Who thought it would be a good idea to have me in charge of 2 large scale Christmas parties for my church?????  Well, they are over and done with, and I must say, I had so many great people helping me.  Here's  a glimps of just one of the parties.

Nah, I kid!  We DO love each other, and here's the pic to prove it!

I'm getting ready to break in my third pair of running shoes tomorrow morning.  Three pairs of running shows that represent over three years since I started running.  There are days that I hate it, there are days that I eat chocolate right after, there are days that I create genius ideas in my head during the run (and have a journal just for those thoughts), and there are days that I witness gorgeous sunrises and I become very aware of the blessings of being alive.  I look forward to those days the most.

Today is the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Towers in NYC.  Every year I remember what I was doing that day and it came to my attention that I really need to record those moments I observed on that day.  I remember looking at this gaping hole in the top of the first tower, as the 2nd tower had not been hit yet, and just wondering, "How are they going to fix that?"  It seemed like such a naive thought since I had no idea that not only would another plane come crashing into the 2nd tower, but they would both come collapsing down, taking hundreds of lives with it.

It was hard to leave the tv screen, but I had just started a new teaching job.  I was the new kindergarten teacher at Candil Hall and though I wanted all the information I could get about the attacks, I knew I couldn't be late for work.  So with a heavy heart and confused thoughts, I headed to the school.  The day went about as normal as a day with 12 kindergartners can be, but there were always some thoughts floating in the back of my head of the towers crashing down, or phone calls being made to my mother in law if we had heard from our brothers John and Peter who lived in the area.  Still, there was a feeling of sadness in the air, almost a sense of lost hope. 

But I do say ALMOST.  Because at the very end of the day, the Lord gave me my own small comfort and assurance that all would be well.  At the end of every school day, I gathered my students on the rug to discuss the day.  What did we learn?  What was the best part of the day?  Who had any problems that day?  It was a chance for the students to share their thoughts and to feel that they have a voice in the classroom and among their peers.  It's not a thought people want to accept, but even in Kindergarten, there are cool kids, nerds, tomboys, and other stereotypes.  As hard as I tried every year to keep my students equal, they all found their niche, based on their strengths and weaknesses.  Little Josh was what you might have seen as an outsider.  A chubby little boy with messy hair and a dirty face (that I would always clean as soon as the mother left the room).  Josh also had a hard time controlling his emotions.  He was very sensitive and opinionated, which rubbed the other students the wrong way.  But I could tell he just wanted to be accepted, and so I tried really hard to teach him how to communicate with the other students.  Now Dylan, on the other hand, was what you would see as the cool kid.  Even as a kindergartner, Dylan just somehow had his act together.  Even his hair was cool.  Slick with spikes in the front.  His hair for some reason made such an impression on me that I do Wyatt's hair the same way and think of Dylan almost every morning as I spike Wyatt's hair.  Dylan wasn't perfect by any means.  We had our moments where he tested my authority, but over all, Dylan was just a laid back kid, who liked to play, was well liked by his peers, and did pretty good work in class.  As I sat with the class on the rug, I asked if anyone had any problems that day to discuss.  It was quiet at first, but then Josh, whose face and hair had somehow gotten messy again, looked at me with his big blue eyes and said, "I had a rough day."  Josh then preceded to explain that on the playground he wanted badly to play with Dylan and another group of boys and for some reason or another was told no.  I invited Josh to explain to the boys how that made him feel.  Now this was quite a risk I was taking.  Josh was able to cry at the drop of a hat and the last thing I needed was for him to have a tantrum as I was dismissing kids into the care of their parents.  But that's not what happened.  Josh and Dylan looked right at each other. Josh calmly expressed how sad it was to be alone on the playground, while Dylan listened intently.  A five year showed more patience then most adults I know.  When Josh finished, Dylan spoke with wisdom beyond his years and not only explained his side of the situation, but apologized for inadvertently hurting Josh's feelings. At this moment, it hit me that these two small children had the ability to forgive and communicate far better than the governments and terrorist groups out in the world who were fighting each other.  And my hope was restored in the future generations of this country.  That though, at that moment, there was so much sadness and mourning to overcome, I was privileged to witness the possibilities of what could happen.

I have had this amazing new perspective towards my scrapbooking.  Watching all these youtube videos and trying new styles, I have really been trying to tell an artistic story with pictures, paper and words.  So I tried a new style this time around and I am really excited with how it turned out.  I had a picture of my father in the hospital last year from colon cancer and the old me would have not wanted to scrapbook such a sad situation.  But I looked at the picture and started writing my thoughts as though I was talking to my dad.  Talking about what I saw during that whole ordeal.  After writing that simple paragraph, I new I needed to scrapbook this picture.

It's become a mission of mine to search out any craft show to help inspire me to create and be creative.  Mostly, I find some wonderful little shows on youtube or a neat little website called MyCraftChannel.com.  Cable TV has jack-squat when it comes to crafting and scrapbook shows.  Its the same 3 ladies who have been doing these shows for years and their styles haven't changed at all.  I actually watched one last week with a chick who years and years ago used to use Mrs Grossman stickers on everything.  Last week's show had her as a special guest and she was still using those stupid Mrs. Grossman stickers.  I apologize to those readers who are not even the slightest form of a scrapbooker, because I am sure you have absolutely no clues as to what I am talking about.  I certainly won't apologize to anyone who likes Mrs Grossman stickers however, because basically Mrs. Grossman stickers are the most boring and bland thing you could possibly use on your scrapbook page.  Mrs. Grossman stickers are what you promise to your kid at the scrapbook store if he behaves and manages to not get you kicked out of the store.  Why?  Because they are cheap and cheap looking and you won't feel bad peeling them off your car window, since you are just thankful these ugly things didn't make it onto one of your precious pages!  I kind of feel the same about Mrs. Grossmans stickers as I do the craft shows on TV these day, and yet, though I find myself cursing at the TV during the bulk of the program, I can't get myself to stop watching Craft Wars on TLC.  It is like Cupcake Wars, which Wyatt and I love to observe the bakers creating little yummy miniature masterpieces and try to choose who will be the winners.  One episode was all men bakers and the winner baked a creation for the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba.  Wyatt's brain about exploded.  Because of our love for this show and my love for crafting, Craft Wars was a must on our DVR.  Did I mention it is hosted by Tori Spelling of the 90210 fame?  And did you know that Tori is a crafter?  A crafter?  She has more money then anyone I know and she spends her time with a glue gun and styrofoam?????  Well, I try not to let that bother me, because there are plenty of other things that do bother me about this show.  First of all, the supplies they give the contestants are CRAP.  Yes, CRAP!  They give them a pile of junk and then tell them to make a specific something stupid out of it.  I have not once looked at a pile of crap and decided to make a craft out of it.  If there is something I want to make, I go to the craft store and buy the supplies and make it.  Does that make me less creative than say someone who would use a pile of crap?  Perhaps.  But still, I can say my creation was not and never has been CRAP.  My next critique are the judges.  Crafting is supposed to be a happy thing people, and yet if I hear the judges complain about using the wrong kind of glue one more time, I'll be using a real gun instead of a glue gun.  Honestly, you give the contestants 1 hour to make a pillow out of old stuffed animals (told you, crap).  That fabric glue that takes 5 million hours to dry is soooo not going to get used.  And since crafting is a very objective activity, a judge does not need to give a suggestion that would completely change the contestant's project.  "Well what you should have done...blah blah blah."  Nobody cares about your ideas.  You either like the project or you don't.
My, my, I'm quite angry about a crafting show, aren't I?  Why did I allow all this anger to surface?  Not really sure about the anger, but really just wanted to talk about the fun Wyatt and I had creating our own Craft War.  I should have taped it, because I'm sure our rating would have outdone ol' Tori and her fake boobs.  I will say this, the craft did have to come from some form of crap...a cardboard box, but thats a little more common then making patio furniture from a broken up surfboard (seriously, they did that...and it was crap). 





 I really thought I had a good shot for the grand prize (which was nothing, by the way), but because of his excellent use of recycled materials, Judge Byron granted first place to Wyatt.  I'm pretty sure the contest was fixed.

This past Christmas was a lovely blur of fun activities and family outings.  There were times when things were chaotic and times when things were simple and peaceful, and I'm thankful for both!  Please enjoy the pictures of our Christmas this year!

I was so excited to find out that Adam, Esther, and Ava were going to come down from Seattle for Byron's birthday.  I was very sneaky about trying to get them down here.  I knew Byron had a hike planned on his birthday, and I thought who better to go hiking with than the Hiking Guru, Adam Christoffersen.  So I just kind of threw it out on Facebook..."Who wants to come into town for Byron's birthday?"  They took the bait!  Hooray!  It was a great weekend and it made it that much more special for them to celebrate with us and to play tourist with at Bass Pro, the MGM Secret Garden, and The Springs Preserve.  It was also a lot of fun to actually plan something Byron knew nothing about!  It drove him nuts!  :)  Here are pictures of all the fun we had!(Thanks to Adam for the pictures of the hike!)

We are saddened to announce that we have had a passing in our family...the passing of Byron's youth.  He slipped over the hill and turned 40th years old!  The mourn this lost, we threw him a funeral, I mean a party, and celebrated him some wonderful friends and family.  I was even able to surprise Byron with his cousin Adam and family, who flew down from Seattle just for his birthday.  More on thier visit in the next post.  It was a great party, and we even had a few friends share a few words about Byron and give some memorbale gifts!  Good luck for the next 40 years, Byron!  Its all downhill from here!

We have lots to be thankful for, but mostly for friends, family and food!  It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend, but we all had a great time!