"Christmas Memories"

Just wanted to share some of our Christmas memories... We always get dressed up and go to my Mom and Dad's for dinner on Christmas Eve.

I thought it would be fun to play some games this year (thanks for some neat ideas, Kim!). For this game we tore pieces of paper behind our backs in the shape of a Christmas tree. I'm surprised how well everyone did.

We also played "pass the gift", "blind drawing", and one-handed gift wrapping! Dave and I won for speed, Mom and Em won for the prettiest, and Nathan and my Dad, well...

Ready to open some gifts on Christmas morning!

Princess knows her present is in here somewhere!

3 sets of grandparents + 2 kids = waaaayyy too many gifts!!!

I couldn't resist getting one gift for Baby McClard...it was just too true and perfect for boy or girl... yes, this will be one loved baby!!

We end every Christmas day by singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and having birthday cake. This year I let the kids make the cake all by themselves. They did a super job!

"Merry Christmas"

For Baby McClard...wherever you are. We Love You and can't wait to meet you!

Dough Ornaments...

We're having a simpler Christmas this year, not because of the economy but because we are saving for a much bigger and better cause!!! I told Dave and the kids that all I really wanted was something they made together. They made our whole family out of salt dough ornaments! Here is how they looked when they came out of the oven, before painting... The finished product... I LOVE them!!! They even made a tiny baby... Merry CHRISTmas Everyone!!!

Construction Completion!!!

Our project of adding a 4th bedroom to accommodate our growing family is officially done! Everything is painted, cleaned up and everything is moved into its new room. We're very pleased at how it turned out and how inexpensive it was to do everything ourselves.

This is the view when you enter the bonus room, the door on the left is the entrance to Nathan's new room.
The office...the wall that the bookshelf and desk are on are the backside of the bedroom.

Nathan's New Room!

The other side of Nay's new room...

The Nursery (which was Nathan's old room)! At first I thought Nathan's blue walls and clouds from his "surf" themed room would look to boyish, but once I put all our "froggie" stuff in there I really like it and think it is neutral enough for now. It may stay blue or turn pink later down the road...

Let me just share a quick blessing.... when we started the adoption process we had not one baby item in this house. Thanks to very generous friends, yard sales, and a baby shower, I was able to put this whole nursery together for $ 50!!! My latest find were the curtain valances last week at the thrift store for $ 1.50!! They match the bedding perfectly!!

Now all that's missing is one thing...

Counting Down To Christmas

It's hard to believe Christmas will be here in less than a week... Our construction project is nearly done (pics coming soon...) we just have a little more sanding and painting left!

One of the kids favorite Christmas traditions is our advent calendar. Every day they find a different treat behind each door. Opening the door for each day is the first thing they do every morning! This year instead of candy or junk behind each door, they are putting together a Playmobil Nativity Set, finding different pieces each day.

Even Princess has an advent calendar...we got this one after Christmas last year for 99 cents! Every day she finds a different doggie treat! The funny thing is that it sits on top of the refrigerator and she has gotten used to the routine and she sits in front of the refrigerator looking up at it waiting for the kids to get it down!

Mud, Tape, and a Switcheroo!

Today we are mudding and taping the new room... since I took pictures of Dave all day yesterday hanging sheetrock he thought one of me applying mud was hilarious... yes, in the past 24 hours I have helped carry 11 pieces of sheetrock from the garage to the bonus room, helped hang the sheetrock (since one person can not hold and attach it alone), and mud and taped the walls. Since all the shopping is done and the gifts are wrapped, I thought some Christmas construction would be fun! Plus we all know when women get in there and help, the job gets done a little faster!!
We've officially decided that this new room will become Nathan's room and his old room will become the baby's nursery. This made perfect sense since his old room is right next door to ours and the new room also ended up being a little larger than his old room, and since he has the big bed that used to be in the bonus room it made even more sense for him to have a bit larger room. That probably all sounds confusing, but it works perfectly for us! So the kids and I tackled the big project this afternoon of switching out the closets...

The baby's old closet in Nathan's new room..

Nathan's old closet in the baby's new room...

Nathan's closet in his new room...

Baby's closet in his/her new room...

Coming Along...

We've been busy hanging sheetrock all day...it really looks like a room now!

10:45 AM... 2:30 PM...

4:30 PM...

He works fast and cheap!! I think I'll keep him!!

Construction...

Last week was a busy one around here... the kids sing in our children's choir at church and last week was our Christmas Program, it ran Tuesday - Saturday nights so we were out and about every evening running them back and forth to sing. They really enjoyed it and it was a blessing getting to watch them sing!

Dave's work is slow right now (typical for Dec and Jan) so he is taking the opportunity to start on sectioning off our bonus room to create a 4th bedroom for baby! He got it all framed out last week and is working on running the electric this week. We've even gotten used to schooling in the midst of all the hammering and drilling!

It's exciting to see it start to take shape. I'm thankful for a handy hubby that can do all this work himself and save us $$$$!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

We finished up our Christmas decorating a few days ago... I must admit it has been hard for me to get in "the spirit" this year. It feels like a part of our family and piece of my heart is missing, but what I'm trying to learn is that they are not missing, it just isn't time for us to meet him or her yet. Apparently, God's gift to me this Christmas it the gift of patience, something He so desperately knew I needed.

It only seemed right to hang 5 stockings this year, even thought the 5th McClard is not here with us yet, they are in our hearts. I'm glad I thought to pick up this extra stocking after Christmas at Target last year. I had a sneaky suspicion we may need it. :)

Football Fun!

Our boys spent the day at a FREE NC State Football Game! Our neighbors got tickets from his work and since they were out of town this weekend, they passed them along to us as a thank you for taking care of their pets while they are away. They have never been to a game before and didn't realize that the tickets were for a luxury box suite that even included a free buffet lunch! What a great surprise and blessing!

The girls spent the day at home finishing up the Christmas decorating, wrapping gifts, and watching "The Parent Trap"!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope you had a blessed day with family and friends. What a great day to stop and reflect on all we have to be thankful for... I count my blessings today for my wonderful husband, children (even the ones I have not met yet), family, friends, my home, our country, my salvation and so much more. We spent the afternoon at my Mom and Dad's house, my Mom blessed us with a huge dinner with all the trimmings. I was in charge of desserts... we had homemade pumpkin pie, Harvest Pound Cake (this one is delicious with chopped apples and nuts in it), Pumpkin Dessert Squares, and Pilgrim Hat Cookies (made by Nathan & Emily).

"Family Night" & November Snow!

Our homeschool co-op fall semester ended this week and we had "Family Night". This allows the kids to display some of the projects they have made and some of the classes do presentations. It's fun for the kids and we always look forward to it.

Nathan took a class on "Slavery in America" where he learned what life was like for a slave. I am so impressed at the things he learned and some of the things he came home and taught me that I never knew. He also took a class called "Investigate This" where he learned how to do research and write reports. He made several different file folder reports on minerals, jellyfish, Yellowstone, Endangered Animals, and one about himself! I count it such a blessing to be part of this group and for other Moms that use their talents to share knowledge with my child. Emily took a "Little House in the Big Woods" class where they read and discussed the entire 1st book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and made some really fun crafts. Her other class was a "Picture This" art drawing class. Her "Little House" class did a short skit for family night acting out scene from one of the chapters, here she is in her pioneer attire!

We were tickled to wake up Friday morning to snow flurries! We don't see a whole lot of snow here, and we have never seen it in November so this was a treat. It lasted just long enough to make a light dusting on the deck and for the kids to ask if we were taking a "snow day" off from school!

Gobble, Gobble

One of our grocery stores had a great sale this weekend with turkeys for 29 cents a pound! Since I am always on a mission to stretch our food budget it made sense to pick one up, cook it and make it into some meals for the freezer. We'll call this the "before" picture... a 20 pound bird for less than $ 5.00! And after...I spent yesterday turning him into 13 meals of Turkey Pot Pie, Turkey Divan, Easy Turkey Stuffing Bake, Hot Turkey Sandwiches, and Turkey Noodle Soup! I figured it would be a blessing to have some ready made meals, especially if a baby may be coming soon...