Silent Night.......NOT..

Tonight I had the priviledge of having a beautiful Christmas dinner with some very dear homeschool friends of mine. The ladies, who set it up, had candles lit everywhere. It was truly a treat to dress up in our holiday "glam" and just laugh and talk the evening away.

As I said, it could not have been more beautiful. We laughed until our sides hurt. After our dinner each and every one of us said a prayer of thanksgiving. It was quite touching. I looked around and marveled at these sweet ladies -- or so I THOUGHT. Next came our gift exchange with some interesting rules. I've done the white elephant thing many a Christmas so I must admit I was THRILLED that these gifts were actually something you would WANT to keep.
You were allowed to steal, but they didn't "freeze" gifts like I was used to. And the last 5 minutes were unlike any I had experienced. We went back through everyone's number and you could again take gifts. Well....I never...even quiet, humble women can go a little crazy when they want a certain gift.

Oh...alright..I'll confess what I did (after all Life Class was about repentance this past Sunday and as usual - VERY convicting). I had stolen a candle/pebble fountain gift and was so happy that no one was trying to steal it. Twenty-seven seconds left and I whispered to my friend that I had wanted one of these for 15 years. Ten seconds left and my friend, at my other side, took my fountain. I actually stood up and slapped her arm. Pretty shocked that I would do that to her....she actually gave it back to me since clearly I had lost all sensability. During the outburst of laughter I tried to explain to the entire table how much I had always wanted a little candle fountain. The very words, coming out of my mouth, made me even cringe with how silly I sounded.

Oh my....while I watched through-out the whole grab bag game at women going "crazy" over various gifts I have learned that I am FAR from above reacting in such a way. But that's ok because I came home with my fountain and I am SO happy! :)

How sweet it is!

Today we had the fun of making gingerbread houses with Gretchen and her children. Immediately when we arrived at their house, the kids took off and it appeared that Gretchen and I might be on our own. Fortunately we decided the actual building of the houses should be done by us and the kids could decorate them.

Their oldest decided to help us and advise us (me) on how to keep the house from crashing down. Such a help was she!!
Gretchen and I could not have been more different in how we approached our houses. My style of frosting the house could only be summarized as the "slap on" method. Whereas Gretchen makes everything a master piece. Take note below:

SLAP ON METHOD
MASTER PIECE TECHNIQUE
OUR HOUSE
THEIR HOUSE
How funny is that? After seeing the difference I couldn't help but quiz Gretchen on her up bringing. I do know her parents as they are my Life Class teachers, but I still just had to know how she makes everything so amazing and if she was always this artsy! :)
While the houses hardened up it was a real treat to spend the afternoon talking with Gretchen while the kids were outside playing. There was an extra treat waiting as we got to go see their chickens and a fresh egg awaited us.
Love this time of year with sweet friends and fun times!

Been "sitting" on these pictures for awhile now....

It will be a year, in January, that we started Tae Kwon Doe. We initially started because we were looking to find an athletic niche for one of our kids who wasn't into some of the 'typical sports'. What we found was truly so much more. It's been such a beautiful thing to have such an activity that we all do together. It is something the entire family enjoys.

It has become a "TKD family" of sorts. On a typical Tuesday we take two hours of classes and spar for an extra hour. If we don't spar, you will now find a bunch of us orange belts hanging out at Moes until they kick us out at 9p.m. On Sunday afternoons you will find us also having class and an opportunity to all meet in one big room with all the belts. Brian has many thoughts on why this is a priority above other activities -- almost a requirement in today's world. A MUST for our family.

The picture above is Marsha and I doing a pivot round kick at testing. These pictures still make me laugh. I'm so glad I can't watch myself do these moves. Surely the black belts have to occasionally hide their faces to stifle some laughter.



Marsha has become such a dear friend and I always call Tuesday nights as getting my 'Marsha fix".

I have a funny memory, of this testing night, that I pull up in my thoughts to occasionally laugh over. Marsha and I were sitting on a bench waiting for our turn to spar. We had on our full "marshmallow sparring gear" and Marsha turns to me and says: "Janet, just LOOK AT US!!! What has happened to us! Look what we are doing on a FRIDAY NIGHT"!

I remember taking out my "dripping saliva mouth guard" to say: "I KNOW!!" There is a reason why I didn't post pictures of us ladies in our sparring gear.....trust me....you don't want to see that!
Austin and Colton doing one steps. Marsha and I in the background.
These sweet girls have so much fun together!
All geared up for sparring...
Lindsey getting her orange belt from the master... you shake all of the black belts hands..

They test every month and this was the group we tested with.
Some very special relationships have formed for the kids, the moms and the dads.

I'm thankful that we found this for our family. A little nervous as we will test for our blue belt in January. The orange belt testing took 4 hours. Can't imagine what will be in January.

This past Tuesday we had one class where we did kicks for an entire hour. Most of the older students - us - do this to work our brains as well. We were asked to do a pivot round kick, spin side kick and a jump hook kick, turn and do it all again. It's been hard enough doing all the spins and the jumps and the proper kicks while hoping you won't fall flat on your behind. Let alone trying to remember what is coming next. After three hours each Tuesday night - we just keep coming back for more. I guess that says it all.

This just cracks me up.....

Never in my wildest imaginations did I ever think to make a phone call and confirm that a local park "was open for business". So of course you do all the building up and excitement over a whole afternoon of playing at the park. This is a first for us!

The kids all looked out at the playground with such looks on their faces. I believe mulch was being put down at the time.
Oh that face: "What do we do now?"
To the rescue the older kids grab her little hand and tell her "we'll go feed the ducks!"



There's that smile!
While I was concerned that the whole afternoon would be a wash...we all took off down a trail and stayed even longer than we normally would have.

There is great danger of having Reece near any water. I'm still amazed his light up tennis shoes work...

Oh yes they did....all the way down the creek they explored and had the time of their lives...
This sweet princess is "all girl" and doesn't like to get dirty so she opted out of that creek adventure... Turned out to be the best afternoon and we would have never had this much fun if the park had been open. I think I learned a great lesson...

All I want for Christmas.....

"All I want for Christmas....is a T-bone steak in Amy's marinade." I just know that is what Brian would say. Well....he got his wish a little early this year. He had his steak for Thanksgiving.
Our friends, Amy and Eric, made us a delicious steak dinner and this marinade is simply the best. So good that Brian ran out to get the ingredients and made it himself. I don't buy red meat or pork so, trust me, this was a HUGE treat to Brian who only sees chicken and turkey around here. Thought I'd share Amy's recipe here and spread the joy. I like steak okay but this marinade easily puts "loving steak" in my vocabulary.. Here's the recipe...


Steak Marinade:

Begin by salting one side of each steak with course sea salt (or Kosher salt). Then put those in a large zip lock bag. (about 4 to a bag)

Mix these ingredients and pour into the bags:
2 T Olive Oil
1 T pickapepper sauce (found near Worcestershire sauce)
1.5 T Molasses (this makes it brown on the grill)
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
2+ T of Horseradish
2+ cloves of minced garlic
1+ cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. of pepper

Marinade them in the fridge over night or 8-12+ hours. Flip the bag every few hours.

Grill your steaks to your liking.

Seriously delicious!

Sent from my iPhone

The little things.....

We had a weekend filled with "little things": EVERYONE sleeping in past 9a.m., the whole family going to the Library and just getting lost in our books... Late night talks between Austin and his Daddy..
Praise music playing throughout the house while I cleaned... homemade tortilla soup and a salad with every fresh veggie around.. (because I had time to make it)
Middle of the day couch time with Brian.. Austin working in the backyard with Daddy..
Slowly reading the words to Psalm 91.... Praying for people, as the Lord brought them to mind, while driving..
And yes....a "Mentos and soda volcano eruption in our cul de sac....
Thank you Lord for this weekend. We've not had one of these in MONTHS!! It was true nourishment to my soul..

A child's DREAM playground...

While Beth and I relaxed at the hotel, the afternoon before 'race day', the kids got a huge treat of going to the Outer Banks Sand Dunes with Brian and Anthony. No other words really needed....they were in 'kid heaven'. The Dads were too....









Gorgeous night in the Outer banks!!