happy birthday silas

today was silas' first birthday. my baby is growing up, sniff-sniff. he has been trying to walk lately. he spent all evening showing off that he could stand all alone. he will stand for a while and then sit down and clap. he is so loving, cuddly, and has quite a temper when it comes to eating or getting a drink. i love him so much. i love how he is so very different from ellie. i am excited to see what the god has in store for him.

ABC's of me

A= Available~ No I've been married 6 1/2 years
B= Best Friend~ hmmmm
C= Cake or pie~ chocolate cake with whipped icing or yellow cake with chocolate icing
D= Drink of choice~ pepsi, sweet tea
E= Essential item you use everyday~ my laptop
F= Favorite color~ Chocolate, lavender, sage green, some light pinks
G= Gummy bears or worms~ Bears- Harbio (made in Hungary but you can by them at Wal Mart)
H= Hometown~ Belpre
I= Indulgences~ time by myself and pampering
J= January or February~ Feb.
K= Kids and Names~ 2- Ellie and Silas
L= Life is incomplete without?~ Love, Faith, Hope, and Trust.
M= Marriage date~ July 28, 2001.
N= Number of siblings~ 1 brother
O= Oranges or apples~ i dunno i like them both a lot
P= Phobias or Fears~ Drowning and Losing the ones I love.
Q= Favorite Quotes~ i'm not sure i have a favorite quote
R= Reason to smile~ my kids
S= Season~ Fall and Spring
T= Tag 3 or 4 people~ Ummm...just play if you want to.
U= Unknown fact about me~ i didn't get my license till i was 22
V= Vegetable you don't like~ lima beans
W= Worst habit~ worrying
X= X-rays~ several times i believe
Y= Your favorite food~ roast and dumplings, pizza (but I am picking about what I like and where I like it from), Chipolte Burritos
Z= Zodiac Sign~ Virgo

Thanks Sarah!

pics from christmas

ho-ho-ho

okay i think it has gone way to far. people are too sensitive! i find it hard to believe that even in the middle of july people think of prostitutes when hearing ho-ho-ho. i am getting so frustrated with how sensitive people are. so what are they going to do republish all the books about santa and write all the songs about him. give me a break! what's next renaming the garden tool, you know the hoe.

maybe i am not understanding to people's insecurities but i just don't get it.

check out the news story here: no more ho-ho-ho for santa

my personality

ISFJs are traditional, loyal, quiet and kind. They are very sensitive to other people's needs because they are very observant. They have rich inner thoughts and emotions. They value stability and cultural norms. They are very adept at giving attention to detail. They do not seek positions of authority

i found this on marko's blog.

on my way to work yesterday

i really am sick of the rain. but look at the beauty it has created.

love, learning, eagerness, togetherness, hope, compassion

love, learning, eagerness, togetherness, hope, compassion

is that part of the christmas spirit?
can the christmas spirit be an everyday thing?

i get so excited when i open my rss reader and find that one of my friends has blogged. i love to read what others are thinking and feeling. i especially love it when someone shares a store about an interaction with their children. my friend erica blogged today about her son loosing his tooth check it out here: esnod . i love it because i learn so much from others experience with their children. i hope that the things i learn i can apply with my children.
i love blogging, even if no one reads it, it gives me an outlet for my thoughts. i constantly have a lot going on in my head and it gives me a chance to get some thoughts out before i have too many thoughts going on at once.

i like snow, a lot! but i have mixed emotions of the pending snow headed this way. see saturday night is supposed to be the progressive dinner for the youth. we have close to 15 kids signed up and several saying they are bringing friends. it gives me a great sense of optimism. the fall retreat was very frustrating and caused me great discouragement. so i really don't want it to snow so that we can have the event and have fun with the kids. we have a special surprise guest planned to join us. i hope it all works out.

eli comes home tomorrow, yippee! christmas shopping is done, presents all wrapped, and cookie dough bought. we just need to have some family christmas activity time. baking, nativity play, stories read, crafts made and christmas movies watched.

i was shopping at kroger for the progressive dinner this evening. grocery shopping is quite a task with two kids and two separate shopping lists. any who, as i was putting the groceries in the car a woman emerged from the store screaming at the top of her lungs.
the little boy with her had to be maybe 5. as they walked to the car she yelled and belittled him the whole way there. i finished packing the car up and was getting ready to get in when i heard this:

"and you want me to love on you. you are out of your mind, get real."

i just wanted to cry. how can anyone talk to someone like that, especially a 5 year old.

should i have done something and if so what? do i call the cops? what do you do in a situation like that?

i am sure that was not the first time he has been spoken to, yelled at, like that. but what do you do?

i dunno.

little noises

i wish i knew how to use my ihome. i am tired, exhausted really. but ever noise is keeping me awake. i waited till i was on my way to bed to put the stuff in the dryer thinking that would help drown out the little noises, nope. so here i lay trying to make myself even more exhausted so i can sleep through the little noises. i am ready for eli to be home so i can sleep. i know, that's selfish of me. i need to get over whatever this is and just go to sleep. i am doing better than i used to though. used to be when eli went out of town i would leave and go stay at a friends or something. how did i ever live in an apartment by myself? well i think i am going to try to read for a little bit.

does it feel like christmas?

does it feel like christmas? some years i find myself not feeling like christmas until the christmas eve service.

winter doesn't begin until the 21st, yet we have enough snow on the ground to go sledding and make snowmen and to even have a couple snow days. ellie and her friend jaiyden played in the snow yesterday. they enjoyed making snow angels together. i love the snow just not the yuckies that come with it. i think everything looks so beautiful blanketed in the innocence of white. it is a reminder of what christ has done for me.

last night we decorated our christmas tree. 98% of our presents are wrapped and under or hidden awaiting someones arrival to put them under the tree. luckily i had 60% of my shopping done before december hit. i love to give people presents. i love to get someone something i know they will enjoy. but why does that seem to be the focus of christmas. i have entertained the thought of just gifting things in our loved ones names. but people expect so i feel the need to deliver. world vision has a whole catalog of things you can gift to other countries and even here in the us in your loved ones names. cows, goats, pigs, food, clothing, bibles, medicine, ect... i could help someone who doesn't have half of what we have with the money i spend on gifts.
i don't know how the ones i love would react though. some wouldn't mind and would be grateful that a family has food to eat or warm clothes to wear. i think others would be mad. and i don't know what my reaction would be. i love to get gifts! would i be disappointed or have joy that someones life is better. i would like to say that i would have joy but i don't know that i would , i think i would have a hint of disappointment.
i just feel like christmas has been a competition about who gets what and how much. why can't we just love each other and keep jesus the center of it all. i don't know. just rambling.

maybe because of the long list of have to's that need to be done this time of year i don't have time to slow down and even think about christmas.

i love to listen to christmas music. these days i find myself listening to the christmas program cd over and over. they are great songs and ellie is learning a lot from them about the christmas story. but i can't wait till december 17th, sorry julie!

we made our first gingerbread house as a family last night. when i was in high school one of my friend's mom taught me how to make and build one from scratch. i may try that nest year but this year we bought a kit. it was a lot of fun. ellie really enjoyed putting the candy on and sneaking a piece or two every once in a while.

last night was a good night. we slowed down a bit and decorated the tree, built a gingerbread house, and just enjoyed some family time.

hopefully we can have some more slow down time and enjoy the tree and family time.

i want to feel like it's christmas before christmas eve.

we had fun.

ellie loves to play in the snow. i can remember playing in the snow when i was a little girl. we played for so long outside that my wrists would start to get frostbite because they were not well protected. i used to love to play in the snow. not so much anymore, maybe because i have to clean up the mess.

birthday's, snow and christmas; what a month!

happy birthday eli!

for those who don't know today is eli's birthday. he is 29 today, not 30. eli keeps telling everyone he is 30.

rodgers christmas

i can't believe i am posting this picture! let's all just remember that it was the 80's and i ma now ashamed of my hair and glasses.

julie inspired me to blog about the christmas traditions that i remember. we lived with my grandmother so most of the traditions took place in our house.

~grandma always bought the double layer yellow box of whitmans chocolates. and then she would let us poke out thumb through the bottom so we could see if we liked that kind or not.

~the canister of hard candy we had every year. i bought one this year.

~we always made homemade pizza and put the christmas tree and watched christmas movies all night.

~my mom's side of the family all came over to our house on christmas eve. after grandma was moved to the nursing home we all went there every christmas eve. that's where the above picture was taken.

~every christmas eve we had ham sandwiches; aunt sandy's cheesecake, fruit salad and sugar cookies; mom's apricot salad and cheese and broccoli casserole.

~we always ate and then opened presents.

~our neighborhood was the neighborhood that everyone came to to look at christmas lights. but after we opened presents and everyone left we would go out with grandma and look at christmas lights.

~christmas music played all december.

~christmas parades

~the church christmas program

i miss christmas with grandma. it will never be the same!