Jesse Tree Day 25

Jesse Tree Day 25 The Birth of Jesus





ornament - nativity scene

Completed Jesse Tree

Jesse Tree day 24

Jesse Tree Day 24 Angels Proclaiming the Coming of Christ

ornament - an angel

Jesse Tree Day 23

Jesse Tree Day 23 The Light of the World

ornament - a candle or light

Jesse Tree Day 22

Jesse Tree day 22 The Star

ornament - a star

Jesse Tree day 21

Jesse Tree day 21 The Return to the Land

ornament - a brick wall

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Here is a digi page with pictures of our Christmas tree. The band & choir from MBHS sell these every year, & they are THE MOST beautiful trees. We love these trees & they stay fresh the whole season.

Lindsay & Maddie decorated the tree for me. Well, mostly Lindsay! Thanks honey for doing it-you did a wonderful job! Now if we can keep the 2 kittens & the toddler OUT of the tree-we'll be doing good! haha

Jesse Tree Day 20

Jesse Tree day 20 The Exile

ornament - fiery furnace

Jesse Tree Day 19

Jesse Tree day 19 Prophecy of Bethlehem

ornament - a Bethlehem town silhouette with star

Jesse Tree Day 18

Jesse Tree Day 18 Prophecy of the New Covenant

ornament - heart with writing on it

Hail in Morro Bay!

Tuesday 12-16-08
It was so cool! We had some hail earlier in the morning, but around 1:00pm the hail really came down. It probably hailed hard for about 15 minutes. Maddie would stick her hand out the door a little & get some & eat it. Then it was her nap time (had to get her down because of a very busy afternoon/evening with Matt's basketball game & Lindsay's choir concert! But if I had to do it over again, I think I would let her out to play in it!).
I went out & met April & Ethan (our neighbors, whose house you see in some of the pictures) to snap pictures & watch Ethan have a blast. The hail lasted for several hours. It was quite beautiful.
This is as close as we can probably ever get to having a white Christmas in Morro Bay.

Jesse Tree Day 17

Jesse Tree day 17 Prophecy of the Suffering Servant

ornament - a cross

Jesse Tree Day 16

Jesse Tree day 16 Prophecy of a Gentle Shepherd

ornament - a lamb & a staff

Visit to Santa

This year's visit to Santa was a success! We were in Santa Maria all day Saturday for Matt's basketball tournament, so in between games we went to the mall. Santa was not very busy, so we decided to try to get Maddie's picture with him. After a quick dash to Sees Candy (which is right there!) to get her a sucker, we walked right up to see Santa. Yes, walked right up. Saturday morning & there wasn't a line. A Christmas miracle! She was a little hesitant at first, but since he wasn't busy, we were able to take a few more minutes to get used to him. (Not like Ralphy's little brother in a "Christmas Story".) She did eventually get in his lap & we got our picture! PLUS, Santa didn't give away candy canes, he gave away antlers! Maddie loved them. (remember how much she loved her kitty ears at Halloween her first year? These are along the same lines!) She wore her antlers all over the mall & even into Matt's basketball game. Hope you enjoy this page! Merry Christmas

The Jesse Tree Day 15

Jesse Tree Day 15 Prophecy of the Prince of Peace

ornament - dove & crown

The Jesse Tree Day 14

Jesse Tree Day 14 Prophecy of the Lion and the Lamb resting together

ornament - lion & lamb

The Jesse Tree Day 13

Jesse Tree Day 13 Prophecy of Shoot from the Stump of Jesse

ornament - a stump with fresh shoot or leaf

12-12-08 Madeline 2 1/2

Today, 12-12-08, Maddie is 2 1/2 years-old. As we always do for half birthdays, we have a half a cake. Maddie helped me make it & frost it. She called it a "tower" & our "tower" kept sliding over. Not the prettiest cake you have ever seen, but it tastes pretty good!

We are in weekend 2 of tournament play down in Santa Maria with Matt for basketball. We have been to Santa Maria more in the 8 days then we have in the last 8 months! :) Last weekend he played on Thursday night, Friday night & then an ugly time, 8 AM on Saturday. He had to be at school to get the bus at 6:15! This week he has played Thursday night, tonight & then tomorrow at 9. He doesn't have to be at school until 7:15 tomorrow. When they win that game, they play again at 4:30. We will probably be spending the day down in Santa Maria. Maybe we can finish our Christmas shopping? Maybe we can take Maddie to see Santa at the mall? Lots of maybes for the day.

Lindsay has been busy babysitting Maddie for us for some of these basketball games. It has been nice to be able to leave her home for a few games, but she was a riot tonight! She got all into cheering for the Pirates and for Matt or buzz as she sometimes calls him! So that's what we have been up to lately! :)

The Jesse Tree day 12

Jesse Tree day 12 Josiah Finds the Law

ornament - scroll

The Jesse Tree day 11

Jesse Tree day 11 King David

ornament - slingshot

The Jesse Tree day 10

Jesse Tree day 10 Ruth & Boaz

ornament - sheaf of wheat

The Jesse Tree Day 9

Jesse Tree Day 9 Canaan, the Promised Land of Blessings

ornament - cluster of grapes

The Jesse Tree Day 8

Jesse Tree day 8 Moses and the 10 Commandments

ornament - a tablet with numbers

The Jesse Tree Day 7

Jesse Tree day 7 Joseph's coat of many colors

ornament - a colorful coat

The Jesse Tree Day 6

The Jesse Tree Day 6 Jacob's Ladder

ornament - a ladder

The Jesse Tree Day 5

The Jesse Tree Day 5 - Isaac and the Lamb

ornament - lamb

The Jesse Tree Day 4

Jesse Tree Day 4 - the call to Abram

ornament - a camel & tent

The Jesse Tree Day 3

Day 3 - Inside the Ark
ornament- ark with rainbow

The Jesse Tree day 2

Day 2 The First Sin
ornament - an apple with a snake wrapped around it

The Jesse Tree Day 1

We are trying something new in our house this year for the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

I was asked to be involved in a "Jesse Tree" project. It is basically 25 people taking 1 of the 25 days & making 25 ornaments for that day. Then you all get together & bring your finished wrapped ornaments & take one of each day's ornaments so you have a complete set. It was really fun to see the creativity of the women in this group. We were also able to buy the book "The Advent Jesse Tree" by Dean Meador Lambert & get a table top fake tree for a minimal charge. I bought a tote to put it all in for storage for the rest of the year.

I am going to try to post a picture daily of the ornament that we unwrapped. So here goes:

Day 1 is The Light in Creation

ornament - globe

Girly Girls

For Thanksgiving, we decided it was time to paint Maddie's fingers & toes. She loved it so much. She was really good at sitting still for Lindsay to paint them.

She loves to look at them & say "pretty". She also loves to show them off to anyone she can.

I love the look on her face as she gazes up at Lindsay.

Daddy & Maddie

Michael & Maddie have a lunchtime ritual, now. :)

It used to be that Michael would spend some of his lunch hour soaking in the spa, relaxing & listening to the radio. But now, Little Miss Madeline sees him go out & she repeats incessantly, "spa? spa? spa? spa?" She loves to go out with Daddy & play in the water, blow bubbles & kick. As you can tell, they enjoy their special time together! We will see if she still likes it when its winter time.

The Kids

We had all 4 kids home a few weekends ago-it was great! Ok, it was our 3 plus Juliette, who is like our own. Juel was home for her sister's birthday & she came & spent her Saturday afternoon/evening with us. Poor girl must really need to get a life if she's spending her Saturday evening with us! It was so wonderful to get caught up with her again.

I'm not sure which kid was the most excited about her being home! Of course, it goes without saying that I was the most excited!

Growing kitties!

Here is the latest pictures of the kitties-Scout & Spencer. They are now 3 months old. They have grown quite a bit with more growing to be done. Maddie has really started to enjoy them. She likes to kiss them. She doesn't even seem to mind sharing her toys with them.

Scout has found his favorite place to sleep at night-on my head! During the day, they enjoy sleeping on the back of the couch in the living room window, or on our bed, soaking up the sunshine.

We all seem to have fun playing with them & watching them play.

Lindsay

Wow! It's hard to believe that Lindsay is a senior in high school. Time really does seem to fly by. When they are little, you think they will never grow up. But they really do!

Lindsay is growing into a beautiful woman of God. She can be so helpful around the house & especially with Maddie-thanks so much honey! It really is appreciated!

Lindsay has a very caring heart. She is always there for her friends when they need her-sometimes it seems like too much for us! LOL

Lindsay is a very good big sister to both her brother & sister! (wow-that is still so much fun to say-her sister!)

Thanks for sharing in my ramblings...I, obviously, am not the writer in the family!

Anyway, we just wanted to share Lindsay's senior picture with you.

Hoppy Halloween

This year's Halloween costumes: a bunny & a blonde zombie. (Matt was over at his buddy's house & went as himself.) Lindsay went to the MB high school football game, yes, all dressed up & Maddie went to Nai Nai & YeYe Phillips & Ream's houses & to a few special friends.

Melamine & infant formula-China

You haven't heard from me in awhile & here is why:
As you may or may not have heard, there is a big issue going on with China’s formula. Here is a link that explains more about it, if you care to read about it. http://www.who.int/csr/media/faq/QAmelamine/en/index.html
But in a nutshell, the milk producers in China were watering down their milk that they had gotten from the farmers. In order to get a higher protein count, they added melamine to it, so it would pass. Then it was sent to other producers of milk products-formula, candy, etc.
Doctors are not sure yet of what, if any, long term effects there are from the melamine in formula. It has been shown to cause kidney stones & even more serious renal problems.
There is a pediatric international adoption specialist who is on this yahoo group for the china milk issue. She is recommending that every Chinese adoptee be tested with a urinalysis, some blood work & a renal ultrasound. She feels all 3 of these need to be done, as some of the tests come back fine, yet stones are found on the ultrasound, and these are on kids that don’t have any symptoms.
I have spent the last week & and a half trying to get our pediatrician to authorize these. The only thing we finally got was a urinalysis (& it turned out fine). Trying to get that specimen is a whole other story!!
Maddie has not really had any symptoms, but the reason we wanted to have her tested was because sometimes she wakes up from her nap like she’s in pain. She’s crying & arching her back. We thought maybe it was a gas bubble or something & then after a while she is fine. But maybe she is having pain when she tries to urinate. But the pediatrician is not concerned. So I guess we have to leave it there, for now.
I will admit I am frustrated with this. But not sure what else I can do. I guess next time she has one of those episodes, we just head to the ER. Not sure what else to do.
Thanks for listening to me “vent”!

Adult sitting! 10-17-08

Why the cat's away, the mice will play!
Julie's husband & son are gone on a 10 day hunting trip to Colorado. While they are gone, I, being the good friend that I am, make the supreme sacrifice to come & watch over her & make sure she is safe! Of course, I bring my computer with me-just in case I have some spare time-like when she goes to bed early! 2:00am!
Tune in tomorrow to see what (if anything) gets done!
(Ok, we really did do something-we want & saw Brad Stein, a Christian comedian tonight. Gave me something to work on! haha!)

Pumpkin Patch 10-16-08

Madeline & I went on a field trip with our Parent Participation class of 2 year olds to the pumpkin patch. Maddie enjoyed following the trails. Over. And over. And over again. She didn't pay much attention to the animals & didn't even want to pick out a pumpkin. I think she kind of enjoying walking through the corn maze & of course, playing in the dirt! But, she did wear herself out really well!

MBHS Homecoming Dance 10-11-08

Lindsay was allowed to go to the Homecoming Dance this year at MBHS. Her friend Maddie, came over & did her hair & makeup. Lindsay looks beautiful! She went with her friend, Sarah Page. They both looked so nice! When I asked Lindsay for the highlight of the night, it was "dancing with a group of people"! Lindsay said the music got better towards the end, because it was more songs that everyone knew, but they finished about 20 minutes early.

what a week!

What started out as a promising looking week, turned out to be not so great after all.

We had a fun time at Avila Valley Barn with Auntie Stacey & Eli on Tuesday. Maddie's favorite thing was stomping in every mud puddle she could find. She could care less about the animals!

Thursday we had pony pictures in our parent participation class. Maddie wasn't super thrilled about getting on the pony, but was ok if I stood by her. We had to leave early from our class so I could get in to the doctor to have this spot looked at on my neck. It just kept getting larger & larger & now it hurts. I'm concerned that it is another staph infection. They did a culture on it & started me on antibiotics. I have to go back in on Monday to have it rechecked & get the results. I don't want to go anywhere-it looks soooo ugly!

Thursday night, our black & white cat, Lucky, didn't come in. That is not highly unusual, but we still haven't seen him. So we're thinking we have lost yet another cat! :(

Friday, Maddie has another cold. I think it's round 3 of those for her! Poor thing. The antibiotics that I'm on are making me pretty nauseated, so I am kind of useless. Maddie & I did a lot of laying around together. Michael is doing everything-driving the kids to & from school plus trying to work on top of it! What a guy!

Another disappointment for the weekend is that my oldest brother Thom, was going to be taking a photography class over here & stay with us for several days. But he called on Friday evening & he has not been feeling well. (He passed his 2 year anniversary since he was diagnosed with cancer about 2 weeks ago! Praise the Lord!) I sure hope he gets feeling better soon. We missed having him over here & getting to spend some time with him. Darlene & her sister Patty are over also. We are hoping to get to go to dinner on Monday night.

I think I'm finally getting used to the antibiotics, other then feeling sleepy with them, I'm not nearly as nauseated, so I actually got out on the computer tonight & am posting this! Yeah!

Baby Beach Day 10-1-08

What started out as just a walk along the boardwalk this morning, turned into a beach play day! It was an absolutely gorgeous morning & Maddie & I decided to enjoy it! We had done 1 lap on the boardwalk & had to stop to watch the seals swim & catch fish. Then that led to getting out of the stroller & going & playing in the sand. We had a lot of fun building castles & stomping on them.
Thank you God for this beautiful place we live & the opportunity to enjoy it!

Friends

Maddie & Mom had a fun time at Monte Young Park with Eli & Stacey. It's a neat little park that is usually not very crowded. The kids have a fun time playing & the Mommies have a good time talking.

Pictures-last day of vacation 8-17-08