Barfo-rama!

If anyone remembers that classic scene in "Goonies" where Chunk confesses to his captors that the worst thing he ever did was to make barf sounds in the movie theater, which made someone really hurl, then one by one everyone in the theater started upchucking! Well...it wasn't quite that bad, but almost!

I think there were two or three different variations of the stomach flu going around, one coming out the top half and the other coming out the bottom half. Some of us were lucky enough to get both kinds. Check it out...

Monday last week: Andy (Ben's brother in Mansfield) got it
Friday last week: Z and I got it
Saturday: We had a big family get together this day. Jenna (my niece) and Missy (Andy's wife) got it, Z was still puking too. Missy said baby Owen was puking too, but he always pukes.
Sunday: Ben got it, later in the day Ben's mom and sister, Bekah got it too
Monday (Christmas Eve): Biz and Jeremy (his sister and brother-in-law) got it
Tuesday (Christmas Day): Today we all got together again, figuring all of us has been sick, what's the harm? Ben's youngest sister, Debbi, got it, and later in the day I got the other variation of it
Wednesday: Z woke up with explosive diarrhea. And the worst part, Ben's Dad and his new wife, Amy, left for their honeymoon today, after spending all morning with all of us kids yesterday for Christmas. I'll keep you updated on that one. I hope Cancun is ready for the stomach flu!

The only family members unaffected at this time are: Scott (Mom's hubby), my niece, Ally and Grandpa and Grandma H. Oh, and we're hoping Dad and Amy too...

So, they say, the family that pukes together stays together. This will definitely be a Christmas to remember!

Christmas Hope

Merry Christmas everyone! I'd just like to take this opportunity to reinforce that the true meaning of Christmas is NOT being together, or being nice to others. That seems to be the message I'm hearing on all the cartoons we watch these days. I think that's their way of finding some depth in the midst of all the materialism. We are simply celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, who came into the world to save it. He was born to die so that we might know Him and live eternally with Him. How humble His birth was, how flagrantly we ignore it.

I don't think it's enough to just remember the true meaning of Christmas each year. I think the best thing we can do is to accept the gift He came into the world to give us, or if we've received it, be sure to say "Thank You," again. The last thing we deserve is presents, let alone the gift of eternal life. May each and every present we open remind us of His gifts to us, forgiveness and rescuing. This is the star we see bright and shining in the sky, hope and purpose in living. Now, THAT'S the reason for the season. As they say in England, "Happy Christmas!"

Sanity check

As I sat there rerolling a massive pile of toilet paper that my son had fun unrolling minutes before, I thought to myself, "Do sane people do this? Or do they just throw the TP away?" I don't know...I really don't know...

Cuteness!

Greetings and Happy Christmas to all! It took me a while to get to posting this time, sorry about the delay! I usually upload my pics to my computer every week, but I missed a week and had 124 pictures this time!! That's a lot of cuteness! Here's my favorite of Z and a fun bow thing at the end.

We were surprised last week by waking up to snow, which kept coming and coming! Daddy came home to play during his lunch break twice! It's almost all melted now, but it was fun while it lasted. We certainly made the most of it.

Check out the wedgie! Turns out this size 18 month snow suit is too small for Z this year. Thankfully we have friends who were able to use this and we found another one that fits better in the closet! Someday he'll cringe when he finds out I posted this on the world wide web!

His new favorite toy! He couldn't stop spraying himself in the face when he discovered what it did!

We have tile warmers in the kitchen, but they weren't on until it got cold recently. Guess who loves them!? I do! ...but I'm not nearly this cute when I lay on them! Check out the giraffe cuddle!

He had just finished eating dinner with us and I was cleaning up, when he pointed to the BBQ sauce bottle on the table and said, "This?" Like he always does when he wants something. So, I handed him the bottle and minutes later I find this...and yes, he got it to stay on top!

OK, I wanted to share my little bow trick I figured out. It's not rocket science and you probably already know how to do this, but I JUST figured it out! If you use wire ribbon on presents, tie a normal bow...

...then take both hands (I needed one to take this picture) and bend to make a second loop in the bow...

...and VOILA! You have a double bow, without having to tie a double bow somehow!

In other news, I accidentally chopped a big chunk out of Z's bangs when I cut them last week. He's only a little bit wiggly! It looked a cross between Z finding the scissors, and an Amish bowl cut that didn't get finished. I DID NOT take pictures of this to share with you, I was horrified. Instead, I did follow up trims, making the long bangs next to the booboo more jagged so the chop wasn't so terribly noticeable. Yes, if you scroll back up you can see how awful it looked. It's actually more grown out this week and I'm feeling less bad.

We have our airport Christmas party this Friday and we're having trouble finding an available babysitter, so if anyone is free and can come to New Phila. that night, give me a jingle!

Oh, and my friend, Jenn, shared with me that if you Google "Mommy" and hit their "Images" button, I'm on page 6! If you click here you can see the picture that's suddenly become famous without going to all that work. It's the top picture, so you know.

Finally, for those that live in the jolly state of Ohio, there's a concert this Sunday night in Cleveland that should not be missed! Kate Hurley and Todd Berger, who do a few songs on Enter the Worship Circle, are doing a Christmas concert at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights at 6pm! Click here for more info on that! Check out Kate Hurley's MySpace site to hear some of her music. Enter the Worship Circle is my absolute favorite in Christian music, you can hear them on their website too. It used to be made up of just Ben and Robyn Paisley and they were called, "100 Portraits," but then they merged with several other artists to create worship albums together. We were able to see 100 Portraits in concert while we were in college at LeTourneau University. They even went on a Fall Retreat with us. Now they're huge and are responsible for much of the worship songs churches sing every Sunday.

Welp, that's all from here, have a lovely week!