Then...and Now (Thousand Words)

TAG!

My sister Stephanie tagged me for this game:

TAG!

You're supposed to do the following:

1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer.

2. Choose the 4th picture and post it on your blog.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same. (I'm tagging three!)

So...here's my picture. This photo was taken back around May, 2007. It is of our son, Benjamin, when he was two years old. He is playing with his Elmo and Cookie Monster stuffed animals (obviously!) in our living room. Other than that, I couldn't give you much more history on this photo...just one of those everyday shots I randomly take every now and then!



This was a fun tag game...some of them are a lot more tedious than this! I'm going to tag a few of my friends with blogs who LOVE to take photos, so hopefully they'll find this tag game fun, too! Here they are...have fun reminisicing over old photos!

1. Bethany at http://www.bethanyjanehissong.blogspot.com/

2. Kathy at http://www.mylizziejane.blogspot.com/

3. Kathy at http://whatsupwiththeswegers.wordpress.com/

Decorating for Christmas

As promised, here are some photos of our home decorated for Christmas...

This is just a cute photo of Nathaniel, taken before we decorated our tree.

This is my nativity set made by artisans in Chile. It reminds me of that country I love so much every time I get it out!

This nativity set was given to me as gifts from a variety of people over the years. I love these figurines!

Not the best photo, but I concocted this decoration for on top of the piano. I love Christmas lights!

This lighted garland hangs between our dining room and kitchen. These cool, retro light ornaments were a bargain from Cracker Barrel!

This is our mantel. Notice there are FIVE stockings...I found a matching Pottery Barn quilted stocking for Sophia on Ebay...already embroidered with her name!

Here I am decorating the tree. Dave needs to learn to use our camera better...

Benjamin is putting a couple of his personal ornaments on the tree.

Sabastian and Jonathan hung there ornaments on the tree this year. They love getting them out and reminiscing about when they received them, etc.

Jonathan has the most, since he's the oldest. Since Nathaniel is so little and still into everything, we elected to just put the kids' ornaments on this year, so the bottom quarter of our tree is bare...but still beautiful!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For Kathy

Here is the little snowman gift bag that I made at our Ladies' Bible Study last week. I actually sewed on a sewing machine and didn't break anything! Fortunately the "hat" part was already sewn for us...all we had to do was put the little man together. I think he turned out cute! My friend Kathy at Lizzie Jane loves snowmen, so this post is for her...and any other snowmen lovers out there!

A Busy Time

It has been very busy since Thanksgiving at our house. I worked the midnight shift at The Children's Place on Black Friday...that was an experience! I've never even been out shopping at that hour on Black Friday, let alone working, but I survived. Since then, I've been busy with work, play group, Bible studies (and cooking and/or baking for both of them!), baking cookies and making candy, and running the never-ending errands with the kids. We have begun decorating our house, and as soon as my dear husband unloads my memory stick, I will show you some of our decor this year. Our tree is up but not yet decorated as I haven't been home long enough to supervise. Maybe tomorrow...hope your December has started off well and that you won't lose the true meaning of this joyous season amidst the hustle and bustle!

Giving Thanks

In a few minutes, we will be off to DE for a Thanksgiving visit with my parents. It will be a short one, as I have the privilege (?) of working the midnight shift at the store on Friday...I'm sure I'll have a post about that at a later date! I want to wish all of my friends and family a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving, and leave you with the things I am really thankful for this year...

My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

My supportive and loving husband, Dave

My handsome sons...all four of them!

My daughter-to-be in China

My wonderful parents and parents-in-law

My sisters and bros-in-law and all my nieces and nephews

All of our extended family hither and yon

All of my dear friends, both far and near, new and old

All of our needs being met to overflowing...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baking Pies

Benjamin loves to help me in the kitchen. Last night I had to bake pumpkin pies for a potluck lunch at Dave's workplace, so Benjamin pulled up his stool and jumped right in to help. The pies turned out great!

Dumping in the spices

Mixing the dry ingredients

Pouring in the condensed milk...yum!