Merry Christmas

We pray each of you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and New Year!

...from the Fosters – Lance, Heidi, Riley and Owen

Christmas Baking

We baked last weekend at Nanny's house (my Mom). We made Divinity, Gingerbread Cookies, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Toffee, Praline, Sausage Balls and Monkey Munch. The pictures are of the boys all decorating their gingerbread men and one of them stirring the monkey munch.

We did more baking yesterday with Nana and made lots of cookies. They all decorated another gingerbread man and also made lots of chocolate chip and M&M cookies. Somehow I forgot my camera yesterday, but hopefully Nana will share some of her pics with me that I can post here. She had the cutest aprons for each of the kids all with matching hats. Owen's was Santa, Riley wore the Gingerbread one, Abby's was a cupcake, Kalyee a puppy and Tyler's was red/white checked. Very cute!

Here are pics from last weekend at Nanny's:

Polar Express

*** 12/22/08 - UPDATED WITH PICTURES ***

I'll add pictures later. A stomach bug is making it's way through our house this week. This is all I could muster up the energy to publish today...

Wow! What a fun day we had on Saturday. As I’d mentioned, we drove up to Chattanooga to ride on the ‘Polar Express’ train Saturday evening. It was one of those experiences that I know the kids will remember for a long time.

We boarded the train in our pajamas about 5:30pm. Soon after we boarded and got settled in our seats, the hostesses made their way down the aisle serving everyone a gingerbread cookie and a YooHoo! Owen was quick to notice that these cookies they served us, which were made in by Santa’s chef and served with ‘magic dust’ sprinkles, looked suspiciously liked the Little Debbie ones we had at home. I think I was able to convince him that although they looked similar, ours at home certainly didn’t have Santa’s magic dust.

After the train departed the station and we oo-ed and ahh-ed over the light displays outside our windows, the story-teller came out and read The Polar Express and she walked up and down the aisle. It helped that the kids had all just watched the movie on the ride up in PawPaw and Nana’s Navigator, so it was all fresh in their mind. Owen wondered if the conductor would be by to punch our ticket. And Abby asked about whether we would go down the out-of-control hill they did in the movie.

Soon after the story ended, we heard the locomotive whistle blow which they’d already told us meant we were about to enter the ‘magic tunnel’. Once we made our way through the tunnel we were in the North Pole. Soon we were seeing Santa’s Workshop and feeding stations for each of the reindeer. We even made a dramatic stop when one of the pesky reindeer decided to block the tracks. In a few minutes, Santa’s came into view as he stood track-side and waved at all the passengers. Once our train came to a stop, he boarded the train.

He started at the back of the train and began making his way row by row, to greet each kid and sit with them for a few minutes. When he got to Riley and Owen, he took a few items from their list but then really focused on making sure they knew they must behave and be very good if they were to get any gifts on Christmas morning. Before he moved on, he gave them each a high-five and let them sit on his knee for Daddy to take a few pictures. He really did a great job with all the kids and gave each child a silver bell to remember him by.

Once Santa left our car, Mrs. Clause joined us. She led the kids in several Christmas Carols and even had Tyler lead everyone in a song and then picked Riley to lead one as well. I don't know why I would have expected anything different, but Riley loved the microphone. Definately doesn't get that from his Momma!

That was it, soon we were back at the depot and our trip to the North Pole was over. We stopped at Cracker Barrell for dinner and then hit the road to head home. What a fun day!

Busy Time of Year

Like I'm sure it is for each of you, this year is very busy at our house. We did enjoy a somewhat lazy Saturday last weekend. We decorated our house and tree but did so in our pajamas. I don't think any of us put on clothes until at least 4pm. After that we headed to see Santa and grab a bite to eat.

Sunday we went to my company Christmas party. It was fun. I always enjoy meeting the spouses and children of all my coworkers. Some I'd met before, but many I hadn't. There are LOTS of babies in our group. I think we counted and in the last 5 years there have been something like 15 babies born among the 30 employees in the IT Network groups. I guess we were destined to be next. There have already been at least 3 born this year and I know of at least one other besides myself that is due in 2009.

This weekend is going to be busy but should be a lot of fun. The boys are heading to PawPaw and Nanny's to help setup their Christmas tree and spend the night. I think Nanny is nuts asking for all 7 of her grandkids on one night! I hope to get a lot of my shopping done tonight after I drop them off.

Tomorrow we are going to Chattanooga with the Fosters to ride the Polar Express train. It should be a lot of fun. Everyone wears their pajamas and the kids are fed cookies and milk while a story teller reads The Polar Express on our train ride to the North Pole. Once we reach the North Pole, Santa boards the train and rides back to the station with us, greeting all the kids and listening to what they want this year.

Sunday after church we are heading back over to Nanny's to do our Christmas baking.

See what I mean, busy, but all fun stuff. I'm looking forward to it all. I'm just not sure how the laundry will get done or the house cleaned in between all the fun stuff. I'm sure we'll manage.

No word yet on Riley's baptism. We will meet with our pastor one day next week and pick a date then.

I pray each of you are enjoying an equally fun Christmas season. I have to remind myself to pause and remember the true meaning for this celebration, Jesus!