Life as a Leach

You gotta love the Korean toddler singing "Hey Jude!" This just goes to show that the Beatles ARE the best band ever!! (as if there was every any doubt...) Katie, this one is for you!! :) *Rememeber to pause my playlist at the bottom of the blog before you hit play on the video! a href=" Young Hey Jude @ Yahoo! Video ">

I realized that I never blogged about our Christmas! Those pictures will be coming as well, but here are the highlights! Christmas Eve-day was spent at my grandmother's house, with a lot of people in a tiny house. It's always fun times! We then headed off to church (after a special delivery!) and Caleb did pretty well at the family service. He got a little tired of listening to Daddy speak, and decided that singing "Frosty the Snowman" quite loudly during his prayer would be more entertaining! :) Nothing like the pastor's kid causing a disturbance!! Matt had to stay for the late service, so we got our Slurpies in between. I also cashed the $10 I won on a scratch-off ticket given to me by one of my kids! We also did our other special delivery during that time. I headed home and played Santa setting up the toys, which was really fun! Christmas morning, Caleb actually slept in a bit and we went downstairs around 8 a.m. As he descended the stairs and saw all...

We got back from NC last night, and it is nice to be back into a routine again. I spent most of today doing laundry, putting toys and presents away, and hanging out with Caleb. Matt is out with the youth group tonight, so Caleb and I decided to make our own New Year's party! We popped some popcorn and watched the original Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns. I'll tell you, there is nothing better than having a two year old snuggle up next to you giggling as he sneaks popcorn when he thinks you aren't looking! He's a funny guy, that Caleb Boy! Okay, back to NC happenings! We got to Charlotte late Friday evening, so there wasn't really anything too interesting about that! The trip was rather uneventful, with the exception of Caleb reading ONE book for an hour and 15 minutes!! Saturday, we got together with Erin, Scott, and Emma, Susanne, Isaac, and Ezra and opened presents. Caleb had already gotten a great play kitchen from Grammy and Pop that he opened Christmas mo...

Movie - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (the original!!) Sweet - fudge, Muddy Buddies, peanut brittle Song - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear Tradition - Adopt-a-Family, Christmas lights awards, and Christmas Slurpies! Gift Received - Caleb (a few days late!) and my double rocker from Cracker Barrel (this was my birthday-Christmas present combined this year) Gift Given - The Wii I gave to Matt for Christmas last year--I pulled off the surprise! Meal - Our Christmas Eve potluck we have at my grandmother's every year. I like pot lucks because I get to choose what I want to eat. I am not a fan of lasagne!

Anyone who sings can appreciate the musical talent of these guys! This is pretty darn good if you ask me! :) The 12 Days of Christmas

Every year, we go to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. Her house is small, especially for 20+ adults and a bunch of kids, but we all manage to fit. We don't exchange gifts anymore with the adults, but the kids get gifts...and everyone gives Mommom something! We'll be leaving around 4:00, which is when I will be spreading a little Christmas cheer. As I've said before, we "adopt" a family every year. This could be a family that is a little down on their luck, or one who just needs to be shown a little love during the holidays. This year, we have two families. One has three boys and just moved into a new house, and the other is a mother/daughter whose husband/dad is in Iraq for the holidays. Both are friends of ours, so it was really fun to go shopping for them! We drop the items off on the front porch in secret so that they hopefully not know who it is. (Don't worry, neither of them have my blog address!) Matt and I feel strongly that it ...

I just got my new blog up and running to advertise my Scrabble pendants. My sister was wearing one today at the dentist and someone commented about it. Amy told them that I made them to sell at craft fairs, and the woman asked if I had a website because she'd like to buy some. DARN! So...at least this has a bunch of pictures and my contact information so that I can give people this address if that ever happens again! :) Right now, it's a lot of the same pictures that I have on this blog, but I will upload a bunch of new pictures on there as I get them.

I went to deliver a humongous order today...this involved two things I don't normally do: 1) deliver and 2) take the order without payment. These are two things I will never do again! The woman, who knew I was coming, said that she lost her check card yesterday so she couldn't get any cash...yesterday! She had my phone number and could have EASILY called me, but she didn't. So I drove 40 minutes out of my way (yes, I was already up there, but still!) to deliver pendants that she couldn't pay for. Grrrrrrr....so then I was like, well, I'm not going to be up here again tomorrow. She didn't even apologize for the inconvenience! I'm either going to meet her in PF or have her pick them up from Matt at the church on Tuesday. Either way, she's not getting anything without paying me what she owes me!!! So from now on, you must pay before you order....and you will get any special orders mailed to you! *sigh* live and learn!

Some of the pictures below of pendants have pictures of pendants on my floor. The linoleum in my kitchen is kind of marbled and is supposed to look kind of brownish gray...it's not dirt! My house has been neglected, but I'm not THAT bad!!! :)

My Scrabble pendants have been selling incredibly well!! To date, I have sold almost 100 pendants! That is amazing to me, considering that I have only been making them for a month and 1/2 and do not consider myself very crafty in general. I love doing it, and it makes me happy that people like what I make! I took them to school and set up a display in the teachers' lounge. I sold 21 in two days! It was very exciting! I had a couple of special orders that I am finishing up from that. My biggest sale was from a craft show. I had a special order for 13 pendants and 15 necklaces! Every time I talk to her, she adds more too! It is very, very exciting. Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to stay home after all...:P I don't think my house would stand for a full-time job making pendants. It has been feeling rather neglected recently!!

Don't worry, it's a term of endearment! I shamelessly put the address of my blog on all of our Christmas letters to try to increase my following to a whopping 10!! (Let's not go crazy now...) :) No, seriously, I thought that this might be a good way for some of our not-so-near-by family and friends to see what we are up to throughout the year rather than waiting until Christmas to get the yearly review! So, if you're new to my blog, welcome! I hope you stick around and read about all of the exciting news of our family...stay tuned for my fantastic account of my bout with a nasty virus...are you on the edge of your seat??? :)

I got a pretty large Minnie Mouse in excellent condition from my treasure box at school. My intent was to give it to my Sara Bear, but Amy said that she already had 3. Let's just say it's a good thing I didn't! Caleb promptly started dancing with Minnie and singing Jingle Bells to her. Then, he put her in a chair and started getting her comfy. He even covered her up with my scarf as a blanket! He asked her if she wanted any dinner, and continued to play cheerfully with Miss Minnie until dinner. During dinner, he started to lean over with his sippy cup toward her chair. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing, until I realized that he was offering Minnie a drink of his milk! I started laughing even more when he held out a piece of quesadilla to her! It only got worse when Becky snapped it right out of Caleb's hand! He burst into tears, yelling, "No! No! For Minnie!!" He was pretty upset, but all I could do was laugh! Ahhhh....to be 2 aga...

Here is the e-version of the Christmas letter we WILL be sending out this week (We WILL! We WILL!!!) I love Christmas!! December 2008 Dear Family and Friends, What a busy year it has been! It is overwhelming to think about all that has happened in the last year. We have enjoyed a lot of time together as a little family, worked really hard, and taken on some new challenges! Shortly after last year’s Christmas letter was written, we received some very exciting news! After several months of interviews and anxious waiting, Matt accepted a position as Pastor to Youth at Grace Brethren Church of Calvert County on January 10th. This is the church where we both grew up and where were married, so we were thrilled to be “home.” Leaving Grace Chapel was not easy for us, however. We’d really come to love the people there and still keep in touch with many of them on a regular basis. We were not looking to go anywhere, but this position rather “fell in our laps,” if you will. We...

Wednesday was my mom's birthday. Because my grandmother really can't go anywhere, we brought dinner to their house. Everything was fine, the kids were having a grand old time playing, and I was standing in the kitchen talking to my mom. Caleb was in the living room playing with my dad. All of the sudden, I heard a scream and then he just started wailing. I knew immediately what it was...Caleb had touched the pellet stove. I was a little nervous about it being on, but when we got there I took him over to it and had a long talk about how it was hot and that he couldn't touch it. There was a bench in front kind of blocking it. He repeated "hot" and is usually good about listening with things like that. Apparently, he went around to the side to get the little Boxer statue that he loves so much. As he bent down to get it, he put a hand out to steady himself...ouch! My dad rushed him into the kitchen and we started to run his hand under lukewarm water. He was j...

On Friday, we were over at the Livingston's house for a bonfire (as mentioned in a previous post.) Devin's dog, Rosco, is really friendly and Caleb is quite the dog lover. Rosco was eating up all of the attention he was getting from his little friend, and Caleb was happy to give it! I was watching in amusement as Caleb had a lengthy conversation with Rosco when he found a cool leaf on the ground. He picked it up and showed to the dog for him to admire. Rosco loved it so much that he decided it might be tasty---so he ate it! Well, poor Caleb stared in shock at him for a minute before bursting into tears and screaming, "No, No, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" The crisis was somewhat averted when I found Caleb an equally amazing leaf...but he sure didn't show this one to Rosco! :)