FIESTA!

Here are some photos from our little fiesta party at church last weekend. We had a blast! There was authentic Mexican food, music and dancing, games, pinatas, and a raffle with prizes. The girls won the hats in the raffle.

SWIMMING LESSONS AND ORTHODONTIST

The last few weeks have been filled with homeschooling assignments and projects, swimming lessons, and orthodontist appointments. Chandler and Kaydence have started swimming lessons again after a long 1-year break. The pool in Sandy closed down to the public not too long ago, so we had to start taking lessons at the community college in Gresham. Actually, this has worked out much better for us anyway. The MHCC pool has special lessons just for homeschoolers, and they are half price! It is very laid back, and the classes are very small. The teachers have done a much better job of actually teaching! The girls have learned more in 2 weeks at MHCC than they ever did in the 5 months of Sandy lessons. We go to lessons on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and afterward we head home to do our school activities for the day. Occasionally we will stop to visit friends and family or run errands on our way home.

Chandler started going to the orthodontist at the beginning of January. She has been started on a 2-phase process where the goal is to expand her jaw and straighten her teeth. She has a VERY narrow upper jaw and severe crossbites. Because of these things, there isn't any room for her new permanent teeth to grow in.



Last week she received a specially fitted appliance (similar to a retainer but it is glued into her mouth) in the roof of her mouth. The appliance is supposed to widen her jaw as she grows. It has been quite challenging for her to learn how to talk with it in, but she is doing an amazing job. Her mouth was sore for a few days, but she seems to be back to her old self once again. She will have the expander in for 16 months, and then they will put braces on her 4 front teeth. After she has the braces on for a little while, she will wear a retainer until she is 12 or 13, and then there is a possibility that she will have to have a full mouth of braces if still necessary. Wow! That was quite a mouthful! Hee-hee! : ) We have been busy running back and forth to the orthodontist office. We have appointments practically every week. We try to schedule the appointments around our swimming lessons so that we don't have to do a large amount of driving all week long. It all works out somehow.

Homeschooling is going very well for us. We started this new year out on the right foot. The girls are breezing through all of their lessons and learning huge amounts of information every day. I am always shocked by how much they retain! They are like sponges! I am finally starting to feel more confident about our daily school schedule. It took a while for me to get my act together and really become organized. The first few years were a little crazy because I was still trying to figure everything out. I was rather clueless, and I did not have a regular plan. We just did a little of everything. Now it is all coming together like a puzzle, and the big picture is becoming more apparent. Don't get me wrong though, I am still learning every day, and I will probably think of other things that I can change in the future. I absolutely love homeschooling because we spend so much time together. Homeschooling really builds a strong family bond, and it is just fun!

CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES

This is really sad. I had written this blog entry shortly after Christmas and New Years, and almost a month later, I am finally getting it posted! Between not having much time to go through and edit all of our photos and being exhausted from our everyday lives, I miserably failed my duties as a blogger. Any free time I have had at night is used to veg, wind down, and relax before laying my head on a feathery-soft pillow to dream myself right out of reality. At the end of my long days, I don't feel much like getting on the computer to do any "work". I also realized that when I get on the computer late at night, I become addicted, which in turn causes me to stay up way too late at night. My goal for the new year was to go to bed earlier and get up earlier, so I have been avoiding the computer after I put the kids to bed (as much as possible anyway). It seems to be helping somewhat. It is going to take this nightowl a VERY LONG time to break old habits. When the night is born in your blood, it is next to impossible to change!

I have also been very focused on homeschooling the girls over the last few weeks. I feel like I do not have time for anything else! For those of you who know me, I tend to become overly focused on certain things, and the rest of my life sort of fizzles and melts into the background. Oh well! I guess I can't do it all! After all, I am not SUPERMOM!





Here is our Christmas and New Years update...

The girls sang in the Christmas choir at church on Friday, December 14th and Saturday, December 15th. Brent and I were able to watch the show on Friday night with my parents, and then we went back again on Saturday night to assist with the Christmas performance. I have to tell you that it was the BEST Christmas performance and play that I have ever seen. There was singing and dancing, crying and laughter, rejoicing and worshiping, powerful healing of hearts and saving of souls, and the presence of the Holy Spirit flooded the auditorium. Watching the children and adults on stage gave me chills and brought me to tears because I received a clear vision of what heaven is going to be like someday...thousands upon thousands lifting our voices and hands to the Almighty Savior! It was so AWE-some. The play/musical after the children's choir performance was based on the Max Lucado story "The Christmas Child". Everyone around me was wiping away tears because it was so touching. There was a part in the play where an angel danced around the stage while the Celine Dion song "A New Day Has Come" played in the background. After the song was over, snow came pouring down over the stage and characters. It was beautiful. Now every time I hear this song, the image of this graceful angel is etched deep into my mind and soul. I will never forget this story. We actually ended up going back to church again on Sunday morning so that the girls could see the play as well. Although they did not really understand it, they said their favorite part was the dancing angel.

The same weekend as the Christmas program at church, we also decorated our house together as a family while we listened to Christmas music, munched on popcorn, and sipped hot chocolate. We set up and decorated our big Christmas tree and 2 little trees and added finishing touches of stockings, flowers, and candles around the house. I just love Christmas decorating! There is something about it that lifts my spirits and makes me happy. We also watched Christmas specials and Christmas movies almost every day leading up to Christmas day. The girls loved searching the TV Guide every day to discover what they had to look forward to each evening.

Later that week, we finished our last-minute Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, and grocery shopping (for our Christmas Eve dinner), and then we were ready for the real fun with friends and family to begin!

Our first Christmas get-together was with Michelle, Avery, and Cooper. They came over and we did a little gift exchange. The kids then proceeded to play throughout the rest of the evening while Michelle and I enjoyed a chick-flick movie, The Nanny Diaries (excellent movie, by the way).

Christmas Eve I was busy scurrying around cooking and cleaning in order to have my wonderful family over. I was very honored and excited to be able to celebrate Christmas Eve at our house for the very first time! Up until this year, my parents have always held our celebration in their home, but they are currently in the process of moving into a new house right now, so it just worked out better this way. My parents and my brother and his family came over for Christmas Eve dinner and our traditional gift giving. I think this is my favorite part about Christmas every year. I look forward to spending quality time with my family and watching our children and their cousins participate in the traditions that we have created for them over the last few years. I vividly remember all of the Christmas traditions my family had when I was growing up. I have even continued some of the same traditions with my own family to this day! I am hoping that the girls will have great memories of our family Christmas traditions and maybe even pass them on to their own families!

We enjoyed a candlelit dinner together when everyone arrived, and I was laughing afterward about how much food we actually had. It was rather overwhelming. I began talking to myself (something I often do), "What in the world was I thinking, making this much food!" We had honey ham, cheese chowder, teriyaki chicken wings, chimichangas (which did not turn out right), cheeseballs and crackers, chips and dip, veggies, garlic mashed potatoes, punch and apple cider, and a gazillion sweet treats (compliments of Jillian). Once again, I was feeling so thankful for all that we are blessed with (and a little guilty too). With the amount of food served to just 6 adults and 4 children, we could have fed at least 4 more families! We ate leftovers for a week.

After dinner we moved onto the gift exchange. Grandma Kruse read the grandchildren a beautiful little book by Max Lucado called God Thinks You're Wonderful. This is such a touching reminder about Christ's love for us. A book for both adult and kid hearts alike.

Then it happened. It happened so fast I could feel my head spinning, and it was over in a flash. The kids had opened their gifts so fast, I did not even know they had opened them! Just kidding...It did feel like chaos though. I think that Grandma and Grandpa were having a hard time following and figuring out what they had actually "bought" the kids (since we did all of the shopping for them). The excitement was definitely not lacking in any way, shape, or form! The kids enjoyed playing with each other's toys for quite a while before Grandma and Grandpa Kruse and Ryan, Jillian, Gunnar, and Morgan slipped out the door to go home to the comfort of their own warm homes, where they could finally breathe and relax (or else play Santa Claus). What a brilliant night!

Christmas Day was very low-key with just the 4 of us at home. It was so nice to finally be able to relax after all of the hustle and bustle. We actually did not end up opening gifts until a little later in the morning. The girls were very patient and waited calmly until Mommy and Daddy said it was time. After opening gifts, the girls played with their new treasures while Brent and I took naps. Brent and I were really wiped after staying up all night for at least 2 nights in a row, trying to get everything ready for Santa to put under the tree and around the room for Christmas "morning". The rest of the day we played games and watched movies...our typical family activities.

To top off this perfect day, we had a beautiful white Christmas! Yes, it snowed!

Finally there came a calm after such a long storm. We had a few days in between Christmas and New Year's Eve to just reflect on the long, but memory-filled month. We rested...and of course we cleaned up the tornado that had hit our living room. : )

New Year's Eve was a family affair again (just the 4 of us). We had invited some friends over, but their kids got sick at the last minute. Since we did not want the night to go to waste, we threw a party of our own! Chandler and Kaydence helped me make the punch and put out the snacks. I made dinner, and when Brent got home from work we began our family celebration. We watched the Dick Clark show on TV because some of Chandler's favorite singers were on the show, we played games and ate, and then at midnight we banged pots and pans and ran around the house like crazy people. We also went outside to light some fireworks, but we were met with a very unfriendly, rather horrendous, windstorm, so we could not get anything to light very well. The girls were freezing, so we gave up and went inside where we had hot chocolate while finishing our game of Rummikub. I can't think of a better way to start the New Year out...spending the evening with the people I love most in this world (I am not saying I don't love you all too, I just happen to be a bit biased).

Well, I think that about sums it up. I know this is rather long-winded, but I just wanted to share everything with all of you! I wanted it to seem like you were all right there with us even though we may be far apart. May God bless you, keep you, and give you peace and joy throughout the new year!