in between Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year

It's such an exhausting place to be in... right in the middle, don't you agree? The high from Christmas is wearing off, and the lull is a tad unsettling. The new year is looming, and with it all the resolutions that I dread making, because I know that by February, they will be just an uncomfortable memory of "something I should be doing, now what was it?"

We had the most wonderful Christmas. I just have to thank the Lord. He helped us have a fabulous family get together, that I know I'll remember. I made ham, that finally for the first time in three years, wasn't a disaster. (you ask... how do you mess up ham?! it's precooked! well, you have a point, but still, if something can go wrong with my cooking, it will. everyone has a talent, and cooking isn't one of mine. lol.) we all hung around in the living room together, talking and watching a christmas video, and then we read from the Bible, Isaiah, Matthew, and Luke about the birth of Jesus. we sang some christmas carols, and had a nice little talk. Such a warm time, so comfortable. we made it a point to make christmas gifts for eachother this year, just to help make the holiday more personal. my dad made a fantastic foot stool for under my sister's desk at work, my step mom made pillows and a photo album for my hubbie, my mom knitted pocket books for everyone, and a squishy ball for the baby, and my sister made a mother's bracelet for mom, ironed a nice snowman tote for me, and stained a little niknak shelf for my brother. :) i crocheted a wash cloth for my dad, a slipper tote for my stepmommy, a bookmark for my mom, a button towel for my brother, and a shawl and scarf for my sister's build a bear. it was soo great. i think i'll ask us to do that every year. boughten presents are nice, but handmade presents are so much better. you can see the love in them and the work.

so, now i just have to hang around and wait for the new year. and i just know it will be a great one.

quick hi before the holidays swamp us.

(GABE-ZILLA)


it's been a while since i've written anything here. i'm sure everyone else is as busy too, so you're probably not sitting around on your computer either, lol.
gabey keeps sabotaging the presents we put under the tree, so we finally put the presents all in garbage bags so he wouldn't open anything. lol. his back teeth coming in are giving him fits, he wakes up from every nap crying , and is waking up in the wee hours of the morning crying. i'm giving him advil, and that helps a little. we got most of our shopping done, except for our nephews and neice, which will just have to get checks. we went to the mall last night to get gift cards, and it turns out our card has been reported stolen, they flagged our account because there was a charge on it from BUCHAREST! um, no trips to bucharest lately, that i can recall! so we had to close the account, and we'll have to go to the bank branch to get another card. yicks. what a poopy thing to have happen just in time for the holidays, luckilly i had a little bit of cash, just enough to get the ham for sunday.
this weekend will be booked solid, so i probably won't even be on until next week. but then, i'll post pics and everything. update- we went to the bank, and cleared everything up, i love the USA!

Zippety Doo Dah!

Gabey sings
"Zippety Doo Dah!" it's so awesome, he says it really clear, and his voice goes up at the end like he's really singing it. what a ham!

Thank you Lord for giving me such a loving husband

My sweetie surprised me last night.
He arranged for us to go to a bed and breakfast in Niagara Falls for our anniversary! My sister is coming over tomorrow morning, and watching the baby, and we're leaving for a 2pm check in. We're staying there til sat evening and then heading back.
I love my hubbie!! LOL!
I'm going to miss the baby. but, i totally trust my sister, and know he'll be safe and happy.
OOOOO, i'm so excited. I'll write all about it, when i get back. :):)

this picture is from the last time we went to niagara falls. it was with our sunday school class. i had just found out i was pregnant with gabey. it was a lovely time, but a little limited as we were with a group. this time, it will just be us doing whatever we want to do.

"tooth...hoort?"

Gabey's back teeth are coming in, yicks! Last night, we were up from 2am-3am. all of us, lol. gabey wanted to share his misery. jeff, gabey and i hung around, and had hot chocolate in the wee hours.
i gave him some advil, and he slept fine, but still woke up at 8am.
Sunday, I checked and i thought i felt the left back tooth coming in, those must hurt like crazy, well, only 3 more to go, lol. i have to remember to give him advil before he goes to bed, it lasts 6-8 hours, so i may get a full night's sleep.
He says "oh, heavens", it's so cute. i don't know if i can type it phonetically...
("oh, hiehbens"), and "ho ho ho", and the best one ever.... he tries to say "bobbity boo" from the Cinderella song... ("bobba doo")!

Fluffy Tail

I have no clue where he got this, but last night, Gabey was walking around with his hand on his bottom saying "Fluffy Tail" over and over again! I was rolling. How does he come up with these things?

NorthCoast Baptist Church has a building now!!

My hubbie and i have been helping start a new Baptist chuch in Lakewood, called NorthCoast, and for a year now, we've been having to rent the meeting room of an assisted living place. I'm thankful that we've had such a nice place to meet, but it's definitely NOT ideal. we've been looking at this church building forever, and my pastor really thought it was the one for us, and just this week we put a bid on it, and GOT IT!!Now we have to pray in the money to pay for it! I'm sooo excited. I was a kindergarten sunday school teacher for years at our home church Cleveland Baptist, and i've really missed not being able to have a sunday school. with this building, which is an actual church building, we'll be able to have all the extras, like sunday school, and stuff. also, we've been meeting at my house for the wed night bible study, and so we'll be able to meet there. and it has a real working BELL! how totally cool is that? here's a picture i took when my hubbie and i were driving by to look at it.
Jan 25th is our organization ceremony, where we'll sign the charter and become our own church (not just a ministry of CBC) and then Pastor signs the papers to own the church building on the 26th! Wohooooo!!

gabey in the snow

it's funny, i think i started this blog with gabey in the snow. lol.
i got him a new coat and snow pants, and boots and a hat and mittens. we're all set. i took him out today, and he played in the back yard, and then we went for a walk in the neighborhood. it wasn't all that cold out, and the snow was a bit wet, so we didn't really crawl around a lot. i only found one glove, so i couldn't really do too much in the snow. the funniest thing he did was to walk around carrying snowballs, and calling them snowmen. he would rub his nose with the snowball, like he does with bunny. then he discovered that they're edible. lol. we spent more than an hour outside.