Anna-isms!

I haven't been very good about writing down the funny/cute things Anna says (and she has a lot of them!). Someone just asked me if I wrote these down, after hearing a story about something she said. So that reminded me to do so!

The other night, when Aaron was putting the kids to bed, Jacob was fighting it (shocker!). He wasn't laying down. Aaron told him if he didn't lay down he was going to get a swat. Of course, Jacob didn't lay down. So he got a swat. Anna turned over and said,

"That oughta do it Dad."

Grandpa & Grandma W have a tradition of giving Anna an angel ornament every year. After she opened this year's angel, she carried it around. After a while, she said,

"Mom, this angel is really special. Do you know why? Because it reminds me of God. When we get home, I'm gonna hang it up in my room so I can remember about God."

PRECIOUS!

One of these days, I might have some posts titled "Jacob-isms" but I have a feeling that will be a while. It is pretty funny to ask "Jacob, do you want to open presents?" He yells "YEAH!!!!!!" :)

Christmas Surprise!

If you don't know Aaron, one of his favorite things to do is surprise people with gifts. He's excellent at picking out gifts for people. In the last few years, his gift-giving has stopped (except for special occasions) because we've been doing the Ramsey plan. Which is fine with me--I've even told him not to get me anything for my birthdays or even Christmas. He usually still gets me something small. This year, he completely surprised me with my Christmas gift. He went way over budget! :)

It's an anniversary band!

I had a hard time getting my camera to focus up close for some reason, and then the flash was too bright.

He did great! Even if he went over budget:) He's the best husband in the world!

Nuckolls Christmas!

Jacob & Hudson had fun playing with this little tree and the sleighs. They were both making the little squeal...whatever that was supposed to be! :)

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And still more!

More video from the Stinemetz Christmas.

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Christmas Celebrations 2 & 3!

Saturday was our 2nd Christmas celebration with my extended family. It was at my Uncle Alan & Aunt Donna's house again. There was a small crowd this year...only 14 adults and 9 kids (age 6 and under). It was still a great time!

Grandma with her 17th great-grandchild!! (Asher)

Anna with her favorite baby (okay, all babies are her favorite!) Leah! Anna would have been content to hold babies all day long!! Leah is such a sweet baby.

Jacob climbed right up with Anna and Leah. I told Aaron "See...they're ready for another one! We can handle 3!!" hahaha

Anna holding the newest addition--Asher who is about 7 weeks old! He looks just like his brothers!! She was a pro with that boy! He got fussy and she just put his pacifier in his mouth and rocked. So cute.

Smilin' Leah Dawn :)

Daniel, the little stinker! He wasn't too keen on all the people around, but I got him to smile a few times!

Anna and Asher

Jacob was in hog heaven!!! Aunt Donna has all sorts of Cars toys. He played with these for over an hour, quiet as can be.

The men singing the traditional "We Three Kings"
Grandpa, my brother Jamie, Aaron, Uncle Alan, Daniel and Scott, my cousin's husband Ike

About half of the great-grandchildren!
Husdon, Jacob, Anna, Parker, Addison, Daniel, & Hunter

Grandpa & Grandma with their scrapbook.
Their sweatshirts need to be updated!!

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The third celebration was with my Mom's side (although she wasn't there) at Aunt Cara & Uncle Terry's house. There were 10 adults and 5 kids.

Anna and my cousin Heather

Oh boy!!! He got a CARS jacket!!!!!!!!

He was beyond excited. Uncle Terry & Aunt Cara are forever his favorite (as if the John Deere supply wasn't enough to keep them in his good graces!)

I'm so cool

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And now we're in Colorado celebrating with Aaron's family! Then we have the Iowa celebration! :) So much to do!

And still more! :)

More video from the Stinemetz Christmas! (I hope I didn't repeat)

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Stinemetz Christmas cont...

More video clips from the program...

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The Scrapbook

My cousins put together a scrapbook as a gift to our grandparents this year. They have 17 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren!! I think they liked it :)

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Stinemetz Christmas

Here are most of the video from the Stinemetz Christmas. I want to post it on here so Mom & Dad can see it since they couldn't make it :( And for the others that couldn't make it.
This December marked 20 years since my aunt Marlene passed away. I can't believe it's been that long. I was barely 9 when she passed away, but I have a lot of memories of her. I didn't share any that night because I couldn't talk. But I want to share some here.
What I remember the most about Marlene is her smile. She was beautiful and to me, always seemed happy. She definitely had a heart for the Lord and His kingdom. One time we went out to visit, we got to their house really late and couldn't get anyone to wake up and open the door for us! So we slept in the car!! I remember staying at Grandma Betty's while Mom & Dad went to Colorado when she was sick. Before her funeral started, all the family was in a room. I couldn't stop crying, so Mom let me go to the nursery. Logan wouldn't stop crying, so I had to go get Warene. I remember someone singing "People Need the Lord". How it can still hurt this many years later...

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Why did she have to go
So young I just don't know why
Things happen half the time
Without reason without rhyme
Lovely, sweet young woman
Daughter, wife and mother
Makes no sense to me
I just have to believe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the stars and clouds and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

Loved ones she left behind
Just trying to survive
And understand the why
Feeling so lost inside
Anger shot straight at God
Then asking for His love
Empty with disbelief
Just hoping that maybe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of Angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

It's hard to say goodbye
Her picture in my mind
Will always be of times I'll cherish
And I won't cry 'cause

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

Sissy's Song by Alan Jackson

Opening Presents!

The kids were going crazy before we even started! And watch Anna open her guitar. Yes Grandpa, we're bringing it to Colorado!!! :)

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Merry Christmas!!

We opened our presents before we head out for our multi-state vacation! :) The kids have been surprisingly good about leaving the presents under the tree alone for the last 2 weeks. I was pretty sure Jacob didn't realize what they were...and I was right! We had to convince him to open the first one. But after he realized what they were, we couldn't keep him out of them!! I couldn't hide the other presents (the ones for family other than Jacob!) well enough. He ripped into 4 of them in a matter of a minute. It was like the tissues he used to yank out of the box...the second he heard you coming, he ripped even faster. Little stinker!!

He was pretty excited, especially since most of his presents had something to do with Cars!!

She didn't know exactly what this was, but she knew it had to do with Princesses!!

Same for him--CARS!!!!! (They're game boxes--they have about 6 different games and the little tub has wheels on it. I've decided they will be perfect for roadtrips!)

Any guesses what's on this little puzzle? Yep...Cars!

I caught her reaction on the video in the next post. Priceless. She had just asked for a guitar a couple weeks before (after we'd already gotten all of the presents). A friend of Aaron's got this as a gag gift at his company Christmas party, so he called Aaron and told him to come over--he could give it to Anna! Perfect!! Funny how God worked that one out:)

Jammin' out! :)

Our wonderful neighbors got the kids gifts, as well. Anna had been eyeing a Play-Doh set for over a month. I had intended to get her one, but never came across one at the right time. Good thing! Both Anna & Jacob LOVE it! I remember playing for hours with mine as a little girl.

If Jacob gets hungry, don't let him play with Play-Doh! He'll eat it up like it's a cookie!!! Yuck! He got a Cars (what else?!) book that has noise-making buttons (whatever those are called!). He loves it. We're off in the morning for our trip. We're looking forward to seeing a lot of family!! Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas

Empty manger, perfect stranger about to be born

Into darkness, sadness, desperate madness -- creation so torn!

We were so lost on earth, no peace, no worth, no way to escape.

In fear, no faith, no hope, no grace, and no light.

But that was the night before Christmas.

Warm hay, cold sweat; a mother not yet, praying God speed the dawn.

She looks to her man, holding her hand, they wonder how long?

And the shepherds, wise men come to find them and bow to a king.

One star above shining on love so bright it lit up the night before Christmas.

And the world didn't know mercy was meek and so mild.

And the world didn't know the truth was as pure as a child the night before Christmas.

The world didn't know redemption was sweet and so strong.

The world didn't know salvation was writing a song the night before Christmas.

"The Night Before Christmas" by Brandon Heath

Interesting...

I found this website through a "paid email" program I do (which I found out about from Money Saving Mom). I still can't believe they offer 100% free shipping. So I signed up (it's free) and looked around at their products. They have anything you need for household supplies...from the kitchen to the bathroom. I listed all of their prices on the products we buy and went to Walmart tonight to compare. I was very surprised that quite a few items were cheaper through the alice.com! And the others that weren't would probably add up to about the same cost when you factor in the fuel costs. I think this will be worthwhile, especially for the items I'm forever forgetting. Since we go to town for groceries anyway, there are some things that are still cheaper to buy at Walmart since I'll be there anyway. I need to check diapers.com for their prices on diapers, but this website is cheaper than Walmart on Luvs (I didn't check the other brands). This site also checks for coupons for you and automatically puts them on your order for you. I don't know if they accept regular coupons on orders or not. Looks like I'll be checking into this site! A penny saved is a penny earned, right?? :)

Love This Song...

Have you been downloading your free Christmas music from Amazon? Yesterday's song is one I've never heard, but I love the words. Go take a listen!

Silly Boy

He can hardly see!

He's not actually pulling her hair, he's just playing with it :)

Pray for these little ones

Do you all have any idea how blessed I am to be surrounded by a family (and friends) that are prayer warriors? There are two little ones that I ask you all to pray for tomorrow...
Addison, my cousin's little girl (almost 2) will be having her tonsils removed tomorrow. I think Daddy is gone this week, but Papa & Grandma will be there. Pray for Teresa (not only for tomorrow but all week while Ike is gone) and Addison and the boys!
Also, pray for a little boy named Karsten. He will be having surgery tomorrow as well. Pray for his Mom (Monique) and his dad (Thad) as well as the surgeon and nurses. They are friends of ours from a church we used to attend.
I also haven't mentioned anything about Mom recently. She just went to an immunologist last week to try and figure out why she still doesn't have any B cells (which is basically your immune system I think) and why she keeps getting sick (colds which turn into pneumonia). The B cell chemo she took about 2 years ago is what caused it to happen, but they should have grown back by now. So pray for wisdom for her doctors to figure out what's going on and that it can be corrected! And pray that we all stay healthy so we can see her over Christmas break!!!!
Thank you, dear family!

Impromptu Photo Op

Yesterday, we incidentally matched for church. When we got home, Anna didn't want to change out of her Christmas dress. So before we went to small group, Aaron wanted to snap a couple of pictures of Anna in front of the tree. She, of course, had her twins. Because they're real babies and all, ya know. (wow....I used at least one comma in every one of those sentences...I do like commas ya know!)

Precious!

Those babies were sure wiggly!!

Just like a real Mama...had to get them sitting just right.

Just like a real Mama...hurry up and take the picture!

This one just makes me grin!

Love it!!

Fun in the...SNOW!

Today, the wind finally quit so the kids got to play in the snow!!! Jacob was ECSTATIC! As soon as he woke up from his nap, I asked if he wanted to go play in the snow. He said (well, yelled is more accurate!) "Yeah!!!" and went straight to the door. As soon as his boots (THANK YOU Kim, for letting us borrow them! They're perfect!) were on, he wanted OUT! So as soon as I got him dressed, I let him outside. He went straight to the closest pile and plopped down and started eating! haha

Mmmmm...tasty!

But once Anna got out there, he saw how fun it was to run around in the snow instead of just eating it! :)

Or better yet, eating it and playing in it!!!

Big sister...she knows all the great things to do in the snow! SNOW ANGELS!!

Any undisturbed spot of snow, she would yell and run to make a snow angel. She said "Mama, you're going to have all sorts of snow angels!"

He still thinks eating snow is the best.

Anna saw the snow covered sand box and said "HEY! I wanna go slide down that hill!!" Poor Kansas girl...don't tell Daddy she thinks that's a hill...she probably thinks a real hill is a mountain!

She's had enough....Mama, it's cooooooold! By the time the sun started setting, it started getting pretty chilly. And their gloves weren't exactly "playing in the snow" gloves!

Yesterday, the kids "helped" me make cookies for Seth's birthday supper. This was the first time Jacob had been awake during cookie-making and he was delighted to be in on it!! He kept saying "more! more!" I was lucky to get 3 dozen out of the 6 dozen cookie recipe!!

Anna's an old pro at licking the beaters! :)

I knew they were too quiet for too long!!! I'd let Anna play with the tub of water in the bathroom and I knew Jacob was in there with her but I had no idea this is what they were doing! Jacob does NOT like having his hair combed, but he was letting her comb it for like 5 minutes! He was having a grand ol' time getting soaked from head to toe! And Anna was helping by fixing his hair...because of course she had to get his hair wet to comb it! He had water dripping down his face. But he didn't care one bit. Of course, it wasn't long after I took these pictures that he decided to dump the whole tub out. ON THE FLOOR! Oh well. It'll dry. They had fun! :)

What a Sweet Boy!

Jacob was fighting sleep hard tonight, but not necessarily being disruptive. I thought he was asleep so I went to check and this is what I found...

Anna was sound asleep, Jacob had crawled up beside her and was playing with her hair! What a sweetie.

More Free Music!

Evidently, tis the season for free music! This time from iTunes!!

Go here to find out how to get an entire Christmas album (from various artists) entirely free.

Caroling, Caroling, Here We Go A'Caroling!

Tonight instead of regular Awanas, we went caroling at the local nursing home. The Cubbies just sang in the dining room with the whole group and while they walked the halls the Cubbies made Christmas cards!

Anna has great teachers that she loves!

Yes, she's wearing a bracelet (actually two of them!). What a girl!!

They've got a nice group of kids for Cubbies.

Considering Jacob is, well, Jacob...he did pretty good! (Aaron had to work, so it was just me & the kids) It really helped that there was a little bird sanctuary (is that what it's called?). That kept him occupied for quite a while. After all the carolers got back, several kids had specials. Jacob really enjoyed listening to those and clapping!

THIS is not cool. You see that outside temperature?! That's without the windchill!! And it's not 57 degrees inside--this clock is on an outside wall, so the inside temp is always a bit colder (or hotter) than the actual temperature. Although with these drafty windows, it feels much colder than even 57!!!

This is my last decorating project! It's actually been done since the mirror garland, but I forgot to take a picture. It's quite bright in here with all these Christmas lights!