Here's wishing you a happy New Year, may you all be healthy,and blessed as we move into 2008. The Holman's have had another wonderful year and look forward to many new and exciting things in 2008.
There is a rumor going around Bloggerville that I have forgotten my user name and password and that is the explanation for my long absence.
Obviously, I have not forgotten either of these, but rather have been at a loss for anything interesting or of value to say. I did however want to clear up this pesky rumor.
Until, my life slows down, and something worth writing about happens.....
I know, I know, I have been majorly slack in the blogging department lately. Life has been busy, good but busy! So obviously on Thanksgiving it is time to reflect on all my blessings, and there are tons of them!
Anyone that reads, Sandy's sister-in-law, Meredith's blog knows that she is always coming up with neat ideas to blog about. Seeing how the Christmas spirit has hit me early, I stole it from her. Thanks Meredith.
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa does not have time to wrap all those gifts! He sets them in the living room, of course with two children, he sets them on opposite ends of the room!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?White.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Hopefully. I have called my friend Laura and asked her to have her hunting husband to shoot some out of a tree for me!
5. When do you put your decorations up? I will buy my tree the day after Thanksgiving and put it up on Saturday. I have purchased all new ornaments this year, I would put my tree up today if I could!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Cheese ball, weird, I know.
7. Favorite childhood memory of Christmas? One year, I was around ten, my dad kept telling me that Santa was bring something so big that it would not go under the tree, so when I got up on Christmas morning, I needed to put on my coat and some warm shoes because I would have to go outside to get my gift. Well, when Christmas morning came, I threw on my boats and heavy coat and ran downstairs to find a 13" tv sitting under the tree! I was sure I was getting a trampoline like my friend Leslie.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? There's not Santa?????
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not now, I always did as a kid. My mom would give me new PJ's every year so that I did not look like an orphan in the Christmas morning pictures.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Well, it seems to be something new every year, but always with the stuff the kids have made!
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? LOVE it! Or at least I did the last time we had it!
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but it is not pretty/
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Not really, I have received so much the last 36 years, I would be hard to point out one thing.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Keeping my children focused on Christ, as much fun as it is to give and get, I want them to remember that we are celebrating the birthday of God's son, thus the birthday cake we make every year!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Mom's cherry yum-yum.
16. What is your holiday tradition? Getting up Christmas morning and watching the kids open their gifts, with just mom and dad and us!
17. What tops your tree? A bow.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The entire Clay Aiken Christmas CD.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck.
21. What do you want for Christmas? Hobby Lobby, the whole store!
Look who made Honor Roll....
http://www.statesvillechristian.org/external/uploads/ES%20Q1%20Honor%20roll.pdf
Just so everyone is clear, I NEVER had my name on this sort of list!
Friday JB laid out of work and we all went to the mountains. Although it was not peak weekend, it was beautiful! We ate, shopped, played and enjoyed just being with us. Of course JB wants to drive around, thus making me carsick, but what else is new. Anyway, here are a few pictures of Friday. Also, on a good note Dylan's soccer team won Friday and Saturday's tournment games putting them in the championship game this weekend.
I can't get the pic's to upload, will try again later!
This week has been crazy! Tuesday night I was "sent to my room" at 7:30pm and I know I was asleep by 8:15. So to follow are 13 of the things that have kept me on my toes this week.
I will try to do better next week. Watch for post this weekend, as I update on the busy weekend of cheer competitions and soccer tournaments!
Last night the kids were making their Christmas list. The arrival of the new American Girl catalog brought out early thoughts of Christmas. Their list are always so funny to me, of course they aren't getting most of it, JB kept getting mad at me because I would say "you might as well not even put that on your list because you're not getting it!"
The Big one wants:
The little one wants:
So we'll see want Santa brings, but is always fun to see what they want. Now it is time to start manipulating them into wanting what I am going to get them!
There is clear liquid falling from the sky. If you know what this is please let me know. Larry is totally confused and I had to figure out how to turn on the windshield wipers in my new car. What is going the on?
My friend had her heart broken today. I wish I could fix it, but I can't. What do you do when your completely helpless and can do nothing? Well, first of all I will pray. Then I think I will cry with her, but the fixer in me wants to set the world right for her. The friend in me wants to hold her hand and bring her through it, unfortunately her hand is too far from mine. I just wish a broken heart was easy to fix, I wish her heart never had to be broken.
My commitment to you my friend is to cry when you cry, laugh when you laugh, and "pray without ceasing!" I pray that you will soon have peace.
Well, Cotillion started tonight. His attitude was basically good and he looked MARVELOUS! Learning a few manners won't kill him, even though he thinks it might!
I stole the very cute logo above from Meredith (Sandy's very clever sister-in-law.) So thank you Meredith for your contribution to today's post. Today I present 13 reasons I love fall. There are more than 13 reasons, but it's not called "Thursday 47."
Thank you Lord for today's rain. We needed it desperately.
Is it a sign of old age to be thankful for rain?
My house is GROSS! I am so busy (especially for a stay-at-home mom.) I have no idea where time goes. So in honor of my nasty house and before I go take my nap, here are thirteen places that need cleaning.
Now that's done I can take a nap.....
I'm sure that you guys are dying to hear about my weekend and see all 110 pictures I took... but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow, I'm too tired tonight. I promise I will post tomorrow.
Tickets-82.00
Hot dogs,pizza,funnel cakes- 50.00
Foam Fingers- 8.00
Seeing John Smoltz almost pitch a perfect game and your kid on national television-PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have to be honest, that was probably one of the best nights of my life. The Braves were awesome, John Smoltz pitched almost a perfect game, the crowd was great...it was perfect!
Around 9:00 or so Mrs. Tib our neighbor called to say she had just seen Dylan on TV, then when we got home he was on the braves home page. Check it out at www.braves.com
You can see the video of Dylan (and John Smoltz, of course) under the video of "Smoltz fans 10" Of course I keep telling him that the reason he was on TV (more than once) and the jumbo tron is because his wonderful mother made him a sign to take that says "JOHN SMOLTZ ROCKS!" On the way out everyone kept telling him he had the sign of the night. He loved it all!! As a mom we can only hope to see your child that happy, all I can say is I would have spent twice that just to see the smile on his face.
GO BRAVES!!
As some of you may know, we are leaving tomorrow for Atlanta for the weekend. I am over the moon about this trip, to follow are only 13 of the reasons I am so excited!
Tomorrow I intend to post a special Thursday 13. Stay tuned for the only Thursday 13 I've done that took no thought at all.
Here's a hint, the following words will be in the blog: hot dog, John Smoltz, and hotel. I'm sure your dying with anticipation, until then....
All good things must come to an end, today happy homework ended. Even the little one was crabby, and lacking in ambition today when it came to homework. Apparently words like cheese, week, place, bird and insect are kicking her butt. Even Mr. Patience (aka Daddy) is loosing steam in fact his direct quote while I sit here (after a 15 minute practice session) and type is "that's slit your wrist kind of fun." The big one just had a lot to do with three test tomorrow. All good things must end, the only thing keeping me going is that I'm going to see my most special friend Sandy and Juan Pablo on Saturday, otherwise I would have to go somewhere and cry!
Usually homework is a fight at our house. It is constant staying on top of the big one and trying to keep the little one out of his hair. Today is one of those rare homework days, there is no fighting, no yelling and even though they are working, they are even laughing and enjoying themselves. I have not idea basically at this point who these children are, but I would rather keep them and ask questions later. I am so thankful for a school that my children love and that I can feel good about them going to. I feel like the back to school honeymoon will end eventually, but I am going to enjoy it while it last.
Got to go, back to happy homework time!
Today is my best friend from college, Sandy's birthday. She has been a great friend to me for a lot of years (way more that we want to admit.) Almost all of my best memories from college include her, she is the most kind, generous, unselfish person I have ever met. Everyone in her life comes before her and I am blessed to call her my friend.
Those of you who know her ask her about Cornish game hens, pizza rolls, and slip -n-slides!
For this weeks list, I give you 13 things I will probably never wear again...
As all 6, of my faithful readers knows school starts soon: Monday August 20, 2007 to be exact. I am not looking forward to the kids going back to school, here's why:
To follow is the list of 13 reasons I'm not ready to go home yet, as composed while on the beach this afternoon....
We are having a great time in Ocean Isle. We took today off from the sun and sand and the heat and went shopping. The outlets were great and Jonathan of course bought plenty of things for himself (at least they were for work.) Here are a few pics from yesterday, I can't figure out how to rotate the surfing pic. Operator error as usual.
Today was just like yesturday, crabbing, swimming, playing in the ocean (even me) and general mayhem. We are enjoying our selves so much. Even I tried my hand at the crabbing and the cast net. I enjoyed it a lot and spent more than an hour at the hottest part of the day throwing that thing, so I must really like it.
I can't get my sprint card to upload the pics, so I will go tomorrow to Lee's and hack into the network down there. I've got great pics of the the kids skim-boarding, and even Cora giving it a try. Dylan's private surfing lesson is tomorrow at noon, will try to get tons of pics then.
We made it to Ocean Isle yesturday. It is so nice to have some peace. Of course Clamidy Jane already had a huge knot on the head due to falling off the bed. It lead to another debate over rather or not to take her to the hospital, and exactly how many times we can take her to the emergency room before they take her away from us. So we put off a visit this time not knowing what is around the corner.
Other than that all is well, I will post some pics tomorrow. You know what it looks like, ocean, sand and fat people in bathing suits (including me.)
Apparently I'm supposed to be doing Thursday Thirteen's- list of 13 things, random things apparently. For my debut Thursday Thirteen, I present....
13 Essentials for Ocean Isle Beach
Well I hope I didn't cop out by using sunscreen three times, but can you think of anything more important than sunscreen at the beach?
He drives me CRAZY! As much as I love him, sometimes when we travel or get ready to travel, I would rather kill him than travel with him. Here are the things about traveling with him that drive me crazy:
This year he wants to drag a trailer to the beach. He keeps saying it will be a great way to get all of our stuff there, I keep saying you could just not pack so much stuff! I could make a list of reasons we shouldn't drag the trailer but the list would be too long and redundant considering the list above. So I will pray, for patience mostly as we get ready to leave!
Well, he finally got home! We were all waiting for him on the front porch when he got home. He is tan, blond and a sight for sore eyes! His feet are all cut up from fishing with the cast nest on the rocks, but mostly he is in one piece. I will sleep soooooooo much better tonight knowing that he is safely home. He came home with a new cast net, a skim board, and a cool remote control car that he built himself, and I got change. I think he is glad to be home, yet ready to go back in a week with the family! Welcome home, my most precious son!
I don't think I ready for him to go off to college!
It is so quiet around here. The Pickle is gone to the beach with Beau. It is amazing how much quieter it is without him here. I guess there is no one for her to fight with, and no one to complain about being hungry all the time. At any rate there is certainly a hole in our family this week. We are all looking forward to Friday when he returns home and our family is whole again.
Is this what it will be like when they go off to college?
So tonight I am sitting at church eating my nasty pizza and someone comes up to me and says "I've been reading your blog..." Imagine my shock that anyone other than Sandy, my mother-in-law (who's son calls her far too infrequently) and my newest fan Malia, actually reads my blog. She even made a comment about the tree that fell in the road yesturday, that means she had even read it within the last 24 hours!
So to Amelia, my newest reader, welcome, I'm sure that you will find my content lacking at times, yet most always from the heart (or close to it.) At any rate, it is my world, as seen by me.
Sock Update....
I noticed this morning when I got up the socks are gone! That was only 4 days, I was expecting at least twice that long. As a bonus, he even washed a load of towels. Thanks Jon Boy!
Yes, one year after moving into this house, we finally decided on a rug for the living room. We went today, and picked one out without the help of my mom, Cora or Beth. Bravo to Team Holman for acting like independent adults! Go US!
As expected my friend Valorie's grandmother died tonight. Even though I have expected it, held my breath everytime the phone rang, it was still a shock tonight to hear "my Purr died." I know unfortunately the pain that Valorie feels right now. I was there many years ago, and my heart was broken just like Valorie's.
I can't help but think that as Christian's- believers in Jesus Christ- that death is not something to fear, but something to rejoice. I went straight to Val's and we were talking about how the kids were handling Purr's death, and she was telling them about heaven. How excited Purr's friends were to see her again, how they were all hugging her and telling hew how glad they were to see her. As believers, we know that there is more, when we die, the best is yet to come. How desperate and bleak death must seem to those who do not have the hope that we have.
Purr is rejoicing with the angels, she is praising God, she is healthy and whole, and happier than she could ever imagine being on earth. We should rejoice in her happiness and wholeness and long for the day when we will be together again. Although, I am so glad that she is not suffering anymore, I will miss her just the same.
Thanks Purr for all you meant to us.
Today was the second full day of summer vacation. We slept in a bit, then we had group exercise. I am determined to keep the weight off that I have lost and prehaps a bit more will fall off also. So for today's exercise we ran up the street (up hill) and walked down. We did this five times. It did not kill me, but it has been a lot of years since I have ran. The prince blew the princess and I away, obviously he exercises way more than we do. Mostly the princess complained and tried to quit the entire time. Anyway you look at it, it was good for all of us.
My kids are growing up, and you know what? I actually like them (most of the time.) They are funny, kind, compassionate kids who truly want to do the right thing, just sometimes they go the wrong way (don't we all.) I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with wonderful kids. I am so thankful that I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with them, it is a time I will always be grateful for, maybe one day they will see how they have benefited from it also.
My friend from forever Valorie, who has seen me through a lot of hard times is having a hard time herself right now, her grandmother or "Purr" as we call her is sick. She is 89 years old, and has been sick for years. It is still hard to see her as she gets ready to go be with the Lord. For some reason she is still fighting, still holding on, and still suffering. It is hard to see her family as they go through this with her. My prayer is that she will find comfort in her passing and her family will find comfort knowing that she is with her heavenly father. We'll miss you Purr, but we look to the day when we will all be together again.
I seem grateful for a lot today, maybe tomorrow I will make a list of everything I am thankful for. It will be a LONG list!
Until then.........
Since my wonderful friend Sandy introduced me to blogging I have spent too much time reading other people's bloggs. First of all sometimes it seems that very few of them are written in English, I understand that it is the World Wide Web, but it seems blogging has not taken hold in the good ole USA.
Anyway, I lost my train of thought...
Why is it that a lot of people who are blogging are depressed or cursing or worse! It can be fun to read the daily updates on some random strangers pregancy or the travel blogs of a 20 year old college student, it is not fun the read the blogs of the depressed masses. What is wrong with these people? Half the time when I look at their ages they are 16-17 years old. What could possibly be wrong with them? Does the break up with some loser whose name you won't remember in 10 years really warrant such emotional distress?
I think I have decided over the course of writing this the answer to my own question. These people need Jesus. Although I became a believer at a young age, I still understand the feeling of searching. I guess they put so much faith in things other that what matters, that when they lose that "thing" they feel hopeless. I hope that God will use me in someway to reach those who are searching for Him.
It's the last week of school, I am so thankful for summer and the opportunity to enjoy my children without the pressures of homework and sports.
Field Day and Other Not So Bright Ideas
So today was Field Day at school. Somehow because there no other "good mommy's" in Mrs. Morrison's class, it was my privledge to run the classes game for field day. The kids enjoyed getting wet in the sponge relay, but basically all they wanted to do was get wet, they had no interest in actually playing the game. I would have been a ton easier to just squirt them with a hose, it would have saved a lot of "good mommy's" a lot of time.
Another question about field day, why can't we just have winners and losers anymore? Are these children's identities so fragile, that they can't handle being a loser in a game that they lost. One of the moms I was with kept saying "your all winners," all I could think about is when did it become a negative to challenge kids through competition. I would like to hope that most children have enough self -confidence that a loss in the sponge relay does not warp them for life. Are we doing kids a favor by sheltering them from the losses of life? When grandma dies is she taking a nap, when they don't get into the college of their choice is it because they weren't chosen for some random reason? How can kids cope with life's losses if they never have to deal with something as simple as losing the three-legged race?
Call me old school, but today's kids are sheltered and babied. I only hope that they somehow manage to get jobs and pay their social security taxes so Jon and I can have our medicine AND not have to eat cat food.
Starting Over
Over the weekend Cora's mom's house burnt down. Ever since Saturday I have been thinking about starting over, how does one rebuild, start over or move on at the age of 75? For that matter how do we start over when we are young. I thank God that Jeanette (or" Ma" as we call her) is alive. She is so strong and brave, and honestly I think that is how she will get through all of this. But how important are our things? Can we replace our house, of course we can, can we buy a new floral couch and all new linens, of course we can. But there are things we can't replace such as our pictures, our keepsakes from when the kids are young or the memories that make our house a home. "Ma's" tragedy has remined me of what is important in this world... not the things we can replace but the things we can't. Maybe I will be more careful the next time I dump the kids artwork from school or throw away their "treasures." How blessed am I to have wonderful (most of the time) kids who want to bring their mommy gifts, or a husband who buys me a rose while on vacation. I am thankful for the reminder.
On a lighter note....
"Your next American Idol is... Jordin Sparks!" I was excited, or as excited as I could be at 10:15pm, that Jordin won. Of course the boys in my house were disappointed that Blake lost, but you can't win them all. I hope that the pressures of being the "American Idol" will not change Jordin into a "hollywood" type. I'm sure we will be buying the American Idol CD in addition to the Blake Lewis CD soon enough.
So I watched American Idol last night. Jordin blew me away! I could not help thinking during her last song the magnitude of the moment for her. She is 17 years old. When I was 17, what had I done? Well, I had finally gotten my license, barely passing my junior year and completely clueless regarding my future. Yet at 17 she has shown poise, grace and maturity that most 17 year olds can only dream of.
I hope that she wins tonight, I did my part I voted 4 times (I've not voted since the great Reuben vs. Clay showdown!)
On another note.....
I told my friends at school today that I had a blog. Mostly I just got laughed at. Just wait, ever so slowly my technologically advanced friend Sandy will teach me how to do this better and soon my blog will be great. In the meantime, it's just random nothingness by yours truly.
Until later.....
Yesturday my best friend from college Sandy, referred to her blog... I said, "your what?" So she pointed me to her blog, and I was hooked. Being the "voyeur" that I am, it is a great look into the thoughts of other people. If I'm interested in reading about other people and what they do, maybe someone will be interested in what my thoughts are also.
So thanks Sandy, for better or for worse, you've taught me something new!
