Thanksgiving?!

I found these pictures on my phone!  They were taken during our trip back to NC for Thanksgiving.  We took the kiddos to a park in Cary near Jody's Mom's house and we were able to see some friends!  Unfortunately these are the ONLY pictures I took on Thanksgiving, I forgot our good camera?!

We did visit family and had Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house, but of course no pictures :(  If I find any I'll post them :)

Delays :)

I have lost half my Christmas cards?!  Yes I know, "what?"  I ordered my Christmas cards a few months before Christmas, had them addressed and ready to mail a week before Christmas.  Stopped by the post office a few times(craziness plus kiddos), the last time being the Friday before (1 week out) from Christmas, couldn't get them mailed out so I put them in the box that they were shipped in and stuck them in the car so I could mail them when we got to NC.  I forgot all about them being in the car, buried under stuff and Christmas presents, so they didn't get mailed out!  They never left the car or we don't remember taking them out of the car?!  When we got home from NC and unpacked the car we found the box, yippee!  I put them aside so I would remember to mail them in time for everyone to get them before Christmas...I got to the post office bought all the stamps (hundreds) got home and started stamping them.  It was then I realized half were missing!!!  Seriously?!  So since then we've been searching and searching the entire house and trash (luckily it comes tomorrow) for the missing cards.  The bad thing is they are not in alphabetical or any type of order?!  So today we decided to go back through my Christmas card list and check the ones I have and order new cards for the missing families!!!  So, if you receive a Christmas card from us in the next few days I'm sorry they are so late, but there was a great reason!  And if you have yet to receive a card from us and normally do, please be patient as we order new cards and get them out!!!  Jody and I laughed at someone who tweeted about throwing all their Christmas cards away at a Long John Silvers on a roadtrip to their families house for Christmas! HA!

We are still alive!

It's been about 2 weeks since I've blogged, wowza!  A lot has happened and we've been super busy!  No my CHRISTMAS cards have not been mailed out?!  I went twice to the post office before we left for NC, but man the lines + 4 kiddos = no mailing!  I think I'll send Jody today to get them out, so sorry, I am usually really good about getting them out each year and way before Christmas ;)

We headed to Charleston, SC the Saturday before Christmas for a wedding, then onto NC, where we did Christmas with my parents & brothers then Jody's Mom, were able to see extended family & a few friends and my Dad ended up in the hospital!  I did take some pictures while we were back!  Oh and did I mention we had a WHITE Christmas here in GEORGIA!!!  The last Christmas snowfall here was in 1882, and the ground is still white as I type :)  We hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!  We were able to start new traditions with out kiddos this year, I'll blog later!

Christmas Cards

One thing I LOVE about the Christmas season is Christmas Cards!  We love receiving them in the mail, seeing all the pictures and reading the letters about the year from our friends and families!  As I've gotten older, less and less people write letters and send Christmas cards, I fell like it's becoming a lost art (if you'd call it art)!  There's always the excuse about cards being too expensive or I don't have time...we send out a couple hundred Christmas cards every year so I know the amount of money, time and energy it is to do them, but it is so worth it!  I encourage you if you are on the fence about Christmas Cards-whether or not to do them-go ahead, forge ahead and send them!  

As soon as the fall season is upon us I look for opportunities for a Christmas card picture, with 4 kiddos you never know!  I always order my cards months in advance, so I have time to work on them and you get such great deals ordering them so far out :)  This year I've had them since October and started addressing them in November, and no they have not yet been mailed!  Now there are "those" critics that say "who cares about Sally, Bob & Pete, how old they are and all their accomplishments", but I want to know how people are doing, what has been going on in their lives and what's in store for their future!  There was a year a few years ago I decided not to do a Christmas letter and boy we heard it!  So many people said they enjoyed the picture but they didn't get a letter or we must have forgotten to put one in the envelope?!  This year I'm doing something a little different, so we'll see how it goes!  Until then, we're expecting to receive a Christmas Card from everyone reading this blog!  Just kidding, however we would LOVE to receive one from you to see how you are doing and what 2010 has brought you and your family!!!  I thought you would enjoy a few Christmas Pictures from our past, I couldn't find the one from 2003, the year Emma was born, if I find it I'll post it :)

2004

2005 (I was pregnant with Lizzy)

2006

2007

2008 (I was pregnant with Jack)

2009

Thanksgiving

I forgot to finish my blog post about Thanksgiving!  Although we got to NC later than we had planned, we got there safe and with no more car issues :)  We had a great time visiting family and even were able to see a few friends while we were in!  Sorry if we weren't able to see you while we were there, these trips are very short and it's hard to see everyone!  We LOVE where we are in Georgia, but this year has been challenging being away from all of our family!  We are very thankful that we live close enough to be able to drive to either North Carolina or Tennessee to see family for a short trip or extended stay!  We are looking forward to starting new traditions with our kiddos over Christmas and New Years here in Georgia!!!

Can you believe I only took one picture the entire week we were in for Thanksgiving?  Craziness, especially since we had both cameras, the video camera and our Droids with cameras!  I have a ton of pictures to post of the kiddos Christmas Angel Brunch, Kids Roc Choir Performance, Joyful Noise Choir and Kennesaw Christmas Parade as well as a few Christmas parties we've attended!  Oh and there will be a guest poster in the next few days, so be on the lookout :)  Until then, Happy Thursday!!!

I couldn't help myself...

I elfed the grandkiddoa, click HERE to see :)

Crazies

Last weekend was crazy for us, it seems like it's always crazy though!  Friday we realized our Suburban needed a new hose, there had been a noise, Jody added fluid to the power steering and about a week later the noise was back.  Jody checked the fluid & it was almost gone, yikes?!  He realized the power steering hose had a leak.  Although it wasn't "broken" the Suburban is a very large vehicle and neither of us felt comfortable driving it (we could have kept adding fluid) without it being fixed and the thought of it losing control on 85, wowza!  Jody went and bought the hose and to make a long story short it also ended up needing a power steering pump too.  Jody is pretty handy when it comes to fixing our cars and has saved us so much money being able to fix things himself.  But after looking online he realized it was a large job (lots to take apart in addition to what he already had taken off) and with us leaving for North Carolina Monday morning it needed to get fixed.  So, the Burb had to be towed to a nearby mechanic, which left our family of 6 with Jody's 1972 Volkswagen Beetle!  


We had parents night out at church Friday evening, Jody & I had been looking forward to going to  movie and using a giftcard we had gotten a few months ago and our kiddos were so excited to go hang out at church with their friends (so thankful for that) so we piled in and drove the 4 miles to church and dropped off the kiddos!  Jody and I were able to relax and enjoy a movie, not really because we ended up seeing "Unstoppable", a super intense on the edge of your seat movie!  We ended up seeing it only because we had to be back to pick up our kiddos and it was the only one that fit in the time frame!  It had some language, but overall a good movie.  


Saturday morning we got the house ready for our trip, laundry, cleaning, organizing, etc.  I ALWAYS leave my house clean so when we come home I don't have a mess to clean up in addition to all the laundry!  We were hoping the car would be fixed by Saturday evening, but no luck.  Sunday morning we once again piled the 6 of us in the VW and off we went.  Came home changed clothes for the annual KFBC (Student) Turkey Bowl-I even played flag football, no one gives me credit for anything!  Then home to change again, we were not anticipating this change of clothes and the kiddos ended up getting the fastest bath they've ever had (they were filthy and disgusting from playing in a field and dirt while the games were going on)!  Then back to church for our Thanksgiving dinner!  Thankfully I had prepared my food ahead of time Saturday and was able to warm it up before the dinner!  We had a great time with our church family enjoying a huge Thanksgiving dinner!  We had so many people we had to split up in the fellowship hall and up in our student center!  All in all I believe we had about 400 people!  Then home and in bed, our Suburban still wasn't fixed :(  Monday morning we received a call from the mechanic that the Burb should be fixed by lunch time, what a relief (we had originally planned on leaving early Monday morning).  We had everything packed up and in a pile in our mud room, house was cleaned and decided to watch a few movies to keep the kiddos busy while we were waiting.  We got the call that the Burb was ready, Jody picked it up, came home loaded everything in the Burb, said bye to Jakey (our Border Collie) and off we went on our 7 hour journey to North Carolina!

Operation Christmas Child!

I'm sure most of you have heard of Operation Christmas Child!  For those of you who have not, I'll direct you to Samaritan's Purse, the organization that created Operation Christmas Child, by clicking HERE :)  We've had the opportunity to pack a shoebox for each of our kiddos for a few years now, I looked back at my blog to see if I could find previous posts, and for some reason I can't find any?!  I know I've taken pictures of the shoeboxes every year, so as soon as I find them I'll post them :)

One thing we are always trying to teach our kiddos is to serve others, especially around The Holidays when the world screams it's all about you!  People by nature are selfish, it's our job as parents to teach our children it's not always about them (once they are old enough to understand :).  The older our kiddos get, the more we realize how important this is becoming!  Operation Christmas Child is a tangible way for our kiddos to serve by giving to other children less fortunate.  It also gives us the opportunity to teach them about why we serve and give to others, to be more like Christ in everything we do!  

Each child gets a shoebox for their age & gender, we go to the store (I also pick up things throughout the year we can use), pick up items that they would like to give (age appropriate), pack them up and send them off.  Our girls LOVE picking out items for their "girl"...

Some items we sent were jump ropes, socks, hair bows, lip gloss, stuffed animal, bubbles, markers, pens, paper, small purse and other "girly" things.  

Jack especially LOVED picking out all the "boy" stuff, but not so much when we had to put all the things in the box!  In Jack's box we sent toy balls, cars, stuffed animal, football, paper & pens and other various "boy" things! 

Something new this year to Operation Christmas Child is a way to track your box!  Every year we write a little note & send a picture with our boxes, we've never gotten a response back, but this year we can track where the box ends up!  Just another way for our kiddos to see their boxes are being sent to "real" girls/boy and to remind them to pray for those little girls and boy!

Today starts of National Collection Week, so it's not too late!  I strongly encourage you if you haven't already packed a box for Operation Christmas Child, today is the day!    There are collection sites all over the place, so it's convenient too!  Go to Samaritans Purse for more information and directions!

*******UPDATE**********

Here's a shot of the kiddos in 2008 with their shoeboxes!!!

Halloween 2010

We decided NOT to let the kiddos pick out their own costumes this year, every year it's fairies or princesses or frilly girly stuff!  Jody really wanted to do Peanuts for him & I and then the entire family!  

Anna as Patty

Emma as Lila

Lizzy as Sally

Jack as Linus minus the blanket

Linus with his blanket

Jody as Charlie Brown :)  I was Lucy, but didn't get a picture of myself!  

Sunday evening we had Trunk of Treats at our church.  Basically people volunteer to decorate their "trunks" in a theme and hand out candy in our parking lot!  We have done this at the YMCA since Emma was a baby so both Jody & I volunteered to each do a trunk!  The students decided to decorate Jody's VW and I forgot to get a picture of it :(  Since we were the Peanuts characters what better theme than "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"for the burb! We chose to keep it pretty simple...

Linus in the Pumpkin Patch

The moon with Snoopy's shadow

The Pumpkin Patch

Handing out candy to the kiddos!!!  Once we got home it was too late to go Trick or Treating around our neighborhood, but the kiddos were so excited to hand out candy to their friends and fellow trick-or-treaters!

They stood at the door and waited for someone to walk up and squeeled & jumped around when anyone looked like they may be walking to our house!

And Linus enjoyed helping himself to the candy :)

Pumpkin Carvin' Livingston Style

Saturday we decided to let the kiddos carve their pumpkins!  This was the first time we have carved them as a family!  Here are the before pictures of their pumpkins...

Lizzy looks creepy here!

Taking out the "guts" was NOT fun for the girls...

Jack enjoyed just "sweeping" the leaves!

Don't worry they were using "my safe cutter" as the knife!

Emma's pumpkin-she drew the face all by herself!

Anna's Pumpkin

Lizzy's Pumpkin-she wouldn't take a picture with it!

Jack's Pumpkin!  We decided to use the stick in on his rather than carving it!

The finished Pumpkins!

All a glow :)

On the front porch for all to see!!!