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!

A few words this Wednesday...A clean room

For a short while!  

Complete with a few new toys from Christmas and minus a few toys (I'll post later about)...

Studious Student

I jut want to brag on my hubby for just a minute.  This past fall he started taking classes at Liberty University Online!  He decided to take a full load (4 classes) to try to get his school knocked out as quick as possible.  He spent many fridays & saturdays and week nights (after the kiddos were put to bed) working on schoolwork, he even went to bed well before me most nights!  It was rough for all of us, but he worked really hard!  Not only was he working full-time at the church, in school full-time, juggling 4 kiddos and a wife, but he made all A's this semester and has a 4.0 gpa!!!  We are so proud of him!!!

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

"This is what we do"...

These girls volunteered to watch our kiddos Friday night so Jody & I could attend our Sunday School Leader Christmas Party!  We had fun and it looks like they did to :)  When we got home they had made and edited this video for us on our Mac!!!

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!!!

Wordless Wednesday...Our Middles

Shot & a band-aid

So last week was a doozie for our family-extended and immediate.  Monday morning Anna woke up with a stomach bug, by Monday evening she was feeling much better and just before bedtime she was able to keep down a banana and some Pedialyte.  Wednesday morning Lizzy woke up with the same stomach bug and the same thing, was feeling much better by dinnertime :(  We kept all the kiddos home from church Wednesday just in case the other 2 would come down with it later on in the week thus exposing all their friends to it!  My Mom was also having surgery in North Carolina at UNC Chapel Hill, this was the second surgery to try to fix heart palpatations.  The surgery for my Mom didn't go exactly as the doctors had planned and she ended up in ICU with a temporary pacemaker, talk about scary for me here in Georgia!  Jody & I seriously talked about me going back once we got the word Wednesday, but since my kiddos had been sick I couldn't risk going back in case I was carrying the stomach bug germs.  Thursday morning Lizzy woke up with a fever and then Friday Jack had a fever.  It was a tough couple of days with me being stuck inside the house with sick kiddos and wanting to be in NC with my Mom, but God is good!!!  Friday my Mom had a permanent pacemaker put in and she was able to go home Saturday!  She has a few weeks at home recovering from the surgery and some adjusting with the pacemaker, but we are so thankful she is doing well!!!  The kiddos had so many questions about Wanka and were so concerned with how she was doing, praying for her at mealtimes, bedtime and any other time they thought of her!  Lizzy wants to see "the shot & band-aid" they gave her-her version of surgery :)  

So for today I'm taking care of my house, picking up after this crazy week and weekend...Saturday we had a Christmas Angel Breakfast at church (where the girls performed some songs from their musicals & choir), then the Kennesaw Christmas Parade, Emma had her first limo ride that evening and the girls had their Christmas musical & choir performance yesterday!  I'll try to catch up later on this week from Thanksgiving, yikes?!  Have a great Monday :)

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!