Thought for the Day

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." -Hebrews 12:11

No School today!

So the boys are out of school today for MLK Jr. It is so much fun having them home. Last week they had two snow days, on Mon. & Tues., and that was a lot of fun, too. I enjoy having them home & I know they enjoy an extra day to play. This morning, they've already played Blokus, Flip Uno, Sorry, and Chutes & Ladders. Then they played matchbox cars in the kitchen, and now they have moved on to Light Saber battles - that could go on for a while. I love hearing them playing and having fun. The girls have been playing playdoh and pretend kitchen stuff. Anne pretty much just tries to be part of whatever is going on. Sometimes, it happens to be destructive to others' efforts (like a lineup of about 30 matchbox cars getting kicked apart - not intentional, but you know). She's a hoot.

The only bummer of the day...I don't get to stay home for all of it...I have to work today. At least I get to spend the morning with them.

Christmas 2010 in Pictures

Christmas Morning at Home

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Robinson's

Christmas Eve at the Lee Home

Christmas Cookie Preparation

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was another wonderful season filled with many new memories. We went to visit Beth, Robert & Mya for lunch and they were wonderful hosts. Chicken nuggets, pasta with sauce, fancy cupcakes, and much more. We had a great time spending the afternoon with them and sharing in Mya's first Christmas. We went to Christmas Eve Mass and then traveled to Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dan's for evening festivities with the Robinsons. It was a wonderful time. Then, we nestled in our beds in hopes that St. Nick would make an appearance...he did. Christmas morning was fun at home. Leah slept in until almost 9am, so the boys were REALLY anxious to get to the presents. Then, when she did get up, I actually had a big breakfast ready to eat, so we convinced the kids to eat first (can you believe that?). So we ate breakfast, then enjoyed the festivities. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed spending the day together at home. We are so blessed and really felt the spirit of Christmas. The next day, we were even suprised by a trip from Grandma Donna & Grandpa Jerry as they came through on their way home from Texas. Always nice to see them, too!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jacob! (12/12)

Jacob had a wonderful birthday this year. As I always feel, it is so hard to believe he's five. He is a true sweetheart. He is such a content guy. He has grown up a lot and really mellowed. If we catch him when he's really tired or just can't get something worked out, he'll get a bit upset, but those times have become quite few and far between. He enjoys playing Star Wars with his brothers as well as on his own - very independent guy. He's also very sweet to his sisters. Still has a special place for Anne. He is calm and tenderhearted. I love that even Tom and Jerry can scare him sometimes if the episode has a big animal in it or something like that. He loves music, too, especially Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Chris Tomlin, and Lady Antebellum (Hmm, wonder where his influence comes from). You can often catch him in the offic with the music playing and he'll be playing his air guitar and singing along...as if he's studying the lyrics. He's a caring boy who really thinks - he'll think of a consequence a few steps down the thought process and just want everyone to be ok and happy. I'm pretty sure the additional Star Wars shirts he's received are saving me a lot of loads of laundry as he wears one every day. He's also not much behind his brothers on size; sometimes people actually ask if he & Leyton are the twins. Ha. I just love that little guy. He wants to stay home every day and just be home, play, and be happy. If only it could always be that way. Happy Birthday, dear Jacob. You are loved!

Travel Troubles?

Interesting thing I found today. I searched on Expedia.com to look at hotel options for us en route to Destin. We figured we'd spend one night there on the way, maybe around Birmingham. Anyway, I entered the following information: Birmingham, AL, the dates, 2 adults, 5 children (& entered their ages). And the search results: plenty, but each and every entry said "max children exceeded." Hmm. I hadn't anticipated that. So, I searched a bit more on "max hotel occupancy" and saw a few articles addressing this specific type of issue as compared to just a large number of people trying to stay in one room. And then, I came across a site that may actually be helpful for a family like us. Good find. I'm sure it'll lead us to where we'll stay; you can search by location and it lists options that sleep 5, 6, 7, or 8 people. Whew. I really was not liking the idea of figuring out how we'd be in a hotel for that one night. Who'd have known (maybe lots of people, but I hadn't considered that we technically couldn't stay in most rooms)?

Imagine His Feelings on that Night...

I heard this song for the first time today and was really moved. Don't want to ruin it with too many words, but I just thought about how he may have felt that night...

Joseph's Lullaby

(here's a second link that has lyrics)