Whew!

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve. This past week flew by in a blur. I want to thank everyone for their prayers, words of encouragement, flowers, meals, cards, and support. Our whole family has felt so much love during this time. We are so thankful to be blessed with friends like you.

Tonight we are heading to Scott's parents house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration. This year we all decided to make our gifts. I will post what I made after tonight. I can't wait to see what everyone else made.

Tomorrow is Christmas. I have such mixed emotions. Excitement, sadness, anticipation, dread, happiness, anxiety. I know these are all normal feelings. Makenzie and I have talked about how very lucky Faith is to be celebrating Jesus' birthday with HIM! She gets to sit at His feet with Peter and Paul. With Mary and Joseph. With Moses and Aaron. This Christmas she is WITH the Reason for the Season. Thank you Lord!

I hope you and your loved ones have a very blessed Christmas. Make memories, cherish each other, eat lots of food, laugh and laugh, but most of all remember the Reason we celebrate. Jesus Christ our Savior was born.

In Memory

Faith Marie Hernandez

Faith Marie Hernandez, 34, had her last breath here on earth and her first one in Heaven on Wednesday Dec. 17, 2008. Free from the pain of this world she is now free to rest in her Saviors arms. Faith had a generous heart, was passionate about giving to others and would intentionally seek out opportunities to help someone in need. She spent her earlier years working as a counselor at her church's Junior camp and worked as part of the youth staff for the church high school youth group. She loved nature and authentically savored the beauty God had created around her. The loves of her life were her nieces and nephew and she showed such joy being with them.

Faith is survived by her parents, Lupe and Sharon Hernandez; siblings Tyrone and Aleana Hernandez; sister and brother-in-law Jessica and Scott Plumley; nieces Makenzie Plumley, Rebecca Gillies and Tristyn Hernandez and nephew Caleb Plumley.

A memorial service will be held at Broadway Avenue Baptist Church (2530 Broadway Ave. Boise, Id) on Sunday December 21st at 4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the High School Student Ministries of Broadway Avenue Baptist Church.

Info

Just wanted to let you know that a memorial service will be held for my sister, Faith, on Sunday December 21st at 4:00 pm at Broadway Avenue Baptist Church. We are asking that instead of flowers, contributions be made to the youth department at Broadway Avenue Baptist Church.

He Said What?

This boy cracks me up! This morning we were snuggling together in my bed and he was rubbing my cheek. This is the conversation that followed:

C: Mom, I like your cheeks. They are like a tushie.

M: What??

C: Your cheeks are like tushies.

M: TUSHIES?? Like buns?

C: Yeah. Like buns, cuz they are soft and they can't grow a beard.

Oh My! How I adore this little boy.

Glory in the Highest

This is a song that we have done at our church a few times. I have it on my iPod and listen to it every day. It moves me to tears each and every time I hear it. God is truly Amazing and I am overwhelmed at the thought of Him and His love for me. Glory to You, Lord!

Annual Baking Day

Every year my mom, sister, and I spend a day making Christmas goodies. This is a long time tradition. I can remember as a child my mom making tons of different cookies and candies. As we got older we got to join in. Now it just doesn't feel like Christmas without it. We make pretty much the same stuff every year. Once in a while we try something new. This year we stuck with the "regulars": almond roca, pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, peanut butter balls, fudge nut bars, 7-layer bars, sugar cookies; plain, frosted and dipped in chocolate, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate caramel pretzels, and we ran out of time for the no bake and molasses cookies. They will be made today. We always end up giving most of it away, but that is why we do it. We have so much fun laughing and talking in the crowded kitchen as we bump into each other and make messes everywhere. The music blaring Christmas songs, kids screaming, playing, and sometimes fighting, dog running around under foot eating everything we drop...this is all part of the wonderful chaos that makes the day so special. The aching of my feet and the dull throbbing in my lower back is just a pleasant reminder that yes, I am alive. I am blessed with the most amazing family, and I am here to share these special memories.

Fun Times

What a great weekend! Other than the fact that most of my family is sick. Thanksgiving was great. We spent the day at my in-laws. There was more food than should ever be allowed in one place. We had fun visiting, eating, walking, eating, playing Bingo, eating, watching a movie, eating. Unfortunately Scott was really sick, so he spent the day at home. After spending the day with them we stopped off at my parents' house to say hello. I love that both sets of parents live just a few miles apart.

Friday was pretty slow. I'm not a crazy black Friday shopper. I don't like to shop at normal hours of the day, so I don't see the sense in getting up in the middle of the night to do it! Scott and Makenzie go together every year though. They went and were back by 7:30 then Scott headed off to work. The kids and I went over to my parents' for a while and then bravely decided to go to Walmart. By this time it was about 2pm. The store was not crowded at all. It was very nice. No waiting for check out either. I ended up getting the kids some new pajamas. They loved that.

Saturday I took advantage of Scott being home and I ran out and bought the kids their Christmas presents. I have to say, it is nice to be done with most of our shopping. At church on Saturday night Phil Eastman led the worship. It was FABULOUS! He has so much talent and it is awesome to see him using it for the Lord. Made me feel a bit old, however, when I thought back to when I used to babysit him and his brother. Where did the time go??

Sunday we got out the Christmas decorations. I guess I should say SCOTT got them out. He and the kids set up and decorated the Christmas tree. I went and picked up my little sister and took her out to lunch for her birthday. We had a great time.

Now after a week off of school, it's back to routine. Makenzie woke up sick yesterday, so she stayed home today. Poor baby. It is definitely making it's rounds in our house. I woke up with a runny nose and sore throat this morning. Ugh!

My Favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love that it involves all of my favorite things (family, food, fun) without the expectation of gifts. It is a day to be thankful for what we have, not what we will get. So, in keeping with the theme of the holiday, here is a short list that just touches on the many, many things that I am so very thankful for:

~My Lord and Saviour. I am thankful that I have a personal relationship with God. That I can talk to Him any time, anywhere. That I can come to Him confidently, knowing that He is there listening, loving me. That He is never too busy for me. That what I have to say is never too trivial for such a big God.

~My MAN! I am so blessed to have Scott as my husband. He is amazing. He is selfless, giving, loving, my protector, my provider, and my best friend. There is never a day that we don't laugh together. I have loved spending the past 13 years married to this man!

~My children. Growing up, all I wanted to do was get married and have babies. God has blessed me with the desires of my heart. I love my children. They are so completely different, yet so much the same. Makenzie has a heart of gold. She is so full of love and mercy for others. All she wants to do is take care of everyone. She loves the Lord, which thrills my heart. I can't wait to see how God will use her in her life. Then there is Caleb. The little boy our family thought would never be. Out of 9 grandchildren (both sides of the family combined) he is the only boy. For this reason, he has no problem playing with a barbie, or carrying his stuffed animals around in a purse. Given the choice, he would pick pink before any other color. But trust me...this kid is ALL boy! He loves superheros. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Ironman, Hulk, and of course all the Star Wars characters. He has every light saber known to man and loves to fight and wrestle with his dad. He is stubborn, strong-willed, and loves to drive his mama crazy. But he is also sweet, sensitive, and loving. He loves to sit and snuggle on my lap. I love both of these kids so much!

~I am so blessed to live close to my parents and Scott's parents. After having moved away and not being able to visit them whenever we felt like it, this mean so much to me. Family means everything to me. I am blessed with godly parents who taught me right from wrong. Siblings that I love and have so much fun with. In-laws that I love dearly and love to spend time with.

~My home. It may be small, but I love it! It is clean, warm, and cozy. I have food to cook, coffee to drink :O), a warm bed to sleep in, hot water to shower in. My kids have rooms that they love, my pets have a warm place to sleep and people that love them and take care of them.

There is so much I could list. I have an amazing church, the best of friends, reliable vehicles, Scott has a great job, I could go on and on. But for now I just want to say:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Big 1-0

Today this girl is 10. I cannot believe I just said that. 10!! I remember 12 years ago praying, crying, begging for a baby. 2 years later I was holding this precious gift in my arms. She is the most amazing kid. She is sensitive, kind-hearted, loving, gentle, a peacemaker, motherly, funny, strong, bold, daring, brave, talented, creative, encouraging, sweet, spunky, and so much more. I can't put into words how full my heart is with love for this girl. We are more blessed than I could have ever imagined. So, on this day, I want to wish my daughter the most happiest of birthdays.

I LOVE YOU MAKENZIE DENAE!!!

Hooked on Phonics

This morning after cleaning the bathroom I noticed my son doing the "gotta go potty" dance. I was doing my make-up while he was going and this is the conversation we had:

C: Mom, can I clean the toilet?

M: Sorry Buddy, I already cleaned it.

C: I knew it. I can see the blue.

Silence...peeing...then:

C: It's not clean anymore. It's N-S-O-D "DIRTY"!

Pretty dirty if he felt the need to "spell" dirty. He is too cute!

So Fun

Makenzie and I have birthdays this month that are about 3 weeks apart. Back in September I got the idea to take her on a mommy/daughter birthday trip. It was a complete surprise to her. I didn't tell her until the day we left. She was SO surprised that she had tears in her eyes. It was priceless!

WEDNESDAY: We flew to Portland where we were picked up by our friend, Sara. We went to dinner and had a great time laughing and eating. From there we headed back to Sara's house where we stayed up late visiting and catching up.

THURSDAY: After sleeping in and enjoying a lazy morning that included watching The Price is Right, we headed out to meet some friends for lunch. After lunch we went to Target and bought out the store. (Including matching pajamas for everyone.)We then headed back to Sara's where we spent the rest of the evening in our new jammies eating and watching movies. We stayed up WAY too late, but had the best time.

FRIDAY: This was our busy day. We started by having tea at the cutest tea house in Philomath. Makenzie loves to go to tea. She was so cute acting all lady-like with her tea. After tea Makenzie and I had an appointment to get facials together. It was the first time for both of us and we are hooked! Kenz said she actually fell asleep it was so relaxing. I'm so glad we were able to do it together. Great memories. After facials we went to Borders and had coffee and looked around for a while. From there we stopped at Fred Meyer because I was trying to find a specific "surprise" I told Caleb I would bring back for him. We headed back to the house where we spent the evening making homemade pizzas and watching another movie. Once again stayed up way too late but it was totally worth it.

SATURDAY: This was another lazy morning spent laughing with Kerry about pictures on the internet. After getting all packed and ready to go, we headed to Red Robin to meet Darrell and Lynn for lunch. Enjoyed the yummy food and laughed ALOT. Then it was off to the airport to wait for our flight home.

This was a great trip with many memories made with my little girl...who isn't so little anymore. I can't believe she is going to be TEN! I love her so much and am thrilled that we were able to spend this time together. And thanks to Kerry and Sara for letting us stay with them and for being our chauffeur. :O) You guys are the best!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's off to play I go! I leave for Oregon today. Got LOTS of exciting things on the agenda. I will post all about them when I get back.

Don't Forget To...

Pics

Here are some photos from the past week:






Went to a friend's house to tie-dye Halloween shirts. We had the best time and the kids loved decorating the pumpkins on their shirts.


Saturday Scott took Makenzie on a motorcycle ride to Horseshoe Bend and back (about 70-80 miles round trip). They stopped and had breakfast and Makenzie can't wait for the next trip.


My Rock Star


Anakin (This mask creeps me out!)






This one includes my cute little niece, Tristyn.

And Scott, being Scott.

Sunday was my birthday so Scott and the kids took me to breakfast.

Over the weekend I was also able to spend time with lots of different friends. Had a craft night at Candace's. Made a cute time capsule and had fun visiting with her, Tabitha, and Andrea. Thanks Candace for the great evening!

Sunday night, after an INCREDIBLE prayer service at church, our home team had a girl's night out. I had a blast eating and laughing with all of them.

An amazing weekend that went by way too fast. I am looking forward to this next one though. Stay tuned for the details.

Drum Roll Please....

I can't believe it's finally finished! It has taken about a month, but the baseball mural is completed. This all started when I told Caleb I was going to paint his room. I asked him what he wanted and he said that he wanted his wall to look like you were in a baseball field. Great. How in the world do I do that? I started searching online for large stick-on baseball pictures, but they all cost WAY more than I was willing to pay. I found a pattern for this one and, after convincing my mom that it wouldn't be that hard to do, I ordered it. It might have been a little more work than I anticipated, but it was well worth it. Not only to see the smile on my little guy's face, but I loved all the time that I got to spend alone with my mom. We did lots of talking and laughing. Thanks, Mom, for all your help. You rock! It is not as neat as I would have liked it to be, but I had to stop or I was going to make myself crazy. :O)

So, for all of you who have been waiting on pins and needles (Lynn!)...Here it is:

Still Waiting

Ten years ago I put in an order for an extra set of arms and I am STILL waiting for that delivery! Hmm....the factory must be backed up.

The First

Yesterday I got to go with Caleb on his very first school field trip. We went to Linder Farms where we went on a hay ride, went through a corn maze, a small maze made out of hay bales, saw the animals at the petting zoo (yes, this is where there is a camel and a zebra...odd for Idaho in the fall), and picked pumpkins. It was a crisp fall day and we had so much fun. Here are a few pics from our day:


This is Caleb's best friend, Sydney. She is the sweetest thing ever! They were both so excited because it was their first bus ride.



Decisions, decisions...which one do I want?



This one!

This kid is a goof just like his father. So much fun!

What a great day! Thank you, Lord, for my kids. And thank you that I am able to enjoy times like this with them. I am so blessed!

Guilty Pleasures

I have a new favorite magazine:





I got this in the mail yesterday and I can't put it down. It is the best magazine! It has 128 recipes listed all through the magazine, and they vary from easy and quick to fancy/elegant. There are many of the Food Network cooks featured inside. I love watching the Food Network, so this is just icing on the cake. I haven't noticed if it is in the stores yet, but I subscribed online. Just thought I would share!

Drip, Sniff, Sneeze, Cough

What have I accomplished this week? Hmm.....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Why? Because I have a stupid sinus infection. I started feeling bad late Saturday night and I'm still fighting it. I went to the doc yesterday and finally got some antibiotics, so hopefully I will be on the mend soon. So, for that reason, everything on my "to do" list has been completely neglected. My house is a disaster, my laundry is piling up, the mural on the wall still needs to be painted, and my legs are very hairy! I have no energy to do anything. My amazing husband has been very understanding. It has to be frustrating to leave for work in the morning with your wife laying on the couch and then to come home after working so hard to find nothing done, no dinner made, and your wife laying in the same spot on the couch. My sweet, sweet Makenzie has been such a huge help. She keeps asking me if I need anything and is very willing to help with anything. She has helped with Caleb so much and I am so thankful for her and her servants heart. Ok, so enough about my pathetic self.

On a more serious note, Some of my dearest friends could sure use some prayer. Last week they suffered a miscarriage, yesterday his grandpa passed away, and they recently found out that his aunt is in the last stages of cancer and not expected to make it much longer, and his dad has been diagnosed with a blood disease that will require chemo for the rest of his life. Our friends are very strong Christians, but his family is not. If you would be kind enough to say a prayer for them during this time of grief, I know they would really appreciate it. Not only for their grief, but that God would use them to be a witness to his family. And that somehow, through these hard times, that God would open the hearts of his family and they would come to know the Lord.

I feel very blessed to have godly friends who I know I can go to with these requests. Thank you, friends, for your prayer. I also feel overwhelmed with thankfulness that I live in a country where I can publicly ask for prayer and be open with my faith without negative consequences.

I'll Give it a Shot

I was tagged by Alisha so I will do my best to come up with 6 interesting things you may not know about me. Here goes:

1. Two cups of coffee. I have to have two cups of coffee every morning. One is not enough, three is too much. And it HAS to have flavored creamer. My very fav is Coconut Creme, although I love to try all the different flavors. I think I have 5 different flavors in my fridge right now. I use a different kind with each cup.

2. I have a horrible memory. I can't remember anything. Scott will tell me something and within minutes I can't remember what he said. For this reason I live by my day planner. I write EVERYTHING in it and I look at it first thing every morning to see what I have to do. I don't know what I would do without it.

3. I love cheesecake. I think it is the best dessert ever. I love that there are so many different kinds. I usually eat the inside and leave the crust. That is why I love this stuff:

It is perfect! It taste great and it's perfect for when I just want a little taste and not a whole slice of cheesecake. It is also available it Key Lime. YUM!!

4. I could watch the cooking channel all day long. I love to cook. I just don't always do it. I love to try new recipes. I love to create my own. There is just something fulfilling about creating something delicious with a bunch of different ingredients. I would love to go to culinary school at some point in my life. We'll see.

5. I HAVE to have my toe nails painted. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is. I cannot stand to see my toe nails without polish. I keep them polished all year long.

6. I love to color. It just seems to relax me. I like to buy the coloring books from the craft stores that have geometrical designs. Like this:

I have the largest boxes of crayons and colored pencils and I keep them in my room where the kids can't get them. I will not let my kids use my crayons or pencils. I get them their own. Mine are off limits.

So, there you go. Maybe not all that interesting, but it's me. So here are the three people that I am tagging: Andrea, Nicole, and Tiesha.

Thought I Would Share

I was looking through some pictures this morning and thought I would share a few. Some of these are from the past few months, but they make me smile.


Caleb loves candy corn. His favorite is the pumpkin shaped candy corn. I walked into the living room the other day to find this on my couch. He set it all up on his own. He said his animals were hungry. Funny boy.

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Sophie loves her baths...as long as the water is running directly on her. This was one of her earlier baths. She is a little bigger now so she gets baths in the tub.

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Caleb had the stomach flu recently. I gave him a bowl to hold so he wouldn't have to run to the bathroom every time he got sick. He was throwing up so much that he kept the bowl right up against his face. Poor baby thought he wouldn't get the bowl up to his mouth in time. He actually fell asleep with it up like this.

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Makenzie got new glasses this week. Sorry about the poor quality of the picture. I can't believe how grown up she looks.

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Caleb didn't think it was fair that Makenzie got glasses and he didn't. He kept trying to tell me that he needed them to make him smarter. So we took the lenses out of Makenzie's old glasses and now he thinks he is so cool.

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Scott's parents came over for dinner last night. They had never played a Wii before, so it was fun to introduce them to it. This is them playing baseball.

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. The weather has changed from warm to freezing overnight. No easing into it. I'm still working on the painting project in Caleb's room. I am painting an 8 x 4 foot baseball mural on one of his walls. It is looking pretty cool. I thought about posting a picture of what I have so far, but then I thought it would be more fun to show the finished project. I'm not sure how much longer it will be. We have only been able to work on it a couple hours at a time and not even every day. My mom is helping me. Thanks Mom!

So, there you have it. Not too exciting, but it's my life and I love it!

Weekend

The weekend is over and it went WAY too fast. I got to spend the afternoon with my baby sister on Friday. I enjoyed that so much! She helped me get dinner ready for a party I had that night. It was fun having the girls over. Some of them I haven't had a chance to visit with in a long time, so it was nice to catch up.
Saturday was nice and slow. Got to sleep in and lounge in my pajamas longer than normal. Took Makenzie to the eye doctor Saturday afternoon. She was excited to pick out new glasses. Went from the doctor to church. Had a great service, I love our church! After church we enjoyed dinner out with friends. We had a GREAT time! Looking forward to hanging out with them again!
Sunday was my Daddy's birthday, so we spent the day at my parents' house. We had a great lunch (thanks Bug), and lots of fun playing cards. We went from there to our Home Team. LOVE our home team! So glad we are part of this group.
Looking forward to the short school week. Kids have Thursday and Friday off. I'm hoping to get the project in Caleb's room started this week. I have lots of other stuff to do, so I'm not sure how far I will get.

I Did It!

One year ago today I wrote my first blog post. I went back this morning to read my first entry and couldn't stop. I just wanted to keep reading. It is so cool to see and remember the things we did and feelings I had a year ago. I was never good at keeping a journal, but this is actually FUN! I can't wait to see what this next year brings.

Just a Few Things

*I finished phase 1 of Caleb's bedroom. I'm waiting for phase 2 to arrive in the mail. Should be here tomorrow. I'm guessing phase 2 will take at least a week, if not longer. I will post pics when it is finished.

* Did the Women's Fitness Celebration on Saturday. Yep, in the pouring rain. We were soaked to the bone before we ever hit the starting line. We had planned to walk at a leisurely pace (it was a 3 mile course) and just enjoy ourselves. The rain changed that plan. We ran part of the way and speed-walked the rest. We were SO cold! But it was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year.

*Saturday night Makenzie and I went with my mother-in-law and niece to a ballet at the Morrison Center. It was Makenzie's first live ballet experience and she loved it. I can't wait to take her to another one.

*I can't believe it is the first day of fall already. Where did the summer go? I have to admit, summer has always been my favorite season. It still is, but fall is running a very close second. I am loving this cool weather. I'm not ready for the cold winter, but I do like the crisp mornings and evenings.

*I've been watching the Dog Whisperer on TV and I think I need to try some of his stuff on my Sophie. I'm amazed at what he can do with dogs.

*Looking forward to a clam week. It seems like we have all been going at 100 MPH lately. It will be nice to relax at home and enjoy some time together.

Blue is the New Red

After 3 coats of red, and it obviously needing 2 or 3 more, I decided to paint it blue instead. I only have one coat of blue on so far and it looks better already. I will only need the normal 2 coats of blue. Whew! Now I just have to figure out the rest of my decorating scheme.

UGH!

I started painting Caleb's room yesterday. I bought bright red paint to paint a strip on the top of the wall. I already have 2 coats on it and it looks horrible. You can see all the streaks from the roller. I'm hoping today, now that it is 100% dry, one last coat might do the trick. If not, I may be altering my painting plans.

F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.N.G!

Project #1

Makenzie's Room:

My brother has lived with us for the past year and just moved out last weekend, so we decided to repaint before we put all of her things in. She picked out this comforter set, so we painted to match.

Here are the before and after pictures:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

And here is an extra just for the fun of it!

Not bad for my first "real" painting project. Project #2 is Caleb's room. That will start next week. Pictures to come.