So-long sparkle...

Can you believe it is mid-January already? I cannot! I started this post over a week ago & then school & activities started back & well, time just got away from me...as it is want to do! So even though Christmas is a memory more distant with each passing day, (like it starts to feel odd now when you ask someone if they had a nice Christmas) here is our farewell to Christmas...I would apologize yet again for another picture heavy post...but that rather seems to be the rule & not the exception!  
I now return you to the originally scheduled post...

Well the time came, and far too quickly in my opinion, to take down all of our Christmas decorations...the ribbons, the balls, the glitter, the garland, the wise men, the manger, the ornaments, the lights and (sniff, sniff) the Tree.
We actually waited until the Monday after New Year, and I would have waited another week, but Jeff stayed home from work that extra day just so we could get it all put away & cleaned up...and since our house is on the market, it's probably better that we took down the tree before there were more needles on the rug than on the tree.
The kids helped, but of course commented that it was not nearly as fun to un-decorate as it is to put the decorations up! We had no cheerful Christmas music playing in the background...no lights twinkled.
Here are a few a bunch of photos from this year & a couple even more from last year...I realized that I never blogged these photos last year & think they are cute...it is neat to see how some things change (like the kids GROW) and some things stay the same (like how silly they can be!)

Darcy is Daddy's shadow!

For some reason Jack felt that a Superman costume was befitting for the un-decorating...there really WAS a reason, but I cannot remember it now!

It is Sophie's job to set up the Nativity display & since she was at school, I saved it for last so that she could also put it away. She is so careful & diligent to wrap up each piece & put it in the correct box.

Darcy played helped

The kids posing on the stairs with all of the boxes...Sophie is posing like the angel is on the box...

Drew was resting while we took down the tree, but when he woke up from his nap he was ready to help, too!

And here are the photos from January 2009, a year ago...

Notice the bigger tree...sigh...

Darcy needed a break from all of the hard work!

She enjoyed playing helping with the Nativity last year, too! 

I have always wondered what her little mind was thinking here! 

And this picture below is the whole reason I went to the Jan 2009 photo folder, I remembered the kids laying down on the ground pretending to be fallen trees & I thought it was really cute!

Darcy was helping to pick up the tree needles...one at a time! 

Sophie put away the Nativity pieces last year, too! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane as much as this momma has! And maybe this will be my last post dealing with Christmas 2009...maybe!

Empty inside...

Help! All of my pretty glass jars now sit empty & forlorn...shiny, yet sad to have nothing pretty inside to display...They dazzled at Christmas filled with assorted balls & decorations, proudly displayed here & there & throughout the house...but now they all are bare!

What do you use to fill your apothecary jars during the rest of the year? I have used shells in the summer...I've used twine balls and rocks...my jars have held nearly every color of glass decorator "marbles"...I've used fruit, nuts, sticks, flowers & acorns (not all at once!)

To be practical, I sometimes store candy or snacks in the larger jars...but I have one with a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe AND she's a climber, so I can no longer store candy or food in plain sight! Oh, I've even used glittery, foam stickers at Valentine's last year because it was a great place to store them for my kids to work on their Valentines.

 But none of those currently strikes my fancy...not one will fit the bill. I am in a rut, it is a true decorating dilemma...I need some fresh ideas for a fresh new year...who can help?

How do you fill your jars? 

Havin' Fun over Christmas Break!

Disclaimer::I will apologize in advance, but here is another picture heavy post that is pretty much a photo essay on What I Did Over Christmas Vacation. Ever since I discovered that you can have your blog printed, it has become (for the time being) my main form of scrapbooking/memory keeping...so I have to put in lots of photos, for posterity of course! 

We REALLY enjoyed our Christmas break & the BREAK part most of all! There were several days where we stayed in our PJs all day long, we played Wii & read books. We enjoyed hanging out with each other (in between driving each other crazy!) And in a flash, the New Year was here & break was winding down. It is already January 5th and I'm still processing that it is a new year, a fresh beginning! I'm still trying to pray about what God wants my focus to be this year...well, I know He wants my focus to be Him, but I guess I'm trying to pin-down exactly where He wants me to focus my energies...I hope to post more on that later. So for now, all you get is like 937 pictures of us doing basically nothing, sorry! (And, Mom, I had so many pictures of Pete with the kids that I think I'm going to do a separate post on his visit.)

2nd Disclaimer::I also want to apologize for some of the pictures being blurry or yellowish or just plain bad! I recently decided that after almost a year of using my new camera on the Auto setting 90% of the time, I am going to actually learn how to USE the camera...I've been reading some online tutorials & basically just practicing...so some of these shots are pretty rough...please bear with me & hopefully in time I will improve (or go switch back to Auto!)

These photos were taken the Sunday after Christmas...after church, just hanging around & playing! I'm hardly ever in a picture with all of the kids, so Jeff snapped a few pics of us. (Hopefully this year I will make a point to be IN more pictures instead of taking them all! LOL!)

The kids all enjoying their Ring Pops from their stockings. Except for Drew, he's gnawing on a toy ring!

Totem Pole of Howards

Drew says, "Hmmmm I wonder what these buttons do?"

And this is what happens when you are horsing around with your brother while eating a Ring Lollipop...

We had oranges with our supper & Drew really wanted to try them...despite the horrid look on his face, he REALLY loved them! He would keep sucking them & chewing on them to get all of the juice out. But I think his eyes were watering!

He loves mango, too!

This next group of photos is from an evening when we met some good friends out for dinner & then impromptu came back to our house for ice cream & Wii! ALL of the kids (young & not as young!) had a lot of fun playing Wii sports...especially the boxing!

This last group of photos brings our 2009 to a close! We spent New Year's Eve at the lake with Jeff's family & had a GREAT time! First we shared a delicious meal of steak, baked potatoes, green beans & fruit salad, YUM!

Our 3 nieces brought 4 friends, so there were lots of girls...and Jack!

The grown-ups enjoying dinner!

And then we had dessert!!! Kelly's Chocolate cake! Derby Pie, cherry pie, cookies & more!

Drew is enjoying his first bites of chocolate cake! (Side note: I remember Jack having his first cake on his birthday...I guess we are a bit more relaxed for #4!)

Darcy has already had her dessert, but she found someone willing to share more!

Drew talking with Pop & Grandpa.

Sophie with Uncle Pete! Sophie adores Uncle Pete & enjoyed every minute of his time here from Chicago!

Drew talking on the phone with Molly & Emma. He got a bit of attention...

The boys!

After dinner, we moved outside to enjoy the newly built fire pit area. The fire felt wonderful on the cold night. And it made the perfect spot to watch the kids run around with sparklers & also enjoy the fireworks show by Uncle Tom. Darcy did not enjoy the cold or the fire, so she pretty quickly went inside to watch from the window!

Just enjoying great company by the fire! It was a really nice way to end a great year!

I am wishing all of you a very blessed 2010!

May this year find you surrounded by love, enjoying good health, joyful in all things and drawing ever closer to Him who makes all things new!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

2 Corinthians 5:17