Merry Christmas

Ryan and I got up a little earlier than usual this morning and got ready and waited and waited for Olivia to get up.  Boy, I remember waking my parents up very early in the morning to open presents.  Thankfully, she hasn’t done that to us. . .yet.  Olivia just took her own time.  She was excited to learn, however, that Santa had visited our house overnight. 

Here she is running down the hallway to see the presents!

Olivia and her stocking

A My Little Pony!

A Squinkie Zoo!!  Just what I wanted!!!

And she stopped to play Squinkies. . .

and played and played. . .

and played.  That girl loves her Squinkies! 

Those are a lot of Littlest Pet Shop animals.  I appreciated the nice, metal case to keep them in though.

We laughed about this being the “tiny” Christmas as most of the things she got were tiny (and hard to keep track of.)  Have you seen the Teeny Tiny Littlest Pet Shop?  She got some of those too and already lost her beloved teeny butterfly.  Hmm. . .maybe big things aren’t that bad after all.  That’s what she likes, though. . .tiny, little animals. 

Okay, back to opening presents.  This morning, we got a call from my dad to tell us that my grandma had fallen and was taken to the hospital.  Last Christmas, we received a call that my grandpa was being taken to the hospital.  I really don’t like to receive these phone calls.  She was taken, however, as a precaution and checked out fine.  She was even able to make it to Christmas dinner and I was so grateful.

My husband completely spoiled me this Christmas (and went way over our agreed upon limit!) He got me not only dishes and clothes and books and CDs and pajamas, but an iPad 2 as well.  I completely didn’t deserve all of that.  I’m really enjoying it all and I know Olivia will love the iPad as well.  She loves my iPhone.  But, I owe my husband. . .big time. 

Here is Olivia opening her stocking from her Great Great Aunt Mary. 

And here is Great Great Aunt Mary.

And here is Princess Olivia wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Blessing–by Newsong

December 2001

I remember our first Christmas.
We were young and so in love.
 

December 2002

Nothing to give, but we had each other
Somehow that was more than enough.

 December 2003

I remember how you held me.
Said you’d never let me go.

December 2004

Now here we are, another year, another Christmas.
And there's something you should know.

This is my Christmas Blessing
This is my Christmas prayer.

December 2005

No matter where the years may take us
Love will find us there.

December 2006

This is my Christmas promise.
This is my gift to you.

December 2007 

Forever we will be together
God will see us through.
And you'll have me, and I'll have you.

December 2008

I know that heaven sent you to me.   I know that love’s a gift from God.

December 2009

And I’m reminded every Christmas of the wonder of it all.

December 2010

This is my Christmas promise
This is my gift to you.

December 2011

Forever we will be together
God will see us through
And you'll have me, and I'll have you.

You can listen to the song here:  http://youtu.be/OTXQ0t9k4NA

Christmas # 1

The whole gang

My brother, niece, and sister-in-law

Me and Olivia

Olivia and Izzy with their stockings

Hooray!

Now, what to open next. . .

My brother and a pink, Disney princess guitar. . .ha ha!

Me and my basket

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Olivia is going through a big Squinkies phase right now.  I tell ya, those things are going to be the death of me. LOL!  You wouldn’t believe how attached Olivia can get to one and how easy they are to misplace.  I mean, they are about the size of the tip of my finger.  But, she only likes the animal Squinkies.   I’ve seriously just put the people ones in a bag to give away.  Her current favorites?

Peacock and seahorse

We’ve created a whole Squinkie town and they even go to school in a “schoolhouse” with their teacher, Mrs. Honeybear.

This isn’t the best picture, but Kelsey’s legs in the background cracked me up. 

Ready for school!

And at the top of Olivia’s Christmas list?  A Squinkie Zoo!  She was sure to tell Santa all about it. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Over the weekend, I introduced Olivia to one of my favorite movies growing up. . .The Mouse and The Motorcycle.  The entire movie is on Youtube.   Beverly Cleary was one of my very favorite authors growing up.  Olivia watched it about 5 times in one day. . .she absolutely LOVED it!  She also has a little miniature mouse that looks just like Ralph, so that was really neat for her too.  Then, today we went to get our hair cut and at the salon, there was a hole in the side of the reception desk.  Olivia was SURE that there was a mouse in there (and a bit disappointed when there wasn’t.) LOL! 

Speaking of mice. . .well, sort of. . .we saw a commercial on PBS for an interactive learning website called www.abcmouse.com.  Olivia really wanted to check it out, so this afternoon we did just that.  I was a little disappointed that it has a monthly subscription, but we got the first month free so I thought we’d try it out.  I have a really hard time getting Olivia excited about learning things at home.  Some days it’s as if she is not receptive at all.  Well, she adores this website!  It’s like an interactive classroom with lessons that include books, songs, puzzles, games, art and printables.  You can also take a trip to the zoo or the farm and check out books from the library.  It is for age 2 through kindergarten and really concentrates on getting a child ready for kindergarten.  For each lesson completed, you get tickets and Olivia shouts out loud when she gets tickets because she’s saving up to buy a pet at the online pet store.  You have an entire shopping center to buy things from and you add them to your online room.  We just started this today, but I am initially very impressed and Olivia can’t wait to learn more!  I’m hoping that her interest doesn’t fade and I’m working on ways to keep it very exciting for her!  So far, I think it’s something that you should definitely check out!

Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)

I did not create this, but saw it and thought I'd share.  Be sure to pause the music player on your right before starting video.  Beautiful reminder of what this time of year truly means. 

Kitties Love Christmas

Kelsey is constantly either on the railing or under the Christmas tree.  As long as she isn’t ON the TREE, right?  And let’s just pray she doesn’t fall off the railing because it’s a long ways down to   the basement.   We thought she was behaving herself, but after looking under the tree, we found multiple ornaments and an entire branch pulled off.  She’s adorable, but she is ornery! 

Cousin Fun

Olivia spent the afternoon at my parents’ house so that Ryan and I could get some much needed pre-Christmas stuff done.  Wow, I’m exhausted.  My dad sent me these pictures of Olivia and Izzy.  Looks like they got out every stuffed animal in the house (most of which are my old stuffed animals that I won’t take home. . .LOL!)  But, my mom seems to send my old stuff home with Olivia quite a bit, so I guess the jokes on me. 

Update on Ben

Many of you helped contribute to Ben’s basket a few weeks ago.  Here is my sister-in-law, Shelley, putting it all together. 

I received many, many contributions and I know a lot of you have been praying for him.  Ben’s mom, Amanda, wanted to say a few words:

Hello Everyone!

I asked Jodi if I could please post to her blog a THANK YOU from our family here in Ohio!

A special thank-you to Jodi & Ryan, Olivia, Bill & Mary, Stacie, Amanda, Neva, Shelley & Don, Izzy, Kerry, Pam, Don & Pat, Kris & Kim, Alex, Katie, Aidan, Kaleb, and all of you who prayed for our family!

It's been 6 weeks since Ben's diagnoses of Retinoblastoma, the eye cancer that caused him to lose his eye. But, as you all know, the cancer was miraculously contained to the eye, and no chemo was required! Praise the Lord! He is doing fabulous and gets his eye this Thursday :) Right before Christmas!

I want to thank-you all from the bottom of our hearts. First and foremost for your prayers. Little B was being prayed for all over the country, and by so many people who had never even met him! Friends like Jodi, that felt led to tell people to pray for us, played a huge part in Ben's healing. I have to say.. I was overwhelmed with how fast everything was happening, but even more overwhelmed (in a good way) at how many people cared for us.. And gave us stuff!

When the package you all put together (and so beautifully I might add)  arrived, it literally left me speechless in the middle of my living room floor. First of all, the BOX itself looked like a box for a refrigerator! Haha. We had received tons of flowers and things, but when the doorbell rang for UPS, and I looked out and saw the gigantic box.. I said outloud to myself, "Oh my gosh! What in the world did I order?!" I knew I was lacking sleep, but surely I would've remembered ordering such a large item! Lol :) Then, when I went to the porch, I saw it was from "JODI GLUNT".. And my FIRST thought was... "Oh my gosh! Is she IN the box?! She's small! Maybe she flew here, had Ryan carry her to the door like a package, and ring the doorbell and run!" I mean, when she surprised me at my birthday I couldn't have been more shocked! So, I have to say, until the box was completely opened, I wasn't convinced it wasn't her! Haha.

Anyways! Wow ;)

I was actually alone when the box came.. Which, is usually unheard of. The two little ones were asleep, Rodney was at work, and Jake was playing by himself in the basement. I started taking the tape off, and as I started to dig through the 100,000 packing peanuts (haha) I thought... "where in the world did she order this from?!"

I pulled it out, and immediately called my mom at work. I told her what just happened, and I said, "Mom, you have got to come here after work, I wanna open this so bad but I want you to see it first!" I still thought it was ordered! So, to see all the special things inside I just couldn't wait to see where in the world she ordered such a perfect gift of so many meaningful things!

Then we opened it. I was blown away. Literally. The card with everyone's name on it was one of the best parts.. And that was just the card! Something about seeing all the written names of people I've never met, on a card to me, just humbled me. Just replaying it in my mine makes me sigh. It was literally a "turning point" in Ben's journey that hit me in that moment. All you guys, that I've never met (but feel like I totally know through Jodi's blog and your own) took time out of your life to donate something towards a package for my children and myself. It was incredible how much stuff was in it! The bible verses on sticks were a great touch too. They are all on my fridge now..The boys all loved everything! I personally liked the Kansas teddy bear :) Ben loved the firetruck! We used the Pizza Hut gift cards for Ben's birthday party.  The books, the DVDs, the Elmo, buzz, puzzles, books, etc. Everything was just so perfect. Oh, and the wagon it all was packed in. That's one of the boys favorites...

Thank you Shelley for putting it all together so pretty! It looked so professional! You did a great job.

Thank you all again for your outpouring of love and kindness to someone you've never met. I can't wait to see how God uses this experience to touch lives. I pray Ben will have an awesome testimony to share one day, and hopefully be able to help others.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas! Sorry this is long overdue... But all you've done will not be forgotten.

With love,

Rodney, Amanda,

Jacob, Nathan, and Ben Rust

We Have A Winner

The winner of the Psalty giveaway (chosen randomly by Olivia) is:

Neva!

Congrats Neva!  Please email me with the cd that you have selected by tomorrow at noon.  Thanks to all for entering!  Merry Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

We took Olivia to a special Santa Jump tonight at Pump It Up.  Not only did she have a total blast playing with her cousin, Izzy, but she got to see Santa again!  And after recently receiving a video message from Santa himself, she is all about the man in the red suit!

You can request a video message for your children here:

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

You should have seen her face light up as she rounded the corner and saw Santa!  Pure, complete, utter delight! 

Here she is telling Santa about how she really wants a Squinkie Zoo.

What a magical moment!  Thanks Santa!

Christmas Craft Day

I’ve been sick for the past couple of days and, well, I haven’t been too much fun.  I’m now on an antibiotic and feeling a bit better today, so we decided to do some crafts.  First, we made a Rudolph.  We decorated him a bit more after I took this picture.

Then, we made a Christmas tree.  I glued some craft sticks together and Olivia painted them green.

After the paint dried, Olivia decorated her tree with stickers.  The only appropriately sized stickers we had were letters, Hello Kitty and hearts, so. . .

And on an interesting note. . .don’t let paint dry on the kitchen table if you have cats that will decide to jump on table and wrestle.  They WILL get their tails covered in wet paint.  However, washable paint does come off tails pretty easily. . .just so you know.

It’s A Give Away!!

As you may know, the Kids Praise Albums were my very favorite growing up.  I feel more than blessed that Olivia now listens to them and loves them just as I did.  She goes to bed every night to Kids Praise 5, her very favorite.  Now, I want to share this love of ours with YOU!  Simply leave a comment as to why you would want to win one of these CDs.  Contest ends on 12-16-2011 at 9 am CST.  I will announce the winner and you have until noon CST on 12-17-2011 to tell me which CD you would like.  Valid on CDs up to $10.00.   Valid only to U.S. addresses, unfortunately.  I can’t guarantee that you’ll receive it by Christmas, but what a great way to ring in the New Year!  So, leave a comment, browse their store and hopefully you’ll receive a CD in the mail very soon!  Good Luck!

World’s Best Snickerdoodles

Okay, so here they are. . .my mom’s famous snickerdoodles.  I believe she got the recipe from her grandma and they are delicious.  I’m a sucker for anything with cinnamon in them.  I made them for Olivia’s preschool Christmas party on Wednesday.

And, I added a hint of Christmas cheer (aka red and green sugar)

Ingredients:

1 c shortening

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1.  Mix together shortening, sugar and eggs.

2.  Sift together and stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

3.  Chill for 1 hour.

4.  Roll into small balls.

5.  Roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture: 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon.

6.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

7.  Enjoy!

Enchilada Stuffed Shells

One of my favorite things that my husband cooks are his stuffed shells.  I found this shells recipe with a Mexican twist and thought I’d give it a try:

Enchilada Stuffed Shells

They were very very good.  My husband didn’t LOVE them because they have refried beans in them and he doesn’t like refried beans.  Next time, I may make half of them with refried beans and half without, but I always follow the recipe exactly the first time I make something.  Olivia even ate these, my friends, and that is saying a lot!  Hope some of you can enjoy a few of the recipes I post.

There. . .I did something productive today with this horrible head cold.  Now, I’m seriously going back to bed. . .