A Christmas Gift From Rachel

Rachel had to write a poem about her life in her language arts class to give to her parents for Christmas.  That child made me cry.

Where I'm From

by

Rachel Ray

I am from a place with shimmery sand in my toes,

And blazing beams of light in my face

I am from fluffy white snow on the mountains in 90 degree temperature

I am from a place of proud patriotic chants and snappy salutes of men that camouflage into the flag of red, white and blue

I am from a place with companions of new and old

I am from a family that scours across the map from the top of the thermometer to the bottom

I am from the "Hallelujah, Amens" to the "Hey Ya'll's" and the "Yo Peeps"

I am from "if you can't say something nice don't say something at all"

I am the taste of sweetless coffee and under baked cookies made with love

I am a family of kids from Thomas to Legos to Dora to dogs

I am from a mom that's a part of all my memories and a dad that spreads the message of the Lord to people under metal bars and chains

I am hearing the cries of spunky little Holly Berry in the morning

My sister claims it has hers and hers it shall be

I am from a family I love and that will always love me.

Many of the descriptions in the beginning are from where we lived in California where she was born.  We lived on a Marine base in the high desert and during certain times of the year it would be 90 degrees or higher and we could see snow on the top of Big Bear Mountain.  Of course, even as a Navy wife, I know Marines give the best snappy salutes. 

We have my niece on video when she was about 3 being not so nice.  She meant to say, "If you can't same something nice, don't say anything at all" but instead she said, "If you can't say a something nice, don't say a something at all."  We often repeat her version around out house.

PK loves to bake chocolate chip cookies.  His version are oogey googey and maybe a little under cooked.

It is such a blessing to know she has such sweet memories.

Ornaments

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to sit down with the kids and tell them the story of each and every ornament as we hang them on the tree.  Each year PK and I get each of the kids a new ornament.  It usually has to do with something they are interested in that year.  These are some ornaments added to our collection this year.  Aaron received a Lego Darth Vader.  I don't know why I don't have a picture of it.

Each year it is a bit harder to find a special ornament for Rachel.  She likes peace signs and this one is glittery.

 My lead teacher, Lorraine, gave me this one for Christmas.  I almost cried because she had no idea how much I love my ornaments.  It has all of our names on it.

This snowman was given to me by one of my preschoolers, Lilah.

 Hannah has been in swimming lessons this year and really enjoys it.  Just like this bee, she never swims without her goggles.  I am looking forward to sitting by the pool this summer and reading a book without worrying about Hannah.

I am a co-leader with Maria for Rachel's Cadette Girl Scout troop.  She gave me this for Christmas.

 One of the other preschool teachers, Jessica, gave me this glass Christmas tree.  She bought it at an antique shop in Tennessee where her grandmother use to work.

The women of MVUMC have an annual ornament exchange.  I came home with this one.  I don't really like the snow, so this would NOT be my Christmas wish.  We moved south to get away from the white stuff.

I smiled thinking about reliving memories each year as we unpack these new ornaments.

The Christmas S.O.C.C.E.R. Team

The kids at our church put on a Christmas musical this year.  It was called The Christmas S.O.C.C.E.R Team.  S.O.C.C.E.R. stands for the Society of Christmas Carolers Emergency Rescue.  The story is about a group of soccer players who mistakenly show up for try-outs for the S.O.C.C.E.R.  The S.O.C.C.E.R. is made up of geezers who are on a mission to save traditional Christmas carols.  Because their was an old geezer choir, the parents of kids in the play were asked if they would like to participate.  Not being one to miss out on a little fun and also being willing to make a fool out of myself for my kids, I joined in.  It was SO...MUCH...FUN!




Rachel, Aaron and Molly at rehearsal.



Stan and Chrissy showing us all how it is done.

Jody and Terri

Aaron and Hannah

Molly, Montana, Galen and Rachel before the show.  Montana actually performed a clogging routine during the show and Galen was checking out her taps on the bottom of her shoes.

Jody in character.

Ms. Tracie all decked out.  She was really in character as she was putting copies of the script she had blown up so she could see in a binder.  Ha!

 Hannah and Jody

The cast of kids...Aaron...third from left, Matthew, Adrienne,  Rachel...fifth from right, Galen, Montana, Hannah and Molly...what a great group of performers!

Aaron and Rachel both had lead rolls.  They memorized their lines and weren't afraid at all to strut their stuff.  Hannah sang with the kids and had a Bible verse to recite at the end.  She was given another rather long verse the night before the performance because one of the other younger kids backed out.  She rocked it.  I couldn't believe how quickly she memorized it. 

I hope Mr. Adam and Ms. Rebecca will spearhead another youth drama soon!

Hannah's Homework

Hannah's class was assigned to write a summary of what they did over Thanksgiving Break.  I thought Hannah summed it up well.  I will try not to edit as I type.

During Thanksgiving break I went to  Kentucky to see my cousins.  It was a long drive to their house.  When we got there I went in my cousin Noelle's room.  I climbed into Noelle's top bunk and looked down at the floor then I hopd on to her bottom bunk.  Night time came soon so we all played a little big planet untill bed time.  The next day Rachel and Lori made breakfast bureedos.  After we ate I went to go play little big planet.  Later Lori and Rachel took us to the park and we got very muddy.  On Thursday I helped my mom make sausage stuffing.  Soon it was time for Thanksgiving dinner.  My favorite foods were the cranberry sauce and baked pinapple.  About one hour later it was time for bed.  In the morning like usual I went to play little big planet and get breakfast.  After that the dads took us black frida shoping.  I bought sanitizer, a filterd water bottle, and a flash drive.  after shoping I played marbles Rachel won.  Then it was time for the bonfire.  That night all of the kids stayed up all night watching full house.  The next morning it was time to go.  We said bye and went home.

What Time Is It?

According to the clock on the mantle, it is 6:00 in the morning.  This may sound early, but for seasoned Black Friday shoppers who have been out the door at 4:30 in the morning in years past, this is a late start.   I think last year was the year that Shannon and I decided we were too old to make it out the door at 4:30 just to watch the crazy people.   

We usually have a list of things we would like to find, but we don't fight for the items.  There is something about pulling into the store parking lot and not seeing a parking spot in sight, seeing the line of people down the sidewalk waiting to get in the building, walking to the back of the store to find the end of the line, standing in line with my arms loaded because there are no available carts, the lack of feeling in my arms from holding that stuff and the ache when I can finally put my stuff down...that is loads of fun and makes me smile.  Crazy, I know.

This year many of the stores opened at midnight or earlier on Thanksgiving Day so there weren't any over crowded parking lots or lines at our first couple of stops.  As for me, I am not going to spend Thanksgiving Day shopping.  We have so much fun together.  There may come a day when none of my kids are "home" for Thanksgiving, but for now they are and I love the memories we make when we are together as a family and with friends.  I also hate that the retailers have become so greedy their employees not only have to work the day after Thanksgiving, but now on Thanksgiving Day.  Sad.  We talked to one lady who works at one of the stores and she had been there since 11:00 pm on Thanksgiving night.  She was scheduled to work until 11:00 a.m.  Jobs are hard to come by these days, so I'm sure some of the employees are happy to have the hours, but where do we draw the line?

Most days I wouldn't miss the crowds, but on this day I did.

I managed to make a very small dent in my Christmas shopping and as much as I love the thrill of Black Friday, I do not enjoy the rest of the shopping season.

You Speak LEGO?

Aaron has always been extra excited when he found out Uncle Brian would be part of the Thanksgiving celebration.  Brian is super kind to all the kids, but I never quite knew why Aaron felt that special bond until...I realized they both speak the same language.

After dinner, Brian was showing Aaron pictures of a LEGO convention he and Cynthia had attended.  Aaron was in his element.  Little did Brian know this would lead to a two hour period of Aaron following him around talking about LEGOs. 

Here is a portion of the conversation that was overheard...

Aaron: I used one of those grey cylinder things and put it on another grey cylinder and put that on another grey cylinder.

Brian:  Oh, yeah.  The one with the four things.

Aaron:  Yes.

Me:  (Laughing to Cynthia)  They speak LEGO.

Brian was nice enough to show Aaron a website where he could construct his own LEGO design and then order it as a kit.

We Speak In Tongues

Not really.  And if you speak in tongues, please don't be offended...more power to ya.

We arrived at Doug and Shannon's for our annual Thanksgiving get-together yesterday afternoon.  The laughs start as soon as we get out of the car and don't stop.

Shannon surprised me with a scrapbook she had made of our past Thanksgivings together.  Beautiful!!  It is one of the BEST GIFTS EVER!

When it comes time to get all the kiddos down, we do a joint pray and tuck.  If the adults sit in the hallway, we can see in both of the girls' rooms.  Aaron is on an air mattress in the hallway this year.  We follow the Simpsons' prayer because the Ray "Nice Things" just takes way too long with 11 people.  They do Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.  At the end they add, "God bless Mom, Dad, Lori, Noelle and all of our loved ones."  Of course, they add the names of whoever else is in the house before they get to "all of our loved ones."  This is where we are thankful that God has a sense of humor because we all start with our own family...out loud...at the same time.  The names fly and we have Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Brian here, too.  It ends in lots of giggles and I love it!! 

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

Our church youth group is holding its annual chili cook-off today.  I am contributing a pot of chili, but it isn't an award winning recipe.  My friend is in charge of the cook-off and needed some more chili so there is plenty to feed everyone.  I said I would make a pot.

However, there is also a dessert competition.  I made a...

Pumpkin Pound Cake and...

Apple Bars.

When we lived in Great Lakes, Rachel and her friend, Anna, had many playdates.  One day Rachel came home and said, "Ms. Jen is always baking."  Jen loves to bake and that was and is a very true statement.  If you ever find yourself in northern Illinois, stop by her house and see what is waiting.  You won't be disappointed.

Forget Betty Crocker, I was Jen last night.  Flour was flying, every measuring cup was dirty and my house smelled yummy!

Jen Locklear, when you read this, know that I thought of you as I rolled out the homemade crust and let Hannah help me cut up the apples for those apple bars.  I know that you put love into everything you make for your family and friends and as I type this and think about your sweet spirit and the blessing of your friendship, I have tears in my eyes.  Miss you like crazy my dear friend!!

A Candy Corn Witch, A Navy Seal, A Lady GaGa Trash Bag and A Scarecrow

I'm pretty certain that "Candy Corn Witch" and "Navy Seal" have made the title of the Halloween post before.  However, I am not going to argue with kids who want to recycle Halloween costumes.

Aaron decided he wanted to be a Navy Seal again because he gave his friend, Coleman, a set of Navy cammies for his birthday and they could match.

Hannah was going to be a character from a movie called Legally Blonde and carry Holly in a purse because the main character has a chihuahua.  A couple weeks before Halloween she decided she wanted to wear one of Rachel's old costumes.  I was glad because I really didn't want to take Holly trick-or-treating with us.

A few weeks ago Rachel went on a three day field trip to Jekyll Island with the science class from school.  One of her friends, Roxie, didn't pack a rain poncho so when it started raining the teacher made one from a garbage bag.  The girls thought that was hilarious, so they decided to wear garbage bags for Halloween.  One of the girls decided that Lady Gaga would dress them up with yellow caution tape.  Since they couldn't find yellow caution tape, they just used duct tape.  Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous.  However, I didn't say anything.  It wasn't a scary costume (at least monster scary) and they were having fun.

I have always dressed up with the kids.  For many years I have worn my pumpkin costume.  My thought was that the kids would look back and think it was cool that their mom always dressed up with them, but Hannah just can't figure out why I would want to be "the same ol' boring pumpkin every year."  For Hannah's sake, I decided to find a new costume.  I thought a scarecrow would be fun.  I hot glued on some patches and straw, used a hat from Hannah's safari themed birthday party a few years ago and painted my face.  To Rachel's horror, I wore my costume to pick her up in carpool.

Aaron went to Coleman's house so they could go trick-or-treating together.

Sarah was trying to get a picture of them together and told them to act like they liked each other so they pretended like they were going to kiss.  They were mortified that Sarah actually took the picture.  This will haunt them for years to come.

Chooga Chooga Choo Choo

The kids and I went on a train ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains with a group from our church.  It was a beautiful fall day and we had lots of fun.

Dee, a church member who worked with the kids when we first started at the church and who planned the train ride, carpooled with us.  We ended up taking another lady from church named Susan.  I had met her before and am FB "friends" but didn't know her very well.  It was nice to get to chat with her on the way there and back.  Adrienne also came along.

Dee asked if she could borrow my kids for a minute.  This is what she had them do.

Then we went to lunch.  We found this restaurant.  I the name was New Orleans something or other.  The inside was very quaint with dining room furniture one might find in a home.  We were seated by the fireplace.  We thought it was an old home, but when we asked we found out it was actually built about eight years ago, but was made to look like an old home as to fit into the town.

I got brave and ordered a Gator Tail Po' Boy.  It tasted like dark meat chicken, but a bit more gamey.  I didn't care for the sauce.  I can say, "I have eaten gator."

Aaron and Hannah are big fans of a television show called, "Finding Bigfoot."  One of the episodes was taped in north Georgia, so Aaron thought he might spot a Bigfoot on the trip.  We were all laughing when someone dressed as a Yeti for the Halloween weekend and Aaron got his picture made.  We are told it is rare to spot a Bigfoot, but it isn't even heard of to spot a Yeti in north Georgia.  Ha, ha!

Here are the kids in front of our rail car.  We chose the open air car.  There are no windows and the seats face the sides of the car.  The seats in the enclosed cars face the front of the train.

Here's one with the kids, Dee, Adrienne and Chad.  Chad came along with his grandparents, but they were riding in one of the enclosed cars.  We thought it would be fun to let him ride with the kids.  They all enjoyed some hot chocolate at the beginning of the ride.

This is a spot on the river along the ride.  There are rocks where the water makes a "V."  They were placed there by Native Americans about 500 years ago.  Fish would get trapped and caught in nets.

When the train reached the destination we walked around a little town and shopped.  Dee found these adorable little hats and they were only $5.00.  She bought one for herself and Hannah.

Rachel is being silly.

We didn't spot any real bears, but Aaron is doing his best impression.

As we were walking, we saw signs for fried Oreos!  Really!?!?!?  They looked like a cream puff covered in powdered sugar.  I had a bite of Rachel's.  It was of course very rich and very tasty.  Here Rachel and Adrienne are enjoying theirs.

Hannah and Aaron getting in on the fried Oreos.

Hannah wanted me to take her picture with the "creepy Indian."  We left this shop and when we got on the train, Dee had candy for the kids from the shop owner.  She asked Dee if she knew us and wanted the kids to have candy because they were so well behaved in the store!!



Rachel with another statue in the store.

We returned to the train depot at the beginning of the line and checked out the gift shop.  Then we went to one of the local stores and bought some fudge.  We were all exhausted, but it was a great day.  I hope we can go back again.

Another Year of Scouting

The girls had their Girl Scout Investiture. Rachel is a Cadette and in her eighth year of scouting. Hannah is a Brownie and in her third year.

The Cadettes wanted to do a skit for the Investiture.  They wrote one about a troop of Girl Scouts who talk a girl at their school into joining their troop.  The girl at first thinks Girl Scouts is just selling cookies and camping, but the girls explain that they also support the community through service projects and learn life skills.  They do a great job at writing and performing the skits.  They are practicing the skit in this picture.

More practicing.

This a good picture of all the Cadettes...Paola, Maggie, Maria, Rachel, Olivia and Brooke.

Rachel and a few other scouts leading the troop in a song to keep them busy before the ceremony began.

Our favorite and cutest Brownie, Hannah.

The Brownies were also doing a skit and Hannah is showing her script.

She is wearing the scarf in this picture.  She was a little old lady.

The Cadettes performing their skit.

The Brownies singing a song.  Hannah is in about the middle in an off white shirt and sash.

The girls really enjoying Girl Scouts.  When the entire troop is together, I can tell how much the Cadettes have learned through the years.  I am so proud of my Girl Scouts!