Family Matters

It's that time of year--time to get out all the Christmas decorations and figure out where to put them in our littler house.

Everything seemed to fit better in our previous home.  It was a bigger house, or at least it seemed so.  There was room for every decoration I lovingly made for our family. 

Now, it seems like there are fewer walls to hang things on (an open floor plan will do that) and I just don't really care to get it all out. 

Then came Luci.  She wants it all out!  She wants every inch of the house to look "Christmassy." 

I had to talk her into waiting until the Sunday after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas lights outdoors.  We don't do a whole lot out front.  We are not in a traditional neighborhood--we are out in the country and houses have quite a bit of distance between them.   

The appointed day came and went with Luci's protests.  "It's supposed to be TODAY!"  Finally, we had a day where Dad and one big brother were home to help.  Luci was not happy that we were missing one kid.  John dragged the garland and a little Santa and two reindeer from the basement and we set to work.

Big brother Bryan was at a friend's house.  JT was not wanting to participate, and sat on the steps telling us what we were doing wrong.  John wanted him to go inside, but I said that would just reward him by letting him play video games (which he would rather do) than help us.  So JT stayed outside and was miserable (and made us miserable, as well).  Luci was beside herself, since things were not going merrily the way she thought they should.

"It's a family activity!" was heard more than once from Luci. 

That's pretty funny, since I said that a long time ago--putting up yellow ribbons at the end of John's first deployment, I had a plan to put ribbons on each of the twenty trees in our front yard at our old house.  The boys were not helping.  I was frustrated and needed some extra hands.  I ran inside and told them (yelled, to be more precise), "This is a family activity!  Get out here!"  The yard looked great for John's first homecoming, especially nice since I had all that help from the boys.

What the yard looked like one year when we had snow:

Now we have green garland along the porch, but that's about the only difference.  Oh, and that it's 71* today and oh, I wish we had cold weather!  No chance of snow any time soon.

A few of the things we have out for that "Christmassy look" that Luci loves so well:

an advent calendar we got on our trip to Williamsburg in 2010

an advent calendar that I made in 1995 with instructions from Family Circle magazine

a Christmas card holder with a Mickey Mouse design, bought in 2007

Our Christmas Card

Okay, so I didn't get the cards sent.  Here is our Christmas Card/Family Brag Letter for 2011.

Bryan graduated from high school in the Spring!  He got his braces off in the Fall.  Bryan also got his first-ever real job (meaning the paycheck did not come from mom and dad), teaching gymnastics.  

Luci continues to bring us joy.  She's learning to read and learning to bake.  A winning combination!

JT is doing well in his high school studies.  He is enjoying the continuation of his Tang Soo Do training, in which he has a black belt. 

All three kids work with Susan at the Friendship Center at church every week.  Susan continues to homeschool JT and Luci.  John has several part time jobs .  He likes to keep busy...retiring from TVA and the Army Reserves left him with lots of time!  We went to Idaho to see Susan's family in June.  John's folks moved to Alabama in October so we get to see them more often than we used to.

I left out all the arguing that happens here between siblings and the two successful surgeries (shoulder and knee) that John had.  Maybe I didn't leave them out after all.  Mostly we are a normal family just doing normal stuff.  Nothing too exciting here. 

Please leave a link to your family's news.  I'd love to see how you are doing, too!

For Mom

Mom, we are using a few "Pretty Things" for our 4th of July celebration today.  The carrots and tomatoes came from our garden, and we're having some corn on the cob from the garden, too.

And don't forget the banana pudding in the crystal bowl!  It's still in the fridge, hence this silly shot.

Thanks again for the Pretty Things.  Luci especially loved that we are using some of them today.

Wish you all could join us for ribs and potato salad!

Today

I have really enjoyed today. 

Thursdays are our day to go help at our Friendship Center at church.  John had a job out of town and left before we did.  (He called an hour ago and said they just got done and would be heading home--two and a half hours from here, so he'll be home around Luci's bedtime.)

The boys got up without arguing with me, or each other.  That made it a great day from the start.  There was more than usual work to do at the Center, so we worked for nearly three hours solid.  Usually we are ready to leave after two hours. That good work felt good. 

Then, the trip home with peace in the van.

Cleaned out the van, with the boys' help (again, peace).  Luci and I washed the van--she learned how to scrub the floor mats and did a great job!  Luci had a lot of fun, and so did I.  And we didn't get too wet, either.

Bryan even mowed the front yard when I asked, without any griping.

At supper (John was not home yet), the boys sat next to each other (gasp! dare we try it?) and more peace.  I was thankful and mentioned that in our blessing for the meal.

It was so nice to hear the conversation (the tone of it, not the topic; they talked about video games!) because they were so nice to each other. 

JT even offered to play outside with Luci (she's been begging ever since the van was finished) and they are out there playing Army (Luci's choice, can you believe it?).

I could get used to this.

Christmas 2010, part 4

JT woke up at 3 a.m., and woke up Bryan because Bryan's tv was still on. Then by 4 a.m., Luci was waking me up.  Growl.  So I sat with her in the living room (Santa covered up the stockings and his surprises, just because this might happen--mommy sitting with Luci in the middle of the night).  By 5:45 I gave up and woke John up...Luci never did fall back to sleep, neither did Bryan or JT, so I thought John should share my Joy.  oh, Joy.

Here John is presiding over Christmas morning...notice it is still DARK outside.  Later we found out that everyone else in N Alabama got lots of snow but we only got about 3 flakes.  oh Joy again.

JT loves his new keyboard for his Rock Band video game. I love his HAIR.

Luci was very happy with her egg slicer.  Really!  She loves hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, and two egg-slicers have bit the dust this past year.

Loving the make-up that Santa left in her stocking.

And, the yearly present of a Princess dress...this is Rapunzel, complete with long hair.

Loving my new Kindle e-reader...and the book light that goes with it.  Bryan said I was doing it wrong...I don't think so, son, it works!

Bryan got a new tv and a video game...no pictures of him, he's off somewhere playing....

Christmas 2010, part 3

Christmas fun with Heath, Shanna and the girls

First things first...dress up, then do presents!

playing Kinect

Christmas 2010, part 2

Christmas with John's folks....

Everyone loves to be seen with Luci.  This is Frank, John's stepbrother.

Grandpa Olen

JT--he sees enough of Luci, so here he is by himself.

Grand-Je (Jeannie) and John

Grandpa again

Grand-Je and Suzi the dog

Cindy, Frank's wife

Cindy's mom

John's brother David and wife Faye

Jeannie gave Luci a really neat gift--an Amaryllis!  Here they are planting it.

Grandpa's funny chair...it looks so comfy but it slides you right out onto the floor.

Even Bryan had a hard time with the chair.




Maybe all of Grandpa's chairs are like that....

Jeannie really knows how to put on a good spread.  It was all delicious!





I put Bryan in charge of picture-taking...and ended up with about 50 photos similar to this one.  Maybe I need a new photographer?  Thank goodness it's a digital camera and he's not wasting real film.  (On a side note, look at how straight his teeth are getting!  Braces should come off in the Spring.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a warm day here--the weather feels weird.  It will be cooler tomorrow, and then it will feel more like it's supposed to.

Turkey is in the oven, fruit salad made, the other sides are next on the list.  We may put a leaf in the table just to hold the extra food.  ☺  

It would be so nice to see everyone today, but it's just so rush-rush and later on we can visit for an extended time.  John and Bryan leave on their mission trip tomorrow, so it's nice to be home today.  Especially since Bryan hadn't packed anything until I forced him to bring me X-number of underpants, shirts, socks, shorts and pants a few moments ago.  I can't imagine saving that for the last minute tomorrow (today is last-minute enough for me!). 

Luci is having a blast watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Just when I thought she'd find it boring because it's bands and floats and not a fast-paced Disney or Sprout show. 

It is so nice having John home this year.  We've had so many birthdays and holidays missed and messed up by his trips that most "special" days seem like just normal days to the boys and me.  It's hard to get excited over a date on the calendar (Luci is still pretty excited over December 25th, though).  The boys don't care as long as on some day they get presents.  But December 25th?  Thanksgiving?  They are just dates on the calendar.  The product of being military kids during multiple deployments, I guess.

Here is our tree full of Thanks-giving from the whole month!

Vacation!

Wehad a wonderful time at Vero Beach.  We were at Disney's Vacation Club Resort.  We planned this vacation as a "Hooray, John's Retired!" vacation, since he planned on being fully retired on October first.  But as the summer wore on, John changed the date to November fifth.  We kept the vacation date and had a blast.  The best part?  I didn't see John on the phone with work the entire time.  (He may have called when I wasn't looking, but I didn't see that--so different from every other time we've had time away from home.)  We really had his attention.  I loved that, and so did the kids.

Our condo had two bedrooms plus a fold-out couch and chair in the living room.  Plus, with the full kitchen and washer/dryer, you can vacation pretty cheaply.   The programs for the kids are a lot of fun, and quite a few of them are totally free.  Some cost a little bit, and some are expensive.  This trip we stayed with the free and low-cost items, plus John and I had one night out on a date, so very little money was spent all together. 

We had a great time just being together and taking it easy.  Disney World is fun, but we are always scattered, running and TIRED.  Vero Beach was just fun, swimming, and games as you will see:

What Do You Do at Vero Beach?

First you need a good water slide.

and a 14 year-old dare devil who WON the slide contest with the fastest run!

You simply must go to a tea party (and the un-birthday party! I can't remember which one Luci is headed to here).  All week the counselors would greet Luci with, "Hi, Luci, also known as Belle, and also known as Ariel the Mermaid!" Because she was in the pool whenever she wasn't dressed as Belle. 

You go to archery lessons...

and watch Mom's arrow fall to the ground IN FRONT OF the target!  Yes, that's my arrow on the ground--that stick-looking thing in the middle of the picture.  Thanks for recording that, JT.  You are so sweet (not!).

You make new friends!  Here Luci is with new friends from Kentucky and Florida, at the campfire one evening.

And, you must eat SMORES!

Peek-a-Boo!  Taking a bath in the "indoor swimming pool."  That's what Luci calls it.

You go to Mickey Chef Classes.

You watch Daddy fall asleep before supper.

You wonder if the 18 year old will ever get out and get some sun.

You get embarrassed by your Dad.

Especially when he gets chosen at the campfire to act silly during one of the songs (come on, John, first place in the SMORE line is hanging in the balance!).  Campfire that night was an "un-campfire" because of the high winds.  We were on the porch of the main building for this frivolity.

And you still wonder if Bryan ever got any sun.

You watch Mom go bonkers trying to play Boggle.  And catch Luci sneaking into the freezer!  Can you see her arm behind me?  She ate more that week than she ever had.  Lots of swimming will make a girl hungry.

And watch Luci conk out before bedtime.  This, along with the good eating, rarely happens at home.

You get to make crafts with Miss Rita!  This was one of Luci's creations.  Miss Rita is the one who inspired this post.

You get your whole family to build a sand castle!  Luci had this as her only "must-do" for the entire week.  She'd been talking about it for a whole year.

You bury your brother in the sand.  And look!  Bryan did get out in the sun after all.

What a great sand castle! 

We love it at Vero.