Christmas Traditions..

A couple of days ago, I woke up and make the kids a typical breakfast of pancakes and sausage, and then made the decision, that we were going to decorate the tree.

I streamed in some Christmas Music off the computer, a great station that plays all kinds of Christmas songs, old and new, and then intermixes stories in there.

And I watched...

I watched each child take out their ornament from previous years and react in utter excitement to see it again. They talked about it, why the liked it or what it means to them.
I listed to them share stories with eachother about the ornaments.

I watched Matt intently put the candy garland around the tree, and I watched Anna try to eat it.

The tree is heavily ornamented in certain areas, that would be at Jake and Emma height. And well the bottom of the tree has nothing due to Anna and Mr. Darcy being able to get it.

We are only doing one tree this year, so it has two trees worth of ornaments on it. Yet it still looks beautiful.

A few ornaments were broken during the process, but it was easily cleaned up.

That night I watched 4 little bodies stick their heads under the tree and look up from the bottom, at the reflections of light off the ornaments. It was almost serile~for about 30 seconds! :)

One of our traditions is that each year, each child gets an ornament from mom and dad, that will go with them someday when they leave home, so they will have thier ornaments for thier first christmas tree as a new family.

Another tradition is that one night we will load up in the surburban and drive around neighborhoods looking at the light displays that other families have done. Usually we do a impromtu trip to Mickey D's or Wendy for an icy treat.

Of course Christmas Eve dinner with the family is always a blast.

Wayne and I save all our wrapping for Christmas Eve, we are usually up till 2-3am wrapping gifts. :)

Last year we went to Washingtons Crossing and watched the presentation they do. We will be doing that again this year, except we will be having an outdoor lunch in the park.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget the matching jammies on Christmas eve.

What are some of your traditions??

Some pics..

Bread..

So yesterday was National Bread Making Day..

After a long day, Ash and I deceide to make some bread after all the littles went to bed.

It was a 3 hour process, but the bread turned out delicious.

Jacob turns 9!!

Psalm 127:3Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
It's funny to think that 9 years ago, at 3:05pm on a Sunday, I gave birth to this 11 pound baby boy!! My delivery with Jacob was the easiest delivery I have ever had. God answered prayers by giving me this healthy, blond haired, blue eyed baby boy. Yes, I did pray specifically for all of those things.
I know the Lord has good works in store for Jacob! I love you son!!! :)

gift from mom and dad..

grandma & pop-pop special!! A new bike!!!

precious!!

the yummy cake!

Big Brother and HIS little sis!

My party girls!!! Jessica shared in Jacob's birth, and hopefully will someday have children of her own, If I didn't ruin it for her!

Columbus Weekend

After a long 4 day weekend away, we are home recuperating from our family time out in Pa. We had a wonderful time with family and friends, a great time of fellowship and enjoying God's beauty.
There is something about the sweet air in Pa. that just makes my heart melt, I love viewing all the clothes lines, that are full of dresses, shirts, and slacks from the Amish men and women.
The clothesline seems to be a reminder to me of how grateful I am of the family that God has blessed me with. To hang each item and be reminded of whose it is, and flooded with memories of what happened when they were wearing it.

I am so grateful to my Lord for my family. He has blessed me with five beautiful, rambunctious children who love him and seek him in their lives daily.

Is my life busy, yes it is! Is it stressful? At times Oh yeah! But am I ever so grateful to be the stay at home mommy to my blessings, I sure am.

Friends remind me of that when I'm whining about the loads of laundry or the floor being scattered with toys. All too soon this season of my life will pass, and I will once again have a spotless and quiet home. But for now, I am blessed by messes, and chaos!
Praising God for the opportunity to be the parent of His children!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Puddle Fun..

So after 3 days of rain last week, we had an Indian Summer day.
Emma and her bff from next door were enjoying this lovely day..by... puddle hoping. This was the last pic before baths that afternoon. Don't they look like they had some fun!
What I love about puddles...the are so inviting to children..it normally starts off as a "walk in the puddle" usually very slowly and they enjoy watching the water flow around their feet. And then it becomes a jump and some giggles, cause now were getting a little wet, Oh wait Mommy hasn't stopped me yet..Now it's an all out puddle war!!! The girls had a blast. They were completely soaked by the end, and needed tubs, but the smilies and laughter were so worth it!! Emma's denim skirt was so heavy that when she turned around we saw her plumber's crack! :)

Brianna sat first, Emma is trying to deciede if she wants to sit too!

This is the one who started it all!!!!

September 11.

My heart still aches for those who miss thier loved ones. And for those who gave thier life to help those in need.
Solemn day...

Sesame Place

On Tuesday afternoon, we were blessed by friends of ours with a trip to Sesame Place in Pa. Thank YOU Martin Family!!!! It was the first time we had gone with all the kids!! Can I just tell you they LOVED it!!! Below Miss Anna is trying to catch the small fountain that spurts up water. Emma splashing around!!

My good buddy Janet and little Julianna (14 days old) And another successful homebirth!! YEA!!!

The Daddies!!!

Ash and her buddy Ernie!

Momma, Daddy and Belly, what you can't see is that she was purposely holding her legs up and floating while we were holding her hands!! It was too cute!!

Jake and Joshua!!

Daddy and Bells!

Jacquline!

Family Pic!! Matt is missing b/c he's not a ride person, and he wasn't feeling well the day we went, so he stayed home with Grandma.

The end of the night!! Can you tell she had fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yard Sale..

Our yard sale venture went well. 4 of us put this thing on. Below is all Kim's junk. Except for the neato waterslide, that's mine..that I tried to off, but it didn't go!

One of my bestest buddies, Shanna and that's little Caleb I was there when she homebirthed him a little over a year ago!! More junk!!

Anna chillaxin by Grandma's stand!!

A larger view of it all!!! All those clothes are mine!! I have to be rid of them very soon. I hang on to stuff wwwwaaaayyyyy toooooo loooonnngggg!!!!!

It was a fun couple of day, believe it or not depending on which friends stopped by to see us we had as many as 30 kids there at some point. With me, Shanna and Kim there was at minimum 13 kids present.

Shanna has been blessed with a bigger home and a 1/2 acre of property, sooo really we didn't see the kids much. Shanna mil was there, and she made pb&js for lunch for all the kiddos and even had them in the yard exercising!!

The funny thing is Shanna's mil, my mom, and a close friend of Shanna's mil, had all worked together in Nursing for about 20 years. So they had a great time of catching up with each other and reminiscing of the past.

As far as money goes my mom made the most!!! I made $116.00! And the rest of the girls made a little over $100. a pieces as well I think. So it wasn't a huge money maker but we had a great time and a ton of fun!

Our Week thus far..

So we've spent a majority of the week getting all our crap ready for the MEGA, MONSTER, HUGE, MULTI_FAMILY yard sale this tomorrow and Friday at Shanna's.

Tonight we will move the last of the big stuff!!
I'm praying we sell some junk!!!

Today we are baking brownies, cookies, and muffins for the kids to sell tomorrow at thier stands!

I can't believe that amount of junk I have hidden in this house!!!

Hopefully after the yardsale I will have earned enough to pick up some school stuff that I need for the upcoming year.

I'll post some pictures later of all the goodies!

Banner..

yes, that my baby sleeping there!!! :)

So one of my partners in crime, made me a beautiful banner that I've hung on the wall above my bed, I also..in my yardsale digging have finally hung the sconces I bought ages ago. Here's some pics.

Tuesday Night Family Picnic...

Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

So I was craving some good old must have family time!! And I talked hubby into coming home, where we had EVERYTHING all ready and packed to do a charcole bbq in my absolute favorite park in the whole world, since I was 5! Whew! I have to tell you it was a wonderful evening! We got to the park at around 6pm, and left about 8:30pm. We even took Mr. Darcy with us!

First we played with Jake's new wireless helicopter! What fun that was! Then the boys ran in the field with Darcy, played on the swings. Daddy and I handled the bbq pit. Emma and Anna also played in the playground, and Ashley is trying her best to make bubble letters. :)

We did our evening bible reading there, and I just love communing with nature and reading scripture. :)


The helicopter stuck in the tree.

Everyone watching Jake fly it high!!

Anna Bella looking on at her siblings!

Daddy manning the bbq.

Table is all set!!

Our menu was: hot dogs, cheeseburgers, baked beans, green beans, pickles, ice tea and brownies for dessert.

The family!!

Aren't they cute?!?!

Psalms 127 3-5
children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

I am so blessed by my children! Each one of them last night uttered a sentiment to me as they made their way to bed.

Ashley"thanks for tonight love ya"

Matthe " that was fun tonight, thank you and I love you."

Jacob " I had a great time mom, thanks, love you nite."

Emma " we should do that a lot more mom, that was fun." lots of hugs and kisses.

Looking forward to more mid-week picnics! :)

Anna's Birthday

grabbing for more cake!!

covered from head to toes!!!

yummo!

WOW! It's hard to believe my baby is 1!!! Who said she could get sooo big, not me!! God has blessed me tremendously with her this past year. If it weren't for her big smiles, and giggles and coos, I don't know how I would have coped with some of the issues going on in our life. God knew what he was doing when he sent her to me!

She totally enjoyed her birthday cupcakes! I can't wait till her big party this weekend!!