Christmas

Happy Birthday Jesus is what Ariel wrote on the back of her beautiful picture she made and had put under the tree with all the gifts for Jesus on Christmas. Isn't she sweet? Well, I never did get any Christmas pictures, so I took one tonight, on this the 7th day of Christmas. The kids were playing so nice together and in such a good mood, and I thought it was a great time to do it. Well, Nathaniel didn't think so at all, as you can certainly tell! He was standing there very much against his will!

We had a great time celebrating Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve baking and cleaning, and then going to church. Christmas day was lots of fun with smiling faces and surprises. Even Floyd was more than happy to find a new doggie bed under the tree and his stocking full of raw hide bones.

The kids got a variety of clothes, Legos, snack foods, icons, ornaments, movies, candy, balloons, and Ariel even got a down comforter, which she was very happy about! I got a crockpot (2 in fact), a Belgium waffle maker and some Pringles. I was more than pleased! (It doesn't take much) Dustan got some clothes, the Greek Bible and the Greek New Testament on CD. He was excited over that one! We also were happy to get a wine cellar and we put that to use already. It fits well under the desk in the kitchen.

After the morning's activities, we packed up our bags and the car and went to my in-laws for family funtime. : ) We got to see so many friendly faces and enjoyed being altogether. What a merry Christmas we had!

Christmas Vacation

This year Christmas vacation has been loads of fun. I've missed having my kiddos around the house all day, and now am enjoying it! We've been busy. We had a great snow fall of 14inches, and we had tremendous fun romping around in that! It was hysterical watching Floyd run through it. He wasn't too happy about pooping in it though, and he was quite constipated by the second day!


This past week we have had some friends over, including Allen & Denise & Sarah, and also Amanda and the boys. It was so great seeing them all! It's been since the summer since we had a chance to see them. We certainly enjoyed our visits.

Today we spent cleaning the house, and I had to run to the store. Uh, yeah, after about 3 inches of snow falling this morning, shoveling the driveway and sidewalks, baking a pie, cleaning house, and the shopping on New Year's Eve... well... I was starting to get irritated. I managed to get everything put away, dinner started, the mopping done and refereeing the kids until Dustan came up from working downstairs at 5pm. Then Dominic and Gwendolyn came over, and they're here for a sleepover.

Currently, I can hear fireworks going off somewhere, and I am reminded again of our blessed time in Germany and the great celebration of bringing in the New Year. We always enjoy a quiet evening at home, and I always get sappy about the year ending, and tears inevitably roll. I don't know why, but there is always something that invisibly attaches you to the events of the year, and losing some we've loved, and rejoicing over the many blessings we've received... regretting choices we have made or dreams not accomplished... many hopes for the new year... it all becomes so overwhelming- just for a little while- on New Year's Eve. I really AM a sap!

Well, here's to all the good and the bad, the lessons learned, and many smiles we've made over even the smallest things, the memory of those who have been lost, and to all that God has in store for us in the New Year that is ever fast approching. May we all heed His voice and obey it, to His glory and our betterment. Many blessings to you all!

Baptism Discussion

"...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing or regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Titus 3:5

Mark 16:16 "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall not be saved..."

I thought I'd share on here the background to the motivation for getting our children baptised. The link will take you to a note written on Facebook on November 17, 2009.

This past year we have been studying Orthodoxy, and have decided to become Orthodox. We have found that it is truly what we believe, what we've been searching for a church to teach for the 10 years we've been married. In doing so, we were Christmated and the children were baptised in November. What a HAPPY day! It came as a surprise to many of our friends and family, but rest assured, more of you are Orthodox than you think! All it takes is some reading and you will find it is exactly what you've been trying to put the Christian faith into words for all your life!

Snowfall

So, we got our first snowfall on the 5th of the month, and that's when we happened to get our Christmas tree too. The kids didn't get to play in it until the next day after church, and by then it was mostly gone, even though we had gotten 3 inches of the stuff. But on the north side of the house, they found enough snow to make a miniature snowman- and I do mean miniature.

Christmas Ambiance

Jobs

So, the other day (or was it 2 weeks ago?) Nathaniel came up to me in the kitchen and starting telling me all of the jobs that he was big enough to do. "I am going to be just like Ariel!"

His list of things he was already responsible for was pretty short- mostly to put his dirty laundry away everyday, not make a mess in the bathroom and to pick up the dirty towels and socks around the main floor of the house every night and take them up to the laundry pile. So, it was pretty easy to add to that list- since he volunteered anyway. Now he has a 5 o'clock job of turning the outside lights on for Daddy to come home, and he's learning to wash dishes. He did a fair job of listening to directions on the best way to wash certain items, and he managed to do a whole sink full of them. But since then, he's not volunteered again. ; )

As you can see, Ariel was very excited that she got to rinse instead of having to wash. She really likes this part of the deal!

The kids got a haircut! If you know us, you know that we don't do that very often... They got it done the weekend before Thanksgiving, and they both love the results. Ariel's been wanting her hair to be short for a long while (since the past spring methinks), and so I finally let her get it done. She loved it so much that when we were out shopping afterwards, she kept pausing at every mirror she saw and said, "I could just look at myself all day long! I am so cute! Mom, am I beautiful?" Of course she's is and I told her so, but I think maybe her name should be Narcissus instead!

1999-2009

This year we celebrated our 10th anniversary. It was a memorable milestone. Hard to believe that it's already been here and gone. Time is progressively moving faster to say the least!

Dustan took the day off of work and we got some time to relax while the kids were at school. Then Romona came over to pick up the kids for the night. We went down to Baltimore (my first time in the city) and went to Morton's Steakhouse for dinner. Dustan had gotten a gift certificate from work for the place, and we're so glad we went! It was really a relaxed and pristine atmosphere, great food and fantastic service. We're very happy with our experience there and perhaps someday we'll make it back!

Oh, and did I mention the flowers? Not from Dustan, but I did get some from my parents, some friends at church AND I had pruned my rosebush out front, so my house was full of blooms. That always makes me happy!

Halloween & Family Time

We had a nice little get together here at our house on Halloween. Ariel dressed up as Ariel the Mermaid, Nathaniel was a pilot, and Dominic was Mario. They had a lot of fun roaming the neighbor and made out pretty well.



A few days later, I a got this pic of lounging around the house. Guess who's hiding under the blanket? Yup. Tater.

Emily & Wayne say "I do"

Emily & Wayne can now finally be referred to as the Zimmermans! Yeah! About time! TThey officially tied the knot on the 10th of October. The ceremony was held at a tiny mountain church and the reception place was at Ski Roundtop. It was a gorgeous day out and the ceremony was really amusing. The pastor kept referring to Emily as Debbie. Too funny!

The directions to the church were horrible - poor Aunt Lori missed the ceremony- and the parking left a lot to be desired.



The music was wonderful, (thankyou Uncle Tom, Aunt Susan and David!) everyone cried at the service, pictures were sweet, moods swung as usual, I got tagged with the kiddos and no food to give them... not the fun part.... all in all it turned out nice. And the best part is, now we have another nice guy in the family!

Violin Recital

I can't believe it's been so long since Ariel had her recital! But we had it on September 7th at my in-law's house. Monica had been her teacher over the summer, as an introduction the the violin, and she did great! She did not like practicing, and there were tears over the commitment some days, but she was so proud of herself and loved being able to play songs!


She was really excited about being able to perform her first recital for the family. There were a couple mistakes, but mostly from the accompaniment messing her up a bit. ; ) There was also one mistake that she caused because she was going her own pace instead of playing together with the piano. It can be a hard skill to develop in little ones, but at any rate, she was REALLY great! She loved it, even though she was quite nervous after she messed up, but everyone was encouraging her to keep going. Then of course, she got an award and some flowers and that made her smile.


But at the end of the ordeal, she decided that even though she loved playing and performing, she didn't want to put in the effort of practicing and learning new skills on it (It can be quite daunting when you're so young). Maybe next summer we'll give it another go or try out a different instrument. She's an automatic charmer when performing, that's for sure!