Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Well, our first big snow of the season didn't pick the best time of year to desend on us at all! This was to be an extremely busy weekend and now we are all holding our breath until we wake up in the morning to look outside! Our Sunday School class party was supposed to be this evening but got cancelled early this morning due to the snow! When we woke up it was snowing hard and I think we got in too big of a hurry and cancelled it but, oh well... Later on the snow turned to sleet, then rain for most of the day and the roads were fine! It didn't stop this family from getting out in it and hitting the mall! (I am sure the ladies are glad we didn't all go "tracking in" their houses tonight though!)
The Jr Church program is scheduled for tomorrow morning weather permitting! (We have heard rumors of 4-6 more inches of snow tonight though! If that happens, we will all be watching the Hobe Sound Bible Church services live streaming video!!! :)
Our adult Christmas play, "Beneath the Guiding Star" is scheduled for 6pm tomorrow night. We haven't done a play in several years and decided to really do it up big this year!! HA! We had planned on staying all day tomorrow and practicing all afternoon! Jonathan says we are still going to practice no matter how much snow we get! He says he will go around and pick everyone up and drive them there! No excuses now, cast members! It wouldn't be a big deal to put the play off another week but 4-5 of the cast won't be in town next weekend! One of the members is moving back home as of next Friday! So, if you are up during the night tonight, please help us pray that the snow bypasses Columbus and we can proceed with our plans! We may not have much of a crowd out there but we won't know, the lights will be out!!! :)
If you don't have any big Sunday evening plans, slide on down to Bethel and check us out! It promises some laughs!!!
Here are just a couple of pictures I took of Parker today in the snow! He stayed out so long his hands were beat red when he came inside! He was almost too cold, but did he ever have fun throwing snowballs at the neighbor kids!
I must be off, there is laundry humming, kids and a husband sleeping, Christmas outfits to be ironed and play parts to be studied AGAIN...
Hope you are keeping warm!!
The twins didn't get to go outside and play in the snow today so these were taken at Texas Roadhouse where we had lunch/dinner! It was yummy...

Another Parker funny...

Last Sunday morning, we were sitting in church during preliminaries and the Sunday School Superintendent said, "Does anyone have anything on their heart before we go to our classes?" (Just like he always does and we think nothing of it!) He briefly pauses and then says, "All right, then let's everyone stand as Jonathan leads us in our theme song!" Parker turned to me after Brayton asked if anyone had anything on their heart and said, "Mom, we never have anything on our hearts!" I about laughed out loud!! It is true though, I can rarely think of times when someone has a testimony at that moment during the service!! I can't believe my 5 year old pays that much attention! Maybe next Sunday someone will surprise him and jump up with a testimony at that moment!!!

Our Getaway Weekend...

We had an absolute blast in Shipshewana as you can imagine without 7 kids for a change!! We went with Darin and Amy Shearer and Randy and Missy Dunn. Don and Dottie Shearer and Chuck and Mary Jane McGuire were there also, but didn't stay with us. We did run into them a few times while shopping. We all ate dinner together on Friday evening and sat with them at the concert!

We laughed so hard Jonathan thought he pulled a muscle in his right side. We stayed up talking and playing games until after 3am each night. We hardly knew how to act getting to eat our food when it was still hot and getting to shop without dragging a stroller along! We all called our kids at night and they were all enjoying the company of their grandparents! (Thanks to all the grandparents who let us have a nice getaway weekend! We thoroughly enjoyed it and are already planning it again sometime!! HA!!!!)

We had some hilarious things happen this past weekend, but you would have just "had to have been there" to see the humor!

We rented a little farmhouse owned by the Blue Gate Restaurant. It was called "The Preacher's House" and it had 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a nice sized kitchen and family room. It was perfect for 3 couples with plenty of room to play games and sit and solve the world's problems! (The upstairs didn't have one stitch of heat though, so we along with Randy and Missy decided we would be glad to sleep where it was cool! Darin and Amy thought they would be nice and cranked the heat downstairs trying to help us out! They burned up and we were just toasty!!!) The Collingsworth's were superb as usual! (Tamra probably saw about the same concert as we did!) They are still my favorite... They were so nice to chat with us before the concert and so down to earth!!! Very nice family! Boy, do they have the talent!!!

We ate enough food that weekend to get us through the holidays and brought more food home than we even took with us! (You should've seen the pile of snacks we all brought! You would've thought we were going for a week with no chance of buying any food once we got there!)

Anyway, all good things must come to an end... Our wonderful weekend came to a close on Saturday afternoon when we all returned home to relieve the grandparents and get back to reality!

If you have never been to Shipshewana before, you really need to go sometime! It was so relaxing and slow paced! We all just have to go again!!!

(I have tried several times to upload my pics to Picasa but it isn't cooperating tonight, maybe in a day or two I will have more time!) I took 135 pictures during our two day stay so these are just a few of the highlights of our trip!!!

A visit with Santa...

As you can tell by the picture, Paige loved him!!!

Did we used to be this busy???

Same story, different blog... We are so busy right now and it appears it will continue to be this way until after the first of the year!

Last Friday was Parker's "All School Musical" at the First Presbyterian Preschool. It was just twenty minutes of 4 year olds singing and doing motions. It was organized better this year and wasn't quite a chaotic, but I had to park a mile away and carry "Tank!" Jonathan had called me that morning wanting me to stop by his work and pick him up. I called him as I was leaving and he said to me, "You don't have time to stop by and pick me up..." I was running by the skin of my teeth so I just said, "Bye" and hung up! I knew he was right that I didn't have time to go by and pick him up so I just went straight to school! (I had misplaced my cell phone so I couldn't call him in the car and see if he was meeting me, etc!) I thought about it on my way and wondered if that meant he was driving himself or did he still assume I was going to try and get him!!!

I dropped Parker and Paige off of the door with Grandma and went to find a parking. Let's just say, it was a long haul with me practically running, carrying Peyton and a heavy diaper bag!

I got into the sanctuary and sat down and Jonathan is no where to be found! I say to Mom, "I hope he knew to drive himself here!" A minute or two later, Mom's cell phone starts ringing. (In church!!!!) She just hangs up on him!!!!!!!!!!!! I grabbed the phone and called him back! He said, "Where are you?" I say, "In the sanctuary!" He says "Thanks a lot for stopping by to pick me up! I'll be right there!" We'll skip the rest of the details and just say that he made it into the church just in the nick of time! I found out later that Jonathan was standing on a street corner waiting for me to come and pick him up! A friend of his from work drove by, stopped and said, "Dude, what is going on?" Jonathan explained the situation and his friend gave him a ride down to the church! Jonathan said he felt really funny just standing there on that street corner waiting for me to show up! Guess next time we will have better communication before we hang up the phone!

Tonight I get to go to a ladies SHARE meeting at our church! I haven't been able to go since May!!! For once, I am off work and Jonathan isn't playing ball on a Monday night. We are doing an ornament exchange so I need to head to town and purchase a pretty ornament and get some sort of festive snack food!

Then on Thursday, we are going to Shipshewana, Indiana and staying two nights WITHOUT KIDS! Yea!!!!!!!! We have never done this and we cannot wait! Some friends are going also. On Friday night we are going to hear the Collingsworth family do a Christmas concert! (I absolutely love them!)

Our church is also having a Christmas Play this year on Sunday night, December 16th! Of course, we all have tons of parts to learn and very little time to do it! (I can't memorize like I used to either!) Anyway, it is lots of fun but lots of work also! We plan to practice our lines on our 4 hour trip to Shipshewana! (Oh what fun, it is to ride, practicing Christmas play parts...)

I have Christmas pictures scheduled with the kids this week but they all have snotty noses, and the twins both have scratch marks on their faces! Oh well, it will look more natural with snot running down their lips!
I still have tons of shopping to do and not nearly enough shopping days left! I am starting to get nervous!
Enough for now, I need to head to town soon! Hope you have a great week and have enough time leftover to enjoy this Christmas Season!