We are thankful to have made another year of memories to tuck into our hearts.
Family time is at its best over the Christmas season.
Our hearts are full. We praise God for sending Jesus as a baby to a humble family so many years ago and then living among the earth for a season of time. His earthly example is one that we can never measure up to but we are so thankful to have his example none the less. We strive to be more like him daily and we want to be his hands and feet in the short time he gives us here on this earth.
Its all such an AMAZING story of Salvation and it never ever gets old... Praise the Lord!
Christmas school break... It is truly the BEST!
Kids are all over the house but the kitchen especially seems to be the number one gathering place this time of year!
Plus... if anybody gets bored for lack of school and outdoor activities lets just go into the kitchen and create something up to eat! (this seems to be the thing around here these days...:})
I just let them go... They do pretty well with clean up so it is not worth a fight... :)
Jenika is super good in the kitchen by now! She can make her dad and brothers pretty much what ever they desire without a problem. She also loves to bake! She made wonderful looking salted caramel brownies that we really didn't need at the time so I cut them up and put them on a lovely tray, stuck them in the freezer... for a New Years Party! Up above she is making Oreo Truffles that were a huge hit at the Christmas Parties!
Christmas Eve was low key. Justin and Eva went to Franklin to be with Eva's family and the rest of us finished up Christmas Day prep and then went to Zing's for supper.
Christmas Day was spent with my family...
Kath's four kiddos are still the youngest in this Dienner family... the two youngest get so much attention and LOVE they are the cutest ever!! We are so thankful to still have a few "little people" to snuggle and squeeze all day long...:)
Leanna thrilled with her guitar from Jenika! (it was a name exchange)
Christmas Day went by so quickly! Its always a great time at mom and dads! Thanks Mom and Dad for the gifts, the yummy meal and the wonderful day!
The day after Christmas worked best for us as a family to gather. We had a great lunch. Dave grilled steaks. They are always better then any others out there in our opinion...:) We had potatoes and veggies to go with the steaks and cream brulee with raspberries for dessert.
The gifts were fun to open... The big boys got fireproof safes, Under Armor backpacks and new Eagle's Beanies.
Jenika got a swivel adjustable office/art chair for her new art sketch pad and easel set up she got from her name exchange.
Javon got a remote control car thing that goes on almost any turf and it even goes in water! They had it out at the pond but it was so cold the battery just went dead real soon! This will be great when the pond water warms up again!
Eva got a kitchen aid mixer for her cupcakes. We love having her with us. She even likes Aquire and a few games were played into the night! Dave, Justin, Eva and Jordan played Aquire while I read and the Little's enjoyed time together with new gifts.
A gift to me... Jordan said... "I will run the house while you go with dad to Belize in February" When Eva piped in and said she would do a grocery run over this time I knew it was a go and they would all handle things for me! So excited! I'm not sure on all the details but it might happen that I see Belize this winter after all...:) Thanks Kids!!
Jenika told all of us she would clean out our cars real good for a Christmas gift! She has become good at car cleaning details!
I'm ready to have fun with these two rooms... We moved some furniture to the basement and these now empty rooms are awaiting a makeover... Paint, new flooring (for the sun room) and new furniture are all in the plans! I have yet to do browsing for anything but as soon as school is back into our schedule I'll be out furniture shopping. It will be a fun winter project! We are hoping to use our space better. So far this big Great Room pretty much just gets passed by. It has been eleven years now we have been calling this house our "Home".
What color should we paint!?? The "in thing/colors" changes so fast its hard telling what it will be in another eleven years!...:)
For now we still have the tree in the Great Room but not much else...:) The tree is still nice. It hardly dropped anything yet! Jenika and Javon did not want to strip it today when I mentioned it so I guess we wait until next week to move it outside.
Only a few days ago I replanted some new pods so we can refresh the tower and they are already sprouting up! This makes for some wonderful fresh salads all winter long!! The proper lights and a little knowledge can make indoor gardening just as fun as outdoor! (well not quit but its still great!)
The tomato is growing in leaps and I have to keep pruning it to keep it under control...
Today is still Christmas Vacation... We have cousins here for the night. Mark and James are here while Sam and Marilyn are on an anniversary getaway. We love having cousins!
The thing is though... I can't send them to the basement to do all their rowdy stuff. We have guests staying in the basement right now. (for five days) Trying to keep the rowdy kids from stomping down the floor is proving to be a challenge on this rainy day...:) They were caught playing spike ball in the Great Room a bit ago! I all of the sudden realized what it must sound like down below! Quickly we moved the spike ball play to the garage...:) Funny though how they only played for a few minutes out there. Hmmm Guess its not as fun as indoors...:)
Justin is also not sure about being moved out of his bedroom space in the basement but when a need arises we remember why we finished the basement out the way we did... To Bless when the need arises. Justin did okay it...;) So for today he is making the best out of being moved into the guest room upstairs and we try for the time being to keep from making to much noise up above our guests in the basement...:)
A few pictures of Javon and his friends last week... It was fun entertaining these three boys..:)
Javon LOVES his big brothers and they are so GOOD to him!! I tell him all the time how BLESSED he is to have big brothers that love him! He says "I know"...:)
This is how our Christmas break looks at times...;)
Javon is so happy when he doesn't have school on his mind! I love his happy giggles these days!
I read books and snuggle in blankets more on these days. I drink more coffee then usual. I don't feel guilty. Its a season of "Slower" for me and we all soak it up. I'm one that rarely sits but these days you would find me sitting cozy more...:)
The bed sheets are all being washed and changed today, the laundry is catching up but the routine itself is gone and we are having lazy mornings and late nights... Its been great!
Dave and I leave tomorrow for a one night getaway. Our 21st anniversary is on Sunday! I can't wait for a whole twenty four hour date with My Love!...:)
We have full hearts and we are feeling so BLESSED today!
Moving into a New Year with a clean slate looks exciting. The calendar and schedule is still wide open as we move into 2019 with fresh goals.
We are Blessed to all be healthy! (minus the stomach bug that caught Dave today. He had it bad today. Its been making its rounds among the brothers at the office. We hope nobody else here gets hit with it!)
Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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