_______Lubbock 2009!

We finally managed our trip to Lubbock: 10 hours in the car with 5 kids and 2 sleepy moms.  Then when we arrive, 11 kids, 5 moms, and 1 brave dad.  I was a little nervous that it would be too crazy but we all had a blast.  The kids played great together giving us moms plenty of time to talk.  Here's some of the highlights:

We had to rig our dvd player so that all the kids could see it (a necessity for a 10 hour car ride with kids).  Pretty ghetto, but also very clever if you ask me!

When we first left my mom's house at 4AM, all the kids were wide awake with excitement and for about half an hour they were all talking at the same time.  Among the jabbering, Lindsay and I picked out:  Aubrey: "At Christmas you have to scream, but not in our family"  Isaac: "Is that a fight ball?"  Abby: "I pooped!" (she didn't really).  It was cute and eventually they all fell back asleep.

when we first arrived it had just started to snow and the kids were all outside playing in the leaves

Abby

Isaac

Amelia wasn't so sure what to think about it all

Lily

Aubrey

movie time

practicing for a ride on "The Polar Express" with Aunt Carly

feeding the babies

Uncle Matt makes breakfast

lining up to go play outside

on your mark, get set, GO!

All the Hobson kids (my mom's side of the family)

kids painting Christmas ornaments

Amelia mostly chose to wear the paint

back at home, dance time for the little princess

and some groovin' big girls too

at bedtime, the moms get their turn to play

all those precious pairs of shoes lined up in a row, ready for the next activity

In all, it was a fabulous trip and we plan to do it again for sure, especially because we love our Lubbock-based cousins so much!  The only disappointment for the weekend was that the little snow we got didn't stick. We went on The Polar Express on Friday night and I'll post about that in a separate entry because this one is too full (and I don't have those pics yet).  Thanks for having us, Matt and Robin!

Teaching Kids the True Meaning of Christmas

My mommy group recently had an awesome discussion on the message board about how to teach kids the real meaning of Christmas.  I liked the ideas so much, I'm copying them here so I can use them now and in the future!

1. We give a gift to Jesus on Christmas Eve- a special tithe to church.  Even the kids can get some money from their piggy bank to contribute.

2. We bought the "What God Wants for Christmas" set at Lifeway, it is a cute way to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas through a nativity set.

3. I know this sounds corny, but we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas Day.  I think you can even buy plates, napkins that say happy birthday Jesus online.

4. On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas Story from the Bible (It's in Matthew)

5. We try to teach our kids the importance of giving rather than just receiving so we usually do some type of toy donation. This year we are doing Operation Christmas Child and are adopting a family. She goes with us to pick the presents, helps wrap them and then we deliver them.

6. We do clothes/toy cleanouts pretty often and give to kids who many not be as fortunate.

7.  We participate in the "toys for tots" program.  The kids come and are part of the process, from selecting a toy to wrapping and delivering it. 

8.  One disipline I impose for myself is, I only get the kids 3 gifts to represent the three gifts the wisemen gave to Jesus. 

9.  The Christmas train in Alvin was a neat train ride of the Christmas story (if you're local to League City, TX). 

10.  Before we set up ANY decorations at all we find our manager scene and read the Christmas story and put the manager scene up and then say a prayer together as a family.

11.  Because my husband grew up very poor and spent many holidays without presents, food, we use this time as a way to remind ourselves how blessed we are and we adopt a family (you can call Lighthouse Christian Ministries for a list of needs if you're local to League City, TX). What is great about Lighthouse is that your drop the toys off to the parent or at the door so the kids think that the parent was able to buy for them and they don't know it was charity.

12.  Our annual organization is World Vision where you can donate by giving animals for villages, donating money for sexually exploited children, and even help American children in poverty. You donate $25 and it helps the American children with necessities worth $325. 

13.  When the kids are older I am planning on having them come with me to serve in a food kitchen for the homeless. 

14.  Last year we asked our friends and family to help us pack the food pantry at our church instead of bringing presents to our daughter's birthday party. It turned out so great! We loaded up her wagon and she pulled it into the church. She helped her daddy put cans, diapers, and all sorts of stuff on the shelves. The whole time she kept talking about how she was helping "the babies". 

15.  We mostly have been doing books according to the season. One of my favorites is "Who is Coming to Our House" http://www.amazon.com...

16.  We Use a nativity scene as an advent calendar. You can tell a different part of the Christmas story each day as you get closer to Christmas. I made my own so that there were enough things to add to the scene for each of the 25 days (manger, wise men, sheep, shepherds, Mary...of course baby Jesus on Christmas day), but you can also purchase some that have it planned out for you online. 

17.  We help the kids pick out or make a gift for each member of our family. The idea is that they will learn the joy of giving and not just getting. You can give them $1 for each family member at the dollar store or help them make something...and wrap it themselves. 

18.  We will choose an angel on the christmas tree at the mall and have him wrap the requested gift and drop it off.

Don't ya love how the kids put all the ornaments on the same three branches?  I think when they're grown up, I'll do that myself just to remind me of this time.

_______A lot to be Thankful for

We spent the day after Thanksgiving with family.  First, we went on a walk around the lake in Mimi and Boppa's neighborhood.  We all wore red to take a family picture for Mimi and Boppa's Christmas letter so we took the opportunity to take more pictures of the kids (of course!).

Whose idea was this?  At least Amelia is finally smiling!

Family looking like normal people (if it is normal for 11 individuals to show up wearing matching clothes).

Family looking like ridiculous holiday lawn ornaments.  I'm the third reindeer on the right.

That evening the rest of my mom's family who live in Texas came, more than doubling the number of children (from 5 to 11).  We spent the remaining daylight watching the kids play in the street.  After dinner, we put on a movie for them.  Here's 9 of the 11.  2 were already in bed.  Abby's on the floor in purple jammies and Isaac is barely visible between her and cousin Luke in blue.

While the kids watched the movie and went begrudgingly to bed, the grownups played games downstairs (our favorite kid-free pastime).

We are thankful for our time with family and thankful that our family has so much fun together.  What a blessing!

_______Happy Thanksgiving

A blessed day of giving thanks to the One who is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine"!  (Ephesians 3:20)

Isaac helping to prep the pomegranate

The Sharps

The Lagoys

Play time

Making the leaf place mats

Aubrey with her leaves

Lily with her leaves

More play

Two dancing cuties (Aubrey is doing a jig and Abby is being a princess)

Feast is ready.  This family sure can cook (minus me but I'm working on it!)

My cranberry dish (yes, I picked the easiest thing to bring, but doesn't it look pretty?)

Adel's jicama and pomegranate salad

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving Family Ideas

Saying Thanks to God through Actions:
Tonight our family night (see right margin) lined up really well with Thanksgiving.  We took the kids to El Jardin beach near our house and had them help pick up trash.  (We used plastic bags over their hands to keep them from having to touch the trash with their bare hands.) We talked about how we were showing God we were thankful for what He has made for us.  Isaac really enjoyed it.  Abby mostly picked up dirt and shells. I would like to do something similar next year as it was a very simple way to thank God.

Thanksgiving Craft:
Last year my friend Celeste found a craft that we did with our kids and then I modified it for my family's Thanksgiving day festivities.  Essentially, it involves the kids collecting autumn leaves and arranging them between two pieces of wax paper.  I helped the kids iron together the wax paper so that it seals around the leaves.  Then they glued strips of construction paper around the edges to create a Thanksgiving place mat.  The kids enjoyed it and we plan to do it again this week.

Here's a description of how to do it that I found on a website called suite101:

How to Preserve Pressed Leaves with Wax Paper (or Contact Paper)

Arrange pressed leaves between the shiny sides of two sheets of wax paper. Place a brown paper bag underneath to protect your ironing board. An adult should then press the top sheet of wax paper gently with a warm iron for about ten seconds to melt the wax. Let the paper cool thoroughly.

Alternatively, help your children arrange their pressed leaves between two sheets of clear contact paper. Smooth air bubbles away with a spoon.

New Recipe #1: Broccoli and Cheese Frittata

For my first attempt at a new recipe, I went for a breakfasty theme.  I based my cooking on All You magazine's recipe for Broccoli and Feta Frittata:

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups chopped broccoli florets
salt and pepper
7 large eggs
3 oz. feta, crumbled

1. In an 8-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet or well-seasoned cast-iron pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add broccoli, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 6 minutes longer.

2.  Preheat broiler to high and set oven rack 4 inches from heat source.  In a medium bowl whisk together eggs; season with additional salt and pepper.  Pour eggs over onion-broccoli mixture, stir to combine, then dot surface with feta.  Cook, without stirring, until eggs are set on bottom and beginning to set on top, about 5 minutes.  Transfer pan to oven and broil until eggs are set and beginning to brown, 2-3 minutes.  Cut into wedges and serve hot or at room tempurature.

My changes:
I left out the onion because none of us likes onion.  I also swapped the feta for half goat cheese, half colby jack.  I also added halved grape tomatoes on top just before putting it in the oven. (The goat cheese and the grape tomatoes were suggested by a similar recipe from Diane Rossen Worthington's cookbook Seriously Simple).  I used frozen broccoli and it worked great.  I also added an egg because 7 eggs seemed like a weird number!

How the kids helped:
I sliced about a 1/2 inch off our large block of colby jack for each child and let them use plastic picnic knives to chop it into "cubes."  Isaac also used his plastic knife to cut our grape tomatoes in "half." ("Cubes" and "half" are in quotations because, with kids, nothing is ever exact).  They both helped scramble the eggs before we added them to the hot pot and Isaac helped place the tomatoes decoratively on top.  (Abby spent the rest of her time pretending to paint her toenails as seen below:)

Our scores:
Megan: 7/10
Adel: 5/10, pretty neutral
Isaac: 0/10, wouldn't even lick it even though he likes all 4 ingredients (egg, cheese, tomatoes, and broccoli)
Abby: 5/10

My review:
I would, and will, make this dish again.  It was fast and easy and Isaac is just going to have to learn to try new dishes.  After trying both the colby jack side and the goat cheese side, Adel and I both agreed that cj or cheddar is the way to go.  Forget the fancy cheese.  Adel made awesome potato/yam pancakes to go with it (also from Seriously Simple but the recipe is too long to include here).  You can email me if you want to try it.

_______Doh! There goes the Dough.

Don't you just love wasting money?  Yeah, me neither.  Yet it seems to be the theme of my month.

At the beginning of the month, just after Halloween in fact, I made an impulse purchase of one princess dress for Abby (Belle) that was 50% off in the Halloween aisle. The unfortunate thing was that the princess dress was apparently designed to unravel upon the wearer's first sneeze.  So, after Abby's first time wearing it, we now have a $15 pile of string.  Okay, I exaggerate.  It still resembles a dress, but it is quickly on its way to becoming a pile of string.

I tried to take it back but since I didn't have the receipt or the tags, we're stuck with it.  Abby and I went to the library after that for some good, free story time.  We had a great time with my friend Celine and her daughter Madelyn (Abby's best friend...you should see them fight!).  Then we went to check out our books.  Now those of you who know me well, know that moderation is not my strong suit.  I tend to overdo pretty much everything. So, our normal pile of books to check out looks like this on a weekly basis:

Unfortunately, I have been known to be late with the book pile once in a while, sometimes quite a bit late.  At fifteen books a week, I knew I was racking up some charges (perhaps $5 or $10?) and that at some point I would be blocked from checking out books until I paid the fine.  Well, that day happened to fall on the same day that I failed in getting a refund on the unraveling princess dress. In actuality, my fine was $27.60.  I only had $26 in cash but they let me check out our latest pile anyway, and by golly I did. I then vowed to get my money's worth out of that latest pile of free books. We read those books with a relish not before lavished upon library literature.

Then, just today, I got a little note from Isaac's preschool.  Apparently I missed paying his tuition at the beginning of the month.  Another $20 fine. Yikes!  Where has my brain gone off to this month?  And, more importantly, do I have to tell Adel?

Let me do the math: $15 for a shredded dress, $26 for my library negligence, and $20 late fee for preschool tuition.  That's a "stupidity fine" of $61!  I know it's not that much in the big picture, but oh, what I could do with $61!

Funny enough, in my small group today, we were just talking about behavioral patterns where you let yourself down over and over again and it ends up causing a feeling of shame or hopelessness that you'll never be able to change.  Naturally, I just happened to mention one of my behavioral patterns is carelessness (like the time I dropped an unmarked envelope containing $300 cash...don't ask, but we found it again!) (or the time I missed my flight from Hong Kong to my parent's house in Indonesia and would have had to spend 24 hours in the airport with no money...because I already spent it all and forgot a credit card...if I hadn't bumped into a friend of mine who had an uncle that lived there and could take me in) (or the equally vexing time...was it on the same trip?...that I thought my flight home from Indonesia was on a Friday afternoon, only to discover, that afternoon, that it had actually left without me on Thursday morning).

Yes, friends, I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.  Those incidents happened back in my immature college days.  I was a Christ-follower then, but a rather dim-witted one at times!  One would assume that I have matured a good deal since then.  And I have, for the most part.  So why am I now finding myself wasting $61 dollars (oh, what I could do with $61!) on totally avoidable circumstances?  And, more importantly, will I ever really change?  Here's the good news I read in our small group book this week (I doubt the timing of all this was a coincidence!):

"'That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.' (Eph. 4:22-24).

"We are to put on, or envelope ourselves in, this new self that progressively expresses Christian character in our attitudes and behavior...The truth of regeneration can dispel the specter of the past.  Our sins have been forgiven, and we now have tremendous capabilities for growth and change because we are new people with the Spirit of God living in us. Yes, when we sin we will experience its destructive effects and the Father's discipline, but our sin will never change the truth of who we are in Christ" (The Search for Significance).

Anyone who knew me then and still knows me now has been witness to the wonderful change in me as I journey with Christ.  I have come so far from the days when I deliberately chose to ignore God in my life.  This month I have been reminded (once again, and through more alarming ways than simply wasting money!) that I still have much room to grow as I continually put on my "new self."  I have also been graciously reminded that my shortcomings, small and great, will never change who I am in Christ.  Good news indeed!