Practically ALL of December in Review....

I refuse to go into the New Year without finishing all the blogs I've had in my draft folder for weeks/months now so in addition to this VERY LONG blog there are 3 more short ones below it!!  Good thing you have the day off and have nothing better to do than read them all!  Let's see, the last REVIEW I did was posted on the 9th so let's go back.....

First of all, here's a picture of Dade being an angel in the Live Nativity held Dec 6th.  He had to stay out there for a total of 40 minutes in freezing temperatures.  He did a great job and actually got to play a few other roles in the nativity over the course of the night.  Way to serve, Dade!!!

 

Tuesday Dec 9th - Ryan came home from 2 weeks out of town!!  YEAH!!  As much as we all missed him, I'm proud to say that we did just fine while he was away.  Four kids on your own is tough but definitely not impossible.  Besides, I have Dade as a great helper!  The same hour that Ryan got home the boys' dad came into town.  They haven't seen him in quite some time as he's been in Iraq serving with the US Army.  They had a great visit with him and their Fama and Papa -kins in Fayetteville.  He took each child for one overnight and then on Friday he went to school with each of them and attended their classes.  It was so much fun for both of them getting the individual attention and showing off dad to their classmates.

Thursday Dec 11 - Ella and I headed out on a special date to see Disney on Ice with the rest of the Schneg family.  I splurged and bought Ella a Cinderella doll which she hugged close the whole show.  It was fun to see her so excited.  When Mickey and Minnie first came out she started cheering and squealing with excitement.  She was bouncing up and down and then turned around and gave me the biggest hug!!  That moment was well worth any price for the tickets.  We, of course, then had the glow stick incident (scroll down for that blog), but all in all it was a fantastic event and Ella really showed how grown up she's getting.

Friday Dec 12 - we headed up to Maryland for my Grandmother's surprise party.   We got up early Saturday morning and spent ALL day preparing the gym to look amazing.  My sister put in SO much work, time, effort, money, and love into this event and it showed.  The night was fantastic.  The only downside was Ryan came down with the worst flu Friday night and I felt terrible having him help with the kids while I set up.  He was such a trooper and really supported me despite feeling so terrible.  I sure do love him!!  I am so blessed!!  We got home late Sunday and tried to recover from the long weekend.

 

Monday, Dec 15th - ....we FINALLY put up our Christmas tree!!  YEAH!!  It was a lot of fun and for once we had a tree that looked half way decent when we were done decorating.

 

Wed, Dec 17th - We babysat my sweet niece and nephew.  Sylvie was fascinated with Baby Gabi.  She sat for 20 minutes staring at her in her car seat! She then would follow me around any time I was holding the baby and insisted on sitting with us.  At one point Gabi started to cry and Sylvie's face scrunched up in concern.  She tried to comfort Gabi but when she couldn't began to cry as well.  She really loves babies.  It's so sweet!

Sat, Dec 20 - I've really been enjoying my Sister and her family being in town.  I really only get to see her once a year and I miss her so much!!  Saturday was rainy but we headed out to do a photo shoot anyway.  You can see it a few blogs below if you scroll down.  She has the most beautiful family and it was hard to find a bad photo in the bunch....not that I was looking....anyway, I was so excited to do it and it's turned out to be one of my favorites so far!!  Sunday, my sister's son, Coyer, was blessed and Ryan was blessed enough to  participate.  My dad gave the blessing.  It was such a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve Eve was an AMAZING day for us....it was full of Miracles!!  3 are very special to me and can't really be shared in such a public forum but the others involved know what it meant and how God's hand is always over us all, directing and blessing.  I am so thankful he chose me and directed me to be where I was needed!!  Of all our miracles today there is one I am most thankful for.....

Dade was riding his go cart today.  The brakes have always been a little bad but he's never had trouble keeping it under control.  Well, on this particular day something went wrong.  Something broke and it stuck the gas pedal.  The go cart was out of control.  It was going faster and faster (easily over 30mph) and the brakes weren't enough to stop it.  Dade was headed up the street and to say he was panicked would be an understatement.  He was too afraid to jump at such a high speed thinking the bars would catch his legs.  He kept reaching behind him trying to pull things off the engine but nothing would budge and in trying to reach back so far the go cart kept steering off the road, he almost hit several mailboxes and nearly missed a tree.  He made it through 2 left turns heading farther back into the neighborhood and was lucky to not come across any cars.  The next turn was onto a major road in the neighborhood and had a car been coming I fear it would have been deadly.  Dade made the turn and headed into the next neighborhood back.  His mind was racing but it always came back to the same thing...Pray.  He prayed.  I'm sure he prayed more than he's ever prayed before.  Steering at high speed was difficult and he was trying to avoid anything that would crash the cart.  He then got the thought to hit a pot hole.  At such a speed it could dump him but he aimed and missed the first one...then a larger one came and he aimed right for it.  The go cart went up on two wheels then crashed back down to the ground....and stopped.  Out of breath and sick to his stomach he pushed the broken cart the almost mile home.  Hearing the story I was so thankful for my Father in Heaven and knowing that he was watching over my son.  Had something happened to Dade he was far enough away from home that I would not have seen or heard the emergency vehicles and no one would have known where to find me.  But God was there and he knew just what to do.  Aim an out of control go cart at the one thing that could mean disaster and turn it into a miracle.  I am eternally grateful and proud of my son who knew where to turn in his hour of need.

Christmas Eve was spent with the Schneg side of the family.  We had a fabulous Christmas Pizza dinner and opened presents from extended family.  I always love getting together with all of them!!  Ryan and I were up late playing Santa.  Dade's present was the funnest to put together.  He was just getting money but I of course thought it should never simply be handed to him!

Christmas morning the kids woke up to their Santa gifts and their stockings.  While Corben played with his new Eyeclops, Dade studied his new Pirate coloring book.  He was confused.  He then opened it up and found that there was a clue!  The first sets of clues led him on a treasure hunt through the coloring book where I'd hidden money in secret places.  (I actually purchased two of the same book and cut pictures out of one to paste over the other hiding money in between them.)  The clues then let him around the house (I, of course, used silly riddles to help him out) and outside to find a series of treasure chests containing more money.  The final clue required he sing my praises (after I was already awake) at which point I gave him the clue to the final treasure chest.

"This last one is a special clue

I'm sure this hunt has grown on you

If it has, then yes indeed

Look out where you'd plant a seed

And I don't mean a flower pot

And as you'd expect.....X marks the spot!!"

 

The rest of the morning was wonderful.  Everyone gave such wonderful gifts.  We were all truly blessed!!

      

Since Christmas we have been enjoying our time off and spending time together.  We went and spent an evening watching the Christmas light show at Lake Myra (just down the road from us).  You can see it at www.LakeMyraChristmas.com.  Corben was so excited that he was jumping up and down exclaiming that he would have traded his "new" gameboy color to see this!! 

All in all, I'd say it's been a long year but I'm so glad I was able to share it with my amazing family!  I look forward to the years to come and each new milestone and accomplishment.  They are all growing so fast.  I hope this blog helps me keep it from simply slipping away.  I don't want to forget a single moment!!

Thank you to all our friends and family who have been here for us this past year.  I hope that we can be as good of friends to each of you as you have been to each of us.  We love you and wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!