Christmas in Indy

Andrew hitting off his new electronic tee from us
Noah hitting off of Andrew's new tee

Emily and Andrew playing with her new Littlest Petshop toy from Grandma and Grandpa

Michael, Emily, Noah & Andrew in their new pajamas made by Aunt Jamie. Thanks so much!

Emily and her new CD's from Aunt Holly & Uncle Gene

Michael with his hat from Grandma and Grandpa & his Star Wars figures from Grandma and Grandpa Holly & Gene looking at their Packer's Wreath - Noah looking on

Michael watching Grandpa opening a present

Grandpa opening his luggage from us

On Friday we caravaned to Indy with mom and dad. We then spent the weekend with mom & dad, Gene, Holly, Andrew & Noah at Mom and Dad's house. We celebrated Christmas on Saturday morning complete with a ham dinner and gifts. It was a great time to be together. We did miss having Greg, Jamie, Naomi & Micah there - as it seemed like somthing (or someone) was missing.

Thank you everyone for everything! We all love the new clothes & toys.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Sunset on the farm
Christmas lights on the shop

Andrew, Gene, Holly & Noah walking back from the creek

Down by the creek - let's throw some rocks down

Grandpa singing Christmas carols

Michael and Andrew in the hayloft

Michael, Emily, Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Lynn

Grandma singing Christmas carols

Michael and Leyna

Michael and Andrew playing cars - Lynn is the road supervisor

We headed out to St. Louis around 1:00 on Christmas Eve. We went to Church at Aunt Dawn's Church - to their 5:00 family service. Holly, Gene & boys also worshiped there. We sat in the 2nd row of the church - but there was plenty of things to see and watch - so the kids did fine.

Then we went back to Dawn and Craig's house for the night.

On Christmas morning we got up around 6:30 and headed down to Frohna for Church. We left a little bit late, and only made it there 5 minutes late for 9:00 service. Then we went to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Lynn's house to visit until lunch. It was great to see many of the Mueller family down on the farm. Visiting, eating, singing, and walking around the farm filled the day. It was great to be there.

The day ended with looking at the Christmas lights down on the farm.

Around 6:30 we headed back to St. Louis to Aunt Dawn and Uncle' Craig's house for the evening.

Christmas at home

We opened Christmas presents at home on Sunday afternoon (Dec 21). We gave the kids a few small items - Emily got American Girl books & pajamas while Michael got some Star Wars things. Then, we gave them our big gift - a Wii. They were very surprised! We have always said that video games were not going to be something we do, as I did not want them to become all they played with. Here are some pictures of their surprise!

Baking

I have been doing lots of Christmas baking - of course I will not eat it all. I made 3 batches of fudge - but only 1 turned out. The peanut butter fudge is like icing and will not harden. I also made cookies and cream fudge & tiger butter (peanut butter, almondbark & chocolate chips). In additon I dipped oreos in almondbark, made the peanut butter cookies with hershey's kisses in the middle, and made a batch of chex mix.

I also made 3 loaves of break in my break maker for Christmas dinner - honey,oatmeal wheat; pumpernickle; and garlic and herb. They all smelled really good when they were baking.

I will save christmas cookies until the kids are better. Cut out cookies are not fun without the kids - and they would be upset that i did them without them.

Christmas Break Blues

Well, I have spent the past two days playing nurse to Emily. She has had a cold for about the past 2 weeks - it went away for the Boar's Head and she was able to do all the things she needed to do for the schools production - but on Monday I took her to the doctor as she was running a temp, feeling dizzy, and having headaches. They started her on an antibiotic and said to just rest.

Michael ran a low grade feaver on Monday night, but just has the cold symptoms now (not as bad as Emily's).

Thus, we have debated about going to St. Louis. We are planning on going now, after going back and forth in our decision. The thing that finally made our decision for us is Doug said last night that this is the 1st Christmas since I have known him that we are having Christmas on the farm. He said we really need to be there - as who knows if it would happen again. So - we are heading off later this afternoon/morning - when Doug comes home from work.

Emily does not have a feaver anymore, just a cough and a headache (probably from coughing). I will just keep her medicated and see how things go.

no snow day

Well, the front that was supposed to bring more ice, snow, sleet, and cold precipitation did not come through until later today (not at midnight like they predicted). So, I got to watch snow fall a little from 8:00 - 9:00 - and then have it drizzle at times today, but it did not accumulate to much. Don't really know why, as it was cold enought to freeze. Kind of strange!

I was a little disappointed this morning that we did not have a snow day, but I did not want to go to school in February on Presidents. I guess I can't have it both ways . The Lord knows what is best.

Trackside Christmas

Tonight we went down to help with the Christmas party for the race track workers. It is a sad situation, as the horse race industry makes lots of money, but pays the horse caretakers little money. Most have to live in the barns, or in dorms. The dorms close when racing season ends, so then the track workers have to find another place to live or move to another race track that is racing. What a nomadic life.

We helped purchase gifts for the party - the kids and I shopped for around 15 kids. Then we helped wrap presents on Sunday. After church we loaded up the Flicko's trailer and headed down with around 70 gifts. We unloaded those and headed over to the race track chapel to load up with many gifts. It was amazing how many gifts we took over to the party location. What a blessing for kids who may not have any other gift to open this Christmas.

Tonight Doug and I helped serve desserts, Doug also helped with soft drinks. The kids helped some with the desserts and then headed up to be Santa's helpers. They handed out stuffed animals to all the kids before they sat on Santa's lap.

It was a blessed evening. It was a little disappointing as a winter storm came through (and is still going on) so the living nativity was moved inside. It was difficult to see and so we left early, so we could get home safely.

It looks like we have a possibility of a snow day if it keeps up like it is now. We will see - it is 9:00 now. I would love a snow day (it is one of the things that makes me happy) to catch up and do some cleaning - but if not that is ok too. I know we have to make it up and I really don't want to go to school on Presidents Day.

6 things that make me happy

My friend Jackie has "tagged" me and now it is my turn to write 6 things that make me happy. Wow! Only 6 and do I have to think of six all come to my mind at the same time. So - here it goes...

1. I am happy to know that I am a forgiven, loved child of God. The ability to pass this knowledge on to my children, family, and students makes me happy. God really is a wonderful God!

2. I am happy when I see my children succeed at what they do. When I watch a baseball game that Micahel is playing well, when Michael dribbles a basektball and shoots a basket, when I see Emily dribble a ball down the court, when I see both kids zoom down the track at a soap box derby race, when I listen to Emily sing a solo, and when I listen to Emily play her flute. Even if they are not successful I love them and care for them.

3. I am happy when I am listening to music that is upbeat and cheerful. I love listening to many contemporary Christan artists as well as choir music. Variety is the key.

4. Getting e-mail from friends or family or having comments on my blog makes me happy. I love opening an e-mail from a friend instead of an advertisement or junk. Thank you to all of you who send e-mail to me or comment on my blog. You help make my day better.

5. I am happy when I wake up and realize that I have a snow day. Surprise days off really are incredible. I can be very productive or have lots of fun on those days, as I have not already made plans for the day. I am waiting for my 1st snow day for this season. We did have a surprise "wind day" when the wind from hurricane Ike came through. That was just as good, as we had power and no damage.

6. I am happy when I have all the laundry done, all the dishes washed, and have a clean floor. Then I can actually sit back and relax a little.

I tag sister-in-law Jamie, cousin Jamie, Rachel & Holly. Let's hear 6 things that make you happy!

cricit

Tonight Emily began working on her state project display board. I created the letters for her on my cricut. Then she glued them onto paper and I helped her cut the strips of words straight.

After that I started exploring more of what it could do. The result of playing is some homemade Christmas cards. I am really liking my machine - and need to go look at Michael's and see what other products they have for the machine.

I am so grateful that I have the machine - and the kids will be too as it will help them out with many projects as they continue with their education. It is very easy - and after this Emily should be able to do it on her own next time :) Of course I will probably still watch over her shoulder, but it is very user friendly.

I thank Doug for spoiling me this year and getting it for me. I have been hinting about wanting one for about a year, but knew it was a pricy thing that I really didn't need.

I won't post the finished projects, as many of you will be getting cards for Christmas. I don't want to spoil it.

busy week

This week has been a very busy week - a good week, but a busy week. Monday night we were actually at home, but we had some sorting work to do. We were going through a box of books and in it was an old book from Doug's dad. I opened it up and found the original document for the sale of the Little League field in Joplin. Who knows what his dad was doing with it in a book, but we found it. Doug made a phone call and we found out where to mail it. It was a document on thin paper, typed on a typewriter, dated sometime in 1953. Wow! Good thing we went through that box. Now the paper is back in the proper hands.

Tuesday night we had the Messiah Sing Along at Church. We have hosted this city wide event for 19 years. They bring in soloists and instrumentalists and we sing through the Christmas parts of the Messiah, ending with the Alleluia Chorus. Wow! What an awesome evening. A person leaves there with a floaty feeling. Emily joined in on the Alleluia chorus - and really did well. She knows the Alto part very well for a 10 year old.

Wednesday night was Church. The Choir/Bells served the Advent meal, so after I had study hall for the boy's basketball team, I headed down to help serve the meal.

Tonight was a basketball game for Emily & then bells and choir. Michael also had scouts.

So - tomorrow night will seem nice to stay home. It will be nice to have no place to go. I suppose we will have movie night - but probably not pizza, as the kids had pizza for lunch today, we all had pizza for dinner (concessions at the bball game) and the kids will have pizza for lunch tomorrow. So - I will have to actually cook something instead of our usual pizza night .

Thank you Grandma

Thank you Big Grandma for coming to spend thanksgiving. We all enjoyed all the game playing as well as appreciated the help decorating the house for Christmas. It was nice to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with you. Thank you also for all the nice gifts as well as all the quality time.

Wishbone

One, two, three... pull!

Emily and Michael have two wishbones to fight over this year ( I did a turkey the traditional way and Doug smoked a turkey breast). The first one we did today and they started off pulling and then it shattered and broke into 5 - 6 pieces. The pieces flew all over the kitchen. I have never seen that happen before. So - no kid really got their wish :) After the other one finishes drying they will have a few more seconds of fun.

Fun with Grandma

Walking across the 2nd street bridge to Rocky's restraunt.
In our climbing tree with grandma.

Grandma & Michael playing horse.

Grandma trying to get into Emily's soap box car.

My Christmas present from Doug & the kids - it was on sale on Black Friday for 1/2 price and the cartridges were 2/3 off so I got it early. I have tried it out a little and love it. It is a Cricut - an electronic tool that cuts letters, symbols, pictures... whatever you have the cartridge for.

Thanksgiving weekend fun

Grandma, Michael, Emily & Boo in front of the Christmas tree
Grandma, Emily & Michael with their new webkinz. Grandma gave both Michael and Emily one. We also gave her one of her own.

Emily & Michael helped daddy put the Christmas lights up on the roof.

Up the ladder they go!

Emily, Michael, Grandma and daddy putting the Christmas tree together.

On Thursday after our feast we started turning our house into a Christmas wonderland. We put up the tree, hung our stockings, put up the lights & set out the nativity scenes. Then we spent some time celebrating Christmas with Grandma. We exchanged gifts and then spent the evening watching Night in the Museum.

It was truly a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I got my turkey in the oven around 7:00 today. Yesterday I made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mixed up the dressing. I made pumpkin pie, pumpkin dessert & chocolate eclair dessert over the weekend. I have also made two loaves of bread. I have corn casserole from market day. I also have cranberries and rolls. Thus, I am ready to go for our thanksgiving dinner. Doug's mom came up from Houston and we are ready for a big day. The parade is just beginning so I want to watch that. Have a wonderful thanksgiving! I thank the Lord for all of you! May the Lord bless you!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow! It is hard to believe that it already thanksgiving. A time to sit down and thank the Lord for all that he has provided. I thank the Lord for family and for good friends. I thank the Lord for our home and two reliable vehicles. I thank the Lord for jobs and plenty of money to provide for our needs (and some wants). I thank the Lord for my class at school and all the progress they have made. I also thank the Lord for my children's academic success. Their success at activities outside of the classroom is also something to praise the Lord for - baseball, basketball, volleyball, soap box derby racing, band, music, art. I thank the Lord for technology - computers, cell phones and all the gadgets that I use each day. I thank the Lord for good health and the resources to take care of our health when it is not so good.

Thank you God!

Weekend Fun

This weekend has been a busy but fun weekend.


On Friday evening we went to dinner at Chick Filet and then went to see Bolt. It was a cute movie. We all enjoyed the movie.


On Saturday we started the day by going in two directions - Doug took the kids to Lowes for their kids build it clinic. They made a football goal complete with score dials. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some things we needed, and then headed to Lowes. After the kids made their football goals we looked at blowers and boarder. Their boarder was on clearance - so Emily got a boarder for her room for $3 per roll. It is light green with pink, purple and torquoise butterflies. It will be cute in her room and we plan to put it up over Christmas break. We got a new leaf blower - but that is as far as we got yesterday about thinking about leaves. We have a carpet of leaves in our backyard that need to be raked.


We went to Emily's basketball game at 2:30 - they lost but they played hard. Since there were only 6 players, Emily got lots of playing time yesterday.


We then came home for a short bit and I made a chocolate eclair dessert and then we headed for dinner at Famous Daves. We went with our friends the Carstens. Greg' s birthday is on MOnday, so we usually go there to celebrate both boy's birthdays.


After dinner we went to Home Depot so the guys could trouble shoot some home improvement projects they both needed to work on.


Then we came home and I made a pumpkin dessert and two pumpkin pies. Yummy!


Today we have a combined Church service at 10:00 with Sunday School at 9:00. Then we have a voters meeting. When we leave Church we are planning on going downtown for a christmas tree event that has lots of activities for kids. It happens to be scout day today. WE have not ever gone down for this, so we will see how it goes. It sounds like fun - but hopefully it will not be too crowded.

Basketball

Emily had a home basketball game tonight. They played at 5:00 and won 29 - 16. Emily plays some good defense - and really sticks with her assigned player. That is her strength.

soap box derby cars at school

Emiliy showing her friends her car - and talking about it.

Michael's classmates exploring his car

Emily, Sydney & Abbie looking at her car

It was a very successful day at school. The first graders, 2nd graders, and 5th graders all enjoyed seeing Emily's car. Michael also took along a scrap book I had made - and showed it off. I also showed some utube videos of a race, as well as showing some video clips I had on my camera from the last race. We had lots of interested kids - maybe we will be able to recruit some more racers through this activity.

surprise

Today I was in the middle of a science lesson on motion, forces, speed... We were in the final lesson of a unit which we had been covering the past few weeks. I turned the page and was surprised to find a picture of two soap box derby cars on a starting ramp. Wow! I have been teaching this science book for 4 years - and did not know what soap box derby racing was all about about until the past year. Last fall when I taught this lesson, we were not into racing yet. It all began in May. So - tomorrow Doug is going to bring in Emily's car and we will show it off. Hopefully it will work for Emily & Michael's class to come in and see the car also. What a great way to end a science unit.

voting

This morning both Doug and I went to vote. We took the kids along to watch us vote, but to also have the opportunity to vote. They had a kid's vote station set up at our polling location. The kids were able to vote for president, senate seat, house of representative, and then three opinion questions - should there be toll booths on bridges, should there be a law against plastic grocery bags, and should kids be able to access youtube at school.

When I voted with my 1st graders at school McCain and Palin won 12 - 7 (1 undecided vote, as 1 ballot was lost - possibly put in a desk or something). The whole school did it also, and McCain won with 70 some % of the vote.

Will be intersting to see who wins. Hopefully the media will stay out of it and not make statements too early. Anyway, about the election, I know what I think, and I am sure you know what you think. No sense debating who is right or wrong, or who should be president. The time to debate and convince is over. We just need to pray that God's will be done, and that God will continue to lead and guide our country no matter who is our leader.

God bless America!

new jeep

We are officially out of the van club - and into the jeep club.

The transmission on our van went out and we were going to have to put between $2500 and $3000 to replace the trasmission. So - we traded it off for a jeep.

After a little trouble on Friday - the starter went out while it was in our driveway - we are off and going. I am excited about having a more reliable vehicle to pull the camper as well as the soap box cars around with.

soap box derby

The soap box cars in the trailer. We hauled them double deckered.
Michael and his trophy for 5th place

Emily in her car and by her car as she waited to be weighed.

Michael in his car

On Saturday the kids raced in a single and a double elimination race. Bothkids did well, they did not get double phased (they did not loose both runs down a hill against a racer, only one, or they won both). Emily did not place, but Michael ended up getting 5th in the single elimination race. He had a little accident, and hit the guard rail after crossing the finish line. He was still disqualified and very disappointed, as he had beat the boy by at least 3 car lengths. Oh well. He still came home with a trophy.

A fun time was had by all. We left home at 6:00 AM our time and returned at 9:00 PM our time. Doug and I were very glad that we got an extra hour of sleep :)

Halloween

The kids went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Emily was a green m& m while Michael was Luke Skywalker. We were going to go see our friends the Nickels and go around their neighborhood, but we had car trouble - new car trouble to be exact. Our van's transmission was going out so we got a new Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was dead in our driveway. Doug tried everything he could to get it going - and finally called the dealer to come get it and figure it out. We found out on Saturday that they had to put a new starter on the Jeep. Our mechanic checked it out and said it was very clean and well taken care of. The book has every repair documented with dates, so we feel it is a good Jeep - just a fluke that the starter went out.

head

Above is what my head looks like today after washing my hair.
Above is what my head looked like last night after the cut occurred.

I had Doug take pictures as I could not see my head. I wanted to know what it looked like.

is a crockpot a weapon?

Well, if you lift a crockpot off a top shelf that you can barely reach, and the lid slips off and hits you in the top of the head - it is a weapon. That is what happened around 9:00 last night. Of course at first I thought it hurt like crazy, but then it got worse and I lifted my hand up to find blood dripping down. Well, that is when I really began to panic. Doug heard me screaming (and of course the kids did too - they had been in bed about 15 - 20 minutes) and came to investigate. He got a washcloth and an ice pack. I sat down for a while and then got dizzy - so went to lay down. My hands began to tingle & I was getting very hot - and then cold - and then hot - and then cold. I felt nausous and dizzy and began to worry. Of course, Doug is saying," You will be fine" the whole time.

Luckily we had our Greg and Juanita's oldest boy Patrick at our house, and they were on their way to pick him up. Greg was an EMT while in Nebraska and the military. So, he investigated after arriving. they both decided that I did not need to go to the emergency room - but to keep me awake for a few hours.

I laid on the couch for about an hour and then went to bed. I tossed and turned all night long - using an ice pack, and then switching to a fresh one, every few hours. I woke up about every 3 hours on clockwork as my head started hurting again.

This morning I washed my hair and went to school, but my head was really hurting so I called my Dr. and went at 12:00. She said I likely did not have a concusion, but my head may hurt for a month or more as I bruised the bone. She prescribed some pain med, and said to alternate that with ibuprofin (which I was already taking). I did not go back to school, but came home to sleep - and sleep I did.

I plan on going to school tomorrow. Hope all well be fine this weekend. Tomorrow is trick-or-treating and then we have a soap box derby race on Saturday. All I know is I will not be too good for bending over and carrying the cars. Hope Doug can find someone else to help out with that.

I am very fortunate that I was not hurt worse. Now my challenge is to rearrange my cabinets so my crockpot is on the bottom shelf - Dr.'s orders.

Boo & Pumpkin

Boo eating his pumpkin treat - above

Emily having him jump for a pumpkin treat - below

We have a crazy dog. He loves the innards of a pumpkin. It is the best treat he can have. He ate pieces as Michael was carving & "accidently" dropping them on the ground. I guess at least pumpkin is healthy and not fattening. It is also cheaper than dog treats :)

For some reason the pictures on the top would not upload in the correct direction. I deleted it and uploaded it twice, both times it was different that how it was on my computer. Who knows? You still get the idea.

sick

Michael woke me up at around 4:30 A.M. saying his tummy hurt. I asked him if it was the throw up hurt and he said yes, and then proceeded to cough. Luckily he made it to the bathroom - but he was sick. He then went back to bed, but while I was at school preparing for a sub he woke up and had diarea and was throwing up some more. Yuck! I am hoping for a quick recovery - but don't see it. Pray for healing as we have a busy week ahead of us - getting a car ready for a soap box derby race tonight, handbells & choir tomorrow, Halloween on Friday & a soap box derby race on Saturday.