Weekly Preview and Review

Saturday - Christmas!
Sunday - Relax
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Pride & Prejudice Movie Day
Tuesday - WORK 5
Wednesday - WORK 5, David's 16th b-day, Go to see Tron
Thursday - WORK 5
Friday - WORK 5, New Year's EVE!
Saturday - New Year's DAY! (Thrift store 50% off clothing sale! YAY!)

Last week Suzy stayed with my parents when we were in town for Christmas. She had a great time visiting Suzy's donut shop, scrapbooking, seeing Megamind with Aunt Janet, and much much more. We met up with Mom and Dad on Tuesday afternoon to get her back. She was SO TIRED! lol

We went on to Maryann's for the evening. On the way we stopped at Kmart and bought a wafflemaker since I had the bright idea of making waffles for Christmas. We also stopped and bought a used Singer sewing machine I'd seen on craigslist for $30. The person lived only a mile or so from Maryann, so that worked out great. The sewing machine needed a bobbin case, but I found one on ebay for about $5. So for $35 I now have (hopefully) a working sewing machine. When the part comes, I'll let you know for sure!

Weeks have passed, maybe months, since we'd spent any time at the McDowell's, so it was great to visit there! We just hung out, made dinner, chatted, and then watched Knight and Day. Well, that was Maryann and me and Erin (her adult daughter). The kids played with toys and video games, and outside in the snow! So fun! I knew I had to work the next day though, so I cut it off earlier than I'd have liked and brought the whole crew home.

Christmas cookies took up most of Wednesday. I didn't make bunches, like last year. Just some sugar cookies - all for us! LOL

I think it was Thursday I went to the grocery store and it was already pretty crowded. Can't imagine what the lines and parking lots were like on Friday (Christmas Eve) since I didn't go anywhere! We had thought about going to church Christmas Eve but we pooped out. Wish we'd have gone though.

Our Christmas dinner was a non-traditional nibble tray feast and it was a HIT! I think we'll do this from now on. I did cook a ham on Thursday since we got one unexpectedly as a gift. But on Christmas Day, I did trays of: cheeses, summer sausage, deli ham, cut-up veggies, pickles, shrimp, chips, fruits, jello, cookies, candies, etc... I changed up some of it as the day went on. Most of the food was left out all day and the kids just ate as they wanted. Next year, I'll prepare it all on Christmas Eve day rather than waiting for Christmas Day and then all I will have to do is pull it out of the fridge! Everyone loved it and there was virtually no cleanup. I did make cheesy potatoes because *I* wanted them. But those are easy anyway. So, I think we have a new tradition! And I'll be thinking all year things to put on our nibble trays.

I had planned to make waffles on Christmas morning, but we had some muffins and fruit first thing and no one was hungry for waffles at the time we'd planned them. So I figured we'd do it much later in the day. But still no one was hungry - nibbling all day! LOL So, we had it for breakfast today instead (Boxing Day).

This is how our Christmas Day looked:
Sometime between 7-8 am James got up, but no one was up so he went back upstairs, I guess.
Sometime before 9, I got up and made the coffee. James heard me and came down. The rest came down eventually, except David who had to be pried out of bed with a crowbar, almost. Once everyone was upright, we opened our stocking gifts - youngest to oldest (kids only).

We'd planned waffles after that, but as described above, that didn't occur. So I got dressed and Bob too, and then we moved on to the gifts. We decided to have everyone open 2 gifts and then move to the next person, youngest to oldest. (We don't do a chaotic tearing-into-the-gifts thing, here.)

So, that took a while, to get through all the gifts. What a blessing that I was able to buy so much this year. All those extra hours paid off! It's been a long time since we've been self-reliant at Christmas.

After the last present was opened, I put out the food and people began nibbling. Bob napped, the kids played with gifts, and eventually we played Apples to Apples. (We did that on Christmas Eve too.) In the evening, we read the Christmas story aloud from the Bible, sang some Christmas hymns and had our birthday cake for Jesus. We take it outside and He "blows out the candle".

We settled down to watch a Christmas movie. I was hoping for It's a Wonderful Life, but the kids had the idea of watching the new Veggie Tales, It's a Meaningful Life, so we watched that on Netflix instant. It's kind of a take off on the Frank Capra movie, but also with elements from A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express. My verdict? Not a movie for repeat viewings, sadly. Too much sappy singing, and not funny enough, though it was explicitly Christian unlike some of the more recent Veggie Tales. After that we watched another Netflix instant movie - The Missing Lynx. Stupid. Don't bother.

The kids settled down in the living room to sleep "under" the Christmas tree. This was the 1st year that David asked if he could sleep upstairs instead. :-( Made me sad, and I said NO! It's tradition! Sleep in the living room! They had a bit of fun with some lighted glow sticks I'd purchased and then settled down to sleep. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Can you believe David will be SIXTEEN this week!?

Hump Day Update

Quick update.

Monday, we did some lessons and then headed out to spend the day at a friend's. She was hosting a scrapbooking day and the kids were going to have their SOCIALIZATION PRACTICE. Every homeschooled child needs this, you know. So, the moms socialized and the kids socialized. People came and people went. We stayed. All night. LOL We haven't seen these particular friends in way too long and the night was so fun! We laughed and laughed. She introduced me and another friend to Tyler Perry, whose movies I'd never seen. We also watched Scrooged. You know, for holiday spirit. Then we talked religion into the wee hours. We are all Christians, but go to vastly different churches.

Daylight came way too early and WHAT? This friend doesn't drink COFFEE! So I was bleary. Headed out late morning, stopping at Meijer on the way for gingerbread house supplies. Mid-afternoon I went for a 3 mile run outside. I took a new route. More hills. Ow. Had to walk some. Plus having only 5 hours of restless sleep probably didn't help too much. lol

The rest of Tuesday was spent in listing books on Amazon and job searching on the internet. OK, I may have played a LITTLE Bejeweled on facebook. So, that was Tuesday.

Oh yeah, and Bob got the big fridge moved into the kitchen! YAY He had Tuesday off. It's not hooked up to water yet. That will be a bigger job since that hookup doesn't even exist yet.

Today, I never even left the house. LOVE that when it's cold and windy. It was Gingerbread House Day here today and pictures will be up eventually at Cornerstone. We watched some Mr. Bean on DVD and had a long lecture (ahem) on expectations and how they would change if anyone here were to be enrolled in public school. Did you know they would have to be at the jr/sr high school around SEVEN AM? Ungodly hour, isn't it? They thought so too.

I did push the kids outside for a while today, but I didn't even do Tae-bo. Tomorrow is another day. If it is sunny and not too awfully windy, I will run 3 miles outside again. If the weather is icky, it will be a Tae-bo day.

Tomorrow I also have to get everything ready for Family Christmas on Saturday - gather all the white elephants together and make sure I have all the goodies made.

Friday we are going to the rec center for a swim party with the homeschool group. The kids are excited about that. They love swimming there and it's expensive so we don't go too often. Read that as Almost Never. We'll stop at the store after for any last-minute stuff and make sure we get a good night's sleep so we can head out bright and early Saturday for the celebration!

Clearance Shopping!

Clearance shopping is fun! I like to get wrapping paper and bows and gift tags. I bought wrapping paper that COULD be Christmas-y, but it isn't specifically. So, I can use it year-round. EXCELLENT! :::plays air guitar:::

I also found some of those new LED Christmas lights, and a hanging light globe thing. Got a few things for gifts next year - Christmas socks and such, as well as 4 gifts to put away for birthday party invitations. What else? Hmmm... Some plastic Christmas cups and bowls. I'm sure there are some other things. Candy, of course. lol

I also bought David a birthday gift and a cake and some pizza. He's FOURTEEN tomorrow!

Christmas Pajamas!

The tradition is to unwrap one present on Christmas Eve. On the years I buy new pajamas, I finagle that to be the gift that gets unwrapped. I was anxious that they might find this a dull gift, but to my relief, all were very thrilled! Even though this pic of Suzy is a tad blurry, I think it illustrates my point.



Here is my handsome crew in front of the tree! (David is allowing his face to be seen, but apparently a sweet smile was not part of the bargain.)


The girls have matching winter themed jammies, but different slippers. Suzy's are purple fleece lined "crocs" with Tinkerbell on them. Em's are pink knit ballet slippers.


The boys' pajamas do not match, but both are Iron Man themed. Couldn't find any winter jammies that worked. David got black slippers and James' are camouflage.




This was David trying to make James sit still and look at the camera. No, he's not really trying to beat his little brother. And look - David is smiling!

A 2008 Alphabet - Our Christmas Letter

Although we'd have loved to mail this out to every one of our friends, postage is prohibitive. So, here is our Christmas letter.

A 2008 Alphabet

AYSO soccer continues to be a mainstay of Wagner life. All four children played the spring season, but that was the last season for David and Emily. This fall, Lisa coached Suzy's U8 team and David refereed the games. James moved up to the U10 level.

Bob keeps busy with the kids, the cars, and the house. He also volunteers with the homeless shelter hosted by our church and helps Lisa teach Sunday School.

Court date for the disability hearing was held September 16^th. We are still waiting on that decision. Bob received a settlement from the worker's compensation insurance company in June, after 19 months of waiting. As my mom laughingly says about the amount, “Yes, your ship came in, but it was more of a canoe.”

David turns fourteen at the end of the year and is in 8^th grade. Building things and listening to audio books are two of his interests. His design won the 2007-08 yearbook cover contest for Seeds of Faith. I think he's taller than his mom now!

Emily is eleven and in 6^th grade. She got her ears pierced and her hair is longer than mine has ever been! She loves to play with dolls, to read, to draw and to do crafts.

Financial Peace University is keeping Lisa and Bob busy on Wednesday nights. This Dave Ramsey class is teaching us a lot about budgeting and other financial issues.

Glasses laying at the bottom of a river was the most frustrating event of David's first week at sleep away camp. Thankfully the rest of the week was far more rewarding!

Home education continues to fill our days with a lifestyle of learning. Our homeschool co-op is a true blessing (and I have passed on the mantle of leadership)!

Internet has moved into the new millennium and we have finally caught up. High speed internet is wonderful and makes enough of an impact on our lives to be mentioned here!

James just turned nine and will be starting 4^th grade in January. (Yes, we homeschool!) He is very active and sturdy and loves to play outside. He is a willing worker, too! He started art classes this year with David and Emily and he loves to draw.

Keepers at Home is a girls club (like scouting) for both Emily and Suzy. Friends of mine are the leaders and I was very pleased to have this opportunity for the girls.

Lisa is taking a year to focus on writing thanks to the settlement. She quit her factory job in September after a six-week layoff. She is also taking a year's sabbatical from homeschool group leadership. We are praying about our direction after the year is up.

Muskegon was Bob and Lisa's destination for a long weekend to celebrate their 20^th wedding anniversary.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) filled up November for 5 members of the Wagner family. This is Lisa's 2nd year and she completed a 75,000 word novel which she will edit and market in 2009. The kids each worked on a story as well.

Ohio, Cleveland to be specific, was the destination of Lisa and her sister Janet in May where they spent a fun relaxing weekend at a bed & breakfast together!

Pop-up Camper – this was our splurge with the worker's compensation settlement. We were only able to take one camping trip, but we hope to camp a lot more next summer!

Query letters were sent out to literary agents, hoping to land Lisa a book contract. Every author has a huge file of rejection letters, you know.

Rollicking Readers is the name of the book club Lisa started with her good friend Darlene. We decided to read all six of Jane Austen's works and invited friends to join us. It has really taken off and we will continue in 2009 with other classic works.

Suzanne is six years old and in the 1^st grade. She loves swimming, drawing, dressing up, and princesses. Math is Suzy's favorite subject and she is learning to read. She is growing strong, healthy, and pretty and she has definite opinions about many things.

Thrift stores are our favorite stores. We all love browsing through the items and finding treasures! Garage sales and rummage sales are also like magnets to all of the Wagners.

Underwater was what the kids were on our day trip to Lake Michigan in August. It was one of the best family days we've had in a long time! We hope to go back in 2009!

Vehicles come and vehicles go. Our beautiful blue '99 Taurus left, having been squashed in a parking lot by an unmanned EMS vehicle. Thankfully no one was in the Taurus at the time. We just purchased a 2000 Dodge Caravan to replace it.

Writing has been occupying a great deal of Lisa's time. Forget-Me-Not, the 50,000 word novel she wrote in November 2007, has been edited and is being marketed to literary agents. Lisa is planning a part two to the story. She also wrote two historical romances - a 15,000 word short story set in Ancient Egypt and a 75,000 word novel set in the American Old West. Still looking for an agent and a publisher! Know anyone?

Xanthic (having a yellow or yellowish color) describes our house now. (Word credit goes to David!)

Yellow (or to be more precise, Melted Butter) is the color we painted our house this fall for a bright sunshine-y change from grey.

Zeus was one of our two pet rabbits this year. We also had a cockatiel named Pokey for a few months. The only remaining pet is a newt named Bolt who belongs to James.

Cornerstone Home Learning – www.cornerstonehomelearning.blogspot.com/

Mirkwood Reflections – Media Reviews by Lisa - www.mirkwoodreflections.blogspot.com/

Cell phones: Lisa 810-706-6293 Bob 810-542-0657

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Village

Monday night I gave the kids some small cardboard boxes, graham crackers, a bowl of royal icing, and some candy and had them go at it. They had a great time, even my teenager (although he didn't particularly like being photographed) and each created their own gingerbread houses. The focus here was on the process and the candy, not the finished product, although I was very proud of some of the innovations they included.

COOKIE DAY!!!

Cookie Day was Thursday, December 11.

Healthier, and Spending Money...

Health is improving here! David woke up with a bad headache and slept most of the morning, but by evening he was bouncy and perky. I feel a lot better. Bob is fighting a cold. The others all seem ok.

I started Christmas shopping tonight online - Amazon and Target. Whenever you shop online, always do a google search for the name of the site you are shopping at and then "promo code" or "coupon code". Tonight I saved a few dollars on shipping because of that.

Books are pouring in from paperbackswap. I saved up my credits and have started redeeming them for gift books for my kiddos. Excellent condition - like new books. I think they'll be happy!

I got myself a Speed Racer Mach 5 Hot Wheels car tonight at the grocery store. Hot Wheels were on sale for a dollar. This one didn't ring up a dollar, but the cashier was kind and gave it to me for a dollar. Aren't I silly? And the Mach 5 came with spearhooks. David was appalled. Speed Racer doesn't USE spearhooks!

I just peeked outside - NO WINTER STORM. Hmmm.....

It continues....

David woke up nauseous in the night, so I ended up sitting with him for a while. It all came to naught, however - the nausea persisted but no vomiting ensued. So, today he is laying around on the couch. He did eat a little and seems better. I still have a headache and some lightheadedness, and some mild nausea yet, but am feeling much improved from Friday night/Saturday morning.

We've watched three episodes this morning of the BBC Robin Hood TV series, which we have from Netflix - campy and funny and with Richard Armitage (North & South) to boot! My three healthy children are on kitchen cleanup duty and then I'm booting them outside for a few minutes. A temperature of 17 degrees means they won't be out very long.

I've been going through cookbooks - need to choose recipes for Christmas baking and make a list. Emily is hosting a table at the Christmas Tea on Tuesday night and she needs to bring a dessert, so we are thinking about that as well.

I have accomplished NO Christmas shopping yet. So, that needs to happen before too long here! My kids have made their lists.