Merry Christmas! We have had everything Christmas this last week. It started last Tuesday with Matthew and Lucas's preschool Christmas program. It was so cute! They really sang out and did the motions this year, as opposed to last year when they just kind of stood on the stage and were about three beats behind everyone else. It amazes me what their little minds can hold. One of their songs was very unfamiliar to us and three verses long, yet they knew all of it, the fingerplay they did, and all the verses to Go Tell It On The Mountain. Then Wednesday was my last day of school for break. Our program was very cute this year. We finished up some shopping last week and I had a couple days to wrap and organize the gifts under the tree. Saturday we went to my grandma Carfrey's in Grove City, and then to my sister and brother-in-law's after. Kristin, my sister, made a great dinner and dessert, and we had a lot of fun opening presents and being with my family.

Sunday was church, and on Christmas Eve we went to Derrick's grandparents' house all day. We had lunch, opened presents, and played games. That evening, we headed to church for Living Truth's first Christmas Eve service. We had a full house! It was great. On Christmas Day, we stayed home until about 11 opening presents, then we headed to my Grandma Mae's house. It was very nice to be home Christmas morning so we could take our time and relax. The boys were very into opening this year, just to see what was in the package. Then, they would go and play with their toys. We got them a Leapster, and they haven't been away from it very much the last two days!

God bless all of you this Christmas as we focus on Jesus and His birth so we can have life with Him in heaven.

Our week has started off great so far. We have been in touch with a family whose 5 month old daughter has had two open heart surgeries and is facing a possible third this weekend. Her name is Victoria, and at any rate, we were hooked up with them through one of our parishoners. For the past several months, they have become somewhat involved with church, as much as they can since they are living at the Ronald McDonald house in Columbus. Last night, we had our Living Truth Christmas dinner, and we revealed to the family that we have adopted them for Christmas and we had a slew of presents to send home with them. It ended up being so many gifts that we brought it back home to our dining room because they didn't have room in their car. It is so great to be able to help others and they are so appreciative.

Matthew and Lucas continue to be so into Star Wars. Derrick and I spend our free time in the evening being stormtroopers with the boys and fighting off the enemy. Yesterday afternoon, Lucas put me in "jail"...aka his bedroom...and said I couldn't come out. Matthew consoled me by saying that I could go out only to use the bathroom "right around the corner".

Derrick and I had a date night Friday to my staff Christmas party, and then on Saturday I finished up our Christmas shopping. If I can get our Christmas cards out this week, that will be great, and one more thing I can check off my list! My school kids are getting very squirmy, as we only have 7 school days until our program and Christmas break starts! YEAH! I think I am just about as excited as they are!

This week we are taking the boys to the library tomorrow to see Santa...better than the alternative of the mall, which I have done the last two years. Wednesday night I have a cookie exchange at a friend's house and Thursday is confirmation. Finally, the weekend will be here!

Sorry for no pictures, but I can't get my camera to turn on. I will update soon with some Christmas tree pictures!

It's Almost Thanksgiving

Tonight we are all home together, which is a rarity lately. Matthew and Lucas have been into playing the Legos Star Wars PS2 game with Derrick. I think he is more into it than they are..he is such a video game junky. Derrick likes to "show" them how to play...Matthew actually has picked it up pretty well. PS2 with Daddy is the reward for having good days at school. Lets just say that they have only gotten to do it a few times. They seem to have a hard time with listening, and responding to the teacher's schedule. They definetly like to blaze their own trails. We have put the trains away as of late and traded them in for John Deere tractors. Better yet, they are into putting their belts around their waists, attaching their water guns and Spiderman telephones, and with a flashlight around their necks they scope out the bad guys. Pretty ironic from two kids who don't like to go down the dark hallway and into the bathroom alone.

I am very excited about only two days of school this week. We had an uneventful weekend. We went to Jeffersonville Outlet mall on Friday night for "candles" from the Yankee store, and ended up coming home with Under Armor, too! It was a fun family night. Saturday, Derrick and I sent the boys to my mom and dad's and we stayed home and watched the Buckeyes BEAT the Wolverines...and made buckeye candies during the game. Sunday, Derrick was literally gone ALL day, so the boys and I stayed home. They are getting over coughs, and I am starting a cold, so it was nice to stay home.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you...Happy Birthday to my dad, my sister, and my sister-in-law next week!

Our Halloween was fantastic. We had both sets of our parents and grandparents over to pass out candy. Also Devon and Nathan and our friends, Justin and Tracey. The boys looked really cute in their Batman and Spiderman costumes, too. I will post some pictures sometime soon. I thought it was saved on our digital camera, but it wasn't. I'll have to dress them up again and fake it so I can post some pictures. They trick or treated for almost the whole two hours. We have been crazy around here lately, too. I had parent teacher conferences the last two weeks, and I am thankful those are over. Derrick has been having confirmation once a week, as well as other meetings, etc. Last night I hosted a Tastefully Simple party and I had almost 20 people come! It was so much fun, and I think I am getting a lot of good food with my hostess money! I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving Break. We get the Wednesday off before Thanksgiving this year. We haven't had that in the past, and I am excited about that! Soon I'll be posting pictures of our Christmas tree! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Hello, all. I am so sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We have been crazy busy with Derrick starting his first confirmation class at Living Truth. He is really excited about that! He has three students, and they are all great kids. I have been trying to work in a tutoring session after school two days a week, and we have been getting ready for our Fall Festival, which is tonight. With the boys not napping consistently anymore, I find myself having less time at the computer for fun things, as opposed to school work. We had a great weekend last weekend. We went to the Columbus Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo." They set up a lot of businesses and they pass out candy to the kids. The boys wore their costumes, and they looked really cute. Tonight is our Fall Festival for church, and after this is over, our life will settle down a little bit. The boys have been learning so much at school, and using such big words. Just this morning Lucas said he was "terrified" and the other day he used the word "exhausted". How funny! We are looking forward to Trick or Treat on Wednesday night and then Thursday night I start my Parent/Teacher Conferences, since it's the end of the quarter. Thanks for reading!

Celebration

Well, it is finished. Yesterday morning we were able to start using our shower. We even have a cool, new shower head that the water comes out like rain. I have to say, I am very proud of my husband and the hard work he has put into the shower.

Our plant is still producing tomatoes. We found out from a parishoner that it is a perpetual tomato plant, meaning it will keep producing and growing until the first frost. Also, we could have trained it to grow up a trellis, which is why it grew out of its cage and has begun growing up the front porch. Also, we have another scientific wonder in our "garden"..aka the front flowerbed. Derrick found a praying mantis spinnng an egg sac on our pepper plant the other day. As far as we know, it is still there.

We had a great weekend. For the third time this month, Derrick and I were able to go out together. We went to the OSU/Northwestern blowout game on Saturday. It was about 42-0, OSU of course, by the end of the FIRST quarter, so we just enjoyed the winnings for the rest of the game. Sunday the four of us went to church and then off to the zoo. They were having all kinds of fall festival type things, even though it was almost ninety degrees and didn't feel much like fall! Anyway, there was a man there carving animals out of pumpkins. The sign said the pumpkins weighed 500 lbs. It was very cool. We also did the train ride and saw the scuba diver feeding the fish. That is something I have always wanted the boys to see, but we usually aren't in that area when they are doing the feeding. That, too, was neat to watch. In church on Sunday, Lucas was a bit stuffed up, and when he sneezed, a lot of gunk came out. Right out loud he says, "That was a big snot rocket, Mommy!" Yeah, of course it was in the middle of Derrick's message, and those around us, including myself, were laughing very hard. It was so funny! Enjoy the pictures. The boys get more fun, and more entertaining everyday!

Tired of Tomatoes

I have title this "Tired of Tomatoes" because my wonderful husband brought in about 12 tomatoes from our mutant tomato plant we have. I say it is mutant because it has overtaken the left half of our front flowerbed. Our flowerbed used to be nice, with red and white geraniums and some other flowers, but now it is the home to what I think is the largest tomato plant I have ever had. Last year, we planted a tomato plant in the same spot, and it did well, so we decided to do it again. Well, the plant you see in the pictures started from a SEED, in an INDOOR GREENHOUSE (you know, those little dirt discs and plastic trays you get at Wal-mart), and it has turned into a monster. I put the 10th bag of chopped tomatoes in the deep freeze today, right along with the 8 containers of salsa I have already made and frozen. It takes 10 cups of tomatoes to make 8 containers, so that tells you, in addition to the 10 quart bags we have now, how much time I've been spending chopping tomatoes. Oh well, lots of chili and salsa is yet to be made this winter! By the end of the month, our freezer will be nothing but red meat and tomatoes because we are taking a half side of beef from a local farmer...we'll be eating good this winter!



On to other things...the boys started school this week. I took the morning off on Wednesday so I could take them to school. We left our house, with Matthew and I in the CRV and Derrick and Lucas in the Civic. Sounds silly, but we both wanted to take them to school, and since I had to stay and work and Derrick had to go to a meeting that morning, we split the difference and each took one. Sometimes I wonder what we would do if we didn't have two boys to each have one to ourselves! There were no tears from the boys, or from me, and they are loving it so far. They go three days a week, and the cool thing is my classroom is in a modular unit outside off the playground. They come out for recess around the end of my 6th Grade reading class, and I can watch them playing with their friends. It's cool to have them there in the school building now. Last year, their class was over in the church basement.



We have started the college football season off well. We were able to send the boys to my mom's and go to a local bar with some friends to watch the Buckeyes in their opening game last weekend. Today I've just been checking the scores on the ESPN scrolling score thing at the bottom of the screen, because the game is only on the BIG 10 Network, which our cable company doesn't carry. After this week, the games should be televised on local stations. This BIG 10 Network has been a BIG PAIN in the backside for us Buckeye Fans! Sorry and deepest condolences to our U of M fans who suffered a devastating loss last weekend!



Derrick continues to work on the shower. The tile is up and looks really nice, and the next step is to put the grout in. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow after church.



God's blessings to all of you on your weekend!

Our week was fairly uneventful. I started school on Wednesday, and it was back to the reality of getting up at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday night I was a zombie, but by the end of the week, it wasn't so bad. I have an awesome class...11 boys and 4 girls. Another highlight of my year so far is having my first class from St. John's as 8th graders for Reading, as well as my class from last year for reading, too. They are both great groups of kids, and I am excited to have added 8th grade reading to my teaching schedule this year.



We had preschool open house Wednesday night. I think the boys will be enjoying their year. They made their way around the room, finding their cubbies, where they hang their coats and backpacks, and of course all the fun learning toys that Mrs. Mathys has for them. I can't believe they are going to be in school three days a week. I am excited, but feeling a little sentimental.



Derrick started his Christ Care Leadership training this weekend. He has four leaders to train right now, which means four Christ Care groups. He has been looking forward to this for a long time, and his first session went really well. His next project at home is to replace the shower in our master bath. We discovered a leak last weekend, and he tore out all the tile walls, as well as the base. It is down to the insulation now, and he has been figuring out how to best fix it. We have decided that he is going to re-tile the shower, which will be a job, but with all the DIY he watches, it should be cake! I'll update on that later!

August 21, 2007...School is almost here!

Thanks to reading my dear friend Sarah's blog all the time, as well as the Akersons' website for Camryn, I have decided to start out own family site. School is coming quickly...in approximately 24 hours I will be ending my first day of school. I am excited about my class this year...11 boys and 4 girls. Yes, lots of boys, but to me that means lots of fun! We have had a great summer, traveling to FL for my sister's wedding, as well as lots of zoo trips and days at the park.

Today we took Derrick's grandparents to the airport to see them off to their much awaited trip to Germany. We are really excited for them, that this time has finally come. Tomorrow I start school, and the boys have their preschool open house tomorrow night. On the 5th, they start three day a week preschool. We are very excited about this!