Our Christmas in Pictures: Final installment

During the last leg of our Christmas journey, we stopped in Lowell to visit with Ben, Diane and the kiddos. Though it was a whirlwind of a visit, we relished in the fellowship and fun of their family. Thanks for hosting us!

Every time we visit the Ben Horn family, Grace and Chloe become more aware of each other. Grace is 6 mos. older than Chloe and much more verbal so she is all ready quite aware of Chloe. This time though, Chloe seemed much more interested in playing with Grace. Chloe would grab Grace's hands to play "Ring around the rosy" and chase Grace down the slide. It was so adorable to watch Chloe's face light up as she and Grace played all by themselves. My Chloe is growing up fast!

















The adorable twosome - Ahna and Paige. This was taken before our rousing games of mafia.

















We put on a show for the rest of the family, singing and dancing to the music of "I'll Never Grow Up" from the musical Peter Pan. The girls and I had a grand time making up the choreography and my dear husband Matt was such a good sport to participate!


















After a walk with Ben, Diane and Chloe, Grace refused to take off her winter hat. What a cute little character!


















Chloe envied Grace's new coloring table. Boy, am I glad crayola invented washable markers!

















The happy clan (minus Ben & Diane).

Our Christmas in Pictures: Part III

Chloe sported her new Christmas outfit (thanks Grandma!) to visit her pals Ethan and Madeline Drover.


















This was Chloe's reaction to the Drovers' HUGE dog, Buckets. He's a black lab and he's seriously the size of a medium-sized bear. Chloe wasn't intimidated for a moment though! She went right up to his face for some licking.

















My and my dear friend Jackie with her two kids, Ethan and Madeline. Jackie and I go back to 9th grade geometry class. (Please, no comments on my bouffant bangs. I still hate you, bangs!)


















Matt's folks flew in unexpectedly for a Christmas visit! We kidnapped them from Beth Saturday and took them on a tour of our old Milwaukee neighborhood. We finished with dinner and then a stop at my grandma's house. I think we tired these Texans out!

















Beth, Matt and Chloe after the Sunday service at Brookside Baptist. Chloe did not have a good time in the nursery.

















I know this photo is off-centered but I wanted to show off the hand done smocking on the dress my grandma made for Chloe. Beautiful, isn't it?


















The lovable Ashton Brooke Horn. Doesn't she look like her papa, Sam?


















That way please, slave boy.

















What's in your bowl over there, Ashton?

















After church we enjoyed a potluck lunch with the spanish fellowship. As usual Chloe gravitated to the people who had food to share with her.


















R.D. sure loves Chloe!






















After church and lunch, we headed to Sam and Beth's home for more visiting. Chloe was intrigued by their high ceilings and huge staircase!

Our Christmas in Pictures: Part II

The Christmas tree and all the loot.


















Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of monkey bread. Mmmmmmmmmm . . .

















Chloe was a quick learner at how to rip open presents. This gift was her new kid-sized accordion from us.






















Grandma and Chloe (decked out in yet another Christmas dress) in front of the tree. Wait, this picture is too low . . . .






















Take two! Now this one is too high. Oh well.

















Chloe and her youthful great-grandma. (Notice her nice pig-tails have disappeared. Chloe has a knack for making her hair look messy!)

Photos for the blog header

If any of you see this post, disregard it. I'm trying to put some photos in the blog header and using this post to upload them to blogger.

Our Christmas in pictures: Part I

Go Pack Go! We were all very excited to watch our team beat the Vikings on my mom's big tv.























Chloe is ready to run! My mom keeps her tennies on the treadmill and Chloe is learning how to get her feet into them successfully. She now knows she needs to put them on the floor next to a wall so she can cling to the wall for support.























This was taken at my gramma's house for her second annual great-grandbabies Christmas celebration. Not a great family picture but I look good so it's staying!


















As we were getting ready to leave gramma's, we realized we hadn't taken our yearly "cousin photo".






















I love your taste in necklaces, Grandma!

















Do you think I'm overdoing it?






















Chloe in one of her Christmas dresses.

























I just love this shot of Chloe. Those big cheeks remind me of her smaller baby days.

















Christmas Eve dinner of steak, potatoes, veggies, and breadsticks. My mom has spoiled us with delicious food since we've been here!

Merry Christmas!

We're thoroughly enjoying our visit with our family and friends here in Wisconsin (hence the recent lack-of-blogging). Thus far we've played 2 games of scrabble, watched a packer game, gone shopping, eaten a truckload of delicious food, went on a date night, and just played with Chloe in the new exciting environment of my mom's condo.

Merry Christmas to you all! May you reflect on the immense undeserved love of God this season and rejoice in His constant goodness.

On the road again . . .

Tomorrow morning we hit the road for our home away from home - Wisconsin! We're all eager to see old friends and family but we are not so eager about the long drive with a very aware 16 mos. old Chloe. It's usually an 8-9 hour drive. Pray for our safety and sanity!

The clock is ticking . . .

I'm in feverish mode toiling to get all our Christmas gifts wrapped, sewn, and bought (not in that order). In an effort to post something new in a limited amount of time, I've devised the following informal poll . . . .

How do you feel about decorating the outside of your home with Christmas lights?
a. I hate Christmas lights! They are tacky monstrosities. And what's with the decorating fads? If I see one more carousel snowglobe . . .
b. We don't take the time to decorate our own home with lights but I don't mind if our neighbors do. I don't really feel one way or the other about lights.
c. Some Christmas lights are quaint and festive. I most enjoy light displays that are tastefully done, well balanced and thoughtfully planned out.
d. I enjoy most light shows. They make me smile and I like to see a variety of light colors and creative arrangements.
e. The more lights the better! Bring on the inflatable sponge bobs, skeletal reindeer, and plastic santas!


Want to see some musical Christmas lights? Check out this video.

16 months old today!

(Wouldn't Chloe make a cute Mary in a Christmas play?)

Our dear Chloe Abigail Horn marks her 16 mos. birthday today. Where has the time gone?

Here's a Chloe profile at 16 months: She is a full-fledged toddler now and trying to exert her independence more forcefully. She gets her share of time-outs during the day. Since our first floor is small and crowded, we don't have a good time-out area. We're trying the landing by the stairs that is gated-off, but this morning Chloe realized that being left alone for a time-out meant she could climb upstairs without hindrance . . . Back to the drawing board. Chloe is in total complete unabandoned love with Elmo. We watch Elmo's World about three times a week now and she starts pointing, hissing, and marching when she hears her beloved Elmo singing the theme song. Her new favorite word to attempt to say is onion. She's very into puzzles and still enjoys putting herself into containers (laundry baskets, etc.). She's proficient at using a spoon to eat (YAY-RAH!) and climbs whatever she can before we stop her. She's finally getting used to our church nursery (another YAY-RAH!).

Though this phase is more trying on me than the others (I'm finding my patience is short when she whines and cries to get her way), it's indeed thrilling to watch her little self develop. She's got an immense capacity to learn and I'm challenged to find new ways to stretch and teach her.

Happy 16 month birthday, Chloe baby!

ONE DAY MORE!

(To be sung in Les Miserables musical style)

















Matt's big final paper is due tomorrow and hence we sing in celebration, ONE DAY MORE! And then he can turn is his whopping paper (72 pages at this morning's count) and be done with the semester's work, pressure, late nights, and all-nighters for good.

YAY! Our poor Matt has been slaving away at his paper while conducting finals for his 4 classes and grading papers. He usually does writing in his upstairs study but he's been missing us so much that he's moved down to the dining room table. While he's writing he puts in his ear plugs but he can still see us and feel a part of things. Sad, ain't it?

We're so proud of you Matt! And we're soooooooo vvvvvvvvvery excited to have you back to us!

We have a celebration planned for tomorrow night since it will be Matt's first night of scholastic freedom. Pizza, soda, cheesy bread, a movie, popcorn, and ice cream sundaes. And then Matt will be able to take a true break over the holidays. YAY! (Can you tell that I'm excited? I think I've exceeded the legal limit of exclamation-point-usage. )

Some fun video links to make your Monday bright

It's Monday. Blech! Need a pick-me-up? Try one of the funny video links below!

Disclaimer: I'm warning you, I have a strange sense of humor. You must have a working knowledge of the movie Grease and Michael Jackson to truly appreciate these.

Greaser Babies

John Piper is Bad

(Believe me, I have a great respect for John Piper. I'm not trying to make fun of him I just thought this video was comical. Hear John Piper's reaction to the video here: Extended John Piper video)

Slow progress

Is anyone out there getting a bit frantic out there with the approach of Christmas? I seem to have 172 projects in the works for Christmas gifts and I've only finished one so far. I've been writing out our Christmas cards in stages, sewing a little here and a little there, and getting practically nothing done! I think next year I'll just tackle all the cards in an afternoon so I can have it done and over with.

I can't tell you the details of my Christmas projects because some of my readership will be recipients of the gifts. I suppose I could tell you . . . but then I'd have to kill you.

I also have this eyes-are-bigger-than-my-stomach tendency to attempt to make way more gifts than I realistically have time for. And I just LOVE giving homemade gifts! It not only saves money, it shows the gift recipient that I cared enough to take the time to make something special.

How are you doing on your Christmas shopping/gift-making?

You get what you pay for

Today I added yet another bad hair-chopping to my life's experience. Why am I such a cheapskate?!? That's the underlying reason as to why I get such horrid haircuts! I'm convinced now that I need to spend a reasonable amount of money to get a haircut I like.

Here's the story . . . . It's been several months since I've had a haircut and my hair was showing it! My ends were frizzy and flying away. It just looked altogether unhealthy. Since we're still fairly new to the area and we don't know all the businesses in town. I had noticed a small shop on a main thoroughfare advertising an $8 haircut special. Sounded perfect!

So this afternoon, I put Chloe down for her nap and jetted out to the $8 hair joint. I should have walked out of the place as soon as I walked in, but I didn't. The tantalizing $8 haircut lured me. How do I aptly depict this place to you? It was empty of customers, tiny, cluttered with stuff and peopled by two workers who looked very different from each other. One was the manager - an overweight middle-aged woman with frizzy obviously-dyed blond hair (note to self: never get your hair cut in a place where you don't like the stylists' hair!). She was looking bored and curling her hair into sausages on her head that she wasn't combing out. The blond sausage curls were just standing atop her head. The other person was an african american fellow in his early 30's with an open shirt and singing along to the loud rap music coming from the nearby radio. He had no hair so I couldn't tell what type of stylist he was.

They were happy to have a customer and served me up some fresh coffee and gave me a chair. So far so good. I told Cedric that I needed a cut badly and that he could cut as much as 6 inches to get it healthy again. I also told him I needed something easy to style since I rarely have time to blowdry my hair in the mornings. He went to work at cutting and an hour later I had something on my head that I HATE. In the cutting process, he had asked me if I'd mind layers around my face. I said, "Sure thing! Just NO BANGS. I've not had bangs since the 6th grade and I don't want them back again." (that's a direct quote) My hair was in my face most of the time, so I wasn't aware of the fact that he was chopping layers like crazy all over my head and I ended up with bangs that are just long enough to be in my face and to not go behind my ear.

I was upset. So much so that I cried all the way home and for a good deal afterwards. I didn't know what to do when it happened - I have such a tendency to be nice that I didn't know what to say when Cedric had finished and revealed something so totally opposite of what I asked for. This is NOT going to be easy to style (he took 25 minutes just blowdrying it and it was all a poof) and it contains BANGS. Because it is so layered all over the top, I have this mullet-thing in the back that I can just barely put into a ponytail. I also feel like I look much older with this new do.

Have you ever had this experience? If you didn't like the end-product, did you tell the hairdresser you didn't like it? Or demand your money back?

Anyways, thanks for listening. Here's a picture of the new do after I smoothed it down tremendously.

Finally some snow!

YAY! We've finally got a bit of snow in northeast Ohio! I was soooooo envious of the winter blizzard that hit the midwest last week. It swooshed just north of us and didn't even give us a dusting.

We still don't have a great abundance of snow, but today's flurries were a good start. This was Chloe's first time to really get out and experiment with snow. Chloe was so adorable in her winter get-up (she reminds me of the younger brother in A Christmas Story who can't put his arms down!) and she got a kick out of trudging through our few inches of snow. I had hoped we could build a snowman together but alas, our wimpy snow was too fluffy for packing.

Here are some photos of my snow bunny (and believe me, these were hard to get with mittens on and trying to keep my girl from running into the street).

















Mom, I'm tired of walking. I think I'll just take a seat here. Who are those boys across the street? (We live across the road from the local highschool and always have students walking past our house). Think they'll notice me smiling and staring at them?

















Wouldn't I be a cute eskimo?


















This is the life, mom! I'm glad you finally got my subtle hints and let me come outside to play (she got her boots and said "go" while pointing to the door).




We'll try this video thing again . . . . Let me know if you can view it this time!

A love/hate relationship

No, I'm not talking about my relationship with my daughter or husband. I'm talking about the fickle relationship I have with my stupid computer (I do NOT unconditionally love my pc). Yesterday I almost took a hammer to it's 15" monitor! After trying multiple times to upload images into online tests (for my part time job) and having it freeze up on me, I ended up shutting it down completely and just letting it rest for awhile. That seems to work when all else fails!

Ah, technology.

Speaking of technology and computers, I have to tell you all that I ditched bloglines and have switched to google reader. I never liked how bloglines made me install their software; the google reader just uses my firefox browser so there's no foreign software on my computer. Yay! And I can stay up to date with all my blogger friends without having to click on each link individually. I highly recommend doing a newsreader. How many of you use newsreaders out there?

Christmas at our house

I so much enjoyed Kelli's recent post on the holidays (and her accompanying pictures of her decorated home) that I thought I'd copy her idea. We don't have many Christmas decorations, but the few we have I really like. There's just something about evergreens and candles that make a house feel more homey at Christmas-time.

All ready Chloe has been vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvery interested in the Christmas tree. She's learning names of the various ornaments and pointing them out fairly consistently. She's such a smarty pants! Enjoy the Christmas photos and video posted below.

As much as I enjoy the decorating and traditions of Christmas, my heart swells with joy as I reflect on the gift of Jesus' birth. The entire act was a manifestation of God's immense grace and mercy to us. What traditions do you have for celebrating the miracle of Christ's coming to earth? We'll be attending a Christmas Eve service this year and I'd like to read the Christmas story by candlelight (we'll see how that goes with a wiggly toddler!).
















Our tiny little nativity scene that I acquired during my first year of teaching (remember, Carissa? I think I got this in the Cross Lanes teacher party). I'm hoping to find a bigger more complete set to be displayed in a prominent place for next year. Hello, after-Christmas sales!

















Thanks for the mongo candle, grandma! The smells of black cherry fill our home with warmth.



















The traditional Myers Mendez-family snowmen. These three lovable guys have been passed down through the generations (3 I think) and now reside on our bookshelf.






















My new Christmas card holder. It's so pretty and includes Bible verses. This was a last year after-Christmas deal from Dayspring.























My home-made button Christmas tree adds a nice touch to our kitchen.