homemade picture valentines.

 i had so much fun making these... they were fast and easy!
happy valentine's day!!

Christmas Morning!!

we awoke to leah's excited exclamation-- "Lily, come look!  Santa REALLY ate the cookies!!"
all is well!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

The BEST thing about having seven kids is CHRISTMAS MORNING.
i can't wait!

Wishing you JOY on this joyous day.
We have much to be grateful for!!

Merry Christmas 2011!

i sent this picture on my Christmas card.
it's going to end up on a dumbest family picture ever blog.
seriously.
it was late when i pushed send.  :)

May your days be merry and bright!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

visiting santa while mom cleans the house...

Our stockings are hung.
Our creatures are stirring.
We had a fun night last night and are enjoying the quiet times with our family today.
i didn't get great pictures last night... too busy welcoming and entertaining.  i sent the kids around with the camera a few times and have about 100 pictures of a white horse with a santa hat on it.  :)
here's a few...
preparing-

 caroling...

 the kids downstairs...

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

embrace the experience!

as i was washing dishes last night i was prompted to call my husband's aunt jill.
she's darling.
a very dedicated first grade teacher who has never had children of her own.
this year she has struggled much with her health, she's currently battling a cold that has her on her third round of antibiotics and kept her coughing and wheezing into the phone while we talked.
jill is a bubbly, happy, hard-working woman.
she has a mother's soul.
she is an example to me.

last night, i'm not sure she knew that she said exactly what i needed to hear.
she told me of a talk she heard, i think is was elder samuelson, who was cheerful even on his way to get his kidney replaced.
elder clark's motto was "embrace the experience."
embrace-- not just endure.

as i talked to jill i imagined all that she is "embracing" this season.
and it sounded hard.
way harder than my "i have a lot of kids to put to bed at night."
in fact, i imagined that jill would gladly trade me experiences this week.
i saw my life through new eyes.
again.

i realized that i have a tendency to think that if i were doing things right life wouldn't be hard.
that is false.
even people much better than me have trials.
life is designed to test us-- and so some stretching is necessary.
in order to experience a fullness of JOY, our lives will require a fullness of effort.
my life is FULL of good things.
overflowingly full of goodness.
i am so blessed.

as we delivered secret santa gifts last night and my kids were squabbling over who would deliver to which house... i took a step backwards.
i thought of sweet aunt jill, recovering in her bed.
great grandma moss throwing up all night with the flu.
the family in their town who was in a car accident and now both the mom and the dad are in wheelchairs recovering from their injuries.
elder samuelson and his kidney transplant.
and i was grateful for my experience.
i embraced the JOY in my car along with the squabbling.
and i found it.
the JOY.
it was there-- even while my kids were still arguing...
there were Christmas carols playing in the background.
there were great plans of subterfuge as the gifts were dropped off.
there was offers of piggy back rides and "Mom, i did a great job, didn't I?"
there were so many houses blinking with Christmas cheer.
there was todd at home hanging my family collage on the wall- because i can't have a party without re-decorating can i?
there was santa and mrs. clause sitting in the front of a pick-up and a manger scene out back in somebody's barn.
and as i felt JOY, my children stopped quarreling.
i heard them being kind, "you can do this house today and i'll do it tomorrow."
they started to sing bellowing renditions of Feliz Navidad and Little Drummer Boy.
they asked, "Mom, what can i do when we get home to help you get ready for our party?"
and, "Can I do my hair in curlers?"
By the end of our little jaunt through town I couldn't remember what I was so stressed about in the first place.

thanks jill.
thanks for the perspective.

i'm off to embrace my day!!

am i ready? for tonight and tomorrow?

um.  nope.  :)

but, i am readily embracing!!

come what may and love it!

and, i just had to laugh as i read this quote from my husband's uncle this morning...

Hospitality is making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were. 

hah!

Merry Christmas!

santa baby.

the elves are hard at work.
we are cooking and cleaning for our party tomorrow night (we have 10 families RSVPed)!

if you have a great holiday recipe let me know.
do you think it's bad if i'm just doing appetizer/treat things no main dish?
i have punch and homemade egg nog and apple cider.
many savory things and many sweet things...
but just fill your plate goodness, not main dish goodness.
our party is from 5-7pm.
i thought of making italian stuffed shells- but i just think it will be a mess.

i have a table in the basement for the kids to cut out snowflakes and tape them all over our windows/sliding glass door.

i plan on making everyone sing some Christmas carols... from our Christmas Song Book (i posted it here).
because that is my favorite thing about Christmas.

anyway...
my home will be fine.
my children are planning on sleeping in curlers tonight and dressing up in church clothes for the party.
i put silver aluminum foil-ish icicles on my christmas tree-- and i love them.
i'm baking today and making todd hang the family wall i've been wanting in my basement.
life is good.

merry christmas!