New Year's Painting Party

Yes, we remember the days when we would go to a New Year's Eve party and celebrate with friends, play games, act silly, and sing and kiss each other at midnight. My how times have changed... We're celebrating by redecorating Andrew & Savannah's bedrooms. We've been painting for two straight days and have two full days of painting left.

Laurie asked a VERY good question yesterday... How does anyone paint a room in one day???? No primer and only one coat of paint? YEAH RIGHT!!

Saturday - we primed walls and trim in both rooms (and Andrew's door front and back) and primed Savannah's new furniture. Today (Sunday) we (SHHHH skipped church :( ) painted two walls of Andrew's room (yellow; other two walls are blue), Savannah's walls (pink... and a very pretty girly pink) and moved a corner desk/shelf/storage unit from Savannah's bedroom to the living room with the help of Laurie's dad (he drove all the way over just to help with it... he's the only one that knows how to take it apart and put it back together again). Doesn't seem like we did all that much, but we also had to run to Menards, watch and listen to football, clean the house a little, dishes and laundry (Laurie did these last three... wasn't a high priorty to Mark while the kids are gone and in "home-improvement-tunnel-vision" :P ) and watch and listen to football.

We're hoping to do the second coat of yellow, second coat of pink, first and second coats of blue, and start painting the furniture (since it will probably need two coats) on Monday. So much for watching football on New Year's Day... Oh wait... the only IMPORTANT game is on January 8th when the Gators play the Buckeyes for the national championship... GO GATORS!!!

So to return to my beginning thoughts about parties and celebrations of the past... we don't miss it. That's not "us" anymore... painting our kid's bedrooms on New Year's Eve is "us" now, and we love it. We wouldn't change how we're celebrating at all.

Ok, it's 11:50 pm... I need to go brush my teeth and get ready to kiss my painting party partner at midnight. :)

Happy New Years!!

Letter to Santa

Andrew writing his first letter to Santa. :-) So cute!! Of course, Savannah helped him on what to write. They are so excited about Christmas morning! When praying tonight they both said "Happy Birthday" to Jesus - Laurie and I both almost teared up. Such a special Christmas Eve.

Congratulations to Brian and Val on the new addition to their family... Lia. They will be arriving home from China on December 30. Lia's new sisters, Chloe and Haley, are very excited to have them home again!! They are coming over today to play with Andrew & Savannah (to give Grandma K a little break).

So blessed :)

Can I brag about our kids for just a minute?

Sometimes I'm just overwhelmed with thanks to God for the kids that He's blessed Laurie and I with... They have good health, they're physically strong, well behaved, smart, loving, respectful, God-loving and absolutely the cutest two kids in the world!! Ok, so I'm a little biased on that last one.

I sometimes get stressed when Laurie is going to be really late getting home. Will Savannah be cranky and throw a temper tantrum? Will Andrew be overly sensitive and cry? Will they fight a lot? Will they eat what I make them for supper or ask for something else after I've made it for them?

But... WOW... what an afternoon and evening with Andrew & Savannah!! I mean, they're awesome!! And even when I told Savannah that Mommy just told me she was going to be later than planned and that I would need to go ahead and put her to bed before she got home... she smiled and said, "OK." Whew!!! Thank you Jesus!!!

How... or rather WHY did God bless me with these kids? I'd say there was a switch at birth, but Andrew looks WAY too much like me, and Savannah ACTS way too much like me :) They're ALL OURS. Just plain and simple... we are blessed. Oh wait... they're God's... we're just raising them for Him :)

Andrew as Joseph

Andrew as Joseph for a nativity this Sunday during church.
So cute!!

Cold and more on bananas

What a COLD COLD COLD last few days it's been. BRR!! We've got a heat wave today... a balmy 27-degrees and it's sunny! Woo Hoo!! We received our first snow last Thursday night/Friday morning (November 30 / December 1), but after we had a nice thick layer of freezing rain. We didn't receive too much snow (probably only 3-4 inches), but with the ice it seemed a lot worse. The kids and Laurie were home from school all day Friday (We didn't even leave the house that day). The kids did make it outside to play, though... they were ready to go out about 6 am, but we made them wait until a little later.

The REAL cold didn't start arriving until after the freezing rain and snow... got down to almost 0 a couple of nights over the past week. I was still able to work outside some this week... still a few things to do for customers even with the snow. However, it did get a little difficult on Thursday this past week, and I only lasted until late morning... it just got too cold for me and I came home for the rest of the day. I was able to be a little more productive on Friday, clearing several fallen limbs for one of my customers from the weekend before.

Luckily I got all of my winter arrangements done a week ago before the REAL cold hit. I didn't have too many to do, though... here's a sampling:

This is at a property management office in Normal.

This is at the front of a house at Lake Bloomington. There are three large containers at the back of the house, but I arranged them right before the ice and snow and you can't see them now :( Hopefully it will warm up enough over the next few days that I'll be able to take pictures of them.

This is a house in Bloomington that I only do seasonal arrangements on her front porch. She is the mother of one of my weekly customers. These didn't turn out exactly like I had planned... I didn't buy enough greens for them, but I didn't want to make another trip to the garden center because it was almost dark. I'll probably go back this next week and add more greens to them and some more color. It would look a lot better if there were greens around the window, too, but...

I know... this isn't a winter arrangement... but it's one of our "winter tropical corners" in our house :) Just a few of the many tropical plants that winter inside November - March. Thankfully... Laurie doesn't mind all of them (I think about 30 this year). So far they are all doing well.

I had a little problem with the bananas "sleeping" in the basement, but after a little work removing all of the remaining dirt on the rhizomes of each banana, I think they're ok now. A couple of weeks ago the high humidity we were experiencing wasn't allowing them to dry out enough in the basement and the rhizomes were starting to soften a little. A few hours of work, a dehumidifier and a fan did a lot for them. I lost a few pups, but I still have more than enough for next summer. Last winter I was able to keep them in plastic bags, but this winter probably not.

Here they are again, out of the plastic bags... it's amazing to me how God created plants like this (and remember... bananas are PLANTS not trees!!!) The paper bags have cannas and upright elephant ears in them. The pots hold banana plants, also... these are smaller varieties compared to the larger ones I had at the front and side of our house. I still have two varieties going strong in our family room and living room. I have to watch them carefully, though and give very good care to them.

Yes... I love my bananas!!!!

Ok... enough of this... I need to finish my Christmas list and send it off to those who need it.

Fantastic Music Machine

This is SO cool!!