Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I find it hard to believe that the holidays have come and gone for another year!

Joey and Dani are lucky kids in that they got to open presents THREE times; once on Christmas Eve with the Marchand clan, Christmas morning when Santa came, and Christmas afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents).

Here are some photos of Christmas Eve with Mike's family:

Danielle checking to see if Uncle Rick has all his teeth. He had just checked her mouth to see how many teeth she had!

Dani cuddling with Aunt Cheryl and Joey cuddling with Aunt Kathy

Joey and cousin Brett

Christmas morning, Mike and I woke our kids up (yes, you read that right!). Joey and Dani are NOT early risers, usually they sleep until 8 a.m. every morning. But, we had lots to do and places to go, so we got them up at the unheard of hour of 7 a.m. Mike and I were excited that Santa came and wanted to see the looks of joy and excitement on our kids' faces. Here they are sitting under the tree right after we got them out of bed.

Some of the presents that Santa brought were a monster truck, pinball game, fishing pole, Cars matching game for Joey; a baby doll, doll stroller, Bob the Builder tool belt for Dani.

Santa brought me a new waffle maker and Mike got a new coffee maker!

After opening gifts, we got in the car and headed to my Aunt Charlotte's house for the annual family Christmas gathering. My dad has a large family and it is always fun to go and see aunts, uncles, cousins, and meet all the new babies! We have a gift exchange there; a "rob your neighbor" kind of game where you never know what gift you will come home with. A lot of the gifts are homemade (okay, so this year, I contributed a non-crafted fiber optic Moose!) One of the most wanted gifts is Aunt Wanda's quilt. Every year, Aunt Wanda makes a quilt for the gift exchange. This year, I came home with it! For all of you that were at the exchange, and did not come home with it, here it is on my bed and it sure is warm and comfy!

After the family party, we went to my parents' house where the kids (and Mike and I) received more gifts!

Grandparents are wonderful! This is where Joey and Dani received the gifts that they were most wanting.

For Joey, an electric train and Dani got the "bike" (tricycle) that she has been requesting since before Thanksgiving!

Danielle had more fun than she could stand for the day, (no naps!) and ended up cuddling on the couch with Grandma.

Mike had the entire week off work -he goes back tomorrow :( and it was a fun time for all of us.

New Year's Eve was spent at home eating popcorn and ice cream! What a celebration! The kids were in bed by 8:30 and Mike made it til 11:00 and I made it til 11:30, so none of us were up to ring in the New Year. Now, to start working on those New Year's resolutions, which I will tell you all about another time...

Getting ready for Santa's visit!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! The kids and I are busy cleaning house this morning so that the place is nice and tidy when Santa comes tomorrow morning. We certainly don't want him to trip on any old toys that are laying around!

I have discovered that Joey and Dani really likes to help clean! Note to all moms of preschoolers: if you have a Swifter, simply remove part of the handle to make it "kid size", put the mop cloth on, and let your kid go to it! Of course, the cleaning may be done running up and down the hall, zig zagged, or some other creative way, that you as a mom have never considered, but, I say, as long as the floor is wiped down, who cares how it has been done?

Besides, swiftering for me, Joey and Dani put away lots of toys that had been laying around all around the house. All the games and puzzles are now mostly complete with the pieces back in the boxes. If Dani started to drag something out, Joey would say, "No, Dan! We just cleaned that up!" Quite funny to see that he is starting to understand about picking up and keeping things neat.

Here is a photo of my little cleaners in front of the Christmas tree once we had finished cleaning their bedrooms, hallway, and living room. Did I tell

you that the dining room table is still covered with stuff to put away and the family room still needs to be picked up and vaccuumed? Sigh...does it ever end? Anyway, here is what our living room looks like when it is clean, in case you have never seen it that way!

And now a word or two to let you know that my children really aren't perfect. Yes, they do a lot of things right, but then we have those days where they scream and fight and act like...siblings!

In the spirit of Christmas, I have taken a Christmas song, "What Child is This?" and rewritten it to fit my own unique situation one day while we were out Christmas shopping:

What child is this who lays

in Home Depot entryway

kicking and screaming?

While shoppers peep and Mommy keeps

a watchful eye on the tantrum.

This, this is Joey Marchand who didn't

get his way in the check out lane.

Haste, haste to take him home and put

him in bed for a nap!

Many moms with older children have told me that the preschool days are long, but the years are short. Already, Joey is four and Dani is almost two! How can that be possible?? I try to remember that even on the bad days; even during the tantrum days when nothing can calm the savage beast.

Enjoy the season. Enjoy the little ones in your life. If they are your preschoolers, try to hold your smile while they cry because (1) they are tired, (2) they are overstimulated, (3) a well meaning unknown relative has touched them/picked them up/looked at them, (4) a sibling has smacked them/looked at them/taken their new toy, (5)they have thrown up from eating too many cookies. If you are just "enjoying" watching the action because you no longer have preschoolers, just remember that the child is not in their normal everyday environment and may not behave like the little angel the parents claim they are usually. Everyone take a deep breath, smile and say MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Waiting for Christmas...

Joey and Dani anxiously await the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Joey's Santa list includes an electric train, pinball machine, duck game, cars game, and Bob the Builder DVD. Dani is asking for a hat (helmet) and a bike (tricycle).

Joey received a book from his preschool called "This is the Stable" and we read it almost every night.

Amy sent Dani this dress and necklace from Hawaii. Being the fashionista that she is, Danielle had to try it on right away. I think it looks fabulous with the sweatshirt and striped socks!

Last Saturday, I had lunch with two girlfriends, Jana and Lisa, who I met my freshman year of college. It was so good to see them and catch up on everything happening in their lives. We decided that getting together once a year was not often enough, so our New Year's resolution was to meet up quarterly.

Another holiday tradition at our house is to go to St. Louis Mills mall and let the kids ride the train. I am surprised that Joey remembered this, but he has been asking to go, so we braved the ice and snow one morning last week and went. The tradition was lacking something, namely our best friends Amy, Adam, and Cole who always did this with us.
We hope that Christmas preparations are going smoothly at your house. Remember the meaning of Christmas, Jesus birthday. We bake a birthday cake for Jesus each year. With all the rushing around on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, our birthday celebration ends up happening a few days after the 25th.

At a MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) meeting last week, we were asked a question that I have been thinking about quite a bit, so, in closing, I'll throw it out there for all of you to consider:

What gift are you getting Jesus for His birthday this year?

Santa Claus is coming to town!

You better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town...on a train!

Joey, Danielle, and I traveled to Oblong, Illinois on Sunday, December 7 to see Santa arrive on a train. Santa was traveling on the Indiana Railroad, making stops in several towns to greet the children and hear their Christmas wishes. The weather outside was about 30 degrees and several characters entertained everyone while we waited to board the train and visit Santa. While waiting in line, we saw a bear in a red Christmas outfit, Rudolph, Buzz Lightyear, the Gingerbread Man, Spiderman and a few others. It took about 20 minutes in line to get onto the train. The train was beautifully decorated inside with snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, several Christmas trees, Mrs. Claus, and of course, Santa Claus!

We spent several days visiting with family. Dani's favorite person is her pa-pa. I think she may also qualify as his favorite person -besides my mom :)

Joey, Dani, and I also spent a few days visiting with my Aunt Jan. The kids got to bake Christmas cookies with her. One of Joey's favorite activities is helping in the kitchen, so he really enjoyed this. We also took a drive out into the country (by the looks of my vehicle, it looked like we went four-wheeling) to look at a house that was extremely decorated for Christmas.

Our way home included a stop at my Aunt Wanda's house for a family luncheon. The ham and beans were delicious and we got to see several family members. Then it was a 3 hour ride home to see Mike after four days away.

Danielle is crying right now (ready for dinner and mom not paying attention to her), so I'll have to quit posting for now and go check our dinner. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Wonder

Christmas is a time of wonder. I had forgotten about the "wonder" of Christmas in all the busy holiday preparations, shopping, and parties. For so many years, I looked forward to Christmas, but with all I was trying to do to "prepare", Christmas would come and go and I felt like I had missed the special day.

Joey is looking forward to Santa coming. He understands about gifts and has made a Christmas list for Santa that is still sitting on the dining room table and needs to be taken to the mall. Joey, Dani, and I read advent devotions and light the advent wreath at lunch each day. I want to teach my kids that Christmas is about the birth of baby Jesus, not just Santa coming to leave presents.

This year, there is a sense of wonder in our house. Wonder over all the Christmas decorations that are brought out of the box and placed out for view. Wonder over the little Christmas trees that Joey and Dani have in each of their rooms and the special ornaments hung on each that belong just to them. Wonder about how reindeer fly. Wonder about why mom really needs to know what I need for Christmas when she isn't buying it; Santa will be bringing it! (Joey).

I hope that your Christmas is as magical as ours is turning out to be this year. Take some time in the busyness to again find the wonder. I remember the Christmas hymn "We Three Kings". The refrain for the song is:

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bring,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.

May you find Christ's perfect Light this Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our family has had quite the month in November. Any germ that is out there has seemed to find our house! We have all had the flu earlier this month.

Then, we were looking forward to a great week together with Mike being on vacation and guess what? We all came down with some kind of cold/cough bug that had us pretty much housebound the whole week. Thanks to the wonderful girlfriends, Michele, Laura, and Katie, we did receive turkey and dressing and all the other fixings for Thanksgiving. It is truly a blessing to have friends.

October Happenings

Wow! The month of October flew by! With the excitement of Dani breaking her leg, I never even posted anything about the wonderful family vacation we took to Pensacola Beach, FL at the end of September. We drove down and rented a house close to the beach. We all had a wonderful and relaxing time!

A few weeks ago, Thomas the Tank Engine came to East St. Louis (over by the Casino Queen). I purchased tickets online as a surprise for Joey. The four of us went over on a beautiful Sunday and got to ride, in Joey's words, "the REAL Thomas!". Both Joey and Dani enjoyed the train ride. Mike and I were disappointed that there wasn't a little more to do. The kids could play with legos, get a tattoo, listen to a story, and that was about it. There were long long lines everywhere you turned and this event was held on a gravel lot. Of course, there was a huge tent set up so you could purchase every Thomas item known to man!

Halloween was lots of fun. Joey was a dinosaur and Dani was a dalmation. Above is a photo of them with some of their buddies.

October also included a trip to Thies Farm where we enjoyed their Pumpkinland and a hay ride. We also drove to Grafton, IL to go to Eckert's Farm for apple picking.

Yesterday, Dani's cast came off. She has had it a month. This is the only time she has cried while at the doctor's office. The saw that removed the cast was loud and scared her. Once the cast was off, she kept touching her knee and saying "hurt hurt". Because her knee has been immobile for a month and in a bent position, the doctor said that it would be sore until she got some range of motion back in her leg. She is now sporting a black velcro boot that goes up to her knee. It can be removed for sleeping and bathing. So far, she wears it to bed. It still hurts her too much to be without the support of the boot for long. She will wear the velcro boot for a month before going back to the doctor.

Well, that's it for now. Everyone keep in touch!