Christmas 2010!!!

Christmas 2010! Where did the year go? I have NO idea - but this was the best Christmas EVER!!! Mostly due to the fact that there were no bed bugs (like in 2008) and I wasn't 8 months pregnant (like in 2009)! And the fact that we have this most adorable 11 month old living in our house - well - do I need to say more?!?! The above picture was taken Christmas Eve - the night before the ripping of the wrapping!
I have ALWAYS dreamed of having a banister full of stockings - this year my dream came true! Six wonderful stockings all in a row! As we were hanging them Andy made the comment that there was room for two more (ha, ha, ha!!!). He's so funny!

Christmas morning was so much fun! Sarah really enjoyed helping Drew with his gifts. Drew was a riot! He was quite taken with the fact that people were ripping paper. He LOVES ripping paper! As each kid was opening gifts he was stuck at the first one....
He was too wrapped up in investigating the paper :-)!!!!Each kid was pretty pleased with their gifts - especially Daniel with this new human body book. He has been asking for this book for years! The heart makes a beating sound, the digestive system gurgles, he thinks it's great! He'll even sit and listen to everything being read to him - even though he doesn't understand all of it - I think he'll be a doctor someday!This is the one gift Daniel was sent to his room for....he was a little put out with it and, as he has been doing A LOT lately, clearly stated it wasn't something he asked for and didn't want it! I informed him he didn't need any of it and could go to his room until he could be thankful for what he was getting. He didn't recall asking for the TAG reader this past summer. When Sarah and Matt showed him what it was - he was then thankful and thrilled with the gift! Matt was too fast at opening his gifts for me to get any shots!!! He's a teenager now and buying him gifts this year was a real challenge! But he was great about the different things he got - his favorite being "War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells! He's really into reading the classics - a shocker I know! I never thought this kid would actually ENJOY reading for pleasure!Drew is now 11 months old!!! WOW!!! He started crawling this past week and today started STANDING UP!!!! It's happening WAY too fast! The kids are having a hard time adjusting to his new found mobilness! He's into EVERYTHING!!!!! He got the above toy, Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway, from my mom and thought it was a good seat! He put himself in it! He is a riot! I can't believe in less than a month my baby will be one! So sad - but so glad he is FINALLY sleeping through the night - and it only took him 10 1/2 months! I love that sweet face!

Christmas Play!!

Usually, we just have the kids that attend our church sing a song for the four Sundays of advent and then a couple of songs for Christmas Eve. This year another woman that attends our church asked the "choir director" if she could put on a play. She wanted a big production - thankfully the choir director suggested she start small - VERY WISE MOVE! You see we only get a handful of "regulars" (and they are usually staff kids!). Often we get many kids from the neighborhood sporadically. Even today - the day of the play - we had new kids that had never been to a practice before today! But it was such a cute play and the kids did a fantastic job! It was the Christmas story centered around four different songs with different kids narrating.

Daniel played Joseph - and was mighty handsome! Sarah was a narrator and did a great job! My parents and Andy's parents attended the event and then came to the house for lunch. We had a great time visiting! Here are some pictures of the play!

It was so much fun helping out! I hope it becomes a regular part of our Christmas program!

WOW!

10 month old Drew!! He's all smiles!!!

I know.....it's been more than a month since I blogged! Life just carried me away. Who would have thought just adding one little person into the mix would take so much time! Plus we have been passing around a cold/ virus that has laid me up a day or two. I also had the adventure of taking Drew to CHOP's ER this past week. Nothing serious - he had developed what I thought were hives last weekend and weren't gone by Monday.

The offending hives - they were actually a lot darker and more purple/ red.

The pediatrician wanted to see him and low and behold there was quite a ruckus about them! They weren't your "typical" looking hives and five different doctors took a look at him. When no one could agree on what they were I was sent to the ER for blood work. We got to ER at 5 pm and didn't leave until 1:00 am. Drew was a real champ as they looked and prodded and took blood. The end result? HIVES! He had a virus that was releasing itself through hives. My firstborn does the same exact thing. I was glad that they were being cautious and tested for different things - better to be safe than sorry - but it sure was a long night!

School has been going full force and the kids have been really working hard. Last Friday we had the opportunity to go on a field trip with some other homeschoolers. We went to the Penn Museum at the University of Penn. It was great! Some of my favorite items were this solid and pure crystal ball. Amazing! It took years to create and is the second largest one in the world.

They have mummies and a sphinx and all kinds of neat old things! We had a really fun time and the kids were glad to get out of the classroom for a day of school! Daniel really loved the above tablet with hieroglyphics. He was just fascinated with all the objects found in the museum.

We are currently in the midst of decorating for Christmas. I got the living room thoroughly cleaned and the tree up - but we will decorate it as a family this Wednesday. Drew is a riot! Not quite sure what to make of this huge tree in his house! He is trying to crawl so it will be interesting to see what he does with a tree and crawling as I believe he will get the hang of it before Christmas is through. I will post pictures as soon as we are done! I love how our house looks all decorated with beautiful lights! I'm even putting a tree up in the schoolroom in hopes it will help "lighten" the attitudes that sometimes prevail during the school day!

Please continue to pray for my sister, Lisa. She will start her chemo treatments December 16th. She is going through the University of Penn Hospital for her treatment. They have a fantastic program and the best part is each patient is assigned a scheduler - that person makes all your appointments and deals with the details of treatment and tells the patient when to show up - Lisa has to make no phone calls or deal with getting things lined up at the right time or day. Such a relief to her and clears up her time to focus on getting well! They are sure she will be cancer free within one year. My prayer is that she draws closer to Christ throughout this year and learns to lean heavily upon Him. Thanks for praying!