Merry Christmas!

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone! We hope your celebration was a good one. Well our famiy has joined the ranks of "gamers" I guess with our first game system... a Playstation 3. Tony & I were quite thrilled to be one of the few families to find one at Target about a week before Christmas. This is a picture of the kids while opening it. They look like they've won the lottery don't they? Anticipating their excitment was just as much fun as giving it to them. Quinn said, "I knew one of these Christmases we would FINALLY get a Playstation!" They each got jerseys as well... Quinn a Vikings jersey and Madison a pink/white Iowa jersey. They've deemed this "the best Christmas EVER" and according to Madison she "wondered why we didn't have very many presents under the tree... now I understand!" : )

We enjoyed our trip to Iowa over Christmas although it was much to short and basically just 3 1/2 days. We didn't get to see as many people as we would have liked but enjoyed spending time with my family and Grandma on Christmas day. We got back Tuesday night and celebrated our family Christmas on Wednesday morning and then with Tony's family on Wednesday night. That was the first that their family has all been together since AJ and Bonnie's wedding a year and a half ago. Michelle, Archie and Jade leave tomorrow for a weekend in Iowa but we get to enjoy AJ and Bonnie until New Year's Day. This week is really going by way to fast!!

That's all for now... just wanted to check in and tell you I haven't forgot you all. I have this whole week off and Tony has most of it. He just ran into work now for a little while to get the paychecks out and then he is working tomorrow and Saturday, doing inventory. We might go bowling this afternoon. We'll see! More Christmas stories later.

Love to all, Leah

Jade Isabella

Here is an updated picture of our neice Jade, isn't she soooo cute??!! Tony gave her apple juice with a straw tonight and she was quite delighted with the whole straw thing. Tonight Michelle, Archie and Quinn took Madison to her indoor soccer practice. They picked up Jade and then came to our house for homemade chocolate chip cookies and spent the rest of the evening with us. We've enjoyed spending time with them each evening this week. I spent a little of that free time this evening racing into Wal-mart (which has consistently disappointed me lately) and then to Meijer. I keep thinking of these "last minute gifts" ... I thought I was done but keep thinking of more. Now guess what, I have to run out tomorrow again too!!! Does anyone need anything while I'm out there with the pack? I'm really not a last minute shopper... it's just these last minute straggler gifts (like a grab bag gift for Christmas day).

I finally made it to my vacation time.... ahhhh. It feels good! Tomorrow will be spent packing and doing laundry (you know it's bad when Quinn tells me it's time...). It's amazing how much time the process of leaving takes. We are leaving for Iowa tomorrow around 5 or 6pm and returning on Tuesday. It looks like there will be rain but thankfully no snow. We are all looking forward to our trip and Christmas in Iowa. We are planning on going to the Iowa basketball game on Saturday so that will be a treat. Hopefully we won't get beat too badly.

Well, I really need to get to bed. The alarm will go off too early in the morning!

Love to all, Leah

coffee and koeke

Tonight the kids and I had coffee and koeke (pronounced ku'-ka) at Beppe & Pakka's house along with Michelle, Archie, Jade, Cindy and Johnnie, John and Evelyn and Jim and Sandy. For those of you that don't already know, koeke is a quick bread that Isy's dad made up and the Vander Werf's serve it at all their little get togethers. The recipe is in the newly released Silverwood cookbook. We all enjoyed listening to Archie's Iraq stories. I can't even imagine 157degrees plus a heavy uniform! He could talk for hours and the stories are so fascinating that I could listen for hours! : ) "Coffee" on Wednesday nights starts around 5 or 5:30... whenever you can get there. Tonight it broke up around 7:30 or so and then Bep, Pak, Mich, Arch & Jade and the 3 of us went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Tony was able to join us for supper. The evenings sure have been fun but I sure haven't gotten much accomplished at home!!! Tony's been working a lot of hours so he has had to miss out on some of the fun. : (

Work was busy as usual however I had Randa, our "casual" RN there today to help me! Boy does she ever improve my quality of life! I even had a lunch break today for a full half hour! WOW! Let's see.... the last time that happened was... hmmm, I would guess sometime in November. Tomorrow is my last day before a full week off! I'm so excited!!! We've all been exposed to sick people lately so I'm praying that none of us gets sick for our vacation time!

That's all for tonight... I need to head to bed. Gu-night.

Love to all, Leah

Michelle, Archie and Jade are here!

Hello Everyone, Hope your week is going well.

Michelle, Archie and Jade got to Goshen at about 4am on Monday morning. We've gotten to see them last night and tonight so that's been fun. It makes the week go fast to be gone in the evenings. Jade's hair has lightened up and gotten long. She can wear is all pulled back in a ponytail now and looks so cute! She's 18 months now. Madison and Quinn are just dripping over Uncle Archie. The poor guy has one of them hanging on him at all times! They've played tether ball for hours in the driveway at Beppe & Pakka's house.

Yesterday afternoon the kids and I went Christmas caroling with Karla, her kids, and some others from Silverwood. We met at 4:30 and it took us about 2 hours to get to 3 people, one in Goshen and two in Elkhart. It was a good experience. The kids enjoyed it and the "shut-in's" seemed to enjoy it too. Another group was going tonight. They have a colder evening than we did. We sang to Jonell and she mouthed the words along with us.... There are questions that will probably never be answered for me on this side of heaven.

That's really all the "news" for now. I'll see if I can snap some pictures of Jade and post them so you can see how much that little pumpkin has changed.

Love to all, Leah

Weekend highlights

Hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was a good one. Friday night we went to the Concord basketball game where Quinn demonstrated his skills at half-time of the JV game... skills he has been learning at the BB clinic on Saturday mornings. The picture is of him giving us the peace sign, up in the stands. : ) He's pretty excited to have met Darice Gary who is a senior and has already signed to play at Iowa next year. He even had his picture taken with him. Madison loved "the game" which meant she ran around with a pack of friends the whole night.

Saturday night was the Rollpak Christmas party. I told Tony "that was fun... as fun as a party gets when you aren't the employee and hardly know any one." It was very nice and over the years I've gotten to know some of the other wives, so it really was kind of fun. It was a Jimmy Buffett ~ Cheeseburger in Paradise theme.

Today after church the kids each had a friend come over... Peyton and Tyler, so the day was filled with laughing, chasing, hiding, sneaking, coloring, scootering, footballs and computer games. Tonight is our "movie night" so we are watching "Fly away Home".

Michelle and Archie left around 7pm tonight for Indiana so we'll get to see them tomorrow, after we go Christmas caroling. Well, those were the highlights of the weekend. Have a good week everyone!

Love to all, Leah

"your school nurse is on the phone"

I got the dreaded call at work today... "your school nurse is on the phone." Ahhhh, that was me screaming as I see 100 obstacles pop into my mind. Madison wasn't feeling good with an upset stomach and feeling dizzy. Guess what? ... It was Beppe to the rescue!!! I'm so excited because it is soooo wonderful to have someone to call in the middle of the day!!! Thank you Beppe!!! However, Madison was assuming that she could still make her soccer practice tonight but we had to put the ca-bosh on that. I think it was just a temporary thing so that's good.

Tonight after work the 5 ladies from work went out to Hacienda for a little Christmas celebration. We decided it was a girls-night-only. It was a lot of fun! I'm thankful to work with such nice, Christian women!

Tony went over to Don & Isy's and retrieved the kids after he got off of work. That was pretty much our day.

For some reason the picture from yesterday looks dark on line. If you double click on it, it enlarges. Does anyone else think Quinn looks like a mini Jim Tressle? I guess you need to see him in this outfit in person. : )

Love to all, Leah

"I just can't resist Him!"

Hello Everyone,

Here is a picture of the kids before their program tonight.

So far this week has just flown past me! Sunday night's Christmas program went very well. The kids did such a good job! Tonight was the school Christmas program and it was also excellent! Quinn found out yesterday that he had a few sentences to say tonight by memory and boy was he ever nervous. His stomach was upset... he wasn't hungry for breakfast this morning, the whole thing. He said he did fine at school today but for some reason he was "doubled over" with stomach pain at the dress rehearsal. Oh brother!! He did just fine. He had to get a "cue" twice from the director but with less than 24 hours to memorize and with his nerves, I thought he did great. How many video copies do I need to make for all of you? : ) Madison's evening started out "exciting" after she sprayed herself directly in the eyes with her new can of "body spray" (AKA deo). So, Quinn's waiting in the van and I'm doing an eye lavage at the kitchen sink, trying not to get her hair or outfit wet. Whew! She can still see so I guess it turned out OK. : ) She did a very nice job tonight too. She played the xylophone on one of the songs and did great, all memorized as well. The performances are so much more "professional" than when I was a kid! Another neat thing is that the kids all color the programs to be handed out and they sign the back. Out of at least 500 programs, we were handed Quinn's! How cool is that?

Let's see... what else?.... 3 out of our 4 fish died this week. The 4th one is on the way out and the kids refuse to just let me flush him. They really have taken this quite well. I know it's hard to be too attached to fish but leave it to Madison to be attached to a pet like this...! She's thankfully been fine. Quinn decided it was for the best anyway... since they are going to a better place... a place where they will have eternal life and live forever. "OK, riiiight...now time to get out the door for the bus!" He's talking about replacing the fish with a "bull frog" instead. I don't think so.

Are you tired of hearing about cute things that the kids say and do?... just stop reading then. After reading one of Quinn's favorite Bible stories tonight (Jericho's walls falling down) he told me that his truely favorite story was the one about how Jesus died to save us from our sins, so we can go to heaven. I said, "you love Jesus don't ya?" and he said, "Yep! I just can't resist Him!" I thought that was precious.

Amy, yes I read the comments. If you leave them here Blogger automatically emails them directly to our juno address. Most of my readers prove to be shy because they just click on the "email us" link and send us an email directly.

Check out my new link... it's a great site that reviews movies from a Christian perspective. The link is located in the right hand column of this web page. Tony and I have used it for a couple of years now and find that it's very reliable for the content info.

Love to all, Leah

Christmas celebrations

I hope you've had a good weekend. We've sure had a fun one. It started out Friday afternoon... as soon as the kids got off the bus I took them sledding at Don & Isy's house. They have a great hill in the backyard. The kids sure messed up their beautiful white field of snow! Madison is ready to practice some more on her snowboard which she got for Christmas last year and only used once (if that) because we hardly had any snow last winter! We stayed for supper and made Christmas cookies and the guys watched the Iowa basketball game.

Saturday morning the kids had their program practice, Quinn had basketball and then Madison had a birthday rollerskating party to go to.
Saturday night was our small group's Christmas party at Chad & Eliza's house this year. That was a lot of fun. It's good to see everyone at the same time and watch the kids as they open a gift that they exchanged. The "highlight" of the evening came when poor Brock's forehead somehow collided with the edge of the couch which resulted in about a 1 inch long gash in his eyebrow. It needed stitches but luckily a family practice doc lives right next door so he came over with his medical "glue" and patched him up. That put a different spin on the evening! The foyer was turned in to an Urgent Care Clinic. : )

Tonight is the kid's Christmas program that they have worked so hard on and spent so many hours on. They practiced during Sunday School today too. I don't see how it's possible that they not be ready! They have to be there over 1 hour early tonight to go through it again. They are really quite ready for it to be overwith! Afterwards is a cookie fellowship so yet another opportunity for sweet treats!

Well, it's a sunny afternoon and I think Madison and I are going to go on a walk. I've had my 30minute nap and so am ready to go for another few hours! : )

Love to all, Leah

Truent officer...

Hi,

Tonight the kids and I went to the Dollar Store so Quinn could purchase his gifts for the Greencroft residents. He's been working quite hard for extra money the last month or so. Yesterday he told me that he completely picked up Nater's basement while Nater played and watched him and that his mom wanted to pay him $5 because it was such a big job but he didn't want to take her money so he wondered if I would pay him instead! I of course I paid him the $5 and told him it would be OK to take her money if he explained what he was saving it for! I'm sure she would have been delighted to help out! I wouldn't want him to take it for his own piggy bank. In hindsight... I think I got the raw end of the deal! : ) Anyway, he was quite happy with his savings and he felt good about picking out double the requested amount of supplies for the residents (we had a list to go from). He enjoyed paying too.

After the store, I took them to church for the Christmas program practice and when we walked in I thought it was a little strange that I didn't see any kids around. Come to find out, they practiced this past Monday instead of tonight. Why? I don't know, but I completely missed that one. The kids said, "oh yah, they did tell us that at the beginning of practice last week." Guess the message didn't get passed on! That's the second practice they've missed and I even got an email today asking if they were really going to sing in the program this Sunday night?!!! I didn't think we were that bad! I'm waiting for the program truent officer to knock on the door! Wow, they run a tight ship I guess. They've been practicing since November 1st!

Tony got home from Indy around 8pm tonight. I always worry about him traveling with his truck. It's definitely a "beater" of a vehicle. It's a '95 and sounds terrible. I asked him one time why he doesn't get the muffler fixed... he told me it was the closest he would ever get to driving a Harley and so he was keeping his sound! Ha!

That's all for tonight folks. Tomorrow is Thursday! Yipee!
Love to all, Leah

What's for supper at your house?

Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all well. Tony went to Indy tonight for a meeting all day tomorrow so the kids and I just "hung out". : ) It gets dark so early... by 5:30! The cabin fever months are here! The darkness makes such a huge difference. When it's 7pm it feels like it should be at least 10pm. Oh well... I'm never happy am I?

I've got most of my Christmas cards done and mailed them today. I'm just ahead of schedule this year so that feels good! The kids have their little trees in their rooms. My secret... just kept them decorated from last year and pulled them off the shelf! Actually, Madison re-did her's and Quinn is planning on redecorating his on Saturday (?)... we'll see if that ever happens.

That's all for tonight. Sorry, nothing exciting the last few days but Mom "yelled" at me through email for not posting something! Mom, FYI we had tator-tot casserole tonight-with FF instead of tator-tots! (I told her I had nothing to write... unless she wanted me just to report what we had for supper!).

Love to all, Leah

1st Sunday of Advent....

Today was the first Sunday of Advent. I hope it was a meaningful day today for you. We have 3 advent calendars to keep up with. We have a wall hanging and then Aunt Michelle sent each of the kids their own calendar with chocolate surprises. After church we went to Don & Isy's for lunch and then spent most of the afternoon there. The guys watched football and the girls did some crafting (Quinn was in both activities every other 15 minutes).

Yesterday Madison rang bells for the Salvation Army at JC Penney's. Other than being cold, it went fine and she's so hot blooded she wasn't even cold! Anyway, the people walking in/out were very polite and lots of people dropped something in the pot. This was a 4th grade project from school. They donated their gift of "time" to our community. Quinn's 2nd grade class is donating "goods" in the form of toiletries and then they are going to distribute them to the Greencroft Senior Center. His class does a basic economics portion and they talk about goods and services a lot. One night he even prayed and thanked God "for all of the goods and services that we have."

Friday night we went to Goshen College's Christmas concert. It was excellent! I would highly recommend it for next year. I guess it is going to be on our local network, WNIT, on Christmas eve. Both Tony and I really enjoyed it. The GC president's son, Quinn, who must be around 9 or so, sang a soprano solo. He did such a good job. We've never met another Quinn before so we'll have to catch up to him one of these days.

Well, tomorrow is Monday. You probably know how excited I am about it. I'll think optimistically... last Monday wasn't bad at all so may be I'll get 2 in a row like that. Hope you all have a good week.

Love to all, Leah

"the usual..."

Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a good week. Our week was filled of "the usual"... the kids had their Christmas program practice on Wednesday evening and Madison had Flames indoor soccer practice last night. Today (Friday) has been a rainy, dreary, cold day. Our Indian summer is over! Tonight Tony and I are going to Goshen College's Christmas program and the kids are going to spend the evening with Don & Isy. Madison and I are ringing bells for Salvation Army tomorrow at 11am at JC Penney's. I need to remember my ear plugs! I hope it stops raining!!
Well, it's short and sweet for tonight.
Love to all, Leah