How the really BIG Mr. 8ft Snowman came to be

It started out with 3 grown men going outside to make a snowman

they decided if they kept their feet driving they could make a really BIG snowman

I think the heave's and ho's and maybe even the giggles helped!


Feeling the pressure from the cute little girl watching from the window they had no choice but to make a really BIG snowman because they did not want her to cry.

just making the ugly snow pretty on the really BIG snowman

Meet the really BIG snowman
his name is Mr. 8ft Snowman (aka. really BIG snowman)

the really BIG Mr. 8ft Snowman with the fellas that made him.

They were so proud
we were so proud of them
Jericho was proud of them

Jericho oohed and ahhed over the really BIG Mr. 8ft Snowman for days.

No one was disappointed
The cute little girl in the window did not cry
I even had someone at church comment on how BIG
the really BIG Mr. 8ft Snowman in our yard was.

That is how the really BIG Mr. 8ft Snowman came to be.

Thank You Lord for Christmas

About an hour ago I was getting ready to sit down and tell you have everything in life was perfect. My older (7 month pregnant - yippy!) sister and I were hanging out in the house, the boys (seth, my bro & my bro-in-law) were out making a big ol snow man, the (not so little) baby was down for a nap, my parents made it here safe and sound (after driving through the night, half of the time through a snow storm, all the way from IL), my little sister was feeling much better after being sick (throwing up and the whole 9 yards) all day yesterday and best of all it's Christmas Eve. Like I said all seemed right in the world.

That was before we realized that the dogs (my sister brought her dog up) were missing. One came back. That one was NOT Gamba. I know, big surprise. We looked for almost an hour before we found him. But we found him and that's what matters. All is once again right in my world. Now instead of everyone here or there we are all gathered in one living room, in my living room!

Tonight we will all head to church for a Christmas celebration. To give glory to the King, the son of God, that was born to a virgin, that was laid in a manger, the babe grew up to be a man, that man gave his life on a cross for my sins, for your sins. The first Christmas was the beginning of God's ultimate plan to send his son to save mankind.



Thank you Lord for new beginnings.
For putting your plans into motion.
For caring about our lives.
Thank you Lord for Christmas.

Then & Now

Then.....
Jericho 3 months


NOW......
a year later

Jericho 15 months

Where did the time go?

Seeing Snow

Growing up in northern Illinois (the "s" is silent, please please don't pronounce it with an "s" at the end. I don't know why they spelled it that way but they did and there is nothing we can do about that. But we can pronounce it the correct way. Yes. That is something all of us can do! Lets try it , come on together now, ill-i-NOY! See that wasn't hard. Good job I'm proud of you now you will always know how it is said and never have to annoy anyone from Illinois again!) Okay moving on. Can you tell that's been a pet peeve of mine for years? Ha. Southerners are (usually) the worst at this. I married a southerner. Don't worry he now says Illinois that right way. Because he loves me! His family says it right now too. It probably has something to do with the fact that they've been living there for 4+ years. What ever the reason I'm glad they know how to say it - for my sake.

Seriously I really am moving on now. Growing up in Illinois I'm no stranger to snow. I am all to familiar with it's arctic white flakes as they float through the crisp night to make massive blankets that covers the rocky earth below it. At some point during my 25 years of living in the north the beautiful winter wonderland that so graciously cascades itself upon the frozen ground every year became not so wondrous to me. Honestly for awhile it became a cold, bitter, dreaded time year. All that changed this year thanks to my daughter.

Since Jericho was only 3 months old last winter I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember snow. I had forgotten that Jericho had never really seen snow till I saw her in it for the first time this year. We went to a restaurant for dinner other night. When we went in, it was not snowing. When we came out it was. They were big beautiful white fluffy flakes. At first I was sad that it was that time of year again. Then I saw Jericho's reaction. It changed the way I've been viewing all the snow this year (we've gotten a lot already this year.) Jericho was absolutely thrilled to see the snow. Her eyes light up with delight as she tried to catch every flake that came floating toward her. She giggled and smiled and life couldn't have been any better. It was refreshing. I needed to see the beautiful white blanket in a different light.


Sorry there are no pictures I know I have them I just can't find them at the moment.

We've Been Sick

Jericho took her turn throwing up Sunday night and her diapers have been interesting since. I had mine turn Tuesday night and my stomach is still feeling the effects. I'm praying Seth skips his turn. I don't think he'd mind that at all.

I had forgotten how much I hate throwing up - then I thew up - and I remembered. I'll spare you the details but lets just say that my stomach was not going to be satisfied until all of it's contents were in the toilet. Once that happened I did feel a little better - for a little while. I've decided that throwing up is kind of like feeling those first hard contractions when you are in labor with your second or third (or insert number) child. You've already done it before so you know what it feels like. I don't know about you but I really do forget how bad labor really is until I'm there feeling those agonizing contractions once again. Then I think oh yeah I remember now, it hurts, really bad, I really don't want to do this, this is not going to be fun. I just want to clarify that I'm talking from personal experience which was all natural, no drugs, feel everything kind of labor.

Thankfully there is one big difference between the two the prize at the end of labor pains is worth every minute. So much so that you want to do it again (maybe not right away, but give it a year or so.) Throwing up on the other hand has no such benefits. I've never thought oh man that was so worth it I want to do it again after I've thrown up.

So, this is what we've been up to. Being sick, throwing up, not eating much, snuggling some and taking 3 hour naps (yesterday!)


Still no Christmas tree

Still no Christmas decorations up.

I promise I really don't hate Christmas!

I just got sick.

Wordless Wednesday - Say Cheese!

Less than 2 Weeks!

I was just looking at my list of posts and out of the last 5 times I've written posts I only finished and posted 1 of them. I've never done this before. Usually if I start writing I finish. It may not be what I had in mind but I post it. I just don't feel like I can finish any of my thoughts. Time is also a factor like ever other American we are busy with the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The pages on the calendar are once again falling away with the blink of an eye. Less than two weeks till Christmas. Where has the time gone?

Wanna know what's sad. We had two Christmas parties yesterday and I have zero Christmas decorations up in my house. Not even a Christmas tree. I think this is some sort of record. This year I'm actually excited about Christmas so it's not like I'm not getting things done on purpose as it was the case in previous years. My whole family is coming again and I can't wait. It's been far to long since we've all been together. I'm.

If you are in the area our church puts on a big production every Christmas Eve. From what I hear the play "Lighting Henry's House" this year is going to be awesome but it does have some competition because last years was pretty kickin. The play starts at 6pm or 8pm Christmas Eve.
We also do a sleigh ride (wagon ride if there's no snow) and hot cocoa from 5-6pm or 7-8pm. We'd love to see you there!

NoteTo Self

Don't dress your daughter, that's struggling slightly in the hair department, in an adorable blue and brown dress type outfit and let her carry around her blue blanket unless you are prepared for her to be referred to as a boy, multiple times.

I wasn't prepared but it's okay. I'm over it.

4 little men & girly twins giveaway

Brittany is doing a giveaway for a cool play mat. Since I have a nephew or two that could use a fun little play mat like this for Christmas I thought I'd enter. Go check it out and enter yourself (click on the giveaway link.)

Farewell & Hello

Somewhere between here and there it happened. Jericho stopped crawling. I knew it was going to happen. Thanks to this book, which reminds parents to not only savor your child's first but also their last, I've been watching Jericho wondering with every crawl if that time was the last time. One of them was. I'm pretty sure I saw it, I knew it was most likely A LAST, I just didn't realize it was THE LAST time. I'm glad I was aware it was coming because as I watched Jericho crawl less and less I realized how proud of her I am. Jericho is learning new things everyday and she is embracing each new step.

On top of crawling for the last time Jericho is in the process of cutting her last 2 baby teeth. After that she will have a mouth full of beautiful baby teeth with only her 2 year molars to come. It's true, Jericho really is no longer a baby. Which means I am no longer a mama of a baby (although I'll always think of Jericho as my baby and Grace and Gideon will always be babies too me but you know what I mean) Now I am the proud mama of a toddler. A toddler that walks, talks and is constantly making me laugh. I'm love it!






Farewell baby phase you were absolutely wonderful. Thank you for all the sleep that you gave me, I know that is not normal, I really appreciated it. I will never forget all the precious times we had together. You were such a joy to me. Goodbye!






Hello toddler hood, I'm Jericho's mama, it's nice to meet you. I think (hope) we are going to get along great. I'm a little sad after losing baby phase so I could really use a good friend. What do you say. I've heard lots of great things about you, maybe a few not so good but I think I can handle those. The one thing I always hear is that you have an awesome sense of humor. I can always use a good laugh! Come on wanna give it a whirl?! Well, ready or not here we come!

What I saw on the Farm

If you were on the farm for Thanksmas (we celebrate Thanksgiving & Christmas, therefor it's called Thanksmas) you might have seen:

A great-granddaughter walking her Nanoo

Siblings climbing a fence together

Cows hoping to go for a drive

Friends (or cousin-in-laws) chatting & swinging on the back porch

A Sweet Nanoo resting
(I'm thinking this was after the walk Jericho took her on :)

Cousins going for a wagon ride together
(I love that Gideon's feet, Seth's tattoo, are in this pic!)

Rednecks riding on top of car & in a boat that was in a car.

An adorable new nephew that got lots of loving

A boy (or 2) on a roof.
(not sure where the other one was)

A baby girl riding a cow

That same baby girl taking a bath in the sink (it's tradition, plus we had 22 people using 1 bathroom) because she rode a cow.

Chocolate Bag Dessert
(a special Christmas treat)

It's going, going

GONE!
Where did it all go?

A little boy who liked the chocolate bag.
I wonder no more!

A long lasting family rivalry that we're passing on to the next generation
(don't worry it's all in good fun,
plus it helps that the Packers just got done beating the Bears
and boy did they beat them!)

Three boys being silly

Troops on a mission to find an alligator!

Look, an alligator. Mission Complete!

Last but not least you may have see one of these
Crazy, Wonderful, Beautiful people
that I am privileged to call family!

Believe it or not there were other things that I saw and did on the farm not pictured like:
Long walks with loved ones
My baby girl getting a shoulder ride from her daddy
Paint ball wars in the middle of the night
Paint ball wars in the middle of a field
Paint ball wars in the middle of the day
Paint ball wars in the middle of the woods (it was a blast!)
A puppy who's snout swelled 4x it's normal size because of a bee sting.
Boat riding while trying to find a gator
Two little girls dancing
Shopping
Some Papa snuggling by all the grand babies
Moni loving by those same grand babies
cooking yummy delicious food
cooking more yummy delicious food
and cooking even more yummy delicious food!
And of course consuming that yummy delicious food!
and just plain ol' chillin

Yeah that pretty much sums up our week. Ya never know what's going to happen when you get to the farm, this time was not different. One thing you can count on is that it's going to be wild, relaxing, crazy, and TONS of FUN! It doesn't get any better that this! I'm filled to the brim with thanks giving!



The one thing I think we didn't do last week was cow tipping, which doesn't mean I haven't done it. HA!

Wordless Wednesday - My Girl on the Farm