My baby girl will be 13 tomorrow. Not to shabby to be able to celebrate here in sunny Florida! She and my now 3 year old niece, both have birthdays in January so tomorrow we are going to party hardy. We are taking her to get her ears pierced. She has been waiting for a while to do this and we always told her for her 13th birthday, and well, it is here. After the peircing, we are going to eat a nice dinner out and then come back to our vacation house and make sundaes. Sounds like a great time to me!
As hard as it is to believe Leah is 13, I think it might be even harder for me to grasp the concept that I have a teenager. It makes me feel a little bit old. In most areas though Leah is pretty mature and so in some ways it feels like her age is starting to match her personality. (The exception here would be her interactions with Logan, man, they know how to rub each other the wrong way).
I can remember so clearly (some things are fuzzy here in my old age) when we found out that our little Leah was on the way. And then when she was born, well, it was one of the best days of our lives. She was a big baby (almost 10 lbs) and she had bright red hair. She still has bright red hair and she is just a beautiful person. She is smart, driven and most importantly, she has a heart for God. I am so proud of her. Ryan and I are incredibly blessed to have been given the gift of Leah. I just love my girl. Happy Birthday Leah!
Birthday's aside, Florida is great. We have some sickies going on here in the house, which stinks (and seems to happen most years anymore), but everyone is still chugging right along. Our family (knock on wood) seems to be faring pretty ok so far. Ryan was sick a couple days before we even left and that continued a couple days into the trip. Asher got sick starting Friday and is still fighting something. The rest of the Ryan Cole kids are holding up pretty well. A few coughs here and there, but no anything that is really getting them down.
We have been to a Mickey Mouse character breakfast, to the beach and to Hollywood Studios so far (plus the guys have been golfing). The rest of the time has been spent here at the house just relaxing. We usually don't plan much on the weekend because all the Disney stuff is so busy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Next week we are heading to Magic Kingdom, the guys will golf again and we might go to either Sea World or Downtown Disney for our family day (this is the day set aside for individual families to do whatever they want). It will be a good week, but unfortunately it will be our last week here. Oh well, I guess all good things have to come to an end.
Julie
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Chosen
I have this weird little thing about me (well I have MANY weird little things about me) and it is really stinky. If I wake up (whether it be 2:00 or 6:00) and stay up for longer than a few minutes, I am up for the day. I am sure this is a totally foreign concept for those of you who grasp sleep like it is your last crumb of bread. Don't get me wrong, I love my sleep and this quirk is maddening sometimes, but alas, it is what it is. For the record, my wake up alarm was a mix between coughing, having to pee and little 19 month old turkey that thinks 3:00 in the morning is play time.
Anyways, as I was laying in my bed, trying to go back to sleep, I started reflexing on the last 6 to 8 years of my life. I have been feeling a bit sentimental lately due to Asher's 1 year anniversary and all the memories that packing for Florida has brought.
There were some very tough times in those years. Ryan and I's secondary infertility seemed pretty unbearable at the time. I felt it was my right to bear children and how dare anyone take one of my "rights" away, including God. In hindsight I think I spent more time on a soapbox with God than what I did morning the potential loss of future children (although that was there too). You know though, God has a way of getting things back to the right order. Maybe I made bearing children a god, I can't be sure, but I know that our Lord is a jealous God and He will not stand for competition.
Our losses during those times still sting, but I am amazed at how much I have changed through out this process. I still cannot see the full picture, but I am totally in awe at how God formed my family. I went from planning to have 4 biological children (and was well on our way to that) to having 6 children from 3 different parts of the world. I found myself thinking this morning, "what changed?" Sure, Ryan and I experienced infertility and that was the kick off to where we are now, but why did we even experience infertility in the first place (while we had some possible medical causes we never really knew for sure)? Why did we have to not only go through the loss of an ability, but the loss of children? I still have questions, but at this point in our journey I just overwhelmingly feel like Ryan and I were chosen. I cannot tell you how humbling that is to me.
In general, as a Christian, I know what it means to be chosen by God. Everyone has the opportunity to be chosen. This morning though it was different. It was the first time I reflexed on the last few years and just knew that God hand picked Ryan and I. He hand picked us for the pain and for the immense joy that came out of the pain. Feeling blessed doesn't even describe it. I never would have chosen to experiencing infertility. If it were up to me, we would be sitting here today with our 4 stair stepped children. Don't get me wrong, that would have been a beautiful thing, but I deeply feel we have experienced so much more than my plans for myself. God allowed us to experience the pain, but He didn't leave us there. He could have and would have been completely justified in doing so, but He didn't. Praise God that our lives are in His hands and not our own.
I guess I offer our/my experience to you, not only as a somewhat interesting thing to read on our blog, but as an encouragement. First off, where is God in your order of things? Is He squarely at the top? He won't settle for anything less. Also, if you are going through something right now, maybe you could focus on what God is teaching you in the moment and not how many days you have left until you are through your misery. Pain is a part of life. Nobody enjoys pain. In hindsight though, I wish that I wouldn't have wished so much time away and would have just rested in the moment. At times I counted the indefinite days until the misery was over and you know what? My baby girl and baby boy grew up. I surely missed some quality time with them pining over things that were out of my control. What is God chosing you for? Do you have the ability to trust him through the pain?
Julie
Anyways, as I was laying in my bed, trying to go back to sleep, I started reflexing on the last 6 to 8 years of my life. I have been feeling a bit sentimental lately due to Asher's 1 year anniversary and all the memories that packing for Florida has brought.
There were some very tough times in those years. Ryan and I's secondary infertility seemed pretty unbearable at the time. I felt it was my right to bear children and how dare anyone take one of my "rights" away, including God. In hindsight I think I spent more time on a soapbox with God than what I did morning the potential loss of future children (although that was there too). You know though, God has a way of getting things back to the right order. Maybe I made bearing children a god, I can't be sure, but I know that our Lord is a jealous God and He will not stand for competition.
Our losses during those times still sting, but I am amazed at how much I have changed through out this process. I still cannot see the full picture, but I am totally in awe at how God formed my family. I went from planning to have 4 biological children (and was well on our way to that) to having 6 children from 3 different parts of the world. I found myself thinking this morning, "what changed?" Sure, Ryan and I experienced infertility and that was the kick off to where we are now, but why did we even experience infertility in the first place (while we had some possible medical causes we never really knew for sure)? Why did we have to not only go through the loss of an ability, but the loss of children? I still have questions, but at this point in our journey I just overwhelmingly feel like Ryan and I were chosen. I cannot tell you how humbling that is to me.
In general, as a Christian, I know what it means to be chosen by God. Everyone has the opportunity to be chosen. This morning though it was different. It was the first time I reflexed on the last few years and just knew that God hand picked Ryan and I. He hand picked us for the pain and for the immense joy that came out of the pain. Feeling blessed doesn't even describe it. I never would have chosen to experiencing infertility. If it were up to me, we would be sitting here today with our 4 stair stepped children. Don't get me wrong, that would have been a beautiful thing, but I deeply feel we have experienced so much more than my plans for myself. God allowed us to experience the pain, but He didn't leave us there. He could have and would have been completely justified in doing so, but He didn't. Praise God that our lives are in His hands and not our own.
I guess I offer our/my experience to you, not only as a somewhat interesting thing to read on our blog, but as an encouragement. First off, where is God in your order of things? Is He squarely at the top? He won't settle for anything less. Also, if you are going through something right now, maybe you could focus on what God is teaching you in the moment and not how many days you have left until you are through your misery. Pain is a part of life. Nobody enjoys pain. In hindsight though, I wish that I wouldn't have wished so much time away and would have just rested in the moment. At times I counted the indefinite days until the misery was over and you know what? My baby girl and baby boy grew up. I surely missed some quality time with them pining over things that were out of my control. What is God chosing you for? Do you have the ability to trust him through the pain?
Julie
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Flying South......
Oh how I love me some Florida in the middle of winter. We are leaving tomorrow for what has become our annual trip to Florida. I am so excited. The kids are so excited, well, excitement is just abounding here at the Cole house. I really do love this trip. We go with all of Ryan's family (10 adults, 15 1/2 kids) and we all stay in one big house. You'd think that would be a recipe for insanity, but it isn't for the most part. This trip is probably the most relaxing vacation we take. We spend as much time as we can just chill-laxing. It is a beautiful thing.
I was holding our mail at the post office on Tuesday and the lady said something about snow coming later in the week. She said "I hope that snow storm coming doesn't delay your trip....." I assured her that it would not. I think I even went as far as to say something like "I don't care if we get 3 feet of snow, we are out of here." :)
I am not near as packed as I would like. I did a lot of packing last weekend, so I was feeling pretty on top of things, but then the week hit. We have been busy this week and things have moved slowly. I should be able to gets lots done today though. The morning is busy but the afternoon/evening is open. Also, we are not leaving until Leah gets off of school tomorrow, so I will have some time during the day tomorrow. However I have to fit in taking the dog to the kennel, getting to the chiropractor and lunch with my sister (that last one I am looking forward to). Oiy. Lots to do.
So, I guess it would be wise for me to get off the 'puter and start getting some stuff done!
Take care,
Julie
I was holding our mail at the post office on Tuesday and the lady said something about snow coming later in the week. She said "I hope that snow storm coming doesn't delay your trip....." I assured her that it would not. I think I even went as far as to say something like "I don't care if we get 3 feet of snow, we are out of here." :)
I am not near as packed as I would like. I did a lot of packing last weekend, so I was feeling pretty on top of things, but then the week hit. We have been busy this week and things have moved slowly. I should be able to gets lots done today though. The morning is busy but the afternoon/evening is open. Also, we are not leaving until Leah gets off of school tomorrow, so I will have some time during the day tomorrow. However I have to fit in taking the dog to the kennel, getting to the chiropractor and lunch with my sister (that last one I am looking forward to). Oiy. Lots to do.
So, I guess it would be wise for me to get off the 'puter and start getting some stuff done!
Take care,
Julie
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A Year with Asher!
You know, this month, right about this time, marks one full year with our sweet Asher. I remember the trip to get him so clearly still.
It was an incredibly long flight, made worse by a video system that did not work. We arrived in Ethiopia late and "Z" our super sweet CWA driver was right there waiting. Once we got to our guest house (again, late) we were exhausted. Ryan has tried to call a couple times I guess, so I called him first thing (which was extremely tricky, I had to use our guest house manager's cell phone). On Monday (the 11th) we got up, got a few groceries and then went to get my baby boy. We were filling out paperwork and didn't even hear the CWA van pull in. All of a sudden one of the caregivers walk in with a bundle all covered in a blanket. I asked if it was Mussie and it was! He was asleep and incredible. Leah and I took turns holding and I filled out the rest of the paperwork. We got to talk to his caregiver about his health, etc. Then, we had a coffee ceremony with Asher and the CWA families/staff. Really, it was a beautiful thing. The weather was incredible and I remember that day with nothing but happiness.
Asher had a pretty rough start here in the US. Between ear infections, surgery for tubes and his meningitis, well, he went through a lot at first. Now, he is amazingly healthy. I do not take that for granted. God rescued Asher and made Him whole again. Now Asher is an extremely lively and curious toddler. He is bright and funny and he brings total joy to this family. As with all our kids, we know that God has big plans for this kid and I am so excited to see God move in Asher's life.
Julie
It was an incredibly long flight, made worse by a video system that did not work. We arrived in Ethiopia late and "Z" our super sweet CWA driver was right there waiting. Once we got to our guest house (again, late) we were exhausted. Ryan has tried to call a couple times I guess, so I called him first thing (which was extremely tricky, I had to use our guest house manager's cell phone). On Monday (the 11th) we got up, got a few groceries and then went to get my baby boy. We were filling out paperwork and didn't even hear the CWA van pull in. All of a sudden one of the caregivers walk in with a bundle all covered in a blanket. I asked if it was Mussie and it was! He was asleep and incredible. Leah and I took turns holding and I filled out the rest of the paperwork. We got to talk to his caregiver about his health, etc. Then, we had a coffee ceremony with Asher and the CWA families/staff. Really, it was a beautiful thing. The weather was incredible and I remember that day with nothing but happiness.
Asher had a pretty rough start here in the US. Between ear infections, surgery for tubes and his meningitis, well, he went through a lot at first. Now, he is amazingly healthy. I do not take that for granted. God rescued Asher and made Him whole again. Now Asher is an extremely lively and curious toddler. He is bright and funny and he brings total joy to this family. As with all our kids, we know that God has big plans for this kid and I am so excited to see God move in Asher's life.
Julie
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Getting ready for spring. Yeah!
I love spring and I hate spring. Spring use to be my least favorite holiday because it is so wet and muddy. As I get older though, I appreciate it more and more. There is nothing like a sunny spring day to boost your spirits. I love that first day that the kids get to run outside and play. Happy times.
I have spent the last couple days in chicken world. We have decided to butcher our current layer flock (wont be until early summer) and start anew. They are 2 years old and your can tell that their egg production has slowed down. Egg production certainly has it's ups and downs even in really young hens, but by 2 years old it starts to take a steady drop. It is kind of hard to think of turning them all into soup, but I do think it is the most economical way to go about things. Chicken feed is expensive, even though our birds free range a lot. No since feeding birds and get no eggs in return. Welcome to the world of livestock I guess. So, we will get new baby chicks in March (both layers and meaties) and 8 week later when we butcher all our meaties and current layers. Also, we are going to try our hand at hatching our own eggs this year (yeah!-the kids and I are really excited about this). I have been looking for an inexpensive incubator that will work for a bunch of rookies.
Leah and Logan are planning to do meat birds in 4H again and Leah really wants to show a silkie. Silkies are really sweet, cool looking bantam (mini) chickens. We have 3 in our current flock right now and they are the best (they will not be butchered, they would yield little to no meat and eat very little). So, I have been trying to find her a silkie that has a little bit of show quality to it. It needs to be born after 1-1-11, but laying by the fair (which doesn't happen for silkies until 20 plus weeks). I found a place in VA that was great. The people are incredibly nice and were willing to ship to us (which is always tricky with birds). We were thinking we would use them, when out of the blue I get a personal message (I had posted about our silkie search on a chicken board I frequent) from a guy in Dayton willing to GIVE us some show quality silkies. He's a breeder and is unexpectantly having to hatch some new birds. He only wants a certain color and said Leah could have any/all of the rest. So, yeah us!
Logan has decided that he wants to show cattle this year. He is pretty adament about it. I think this will be great for him, but we have some delimmas. Logan wants to show our White Parks (which will be here in mid February), but our White Parks are so rare there will be not specific catagory for them. I am not sure how that will be handled. Especially considering our White Parks will be grass fed and not pumped full of feed/corn. Really, they wouldn't ever do well when compared to other beef feeders (which is the category I think Logan would enter). We could get a popular beef breed for Logan pretty easily and let him show that, but that just rubs me the wrong way. I have a couple calls in to some people that know way more about such things, so I guess time will tell.
Besides livestock stuff, we are still planning to build a barn this spring. We are suppose to be "first on the docket" will a local guy we have been working with. I have always wanted a barn (or at least one that is not falling down and full of racoon poop) so this is probably the most exciting thing that will be happening this spring. We have the old barn down and the pad is ready. This will be so great for us. We are going to use about 1/2 for storage and 1/2 for livestock. Finally I can get some stuff out of our garage and we will have a place for a cow or two(and whatever else I can think of, or I mean, talk Ryan in to).
Okay, enough about spring I guess. Back to our half a foot of snow and bitter cold.......
Julie
I have spent the last couple days in chicken world. We have decided to butcher our current layer flock (wont be until early summer) and start anew. They are 2 years old and your can tell that their egg production has slowed down. Egg production certainly has it's ups and downs even in really young hens, but by 2 years old it starts to take a steady drop. It is kind of hard to think of turning them all into soup, but I do think it is the most economical way to go about things. Chicken feed is expensive, even though our birds free range a lot. No since feeding birds and get no eggs in return. Welcome to the world of livestock I guess. So, we will get new baby chicks in March (both layers and meaties) and 8 week later when we butcher all our meaties and current layers. Also, we are going to try our hand at hatching our own eggs this year (yeah!-the kids and I are really excited about this). I have been looking for an inexpensive incubator that will work for a bunch of rookies.
Leah and Logan are planning to do meat birds in 4H again and Leah really wants to show a silkie. Silkies are really sweet, cool looking bantam (mini) chickens. We have 3 in our current flock right now and they are the best (they will not be butchered, they would yield little to no meat and eat very little). So, I have been trying to find her a silkie that has a little bit of show quality to it. It needs to be born after 1-1-11, but laying by the fair (which doesn't happen for silkies until 20 plus weeks). I found a place in VA that was great. The people are incredibly nice and were willing to ship to us (which is always tricky with birds). We were thinking we would use them, when out of the blue I get a personal message (I had posted about our silkie search on a chicken board I frequent) from a guy in Dayton willing to GIVE us some show quality silkies. He's a breeder and is unexpectantly having to hatch some new birds. He only wants a certain color and said Leah could have any/all of the rest. So, yeah us!
Logan has decided that he wants to show cattle this year. He is pretty adament about it. I think this will be great for him, but we have some delimmas. Logan wants to show our White Parks (which will be here in mid February), but our White Parks are so rare there will be not specific catagory for them. I am not sure how that will be handled. Especially considering our White Parks will be grass fed and not pumped full of feed/corn. Really, they wouldn't ever do well when compared to other beef feeders (which is the category I think Logan would enter). We could get a popular beef breed for Logan pretty easily and let him show that, but that just rubs me the wrong way. I have a couple calls in to some people that know way more about such things, so I guess time will tell.
Besides livestock stuff, we are still planning to build a barn this spring. We are suppose to be "first on the docket" will a local guy we have been working with. I have always wanted a barn (or at least one that is not falling down and full of racoon poop) so this is probably the most exciting thing that will be happening this spring. We have the old barn down and the pad is ready. This will be so great for us. We are going to use about 1/2 for storage and 1/2 for livestock. Finally I can get some stuff out of our garage and we will have a place for a cow or two(and whatever else I can think of, or I mean, talk Ryan in to).
Okay, enough about spring I guess. Back to our half a foot of snow and bitter cold.......
Julie
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Christmas and Misc. Pictures
In true to Julie form, I have a bunch of pictures from the last couple weeks. However, unlike my normal true to Julie form, they are in chronological order.
The Wednesday before Christmas Ryan took Gideon, Leah and Logan to work with him. I decided to have a couple of my little neices over for some girl time. We made Christmas ornaments and birthday cakes for Jesus. It was lots of fun. The girls got to pick their frosting color and their sprinkles for their cakes and they even got to lick the frosting out of their bowls!
Here's Kayla with her yummy cake!
Katelyn with her very purple cake.
Kayla and Anna digging in on the extra frosting.
All four girls having fun!
This year we bought a tree for each bedroom upstairs. It was their nightlight for the Christmas season. The girls picked purple for their room, the boys picked blue and Leah picked white. They were really quite fun. We left them undecorated and apparently the kids thought that would not do. The tree in the girls' room was decorated to look like a girl with a vest, skirt and shoes. Ha! Very funny.
Oh, I am very excited about this project. It is a "family Rules" craft project that I found off the internet. This is how it looked with the base done, before I added the rules.
Here are the bigger kids (Logan, Ethan, Leah and Sophie) playing out on our little pond. They did not last long. It was cold!
The four little ones braving the cold (Anna, Kayla, Gideon and Madeline). They stayed out just as long as the bigger kids.
Asher is getting ready for Christmas Eve breakfast. I think this is going to be a tradition around these parts. It kind of started the holiday fun (and food).
The whole crew ready for the yummy feast.
This is how we kept Asher going Christmas morning. By the way, he totally dug wearing the santa hat.
How the presents/tree looked ready for the kids Christmas morning.
The annual waiting on the stairs picture.
The note Santa left for Anna, Gee and Madeline.
They found their present!
Asher found his present. A plush cowboy rocking horse.
Opening presents.
Ok, so this is how Gee's hair looks first thing in the morning. I think he needs a hair cut.
I watched my 3 neices the other day for a bit and their youngest is 3 months younger than Asher. Asher tends to get a little pushy at first with Lucy, but I swear he was sharing in this picture, not getting ready to push her. Oh, just to clarify, he does not push her down, just gives a little stay away from my stuff "pat." I am so proud of Lucy though because she does not take his crap and it takes about 10 minutes for Asher to realize that Lucy will not be a pawn in his little game.
Here it is again. Nice, huh.
Here is our "family rules" all done. I love it.
The Wednesday before Christmas Ryan took Gideon, Leah and Logan to work with him. I decided to have a couple of my little neices over for some girl time. We made Christmas ornaments and birthday cakes for Jesus. It was lots of fun. The girls got to pick their frosting color and their sprinkles for their cakes and they even got to lick the frosting out of their bowls!
Here's Kayla with her yummy cake!
Katelyn with her very purple cake.
Kayla and Anna digging in on the extra frosting.
All four girls having fun!
This year we bought a tree for each bedroom upstairs. It was their nightlight for the Christmas season. The girls picked purple for their room, the boys picked blue and Leah picked white. They were really quite fun. We left them undecorated and apparently the kids thought that would not do. The tree in the girls' room was decorated to look like a girl with a vest, skirt and shoes. Ha! Very funny.
Oh, I am very excited about this project. It is a "family Rules" craft project that I found off the internet. This is how it looked with the base done, before I added the rules.
Here are the bigger kids (Logan, Ethan, Leah and Sophie) playing out on our little pond. They did not last long. It was cold!
The four little ones braving the cold (Anna, Kayla, Gideon and Madeline). They stayed out just as long as the bigger kids.
Asher is getting ready for Christmas Eve breakfast. I think this is going to be a tradition around these parts. It kind of started the holiday fun (and food).
The whole crew ready for the yummy feast.
This is how we kept Asher going Christmas morning. By the way, he totally dug wearing the santa hat.
How the presents/tree looked ready for the kids Christmas morning.
The annual waiting on the stairs picture.
The note Santa left for Anna, Gee and Madeline.
They found their present!
Asher found his present. A plush cowboy rocking horse.
Opening presents.
Logan got a Ghillie suit and I think it seriously confused poor Asher.
Ok, so this is how Gee's hair looks first thing in the morning. I think he needs a hair cut.
I watched my 3 neices the other day for a bit and their youngest is 3 months younger than Asher. Asher tends to get a little pushy at first with Lucy, but I swear he was sharing in this picture, not getting ready to push her. Oh, just to clarify, he does not push her down, just gives a little stay away from my stuff "pat." I am so proud of Lucy though because she does not take his crap and it takes about 10 minutes for Asher to realize that Lucy will not be a pawn in his little game.
Asher has started doing this crazy laugh when you ask him to smile. This is how it looks part of the way through. It is seriously hilarious. It is like a wierd happy incredible hulk transformation.
Here it is again. Nice, huh.
Here is our "family rules" all done. I love it.
Here is part of my acomplishments this week. From left to right: sausage lentil soup, beef vegetable soup, beef, and bean soup. I have decided that I do not like the process of canning the beef (very messy), but I LOVE the finished product. Oh and I also canned 5 pints of shredded chicken from a couple of our small birds in the freezer.
Julie
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Madeline just said the cutest thing....
Madeline just came up to me out of the blue and grabbed my hand and said, "Mommy, thank you for getting Asher, he is so cute and I love him so much." How sweet is that???? Honestly, Asher does no wrong in Madeline's eyes. Even if he wacks her with a toy, she doesn't care. And then if I scold him for wacking her, she says "It's ok mommy, I don't mind." Yesterday she asked me if she could marry Asher when she got older, I told her no, but they could be great friends. She seemed ok with that.
I just love how all the kids adore Asher. Madeline just seems to be more tolerant of him than she is of anyone else.
Julie
I just love how all the kids adore Asher. Madeline just seems to be more tolerant of him than she is of anyone else.
Julie
No, we have not dropped off the face of the earth......
Man, it has been a while since I have posted.
The holidays were great! We got to spend lots of time with our extended families and lots of time together just the 8 of us. My favorite part was Ryan being home the week between Christmas and New Years. He still had to do some work, so he wasn't here the whole time, but most of it and it was a beautiful thing. We all get attached to having him home and it is sad when he has to go back.
The kids were tons of fun this year and just enjoyed themselves so much. The did a really good job also of being toted around more than usual. Also, there were considerably more overnights and having fun with cousins/friends. To be honest I think they are still bouncing back a bit. School and work started back up yesterday along with all other activities. We are definitely getting back in the groove.
The great thing is that in a few weeks we get to get back out of the groove to go to Florida. I LOVE our Florida trips. I am already starting to pack (actually have been since putting the summer stuff away a couple months ago). We have been doing this trip with Ryan's family every year for a while now. We rent a big house close to Disney and all stay together. We usually only go to the theme parks a couple times and the rest of the time is just spent relaxing, swimming, and, well, relaxing. I cannot wait!
Well, off I go until later. I am canning our yummy grass fed beef we butchered a couple months back. It is in the pressure cooker as we speak. I think I am going to can some chicken while I have the pressure cooker out. Actually I may go ahead and make beef stew up and maybe some chicken noodle soup. Those are soooo nice to have on hand for a quick meal. I love my pressure cooker!
Julie
The holidays were great! We got to spend lots of time with our extended families and lots of time together just the 8 of us. My favorite part was Ryan being home the week between Christmas and New Years. He still had to do some work, so he wasn't here the whole time, but most of it and it was a beautiful thing. We all get attached to having him home and it is sad when he has to go back.
The kids were tons of fun this year and just enjoyed themselves so much. The did a really good job also of being toted around more than usual. Also, there were considerably more overnights and having fun with cousins/friends. To be honest I think they are still bouncing back a bit. School and work started back up yesterday along with all other activities. We are definitely getting back in the groove.
The great thing is that in a few weeks we get to get back out of the groove to go to Florida. I LOVE our Florida trips. I am already starting to pack (actually have been since putting the summer stuff away a couple months ago). We have been doing this trip with Ryan's family every year for a while now. We rent a big house close to Disney and all stay together. We usually only go to the theme parks a couple times and the rest of the time is just spent relaxing, swimming, and, well, relaxing. I cannot wait!
Well, off I go until later. I am canning our yummy grass fed beef we butchered a couple months back. It is in the pressure cooker as we speak. I think I am going to can some chicken while I have the pressure cooker out. Actually I may go ahead and make beef stew up and maybe some chicken noodle soup. Those are soooo nice to have on hand for a quick meal. I love my pressure cooker!
Julie
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