Christmas Play 2013

I usually work with the preschool kids at church. Such a fun age because they are still young and cute but potty trained. Yeehaw!  I'm used to working with the babies and changing Diapers so I tend to tune out the Christmas rehearsals going on. The day before the play I took my kids to the last practice. I knew I'd be volunteering on Sunday with the little kids and didn't have a problem with it. So I'm just sitting in the chairs playing on my phone when the children's leader says,

"Hey Virginia. Can you stand on the stage behind the little kids for the play?"

"What? Uh-huh, sure."

Dang, if they had warned me in advance I would have learned the songs. Now I'm gonna stand on the stage lip syncing the best I can, trying to synchronize my movements to theirs, all the while acting like I know what the heck is going on.

I felt like a pole behind the little ones with spotlights on me. Uhhhhhh.....Uhhhhhh...

Well, I'm the Queen on pretending like I know what the heck I'm doing. It's called improvising. Having my first kid was the biggest act of improvising I ever had to pull off. So the play should be a breeze.

Well, last minute we realized that we needed two people to help with the little ones. Ones to stand behind them so they don't play with the instruments and another to stand off the stage but right up front to keep them from falling off the stage. Bing!  Heeeyyyy, I got an idea. I can be on the floor out of sight somewhat. So I volunteered my 12 year old son Ryan to stand up on stage instead. Whhhhheeee! They went with it and I saved myself from having to be the pole on stage. I've been wanting to help in children's church for years so my heart was happy, happy, happy. ;)

The night before I stayed up late sewing a wiseman costume. I went to a thrift store, found some shiny sheets, brought it home and went to work at it. Turned out great! ;)

Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest 2013

The church teens wanted to have an ugly Christmas sweater contest.  Ugly sweater?  No problem!  Ha!  I took Chaz and Ryan to a thrift store.  The problem was we couldn't find any ugly Christmas sweaters.  Instead, we had to buy the best we could and simply uglify it.

We bought some stuff we needed. We had so much fun laughing in the store at all our silly ideas.  Man, it cost a lot of money to make these sweaters and only wear them once.  I'm just gonna have to hang onto them for future parties.  :D

Ryan's we added some stuff from a wreath and even sewed onto it a stuffed puppy. It's hard to see but there are lots of bells on it.

Chaz's jacket was hilarious.  We just sewed on red buttons, bells, red tassels, stuff from a wreath, and glitter balls.  What a weird combo with the jacket!

 

Guess who wonnnn!!!!!  Hahaha.  Everyone loved their sweaters.  A lady took their pictures for their work flyer.  She wanted to promote their own contest.  A man asked to borrow Ryan's sweater for a contest at work.  It was so fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Malware Reports on Blog- Checked and Clean

Click on photo to enlarge

I had a friend alert me to a report that my site wasn't safe.  After I dejunked my site a bit I did about 20 scans from 15 different sites.  My website is reported clean. The one above is from Google itself.  :)  Hope you'll still follow my blog!

A Very Stressful Holiday Season - Don't Forget the Reason for The Season.

This last Thanksgiving was nice because we saw family we hadn't seen for a long, long time.  I find it extremely hard to share holidays when you have both sides of the family within the same town.  It's a good problem to have though.  Some people only have family in different states.  That would be tough.  Usually I have Thanksgiving with my mom and dad at my house.  Then Christmas Eve with Charles' family, then Christmas day with my side of the family.  This year we are changing it up to get out of the routine.  Whenever I feel like things are expected of us, because it's been that way the last few years, it's time to change it.  :)  I like the holidays to be relaxing and not demanding.  Once the demands come it, it takes all the joy out of it.  I'm not sure if it's possible yet but we are thinking about just getting away ourselves out of town in a cabin somewhere or a hotel. Bring a small tree with us and just have an adventure together. Who knows?  Maybe we'll just have a quiet Christmas at home?  Oh, I love the NOT PLANNING of it all.  :D

Thanksgiving 2013 with my husband's family

I've never been really into traditions.  I mean, it's nice every now and then.  But adventure is in mine and Charles' blood.  One time we were having breakfast together and I said to Charles, "Hey, let's go to Disneyland today!"  We packed up a few items, picked up our kids from school, and drove hours and hours to get there.  We didn't know what hotel we were staying in,  Nothing.  It was our adventure for one whole week.  We spent 3 days on the beach and 2 days at Disneyland.  Oh my gosh, by far was it the best vacation we've ever had.  The planning of it might have made it stressful.  We just winged it and took the surprises and all.  I was newly pregnant with my 6th child (Caleb) and the weather there was perfect.  We're starting to itch for another adventure.

Ashley (6) and Juliet (4)

Maybe I'll feel different next year but this year I just long for a quiet Christmas with my family with no strings attached.  I want it sooooo simple and beautiful.  Just to really focus on the real meaning of Christmas rather than the hustle and bustle of materialism.  Jesus is the reason for the season.