December Photo Project 21 "Allo-wetta Jingle Bells"

Patton's version of Jingle Bells:
"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Allo-wetta Way"

This DRIVES Kenner crazy. This is the view that I saw as I was attempting to teach Patton the real version of Jingle Bells and calming Kenner down.

Svitak Family Christmas

Not sure why the boys were LESS than excited to take much needed pictures...but everyone else looks great and so glad we were able to see our family! Daddy, Bub, Kenner, Gpa Judy and Great Grandma Betty

the same crew w/ cousins Eliot, Iziah, Anne, and Julie

Casey w/ the uncles.

Grandma Judy's brothers and mom

December Photo Project 20 "Familiar Faces"

Can anyone guess who these people are? Nope. It wasn't a Casey look-alike contest through the ages...these are his three Uncles. Any resemblance? It was great to get together with Casey and his mom's family in Grand Island.

December Photo Project 19 "Yummy Grub"

This was actually taken on the 17th, but couldn't resist. I attempted to take an "off the wall" photo...but never works. Yummy food and family at Famous Dave's.

December Photo Project 18 "Computer time"

Photo courtesy of Kenner or Patton I spent the entire Saturday in my PJ's freaking out that my computer was soon to crash and take all my pictures and scrapbook files w/ it. So I spent the entire day (thanks to two boys playing in the basement by themselves!!!) organzing pictures, deleting unwanted files, and getting all the scrapbook pages that I had complete into Walgreens books or on a flash drive to take to Kinko's. My computer did not crash and it is much faster w/ all of it off of there. AMEN!

December Photo Project 17 "Pampered Pals"

Chef hat on boxes on the porch = Pack and play for the boys.

The boys love it when I get a Pampered Chef order in so they can help me sort and pack everyone's orders:)

December Photo Project 16 "Best Buds"

I had another picture ready for my DDP, but when I heard Patton say, "Wet's be best buds." I had to capture the moment. Love these boys! (Like the hair cut...mommy's special!)

December Photo Project 15 "O U T"

Patton was O U T in the back seat. Enough said.

December Photo Project 14 "Love of a Great Grandpa"

I had the pleasure of knowing a great man, father, grandfather, great grandfather, farmer, husband, care giver, and many more qualities. Just a snipit of his life and family he created. I love you Great Grandpa Corniel! Last picture of a family of 4. Only 4 more weeks!!!

I am not a professional...but these are my people:) No matter the photo, I just snapped photos of the day of my great grandpa's funeral to soak in the love we have of each other.

Babies, babies and more babies

December Photo Project 13 "Love of a Grandma"

We went home to Hebron so we could go to the Rosary and Funeral of my great Grandfather Cornelious. Kenner was sad about something. I am not sure that he grasped death, but something sure hit him to make him sad. Patton on the other hand was quite curious. Many questions came out of this experience of a funeral..."Why did Grandpa die for our sins?" by Patton. He missed an important point - Jesus died for our sins. Grandpa believed that, so he gets to go heaven to be with Jesus.

December Photo Project 12 "getting SEW much done"

Here are a few projects I finished this weekend. All made from scraps from previous projects. Here is one for Atlie Here is one for cousin Kenna.

December Photo Project to be cont...

Please check back on Tuesday night or Wednesday for continued DDP. I am away w/ family celebrating my great grandfather's life, as he passed at age 94 last Thursday.
rhi

December Photo Project 11 "Plan 2: Day w/ Dad"

What was planned and what happened on Saturday were two completely different events. As you can see here, the boys had a BLAST with dad at the NE Basketball game. The orginal plans of the day were to spend w/ mommy. As we were preparing to go to St. E's for Miracle on 70th Street, the boys were not listening and not doing their chores. I decided to do the silent crack down and pick up Kenner and put him in timeout in the hallway (as he had just hit Patton x 2). He was refusing to go and down he went and down I went on top of him. I hit my chin and belly. Not sure that I really hit my belly that hard, I didn't initally call the doctor. I loaded the boys up in the van and off we went to the big event to meet Aunt Kendra and the reindeer, sleigh and Santa. On my way, I felt more cramping on the way there. So I decided to call the doctor. The doctor told me to go to Labor and Delivery and get everything checked out. So instead of visiting the pt rooms on the Labor and Delivery floor, I was able to be a patient. Everything checked out fine. Ultra sound tech said I have a big baby and I don't have much more room for it to get much bigger. GREAT. I knew I was uncomfortable, but wasn't looking forward to even more discomfort for one more month.

The only problem of the day was that I started having contractions (i.e. 5 in 5 minutes). They weren't going to let me go home until they stopped or became farther apart. It wasn't until they gave me a muscle relaxor that they began to slow down. FYI: muscle relaxors knock you out. I was out from 4:00 pm Sat to 8:00 am Sun. Everything is good today, but I just can't run a 100 miles an hour any longer. I have to take breaks, and just relax a bit in order to decrease contractions. Neat huh?!?

At least I am off of work until Thursday. My great grandfather went to be w/ the Lord and his wife on Thursday night. He was 94 and lived a great life. His funeral will be more of a party and celebration than sadness...which I am thankful for.

December Photo Project 10 "TYPICAL"

Note: oldest child working hard and serious and 2nd child observing and eating. Typical for all chores and activities in our house.

December Photo Project 9 "Zhu Zhu's the new Wise men"

I love that the boys play w/ the manger scene as it brings many conversations up. I wasn't sure how to converse about the Kung Zhu's being the new wisemen. Any ideas?

*By the way...the Kung Zhu's are part of their Santa gift WHICH they found in the front seat of the van under a blanket. THANKFULLY they only found a Zhu Zhu pet. I was sweating to say anything about it and not sure how to get out of it. It just so happens that this am I woke up at 7:30 am (which is normally 15 minutes past the time we like to leave). I gave three instructions - clothes, socks, shoes now. I got in the shower and out. The boys were dressed and ready to go. I was at work by 8:30. SO they got their so called "find" as a reward. Phew! Good thing they were good.

December Photo Project 8 "Not pretty...but made a presence"

Thanks to the default pictures...I am able to put two pictures for DDP 8. I am not one to love to be pictured when pregnant, so consider this a gift. I do love my boys though, so I took one for the team!

December Photo Project 7 "Poof! Meals to go"

Went w/ 20 lasagnas.

Came back w/ 20 meals to fill my unorganized freezer. Gotta love freezer cooking. Now to only ration them for when the baby comes in 35 DAYS!

December Photo Project 6 "Few of my favorite things"

I won this poinsetta at our Sprague Potluck. It matched my maroon house and I LOVE hot chocolate:)

I love that I can share the love of hot choco w/ my boys. I also love that Patton automatically put his arm around his brother to pose.

Meal plan for this week

This is for you Annie!:)
Monday: Last day of swimming lessons
Enchiladas* (Beef Chimichangas revised)

Tuesday: Freezer cooking exchange at 7:00
One dish chicken casserole - An actual new recipe from the crock pot

Wednesday: Awana
Green bean tator tot casserole - not freezer cooking believe it or not...but simple enough that it could be

Thursday:
Chicken Lelani *w/ rice and veggie TBA

Friday: hopefully we get to stay home as a family:)
Homemade Pizza

Saturday:
L: St. E's is serving a free breakfast and MANY family festivities in the am, so this will work as lunch and breakfast
D: Ham and Potato Casserole

Sunday:
L: Leftovers
D: Chicken breasts w/ veggie TBA

The Hummingbird Homemaker (click on blog list for her blog) had a great post about groceries, coupons and saving/spending money. If you are a follower of this blog, you will find that I have been a little crazy about shopping, saving money, etc. I tend to waiver in my ways to actually do it. Some days my coupon binder is in tip top shape and I come home w/ a car load of great deals. Other weeks I shop only the sales and/or shop only the list I created and NEED at our house. I love her perspective, which is the same as mine on this date:), about looking at the way I shop as what I spend versus how much I save. Yes I can get pretty crazy deals w/ saving a ton of money at CVS, Wags, or the grocery stores w/ coupons, etc...but is it stuff that we need? Another great friend of mine only shops what she needs each week. She has a budget of what she spends each month and when her "envelope" runs out, she is done. I have done this and not done this depending on which end of the spectrum I have been on. As of this moment today, I am on the spend on what I need, but only need things on sale:) If I need other things not on sale, I will shop the lowest priced store (Walmart) for those items and price match all others on sale. This is the simplest and sane-est (if a word) way for me to be the best steward of my money.

Enough of my soap box...time to go to bed (yes it is only 8:00:))
Have a GREAT week!

December Photo Project 5 "Neighbor Love"

We made massive amounts of cookies yesterday that year after year I have great intentions of giving them to our neighbors, but w/ the hustle and bustle of the holidays I never get around to actually delivering them. Today I put my two delivery boys to work. We LOVE our neighbors/town and my boys LOVE taking things to them.

Today was just odd though...no one was home. It wasn't until I saw a family enter the Town Hall that I realized they were all at a potluck that we were supposed to be at too. I have this freezer full of food, but it all took too long to bake (because I realized this at 5:00 when the potluck started). I brought my handy dandy Raspberry Habenero Sauce w/ cream cheese and crackers. This was the first year we have remembered about it in enough time to get to see Santa and get door prizes. I was in such a hurry that the camera didn't make the trip. It was our 3rd Santa sighting in 2 weeks, so I was okay w/ missing it. It was a picture of our neighbor Yoshi on our good friend Don's lap that I missed. It would have maybe ousted this picture for today. We are so blessed to live in such a great community so close to the larger ammenities of life in Lincoln.

December Photo Project 4 "Love of a boy and kitty"

Are words needed? Love this little boy and the love of his kitty!

December Photo Project 3 "Cindy Wanna be"

Our AWESOME Postmaster in Sprague's name is Cindy. The last time we were at the Children's Museum we didn't have time to do the Post Office. Tonight at the Air National Guard Christmas party, we were able to be the post master and deliver all the mail. Kenner was on cloud 9, took his job very serious, and sweating like crazy because he was so into it. He made the comment, "I am just like Cindy." Funny how they make connections like that. It must be the candy that Cindy gives out!

December Photo Project 2 "Laundry Fairy"

Look who I caught on camera early (6:30 am) this Thursday morning sorting my laundry w/out any asking. This picture allows me to breathe better in anticipation of a new addition coming.

December Photo Project 1 "N dat..."

not sure why my first photo was mixed in w/ my older posts...so go to N DAT to see my Photo 1.

Patton's Birthday

How could I forget to blog even a single picture about Patton's big 4th birthday. Here he is w/ his big prize...Cardinal Buzz Windshield Svitak . Who orginally was an outside only cat, but has not quite made it outside. Many stories to talk about later about Cardinal the basketball, buying toys, wanted to get home from our vacation because we missed our Cardinal, etc.

Patton was lucky to have two parties. One to send Aunt Annie, Uncle Jeremy and Rylan off to Boise AND celebrate his bday at Dave and Buster's and the 2nd one to go to Red Robin w/ GReat Grandma and Grandpa Jim and Jan.

December Photo Project

I am excited again to participate in the December Photo Project. It allows a person to sit back and enjoy such a great time of year instead of rushing around forgetting all the little things that make it so great. If you want to join in on the fun, go to The Treadway's blog to sign up. Let the fun times begin!

Norf Dakota

Curling 101
Thanks to Grandpa Culyer's brother, we (or they I was a spectator) were able to learn the basics of curling. Fun times!
Casey trying his hand at it.

Patton finally braved the ice to try it. He and Kenner were able to have their own lane to do their own stone "throwing."

Casey doing some sweeping. Casey said it was harder than it looked.

Kenner felt so confident after he was done, as he climbed in the car he stated, "I think I should get a medal for being so good at that." Ummm maybe need to work on humility! He was quite the bragger at his new game, Blink, too. Yikes. I saw a bit too much of myself coming out...scary!

Patton needed a few more tries to get used to throwing the stone down the ice. It was fun though! Kenner really got good at hurling the stone down the ice by the time he was done.

Kenner playing cards w/ the big kids!

Cousin Rachel and Kenner. Rachel was the horse.

Did Great Grandma Ruth really say, "Who farted?" Thanks...now every time we have a camera out the boys say what Grandma Ruth said...Gotta love the smiles though!

Great Grandpa Culyer and boys Uncle Wevi

Aunt Wucy

Boys were COMPLETELY spoiled w/ the loads of tractors, trucks and implements to play w/ along with all the playmates. Thanks EVERYONE for playing w/ them. They are still talking about it!

Kenner teaching the older crowd how to play the intense game of S'Match. A MUST play game for all 3-5's.

**this is suppose to be at the top of the post...but too little patience and wanting to go to bed makes this stay at the bottom.

We were and are continually blessed w/ an abundance of family. Unfortunately that makes for an unsolvable equation when it comes to spending it with all family on all holidays. We do not have the equation solved...but for this weekend, I think we made the right choice by making the slippery choice to brave the weather and travel to North (or norf) Dakota to Casey's grandparent's house. It was a perfect opportunity for us as a family to get away one last time before the little peanut arrives in 6 weeks.