The saddest day of the year

For the past week I've been hearing on the news that January 17 is the saddest day of the year. The reasons that they gave are that the holidays are over, the Christmas bills are starting to roll in and people are starting to slip on their New Year's resolutions (if they haven't already completely given them up).

Ironically, January 17th is the day that my dad died, so it has the potential to be the saddest day of the year for me, but it's not. The anniversary of my dad's death isn't a sad day for me at all. It's actually a happy day as I reflect on the good times and look forward to the day when I'll see Dad again. If I didn't know that I absolutely would see Dad again, then it would be a sad day. What do people who don't know that they will see their loved ones again do? Now that's a sad thing to think about!

It's hard to believe that that Dad's been gone for so long. 11 years of growth and changes! When Dad died I was still in high school and I could still move! Three new sons-in-law/brothers-in-law have been added to my family, as well as all 16 grandchildren. I can't imagine my life any other way than it is now, but it would definitely be interesting to see what life would be like if Dad were still living.

I hope everyone's having a great day, but if you aren't, hang in there and know that things always have a way of turning up! :)

Parting is such sorrow

I've recently lost several people who are very important to me. I'm not sure what the expression "parting is such sweet sorrow" is supposed to mean because there hasn't been anything sweet about parting with people that I love and adore.

My sister Kristin and her family left on Tuesday for Ridgecrest, California, where Kristin's husband Scott found a job that he's very excited about. When Kristin moved here this past summer I was sure that Scott would find a job in St. Louis, or at the very least somewhere in the Midwest so that we could be relatively close to each other. This isn't how things have turned out at all! On one hand I'm so excited that Scott has found a job since he's been looking for over a year, however, on the other hand I'm so sad for myself because I'll have to say goodbye to Kristin and her family. Kristin is one of the best people I know! It She's kind and thoughtful, talented in so many ways and just plain wonderful all around. I'm also going to miss her kids. She has four boys ages six and under and they are so much fun. I've loved getting to know them better. They crack me up and I love seeing their creativity. They've taught us all things about super heroes, video games, Star Wars, playing the Wii, etc.

I also had to say goodbye to my dear friend Nathan earlier this month. I met Nate 2 1/2 years ago when he moved to St. Louis to go to orthodontic school at St. Louis University. We've been friends from the start and have shared so many fun times with each other. I don't know if/when I'll be able to see him again since he's taken a job in Tucson, Arizona. I wish all of the best for him and his new life in Tucson!

I'm thankful that the Lord sees fit to bless us all with wonderful friends and family members that enrich us and fill our lives with joy!

One of the best Christmases ever!

My favorite Christmas ever was probably my Dad's last Christmas in 1998 right before he died of pancreatic cancer. Christmas this year was my second favorite. Most of my family lives in other places, so we're never all together for the holidays. That being said, we'll take any company we can get!

This year lots of my family was around for Christmas. My sister Kristin and her family (who have been living with us for the past several months) were around to celebrate Christmas with us, as well as my sister Sharon and her family (who live in Mississippi). We had a house full with seven adults and nine children, and things got even more crazy when my sister Laura, her husband Brett and their baby came over on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Family is definitely what makes holidays fun and enjoyable, so I was happy that so many of us could celebrate Christmas together.

Christmas Eve: We don't have a fireplace in my house, so we've never had a great spot to hang our stockings. This year was no different and since there were so many stockings that needed to be hung, we decided to tie a rope on the curtain rods in my kitchen and family room so that we could hang our stockings on it. Here is a picture of that:

Now that all of the kids in my family are grown and living on their own, my mom just puts up a small, 4-foot fiber optic tree each year. However, since my sister Kristin's family was living here, we decided to buy a real tree to make the Christmas season more exciting for her kids. My mom had gotten rid of most of the ornaments that we used to use to decorate every year, so we had to improvise by making a lot of homemade ornaments. The tree turned out nicely even though it was an "impromptu" Christmas tree. Here is a picture of our Christmas tree after Santa stopped by:

Christmas Day: Christmas morning began early, but it wasn't your typical Christmas morning where the kids rush down the stairs and start opening presents. I really wanted to be a part of everything, but since it was Saturday, that meant the first order of business was to get me dressed, wash and fix my hair (which is a long process) and get me up into my wheelchair. My mom started getting me ready at 6 AM and I was finally up in my wheelchair and ready to go by 8:30. The kids patiently waited for me to be ready before they came downstairs. (It was a tall order to keep seven very young and excited children waiting!)

We started by having a quick breakfast of scones; chocolate peppermint and white chocolate cranberry. Here is a picture of the scones:

We spent the next several hours opening presents and exploring our loot. It was so fun to watch the kids open their presents and witness their excitement over the things they got. The kids excitement was so enchanting! Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning:

We spent Christmas afternoon hanging out, trying out the kids' new toys and playing games. Here are more of my favorite pictures:

It's hard to believe that Christmas is over! It seems as if the Christmas season gets shorter and shorter each year. Christmas was only four days ago, but it seems like a lot longer, in my opinion. How is it that time can pass so quickly?! I definitely made a lot of great memories to put in my "mental vault"and I'm grateful for such a kind, loving family.

Brownie biscotti and hot chocolate

On Sunday afternoon my sister Kristin made a new treat for me to try. It's one of her favorites that she likes to have every year during the Christmas season. She made brownie biscotti. I've never had biscotti before, but it's basically a long, crunchy cookie. Although this cookie was crunchy, it was really good and it was fun to dip in hot chocolate. (The hot chocolate soaked into the biscotti, softened it and melted the white chocolate chips that were in it.) Here's a picture of it:
After dinner we pulled recliners from the family room into my room so that we could have a movie night with Kristin's boys. (I was already back in my bed, plus, I have a bigger TV in my room than in the family room.) We watched The's Muppet's Christmas Carol. I hadn't ever seen it before, but it's one of Kristin's family's favorites. It was very cute and we all enjoyed it.

I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to make memories with Kristin and her family, especially now that Scott got a job and Kristin's family will be moving to California a few days after Christmas.

California is much too far!

Much of my life for the past five months has been consumed with my sister Kristin and her family. They've been living with us since the end of July while Kristin's husband Scott looked for a job. In November Scott started having interviews for a job in California. When I first heard the word "California" my heart sunk as I thought about my sister and her family moving thousands of miles away.

When Kristin and her family moved here it was such a blessing because I didn't know her kids at all since I hadn't seen Kristin and her family in four years. I really thought that Scott would end up finding a job that was relatively close to us. I hoped it would be in St. Louis, but at the very least somewhere in the Midwest, no more than seven hours away so that we could see each other several times a year. No such luck!

Scott did get the job in California, which is an answer to prayer, but it's very bittersweet! My sister and her family will be moving to California a few days after Christmas. My heart is breaking at the thought of losing Kristin who is one of my best friends, and also Kristin's four little boys who I adore so much. I'm completely in love with them! They delight me and fill me with so much joy. I didn't really have much experience with little boys until Kristin moved here since my two oldest sisters each have four girls. I was completely partial to girls when Kristin moved here, but now I love little boys just as much as little girls, thanks to Kristin's boys!

It makes me so sad to realize that the kids won't really have any memories of living here since they are all so young. Kaleb probably will since he is 6 1/2, but the other boys are so young! Especially Aaron who isn't even a year old yet. He's grown up so much in the past five months and it's been really special to witness his growth and progress.

I'm thankful for modern communication so that Kristin and I can stay in contact with each other, but it's definitely not the same! Why did it have to be California?!

Finally finished!

I've been seriously slacking on my blogging lately but it's had to take a bit of the back seat for the past few months while I've been working on my family slideshow for 2010. I've actually been working on several slideshows the past few months. A slideshow doesn't take all that long to compile, but it's the countless hours of watching it over and over again as I tweak it to perfection. It probably shouldn't take me so long, but I want it to be absolutely perfect in every way. Even after watching it dozens of times, sometimes something will pop out at me even though I've seen it so much. I truly spend hours carefully scrutinizing every aspect so that I make sure everything is 99.9% perfect in the end. (I would say 100% perfect, but I don't think this is attainable since I'm sure there's something that could be better. I can settle for 99.9%!)

I started doing slideshows for the first time last year. I recently went back and watched last year's slideshow and I could tell a definite improvement in my work because I was noticing things right and left that wouldn't be acceptable anymore! It just made me smile because last year I thought my slideshow was pretty much perfect, but now that I watch it with another year of experience under my belt, and I see how far I've come!

The slideshow is 31 minutes long. I tried really hard to keep it short, but that's a tall order when I have so many good photographs to choose from. I don't know the exact number of pictures I had to work with this year, but I would say I probably had at least 3000 pictures to sift through. It's really hard to narrow the pictures down, too, since so many of them are good and have a story behind them. This year's slideshow has 854 pictures in it, 13 video clips and nine songs. I can't wait for my family to watch it, and I'm just glad that so many of us will be celebrating Christmas here at my mom's house so that we can all watch it together.

Hooray for documenting my life – it's seriously like a full-time job. I get on my computer almost every day of the week depending on what's going on, and I stay on it all day. I almost always get back on my computer after I'm back in bed for the night. I'd say I'm on my computer a good eight to 10 hours a day. Although I'm disabled, I definitely have a busy and productive life and I feel so blessed that I can spend my days doing something I love.

Jared turns three

My nephew Jared turned three on December 9, but we waited to celebrate his birthday until yesterday since his dad was out of town interviewing for a job. It's a good thing he's not any older, because waiting an extra day to celebrate your birthday is tough when you are young! Jared loves music and he wanted a piano for his birthday, so that's where he got! (Last year he got a guitar for his birthday, and little does he know, he's getting a drum set for Christmas.) Anyway, it was so cute to see him sitting on his tiny stool playing his little piano! His brothers also love his piano, especially Aaron who is almost 11 months old. It's precious to watch him sit on the stool and play on the piano!

For dinner we had pizza from Pizza Hut and an awesome chocolate cake made by my sister Kristin, of course! It was such a fun day and I'm so grateful that Kristin's family was around so that I could be a part of Jared's birthday.

Here are some pictures from the celebration:

Movie #23

This morning my family and I went to the movies to see Tangled. I'm usually not a huge fan of animated movies, so I almost always wait for them to come out on DVD before I see them, but my sister Kristin thought it would be fun to take her whole family to the movies to help celebrate my nephew Jared's third birthday.

The movie was so good and I really loved it! I don't think there have been too many Disney movies that have come out in the past 10 to 15 years that are on the same par as the classics like Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc., but I thought Tangled was fantastic! It definitely gets a double thumbs up from me!

By far the best part of the movie experience today was looking over at my nephews and seeing/hearing them laugh during the movie. That sort of thing is priceless to me!

Life has been crazy lately, so I haven't been able to see as many movies as I would like, but now I'm just two more away from meeting my goal!

Family pictures

It was great having so much of my family together this past week for Thanksgiving. I was with four of my six sisters, which is pretty good since we all live so far apart. It was especially fun to see my nieces and nephews play together since they don't get to be around each other very often. It was a good opportunity to try out my new camera, as well. It takes nice pictures, although there's still a lot that I need to learn about it.

My mom with seven of 16 grandchildren:

Here pictures of three of Kristin's four boys, Ethan (5), Jared (almost 3) and Aaron (9 months):

Thanksgiving #1

Yesterday I had Thanksgiving with my family. We decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner two days early because three of my sisters (Annette, Kristin and Laura) that were in town for the week of Thanksgiving are actually all going to be gone at their in-laws house's on the actual day of Thanksgiving this year.

Anyway, we had so much fun cooking, eating and hanging out together. It was fun to see seven of my 16 nieces and nephews together and they had a lot of fun playing and getting to know each other a little bit better.

Here's a picture of us sitting down to the dinner table:

Here are three pictures of our pies. The first is some sort of holiday pie with cranberries, the second is a caramel pecan pie and the third is a triple chocolate pumpkin pie:

Here is a great picture of all of us from yesterday: Here's two pictures of my sister Annette and me. We both laughed at the first one because we blinked at the same time! This picture is of Annette's daughter, Rebecah, and Kristin's son, Aaron, both of whom were born in January.

Turkeys

My sister Kristin has been working hard to make the holidays fun for her boys by coming up with special holiday crafts and treats. Now that it's Thanksgiving time, we've been talking turkey. Last Saturday Kristin made turkey hats with her and she made turkey cupcakes for our dessert that night. Here are some pictures from our pre-Thanksgiving festivities: Kristin also made special cupcakes for Halloween and I don't think I've ever posted pictures of them, so here's what they looked like: