Cappuccino Christmas

The Women's Ministry of our church has a HUGE event each year called Cappuccino Christmas. There is live entertainment, beautiful tables hosted by different ladies from the church and a wonderful dinner served to all. I wasn't going to go this year but Stephenie invited me to sit with her family and I couldn't pass up a night to chat with her while watching her hubby do a little drama stuff on stage. I'm glad I went!

It was a night full of good friends!

Cute Babies

(do any of you bloggers know why it keeps turning my pictures???)

Lots of fun tables to look at...

And for the entertainment this year they did a live radio broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life...

and they did a really good job!

Christmas Tree Party

Recently we visisted a homeschool program that our family is joining in January. It is an AMAZING program that I will share more about later. For now you get to know that each time the kids meet there they each do a short presentation in front of their class to practice their public speaking skills. Well, since my kids were new they got interviewed in front of the classes they were in. Adia and Kenyon's teachers both asked them about the upcoming holidays and what traditions they most look forward to. I thought it was so cute that both of them talked about our annual Christmas Tree Party. I didn't get to hear Adia's answer but her teacher told me how neat it sounded later. Kyle and I sat in on Kenyons and heard him tell the kids all about the ornament we pick out for them and how it has to be something special about them and that we get to sleep in the room with our new tree. It was a sweet reminder that these traditions really are special to them and worth the effort it takes to make them happen.

So here are some pictures of this years Tree Party with my tutorial on how to make it happen for yourself.

1 - Go get a tree. If it is raining feel free to throw it in the car so your carpets don't get soaked when you get home.

2 - Unwrap your new pajamas, put them on and look very festive while you decorate.

3 - Have 1 new ornament for each kid. It has to be something that very much reminds you about them in that past year. Gather in a circle and let someone open the untaged ornament. We do it this way to add to the excitement of guessing who each one is for. The kids (and Kyle) LOVE it!

...don't forget to charge your camera so you can take pictures of each part of the evening.

...this years ornaments were as follows:

Adia - Volleyball

Avery - Kitty cat

Kenyon - Micheal Jackson (don't ask me - talk to his dad!)

Adison - Strawberry Shortcake

Kaden - Buzz Lightyear

4 - Have hot cocoa and donuts while mom gets the lights on the tree.

5- Put a Christmas movie (The Nativity was this years choice) on for dad so he will stay in the room and be part of the fun.

6- Let the kids help put all the ornaments on (even though it looks CRAZY when they are done).

... this part is so special because as each ornament comes out of the box you hear the kids talking about old memories. Things like how Avery used to LOVE Veggie Tales and say Bob all day every day. Or how Adia was such a great big sister to each of the kids. Or Kenyon's first Christmas and how chubby he already was.

7 - Enjoy your time together, talk about the Birthday Boy a lot, cuddle with each child and be sure to cherish every moment. I have been told that sooner than we would like I might have an empty house - can't imagine but neither could any of the people who told me it happened to them.

Thanksgiving 2010

As always we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. I love this picture as it captures the heart of the holidays - a time to gather in recognition of all God is and all He has given.

But let's back up a bit... while Stacey, mom and I were cooking, Tammy was talking/cleaning and the hubby's and the kids kept very busy by...

playing in the play room (best part of the house for sure!)...

playing around in the great outdoors...
looking SCARY and getting work done...

driving around the property feeling free....

Holding baby animals...

(the vertical pictures keep flipping???)

fighting Uncles...

My dad keeps himself very busy these days buying animals, thinking of things to have built for the animals and then changing his mind, selling animals and making changes to what he has built. Here he is giving Kyle the latest tour. He grew up on a chicken ranch and I think somehow that is coming back to him. He now has around 200 chickens and has built more chicken pens, tunnels and even a play house - i don't get it?

Okay, now back to the main event... dinner was finally ready, everyone was clean and we all gathered together again to enjoy the evening. With Stacey's help my mom is making her home such a beautiful place to be and it set the perfect stage for a Thanksgiving feast.

As alwasy we went around the table, each one of us saying what we are most thankful for over the past year and I LOVE that part of the evening. We may make fun of people for their answers and make a joke out of parts of it but the truth is we have to try to keep it together because each year there are those of us facing hard things and those of us who have overcome hard things and all of us just truly grateful to our Saviour for giving us strength to face whatever comes.

not sure how this little girl made it to the grown up table this year... but I LOVED having her there.

Stacey's family...

The kids table...

After Dinner we took lots of pictures. Here are the cousins...

My crazy bunch...

My parents and Chanelle (my cousins daughter) who we were so lucky to have join us this year...

Tammy's multi-cultural family (or at least it looks that way)...

And here is Adia's highlight of the night. After years of Auntie Tammy torturing her and me not ever allowing her do anything back I finally said okay. Please don't feel sorry for Tammy - she has done this to Adia so many times (and much worse things also)!

Hope you all had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Oh, and here we are on the way home. More to come on Adia's bunny experiment later.

Camera ?

Well, my camera starting giving me problems a few months back with it's flash. Now it has begun to be very moody and somedays I can snap pictures and other days it won't snap a single shot. Being a mother of 5 beautiful children who do very entertaining things, who look extrememly cute and who create many moments that NEED to be captured I can not live with a camera like this.



So, I have a few choices that Kyle has enough State Farm points to buy. And I am hoping some of my camera savy sister in laws will give me an opinion.



Should I stick with one similar to my own who gives me great quality shots, offers me much to learn (that I keep thinking I will take classes to do someday but never find the time for) or should I switch to a smaller, no learning needed type camera with great zooming capabilities w/out having to buy another lense? The truth is I am having such a hard time learning anything trying to read on them. I need to take a class. I LOVE taking pictures and hope someday to grow in this area not just for the sake of my family but to bless others with family pictures like what Jill has done for so many of us. I also am trying to be realistic about my life as a homeschooling mom that leaves me about no extra time on a regular basis. I'm afraid I will be disappointed with the quality of the images I get on a small camera. Okay, I can vent all day on my confusion but I will leave you with some pics of the choices I have w/in the State Farm Point Catalog options.





Nikon D3000 or D5000



Canon EOS Digital Rebel 10MP



Canon Powershot G11 10.3MP
Nikon Coolpix P100 10.3MP

Please give me some honest feedback... I'm LOST!

Creation Field Trip

One area of history that Christians and the world seem to be so confused about it creation. When scientist talk about millions & billions of years and carbon dating and so on it can feel very overwhelming and confusing to those of us who take the bible literally and stand firm that when God says he created the world in 6 days - that is actually what He means. I'm not the brightest girl in town either so although I trust God's word and choose to believe it over the ever changing views of scientist I am SO GLAD there are super smart people out there who can scientifically back up the reality of Creation and how it actually can fit into science just fine. Our family has really enjoyed a ministry called Answers in Genesis. We have several of their books and have found so much encouragement from the work they do. So this past weekend when we found out that Ken Ham (one of the founders) would be in San Jose teaching on the subject we had to go. Adia and I sat through 5 classes on things like Dinosaurs and how they fit into a 6,000 year old world, astronomy and creation, defending the Christian Faith biblically and scientifically, one nation- one race and more. We learned so much! There was even one class for Kenyon and Avery to join in on to learn about when Dinosaurs were created, what the fall of man did to them, why they are gone, how they fit on Noahs Ark and more. The kids really enjoyed it and were challenged to trust God's word and never to be swayed by the wisdom of this sin filled world. Of course I didn't take pictures during the conference so I will show you what we did between classes instead. :)

When we drove up to my moms fall entry I remembered why I have always loved holidays and I feel so guilty if I don't have seasonal things in my home. Now, I am pretty sure my sister actually did this for her but regardless she did it for our mom because for so many years my mom did it for us!

And friends remember my dad always planting new flowers and hosing down our cement daily. Our yard was always so clean and pretty. So of course it is no surprise that although he is now enjoying ranch life it is so clean and the entry to his part of the property is beautiful! This is just to the left of the picture above.

Adia really enjoyed giving the kids rides in this but I think she enjoyed it more when they all got out and she could go fast. She always asks us if she can drive our cars and of course the answer is no (except for once or twice from me) and her arguement is that Papa lets her drive these things and his truck. Of course if Papa wants to sign papers saying he will pay for any damage she does to our cars than she is more than welcome to drive ours also.

None of the girls are allowed to stand in the back of these things while they are going but for some reason my dad has decided Kenyon can not only stand while he is driving, Kenyon gets to dance with his hands in the air. And I'm not giong to tell you what I think my dads motives are for that!

Anyway, it was a great little field trip.

Fall Field Trips

Although the weather has still felt very much like summer we did a couple Field Trips recently to ring in the fall!

Fog Willow Pumpkin & Science Farm

After explaining how they sheer a lamb, make yarn, then wool and told us to go home and find something wool we have one of the kids in our group says in a sad tone...

"we don't have sheep so our home won't have any wool"

learning to groom the sheep

Did you know alpaca's wait in line to use the bathroom in one place...

they don't like a messy living environment.

We deal a lot with Hay these days (Oat Hay, Alfalfa and more) but on this trip we learned how they make the straw bales for lining animals cages. I'm always surprised how interesting I find o

Learned about Goats and played with LOTS of themPracticing our poses!

And here is the group we went with. I met one of the moms recently at Awana's and she invited our family to join them. They were all very sweet and we are so glad we went. Adia was there to help me (and get out of doing all her school that day) and she was so embarrassed that the moms wanted her in this picture.

Obviously Kaden had a great time or he would NEVER have fallen asleep over 2 hours before nap time. He's SO CUTE!!!!!

Apple Hill

Denver Dan's Apple Pie Baking Class

The pies turned out great and all the kids had a blast!

The staff was so friendly and the lady who taught the class was AWESOME!

Oh and my kids would be so bothered if I left out there favorite part...

My kids are a bunch of hicks and they can't get enough animals!

And from our home to yours...

yes, there was candy in that dish - hmmm... where did it go? Kaden!