Amber Waves of Grain

No New Years resolutions here. Let's face it, I won't put the energy in to accomplish them. Instead, I give you 10 things I'd like to eliminate from the planet in 2010 (this will also be my platform if I ever run for president, I suppose). 1. Glitter . You know how I feel about glitter. You use it in 2009 but still find it around your house in 2010. I say we stop the madness now. 2. Crocs for adults . 3. The Touch N' Brush . Your whole family might as well share a toothbrush when you swap saliva through this as-seen-on-TV toothpaste dispenser. 4. Negativity , including my own. 5. Mullets . I've surprisingly seen these lately. Business in front, party in the back. 6. Snow and/or ice on roads. Man has invented butt-seat-warmers in cars yet no one has made a way to heat streets from underneath. It can't be that hard, right? 7. Stickers/labels that do not come off products by peeling or lightly picking them with your fingernail. Out comes the Goo-Go...

Tis' the season to be jolly ...... or at our house, to have the stomach flu . That's right, Keegan, Kennedy, and I were all victims of the stomach bug going around last week. It wasn't pretty. Keegan and Kennedy had it together, first, and then I got it when they were done (actually, great timing since I was able to care for them before I needed care myself!). We canceled a Christmas party with friends at our house, did not celebrate Kennedy's birthday on that day, and missed Christmas Eve celebrations. However, we did sanitize the house enough to have everyone over on Christmas Day and I had enough strength back to host. We were very thankful for that! Christmas morning we all got up and Nathan read about the birth of Jesus in Luke 2. We opened gifts next. Keegan was more excited to give gifts than to receive them which warmed my heart. He was most anxious to give me this Fossil owl bag that he picked out for me ( entirely by himself- I'm not kiddin...

Merry Christmas, everyone! Today we celebrate the amazing birth of Jesus Christ!! I like Max Lucado's writing called "Joseph's Prayer". He challenges us to see the birth of Christ through Joseph's eyes. I'll share it below. Merry Christmas! This isn't at all what I imagined. No, I imagined family. I imagined grandmothers. I imagined neighbors clustered outside the door and friends standing at my side. I imagined the house erupting with the first cry of the infant. Slaps on the back. Loud laughter. Jubilation. That's how I thought it would be. But now. Now look. Nazareth is five days' journey away. And here we are in a . . . in a sheep pasture. Who will celebrate with us? The sheep? The shepherds? The stars? This doesn't seem right. What kind of husband am I? I provide no midwife to aid my wife. No bed to rest her back. Her pillow is a blanket from my donkey. My house for her is a shed of hay and straw. The smell is bad, the animals are lou...

Happy FIRST Birthday, Kennedy!!! It was one year ago today that we welcomed our sweet, lovable baby girl into the world! It was an easy delivery and a great memory for Nathan and me. For those of you who didn't know, we live-blogged that day from the hospital ( link )! Kennedy has the absolute sweetest disposition. She smiles all the time and brings joy to my day. She's been walking for a few weeks now and gets better at it every day. She's also a climber; she wants to be perched on whatever is highest in the room. Some of her favorite foods are meatballs, pizza, and Kraft mac n' cheese. She also really likes music. Her favorite toys include her baby dolls, a Leapfrog toy radio, an activity table that she pushes around and sits in, and Keegan's toy sword (she's probably practicing for self-defense). Here are some snapshots from the past year! It has gone so fast! 2 days old-- The hospital nursery delivered her in a stocking on Christmas morning: One ...

I was unable to send everybody in the world a Christmas card this year! So, if you missed it... here are the photos that were on it! I loved the barn in the background; it even had a wreath on it. I'll know to set the kids closer to it next time as the barn got cut out a lot. By the way, getting two kids to sit in a random cornfield for photos is harder than it looks. :) Merry Christmas from our family!

Yesterday we had the grandparents over for Kennedy's first birthday dinner (her actual bday is the 23rd)! We kept it sweet and simple but had a good time. Nathan's parents were sick and unable to attend, so we just had my parents and grandma join us. The dinner was an owl theme, of course. I had bought some marked-down owl stuff last year at Target after Valentine's Day (ignore the hearts, ha!). I made her a special owl shirt to wear. Now, if you know me-- you know I don't really sew. I was really proud of myself for this one. I made the pattern up myself and hand-stitched to a shirt I got at a garage sale. Much cheaper than the $30 versions on the internet! Then we had chicken noodles for dinner. Kennedy opened her gifts. She got a necklace from my parents. She got some pajamas and a doll from her great grandma. She got a doll from Keegan. And, she got a Vtech toy that has a lot of buttons and music on it which both kids are loving. Then, we had cake. I wa...

In the town of Nazareth lived a young woman named Mary who was to be married to a man named Joseph. One day an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would have a baby boy to be God's son, named Jesus. Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem: It was time for Mary to have her baby but there was no room at the inn. They had to go to a manger to have the baby: Mary gave birth to baby Jesus. Wise men from far away could see a bright star: They knew to follow the star to find Jesus. They took him gifts. Apparently, one wise man (or wise guy, perhaps) opened his gift while waiting. The wise man (wise girl) in the middle watched and knew that this was wrong. Wise man #1 thought this was funny. The wise men went on their journey to the manger (enter stage left): They all worshiped in song: Wait, where was Wise Man #1? Oh, he's on the floor being silly. A teacher, or should I say shepherd, rose him up to the occasion at last. Every preschool play needs a nose-picker: And h...