Proud mama!

What a weekend! Yesterday was our last day of soccer for the Fall session and both kids did awesome. I think it helped that Grandma and Grandpa were there to watch. Tyler scored a goal on a penalty kick after he got knocked to the ground by another kid. Even more exciting...he paid attention for the entire game!!!! Emmy got to play on another team because they were short players. She was ecstatic because two of the girls on the team were friends from outdoor soccer. She scored two goals and had two assists. She was really excited!

Today was our first wrestling tournament. For those of you not familiar with wrestling, you weigh in at 7:00am and wait around to wrestle until 9:30 or so. After your first match which is 3 rounds of 1 minute each, you wait for about another hour and wrestle in another match. Then you wait another hour and wrestle in your last match.

Tyler started out with a little guy from the Chilli Dawgs club and got pinned in the 2nd round. In the next match he wrestled a guy from Illini Bluffs and he did great in the 1st round until he got elbowed in the nose...then he just kind of gave up and got pinned in the 2nd round. In his last match, Tyler did awesome. He didn't win, but he managed not to get pinned! Pretty good for his first match ever!

Thank goodness for youth sports...or I don't know what we would do with our weekends!

Instead of sending out cards this year, I figured I would just post it on the blog! Here's wishing you one of your best Christmases ever!

Shout for Joy

This week is incredibly hectic for me. I have a bunch of presents to still buy, a ton of pasta salad to make, brownies to bake, presents to wrap, Christmas programs to attend and all of the other stuff we do every week. Needless to say I have been a bit stressed! But, yesterday I got the opportunity to truly experience the Christmas Spirit and as Pastor preached this week- I wanted to Shout for Joy! In the midst of Christmas craziness I got to go shopping for a family that would otherwise not have a Christmas.

Each year our office adopts a family that has been touched by cancer and will not be able to afford presents. This year our family consists of a mom battling cervical cancer, her boyfriend and their 6 kids. She is unable to work because of her treatments and he was recently laid-off. The kids understood that they weren't going to have Christmas, but were so excited when we called to tell them we wanted to help. Anyway, yesterday we took a huge list to Kohl's. We knew we couldn't get everything, but we wanted to get as much as we could. When we left, we had gotten everything on the list and still had a little bit left for an extra game for one of the daughters. I don't know how we accomplished it, but God does provide!

Also just an FYI...I found my library book...sitting right in my office! Another reason to Shout for Joy!

Lost Library Book

Somehow I have managed to lose a library book. For those of you that know me well, you know that I always have 3-4 books checked out at a time, so they can be a little hard to keep track of. The amazing thing is I only have one book out right now! I remembered reading it last week as I was getting a new car battery and Emmy remembered me reading last Thursday at Tyler's wrestling practice, but now it is just gone! I had to get it on CD today so I could find out the ending. Here's hoping that it turns up soon!!!

We had a super busy weekend. Brian spent Friday in Chicago at his work Christmas party. His boss got all the Directors Scentsy warmers! Yeah!! I have been wanting one, but since I only smell about 10% of the time, it seemed like kind of a wasted of money, but now that is it is here I just want more scents. Brian and the kids told me that the house smells so good...I'm hoping soon I'll be able to smell it too!

Saturday was soccer again. Tyler was not so keen on going, but I promised him a trip to Walmart to spend his money afterwards if he tried. I was so proud of him. He played his little heart out! He didn't chew on his shirt once or stare at the clock. He even scored a goal!

After the game we did head to Walmart to buy gifts for the exchange at school. A $4 limit is a challenge, let me tell you! I know I promised Tyler he could spend his money ($2), but the toy aisles were out of control, so I told him he could save it until after Christmas. Saturday was Bethel's day to ring the bell at the kettle at Walmart, so we saw lots of people we know ringing. I asked the kids if they wanted to give some of their money to the Salvation Army and explained that they would be helping people that don't have as much money as we do and they decided that would be a good idea. Each of them gave 1 of their 2 dollars to the kettle. I was so proud that they decided to do that!!

After Walmart we went home to bake cookies and brownies for our neighbor. As noted above, I had to get a new battery for my car last week because mine was in bad shape. I found this out at 8:00 on Wednesday morning as I was getting ready to take the kids to school and go to work. Thanks to my father -in-law the kids got to school. Thanks to my neighbor (who spent 30 minutes in the freezing cold getting my car to start) I got to work. That at least deserves a plate of goodies!

Finally Brian got home and we all headed to Emmy's soccer game! She did awesome as well! After soccer we headed home, had dinner and went to church,

Sunday we all went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I wish you could take pictures in the theater so you could see the awe and excitement on Tyler's face during the show. He sits on the edge of his seat absolutely enthralled. Though he has only seen the show once, he almost has it memorized.

After Joseph, Grandma took us all out to Steak and Shake for dinner- Yummy!! Thanks Grandma!!

Christmas Music

This is the first year I have not made a Christmas CD. I was going to tonight, but there isn't any new music that I like, so I'm just burning a new copy of last years. Maybe next year I'll find new music I like.

I am finally in the Christmas mood. Yesterday I spent the whole day wrapping presents, and I'm almost all done with my shopping! Last night we went to the Advent Service at church to see Emmy sing with the Little Angels Choir and both kids to sing with the school. Tyler belted it out!

Otherwise it has been a pretty uneventful week. This weekend we're looking forward to soccer games and going to see Joseph on Sunday.

Disney

We just got back from a trip to Disney with my parents. What a great time! We planned the trip to see Disney at Christmas since the kids had never seen it decorated. We left early the Friday after Thanksgiving and drove to Atlanta. The kids are such troopers. There were six of us in my dad's SUV, so the kids got relegated all the way to the back for the 10 hour drive. Saturday morning we were up early for the drive to Disney! We didn't head to a park until Sunday, but went to Downtown Disney on Saturday night for dinner at T-Rex where we got to eat surrounded by dinosaurs and a meteor shower. We also discovered the beauty of hand dipped rice krispie treats at Goofy's Sweet Shop. Yum!!

Sunday we headed to our hotel at Bay Lake Towers...amazing! The view was of the Magic Kingdom so we could see the fireworks from our room. The room itself was unbelievable. It felt like it was bigger than our house! After we checked in we went over to Magic Kingdom where Tyler rode the Haunted Mansion for the 1st (and last) time. It was not his favorite! We rode everything we wanted to and walked back to the hotel for a bit of (cold) pool time! Sunday night we watched the fireworks from our balcony and walked over to the Contemporary for the Electric Water Pageant.


Monday was our Hollywood Studios day. When we were there in July we didn't get to do everything we wanted, so this time we went to Toy Story Mania twice, American Idol and we got to see the HSM3 show. Emmy got picked to dance with HSM cast and was so excited. Emmy also got to ride Tower of Terror for the first time with Grandpa. She liked it, but thought one time a trip would be fine with her!

Monday night we headed back to Magic Kingdom and Tyler and I got some quality time on It's a Small World, Tomorrowland Speedway, Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear while Emmy and Brian rode Big Thunder Railroad 5 times in a row. Brian was just a bit green afterwards. We also got to see Cinderella's castle all lit up for Christmas and it was beautiful!

Tuesday we went to Epcot and rode all of our favorites...Soarin, Test Track, The Big Ball, and of course, for Tyler, the 3 Caballeros! After Epcot we swam and then went to Hollywood Studios for the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights and what a spectacle it was!

Wednesday it was back to Epcot for more Soarin, Nemo, Kim Possible and of course 3 Caballeros. Wednesday night, Brian, my dad and I got to see part of the Candlelight processional with John O'Hurley at Epcot. This is a presentation of the Christmas Story complete with orchestra and huge choir. After, we got to see the holiday version of Illuminations. What a great way to end our trip to Disney...with Peace on Earth playing and fireworks illuminating the sky!

Thursday we began our trip to Memphis for the St. Jude Marathon. We stopped overnight in Birmingham and got to Memphis on Friday. We got to see Graceland and ate some great Barbecue at Marlowe's (as seen on Food Network's Diners Drive-Ins and Dives). Mom, my uncle Dave, and cousin Aaron all ran the half-marathon and my brother-in-law, Zac, his sister, Amy and my cousin Christy all ran the full marathon on Saturday. On our way home we got to stop at Lambert's, the restaurant known for its throwed rolls. If you ever get a chance to go, it is well worth it!

Overall another great vacation!!