Kitchen and Colors

Here is my kitchen, mostly done. I couldn't get a good picture of the granite on the island. I will try again later when the light is better. It has a lot of movement and variation of color, very cool.

They will be painting this week. So here are the colors. The whole of the house will be a butter cream, the top swatch. Sorry, it is hard to get a true color. The terracotta will be our master. The green will be the master bath and laundry. The bluish gray at the bottom will be the half bath and the boys' bath, and the gray is for the boy bedrooms. Once the rooms are painted, I will try to get some better pictures, but this should give you some idea of what is to come. We are also looking at a Feb. 28th move date. So pray, pray, pray.

Snow Day

Yes, those are my boys in long pants, boots, and WINTER COATS!!! Unfortunately, we only got a dusting. But it kept them busy for most of the day. I gave them most of the day off from school. See, I'm not always a task master.

Basketball...It is our life now.

January 10, 2009
This is what life is for the next 3 months. This is Christopher's first game.(he is #2) They won 20-17. Christopher started, and then took a low post position during the game. Sammy does not play til this coming Saturday. The pictures are hard to get, but I will try. They play for Stewards of the Game in Huntersville. This league has been exceptional. The coaching has been outstanding for both their teams.

Happy Christmas, Auntie Amy!

This one is for you, Amy. They love their coats. Sammy wore his for 2 days straight. He said it was not only a coat, but a tent too, so he could sleep anywhere. Christopher wants you to know, it fits great!

Christmas Day

So I told you we light up their room in the morning, and someone said they had been awake, but I'm looking at this and thinking that they were not. It was kind of funny because they did not come running out, instead they gathered all their Webkinz, then came out. Not in a hurry, I guess.

This year we did something a little different for gifts. Usually we give 3 gifts to align with the 3 gifts Jesus recieved. We still like the idea behind that, but felt like the kids already had a lot of toys and that fewer would be better. So we decided to do a family gift. A Wii, it was, for everyone. Yes, even me. Actually the Fit was more for me, but regardless, we got the system for the family. It was really fun. The boys were so excited and it is something else we can do together. They amazingly got no legos that day. Christopher was actually a little concerned that maybe Santa's workshop was having some problems with their Lego department. :) No worries though, Santa apparently delivered them all to my in-laws. So they certainly didn't go without. That didn't even count the stockings. It is all of ours favorite part. You just can't beat all the little goodies and treats. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too. And for all you faithful readers, my gift to you is to try to keep current with my blog. :)

Traditions

Christmas Eve is such a fun time with the kids. We have been purposeful to have traditions that we started with them. This year my folks joined us that evening. We started with our gingerbread house.

Next we hide a pickle ornament on the tree and the boys have to find it. Whoever finds it gets to smash one of the chocolate oranges and serve it out to everyone. The boys get so excited. This was the first year that Sammy found the pickle first. Go Sammy!

Then we settle down for the story about Jesus' birth and yes, Twas' the Night Before Christmas.

I think my chair is getting too small, but I just can't give up having my boys all cuddled up with me for the reading. Pretty soon I think I will have to sit on their laps.

We finish the evening with the boys by putting out cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. This year the boys were so anxious to get to bed that they forgot the cookies, but we took care of that. Once the boys are in bed, we sit and watch A Christmas Story. The best movie ever, especially if you have boys, a must see. When the kids are finally asleep, we pull out the rest of the decorations. We tinsle the tree, pull out the gifts and wrap them in lights so they glow. I set the table for breakfast with all our fun Christmas dishes and candles, and put lights everywhere. So my house literally glows on Christmas morning. We actually string lights around the boys' room as well, and they can't get up or come out until their lights come on. Though I must say, I think this is the first year that one of them was probably awake before we flipped the switch at 6:45. He says he was awake, but I'm not so sure from the looks on their faces.

Christmas Eve Pictures

Every Christmas Eve we get the boys new pjs and then "try" to take a picture for the records. Well if you have ever tried to wrestle two monkeys into doing the same thing at the same time, then you have an idea as to what we do every Christmas Eve. Every year we do this, honestly, I must have anywhere from 20-30 pictures every year, and I only ever get 1 really good one. Talk about signs of the times. Some things never change. At this point I think I would be sad without all the silliness that goes along with this tradition. So here is just a sampling of this year.

And here is the perfect one for 2008. I think I'll keep them after all.

The Perfect Christmas Tree

The perfect Christmas tree, found at last.

So now, they cut it, bind it and tie it to your car for you to take home and decorate. Though, I must say I am a little disappointed in myself this year. My tree is perfect, obviously since I picked it. ;) But it seems to be a little on the small side, at least for me. That's ok, it actually fits the space we have for it, go figure.....

Matt always puts the angel on the tree. Funny, I don't have any pictures of the boys decorating. It's probably because it didn't take long to decorate since it was so small. HeeHee. We actually didn't get to use all our ornaments this year because of the size difference, so only the favorites this year.

Ahhhh.....what is better than a beautiful Christmas tree lit with colored lights to set the tone for a cool December night.

Lil' Grandfather Mtn.

This is the sweetie that humors me every year by driving me up a mountain to walk around in the wet and cold only to walk some more in search of my most perfect Christmas tree.

These are the boys that sometimes hold mixed opinions about walking around in the wet and cold to find my most perfect Christmas tree. Though they usually enjoy themselves too. If nothing else you get hot chocolate, a horse ride, and a visit with Santa at the end. How bad can it be? ( And lest I forget the friends who also indulge me on my search for the perfect tree, thanks Gibsons for walking in the wet and cold for my perfect tree. :) )

Sammy always likes the small ones. Hmmm...too small though.

Christopher, like myself, likes them BIG. Maybe a little too big.

.................................................

The Arrow

This is the arrow (real, arrow) my boy found in the woods.

This is the arrow we got rid of so as to avoid the following accident. We love our boy and want to keep him a while longer.

Great Towers

Sammy is a builder. He will build with anything he can get his hands on, literally. So today was rather traditional materials, his blocks, but these are the great towers he built. I can't even figure out how he got the tallest one to stay up. By all rights, it should not have worked. Maybe he is destined to be an engineer, or architect, or maybe just a happy go lucky bulldozer operator.

And the Party....

Like every other Lucas birthday, it's not just a day. So after celebrating with grandparents in Greenville, a family only party on the day itself, it is time to celebrate with friends. Circumstances prevailing, we had to do something indoors with all the rain. So we tried Monkey Joe's. It was a blast! I was a little skeptical, not a big fan of crazy kid places, but I didn't want the crazy kids all in my house either. So we scheduled it for a Wednesday, which is half price, and during school hours to keep some of the crazy down. The sad part is we missed some of our good friends who go to school. Hopefully next year won't rain, and we can have everyone again. The kids loved it. They had the place to themselves. If you don't know what Monkey Joe's is, let me tell you. I am a new fan. It is filled with huge inflatables where the kids can just run and play, I mean, BIG play. There is a TV area with comfy chairs for parents and even a couple computers available to be able to get online. It's a deal. Every child I took was sweating and worn out by the end of 2 hours there. You just can't beat it. Though I found getting pictures a bit difficult, so these are the best we got.

After a couple hours of play, I took all the boys back to the house for cake and gifts. Sammy and I decorated cupcakes with all his favorite things, mostly pictures of Star Wars clones and swords. Then we opened presents, and parents came. It was so simple and my house didn't even feel the wrath of 7 boys under the age of 11.

The final hurrah.... Happy Birthday Sam!

December 8th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMUEL!!!!!!
My baby is 8! What am I going to do? Rejoice, because I am so blessed by this little boy. He is such a joy, always happy and just enjoying life. He recently decided that now that he is getting older, he should be called Samuel. He said that Sammy was good when he was little because it is a little boy's name, but now that he is getting to be big, he said it is time to use Samuel or maybe Sam, but Samuel is good for now. Hmmmm. I guess he thought this one out. Though, truth be told, he still answers to anything I call him.

Samuel wanted a Webkinz cake for his birthday this year, so here it is. The candle even sang to him.

Ahhh, the smile of joy as a young boy ponders over all the possibilities of building and playing with his new Star Wars Clone set.

And then there is the Webkin....this little husky is actually a duplicate of his very first Webkin, Shasta. Shasta is missing in action, and Samuel has been very sad about his lost dog. They are like his children, and are probably better cared for than most of our children. He really has a soft heart for animals and directs this to his stuffed friends since we have no real ones. So, we got him another Shasta for his birthday. He was thrilled. Though this little husky has a split personality until the real Shasta comes home. Sometimes he plays with him as Shasta and sometimes he is Snowball.