Big Family Celebration #3

I guess I will go in reverse order (since my husband apparently already downloaded some the pictures off the memory card on his computer and it is with him at work).  Our last big Christmas celebration was with my dad's family.  It was my aunt's year to host, so we made the 6+ hour drive last Thursday to spend a couple days with my family.  We actually headed down a day early.  My sister and brother-in-law live within 30 minutes of my aunt and they agreed to watch Xavier for most of an evening so J.J. and I could have a date.  This was our second date since bringing Xavier home.  Last time we went to football game.  This time we went out to a movie and then had dinner.  It was so nice to just sit and talk!  Friday evening the whole family got together for food and games.  My aunt had a finger food contest and there was so much food!  Xavier even made pigs in a blanket.  Saturday we got together again and, of course, ate some more.  We played more games and just enjoyed each others company.  Xavier had so much fun running around with his cousins.  The event was in a church fellowship hall that doubles as a gym, so there was plenty of open space for running, spinning, jumping, rolling on the floor, all those things that Xavier likes to do.  We headed home early in the afternoon.  Xavier did so well in the car.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but he usually behaves marvelously in the car.  There have been a few exceptions, but this time he was a trooper.  Once again I hardly got my camera out, but I did snap a few cute pictures of Xavier with his youngest cousin.

Looking very mischievous

I had to crop the photos because the poor kid had an accident and his mother didn't bring him any extra pants so he spent most of the day running around pantless.  I thought I would save him the embarrassment later in life of having diaper pics on the Internet.

Christmas Vacation

So I took a Christmas vacation from the Internet.  Well, not entirely, but I didn't do my usual once a day checking of blogs, Facebook, etc.  I am now hopelessly behind on news and it will take me awhile to get caught up on blogs, but I really enjoyed having J.J. home for two whole weeks!  He headed back to work today and Xavier and I tried to get back into our previous no-Daddy routine.  He has asked about his Daddy so many times today.  Right now we are about to head to a basketball game so we can get in a little more Daddy time today.  In those two weeks we were busy enjoying Christmas cheer and New Year's fun.  I am going to try posting each day this week so I can share some of our favorite new holiday memories.  I hope all your Christmases were merry and bright.  Welcome to 2012!!  (Oh, actually Christmas isn't quite over because we plan to do some celebrating Friday for Russian Christmas Eve.  Anyone have a good recipe for borsch?)

So Long Thanksgiving, Hello Christmas!

Another holiday has come and gone and once again I did not break out the camera a single time.  I even had three chances.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' church the night before Thanksgiving. Then we had dinner with J.J.'s family and my parents on Thanksgiving day.  Then we had our church dinner last night.  In all that feasting I did not stop and think, "Hmm, this is our first Thanksgiving as a family.  Just maybe I should take a picture to commemorate this occasion".   I did stop to be thankful though.  I am not the best at reflecting or soaking in the moments.  We used to hear about "ah, ha" moments in education all the time, but those are few and far between for me.  If I was truly honest I am pretty much a live on the surface kind of person.  There were moments this past week that made me stop and think though.  I am so thankful to be a mommy.  Xavier is one fantastic little boy.  I thought about where we were a year ago and it amazes me to be here with a little boy draped across my lap telling me about "buttons" and "dogs" while I type.  So I was thankful and I am thankful and I, hopefully, will continue to be thankful.  Can you really document that with a photograph?  That sounds like a good excuse.  Now I have started off the Christmas season with a bang of success in the photography department.  Enjoy and welcome to the season of joy.

 

Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts

Helping Daddy put the tree together

Best gift is already under the tree

Hanging ornaments

Helping Daddy put the angel on top of the tree

Eating a cookie after some hard work decorating

"I love you" and other miracles

Our Orphan Sunday event was a success!  It was an emotional day for me.  I had invested some time and prayer and (why can't I stop) worry into this day, but it seemed to go off without any hitches.  We had a good size crowd for something that had never been done before.  The chili and stew was yummy and it was a gorgeous day outside.  Several people had questions for our speaker and she did a fantastic job giving them information about all the services her agency provides.  It was interesting for me to hear about the projects closer to home because we spent our time focused on the international side of things.  That was miracle number one.  Now we are getting so much rain that water has pooled in our backyard and it is running down the edge of the street.  That is miracle number two.  And, after 5 months with us Xavier will now say "I love you".  We've been saying it from day one and we kept hoping he would reply, but some things just take time.  We actually are a little sneaky, but if we whisper "I love you" he will usually whisper back.  Best words ever!!

Orphan Sunday

Tomorrow is National Orphan Sunday.  We have had a small recognition at our church each year, but we decided to try something bigger this year.  I talked to all the other pastors in our community and we have joined together to host a donation lunch and speaker.  We will be serving chili and stew.  Then a representative from one of the agencies that J.J. and I worked with (two agencies work together on the Russia program, one in Dallas and one in Tulsa) will share about their agency's work and adoption in particular.  I actually have no idea how this is going to go over.  We've never done this before, but some year has to be the first annual, right?  I am so excited to share our passion for adoption and orphan care with whomever is willing to come.  So many babies, kids, and teens that need homes.  If you live close enough please join us at the First Baptist Church fellowship hall tomorrow at 12:30pm.  Thanks!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I will have to confess first about how I got this recipe.  I was riding with two other coach's wives to the last out of town football game.  When we got back to town one of them left some magazines in the vehicle saying she was just going to through them away.  Well I scooped them right up because I saw this recipe and was really excited to try it.  Whew!  Don't you feel better already?  Now on to baking.  I actually baked the sweet potatoes the night before and kept them in the fridge until we were ready to bake.  Xavier is my ever ready baking assistant and quality control expert.  He found this particular batter to be fantastic.  I think he actually liked the batter better than the finished product. 

  The really fun part for me was tucking the Hershey's kisses in after the cupcakes had baked a few minutes.  I had another handsome assistant who came home for 2 seconds on his lunch break help me unwrap the candy, but he didn't stick around long enough to get his picture taken.

                      The cupcakes turned out so well and this chocolate frosting was wonderful!

                  I won't even tell you how much butter the whole thing required.  It was just worth it.

"Pumpkin Patch"

Notice the quotation marks.  We set aside a Saturday to visit a pumpkin patch in a town far enough away you don't want to drive that far unless you have fairly big plans.  Saturdays during football season are hard to come by, but the team was playing in another town about an hour and a half south so Xavier and I made the drive together.  We got to the pumpkin patch town (much bigger than the location of the football game.  We play 6-man football.  That means all our games are in tiny towns like home) really early so we could do some shopping.  Xavier had received some birthday money so we had fun picking out books and clothes together.  First, though, we ate lunch at McAlister's Deli. Yum! Daddy doesn't like that place so we have to save it for Mommy/Son dates.  They have great kids meals and some locations only charge 99 cents! We made it to the football game in time and J.J. drove us back to our hotel on Friday evening.  Well, it has not rained here in ever so long.  The summer just stretched on and on with heat and drought.  I was never so happy to feel the arrival of Fall as this year.  Needless to say the weather was perfect this Saturday morning for rain and who was I to complain when we needed it so desperately.  Both pumpkin patches in this town were closed due to the weather.  We ended up visiting a stand near a grocery store.  Xavier didn't know the difference and he did get to pick his own pumpkin and ride in a wagon.  I guess we'll try again next year.  On a side note, our own little pumpkin patch that I had written off as a beautiful mess of huge vines is actually producing some pumpkins now.  Stay tuned for more adventures as we attempt baking from our own garden!

Lunch at McAlister's

Being pulled in the wagon

Pulling the wagon

Choosing the perfect pumpkin

I love this picture! We didn't even tell him to grab the pumpkin.  He did it all on his own.

Picking out some baby pumpkins

Taking the wagon back to the lot

Snoozing on the drive home with bear