a few of my favorite things....

A ride in the little sportscar at Walmart.

Arts and crafts...Watching the big girls ballet class, while I wait for my class to begin.
My weekly donut at church after Mass. (oopsie, what a mess!)
Doing fun stuff with my daddy.

life is good...

First I want to thank all of you for your prayers, concern, phone calls, emails, offers of meals and other help. I appreciate it more than you know.

My shoulder has improved, but has a way to go yet. I went to the doctor yesterday. He tried to move my shoulder to a place it was not ready to go, and I screamed in pain. I was shocked at myself for screaming, but oh, it was really painful! He said I am not ready for physical therapy yet. I go back in a week.

Life has been interesting lately. Full of change, my injury, big inconveniences, lots of opportunities to grow in holiness. None of which I would have chosen. What I do choose each and everyday is for God's will to be done in my life. Therefore, anything that comes my way, I believe must have God's approval, that He must be allowing it for the benefit of my soul, this brings me comfort. So during this time and other times like these, I will try not feel sorry for myself, I will try not to worry and I will ride the wave and trust in God! He is in control!


on to other good stuff...

Our children gave my husband and I an extravagant gift this Christmas. They have never done anything like this before and were so excited they could barely keep it a secret. They gave us a night out on the town last night!


First we went here for dinner, my very favorite place. We then had a little time and went here, where we skimmed books and sipped these. Then we went ot see this!


It was a wonderful night! The show was amazing! We needed that, and oh what perfect timing!

ouchie!!!

Well, this is me at the moment!

Dr. says I have a "very severe case of calcific tendinitis in the rotater cuff".

As you can see it is my right shoulder and makes doing my hair-or anything else

for that matter near impossible (eek!).

We are praying for a quick recovery for mommy, so things can get back to normal

around here-or at least get back to the way they were before.

re-gifting?

About 5 years ago or so, dd15 had pretty much stopped playing with her vast American Girl doll collection after years of enjoyment. She had a bitty baby as well as the big doll collection. When her collection started to only gather dust, she and I decided it was time to pack it all away for hopefully a granddaughter someday??

Only God knew at that time that He had another daughter for us.

DD15 and I dug out part of the collection out this Christmas for another special little girl to enjoy. We reminisced about those days when she was just a little girl and played and played with these dolls for hours on end. A certain girl who is not so little anymore had great fun going through all of her old things.

The greenhouse went up yesterday. I'll keep you posted on that this year, I know you can hardly wait...

A nursery we like was having a great sale this week, tulips were 75% off. So we planted more tulips.My mother in law, cooked a turkey on Christmas Day. She gave me the leftovers, so I made lots of turkey stock, then turkey noodle soup. I wasn't planning on taking a picture of this but then when I saw the carrots, onion and celery looking so pretty, well....

Now I have stock of stock for the freezer. Which I love to have on hand to make soup. I am allergic to MSG (monosodium glutamate), which is in many store bought chicken broths/stocks. I can't always find the brands that don't have msg, like Kitchen Basics-which I love but can be a bit pricey. So homemade stock is a really good thing.

I know most of you have probably made stock but for those who haven't and want to try, here is how you do it;

Chicken or Turkey Stock

Pull off all meat (save for soup) and place carcass in a large stock pot. Cover with cool water. Wash and chop, but don't peel a few large carrots, a few stalks of celery and 2 medium onions. Add some whole peppercorns and 1 or 2 bay leaves. Bring to boil and reduce heat and let cook on stove for 6-10 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Take out and skim off fat.

a gift...

Just a little gift for a friend.

decorated...

Just thought I'd show you a bit of our decorations. The picture of our nativity came out blurry but it is especially beautiful this year. Sorry you can't see it.

The tree.

The garland was made from boxwood that came from a friend's yard. This is not the nativity I was referring to. This one is in the kitchen.
I really enjoy making these greenery arrangements. I think they make every room festive...
Here is another little one.
Well , it is finally Christmas Eve. We will go to Mass this evening with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We will then come here and have dinner together.

We are so fortunate to be able to be with some of our family this Christmas. We miss those who live far away-LOVE YOU GUYS!

May you and your families be blessed abundantly with the gifts

that come from God alone this Christmas Season!

oh those crazy kids...

I think this might be the consequences of watching How the Grinch stole Christmas just one too many times...

Anywho, thought this was pretty funny.

Big sissy has a 2 ltr. coke bottle in her hair (that's a lot of hair!) and little one has a water bottle.

This lovely note was on the door of my son's room...

If you enlarge it, it reads

I am disgusted with my room!

don't have time to clean it now.

I will clean it on the break,

it is the first thing I will do.

Please don't bug me, I am aware I am living and sleeping in a

PIGSTY.

It made me laugh because although I am aware of how bad it is, I have not said anything. But I do like this conviction and self awareness he came to on his own. He's growing up.

BTW, he got his license a couple of weeks ago. I feel such a loss of control. I find this new chapter very challenging. A whole new lesson in surrender to God.

A friend once said to me, just wait until you watch your two oldest children pull out of the driveway together in the same car for the first time. She was right, it was really hard, scary, I definitely felt a little nauseous...

As with everything else in my life, I must leave them in HIS hands.