Changes...

Over the past week we have had a couple changes going on at our house.

First change - Brayden has started showering on his own. A big accomplishment for our 5 year old little boy. He loves it and has been asking me each day when he can shower again. I hope his love for showering continues as he grows. He especially likes combing his hair after he gets done. He has a special way of combing it so it is nice and high on top.

Second change - Sarah got an early, early birthday present from us, a new iPod. We loved surprising her. She needed more "giga-giga" (as Tim Hawkins says) to hold all the new music she is listening to.

Third change - I decided a while a go that the upstairs bathroom needed a change. I am so done with bright green. However, I wanted to wait until winter to do it since we have more time at home. Out with the bright green paint, pretty flowers and butterfly stencils and in with... Ahhhhhh, I am not sure yet. Two coats of primer to start. Will post when the final paint color is on the wall.

Brayden taking a turn to help paint.

Scrapbook Weekend...

I spent the weekend with girlfriends scrapbooking in Greenwood Lake, New York, just 30 minutes from my house. My friend Michele's family has a cabin right on Greenwood Lake, so it is a beautiful setting for our time away.

I arrived Thursday afternoon and started working on my digital scrapbook pages for 2011. The rest of the girls continued to arrive throughout Thursday and Friday. Several of us usually head home on Saturday night and the rest leave Sunday afternoon.

We have been getting together like this for 10 years now, which is hard to believe. It is a highlight of the year for all of us. In the past we always saw each other at least once a week, but now with different church campuses and where we live it is only on special occasions like this that we can all be together. I am thankful for the time away with each of them and catching up on all that is going on in our lives while recording our memories through pictures.

Here is our crew...

Michele - our hostess

Christy

Myself and Melissa

Lisa

Susie

Each year we take a group picture to capture who was there. Amanda, in the bottom right corner was our photographer this weekend, hence why she isn't in any of the pictures above except this one. Gotta love self timers.

"Steve"...

Steve, our snowman that we made yesterday, who Brayden named last night made it through the night, but as the morning has gone on he has slowly been losing it. It is a gorgeous day out with the sun shining and Steve just isn't holding it together.

First went the hat, then the eyes, buttons and pipe. He is holding on to his heart, carrot and scarf. Wouldn't it be appropriate if he holds on to his heart till end?
 
You will never be forgotten Steve. You lived a full life, for one day. We promise that on another snowy day we will rebuild you.  

Snow...

We got 4-5 inches of snow throughout the night last night. Jason and I were awoken at 5 a.m. with calls for delayed school openings. Brayden's school started at 9:30 a.m. and Sarah started at 10:15 a.m. They enjoyed the extra time at home this morning and I did to but it made for a busy morning getting Brayden to school and then coming back for Sarah. Jason spent about an hour and a half cleaning off our cars and clearing the driveway. He is a good man (especially since he has a cold), so happy that isn't my job.

After Brayden and I got home from school he was anxious to make a snowman, snowballs and snow angels. It was the perfect kind of snow for all those things. We got him bundled up and out he went. I followed soon after to help build the snowman. I think he is a pretty impressive snowman if I do say so myself. Brayden put in the eyes, buttons and hat. He wasn't to crazy about putting the heart on, he actually wanted to put it in the back so you couldn't see it, but I said our snowman has to have a heart so he reluctantly placed it on him. I guess he thought if it was down low you wouldn't really see it. Brayden isn't into hearts right now, its a girl thing he says. I told him Valentine's Day was coming up soon and he was going to be seeing lots of hearts everywhere. Can't wait!

I "heart" my boy. He is so fun.

Quiet...

Things are still quiet on our home front. We are keeping up with our daily routine, but not a lot of extra activities going on.

Jason has a cold that he has been battling since Saturday. I am immediately started taking my vitamins as I am going away this weekend to scrapbook at my girlfriend's family cabin with 6 of my other friends. I look forward to the retreat from day to day life and spending time with the girls.

Sarah and Brayden are good. Each has their different activities going on at school. Sarah is working on a school project for social studies and is researching the history of the "James" family. Her FaFa has been helping her and it has been very interesting for her. Brayden continues to work on learning his letters, this week was "O".

One Day More...

Ahhhhhh...January. Quiet. Well, quiet compared to December. It has been nice to be able to slow the pace down a bit.

Sunday afternoon Jason and I got to go see Les Miserables with our friends Todd and Samantha. We saw it on Broadway many years ago and were anxious to see how it would look on the bring screen. We weren't disappointed. It was AMAZING! Jason and I have been singing the songs all week, they are stuck in our hears. I forgot how redemption, grace and love are woven so strongly throughout the story. Hugh Jackman was great and I loved Anne Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream". The whole movie is singing with only a spoken sentence or two and obviously had elements that you can't do on a Broadway stage, which I feel only enhanced the story for me. My favorite part was when they sing "One Day More!", you see how all the characters collide in the story. Even Colm Wilkinson the original singer who was Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman's character) on Broadway had a part to play in the movie as the Priest. I would love to go see it again, but may have to wait till video. 

Sarah & Brayden tidbits...

Sarah had her second JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) match today of the 2012-2013 season.

Team - Ayerim, Sarah, James and Coach Joanna

Sarah did an AMAZING job and came in 3rd place. She came in 4th place last meet, so stepped it up one notch this time. She had 1,000 points and 6 quiz outs.

The Top 10 quizzers

 A couple weeks ago Brayden had an "epic" day, which I had to record with a photo.

First, he got to stay for "Lunch Bunch" for the very first time at preschool. After school for 45 minutes they stay and eat their lunch and then play on the playground. Jayden, his buddy, was staying and Brayden was SUPER excited to have more playtime with his friend.

Second, after I picked him up from school we went to the library, another favorite thing for him. We picked up books and movies.

What more could this kid ask for? I guess we could have visited the Lego store (another favorite thing) just to keep with the "L" theme.

Christmas artwork...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra...

Donna treated the James' girls to an early Christmas present by taking us all to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra the Saturday before Christmas.

I have heard TSO music before but have never seen one of their concerts, it was AMAZING! We saw "The Lost Christmas Eve", which was about 90 minutes and then they played some of their older music for another hour. The show was full of music, singing and lights.

They are definitely rockers and their look reminded me of the 80's rock bands. It was great. We all got a kick out of the long hair that was constantly being flipped, even by the back up singers, and all of them stood in the rock stance while playing their guitars.

It really was entertaining and so glad we had the opportunity to go. 

Our own Polar Express...

We had a couple other activities that we did over the Christmas holiday that I didn't get a chance to post, so here is one of them.

We took another ride this year on our own Polar Express (a.k.a our church bus) to see Christmas lights with our friends. We surprised Sarah and Brayden with the night's event and Brayden went and got his PJs on, had his golden ticket in hand and was ready to ride...

Jason was the conductor with puncher in hand...

Tickets please...

The first riders

The Polar Express stopped at the Smith and James' houses to pick up our friends...

Sarah, Trinity and Ella

Sammy, Levi and Brayden

We walked to see the "Crazy Christmas" house near John & Susie's and then rode on the bus through different neighborhoods to see all the pretty lights. We passed around "Hot-Hot-Hot-Hot" chocolate and popcorn for the ride.

I got to sit with Miss Ella, such a sweetie.

We stopped at our friends the Bergstol's house to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

The grand finale house was in our neighborhood...

"Joy to the World" in the words of Clark Griswold.

Sammy was loving the train.