My latest time waster...


Dave introduced to me a game on www.primarygames.com It is an arcade game called Pengapop. The demo lets you play up to 20 levels. Today I made it to level 20 with 208250 points. This is my latest time waster... forget solitaire and freecell... this has much more excitement to it. :-) I really don't spend my days eating bon-bons and playing video games, but every now and then I do sit at the computer... especially when Anna is napping. I did do something productive before sitting down at the computer though- I worked out first.

Speaking of working out, no more Kathy Smith tapes from the 80's for me. Sorry Kathy, but I found someone new. Jennifer Giardi (I think that's her name). It is a video called 10 Minute Solutions - Dance Mix with five 10 minute workouts so you can pick and choose the areas you want to work on. You can do them in any order and as many as you want. I usually do 3 at a time. If I only have 10 minutes, I can just do one. I figure doing one is better than doing none! Anyway, it is a fun way to workout.

So now I can workout, blog and play pengapop. Life is good. :-)

Reality bites...

My alarm went off this morning... something I haven't used in a couple of weeks. After laying in bed listening to Billy Joel sing "My Life" and reminiscing for a minute about watching Bosom Buddies, I got out of bed and got ready for the day. I had to wake the girls up and neither one was too happy. Emma said her eyes were open, but she was still asleep. Anna cried that she had to get dressed and couldn't stay in p.j.'s all day. Then it was off to school for Emma. She begged me to walk her in and after fighting with Anna to get out of the car, we made it inside the school only to have Emma take off and never look back. She didn't say goodbye or even care that we were walking behind her. Why did I walk her in? I could've just dropped her off, saved Anna from walking in and saved myself a headache. But once Emma was at school and it was just Anna and me, all was calm. Thankfully, Anna and I had a mellow day. Oh the joys of reality! I wish Dave could be on a [paid] vacation forever... and that Emma's school started at 9:30 instead of 7:50 and went until 12:00, so pick up time didn't interfere with naptime... and that the girls were happy to see each other in the morning... and ... Why doesn't the world revolve around me and what I want? Reality just isn't as much fun as my dreamworld. :-)

I think I surprised him...

Today is Dave's birthday. It is a monumental year... he is entering into a new decade. In order to properly celebrate, I thought it would be fun to have a lifelong friend of his from California come visit. I spoke with Darin and his wife Janie about it this summer when we saw them and they seemed interested. Earlier in the fall, Darin let me know the flight was booked. I kept the secret for months. That was hard to do. It became really difficult the last few days. Fortunately we had an appraisal set the day before Darin and Janie showed up, so getting the house ready for company was easy enough to do. The closer it got to their arrival though, the more excited I was, and the harder it was to not tell Dave. But I managed to keep quiet and he was very shocked when he opened the front door yesterday and there stood Darin and Janie! He was in shock for a long time. It has been fun having them here. I am so thankful they could make it out here and celebrate Dave's big day. I am sure it is a birthday surprise Dave will not soon forget. :-)

The Advent Season...

We are well into our Advent season anxiously awaiting Christmas. The girls are excited. Emma stated the other day, "Christmas isn't about the gifts. It is about Jesus who was born on Christmas Day." She is right. It isn't about the presents. It's not about how many we get, how much we spend, who got more, did we buy enough... It's about remembering and celebrating the most precious gift of all... the day Jesus was born, the day He took on human form, the day He graced this world with Himself.
We have tried to teach this to our girls. When they look back and remember Christmas as a child, I want them to have happy memories of giving. Memories of fun together as a family. Memories of celebrating Jesus's birth.

We have this great advent calendar that I was able to copy from a friend of mine (Thanks, Jen). I filled each pocket not with candy, but with activities. We started by making gifts to give to someone else. Other days, we have driven to look at Christmas lights, had hot chocolate to drink, read Christmas stories, watched Christmas videos (The First Noel is a great children's video!). Yet to come is acting out the Christmas story from the Bible, and lastly, a slumber party in the living room on Christmas Eve.
After putting up a new ornament on the advent tree, we read from The ADVENTure of Christmas - Helping Children Find Jesus in our Holiday Traditions (by Lisa Whelchel). The kids are having a great time and it has become a nightly event to to do the advent calendar.
This Christmas has seemed less stressful and much more JOYFUL which is what it is all about! I am thankful for the gift of joy that I have this season!

How are you finding joy this holiday season?