World Peace or....

At least now I know what's important to God.

Snack Time at Sasha's "Pad"

While I was getting lunch ready yesterday, Morgan decided to kill time by hanging out with Sasha. Sasha usually isn't too tolerant of Morgan sitting on her mat; thankfully, she was distracted by her bone this time. Of course, by time Morgan got up, her fleece pants were coated in white dog fur. Awesome....

Hmmm....Can I try some of that?

In other pop culture news, I have relented and am reading Twilight. Normally I am not a fan of anything in the Fantasy/SciFi genres. However, I was persuaded to read Harry Potter a few years ago and was very pleasantly surprised. So the buzz over this book by people whose opinion I respect got the better of me ... well, that and Kara showing up and handing me a copy of it. I'm about half way through it, and I have to be honest, I'm not getting all the fuss so far. In fact, at this point, I'm annoyed with both main characters who seem to have no depth or substance to them and the extremely adolescent teenage love story. I hope it gets better or I don't think I'll be wasting my time with the other three books in the series (unless I feel the need for some plot closure :). I guess I'll be losing a couple friends after this...

The tree is put away...

...but the warm feelings of a fabulous Christmas season spent with our awesome families remain. We have so many great memories of this holiday season! Unfortunately, I didn't capture nearly as many of them as I would've liked on camera (and after seeing the ones I did catch, I'm wishing for a better camera or better knowledge of my current camera). Nonetheless, I've attached a few pics for your curious eyes.

As you may have read in my last post, our Christmas celebrations were kicked off by a family flu. So much fun... As a result, our Schlueter family Christmas was postponed to New Year's Day. Thankfully, all three of us felt fine as we left for Chicago the Monday of Christmas week. We spent two days up in the Windy City where we enjoyed single digit temperatures, falling snow, beautiful holiday lights, Chicago-style pizza (twice!), and, of course, family!

Christmas Eve was spent in a Hyatt Hotel in one of the suburbs. Kel and Jess joined us there, and we celebrated our Walsh family Christmas (minus the Polites' who were with Matt's family). Christmas Day was spent at the Kilmer Farm with a crowd of 37 people (all family!!). It was so much fun to be back with everyone after taking last year off. The day after Christmas we were able to visit with Grandma Walsh, and then Saturday we dealt with the nightmare that was Midway Airport (long story...). On the upside, we made it home on our originally scheduled flights and Morgan was angel!

My cute little family

Morgan and Daddy enjoying one of their favorite toys - Legos!

I swear you can bribe my daughter with a box of raisins these days.

My adorable niece Maddie

Matching Cousins

New Year's Eve we headed up to the Schlueter Family Ranch and celebrated that holiday with Dad & Mom Schlueter. No New Year's is complete without Mamma Mia and smore's :) (I must admit I now find I keep singing Abba songs). I was also proud of the rest of the fam - everyone actually stayed awake for the New Year this year!!

New Year's Day, Jen & Brian and Grandpa & Grandma Schlueter joined us at the ranch for our belated Christmas celebration. We had a great lunch of honey-baked ham, rolls, mashed potatos (I made 10 lbs. worth - it was a bit much), and a chocolate trifle. Then it was onto the gifts! By this point in the season, Morgan was a pro at opening gifts and went to town on her packages and everyone else's. Jen & Brian were the givers of this year's tacky gift - a pastel pink, prelit, four-foot Christmas tree! Sadly, I don't have pictures. Brian claims if we had had Christmas on the originally scheduled date, we wouldn't have received it since he found it in a post-Christmas sale. Darn flu...

Happy with Grandpa & Grandma

Teaching her right...

I love the bows!

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays as well! I look forward to seeing you in this new year. Like Kara, I refuse to make resolutions because I hate to be disappointed and am too realistic to think I might actually keep them. Accordingly, I don't make any promises to get better about blogging more frequently. If you really want to keep tabs on me, join Facebook . I'm on there all the time!

Christmas Emotions...

Santa Torturing Morgan

While I normally love this time of year, I must confess that this year's preparations for my favorite holiday have left me feeling frazzled. Part of this may just be that my entire family is currently recovering from a nasty flu or stomach bug and we leave for Illinois tomorrow. All of the "things" - shopping, gift wrapping, baking/cooking, decorating, writing cards, celebrations, and other "obligations" - have served to steal my joy on a few occasions this Christmas season. I'm hopeful that our travel up to Chicago (which is currently buried in snow and enduring single digit temperatures) will go smoothly and that once I'm with my family, I will experience a fresh wave of joy.

I don't think this was what God had in mind for me... or for any of us as we celebrate the reason for Christmas: the coming of his Son to save us from our sins. After this holiday season ends, I need to sit down and re-think what I did wrong this year and what can be cut out next year so that I don't miss out again next year. Particularly as Morgan gets older, I want her to know the true joys of Christmas ... and get to experience it with joyful parents!

All that being said, I wish you, my dear friends, a Merry Christmas filled with joy recognizing the blessing we have in the Son who came to bring our salvation! I value each of you and am grateful for the friendships you have blessed me and my family with this past year.

With love,
Barb

Morgan's Christmas Portrait

My Thanksgiving Meme

So I'm already thinking about food in anticipation of Thanksgiving!! The whole giving thanks thing is great and all, but isn't everyone's focus really on the food anyway? Okay, and maybe some football too...

I do love food, but more than the food at Thanksgiving, what I also love about the day is that it ushers in the Christmas season in such a nice way. But in an effort not to brush aside the importance of Thanksgiving and rush onto my favorite holiday, I've decided to stop and reflect - on food ... and a little bit on Thanksgiving :)

1. Which do you like better: Cooking at your house, or going elsewhere? Going elsewhere is certainly more relaxing – though I’ve never cooked Thanksgiving at my house and would like to give it a try.

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird? Again … never cooked a turkey but would like the opportunity.

3. What kind of stuffing? Good old fashioned Stove Top – sometimes people get a bit too “creative” when they make it themselves. I don’t want any giblets in my stuffing (Mom!).

4. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Do I look like a Southern girl to you? I don’t want no stinkin’ sweet potato pie – bring on the pumpkin!

5. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing? Modest amounts of leftover turkey are okay. I hate when it gets reintroduced as other dishes though – i.e. Turkey Surprise, Turkey Goulash, Turkey Casserole, Turkey Ice Cream.

6. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu? If at a Kilmer family event, it would be the dinner rolls…

7. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock? Ewww… carcass.

8. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier? A babysitter ☺

9. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour? We’re noontime Thanksgiving meal people in our family. However, I’ll be making the pies (my contribution this year) ahead of time!

10. If you go to somebody else's house, what's your favorite dish to bring? The rolls (so I know that they’re good ☺).

11. What do you wish one of your guests wouldn't bring to your house? Freaky canned cranberries – you know the kind that come out looking like the can it was in…

12. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you're happy to see? Good group ‘cause we have a good fam.

13. What's your absolute favorite thing on the menu? Tie between mashed potatoes and rolls.

14. What are you thankful for this year? As always, I’m beyond grateful for the life God has blessed me with. It is filled with my wonderful husband and daughter, awesome parents and sisters (mine and JD’s), a job I love, the good fortune of living in the best country on the planet, and a God who provided it all!

I'd love to see your responses. Fellow bloggers, here's an easy post for ya (especially my NaBloPoMo friends)...

Kel + Jess = 4EVER

My baby sister Kelly got engaged yesterday to an awesome guy Jess Heugel. I'm so excited Kel finally met "the one" for her. I feel like I've been praying for the right person to come along for her for a long time, and I truly believe that in Jess that prayer has been answered. He'll make a great addition to our family; I just hope he knows what he's in for :)

Oddly though, for my sisters and I all having such a nondescript maiden surname of "Walsh", we all are ending up with crazy weird married surnames - Schlueter, Polites, Heugel. Who do you think got the worst shake of the three of us?

Anywho, CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN TO JESS & KEL!!!

My Camo Kid

Anyone who knows JD & I knows that at this time of year we can often be found out at the ranch due to hunting season (all Jonathan, not me :). This year we've been so busy that this weekend was the first time we made it up. Unfortunately, Jonathan didn't get a deer. However, we were able to finally put Morgan in the John Deere camo t-shirt Aunt Kaye gave her. I decided to accent it with a bit of pink though...

The three trees - you almost couldn't see them, could you?

One of Jonathan and Morgan's favorite pastimes - "wiggle seat"
*Oh yes, the finger/thumb sucking is a recent habit. Boo.