Merry Christmas

Well, I seem to have a Friday thing going on... updating my blog. It's been such a busy week and I am so glad it's over. We've been busy with the Christmas program & parties at preschool & parties and more parties at the boys school & trying to finish up running all my errands and getting last minute shopping done. I'm pretty much done, just waiting (praying) on a few packages to arrive via mail. I'm looking forward to 2 weeks of spending time with family & friends, sleeping in & wearing my pj's all day if i want to. I hope the weather gets back to normal though. These 70 degree temps are not consistent with Christmas for me. The boys keep asking when it's going to snow next week. I could only wish!

Since I have so many blogger friends & cyberspace buddies, there is no way I could mail Christmas cards to everyone, so here's our family Christmas e-card to you (plus another included in this post... i had a hard time deciding which one this year). I wish many blessings to you & your family this season!

Santa House 2008

Tonight we had our annual "stand-out-in-the-freezing-cold-to-see-Santa" visit to the Santa House at Uptown Shelby. Even though it was freezing, it was fun! The kids run around the courtsquare until we hollar "it's our turn" and then they come running to get in line... not just my kids, everyone's kids. The fun thing is you know most everyone in line so there's plenty to talk about & plenty of friends for our kids to play with. The air is crisp, the lights are pretty & normally we get to drink hot chocolate to warm up, but didn't find it this year. Kensley was excited to see Santa until it actually became our turn then she cried "I don't want to!" So Corby held her the entire time and she just looked at him. The boys spouted off lists of things I've never heard they want before & they kept telling more and more. (Sorry, but Santa has already shopped in this household...) We've had to have the conversation of "you can ask, but doesn't mean you'll get" several times. After the visit with Santa we walked through the Santa's Toy Sop which was incredibly crowded & lost track of the boys a couple of times because they just wandered with the crowd. We went to eat (along with everyone else uptown) at the new Wood Fired Grille (used to be Ichabod's for those who know where that is). It was so yummy! It was a fun night & I'm still thawing, but it just wouldn't be the same if you didn't freeze your buns off. (You can see how cold it was from the red noses & cheeks on my kids.)

Getting ready for Christmas

I've been so behind with my blog lately & I've got tons of pictures to share, so this is going to be a long blog today. Here we go....

Putting up the Christmas tree
The boys assembled the tree for me the day before Thanksgiving. It was great!
All I had to do was fluff a few branches, but then the hard part came of putting on the lights & decorating. I decided to do a themed tree this year... white, silver & blue... I think it's pretty.

We took our pre-K class on a field trip this week to a Christmas tree farm here in Shelby. It was a really neat trip...kinda makes me want to buy a real tree again.


We went to Chick-fil-A last night for school spirit night & it was Pictures with Santa Cow


Making a gingerbread house
I've always wanted to do this with the kids but I don't particularly like to do projects that make a mess, so I've waited a few years on this one. The kids had fun decorating the house & mostly liked eating the icing & candy... especially Kensley.




Chandler got creative with his last lick of icing... I think this is pretty funny!




And the final project...

Haneline Disco Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmas! It's my favorite holiday & I love atmosphere of the season. Some people cringe at hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but I LOVE it... sometimes I've even been know to start listening to it in August (yes, I just said..typed... that). Now that it's official, I'm even more excited. I went Christmas shopping this weekend and had so much fun with my Mom, aunt & cousin. I love the smells of walking into a store scented with cinnamon & peppermint & I love seeing all the decorations everywhere. One of my favorite things is driving through uptown Shelby & seeing the court square trees glowing with white lights and waiting in line at the Santa House & freezing my bum off. I love the excitement of seeing my kids yell when they see Christmas tree lights as we drive down the road & I love to hear Kensley scream "Tigger" at the Tigger snowman inflatable on our road. I love to drive to see Christmas lights (although, I haven't found anything spectacular in the past few years) and I love the joy that seems to linger throughout most everywhere you go. I love the anticipation of snow (although it hasn't snowed in forever here & I can only really remember 2 Christmases growing up that it actually did snow). Regardless, it's fun to wish and I love snowmen!

So here's to a wonderful season & blue is my color this year... (the new blog look & my Christmas cards). May we stay focused on the true meaning of this season... Jesus Christ our Lord & Savior. May we all feel the joy & excitement of HIM... because He is the only reason all of this happens anyway. I heard this in a movie this weekend... it was said "God came from heaven to earth... in the form of a tiny baby boy... to save YOU!"

I'm stuffed

I have a tradition in my family that I've tried to pass to the kids and this year I think it finally took, with the boys at least. I've always, as long as I can remember, watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I remember getting up early (well, 9am was early for me back then) just to watch the parade, looking forward to seeing all the "big" balloons characters & seeing my favorite group/band/actors perform or wave & smelling Mom cooking in the kitchen all morning. This kind of kicks off Christmas for me. I look forward to it each year but the kids have never really been interested in watching it. They may come & go in spurts and watch a few minutes, but it's never held their attention and they've never been excited about it... until this year. I mentioned it a few days ago & Carter has asked about it everyday. We got up around 7:30 this morning & the boys asked all morning "how much longer until the parade comes on?" That really tickled me to hear those words! They sat & watched almost all of it today. (I watched it too, but I was the one in the kitchen cooking this time.) All 3 of them were even curled up on the couch for a little while.

After lunch we headed to Morganton to my Aunt Connie's house for Thanksgiving with my family. I ate too much as usual, the boys had too much caffeine & cookies and we sat around all afternoon & enjoyed some relaxing time with family... as usual. The kids played in the leaves and took their annual ride with Mimi in Brandon's big army truck.

Here's a few more pics of our day

Kensley was a little unsure of laying in the leaves!

Here's my whole family... me, Daddy, Corby, Brandon (cousin), Chandler, Carter, Mom, Kensley, Aunt Connie, Dereama (cousin)

The cutest little turkey you've ever seen

Kensley had her first "performance" today at the preschool Thanksgiving program. This is a big production that the preschool puts on each year that includes a performance from all the classes (and they all dress up), a silent auction & a meal. It was wonderful! My 4 yr old class did a great job & they looked so cute in their indian outfits. But, I must say that Kensley was the cutest turkey on the block! Here's some pictures & a video of her little class singing.

Playing catch up

I've been so busy this week... still trying to hammer down having a job, taking care of the kids & the house and everything else that goes along with daily to-do lists. (So why am I on here blogging?...I need to de-stress) Anyway, the job is going good. I'm the 4 yr old teacher assistant. We've been so busy getting ready for our big Thanksgiving production that we haven't had a normal day yet, but it's okay because we've been crafting a lot & I love that! I'm anxious to see the big program which will be on Monday. Kensley has been singing lots of songs, but I have no idea what she's actually saying. She LOVES her class & says every day "i go my class mommy?" That makes it much easier for me each day I work. But to be honest, it's been hard getting back into the groove & trying to fit everything in every day when I'm basically losing 5 or so hours a day. I'm sure once I get into the groove it will be Christmas & then we'll be off a couple weeks & then I'll have to get into the groove all over again.. nonetheless, I'm thankful I have a job. A lot of people can't say that these days.

Anyhoo... just wanted to say hi. You may not see many posts in the next few weeks. Tis the season for busyness!

Shower Curtains

Okay, I need some feedback here. I'm on a mission for a shower curtain that actually does what it claims. Here's what I mean. I'm constantly replacing shower curtains because of the funk that develops on the bottom half after about a month or so. I've bought every "plastic" shower curtain in all price ranges from the $1 ones at the Dollar Tree to the $12 ones at Wal-Mart that claim they are some kind of special material that "resists mold & mildew" to the commercial strength ones to the $20 ones at Belk that have the little suction cups thingy's to keep the curtain closed. Thing is... they all are the same... they all mildew. Some may "resist" a few weeks longer than others, but I end up replacing them over and over and over and over... you get the idea. They are good for about a month & then the "funk" starts at the ends where the curtain always folds over because it's too wide for the shower. Then like BAM it's gross in a matter of overnight... the little black spots start creeping up towards the middle & there is no beating off the water or wiping this one clean. No matter how much I try to shake off the excess water & make sure to keep the curtain closed for it to dry, it will always need to be replaced.

So here's my question... what kind of shower curtain do you recommend? I've thought about buying a cloth-like one & washing it, but is it going to be worth it and will the "funk" actually come off in the washer? I need suggestions.

Going back to work

Well, today was my first day back to work. It's only a part-time job & may only be temporary, but I went to work for the first time in 8 years. I'm working at our church's preschool 3 days a week through the end of this year. I had a good little class today. Kensley also will be going to preschool while I'm there. She was excited about going to her class today & looked like such a big girl walking in with her backpack & lunch box. She had a great time with her little friends (she knows most of them from church anyway). I peeked on her several times today & she was running around laughing and having fun. I really missed her today though. It's going to take some getting used to getting into that routine, but it will be good once we hit our groove.

On a different note... me & Kensley were jumping on the trampoline the other day. This is what happened.

Worship through it

I had an experience at church this morning that I feel like I need to share. I had to sing a solo at church this morning. Normally, I'm never nervous, but today was different. I sang in the 8:30 service (everything was fine) & after went over to our regular practice with the worship team in the family life center. They were having some technical difficulties with monitors & sounds and had been trying to work through it for about 20 min. Our worship pastor finally stopped & said let's pray & ask God to help us figure this out. He started to pray & before he even asked, everything started working with the sound. Isn't is amazing that if we just take time to stop & let God be in control, He will answer even the smallest prayers? Obviously something was trying to hinder the Spirit in church today because all through the 9:30 service it was strange. People's faces were so bland, the atmosphere of the service was cold, it just plain ole felt weird. Then this pastor got up to speak & he struggled through the whole message. He had to stop several times because he kept losing his train of thought. He even asked at the end of the service for us to pray for him in the next service so that he could preach without being disrupted. Then I got up to sing at the end of the service. I was really nervous. I'm usually never nervous, but I was today. It was as if Satan was trying to prevent us from worshipping God today and hearing what our pastor had to say. Then it came time for the 11:00 service. I said a prayer for our pastor before I went up on stage & said "God I'm going to worship through it no matter what". I took my attention off of the audience & the strange air lurking around the building and focused on God & what he was ministering to my heart. Obviously people were praying for our pastor during his sermon because it was great & he nailed it this time. He talked about issues of integrity & taking a stand on what we know is right even if it means not blending in with the crowd and going with the flow of everything else.

God calls us as Christians to be different. I know God's calling me to be different, but will I listen? In today's society we've taken God out of schools & government and even taken One Nation Under God off US currency and we wonder why the world is the way that it is now. We've got to be different and take a stand. We just had a group return from China where you can be arrested for worshipping God. We have so much freedom in our country that we take for granted, but we as a nation are moving further & further from God just to please this world. Everything has to be politically correct these days as to not stir up any bad feelings or make anyone upset. It's like we are becoming a neutral nation. God calls us to be different. Be salt & light... be the salty bitterness of something when everything else tastes so sweet & the light in dark place that makes us stand out. I know I struggle with this every day. It's a challenge to me that I have to work on constantly.

I know in the days to come that spiritual warfare will be more frequent in places of worship in all nations. Let us not give into the temptation to just sit there & blend in... let us worship through it... to God's glory!

you can watch today's message here

Halloween..ish

I'm sitting here eating Doritos & Halloween candy, listening to Christmas music & thinking about plans for Thanksgiving in a few weeks... I'm wondering, where did this year go? I mean, for real, wasn't it just Christmas? Years pass faster and faster and I'm getting older & older... speaking of older...

Happy birthday to my sweet hubby... he turned 37 yesterday...

sorry, sidetrack...

anyhoo...as I'm thinking about all of this I realized that I didn't post any trick or treat pics of my babies... sorry about that. I've been so wrapped up in New Kids concerts & this election that I kind of lost track. So here's my Halloween post.

The kids had a great time trick or treating. We went to my friend Angie's neighborhood & had a little pre-trick or treating party before we headed out to get loaded down with candy. Chandler was a fireman, Carter was a Power Ranger & Kensley was Minnie Mouse. I had this cute idea to match them again this year, but plans fell through. I wanted both boys to dress up like a fireman and Kensley to be a Dalmatian puppy. A friend let me borrow a Dalmatian costume, but then Carter protested being a fireman (this is not unusual for him) and I couldn't find white pants to complete Kensley's costume. So, I let them be what they wanted. They dress up ALL the time around the house anyway, so Halloween is really just like any other day for us... well, apparel-wise.

Here's some pics from our night.

This is the only pic I got of my kids together... that's sad.

All the kiddos in their costumes

Me with my girlfriends

Batting at the ghostly pinata

Election anticipation

***I'm not trying to stir up anything by posting this, just stating my opinions... as a Christian***

I just got an email... supposedly one sent by Beth Moore about Kay Arthur (2 well respected Christian authors)... that was very disturbing & this pressed me to post something again about the election tomorrow. I kept telling myself, it's too late, but then I hear a voice say, "it's never too late" so Lord I'm listening & I'm posting...

Our pastor preached a great message yesterday. He was very open about what the Bible says in reference to government and his opinion on this matter (which I happen to wholeheartedly agree with). A video was shown right before he got up to speak that talked about the values that are at stake with this election... the original foundation of a family, the life of an unborn child, moral issues, integrity and lots more. One thing I've said all along is that this election is not about Republican or Democrat for me. It's not even about who is going to give us the lowest taxes or who's plan is going to get us out of this economy down spiral. This election is about one thing: MORAL VALUES. In my opinion only one man stands for what this country was founded on... and his name is NOT Obama. It's not that I think McCain is some great Christian and is going to swoop in redeem all of our problems, but it's the fact that he stands against all the stuff that will take this country even further from God. Our pastor made this comment in his sermon yesterday that has stuck to me like glue: "how we vote allows us to decide what kind of judgement we can incur on ourselves (as a nation)." Then taking what I saw in the video & putting 2 & 2 together... in my own words, if you vote for Obama , you (we as a nation) are incurring the judgement of God on our nation for allowing abortions, gay marriages, moral value decline... you get the picture. I don't want that judgement for me & my family. I don't want to reciprocate the wrath of what one man thinks is okay just because he says this nation needs "change". The change we need is not something that takes us farther from God... the change we need is to get back to the original foundations of government and what this country was founded on.

The passage of scripture that is referenced in the sermon come from Romans 13:1-7 & the introduction to the message says this:
Paul, in this text, says that the way we relate to our government is an indication of our commitment to Christ.
So what is your commitment to Christ? Are you a Christian? Do you stand for someone just because he says he can change this country? Is it really about fixing all the problems of our nation or is it about fixing our ONE NATION UNDER GOD.... think about it....

If you have 30 min to watch or listen to this message I would highly suggest you do that.
http://putnambaptist.org/video/2008/11_02am.php

New Kids on the Block ConcertS!

Woo... hoo! Yes, I'm back. I had a little change in plans... so here's the scoop. Me & my sister in law, Amanda, headed down to Atlanta on Wed to meet my other sister-in-law, Wendy, and some of her friends for the New Kids show on Wed night. Planned months ago. On the calendar. Date set. **We went to the Atlanta show for a couple reasons... when they first announced the tour Charlotte was not included & I was not risking a chance to see them AND it was about 1/2 way for all of us to meet (Wendy lives in TN).** We had so much fun watching everyone and even were entertained with some 80's clothes & hairdos. It was hilarious to see all these minivans & SUV's in the parking lot plastered with paint pen writings all over their windows. Everyone there was around my age... even some older. I expected that though. Anyway, we had a fabulous time & the concert was GREAT! Way better than I expected. Those boys... I mean men... know how to put on a show. Our seats were pretty good & thank goodness I took my camera & captured some great shots. Natasha Bedingfield started the show... I missed most of it b/c I was stuck waiting in line for the toilet with a bunch of drunk women... go figure. Then, I just so happened to hear some girls talking that Lady Gaga was going to perform too. She did perform a song with the New Kids on their new CD... so I had "heard" of her. She was trash... just plainly put. We called her the hoochie mama ho... pardon my french... because it was so horrible. Her apparel basically consisted of fancy white panties & a tank top, this ridiculous blonde wig, huge fake eyelashes and this torch looking thing that she did some very vulgar stuff with and combine that with some flailing around & moaning kind of singing. Eeeewwwww! Apparently she's new & I don't see how in the world she would ever make it without the New Kids endorsement. On to better things... the boys finally came on around 9:30. I'll just admit... I screamed like I was 15 again & so did the rest of the girls who were with me. I could write post after post about this concert, but I'll just leave you with saying this... I went to plenty of New kids concerts back in the day with my friend Julie & I've never seen one that was this good.

SOOOOOO, on to the second part of the story. We all woke up Thursday morning kind of depressed that it was over & just wished that we could see them again. It really was that great & you have to be a true New Kids fan to appreciate how all of this rolls. My SIL Amanda has a friend that had some tickets to the Charlotte show for Thursday night. We knew this on Wed, but never thought in a million years that I would get a chance to actually go. On the way home, it was eating us alive, so she called him... he still had the tickets. We were making plans. I immediately called my friend Missy & said LET'S GO! The deal was I find someone to go with me & Amanda find someone to go with her. Missy called me back and said... I'm in!.... I screamed & I think probably busted her eardrum. Here I am driving down the road from Atlanta & on my way to another show!!!! I NEVER do stuff like this & Corby thought I had totally lost my mind. I think he called everyone he knew & told them how crazy I was... I don't care... this was a very rare opportunity for me... 2 nights in a row... who knew?! Poor Amanda couldn't get anyone to go with her so she missed out... I really hate that for her too. But I got home, got the kids, did homework, fed them, bathed them, and out the door I go again to Charlotte. This show was just as good as the one in ATL... basically the same, just a few little things different. Our seats were better at the CLT show... a little closer to the stage. I totally can't believe I went to 2 New Kids concerts 2 nights in a row!!! I've got hundreds of pics to share, but I'm in the process of sorting through all of them to pick the best one. Here's a few for teasers.

Wendy & Amanda (my SIL's), me & Shelly at the Atlanta show

Me & Missy at the Charlotte show

Today is the big day

Well, I'm so excited, because today is my day to have some Mom time and go see my favorite boy band... New Kids on the Block. I will be leaving shortly heading to Atlanta with my sister-in-laws and another friend. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post that most of you will care nothing about, but hey, it's my blog... ha! So I'll leave you with this....Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh -- the right stuff.

GWU Homecoming

Yesterday was Gardner-Webb Homecoming. We usually go to most of the home GW games, but it was especially nice yesterday to see some people we haven't seen in a while. Here's some pics for you. By the way.. Gardner-Webb won... woo, hoo!

The boys are always talking about seeing the Bulldog. This time they actually got to hi-five him.

Me & my girlfrieds from college... Darlene & Leslie

Chandler & Carter saw some of their friends too... Avery & Addison.