Saturday, January 21, 2012

Life... Through the "Eye" of my Phone

*all these photos are from my phone, so they are not the greatest quality*

Scott and I started watching a new show on Netflix over Thanksgiving while we were home alone with Lindsay.  It's called 'Flying Wild Alaska' and it's from the Discovery Channel (I think). It is all about the remote areas of Alaska where they depend on Bush Pilots for everything.  We told Shae about it, and she gotquickly hooked and all caught up on season 1 during Christmas!
Then, for Christmas, she bought us Season 2 on Amazon.
So, the lack of blogging= Shae's fault.

During Shae's month home we did not go on any trips or do anything exciting...
 But I think I have learned to like not being so busy...there is more time for sister snuggles in Lindsay's bed. 
(this is my favorite thing to see!)
And then, there was the whole..."Let's switch rooms!" evening.  Easier said than done.  Really.
 At least Shae went through every single little thing she has kept for the last 19 years and was finally able to throw away a few things!  Phew!  She had a lot of laughs in the process!
 Anna has wanted Shae's room forever because it has a front facing window.  She was over at a friend's house while all this was happening, so she got to come home to a new (and highly organized) room.  The next thing on the list is to paint her "new" room since it is still grey, and it does not match.

After an entire evening of moving all that stuff, Shae felt like she had her new closet under control (nice bra storage, huh?)
 And she was delighted with her "new room".  She had a candle lit in there every day and really enjoyed the change while she was home.  I like change too, so I was happy to help.
(yes, poor Scott tried to stay out of all of the shenanigans, but we needed his muscles...he was so sweet to help. Oh. and what a great attitude he had. not.)
 Lindsay had to be included in all the changes somehow, so I got out the duvet cover that Shae's friend, Laura had given us as a hand me down and I tried it in Lindsay's room.  To my surprise, it looked great even with her old Pottery Barn Kids set ( I just turned her pillow shams over so the green striped side shows)!
*I am a BIG fan of Pottery Barn, especially now.  This bedding has held up so beautifully-even in the room of a little girl who can be "hard on things".  Thank you to Frances Cratsley, who ordered all this for me while she was a Pottery Barn Kids employee and thank you Trent family for thinking of us with your awesome hand me downs!
 I think her room looks more like a "big girl" room now!

Scott had a group at camp the weekend Shae was leaving, so I took her to Sacramento to fly out.  Scott let us stay in a hotel and even treated us dinner at Ruth's Chris.  We had such a wonderful time and we stocked up on some Laura Mercier makeup goodness with what was left of my "cup money".  I was so sad to say goodbye, but it was time for her to get back to business.

Lindsay has spent a lot of time coloring lately, which is somewhat new for her. 
This is one of the drawings I found in her little pile of papers.  People with "normal" kids would think nothing of this, or even think, "ugh...a 14 year old did that?"  
But, to us, this is a priceless work of art.
 I am amazed when I see Lindsay's undeniable progress!
"It is of The Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness"
Lamentations 3:22-23

The day Shae flew out was the same day Lindsay had her "8th Grade Invasion" field trip to Enterprise High School.  I made it home to meet her as she got off the bus...
 She was so excited to tell me all about her day "at high school" and show me her new t-shirt!
 "I'm a Hornet now, Mom, not a Bulldog!"
(i wish she could be a Redding Christian Lion..)
 Since the weather was beautiful and we were on our own for the weekend, Lindsay and I decided to go walk the River Trail.  It was so much fun.  But I was exhausted!  Pushing around a 5'7" 130 pound girl is no picnic!
 Lindsay was adorable.  She spoke to every person or dog we passed, and everyone was so sweet to speak to her!  One lady even said, "Hey, Pretty girl!" as she passed by us a second time on her way back to the parking lot.  Lindsay said, "Mom, that 'wady' was so sweet to me!"
 It was fun having conversation with Lindsay all along the way.  She kept saying that she could hear the river otters swimming, the ducks splashing and the beavers building their dams (she watches a lot of Diego!).  She also asked me if I could "hear that bear sharpening his claws on the tree bark?!"  (a man told us to be sure and look for the bear claw marks on one of the trees!)  I am certainly glad there was NOT a bear on the path..I wouldn't have had the energy to get away very quickly.

We are slowly getting used to life without one of our chicks in the nest once again.  I don't like it when Shae is gone but I am so thankful for where she is.  Liberty University is a wonderful place for her and she is embracing her new semester and all the excitement it brings!

Anna Fay is embracing her new semester too!
Little Miss Fashionista!  I love to see what she is going to come out wearing every day.  Shae was always the same way.  They both seem to have a great sense of style.  I don't know where they learned it,  obviously not from me since I have spent 90% of their lives in camp "Staff" t shirts!

"For the Lord God is our light and protector.  He gives us grace and glory.  No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right."
Psalm 84:11

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas Night 2011

 Christmas Dinner is always a yummy event at Scott's parent's house.  They work for several days getting everything just right.  Dottie makes the most delicious stuffing ever! 
Her house is always absolutely perfect, and so beautifully decorated.  Her southern-ness really shines through!
 Laurie comes to visit during her Christmas vacation, and ends up working hard nearly the whole time. I, for one, appreciate the little touches she and her Mama put on everything.  She is amazingly talented and can make something from the dollar store look like it came from Neiman Marcus!
 The table was gorgeous, as usual!
 There was even a special table for two special little boys!
 They settled in nicely to eat their yummy dinner too!
 It was a huge spread of food, as usual! :) And we always eat on "Old Country Roses" china!  I love that, because I don't even have china!  We southern California raised girls don't know about registering for that kind of thing when we are getting married! (But I do now, almost 25 years later!)
 The dessert table is always a big temptation!
 We ALWAYS sing happy birthday to Jesus, the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
(I was looking at these pictures and I think Dottie's house photographs so beautifully!)
 Brad spent the better part of the evening working on a Lego project!  Next year I guess he will be putting together a doll house!!
 My college girl has less than 2 weeks left at home.  Boo!  I have loved having a gym partner!
And the sisters have enjoyed having her here too!

Christmas 2011

 Christmas morning 2011 was a little different this year.  I HAD TO WAKE MY CHILDREN UP!!!!
Once they were awake and ready, they opened their stockings,
 and began the (seemingly) loooooong wait for Grandma, Papa and Laurie to arrive.
 Once everyone had their place, and some had a cup of coffee, we were ready to open presents.
 It's always fun to see what everyone gets.  My favorite gifts are the well though-out and creative ones!
Laurie got some *sparkly* Sperry's!
 Anna got an unexpected iPhone! She doesn't even mind that it is the 3G version!  She is thrilled to be able to take pictures with it and listen to music on her phone now!
 Lindsay went shopping at the store her school had this year and was so so happy to buy each of us a gift.  She wanted to get her Aunt Laurie this pink piggy bank sooooo badly, but they were out of them when she was able to visit the store with her aide.  Lucky for us, the parent volunteer who was running the store is a friend of ours who adores Lindsay.  She went and got one of those pigs so Lindsay could buy it the next day!
Lindsay started "telling" me all about the pig as she was walking off the school bus that day, she was so happy!  BUT,  when she was standing at the top of the bus steps, she tossed her backpack to me and the bag with the pig came with it.....I was NOT even close to the bus yet, so that gift wrapped pig smashed into a million pieces!
Lindsay spent the next 10 minutes pacing around the house saying, "I feel so awful, I feel terrible, I feel so awful, why did I do that?"  (it was heartbreaking!)  
I called her school office and explained what had happened to the secretary and asked if there were any more pigs, she put me on hold and came back to say that there would be another pig at school the next day for Lindsay even though it had been the last day for the store!.  Phew.
That sweet Stephanie had gone to 3 different stores to find her one more pig! 
It came home wrapped in 2 layers of bubble wrap, wrapped in gift wrapping paper, in a box and covered in another layer of bubble wrap!
*the rest of us  were  a little jealous that it wasn't for us*
 The best thing Shae got was this cute sign from Anna! 
"Mirror, mirror
on the wall, 
Make him rich,
and make him tall!"
 Lindsay talks NON STOP about how she is "going to Enterprise High School next year" so Shae and I went over to Enterprise's student store and got her a T shirt and a sweatshirt!  She was so happy!  I really can't believe she is going to be in high school next year!
 Laurie made Anna this precious blanket....and it is so cozy!
(now to keep it out of Shae's suitcase!)
 I got the girls monogram necklaces, hoping they would like them.  They are so darling!  They have both worn them every single day since Christmas!
 The Christmas girls!
 After the boys had opened their presents at home with Brad and Beckie, they headed over to open the gifts we had for them and have breakfast with us.  Austin loved his "insects" that Laurie got him!
 Gavin didn't need another thing after he opened his new garbage truck!
 Brad enjoyed Austin's remote control car....
 And Beckie opened gifts for the new baby girl who is coming in March.
 We were all very hungry after all that action...
 So we all sat down to a yummy Christmas breakfast!
 Cream Cheese Coffee Cake (recipe to follow next week!)
 Fresh squeezed orange juice from the oranges off Papa's orange tree, an omelet bar (Scott does this with his staff at camp too..you choose what you want in your omelet, put everything in a Styrofoam bowl with your name on the bottom then leave it by the stove.  When your name is called, your omelet is done!), diced grilled red and sweet potatoes and delicious french toast with fresh cinnamon whipped cream!
 Scott is a master in the kitchen!  He is so good at multi-tasking and he always cleans as he goes.  The bar is set pretty high for the future husbands of our daughters!
 Everything was so good!


 Lindsay was pretty worn out by all the excitement...and she LOVED the "Fur Real" kitty and puppy that Austin and Gavin got for Christmas.  They were very nice to let her hold them all morning (wish I had known about them, I would have told Santa to get her one too!)
 We ended the morning outside on a beautiful Christmas day watching two little boys riding their new bikes!
We are blessed, indeed!