Last Post of the New Year! (12/21/10)

Hey everyone! I just wanted to make my last blog post of the year!

I hope those who read my blog from time to time have enjoyed this past year's roller-coaster of fun, full of ups and downs. I never know what the year brings, and this blog is a testament of that very fact. I hope that this next year of posts will be interesting and enjoyable, because I never know what might happen. I'll try to make sure that I at least keep posting my week rundowns. Once things calm down a bit (I've been busy), I'll even try and work on a few of those themed days (like "Friday Fun").

No matter what happens, I'm sure they'll be something for me to post! So keep tuned in!

Oh.... and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (12/19/10 - 12/25/10)

Okay... This is late! I've been so busy with projects and things around the house on my week off of work (vacation), that I haven't posted!




Sunday:

I woke up and headed for church to do vans. The weather was a bit cold, but not too bad. During the morning services, Mysia and Malachi partook in the Children's Program at church. They did a wonderful job! I took pictures and grabbed some video.

The evening services featured the teens and youth. My mom directed the program. It was really good as well.


Monday:

Lydia got up early and headed to the gym. It had been a while since we had been, and she decided she'd go. After she got back, I headed off to work and she dropped the kids off before heading off to work herself. She got off before I did, picked up the kids, and I met her at home when I got off. We actually spent the evening at home. Wow!


Tuesday:

Today, I got up early and went to the gym. I didn't want to, but I did! Afterwards, I headed into work. Like yesterday, Lydia dropped the kids off before heading into work herself. Since she doesn't have school, she goes into work for half a day, and then comes home. Before I headed home after work, I stopped by the post office to mail a package and then went to Walmart to grab a few things. I arrived at home in time for Lydia to rush off to BioLife. The kids and I watched a Christmas movie while she was gone, and then I got them to bed. I then worked on a few projects on my computer before we headed off to bed.


Wednesday:

Today was good. I went to work, Lydia again dropped of the kids before heading into work herself. When Lydia got back home, her and the kids started on cookies. When I arrived, we ate supper. Lydia continued making cookies while I gave Malachi his shower. Our neighbor from next door stopped by for a visit. Mysia got her shower. After the kids went to bed, Lydia and I watched some tv before we too turned in. We didn't have church services tonight because they moved it to Christmas eve!


Thursday:

I was looking forward to today in anticipation! My last day of work until the next year. It seemed like the day took forever!

Mysia got to go to Granny's house and practically spend the day with her Aunt Abigail. Malachi went to daycare, and Lydia went into work for a bit. She got to come home to peace and quiet... and took a nap!

I got off work, picked up Lydia, ate some supper, packed our stuff up for the evening/night and we left! We stopped by to wish some of my van kids a Merry Christmas, and then went to my parent's house. What a time we had...! We visited, played games, and snacked all through the night! Our goal was to see how long we could stay up! And I did pretty well!

The kids fell asleep around 2:30, and Lydia crashed about an hour afterwards. It ended up being just us four siblings awake in the house, that was cool! We played the Wii until we were laughing ourselves silly because of exhaustion! I was getting tired, so at 6am, I went to the family room where Lydia and the kids were asleep. She was on the couch, and the kids on the love-seat. I tried sleeping on the floor, but it didn't work out, so I found myself a comfortable spot on the recliner. Ahhhh....


Friday: (Christmas Eve)

After sleeping for an hour, I got up at 7. Malachi's foot was hurting (growing pains), and I brought him over to the couch to rub his feet. Lydia had woke up, so I went ahead and popped in a Charlie Brown Christmas on the dvd. Mysia got up and watched it too while we waited for all the others in my parents' house to get up. Lydia went ahead and started breakfast. As everyone got up, we ate and visited some more. I then started packing things up, and we headed home.

After everything was unloaded, we sorted out the gifts under the tree and had our Christmas! We surprised the kids by revealing that the family gift this year was a Wii of our own! Both kids were excited! There were other gifts too, and we had a fun with them all. As the kids played, I set up the Wii system and we played some Mario Kart before all taking a nap.

After a nice restful nap, we cleaned up and left for Church. It was the Candlelight services. Malachi and Mysia got help Sam and Abigail in the service by singing "This Little Light of Mine" and I got to sing in a men's trio.

Before heading home for the night, we went Christmas light looking. It was fun, but the kids were tired and ready to go to bed. We did find some fascinating lights though!


Saturday:

Christmas Day is here! Yippee!

I guess no matter how old I get, I still have a hard time sleeping through the night. I'm always restless the night before Christmas! And it's not that it's because I'm excited about getting things, it's more about the excitement that the day holds.

Well, we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed back out to my parent's house for the day. It had snowed a bit, more like a dusting, but it sure did add to the excitement of having a white Christmas. At my parents', we shared the news of our gifts from yesterday and visited. We also played and ate! Oh, we exchanged gifts as well!

Before I forget, I want to make mention that if you know my family, you know that we are into technology. Especially when it comes to computers and such. Well, we all own smartphones and devices... so you can pretty much guess how our conversations went! LOL!

We left around 3:45 and met up with Adria at our house for a short visit before she had to head back out of town. The kids enjoyed visiting with their aunt, and we got her to play some Wii while here. The Wii was the main focus for the evening, and even after the kids went to bed, Lydia and I set up the Wii Fit and played late into the night. Our arms, hips, and legs were so sore!

~Matt

Merry Christmas!!!

We hope you all have a wonderful one!

~Matt


PS   If you want to receive our yearly Christmas newsletter, email me!

X Replacing Christ in Christmas? (Tuesday, 12/21/10)

I’m sure many of you have seen ads and signs that say “Merry Xmas”. It’s used often in print. I’ve seen and heard of people getting riled up about it too. They say that we’re taking Christ out, or “X”ing him out, of Christmas. There is even a status on facebook that people are posting saying that it shouldn’t be used! So.... Is there truth to this argument?

No, not really...

If you do some research, you’ll find that "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as "Christ". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.

So there is the answer.

Also, advertisers actually prefer it because it saves space. It also saved lettering when using the old printing press. Even on signs, they can maximize space by shortening the word!

By the way, “Christmas” as a holiday was originally started by the Roman Catholic Church as a “Holy MASS” in remembrance of Christ’s birth. It wasn’t started by the early new testament Christians as some might imagine. Just another fact to ponder!

Oh, "Holiday" means “Holy Day”.... for you politically correct people out there! ;)

~Matt

Week Rundown! (12/12/10 - 12/18/10)

Sunday:

It snowed! A dry snow, meaning that it didn't stick, but blew around! It did make for slippery roads though. It was also very windy. With those things combined, it made for an interesting bus route before church! For example, I had stopped and the wind pushed the church van sideways to the curb! Wow!

The weather was so bad, that the night before, I had gotten a call from our Sunday school teacher. They were stranded on the Branson Belle. The wind wouldn't let the boat dock, so they were still on the boat when we had services this morning! They were 'rescued' after about 17 hours on the showboat!

During the evening services, our choir performed the Christmas Cantata. It went very well! After my van route this afternoon, I returned home to find Lydia and the kids napping. I ate some lunch and prepared the dish for the supper planned after the evening services. That evening at church, it was our turn to watch the toddlers class. They also had practice for their skit/musical planned for next Sunday.

We then stayed for the monthly Birthday and Anniversary dinner, before heading home and going to bed.


Monday:

This week is finals for Lydia! Hooray! The semester is almost over!

She had a final around 9, so I went to work and she dropped off the kids before heading to college. She was happy with how the final went and headed off to work afterwards. About 2pm, she got a call from the school nurse... Mysia was running a high temperature. So Lydia took off work and brought her home. Lydia then took Mysia's temperature, and found her to be normal.

Mysia rested, and Abigail watched Mysia while Lydia went back to work until 5. I came home after work and started supper. Abigail and I ate as we waited for Lydia and Malachi to show up. Once they did, Abigail and I headed out to one of the nursing homes on the other side of town to meet up with Greg and Sam. Sam was able to get us in to sing for the folks there. Our quartet entertained them with Christmas songs we had been practicing for the past few months.

Back at home, I helped get the kids in bed. Lydia studied for her next final, and I worked on a project before heading for bed.


Tuesday:

This morning, Lydia again dropped of the kids and then headed into work. I headed straight to work. Lydia had a final at 11, and right at the end of it, the school nurse called once again. Mysia was running a low grade fever once again. By the time Lydia got there to pick her up, she was feeling well. Lydia went ahead and brought her home and made her rest while she studied for tomorrows final.

I picked up Malachi on my way home from work. When we arrived at home, Lydia already had supper almost completed. The kids played while we got the table set, etc. We ate and then Lydia headed out for BioLife. I gave Malachi a shower and helped Mysia finish her homework before giving her a shower. They played for a while before I put them to bed, and it wasn't to long afterwards that Lydia came home. We were both exhausted, so we went to bed by 10:30! Wow!


Wednesday:

Lydia woke up early and was out the door. She had a final at 7am!!! The kids and I left and dropped them off to school and daycare before I headed into work.

Abigail picked up Mysia from school and took her home. Lydia got off work early and planned to study for tomorrow's final. She was able to sell on e of her books back for a pretty good price, especially seeing how much they cost! She also Picked up Malachi around 4 and came home.

At church, it was awards night for our young children, youth, and teen classes. I got to announce the awards for the 1-3 grade kids, they have been doing well!


Thursday:

Mysia went to school, Malachi went to Granny's house for the day. My mom wanted him to be able to have a day with her, and I believe he had a great time!

After dropping them off, Lydia went to school to study before taking her last final! She was so relieved to get this semester behind her!

After work, I met Lydia and Mysia at home. She had brought home a gingerbread house she had made at school, and was very proud of it! We ate supper and then Lydia went to BioLife. I helped Mysia with her homework.

Malachi went caroling at a nursing home with my folks before coming home.. He was still energetic! My parents didn't wear him out!


Friday:

I went to work, and Lydia dropped off the kids before heading into work herself. Lydia got to come up and have lunch with me, which was nice. We hadn't had the chance to do that for some time now.

After work, I picked up Malachi and met Lydia at home. We then rushed off to pick Mysia up from my parent's house (she had gone there after school), and then headed off to Kristi and Lycia's apartment. They had agreed to watch them overnight, giving Lydia and I a date night!

Lydia and I went to my work's party at the downtown skating rink. We ate, got some prizes, and visited. We also skated for a bit, but not too long. The Jordan Valley Park, next to the rink, had lights set up throughout... so we took a walk in the park in the freezing cold. I was my attempt to be romantic.

We were going just head home afterwards, but then realized that Lydia had a free ticket to one of the movie theaters. So we used it and her student discount and got in to see "The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader". I was very skeptical of the movie, since it is my favorite book out of all the Narnia series by CS Lewis. And although they did change a few things, I found it to be done really well, especially since the book has soooo much in it. I was also pleased that they didn't cut out the important ending where CS Lewis made the allegory of Aslan to Christ very apparent! Hooray!

Note: If you want to support good movies, so that they make more.. this is one of the movies!


Saturday:

I got up early and got ready. I met Sam at the church and we did the vans for our church's children's Christmas party! Lydia picked up the kids and got there on time. The kids played games, practiced for their Christmas program to be held during services tomorrow, ate pizza, and received gifts! The whole lasted a little more than three hours, and we kept busy! But it turned out very well, and all the kids seemed to enjoy it. My mom was my van helper as I dropped the kids off afterwards. That was neat!

The rest of the day was spent pretty lazily. I worked on some design projects, Lydia and the kids took naps, and we watched tv. Actually, we watched "Home Alone", and I had an enjoyable time watching the kids' expressions!  The "attempted ransacking of the house" scene was funny. Mysia enjoyed the pranks, but when the bad guys caught Kevin... their eyes were wide!

PBS had the "Nutcracker" on, so we watched that as well. Mysia and Lydia enjoyed that one.

We spent the evening wrapping gifts, and I think we're almost done! I can't believe Christmas is a week away! Wow!


~Matt

Friday Fun: A Christmas Survey (12/17/10)

1. Hot chocolate or apple cider? Hot chocolate

2. Turkey or Ham? Turkey

3. Do you get a "Fake" or "Real cut it yourself" Christmas tree? Fake

4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Yup!

5. Snowball fights or sledding? Sledding (it's not fair to be in a snowball fight against a 3 & 5 year old)

6. Do you like hanging around the fireplace because it's warm? Yes (and to watch the flames...)

7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? Only if I had money to spend!

8. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

9. How do you feel about Christmas movies? I love 'em

10. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? The day after Christmas...

11. Stockings before or after presents? Before

12. Carolers? Oh yeah!

13. Go to someone else's house or they come to you? Don't care! Either way is fine!

14. Do you read the Christmas Story the night before Christmas? Yes, the true Christmas story! (Luke 1 & 2)

15. What do you do after presents and dinner? Nap....

16. What is your favorite holiday smell? Pumpkin Pie!

17. Ice skating or walking around the mall? Both!

18. Favorite Christmas tradition? Pumpkin Pie!

19. Favorite Part about winter? Snow.....!

20. Who do you want to kiss under the mistletoe? Lydia!!!!!!!


~Matt

Texting... (Wednesday, 12/15/10)

If you have a smartphone or a pretty good cell phone, you probably text, or have texted before. Texting is an easy way to get a quick message or note to someone at the time when taking the time to call may be overkill. It's like passing notes wirelessly, although I don't recommend doing it during church services!

Before we got our iPhones, Lydia and I would text back and forth quite a bit. We were on a family plan that allowed us unlimited texting. We liked it a lot. Well, the plan was costing us $30 a month, the same amount as one data plan for the iPhones. So, we cut it when buying our iPhones. We started using the chat clients instead.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for those wanting to text us, since we dropped that service. Then an app became available called Textfree. It allowed us each to set up a free phone number that people can text to and that the app uses to text back. The best part.... it's FREE!

So technically, we each have two numbers, our cell phone number and our texting number. The bad part is, if someone texts us to our cell phone number, we don't get it. So if anyone wants to text us, just ask us for our texting number! It's that simple! ;)

Anyway, I happy today.... the company just released a new app that allows us to send pictures too! It's service is also freel, and allows me to use the same account. Needless to say, I'm now using that app!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (12/05/10 - 12/11/10)

Sunday:

My van route was very low today, and I'm gonna blame it on the cold weather!

Lunch was steak and noodle salad. And we visited with our friends Doug and Mary. Choir practice was intense, we were gearing up for next week's Christmas Cantata!


Monday:

It was cold when we got up and out! We had to scrape the frost off of the vehicles, but both kids were disappointed that there was no snow. They have it in their minds that if it's this cold outside, there ought to be snow. You know what? I agree! Otherwise, the cold just ain't worth it! lol!

Abigail picked Mysia up from school and took her to "Granny's house". I came directly home from work and started supper. Lydia and Malachi came home shortly afterwards. Malachi got his shower before supper, and played. After supper, MeeMaw and Moses stopped by for a few. When they left, I headed out as well for quartet practice. Mysia was dropped off by my parents a few minutes after that. She'd had her bath and homework completed at Granny's.


Tuesday:

Today was a bit odd. Mysia got out of school early, which threw our schedule off a bit... especially for Lydia! She had also had a meeting with her school honors society. Lydia had biolife that evening, and after working on homework with Mysia, we watched the Christmas cartoons on tv before bed.


Wednesday:

We rushed home, ate supper, and then headed off to church. It was pretty busy helping with the children's services... we ran over some of the Christmas songs that they are helping perform for Sunday's Christmas Cantata. It threw off the class schedule a bit, but all ended well!


Thursday:

A busy day for all of us, but not out of the ordinary. Lydia had BioLife, and the kids and I watched a Christmas movie! Lydia was happy that she didn't have much homework, but I actually had several projects to work on! So she waited up for me!


Friday:

After work, it was rushing around for me! I had quickly rush off to choir practice! Lydia stayed home with the kids as I was gone for several hours singing with the choir!

Saturday:

Today was a bit lazy, but busy. We slept in a bit, and the kids watched cartoons. We ate a late breakfast and then headed out the door. We picked up Abigail and headed downtown for the Christmas Parade!!!

We parked a ways off, due to there being limited parking, and walked in the cold to the same spot we had last year. We set up the folding chairs, put a blanket on the kids, and watched the parade. M&M did not get up at all during the parade. They stayed nice and warm while we fetched the candy for them! Ahhh, the responsibility of a parent! lol!

After the parade, we headed to Christian Publisher's Outlet (bookstore) to pick up the free gifts the kids had vouchers for. Then off to get a new fish-tank before dropping Abigail back off at her house. Our fish tank needed replaced, the glass was stained and it looked bad. Although I didn't want to really buy a new big one, Lydia had a discount. Now, our fish are happy, and we can actually see them.

We spent the evening at home and watched more Christmas movies, including the "Nativity Story". Mysia watched intensely, and had questions during the film. Malachi watched, but was distracted from time to time with toys. After putting them to bed, I worked on several projects and Lydia did some studying. "It's A Wonderful Life" came on tv, and we watched it as well before going to bed!


~Matt

Friday Fun: O Holy Night (12/10/10)

Want to hear a touching song? Here's O HOLY NIGHT!

15 days until Christmas! So, to bring in the cheer and have some fun.... here it is again... the version that will definitely make you cry, and you'll never be able to forget this version for the rest of your life ! !

I post this every year since I first made this song digital from a cassette back in 2003! Now for the story:


Steve Mauldin is known for orchestrating the music for Gold City's "Midnight Cry", and countless other songs for popular artists in both Southern Gospel and Country. In 1990 he was in the producing a Christmas album for a church in Nashville. He was challenged to sing the song, and decided to "demonstrate everything he had ever heard bad singers do in his career". He put it on cassette and does not know how it got out or anything.

I had gotten this song from my youth pastor on a cassette. He wanted to put this file on cd, and asked me to convert it. He told me that this song has been passed along from Baptist pastor to pastor in the Heartland Baptist Bible College circuit. The plan was to give it to our pastor as a prank, saying this is a professional from Tennessee (that's where our pastor was born and raised). I even went so far as coming up with artwork for the cd and case (I'm a graphic designer).

So I put it on using Adobe Audition, and cleaned it up a bit (the quality wasn't the best). I emailed it everywhere and even posted it online several times on several websites, one being The Singing News Forums. It was too good not to pass along! If you compare the file to any of the other ones found on the internet, you see that this matches up perfectly!

Anyway, this thing has gone viral and shared so much online it's unbelievable! Oh... because of all the popularity, Steve admitted to being the singer and even did a youtube version to prove it!

Enjoy!!!!


~Matt

Hooray! The Original Cashew Chicken!!! (Tuesday, 12/07/10)

I'm so happy!

Many of my friends and family know how much I love eating cashew chicken. In fact, most like it just as much! The dish is often a topic of conversation, and many will argue about the best place that serves it in town.

And why not..? Cashew chicken was invented here in Springfield. There are so many restaurants that sell it locally too. I was honestly surprised, yet pleased, to find that you can buy the sauce in powder form at the local grocery stores!

Well, if you haven't heard the news... the family of the David Leong, who invented the dish, has now opened up a restaurant in town after it's been 13-years since the old one closed! HOORAY! Talk about some big news! It looks like I'll have to take Lydia out on a date night here soon.... ;)

BTW, their grand opening was yesterday and you can follow them on facebook!


~Matt

Week Rundown! (11/28/10 - 12/04/10)

Sunday:

Today was a little busy. There was men's prayer breakfast at church before vans. Then morning services! During the evening services, we heard from Russian missionary, Vladimri Lukyanov.  


Monday:

Mysia was picked up by Abigail and I met them at home when I got off work. Lydia picked up Malachi. While making supper, pork chops & rice, I got Malachi his shower. By doing so, it made the evening easier!

I then went off to quartet practice while Lydia got Mysia her shower, and then let the kids play for a bit before sending them to bed. Lydia then worked on homework.


Tuesday:

After getting home and eating, I got the kids their showers while Lydia headed out for BioLife. I then let the the kids watch the Christmas specials that were on tv. We watched the Grinch and then the holiday version of Shrek. I enjoyed the Grinch like always, but wasn't to thrilled over the Shrek cartoon... to me, it just doesn't fit.

Mysia and I worked on her homework. She's doing pretty good! I then got the kids to bed and worked on a few things. Lydia came home and worked on some homework before we went to bed.


Wednesday:

Mysia was picked up from school by Abigail and went home with her. Lydia picked up Malachi after work, and I met them at home. We ate real quick and headed off to church. It was 'fun night' for the children's services. So we had a lesson, played board games, and enjoyed snacks. We also worked with the children on their Christmas song for the program coming up in a few weeks!


Thursday:

This evening was supposed to be a little more relaxed... but I stayed busy. Lydia had an appointment with BioLife, so after she left I got the kids their showers. Mysia accidentally tore the toilet paper holder off the wall (it had been loose anyways). I then helped her with her homework. Malachi tried to help as well...

After putting them to bed, I got some things done around the house and Lydia worked on homework after arriving back home.


Friday:

My parents picked up the kids from daycare and school. They took them to Silver Dollar City. That gave Lydia and I the evening off to go to her work's Christmas party!

Her work rented out the Pythian Castle, a place I've been wanting to visit for years! It was decorated, and Christmas music played while we sat waiting for other to show up since we had arrived early. Lydia introduced me several of her coworkers, and we set with a few that were in charge of the who event!

We had a good meal, and were entertained by two characters... Old Saint Nicolas and Santa Clause! They were hired to sing and interact with the crowd. They were funny, and definitely not a perfect act, which actually added to the humor of it all. Each of the different stores did little acts to songs in competition. Lydia took part in her act, and it was quite comical!

After the party, we headed over to my folks' house. It was late, and Mysia fell asleep on the couch. We visited anyway. BJ, Ana, and Elijah were there, so the boys played while we talked. Like usual, technology (and in particular, cell phones) was the main topic. We didn't leave for home until after 12:30!


Saturday:

My body wanted to sleep in, but there was just too much to do! So we got up around 8:30. We got breakfast in the oven (Cinnamon rolls) and turned on the tv for cartoons. Lydia immediately started into her homework, and I pulled out the outdoor Christmas lights. As I figured, all four big strands of lights that I put on the house had sections that were out. I spent a couple hours going through and getting them working again! I wasn't to keen on spending money again on buying more lights.

The kids got dressed and came outside to play while I put up the lights. I was hoping for some warmer weather like they predicted, but I guess I was two early. It was overcast and windy! I didn't have too much problems until I came to the last set... Mysia ran over the strand with her little scooter, which meant that I had to replace at least ten bulbs throughout!

I finished in time to pack up the kids and head downtown for the event "Candyland at the Footbridge" (the longest footbridge in the nation)! They had candy, donuts, and gifts for the kids. They had to stand in line for an hour in the bitter wind to see Santa, get a hat or gloves, a ticket for a nice toy of their choice, and a book. I wasn't too happy with the waiting in line in the cold, but it was memorable!

Back at home, the kids took naps, and we worked on getting the house cleaned up. After a week of neglect on the most part, it needed it! I also ran to the store to grab a few things needed for the evening. Around 5ish, leaving the kids with a babysitter for several hours, we headed to our Sunday School Christmas Party! There were around 12 couples that showed up. We ate, snacked, visited, played games, and even did a gift exchange! Needless to say, we had a blast! What a way to end the week!

~Matt

Mysia: An Update (Thursday, 12/02/10)

Well, it's a time to do a quick update on Mysia.

She's growing up so fast... In fact, it's hard to believe that she'll be 6 next month! Yikes! I actually gave Lydia a shock the other day when I told her of a thought that struck my mind. In ten years, Mysia will be old enough to get her drivers permit!!!! Lydia didn't care for that idea at all.... ;)

Mysia has been doing good in school. She likes it a lot, and always has something to share in the evening about what happened during the day. They keep her active, and she misses taking that 'afternoon nap'. She will often nap when arriving home after school.

She has new friends at school as well. There is one she keeps talking about, that is her dearest friend. She says that they do things together and like the same stuff. When Mysia would describe her, it was like she was describing herself. Well, one morning when I was dropping Mysia off, she got out and squealed her friend's name. There was this other little girl who was getting out of the vehicle in front of us, almost another Mysia! If Mysia had a sister, this girl would be her! Same hair style and color, same height... It was weird!

Mysia's homework has been interesting. She's learning how to read, and recognize words. She can count to a hundred and write down the numbers. She's very good at it for a kindergartner, but sometimes gets frustrated if she doesn't get it right. She's a funny little girl at times though... she is very creative when it comes to the drawing and coloring. She even likes dotting her 'i' with a heart when writing her name.

On Mondays, she gets to bring something into school for "Show & Tell". It's always interesting to see what she thinks about to bring, and she's not too happy when we forget to remind her. When that happens, she'll tell us that evening in a serious voice that she was 'supposed' to bring something, and we forgot to remind her.

~Matt

Week Rundown! (11/21/10 - 11/27/10)

Sunday:

Well, the weather was nice today, and I should have put up the outdoor Christmas lights during the afternoon. Oh well!

Doug and Mary came over for the afternoon, and we ate and visited before rushing back to church for choir practice and evening services. Afterwards, we partook in the birthday & anniversary fellowship.


Monday:

Severe thunderstorms hit today, and we even had a tornado warning! What fun!

After work and picking up the kids, we rushed out out to Lydia's aunt's house in Crane to visit with her cousins that were in for a visit for the holiday. We visited and snacked for most of the evening. We even watched Disney's "101 Dalmatians", which I hadn't seen in a long time! We got home a little later than we wanted, but it was worth it.


Tuesday:

Besides the usual for the day, we rushed home and grabbed a bite to eat before attending evening services at church. They had moved it a day earlier since several families are traveling over the Holiday weekend.


Wednesday:

Mysia and Lydia didn't have school, so Lydia dropped Mysia off at MeeMaw's house before heading into work for the emote day. I dropped Malachi off at daycare before i headed into work. The day seemed to drag, mostly because it was the last day before the four-day weekend!

after work, I headed home and grabbed a few things before Lydia and Malachi came and picked me up. We then picked Mysia up and headed to Grandma Taylor's house. She made us a wonderful dinner and we visited for most of the evening. As we were leaving, it started to rain. We ended up driving through a hailstorm. Lydia had to stop, since she couldn't see the road.


Thursday:

I got up early and ran to Big Lots to check on some Thanksgiving sales they had going on. The temperature was cold, sand getting colder! I stood outside for about 20 minutes in line with other crazy shoppers. Was it worth it, I'm not sure... but I did grab a few things for Christmas!

When I arrived back home, we turned on the TV and watched the parade! Lydia made apple pies and I started re-arranging the house a bit. We had a lazy morning for the most part. By afternoon, we started getting some freezing rain, and ice pellets accumulated on the vehicles. We headed out to Lydia's uncle and aunt's house. We encountered some snow in the mixture of rain!

The kids played with all the cousins and extended family that was there, but couldn't play outside due to the weather. Lydia and I visited, and I was even able to take at least an hours nap! Oh, the food was great!

We made it back home with enough time to let the kids play some games before putting them to bed at a pretty decent hour. Lydia and I invited Doug and Mary over to visit and watch a movie before heading out for those Black Friday sales. We watched "Christmas Shoes" before the midnight hour hit.


Friday:

There was no real start for today, it was more like a continuation of yesterday! Lydia had left with Doug and Mary to hit Walmart's midnight sale. She was able to get some good deals on some things we needed/wanted that I previously didn't know they had for sale. Lydia and I ended up staying up all night. She even made the mad rush to Kmart at 5am! Needless to say, we didn't even make it to our bed. However, we did catch a few hours of sleep on the couch around 7ish, and let the kids watch cartoons.

Once we were up and at it, we re-arranged the house, getting things ready for our decorations. I also turned on a Christmas movie as well. When I went outside to grab the decorations from the shed, I discovered that not only was the backyard flooded with water, but the ground couldn't hold it all, so I sank in with every step. I even tried putting down 2x4 planks to walk on in certain spots. No good... they just sank into the ground as well!

As I set up the pre-lit tree, I found that it most of the lights on it weren't working! Not even 25% was lit! On top of that, the lights were strung on with clips! They were not easy to get off. It took me close to 3 hours to get all the strands off. Boy, my fingers were so sore!

We ate pizza for supper and got the tree decorated. The kids did a great job. I was basically in charge of hooking the ornaments. Lydia did the glass and special ornaments, while we let Mysia and Malachi tackle the rest. I'm happy to report they they didn't fight much, and placed the ornaments around the tree without putting them in one general area.


Saturday:

We were tired. So we had a late start for the morning. The house was a mess from pulling out the decorations, and we still have more to do! After a late breakfast, we headed out to help Lycia and Kristi in moving to their new apartment. We got there a little late, but was still able to help unload. I was then in charge of getting their entertainment systems operational, and Lydia helped sort out items. The kids played!

Once we felt that we bugged them enough, we headed out once again. This time to Silver Dollar City. We wanted to get up there and make sure we got a good dose of the "holiday spirit". Well, it was more like the "Black Friday spirit"! People were everywhere! It was very crowded and people shoving. I guess Thanksgiving weekend is not the best time to go!

The kids got to ride several rides, and we rode with them on one. We also got to see the parade and the lighting of the big Christmas tree. We also stood in line for an hour to let them see Santa. The kids were tired as we left to home. So it was quick showers and off to bed!

~Matt