On the 12th day of Christmas my secret friend gave to me...
12 ice cream drum sticks! then started to sing 'we wish you a Merry Christmas' and popped out from all over the place!
THE KNOWLES FAMILY!!!! from church.
they have a beautifully large family who all took turns making the neat tags and dropping off the gifts!
they thought for sure they were caught a few times- like when john went out to go to his parents house and the dad hid on the side of the house...
or when they thought i could see them....
i am really grateful for them and their example to my family.
i look at their family and think that those kids have no idea how lucky they are to have the parents they have! - what great examples they are, how much they are loved, and the parents are so happy. brother Knowles is Alex's seminary teacher, their daughter who is the same age as Jordan signed up to run cross country with Jordan so she would have a friend when she moved to our house and had to move schools, the mom was there for me when our baby died as such a great support having been through the same thing herself, one of their sons is in Shilo's primary class, and one of their daughters is in Chastin's primary class. i have looked to the mom many times for parenting advice in the last year, and i always walk away thinking how well thought out her answers are. as i had said before, they have inspired me to be a better person, and to do good for a family next year. they will never know how much fun it was for us, & i know it was for them.
they did admit that we are the HARDEST family ever to secret friend. and with us living on a hill and all the snow they actually WALKED to our house several days at 10-11pm!!!they too live in a very hilly neighborhood. i think i might have given up- but not the Knowles family! their teenager boys said it was no big deal! only a couple miles! IN THE SNOW mind you! i hate to say, but i don't think my teenage boy would have thought 'no big deal.'
john said he should have guessed- they are all runners- no wonder they were so fast!
THANK YOU KNOWLES FAMILY! you brought much joy to our family and i hope it brightened your holiday as well!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Caught in the act
If our secret giver is a blog reader I wanted to tell you that I DID see you! But not really! Without my glasses I saw you- and without them I can't see past the nose on the end of my FACE! You were so brave to still run it up to the door not knowing if we were watching. I screamed and giggled with delight like a little child, which made all 4 of my 'should be asleep at 11pm children' come running! I screamed at them to look the other way! Turn off the lights! No peeking out the bedroom windows! No looking what so ever!!!!!! And that's no easy task when your husband is just as bad as them! If you have ever done the 12 days of Christmas for a family you know that 1/2 the fun is not getting caught! And as much as I would really like to know and thank them, I know that that takes some joy from them, so we will just always wonder. But I do want to say THANKS! This has been fun! And we will all be sad when it's over.
On another note- on day 7 my secret friend gave to me ...
Seven swans a swimming in superb 7 -up! 7 origami swans tied to cherry 7-up.
Well once again it was late and all the kids had gone to bed, the dogs were barking and we were kinda keeping an eye out for our gift to arrive on the porch. I went upstairs to wrap presents, dogs were still barking, our neighbors were out at their car packing for a trip, so we just assumed that's what was causing them to go crazy.
I look out the window again and I see my neighbor outside walking back and forth in front of our house looking at the porch, he waves me out. I call to John who was downstairs to go with me.
We open the front door and there it was! Our day 7! I scoop it up in delight and say " it came!" and show it to John. { i think i might be even more excited than the kids!} The neighbor and his brother are asking what it is. I am so excited- reading the package and all, and talking over them, trying to explain the 12 days of Christmas to my Jehovah Witness neighbors that I barely heard him say he thought it was A GAS BOMB! What? I look up in surprise! A gas bomb I laugh! It's cherry 7 up!!!! He explains that he saw the 'guys' running away, saw something red in a bottle on our porch and thought 'well that's not right!' so he came to tell me!!!! I am still cracking up over that!!!!! A GAS BOMB!!!! hahahahahah!!!!!!
Oh that's funny!!!!!!!!
Well anyway John was asking who it was- what did they look like? The three guys start to talk and I yell over them and shake my head and tell them not to tell. WE don't want to know! Even if John thinks he wants to know.
What I do know is that they have inspired me to bring joy to another family. Although I might not be as creative as they are....
Goodnight.
P.S- I don't think our secret friend thought it would be so hard to 12 days of Christmas us.
1st of all we don't go to bed till really late
2nd my in laws live across the street and have their curtains open till the wee hours of morning
3rd there are 6 people who live here, someone is almost always in the living room
and 4th I NEVER close the curtains when it's Christmas time- all of our lights look so pretty, teenagers are less likely to mount my buck on my doe when the curtains are open, and the snow looks so pretty,
which leads me to # 5- it's freaking icy out there! I bet they never thought they would have a hard time getting to the door, let alone our street!
They are doing a great job with all of these things working against them!
On another note- on day 7 my secret friend gave to me ...
Seven swans a swimming in superb 7 -up! 7 origami swans tied to cherry 7-up.
Well once again it was late and all the kids had gone to bed, the dogs were barking and we were kinda keeping an eye out for our gift to arrive on the porch. I went upstairs to wrap presents, dogs were still barking, our neighbors were out at their car packing for a trip, so we just assumed that's what was causing them to go crazy.
I look out the window again and I see my neighbor outside walking back and forth in front of our house looking at the porch, he waves me out. I call to John who was downstairs to go with me.
We open the front door and there it was! Our day 7! I scoop it up in delight and say " it came!" and show it to John. { i think i might be even more excited than the kids!} The neighbor and his brother are asking what it is. I am so excited- reading the package and all, and talking over them, trying to explain the 12 days of Christmas to my Jehovah Witness neighbors that I barely heard him say he thought it was A GAS BOMB! What? I look up in surprise! A gas bomb I laugh! It's cherry 7 up!!!! He explains that he saw the 'guys' running away, saw something red in a bottle on our porch and thought 'well that's not right!' so he came to tell me!!!! I am still cracking up over that!!!!! A GAS BOMB!!!! hahahahahah!!!!!!
Oh that's funny!!!!!!!!
Well anyway John was asking who it was- what did they look like? The three guys start to talk and I yell over them and shake my head and tell them not to tell. WE don't want to know! Even if John thinks he wants to know.
What I do know is that they have inspired me to bring joy to another family. Although I might not be as creative as they are....
Goodnight.
P.S- I don't think our secret friend thought it would be so hard to 12 days of Christmas us.
1st of all we don't go to bed till really late
2nd my in laws live across the street and have their curtains open till the wee hours of morning
3rd there are 6 people who live here, someone is almost always in the living room
and 4th I NEVER close the curtains when it's Christmas time- all of our lights look so pretty, teenagers are less likely to mount my buck on my doe when the curtains are open, and the snow looks so pretty,
which leads me to # 5- it's freaking icy out there! I bet they never thought they would have a hard time getting to the door, let alone our street!
They are doing a great job with all of these things working against them!
Monday, December 15, 2008
the 12 days of christmas
Our family has been chosen by someone to have the 12 days of Christmas delivered right to our door step!
Someone who knows us and loves us has decided to spoil us! And we are loving every moment of it!!!
So I want to share our fun.
Now that we are on the 3rd day, we are starting to watch out for our secret giver.
It has already brought much joy to our family, and we all gather around and read the cute notes, and see who can get to the door first so we can be the one to read the note and see what it was that was left!
Tonight I told the kids it was time for bed, and they all whined that the secret giver hadn't come yet and they wouldn't be awake to see what came. Well our friend must have know, because moments after that the door bell rang and all the kids sprang for the door! It was so cute to see them all so happy...and share an interest. This secret friend must truly be a friend. My bet is that they know that we have hit some rough spots in the last few months and wanted to brighten our spirits. It brings tears to my eyes even now as I write this to know that someone thought so much of my family to put so much time, effort and thought into creating a special memory for us....they have now ventured out in the cold the first night, the snow the second night, and the ice the third night. I don't know who they are but I am deeply grateful for the love they are showing us. Thank you.
And we look forward to sharing what comes tomorrow:)
I wish I had taken a picture of the first day, but I just didn't think of it.
Day 1- 2 Cans of pears from a Partridges tree
Day 2 -A turtle filled with doves {sorry the other waddled away} bag of dove candies in the turtles back! way too creative for me.
Day 3- Three hens...{well at least their legs} and a
little bit of French to go with them!!!!
a pack of chicken legs
with a bottle of French's mustard
Sorry the pictures are side ways- it's just that I'm 8 months pregnant, don't have much patience, and have a huge list of other things to do besides play with my pictures:)
Someone who knows us and loves us has decided to spoil us! And we are loving every moment of it!!!
So I want to share our fun.
Now that we are on the 3rd day, we are starting to watch out for our secret giver.
It has already brought much joy to our family, and we all gather around and read the cute notes, and see who can get to the door first so we can be the one to read the note and see what it was that was left!
Tonight I told the kids it was time for bed, and they all whined that the secret giver hadn't come yet and they wouldn't be awake to see what came. Well our friend must have know, because moments after that the door bell rang and all the kids sprang for the door! It was so cute to see them all so happy...and share an interest. This secret friend must truly be a friend. My bet is that they know that we have hit some rough spots in the last few months and wanted to brighten our spirits. It brings tears to my eyes even now as I write this to know that someone thought so much of my family to put so much time, effort and thought into creating a special memory for us....they have now ventured out in the cold the first night, the snow the second night, and the ice the third night. I don't know who they are but I am deeply grateful for the love they are showing us. Thank you. And we look forward to sharing what comes tomorrow:)
I wish I had taken a picture of the first day, but I just didn't think of it.
Day 1- 2 Cans of pears from a Partridges tree
Day 2 -A turtle filled with doves {sorry the other waddled away} bag of dove candies in the turtles back! way too creative for me.
Day 3- Three hens...{well at least their legs} and a
little bit of French to go with them!!!!
a pack of chicken legs
with a bottle of French's mustardSorry the pictures are side ways- it's just that I'm 8 months pregnant, don't have much patience, and have a huge list of other things to do besides play with my pictures:)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Office Party 08
Johns office party was at Bucas {again} this year. Bruce always asked me where we should go and I always said Bucas, so that's where we go. And it is so much fun! This year we were given different foam houses at each table, and who evers looked most like the picture {which we didn't have} won tickets for a drawing at the end of the night. Bruce gave away all sorts of $50 gift cards, and the grand finale was a TomTom! Wish I had won that!
We played Bingo where we had to go around the room and get funny things signed off like- likes anchovies, has 2 piercings, wearing heels { I signed a few of those squares}. It was fun to mingle with people I only see 1/2 a dozen times a year.
My husband won the BEST prize of all- Employee Of The Year!!!!! I am so proud of him! The boss read his nominations before announcing who it was, and I was clueless! I was more shocked than he was! I am so proud of him! I keep telling his family " I'm married to the Employee of the Year!"
He turned a nice bright shade of red when they said his name.
It was such a nice night out! I got to get all dressed up, have the kids {for the most part} spending the night somewhere else, and have one last evening of freedom before this little baby of ours gets here.
Each table got a metal brain puzzle to do. That wasn't as much fun for me as the foam houses, which thanks to my job, I've done many times, and we won.
Then came the food. Back when it was Bruce, John, Beth and Ed starting the company, Bruce had each woman order a dish. But now that they have 20 employees he ordered the same 4 main dishes for each of the 6 tables. It was so good, calamari, two kinds of salad, cheesy bread, lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo, chicken Parmesan, pesto salmon! Oh, and Bucas boxed up leftovers for each person to take home. I brought home a box of raspberry cheesecake and chocolate cake, which I ate for breakfast the next day!
I hope all of my friends get to go to office parties with their husbands and enjoy a night out, to enjoy each others company, the spirit of the holiday, and a good ol' time!
Here's a few pictures from ours!
Oh and my Favorite part was Bruce thanking all of us spouses for being so supportive. I turned to John and said I felt kinda bad for chewing him out for going to work on the up coming Sunday...Ooops!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Oh Bother!
As you can see I took the private block off.
Cats out of the bag.
Plus I didn't know that I had so many other people reading it who never let me know till I closed my i.d. {like most of johns aunts and cousins in California}
So oh well, I like it better this way any whoo. :)
But if needed I will have no hesitation to going back to being a private blog.
Cats out of the bag.
Plus I didn't know that I had so many other people reading it who never let me know till I closed my i.d. {like most of johns aunts and cousins in California}
So oh well, I like it better this way any whoo. :)
But if needed I will have no hesitation to going back to being a private blog.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The rest of my birthday
So I left off with Marcie doing my dishes.
Then came my oldest home from school, with a big "happy birthday!!!!"
Emily with a really cute spa basket she put together for me, with a new book, some really cozy socks, yummy smelling bath stuff, some chocolates and one of the really funny cards I got that day.
Kelly showed up next with a big bag of mint m&m's that I have now eaten almost all of! A couple of Sundays ago she gave me Jon and Kate's new book 'multiple blessings' and I love it! {she knew I would buy it for myself or ask for it, so she gave it to me early. smart gal} It's a really great read for while I'm pregnant! Thanks for listening to me and knowing that I love that show!
Audrey showed up just as Kelly was leaving. She stopped by to give me good wishes and a big hug and as always, her big happy smile! I am so lucky that we grew up together and now get to swap parenting stories, laugh about our good times from childhood and live right around the corner from each other. She blesses my life each week by having Shilo over to play Wednesday afternoons so I can be by myself. Thank you!
Johns sisters both called me to let me know how much they love me and to let me know I was thought of.
John took the two youngest and I to The Ram for dinner. It was a nice time even though I couldn't eat very much due to the lack of room in my actual stomach.... :)
Next my in-laws came over to see me. I wish everyone had in-laws like mine. They are the kindest, sweetest people I know. They will drop everything to help me out when I need, they are my own personal support system living right across the street! My parents bought me a new hand mixer! Mine was lost to a home improvement project involving grout!
John gave me the Best Buy exclusive- Sting and the Police 4 disc set! Just what I was going to give him for Christmas {so I could have it} that's why he gave it to me for my Birthday, he knew I would buy it for him! And 27 dresses DVD. What a great guy to know that I'm going to have some home bound time on my hands, and will love watching these!
After that we headed off to my all time favorite foodie place! Cold Stone Creamery! I ordered the most suiting mix for the day- Birthday Cake Remix. YUMMM!!
By the end of the day I was spent.
I felt so wonderful from all the people who took the time to remember me. I loved having people stop by to see me and just let me know they cared. It made it one of the best Birthdays I think I've ever had as an adult.
It also made me realize that I need to be better about showing people I care about them, and showing them they are loved and appreciated by me.
Then came my oldest home from school, with a big "happy birthday!!!!"
Emily with a really cute spa basket she put together for me, with a new book, some really cozy socks, yummy smelling bath stuff, some chocolates and one of the really funny cards I got that day.
Kelly showed up next with a big bag of mint m&m's that I have now eaten almost all of! A couple of Sundays ago she gave me Jon and Kate's new book 'multiple blessings' and I love it! {she knew I would buy it for myself or ask for it, so she gave it to me early. smart gal} It's a really great read for while I'm pregnant! Thanks for listening to me and knowing that I love that show!
Audrey showed up just as Kelly was leaving. She stopped by to give me good wishes and a big hug and as always, her big happy smile! I am so lucky that we grew up together and now get to swap parenting stories, laugh about our good times from childhood and live right around the corner from each other. She blesses my life each week by having Shilo over to play Wednesday afternoons so I can be by myself. Thank you!
Johns sisters both called me to let me know how much they love me and to let me know I was thought of.
John took the two youngest and I to The Ram for dinner. It was a nice time even though I couldn't eat very much due to the lack of room in my actual stomach.... :)
Next my in-laws came over to see me. I wish everyone had in-laws like mine. They are the kindest, sweetest people I know. They will drop everything to help me out when I need, they are my own personal support system living right across the street! My parents bought me a new hand mixer! Mine was lost to a home improvement project involving grout!
John gave me the Best Buy exclusive- Sting and the Police 4 disc set! Just what I was going to give him for Christmas {so I could have it} that's why he gave it to me for my Birthday, he knew I would buy it for him! And 27 dresses DVD. What a great guy to know that I'm going to have some home bound time on my hands, and will love watching these!
After that we headed off to my all time favorite foodie place! Cold Stone Creamery! I ordered the most suiting mix for the day- Birthday Cake Remix. YUMMM!!
By the end of the day I was spent.
I felt so wonderful from all the people who took the time to remember me. I loved having people stop by to see me and just let me know they cared. It made it one of the best Birthdays I think I've ever had as an adult.
It also made me realize that I need to be better about showing people I care about them, and showing them they are loved and appreciated by me.
*{bad picture, what can I say, the ice cream guy took it} *
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Last of the 20's
So today I turn 29, and as I reflect back I have come to realize that I have all I ever needed or wanted. I can't think of a single thing to do tonight other than stay at home, order take-out and play a game with my kids. That's my birhtday wish.
My birthday really started last night when my friend Crystal met me at her salon for an evening of girl talk, hair color and thai food. What a treat! Even more so was the realization that she and I have been friends for 11 years! Back in our collage days when we were both just trying to survive chemistry, before John, before our boys came along. I am really grateful for her friendship, honesty and love.
John left me a message first thing this morning on my cell phone about how much he loves me and misses me. He wished me a great birthday, and was excited to see me when he gets home. You know he made me tear up. {he says that's not hard to do these days} 11 years of birthdays with John and he never fails to amaze me with his love. A girl just never gets tired of being swooned by the one she loves.
Jordan greeted me with a "good morning mommy" before she ever got her eyes opened.
Chastin couldn't wait for me to open the beautiful all white pot holder he made me. Poor kids thought of it all on his own weeks ago, wrapped it and then had to wait......for my birthday to get here. He was so excited!
Shilo told me that I couldn't leave the house on my birthday. We needed to stay home. Unless- we were going to Fantasia! Cute how 5 years olds think.
My dear friend Paige helped me out with Shilo and a little boy I watch. She was a BIG help and I always feel like I owe her big time for always being there for me to call when I need help. She is always happy to help me and I am truly thankful to have her in my life.
Early this morning my good friend and neighbor came bearing a Macy's gift card with a beautiful card signed by their 4 year old. It was very special to me that they thought of me on my special day.
Next was a long time friend, Marcie. {who spells her name with an 'ie' too, so we were instant friends:) }One of those friends that you are blessed enough to have, that you can go months with out talking to, yet never feel like there is any space between you. She used her gift of service to come over and help me out in more ways than one. But the biggest way she helped me was that while I wasn't home she came in and did my dishes! She unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded it, then hand washed all the rest! To top it all off she gave me a book I had never seen before about flea market finds! I ' m looking forward to laying in bed with my little side light on and going over all the cool projects just waiting for me to do. Maybe I'll implement some of them in my baby's shabby chic room!
I'll edit later to add how the rest of my day went, I just have such bad pregnancy brain that I didn't want to forget.
My birthday really started last night when my friend Crystal met me at her salon for an evening of girl talk, hair color and thai food. What a treat! Even more so was the realization that she and I have been friends for 11 years! Back in our collage days when we were both just trying to survive chemistry, before John, before our boys came along. I am really grateful for her friendship, honesty and love.
John left me a message first thing this morning on my cell phone about how much he loves me and misses me. He wished me a great birthday, and was excited to see me when he gets home. You know he made me tear up. {he says that's not hard to do these days} 11 years of birthdays with John and he never fails to amaze me with his love. A girl just never gets tired of being swooned by the one she loves.
Jordan greeted me with a "good morning mommy" before she ever got her eyes opened.
Chastin couldn't wait for me to open the beautiful all white pot holder he made me. Poor kids thought of it all on his own weeks ago, wrapped it and then had to wait......for my birthday to get here. He was so excited!
Shilo told me that I couldn't leave the house on my birthday. We needed to stay home. Unless- we were going to Fantasia! Cute how 5 years olds think.
My dear friend Paige helped me out with Shilo and a little boy I watch. She was a BIG help and I always feel like I owe her big time for always being there for me to call when I need help. She is always happy to help me and I am truly thankful to have her in my life.
Early this morning my good friend and neighbor came bearing a Macy's gift card with a beautiful card signed by their 4 year old. It was very special to me that they thought of me on my special day.
Next was a long time friend, Marcie. {who spells her name with an 'ie' too, so we were instant friends:) }One of those friends that you are blessed enough to have, that you can go months with out talking to, yet never feel like there is any space between you. She used her gift of service to come over and help me out in more ways than one. But the biggest way she helped me was that while I wasn't home she came in and did my dishes! She unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded it, then hand washed all the rest! To top it all off she gave me a book I had never seen before about flea market finds! I ' m looking forward to laying in bed with my little side light on and going over all the cool projects just waiting for me to do. Maybe I'll implement some of them in my baby's shabby chic room!
I'll edit later to add how the rest of my day went, I just have such bad pregnancy brain that I didn't want to forget.
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