My Wonderful Day, What the Holidays are About!

While I have a lot still to catch you up on, I want to share pictures from one of my favorite days ever! A week ago, last Tuesday, Dec 9th, I took a random vacation day to spend with my kids. It was the annual Mom's group "Birthday party for Jesus" at People's Church. I was actually asked to help take pictures of the moms and kids that attended, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I asked "Teacher" Sam, who watches the kids for us, to come along to help my kids to enjoy the actual party. The kids had a great time listening to the puppet show and the story of the silent night. They even got little cupcakes and sang "happy birthday" to Jesus. Afterwards they went and played in one of the school classrooms and all the moms got to enjoy a lovely brunch. It made for a wonderful morning.

Mikayla and Boopy

I asked Big Boy and Boopy to hold hands. Big Boy is getting to that stage. He wipes of kisses, doesn't want to hold hands and acts like such a boy....ugh, I thought this wouldn't happen for a while. Ultimately he did cave and held Boopy's hand for a short while.

Story time and cupcakes

As for the afternoon, I figured I'd spend time with the kids shopping and then making cookies. We shopped a bit a Target and they enjoyed looking at all the toys. Sam met us their with my friend and coworker's son, Rocky, who she also watches in the afternoons at my house. Anyway, I suggested she leave Rocky with me that afternoon and enjoy the afternoon off which gave her a chance to work on some school appointments. Anyway, the kids and I left Target to head home for an afternoon of fun. We ended up picking up Rocky's sister, Gaby, from her daycare on the way home since she'd had an accident and didn't have any change of clothes. This only increased our level of fun!

First the kids painted pictures, while I pulled out the cookie making stuff.

Then Kristen and her boys, Danny & Grant came over for a visit and joined in the cookie baking fun. (Which was great, since I realized I was a little bit crazy doing the cookie baking with 4 kids by myself!)

Excuse Boopy's hairdo - she insisted on putting in her hair clip herself.

Natalie got to my house for her 2 kids just in time to help decorate the cookies, which was a lot of fun! Here's the finished product!

After cookies, we just hung out, ate pizza and I played with the camera. I helped take some Christmas pictures of Danny & Grant and after which my little ham, Boopy, wanted her picture taken! She's such a little cheese!

I did manage a nice picture of my two kiddos.

Big Boy didn't want Boopy to kiss him, but he was willing to kiss her, especially when he figured out he could antagonize her with his kisses! Oh, sibling fun.

The 3 musketeers - Big Boy, Danny, Boopy

All in all, a wonderful fun, friend filled day full of the Christmas spirit!

Great Friends. Good Food. What more do you need?

Friday night we hosted a potluck dinner for my oldest and dearest friends! While we were still missing a few that weren't able to make it, it was still fabulous to finally get us all together. And while I have seen most of these ladies at various times in the past year or more, we haven't all been together under one roof in a very long time. And even though there doesn't have to be a special event for us to plan a dinner, we did get the pleasure of having Anita and her kids in town make the dinner invite that much harder to resist!

What kind of host would I be if I didn't torture everyone with a little bit of picture taking?

We started out trying to get a picture of all the kids.

Cody (will be 5 in July), Boopy (2), Big Boy (4), Ryan (2 months), Lynae (7), and hey, where's Mikayla (2)?

Ah! There she is - not to pleased to have to stop playing, but we did get them all in one picture! I honestly think Ryan was the toughest one, I mean really, sleeping through a picture, what kind of easy kid does that?

Just the girls and the kiddos. (Front: Me & my two, Ryan, Anita & Lynae Back: Diana, Karen (Mom to Ryan), Michelle & Mikayla, Jenn)

We tried one with just us girls but notice my leach behind me, clinging to my leg. Believe it or not but we've all known each other since 7th grade! And some of us even longer, going on 25 years! Wow, that makes me sound old!

The entire gang - husbands, kids you name it. (Tim, we missed you!) I loved how Cody and Big Boy posed. These two were fast friends!

And what's a dinner without a little Auntie Jenn and Uncle Chris spoiling? I sure do hope that Boopy does okay as their flower girl this October! Wish them luck!

Lunch with the girls

Sunday, Dec 9th, I had the wonderful opportunity to sneak away and have lunch with some of my dearest friends! I have been blessed with a rather large group of friends that have kept in touch throughout the years. Quite a few of us have known each other since first grade! Others came to be friends in 7th grade. And believe it or not some of the girls have been friends since Kindergarten! This isn't nearly the whole group of us but it was a great chance to catch back up with Diana who we hadn't seen in over a year! It was so good to see her. Without going into details, as it's not my place, she's had some problems with her eyes, so she can use all the prayers and support she can get these days! Thank you Diana for a wonderful lunch! I hope we can all get together again soon!

Me, Diana, Michelle, Jennifer

And yes, I look REALLY tall here, which I suppose I am. It's kinda hard to believe that I was once one of the shortest in my class!

Good Friends

Good friends, those that become your best friends, are one of the most precious things in life. Good friends are there for you when you need them the most, they listen, they support you, they give you strength when you need it. Life shared with a really good friend is like a great novel that you just want to read over and over again skipping ahead to the good parts, but realizing that the sad or rough parts are necessary for the story being written. Good friends, like really great novels, aren't always found easily. A good friend is one you share a special bond with and is willing to work to maintain it.

Watching my children grow and their individual personalities shine through, gives me hope that they will grow into people that will be able to have what I've been blessed to know. I have been blessed to know what it is like to have numerous friends in my life and more than my fair share of really good friends! Big Boy and Boopy have already found special friends to share a bond with. I truly hope that life leads them in a way that these childhood friendships can grow and mature into really good friends and that they can share a history together that can write an award winning novel!


I do know that so far they've learned, what it's like to laugh with a friend.

They're learning what it means to share with a friend.

They've learned that just hanging out and enjoying each other's company can be fun.

They've learned that friends will let you be silly by sticking out your tongue at them, splash them in pools and they will still love you.

They are learning that a good friend will take you by the hand and walk with you through life.

*Thank you to ALL my GOOD friends for all your help and thoughts the past 3 months. That includes family, who although may be related are still GOOD friends!