and have somehow become a "techy" over the last few years. One could argue that I've always been somewhat of a techy since I was a systems major in college. However I think some of my techiness is rubbing off on my husband. We spent the weekend setting up our wireless internet. We've had it in the house before but haven't for the last year or so. Joe got a new hard drive for my old laptop so the kids now have a computer they can use. So yesterday was filled with updating that old computer. And we got the girls mp3 players for their birthdays (shhh, don't tell them! they don't read my blog yet!) so I also loaded some music onto them yesterday so they would be ready to go on their birthdays. Sounds entertaining doesn't it?

The last thing I've discovered about rest after surgery is that if you can help it you shouldn't get any type of cold. Sneezing, coughing and blowing your nose with stiches in your stomach is a killer!

My kids come home today! Yeah! Happy Monday everyone!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Thanks for the great picture Alissa!

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year! I know I'm a day late, but I spent most of the first day of 2010 in my arm chair moaning. A big thank you to all who prayed for me concerning my surgery. It was more complicated then originally planned, but all is well and I'm recovering. The kids are celebrating Christmas with the Horn side while Joe and I catch up on movies and football games. I must say I wasn't sad to say goodbye to 2009. It is filled with some difficult memories. I'm definitely a different person entering into 2010 then I was when I entered 2009 and for that I'm grateful. My goal for this year is fairly simple (but probably not nearly as simple to obtain): be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. My God bless you generously this coming year!

Gettin' our requests on the "big man's" list

We got to go see Santa last night. On John's list...a new bow and arrow (he already has one, but evidently isn't satisfied). For Ashley, a book...she doesn't really care which one. The quotes of the night come from Sara and Nathan. Sara attempted to explain to Santa what an MP3 player is. Nathan had the following conversation:

Santa: What would you like for Christmas?

Nathan: Whatever you bring me

Santa: What if I bring you a rock?

Nathan: That is fine. I like rocks.

Santa: Are you sure?

Nathan: Yes, you can bring me a rock.

Ashley's Christmas wish list

Ashley brought home her Christmas wishes for our family yesterday. And I quote:

I sure hope my family to recieve these gifts for Christmas. I want Sara to get new art books. She could use them. John could use a new friend. I want Nathan to get drums. I want my mom to get a new oven. I want my dad to get a deer.

I must admit I'd love a convection oven. How did she know??

Christmas Bells

So I have a new favorite Christmas carol this year. It started to grow on me last year and this year it is what my kids have heard the most...I heard the Bells on Christmas Day. It was originally a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the American Civil War. The poem speaks of the despair felt within the world at Christmas and then his last line is full of our faith and hope. I've included 3 stanzas of the poem...the first, next to last and last...so you can get the gist of it. I'm sure many of you have heard the song but maybe, like me, never paid much attention to the lyrics:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Christmas Bells
I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Why I've been AWOL

My husband keenly observed the other day that I have been AWOL from my blog. Not sure why exactly. I honestly haven't been that busy. "What?!" I hear voices saying, "Not very busy?! Surely not this time of year!" But that is a true statement. I haven't been baking, caroling, doing Christmas cards, or any of that stuff. I haven't even been partying much...only one. For the first time in several years we didn't even do an open house. It's not that I planned it this way. It just kind of happened. I've been on the couch on and off since Thanksgiving and in some significant pain on and off. Most of that time we self-diagnosed it as a kidney stone. Here recently we've discovered that it is actually a couple of cysts that decided to show up and give me an early Christmas present that will include some surgery. This last week I wasn't even allowed to drive because of the pain medication. Joe got familiar with the carpool to and from school and I ran out of excuses for not doing the laundry. I was going to blog then, but seeing as it was difficult for me to even complete a sentence talking at times, I didn't think it so wise to post something while I was under the influence (so to speak). So this structured, planning person has had to be fairly flexible...including adjusting our travel plans. We'll be home sweet home this Christmas. It hasn't been as much of a bummer as it sounds. We have had some good times:

• Lots of cups of homemade chocolate have gotten made and enjoyed around the dining room table.
• We've read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever together. It is one of my all time favorite Christmas stories. Thanks to Sara's teacher, we got to borrow the movie and watch it tonight.
• John and Ashley had their Christmas program at school this last week. Hopefully pictures will be forthcoming.
• All the kids participated in our church's version of "the Christmas pageant". Nathan managed to stay on stage the entire time, not knock over any microphones or burn the church down with the advent candles, and entertain everyone so I call it a success.
• Our tree is loaded with ornaments and memories of our kids. I am really starting to love our Christmas tree.
• We've watched our share of all the Christmas specials. We've been saving A Charlie Brown Christmas for this weekend.
• I've been so blessed by my "family" here who have come alongside and helped with the kids so much
• And I cannot say enough good things about my husband...working his job and doing mine all at the same time. Not sure how he's kept all the balls in the air the last few weeks. He's doing an AWESOME job though!

So that's what's been going on with the Horn herd. I hope to get some pictures posted soon. Wishing you all a snuggly, snowy weekend before Christmas!

Way to go John!

And he did it all by himself. He was wondering if this warranted a story in the newspaper with his picture. Since, sadly, it doesn't, I did the next best thing by letting you know.

Among the children we currently have three more loose teeth. It could be a costly month!