Merry Christmas!

There are those that believe Christmas is for children. That there is a special magic surrounding the holiday that is felt the strongest by the smallest members of our families. I used to believe this as well. Now that I have my own children and they are getting to the age where they are beginning to understand that magic, I have to disagree that Christmas is for children. I have never felt the spirit of Christmas more than I have watching my own little ones fall under its spell.

Jamy and I are so blessed. We have each other and together have created three of the most amazing people I know. Together we have been through so much. I really have come to believe in the last few weeks, though, that we are just now entering one of the best times of our lives. Our children are getting to the age where they are understanding what a special time Christmas is and they are still young enough to believe. Right now as I type this, we are all snuggled in together getting ready for bed and watching a new movie that Santa brought. Our day has been relaxed and laid back so that the kids can really enjoy the day.

We used to do a bunch of running around on the holiday. It was hurry open presents, hurry get in the car, hurry drive two hours to Grandma's house, hurry eat, hurry drive to other Grandma's house, hurry eat, hurry drive to other Grandma's house, try not to puke from all of the hurrying and eating. The kids were stressed by the end. We were stressed by the end and we never felt like we got to spend quality time with any of our families. So last year, because I was ready to pop with Skylar and have a history of very quick labors we decided to stay home for Christmas. It was so great to not have to hurry, hurry, hurry all over. We talked it over and made a very difficult decision. We decided that right now, while our children are young, we need to step back and slow down for the holiday. Our decision was to not go anywhere but our own home for Christmas. I was sad at first because family means so much to me and I really miss getting together with everyone and celebrating. It is weird to not see Mom, Dad, Beth and Matt on Christmas. Now is the time though to make memories for my kids. I don't want those memories to be a blur of running from one place to the next. In the end it worked out great. We were able to get together with my entire family last Saturday and Jamy's family last night. Today we spent unshowered ,in our jammies playing with our new toys, building a snow man, and enjoying each other. AWESOME!!!!

So here are some highlights of our last 24 hours or so. Yippeee.....it is a white Christmas. I don't even know if I remember the last time we had snow on Christmas. What a gift!!! Now what did each one of us do all day. First off Jamy, he spent most of the last 24 watching A Christmas Story over and over while enjoying the new tacky leg nightlight I got him for Christmas. I watched with him on and off, but dang there is only so much a girl can do to support her guy! I played with the kiddos and finally got a chance to sit down and get some software installed on my new computer so that I could share the below pictures with you all.

Now the kiddos. As you can see from the pictures, they must have been good this year! The first couple of pictures are of them leaving treats for Santa. We had to leave cookies and apple juice because Abby was concerned Santa might be a little tired of milk by the time he got to our house. I asked her if she thought he would be full of cookies too. She said, "NOpe, nobody gets full of cookies!" The second picture is of Skylar discovering the cookies left within her reach and diving on it to "share" with Santa!

Next we have Princess Abby's new dresses for playing dress up and Weston's new train complete with train table built by Daddy. Finally, we have Skylar discoving that Santa left a sucker in her stocking. She was a happy baby.

I am trying to load my pictures to share while I type and it isn't working so I am going to post this for now and type more later with even more pictures to share.

I hope you each had a very Merry Christmas. There are still a few hours left so if you haven't done it already, stop for a moment and think about your own life. I hope you find many blessings, lots of joy and a load of Christmas magic!

She is an angel!

I apologize for the quality of the pictures this time. I think little fingers found my camera and messed with the settings. I didn't realize it until we were at the program and it was too late to try to figure it out. I hope they aren't too dark for you to see.

Here it is folks, the proof our angel is an angel. Abby had her Christmas program last week and she got to play an angel. She was very excited because she had wings. She also made a huge step this year. Believe it or not, chattermonkey hates to be in front of a crowd performing. She actually is not a fan of performing at all. Last year her teacher thought she didn't know her ABCs because Abby refused to say them. She will talk your ear off any other time. The minute you ask her to stand in front of a crowd, though, the thumb goes in the mouth, the head drops, and she stands frozen until it is over. This year, Jamy and I worked and worked with her. Okay, we bribed her with pizza a little bit as well. When the big moment came she walked out on stage and started to get the-deer-in-the-headlights look. I was pretty sure she was going to bolt. Then our little brave angel, sucked in her gut and started to sing. Jamy and I were in the back doing a little victory dance.

I have figured out in parenting the things that seem small are usually the biggest victories of life. I get more joy out of seeing my little one conquer her fear and sing or watching my baby boy try to figure out how to put the poop in the potty than I ever got over anything I accomplished.

So, Abby, if the day comes you are ever reading this I want you to know that I am so proud of you. You were scared, yet you stood up, found your courage and took a risk. You really can do anything if you just try. I believe that!

Wishful thinking....

Here are some pictures of the ice storm last week. In the middle of it, Abby asked me if we could go swimming. I said, "Honey, it is icy outside. Where do you want to swim?" She told me it was okay. We could put her pool up outside and if she got cold she would just come in and get hot chocolate. So here is a picture of her in her swim suit by the window with the ice in the background.

For those of you who are wondering, no I didn't let her go swimming outside! We filled up the tub and went swimming instead.

Keep warm!

And so we begin...

The next chapter in our lives has begun. Most of you know that Jamy and I have spent the better part of the last five years makin', birthin' and carin' for babies. I can not tell you how amazing this journey has been. When Jamy and I started out 21 years ago at the tender age of 14, I could have never imagined how our lives would become this incredible. We really are living the American dream. We have a great home, three beautiful children, and each other. I can honestly say that I love that man more now than I ever did before.



A little while ago, Jamy and I made the decision that the time to have more children is done. Now is our time to focus on our family and on raising these three beautiful kids. So in the spirit of that decision, Jamy went in last Thursday and had, as Donkey on Shrek says, "the Bob Barker treatment". He had a pretty miserable weekend, but headed back to work today. So thanks to everyone who called to see how he was doing. He seems to be feeling much better today. At least he is up off the couch! That is a major step in the right direction.



I am sad that that chapter of our life is over. It is weird to think about never feeling life growing inside me again. The excitement of a new member of the family is something that can not be matched. Not to mention, Overland Park hospital has really great French toast for the morning after delivery, so I am sad to think I will never have it again! All of that being said, I am excited to settle in with the man that I love and raise this beautiful family that we have created. I don't know what this new chapter in our lives will hold for us, but I do know it will be amazing.

Let it snow......

It seems the last couple of weeks I have had some profound thoughts on motherhood. Unfortunately, if you read my earlier post you know I have been up to my ears in busted junk so have not been able to get on the computer much to write.

I will save the thoughts for another day and just share these pictures we took of the kids over the weekend. We laughed so hard that I nearly peed my pants and Abby did pee hers as we played in the snow with our dog Fudge. That crazy dog pulled Abby on her sled all over the yard. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in quite awhile.

Enjoy!

Holy crud.....it is raining ice

So we apparently are in the midst of a major ice storm. They said it would be bad, but yikes!!! It started raining at our house at about 6 pm. It is now 8 pm. I looked out the window a few minutes ago and everything is covered in ice already. Looks like we will be ice bound easily by morning. Gonna have to dig out my Little House on the Prairie books so I can remember how to survive without modern conveniences.

Speaking of modern conveniences, life at the Dunbar house has been so weird it is almost comical lately. About a month ago, Jamy and I decided to splurge and buy a little fireplace for our front room. We had some extra money laying around and decided, "what the heck" . We never just go buy something because we want it. Usually, it is months of planning, saving, yada, yada, yada. About two days after we did that our T.V. went the way of the dodo. So it was off to the store to get a new one, because, damn, it is the middle of football season!! A couple of days later, Jamy gets a flat tire. You guessed it, it can't be fixed. Off we go to the store to buy a new one. The next day, I get a flat tire. My tire isn't worth fixing so, yup, back to the store we go to buy two more tires for my truck. Meanwhile, our computer has been acting up over the last few months. You are getting the hang of this, aren't you? That's right, last night my hard drive apparently crashed. Now this would not be a big deal except my children's ENTIRE freakin' childhood is saved on this wonderful piece of modern technology. I know, I know, you are thinking, "she's a smart girl. She has those pictures backed up somewhere." Not so, my friend. I just kept putting it off. After a couple of calls to my stepfather and some poor computer geek at BestBuy we decided to turn it back on and see what happened. God took mercy and started it up. I ran, and I do mean ran, to our local Duckwalls to get some CDs to back up those pictures. I got them home stuck them in and started trying to copy files. The CD drive made a horrible noise, vibrated and promptly gave me a big old warning that it was screwed. So, back to the store we go.


Now here is the kicker, I am putting away groceries tonight (of course, I had to go back to the store and stock up because the mother of all ice storms is scheduled to hit us) when I smell something burning. I step into the utility room to find my washing machine, whose warrenty expired just two short months ago, is not spinning and apparently is burning its motor out. Alas, because I married Mr. Handy, this one did not require a trip to the store. He fixed it, at least for now.

So there you go, modern convience at its finest. I tell you, those pioneers were onto something. Cook over the open fire using wood you cut yourself. Wash your clothes in the stream. Send a letter to a friend on the back of a horse. Finally, dig a hole, take a crap and bury it!!

All of this happened because Jamy and I had a few extra bucks laying around and decided to splurge on that fireplace instead of paying a bill or putting it into savings like we normally would. I wish I could say that in the midst of the ice storm when we are sitting huddled like the pioneers with no electricity we will enjoy the warmth and glow of our new fireplace that started it all. Not to be though, that's right you guessed it, the damn thing runs on electricity!!!!

Stay warm, be merry and see you when we get power back!!!