Christmas '09 -Part 2

We had about a full week of celebrating this year! We love this time of year to spend with our families and we could not be more blessed with a better set of them! This last month at our MOPS meetings they have been talking a lot about getting along with family at the holidays and I had taken it so for granted how easy our families are. Now I'm not saying they are perfect, but for the most part there is not a lot of drama, but excitement to see one another!

Our first get together was my dad's side of the family and we all (minus a couple cousins) made it the weekend before Christmas. My parents hosted it in the gym and had a great time of amazing food, gifts, watching our kids play with one another and reminiscing about the days when us cousins made so many special memories at the holidays!

Kate got the old school Little People schoolhouse! I love all the old toys that we used to play with coming back now and getting them for my kids!

Mackenzie and my cousin's little girl Jessica played the whole entire day together and we didn't hear a word. They are so good for each other.....holding their own! They got matching Fancy Nancy phones from my grandparents!

Then we celebrated Mackenzie's birthday on that next Monday, followed by heading to IL for Aaron's side of the family on Wednesday evening. It seemed like all or our time together this year seemed to be more rushed. All the family was together minus one of Aaron's brothers.

Besides me almost burning the house down by throwing a towel over a candle we had a great time with my in-laws and the cousins had a great time. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Musselman for Mackenzie's Barbie house set and Kate's Dora tent with a tunnel!

Less than 24 hours later we were heading to my family Christmas. This year it was a little different as my sister and brother in law had to fly out on Christmas Day for his sisters wedding in California.

So this year we did our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve!

Thanks Dad and Mom for all your work....the dinner was delicous!

And our Christmas morning earlier than normal......our traditional annual Christmas picture on the steps, minus Kate who we couldn't decide if we should wake up or not!

I love it that we still do it the way that I did growing up. It probably helps that I still have a little brother that is in junior high and as of right now we are the only one with kids!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Massner for all the fun presents.....Legos will always be a kid favorite. Mackenzie got her first set of the little legos.....and pink! Kate got the Farm Jumbo lego set!

Mackenzie doing one of her many craft kits and Mommy showing off her new robe......first ever robe! I love it!
Daddy sporting Mommy's new robe.....the color is perfect for you hunny!

Mackenzie playing her new Dora leapster game and notice the earrings she has on. Do you remember those stick on earrings you had as a little girl.....Aunt Amy of course!

We had a fun relaxing Christmas day at my parents and then we headed home so we could have our own family Christmas the next morning.

Forgive the picture quality....I guess I should have asked for a new camera for Christmas!!! This is also the best one I could get of the girls in front of the tree.

Squint and look closely and you'll see Kate's new sunglasses! My girls love them and really we haven't gone through that many ....but Mackenzie had accidentally stepped on Kate's so we needed a new pair!

Mackenzie excited about her Preschool Teacher Barbie set! One thing we wanted to get her this year was Barbie stuff. She has several Barbie's and a swimming pool, but not a whole lot to really play with furniture wise. She is just getting into them and since we have to plan for the whole next year of what she'll be into....well! Another thing Mackenzie got was a Lite bright and Kate a sit n spin....like I said earlier we enjoy getting them the things we used to play with as kids.

We wrapped up the celebrations on Saturday with my paternal grandfather's side of the family....yes I said Grandpa....his family, 13 siblings in all, still get as many together as possible every year! Then on Sunday we headed back to IL for my mom's side of the family....sorry no pics yet! I let my mom be my photographer if she's there..... hence the above photos!!

It's an enjoyable time getting together with everyone for the holidays....then on Monday you kind of have the let down of adrenaline and by Tuesday you are thankful for some normalcy!

Here is one of our Christmas card pics! Better late than never, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you readers from our family to yours!

May you all reflect on the real reason we celebrate Christmas not just now but throughout the year!

Christmas '09 -Part 1

With all the goings on and prepping for Christmas I'm a little behind in posting, but I still want to go back to the beginning and remember what fun special things we did. So we are going to have to do this in a couple parts.
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....everywhere you go...."

Our traditional picture of daddy helping each of the kids putting the star on the tree!

I enjoy trying to do special things with the girls like I did growing up and then some that we want to start as a family of our own. Something new we did this year was advent. At our MOPS group the craft one meeting was an advent jar. I had really never heard of it until a couple years ago and until recently thought it was some other religion's tradition. As I learned about it, I realized how I could use it to teach the girls the importance of the real meaning of Christmas. We had a lot of fun doing things from making treats for neighbors, family movie night, reading scripture, giving to others, taking time to go look at Christmas lights as a family...etc.

This was the first year doing a gingerbread house. It was fun for Mackenzie and I to do it together and learning to get over my slight perfectionism.

Our finished project! Now are you supposed to eat these or just look at them?

I try to do some holiday baking, easy things that the kids can help with. This year we did almond bark pretzels & oreos, sugar cookies and then for our neighbors and teacher gifts we made carmel puffed popcorn and french vanilla hot chocolate mix!


The girls have enjoyed a little time in the snow, but we definitely need to do more. Mackenzie loves it and Kate well.....time will tell!

We got to enjoy our first ever school Christmas program this year! The whole school put on a program and the preschoolers dressed up as shepherds (dad's button down shirts with a tie around the waist. It was fun to watch, but Mackenzie kept making weird faces and went to her teacher a couple times.....we were wondering what her problem was and when she got done I took off the shirt and she still had her coat on underneath! Poor girl, I'm sure she was roasting, but she said her sleeves kept falling down and that's why she kept going to the teacher.

The last day of preschool before break was the class Christmas party and she also celebrated her birthday, as it was the day before, with treat bags for her class! I always remember looking forward to that special day at school taking treats for your birthday!

Nov. happen's update!

Well as I started out the November Happen's post with me getting my first deer......about 30 days later Aaron got his first deer with our other vehicle! Yes, we are now reaping the benefits of that car insurance that we have been paying how many years for. It's just those deductibles that make it not so exciting! Thankfully no one was hurt and neither vehicle was totaled. Now Aaron is thinking about getting into hunting to help with the problem!!!

Mackenzie turns 5!

I can't believe my little girl turned 5! I think back five years ago and I can barely remember, but what I do remember December 21st changed Aaron and my life forever! God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl and I can't even explain the joy that she has brought to our lives! She is so full of life, sweet (most of the time), smart, and her personality reminds me so much of myself'!
I have always felt a little guilty for her birthday being so close to Christmas, so we make a strong effort to make her birthday special, complete with a party and not just thrown together with Christmas. This year she chose to go to her favorite restaurant, Pizza Ranch, and we had my family along with one of her friends Tucker, whose parents happen to be our good friends as well!

It took Mackenzie up until the moment we had to order the cake to decide what "theme" she wanted for her party. It was between Dora and High School Musical and although I must confess I enjoy a little HSM, I am glad she chose Dora, a little more age appropriate for a 5 yr old. Kate was pretty happy with her choice as well.....Dora and Boots are a hot item at our house!

After dinner we came back to our house and did the traditional birthday party thing.....cake, ice cream and of course the presents!

These are the balloons that Aaron brought to Mackenzie when he came home from work! I was so impressed with his idea.......complete with both of her choices....a Dora AND HSM balloon!

Kate sporting one of Mackenzie's gifts....she also had the "glubs" on to match at one point!

She got so many special things.... HSM things, games, a lot of crafts to do (my favorite was the old pot holder loom and loop set), a jewelry box, calendar board...etc!

This is the part where the birthday ends and I start rambling about my child....again mostly for my memory preserving benefit, but if you would like you can either choose to read on or just exit!

I have been meaning to give an update on each of the girls for a while now, and this seems to be an appropriate time to do exactly that! Mackenzie is really enjoying preschool and I think she'll be very ready for Kindergarten next year, I just don't know if I'll be! She is such a good helper around the house and is learning to be a very good big sister. I would have to say her favorite activities are something involving art.....coloring, doing a kit, cutting and glueing, basically anything along that line. Like I mentioned earlier she likes Dora, High School Musical and a few other favorite shows are The Fresh Beat Band and Electric Company. She is still taking naps most days, and I am very thankful for that time during the day to just sit down and well.....do something like this! She loves being outside, playing school or playing "me being her sister and dad being her brother." I'm not really sure what she does when she instructs us of this, but it is about everyday that I hear that phrase. She is a fairly good eater....sometimes just sparadic. Her favorites are fruit, fruit and more fruit along with some Mac n cheese, pizza, hamburger rice casserole....the typical kid foods. Does like raw veggies with dip and if I really need her to eat....Mc D's hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle with a soft bun always does the trick! I just try to avoid that if I can!!! The one thing that she is not big on is dessert, maybe a couple bites of ice cream once in a while, but really not a big fan of the cookies, cake..etc. Does not like chocolate, but loves candy! ( just like her mom) She is now pretty much in"big" girls clothes, although I still try and do 5T sometimes, and coordinate the girls, but I think that time is soon coming to an end. She is just getting so tall, but then the next girls size is 6/7 and that is too big!!!
I think the 5's are going to be good for us, she has grown and matured so much in the last couple months and is starting to figure some things out. We feel so honored to be called her parents. I know God is working on her heart and as our prayer has always been we pray that He draws her to Him more and more everyday and that she will make that choice to call Him Lord of her life!

November Happen's

~Beginning of Nov I got my first deer....well actually what really happened is a deer literally ran into the side of my Jeep as I was driving down a 4 lane Highway. It did a lot of damage to the Jeep, but surprisingly enough I was able to keep it on the rode and after stopping to see what all had happened was able to keep going. I am just so thankful I was by myself because it got Mackenzie's door pretty good!
~I started my second trimester and thankfully feeling so much better! I have most of my energy back and the nausea is gone!
~The weekend before Thanksgiving the Carlats, well most of them, came to visit. The girls, well Mackenzie had a great time with our friends that we left behind in Ames. Unfortunately Kate got Croup and we had to take her to the ER since it was the weekend and I got the stomach flu. It took us all last week to get over it and recover, but thankfully by Thanksgiving we were able to sleep through the night and eat!
~The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Mackenzie's school invited the families to come have a Thanksgiving meal with the students and they entertained us with a program as well.
~We had Thanksgiving with my family on Thursday, Aaron's Birthday on Friday and my Dad's side of the family Thanksgiving on Saturday.
~Aaron and I got to go Black Friday Shopping by ourselves. Aaron had several things on his list, but he didn't want to get up early to go. We didn't get to our first store until 9:00 and he ended up getting everything on his list at the best prices.....mostly tools! We topped it off with getting new phones, as we were in "need" and they were running the free phone with 2 yr agreement deal. It was nice to just do it together and I wasn't stressed because I didn't have anything pressing to get.

I can't believe tomorrow is December.........here's to getting into the Christmas spirit!

Beth Moore & Concert

The first weekend in November a large group from our church went to a Beth Moore Conference in IL. I have had the privilege of seeing her a couple times before and have done several of her studies and every time I encounter her I walk away in amazement of her passion for the Word! I pray for just a fraction of that as it is something that I struggle with daily, making time to get into the Word and by getting into it, I mean "study" it, not just read it. Her conferences are like a big Bible study with awesome worship. We studied the life of John the Baptist (Matt. 3 & Is. 40) and 7 things to do if you want God to bring a fresh move in your life. When listening to her read the scripture it is like reading it for the first time, I get things I never understood before from reading it. She has so much knowledge of the history, culture and referencing that it just jumps off the page. She made it into a "movie" if you will! I don't want to make it sound like she is on some high pedestal, but rather recognize the Lord working through her. She is real and if you ever get a chance to go listen to her....GO!
Here are the 7 points she made about bringing a fresh move to your life:
1. Research God's promises
If religious people don't have a fresh encounter with God they will turn to legalism
2. Risk fresh hope
3. Redefine Repentence
4. Renounce territorialism
5. Recognize an offense
6. Reevaluate the promise
We can claim any promise under the NT
7. Regain the GOAL!
A servant of God will not be taken until his witness is complete

I got to go with my mom, my sister, my aunt and my mom's friend. We drove separately from the group and kind of did our own thing, with so many it's hard to coordinate all the details. We enjoyed some good girl time, good food and some good shopping! We got home late Sat night and on Sunday I got to top off the weekend by going to a Point of Grace/Mark Schultz concert with Mackenzie and a good girlfriend of mine! I have been to several POG concerts and have also heard Mark Schultz right when he was just coming onto the scene. I was pretty excited and after jumping through some hoops it all worked out and we got tickets and good seats. I love worshiping through music, it just one of those ways that makes you feel so close to the Lord especially when surrounded by hundreds of other believers!

I give a huge thanks to my husband for caring for our children and allowing me to have some time to refresh!

My Mom's 50th!

November 1st was my mom's 50th Birthday and we wanted to do something special for her! We chose a smaller cocktail hour type of party at my Aunt and Uncles new condo overlooking the Mississippi River! She knew we were going to have dinner at their place, but what she didn't know was that there was going to be friends and some of her family from IL there too!

She was pretty surprised when she walked in and we crowned her the most beautiful 50 yr old!

My dad had special instructions to be "running late" so most of the people would be there before her!
So many friends and family came to help her celebrate........

And some came in style! Some of the ladies got together and thought it would be funny to dress up like an old women.........hilarious and "all out" I must say!

My mom, her mom and her 3 sisters!

The hostesses with the guest of honor! (Several other ladies helped with food and decorations as well)

Check out my sister's blog for more details of the evening including the menu and decor, she said it all much better!



She felt very blessed to have all these people celebrate with her and I have to say we are more blessed to have her in our lives! While planning the party we were trying to figure out what her favorite things were and we couldn't come up with much.....she just always does what everyone else does, eats what everyone else wants, or goes where everyone else wants to go that we had a hard time.

Halloween '09

Halloween this year was a little different, which was ok, it's not that big of a celebration in our family. Not the the girls don't get excited about dressing up and getting candy or us getting excited about watching them get excited....you get the point! It's just not one of our most favorite. This year I happened to schedule my Mom's 50th birthday party (post to come) for the same night as trick or treat. Thankfully the girls still got a chance to dress up on the Wednesday before for our church's Harvest Party!

Always the picture on the front porch...tradition...just like the first day of school!

Mackenzie had decided a while ago that she wanted to be a princess....which I have to say I was kind of shocked as she isn't into princess stuff all that much, but was thankful that I didn't have to go by an outfit.....she just used her dress up clothes! Oh, we did by the crown!

Kate on the other hand didn't have a choice....a duck it was....it is what Mackenzie wore when she was the same age. I always tried to get a non-gender type costume when she was picking them out for the very reason of all the kids being able to wear them growing up! Always thinkin...ha!

BUT on Halloween night my brother, who was watching them during the party, graciously agreed to pass out all the candy I had bought, before the party date was set mind you, to the hoards of kids in the neighborhood. We were warned right when we moved in that this was a popular area for trick or treating. I think the girls had just as much fun passing out the candy and seeing the costumes that they didn't even care that they didn't go door to door. They got their fair share of candy from the bowl and I think that is all that mattered!

Mackenzie's 1st Field Trip

Mackenzie had her very first field trip ever at the end of October to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard! I am so thankful that my mom watched Kate so I could go along as did many other parents from the school. It was a pre-k through 5th grade trip, so needless to say they needed some more hands....and eyes! The day started out kind of rough as Mackenzie teacher was taken to the hospital right before we left. We found out later that it was a heart complication and with many prayers she is now recovering well!
Disclaimer: all of these pictures are taken by my friend Kate (Bryce's, the little boy in the pic below, who we take to school, mom) Since my camera was in the diaper bag at my parents she graciously was my photographer for the day and I must say caught some amazing shots!

We first went to the pumpkin patch! There was so much for them to learn and do.....corn maze

Pumpkin School

Corn pool and many other things to play on!

After our picnic lunch (it brought back so many memories of getting to pick out my special lunch to take on a field trip.....it was one of my favorite parts of the day) the kids got to pick a pumpkin to take home.

Then off to the apple orchard! We got to take another wagon ride out to the orchard to pick an apple.....
See all the different animals on the farm and feed the goats

Loved this picture my friend caught of her.....I couldn't resist putting it on here!

Learn about the apple sorting process and then they got to sling shot apples before heading home!

What a fun and long day had by all! It was so much fun to be able to go along and watch her experience all those things. That is the worst part about sending them to school is you miss out on them doing things for the first time, just watching their minds learn new things, and not being the one to answer all their inquisitive questions. (I have to admit sometimes I'm thankful someone else gets to answer all the why's)