wow!

Christmas tired her out!

Grandpa Steve with all the kids

going hunting with daddy?

very excited

Shadow likes Christmas, too

is it the phone?

handsome curt

reading the christmas story

The whole gang Christmas eve!

Merry Christmas!!!

See those teeth? Just the sweetest smile ever!

finished product!

Jeremy and Brooke working on the gingerbread house!

fun in the snow! Need I say more?

Merry CHRISTmas!! Wow, it's been a busy month! We've been just getting ready for the holidays, working up until last week and getting together with friends and family! Our Cantata was the 14th at our church and went really well! Isaac and his choir behaved well and performed well, too! It was so fun singing with Brooke and Isaac through the whole thing! The message was great, too. It was called "Christmas on the Air". Christmas Eve, we went to church and then to Jeremy's mom's house for pizza and presents and good fellowship. We got home late from there, put everyone to bed and got all the presents out! I got to bed about 1am only to be wakened by the dog at 1:30 and put him back outside... I woke up at 6:15am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I woke up and put Erin's kitchen set together (was too tired to do it the night before:)), and by that time, Amber, Brooke and Curtis were all awake. So, about 8am we woke up the little ones! What fun opening presents! We had a little sweaty moment when I couldn't find Brooke's "main" present (it was buried under my work clothes in my closet!), but were all relieved to find it! Amber got money (towards a laptop), a dress, some perfume/body spray, etc. Brooke got a cell phone (added on to our plan), 2 turtlenecks, a movie, a sweatshirt/pullover, body spray/perfume, Curt: an MP3 player, game for the WII, game for his PSP, a sweatshirt he wanted, a game to share with Isaac who got a remote control dinosaur, a game for PSP and DS and WII, a webkinz; Erin got her kitchen, a barbie head to do hair do's on, a vet hospital, and a kitty and stuffed horse; Lyndsay got a walker/stroller for her baby, a baby doll, a key that sings and makes lots of noise, and some ring toy. They got a few other small things/games and are having fun with everything! It was fun just hanging out yesterday and watching everyone. Amber, Brooke and Curt left at 11am to go to their dad's (Curt and Brooke are there for a week) to open more presents! Yesterday afternoon, we all took a nap. Erin fell asleep around 3pm and was snoring louder than her dad and didn't wake up til 7pm! So cute! She's busy cooking chicken right now in her kitchen!

Christmas Eve, at mom-in-law's, Lyndsay took a few steps for everyone to see - she's so funny. So, last night, we were showing her how to use the stroller/walker and she started going across the room with it! So, in between, she'd take a few steps here and there on her own! Uh-Oh, we're going to be in trouble! She does what we call the "Lyndsay shuffle" by sitting on one knee, with her other leg bent out in front with foot on the floor, then she pulls herself across the room with the one leg! It's funny and she goes pretty fast! She has 4 teeth coming in on top, 2 faster than the others (one front and one eye), so she looks super cute when smiling!

Jeremy and I are now off until the end of January and are supposed to go back for 1 month and then laid off again for another week, so far.... Who knows what will happen next in the General Motors saga... Yes, we are a bit nervous, but God is in control and will take care of us no matter what! As long as we have each other! We are going to tackle remodeling our main bathroom starting today and get that done so we can put our house on the market and get one step closer to moving to Millington... So, I will post some pictures and then am off to start demo!

Have a great week, and I'll be posting more now that I'm off!

What a Buck!

Post thanksgiving!

Wow, look at this! 7 point buck!

Amber and Lyndsay, etnjoying each other inbetween text messages of course:)

Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, Bill, and siblings - we are recuperating from eating

My mom and Lyndsay, cuddling...

Hi there - what a week! Our thanksgiving Friday night with Mom, Bill, Heather & Brian and girls and Phil and Chelsea went wonderful as well - the food was great again and we ate too many desserts! I was going to tell you I made my next weight loss goal, but gained a couple pounds back from all of the good desserts:( but am well on my way to losing those, lord willing!

My husband didn't hunt as much last weekend as I thought he would. On opening day, he killed a very big doe and we will have a lot of venison from her. Today is opening season for muzzle loader and he decided to go hunting tonight after work instead of getting firewood. Wait until you see these pictures! What a nice buck - the biggest buck he's shot to date. He shot him on our property as well, just standing in the woods, watching the deer go by...

We have been fighting a stomach bug this week. I didn't feel well Monday and Tuesday. Then, Thursday morning, Brooke called my at 5:50am to tell me Erin had just thrown up all over her bed, herself, the bathroom, etc. Poor girls! I was already at work and rode the van, so there was no coming home unfortunately! So, at the babysitters, she had bathroom troubles and throwing up troubles. We (and the babysitter:) lucked out, at work the line broke down in body shop and they sent the main line home at 10:30am so I was able to pick the girls up and give them some tender loving mommy care all day. Lyndsay has been blowing out her diapers as well thanks to a top tooth coming through! All I can say is P-U!

Well, it has also been quite stressful at work to say the least. This morning, Orion announced instead of only laying off 650 people in January and keeping 3 shifts, they are now laying off 1200 people and halting the third shift! Jeremy and I will still be working when they work (we are going to be laid off the month of January so far!). I hope to still be able to hold days as well. We are having to make some financial decisions to help in the future as well as some what ifs for the future as well... Very scary times so please pray because if GM fails, so will a lot of other businesses, etc.

Lyndsay loves playing with the computer when I'm on it and she is much taller now and causing more trouble so I'd better post this while it still says what I meant it to! Enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend! Love, Christine

#4

Uncle Al, Kyler, Moriah, Lyndsay and Joshua (?)

Getting the good food!

Porch is done!

In line for food!

Thanksgiving #3

Carving the big bird!

Here it is, all cooked and ready to serve!

The garage this morning, set up for fun!

Getting it ready!

Amber's home!!!

Thanksgiving #2 pictures

Dad and Teresa and the grandkids...

The grandkids waiting for Grandma and pa to come for a picture.

The story behind this... Isaac got a kit to paint a night light race car thingymabob. I was trying to get the paint to come out of this little tube and pop, paint flew out and hit the ceiling and there was a big blue blob! No, it didn't come out all the way, so my ceiling has more character than everyone else's!!

Lyndsay loves her grandpa - sorry for the open mouth picture, dad but you are both adorable!

See, I said adorable, didn't I???!!! She loves her grandpa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dad opening his Christmas presents!

Lynday likes Curt's present - she wasn't afraid of it, she would chase it around!

I love my gift - right from the heart of Teresa who has worked on this quilt for our bed for over a year?! It is wonderful, beautiful and very very warm! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Chelsea and Phil, waiting patiently!

Isaac and his gift!

We got together last weekend for our Christmas with my Dad and Teresa because they are soon leaving for Floriday and this is the last weekend all of the kids would be home (except Amber) to do it. We had pizza, salad and lots of fun and laughs! Teresa made us a beautiful quilt and Lyndsay as well (all of the other kids got one 2 years ago and love them still). It was a great night!

Well, the day is almost done. Our house seems eerily quiet and empty after having 43 people here earlier for dinner! It was great, only not enough time to visit each person for very long, of course! Everything went smoothly! We weren't sure on how long to cook a 40 lb turkey, but Jeremy's mom researched a little and thought about 10 hours so last night I stayed up til 1:30am cleaning, etc. and we had said we'd put the turkey in at 1am. So, at 1am, I took a quick shower, then woke up Jeremy and told him we had to put the turkey in the oven. He rolled over, looked at me and said "it is in the oven" and rolled back over! No, no, no, get up, we have to put it in the oven! So, he finally got up and we got him into the oven (not Jeremy, the turkey!). We thought the turkey would be done around 10:30am. Wrong, Jeremy stuck the digital thermometer in at 8am and it was done at 8:30am!! So, we made some calls and people started arriving around noon. By the time we got everything else ready, we still didn't eat until 2pm! But it was delicious! All of the food everyone brought from the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, the 20lbs of potatoes that Mom and Aunt Karen peeled and cut and mashed!, the whipped cream dish Grandma Reid makes, the rolls, the bean dish from Teresa, the stuffing, wow, I think I'm hungry again:) And we won't even talk about the desserts! Thank you everyone for all of your help in cooking dishes and cleaning up! My house looks almost as if no one had ever been here believe it or not! Mostly, thank you for the sweet fellowship - we always have a great time and don't get together often enough! I thank God for such a great family - I couldn't ask for a better family to have married into either!

So, the front porch is complete but I didn't take a finished picture - I'll see if I can get one in the dark to post tonight. The only thing left to tackle yet this winter is cutting firewood and redoing the front bathroom. We are going to have 3 weeks off at Christmas (2 holiday and 1 layoff) and one week at the end of January so we'll have plenty of time to get that project done! I am enjoying all of the other things we've accomplished - it all looks so nice! We really enjoyed the extra room in the garage which is bright and cheerful and warm! We borrowed tables from the church and set up 5 of them. After everyone was done eating and some had left, we took 4 down and the boys played out there with guns, swords and we also set up a TV and video game system for them out there! We bought some indoor/outdoor carpet and rolled it out on the floor out there - Lyndsay enjoyed that, although she got held a lot today (it was too dangerous for her to be on the floor!) She was a very good girl all day!

Erin was so tired and emotional by 7:30pm she asked if she could watch Dora in my room, so I turned it on for her and 15 minutes later she was sleeping - out cold! Isaac played with his cousins all day and is tired now as well. I have to admit I am a bit tired as well and look forward to collapsing into bed in a few minutes!

Amber got home Tuesday night about 8pm and is having a great time visiting everyone! Brooke and Curt had to go to their dad's for the rest of the week:( But, they get to visit some relatives from out of town over there as well. Everyone missed them today, though!

A little funny - Isaac - my constant worrier had been complaining about a belly ache every night at bedtime! I was sending him to bed with a rice sock, a snack and telling him it was because he wasn't finishing his dinner and was probably hungry, he needed to eat or he would starve to death (you know, typical mom lecture, there are kids starving in Africa...). A few nights later, probably also thanks to older brother Curt torturing him, he came running out of his room, crying - mom I'm going to die. No, you're not, what's wrong? How many days to you have to go without eating before you die? I said, weeks probably, don't worry and go to bed! He also cried yesterday after I threw away one of many sticks I've found in my house while cleaning that boys had been playing with outside and didn't want to take the chance of losing...

Well, I could say more, but I will try and post some pictures and be off to bed. Have a great rest of the weekend and enjoy those leftovers! Christine

Friday post #2

Did I ever say blackmail picture or paybacks before? Oh, that was for Brooke, this is for Curt! I love you man! Like the blond wig!

the M&M game...

Curt won - yeah!

Hi there!

Not a whole lot of room or choices!

fingers?

or toes - could there be some more teeth ready to pop out?????

Well, it's Friday and we had the day off for veterans day which I know was Tuesday, but they do it this way to accomodate the deer hunters... I'll take any day off I can! We had a lot of fun this week and were pretty productive. Last weekend, we started the drain tile project (300 feet). Jeremy perfected the hole and used the laser to get the angle just right while I filled in behind him. I raked and shoveled away a few pounds this week as well as a pulled muscle under my armpit! Brooke helped one night. We finished that on Tuesday night and got all of the landscaping done around the side of the house to the back corner! How nice looking! Then, started on the back deck. The deck came from Jeremy's trailer after we got married (he had just built it). So, he polished it up, added skirting and new stairs and it looks better than new! Then, he moved the gas line that has always ran outside the front of the house through the crawl space instead, getting ready to do the front porch. The boys and I moved rocks out of the way and shoveled up old mulch to make room for new last night. Today, Jeremy and I and the girls went to Lowe's after doing a little TLC on the inside of the house and laundry and got the materials for the front deck! Then, my husband went to Millington to get ready for opening day. He is spending the night out there alone as it was raining and is supposed to rain tomorrow. The kids and I went to Maggie's birthday party tonight and are going to town to get some shopping done tomorrow! This morning, while waiting to go to town, I tackled the girls' room and decided to change it around.... Oh boy, 9X10 rooms with 3 pieces of furniture are NOT fun to rearrange! After much muscling and moving inch by inch, I did it and don't care to ever do it again until we move! Check out the picture and you'll see why! That's why my house plans for the new house have very large bedrooms (14x18 or something like that)! I've lived here for 15 years and am tired of small! Tonight, we worked on the boys' room a bit. I'm afraid Curt is a bit of a teenage not so care about clean boy that I wish he was. I made him clean out behind the bunk bed on the floor. He loves to sneak food into bed, eat and throw the wrappers apparently:( Gross, I say! So, all the bedding has been washed, I am going to disinfect the door knobs and light switches and hope that this little "bug" goes away for good! I told my husband when we're all done with this home improvement stuff, I'm going for a manicure and pedicure and then to the doctor to see if I have a sinus infection!

At Maggie's party tonight, Heather had the kids play a cute game. She put M&M's on a plate, then covered them with whipped cream, making the kids eat through the whipped cream and eat the candy as well. Curt won! But, when she put the candy on Erin's plate, then covered them up with the cream, Erin was devasted she covered them up and she apparently doesn't like whipped cream, poor girl! So, she didn't play!

Lyndsay reminds me of a little bear. She crawls around, trying to catch me and will stop, stand up and look at me exasperated, then get back down and crawl some more! What a sweetheart! She'll be walking in no time! I feel bad because we've been working hard at night outside and the kids have been watching her inside cuz it's too cold to take her out, and I can't do the stuff we've been doing with her in the backpack... I miss the time with her! But, we'll soon be done and can relax again (I hope:)

Well, the front deck and the bathroom and painting the living room to go. I am sore and feel rough all over, but feel as if I'm getting back into shape and only have 2lbs to go til my next goal, I've lost the 40+ from my pregnancy and hope to lose 15 more...

Amber is doing great, she's so busy she's only been calling home every few days now. She'll be home in 2 weeks for Thanksgiving and has one week off for that... I was going to buy her a bus ticket home, can't get off work the days she can leave and has to be back but her Dad is going to get her and her Grandparents will be taking her back the following week - thank you!

So, off to bed for me, but I'll post some pictures first - have a a great weekend!

Chris