reflections

Happy New Year all!

It's that time of year when we reflect on all that we've accomplished {or haven't accomplished} and set new goals  for the new year.  We're hopeful, wishful, re-energized.

Last year I set 5 goals for myself.   I did OK on some.  Some I really didn't do so hot at.  They were:

1.)  remember to take pictures at Andrews family events  I did better than I had, need to do even better

2.) build my business  really lost focus last year.  time to re-focus

3.) make 1 fantastic craft every month I did about 50%, need more.  It’s for the soul!

4.) loose 25 lbs.  gained 15!  Blech!

5.) Read the Old Testament  read about 75%...not great but satisfactory.  Loved what I read.  re-gained a testimony of the truthfulness of the Old Testament.

Now it's time for the new Goals for 2011.  I've decided maybe I need a theme for the year.  I've been thinking actually kinda hard and this is what I came up with.  "The year to do hard things".  I'm a wimp.  I know it.  I do challenge myself but I back down when things get too hard.  I always figure I'll get back to it and then I don't.  So, this is the year to learn how to stop doing that.  I chose a wallpaper for the begining of my blog year that is about 'back to school'.  I think this is my year to go back to school, just ina different way.  This year my goals are:

1.)    Try to be a better Andrews family member  *looong story
2.)    Build my business- do one business building activity per month
3.)    Make 1 fantastic craft per month
4.)    Loose 40 lbs.
5.)    Read the New Testament
6.)    Finish writing my book
7.)    Forgive myself for not being who I want to be
8.)    Learn to be girlie

What are your goals?  Do you write them down?  I plan to post mine on my blog and on my bulletin board in front of my desk at home.  I need to make myself accountable. 

a hedgehog tale

This is our dog Nikona.    Niki for short.  He is a sweetheart.  He's been a delightful if very hairy member of our family.  Nikona is 13 years old, *OLD for a husky* and he seems to be doing well. 

Every Christmas since Niki was younger he has gotten a stuffed animal in his stocking.  The first he ever got was a hedgehog and many of his succeeding ones have been hedgehogs.  His reaction to this little stuffed toy is so funny! 
Nikona is very possessive of his toy.  As soon as he realizes it's his he comes and gets his baby and then he hovers over his baby for days.  He carries it around in his mouth, hugs and cuddles it.  If he has to go outside to eat or go to the bathroom he checks out where his baby is and then comes running right back to it as soon as he gets back inside.  He scowls at us if we come close {for this photo I tried to arrange the hedgehog so it faced forward but everytime I touched the baby Nikona picked it up and repositioned it closer to him.  Hence the hedgehog does not face forward.}  To get to the point he is very possesive.  then, after a few days to maximum a week the baby mysteriously disappears.  We never see it again.  We think he burries them, or hides them in the ivy.  He comes in happy and isn't possessive anymore.  Repeated every year.

is this mine?

I'll take it

you can't have it!!

vanity post

While JR and peekaboo played with their video games, I scrapbooked and played with my cricut. I don't know who had the most fun, but at leaste I have something to show for it!!

...and to all a good night!

Christmas eve is a smorgasbourg of my family & JR's family traditions.

My family traditions are to have a fine feast & a family rendering of the Nativity Play.  My brother & his girls came for dinner and a play and although we were really short members of our play we still managed to pull it off somehow.

L-R: mary (heavy with child, Joseph (in PINK!), shepherd/inkeeper/wiseman, angel/wiseman & in front our narrator/Harod

Abi girl likes to ham it up for the camera.  She thinks it's cute.  Consensus disagrees with her.

he certain ain't no angel

JR's family has a never ending buffet and mega gift opening.

JoAnn & Jessia

John & sister Barb

We did both this year and I am so tired.

We finished up with the traditional reading of 'the night before Christmas' read by our 'reluctant' daughter who I think secretly still enjoys this tradition....

and the leaving of milk and cookies for Santa. 

she does try to humor me.  isn't she a sweet girl!

For me this time is precious.  The quiet time right before  Christmas when we gather as a family one last time. when we can feel the quiet of the night, contemplate the birth of Christ and anticipate the fun to come the next morning.

just 'cause

answers

Thanks for guessing about our treasure hunt.  T, you got the closest.  Here are the answers.

1. " If you get this gift in "TIME" you'll get the gift you want.  -IN THE GRANDMOTHER CLOCK
2. "How much "wood" can a wood chuck chuck?- WOOD PILE
3. " A GRAND FIR is a beautiful thing" - CHRISTMAS TREE (ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK!)
4. "You know you love to rock out to the "oldies" but goodies.  ( BEHIND THE VICTROLA)

As for your questions of what she got.  She's asked me not to tell, but she is OK with you guessing.  so, here's a hint.  She's wearing them in all of the photos.

-h

treasure hunt

We celebrated Peekaboo's birthday today.  It overwhelms me to realize my baby is this old.  She's got her own distinct personality, sense of humor, style.  She's her own person.  It's cool and scary all at the same time.  I remember being 15. Like I said, scary.

So, we had a low-key celebration.  Grandma Jo came and so did Uncle Sethy.  Peekaboo got a bunch of gifts....but she was really just searching for one.  There was one thing that she had asked for, REALLY, REALLY, DESPERATELY wanted and as she opened her gifts you could see her getting more anxious as each gift showed itself to not be THE one.  Finally, the last gift arrived and she tore into it only to look completely stumped.  It was the first of several questions in a treasure hunt sending her to different locations around our home.

Do you think you know the answers?  I dare you to try to get them right.  post here and if you get them all I'll be shocked!

1. " If you get this gift in "TIME" you'll get the gift you want.  
2. "How much "wood" can a wood chuck chuck?
3. " A GRAND FIR is a beautiful thing"
4. "You know you love to rock out to the "oldies" but goodies.  

Almost music

There is always something so precious about witnessing a child as they learn and grow.  Seeing them light up with the knowledge that they can "do" whatever it is, is a precious moment.

Tonight I witnessed such a moment (or several of them).  I attended my niece Abi's winter music concert.  The first part of the program were the fledgling string players, specifically violin and 2 cello.  they looked so adorable all lined up, at attention just ANXIOUS to play.  They lifted their bows and something that was not quite music came out of them.  It was ear splitting, headache producing and unrecognizable and YET at the same time there was a feeling of joy in the room as the parents and loved ones who'd come to support welcomed the JOY of the child learning.  It was sweet and precious.  I'm glad I was there.  I'm glad I didn't record it.

So, Abi's part went much smoother.  6 sweet little songs so adorably sung by the choir.  I videoed them, but my video's NOT good so I won't torment you. 

I do have pictures.

I will share!

traditions rock!

There's always a lot of discussion this time of year about traditions.  Family traditions and personal traditions abound around Christmas.  I love traditions.  I'm a traditional gal.  My mother built traditions around us.  There was a tradition for everything from what we ate to when we ate, how we got our tree, what we sang to our tree, who put what on the tree....it goes on and on.  Marrying my JR was a shock because he was tradition 'light' I guess you'd say.  The only tradition he had was that he eats Ham at major holidays. Ham???? that's it????  I quickly realized that if there was going to be any traditions in our home they would need to come from me.  So, I started with traditions from my childhood, some worked, some didn't (stolen anyone?).  Getting a Christmas tree turned into one of the meetings of the minds for the two of us.  Both of us love live, fresh trees and the hunt for the perrrrfect tree.  Over the years we've had quite a few adventures getting our trees.  One time we actually had to thaw three absolutely frozen trees in our garage (with little space heaters) and then spray one with fire retardant so it could be at the church. Looong story short.  There was an ice storm the night before, the missionaries wanted a tree for someone they were visiting, we wanted a tree for ourselves and I was in charge of the tree for the church, so we cut down 3 ice laden, HEAVY trees and thawed them in our garage.  It was messy, crazy and totally fun!  oh, and we got them from JR's tree farm...we went there for years!
So, now that we live in N.  We have a new tree place.  It's called Jorgensen's family tree farm.

WE love this little family business

Every year we hunt, peck and nitpick until we find the perfect tree.  Then, I try to get JR & Peekaboo to cooperate long enough to get a good photo (note:  JR's saying Christmas tree over, and over and over, and over again)

aaah, finally 20 photos later!

Then, I try to sing to the tree, while JOHN cuts down the tree!

Then, we schlep it down the hill

where the kind people of the tree farm shake the tree out and then bind it

WE then have hot cocoa and cookies and browse their items for sale...the pickin's were slim this year but we did get Mistletoe!!  Ha ha ha ha!!

Did I mention we got a Grand Fir this year?  Usually we end up with  Douglas Fir, they're prolific and inexpensive (relatively) but this year we found a Grand Fir that was just our size.  I gotta say it's the best smelling tree we've had in a looooong time!  Yum!

So, back home we go to set up out treasure.  This year peekaboo was tall enough to help set up our beauty and so she got to cut the twine on the tree--- drum roll please!

Isn't it a gorgeous Tree?

now we can turn on Christmas music!

Thanksgiving was held at C & R's this year.  Seth & his girlfriend Nichole drove up for the day, and so did we.  Christy provided a delicious brined turkey...YUM!  Seth made his hitmaking mashed potatos and I made 5 pies--- 1 apple, 2 pumpkin and 2 slighly burned chocolate (luckily, everyone had a good sense of humor about the burned chocolate.  Aaron even said, "it was pretty good, if you put enough whipped cream on it!) WE all had a lot of fun together.  Lots of wrestling went on.  The kids were hysterical.  Funny quotes of the day are: Aaron "I'm invisible" (because he wore camouflage in honor of Uncle John), Alton: " Easy peasy, lemon squeezy" (while he ran up the stairs to make a 'scorpion'), Kara "You broke my heart" (when Sarah had the audacity to not be upstairs playing with her.  There is such joy in simply being together.  Christy, Seth and I played a few rounds of Family Seek, just to brush up on our family history (hopefully we didn't scare Nichole).    It was a good day (loooong drive, but good day!)

 

Uncle John attempts to text "happy thanksgiving" while being tackled, constantly!

Alton's living for his art right now.  He decided his art belonged on his and Peek's faces!

the whole clan-- even the elusive ryan

you can't tell by his face- but, alton was thrilled to be taking a picture with uncle john

girl power!

Sethy and Nichole

the camouflaged ones!  (we almost couldn't see them in the couch!!)

back again!

JR and I have been married 17 years, actually, it's 17 years next week.  When we got married, it was 2 days after Thanksgiving.  We got married then because we thought it would be easiest for my friends and family who were away at school to attend, otherwise we would have to wait for spring and we didn't want to wait that long.  In retrospect, getting married at thanksgiving time has had distinct ups and downs.

The ups are:
Everyone's in a celebratory mood that time of year
JR usually has time off of work that time of year
WE always have our marriage to be grateful for @ thanksgiving

The downs are:
every 4 years our anniversary LANDS on Thanksgiving, making it expensive to go anywhere & our special day is glossed over in favor of the holiday everyone else is sharing
every 5 years our anniversary lands on a Sunday, ensuring that we don't go anywhere on those years- and for those who are curious those are the big ones...5th anniverary, 10th, 15th....we always end up doing something small on a different day so that we can keep the sabbath day holy.
JR may have time off...but, it is limited, meaning we usually can't get away for loong.

This year we had the opportunity to go back to the place we went on our honeymoon 17 years ago.  It's a condo owned by a good friend's parents and we were thrilled to be offered the opportunity to go.  Sneaking a way for time together can be hard.   There are so many pulls on us, on our time together.  I literally felt the pull as we drove away and then it snaked it's arms back around us when we came back, but while we were gone....we exhaled.....it was bliss.

For those of you who are familiar with the Oregon Coast in November...it is rainy and windy.  We have celebrate several anniversaries at the coast in near gale force winds (it's actually quite fun!).  Imagine our surprise when this particular trip we arrived in freezing, pouring down rain but awoke to blissfully blue skies.  It was surprising to say the least!

I'm so grateful for my time with my hubby, although I think I need more.  I think I'd just started the relaxation process when we had to come back.  I feel lucky that after 17 years together we still really like each other and are relaxed and happy in each other's company.  All in all 17 years is just a drop in the bucket.  It's a small fraction of the time I intend to stay committed to this wonderful man.

This quote says it all for me: "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

october 2010 recognition night

Recognition Night has come and gone.  It was actually held on October 10th but the leader who was going to bring her camera forgot so we enlisted a willing parent, who then was unexpectedly called to Japan (or is it China) on work for a while.  So, now...ta da....

Recognition Night pictures! 

For Muti

Ok, Muti,

This post is for you.  baby J came to Oregon briefly for a friend's wedding.  WE got together as a fam for dinner and frivolity.  Mostly, we just chatted about everything from politics to family, emphasis on two particular brother's having significant others.  We certainly covered a gamut of topics.

Abi & Cedes entertained us by dancing.  First Abi danced her dance.

Then, Abi & cedes danced together (no music available).

Too Cute!!

I did take some family photos.  It's tricky getting pictures of this goofy group. 

the sibs! (and I'm wearing heels!!:( )

one constant wrestling match!