Just RK

Since I can’t say it better myself…

The girls are tucked into bed after opening one present each. (From Miss Linda…more on that later. They were awesome!!!) They read a Max and Ruby Christmas book and then we read the Christmas story out of Luke 2, as they were cozy in their Christmas pajamas. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow!

If you’re a TRUE follower of our family blogs—and hey, who isn’t, right?—then you’ve already seen the posts on KiKi’s and Braska’s blogs showing off their cute Christmas wear pics.  If you’ve not seen them, go ahead.  I’ll wait.  Yeah, now, go ahead! Ok, now that you’ve seen the good ones, I’ll share some of the sisterly interaction that generally gets left in my pictures folder without making the cut for the blog.  Some are cute, some are silly, but they’re all real. And you’ll see that one sister is definitely the instigator of mayhem in picture settings.  Usually by lunging for her sis and saying “Ticky ticky ticky!” while wiggling her fingers.   Here’s the best one of that session… These are from a little photo shoot brought to you by Julie’s purchase of three coordinating sleepers for Braska, KiKi, and Jack .  And these are from Sunday morning, dressed for church in their beautiful fancy dresses. Fi...

They can look so sweet and innocent, right after making Mommy pull her hair out for the 10th time in the day. How is that possible? These are especially for Miss Karol. It just so happens that KiKi has a coordinating sleeper. So pictures just HAD to be taken...

Today was a good day, though it started very hectic and stressful, it ended pretty darn well.  Time is short right now, so I’ll summarize and let M elaborate for you one part of it. First, this morning, my friend Julie went above and beyond.  Not in grand measures, but in helping me with errands and surviving another one of my very frustrated times of hurried and over-busy stress.  She has a great way of making things work out, and the stress was calmed  in short order.  Oh, and Kinlee got fed en route to other errands…also a very key element to the story. Then the girls napped at the same time.  Nuff said! The big news today is that M’s group at work surprised him at the Christmas lunch with an overwhelming gift extravaganza.  When he showed up at home with it at 5pm, needing wonderful little elves to help him bring it in the house, I was caught off-guard and very moved.  After a moment or two looking at everything, I just sat speechless....

Sold.  One-car-family, schedule juggling, pick up-drop off, pick up-drop off, here we come.  But no more car payments—here we are! More soon on the down and dirty (sometimes painful) of our new financial planning philosophy, for those of you who have asked.  If you have particular questions, feel free to leave them here and I’ll address them each one. And once again, thanks to my parents for the Christmas in July gift of the minivan.  206,300 miles down, many more to go.

There are festive (to varying degrees) background blog layouts on the girls’ blogs and this one… if you like that kind of stuff, take a peek. I’ve got alot of things (elements, cute art) that haven’t been used yet, in this department, so if you want a quick one-of-a-kind background, let me know. Merry CHRISTmas!!!

If you grew up in church, especially protestant and midwestern, you probably know the song “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing.”  It was an upbeat, happy song, one I sang for all my years growing up, and I probably knew all 5 verses at one point in my life.  There shall be showers of blessing, Oh, that today they might fall… This was a favorite phrase of mine, in verse 4, I think.  I look at it now and I like that the whole song was asking, and even believing that showers of blessing would fall, but it wasn’t assuming that it would be today.  Yet in this section, we would all sing in agreement that it sure would be nice if it were today. Well, today we received showers of blessing.  I can’t come up with a better way to say it.  Though, the truth is that we’ve been receiving some good sprinkles the last couple weeks.  One day it was a card with some cash from a “Secret Santa” at M’s work.  Humbling . One day it was a couple of ...

Michelle and Brian at The Zoromski Chronicles are in the process of adopting Lily, from Eastern Europe, who they found via Reece’s Rainbow .  Their little Ruby is one of my favorite little blog princesses, along with brother Braden and sister Karly, and I was so excited to see that the were taking this big step to bring another princess home to add to their family. They are hosting a blog auction at Lily’s blog , and there’s some good stuff there!  They’re going to even get the things to the winners by Christmas.  So go take a peek and see if there’s not something you could bid on and get a great deal and help a very cool family bring a precious girl home quickly! Grab This Button

I saw Bethany refer to a website called Wish Upon a Hero , so I thought I’d check it out.  In about 10 minutes I’ve already come across a couple wishes that I can “grant” with things I’ve been needing to get rid of anyway!  How perfect is that! Since we’re not giving gifts this year due to our budget limitations, this is a nice little substitute for me.  I love giving, and it’s especially nice to give to people I don’t know and won’t be gushing over how nice it was that I shared with them every time I see them….because I probably won’t see them.  That is NOT to say that it’s not nice to be thanked and such, but sometimes it’s easy for me to get a little high from getting that pat on the back.  And I don’t want giving to be about me, it’s about the gift, unconditional and given without strings.  And this site seems to be exactly all about that. It’s still weird to see the Christmas tree up with nothing under it (again, not that we miss receiving, but I ...

Ooey, gooey, globby, and nonstop. That's the snot that's been present at our house for over a week now, first coming from Braska, then KiKi. I do not like snot. But I surprised myself the other day with how nonchalant I can be when handling the ickiness nowadays. Before becoming a parent, had I been put in this position, with two little girls leaving remnants of their goo on furniture and clothes and each other--well, I'd have politely, but quickly, abandoned ship. --News flash!!! It's snowing outside!!! I just glanced at the window!! (Well just a few flurries, but still!) Woo Hoo!!!-- Ahem, anyway, it's funny now how I can catch it, wipe it, clean it, and repeat about 300 times a day. And when leaving the house, it's not so much, "Darn! I have snot on my shirt!" as it is "Gosh, is that too much snot on my shirt to be acceptable for this outing?" Can anyone relate? And it's like a celebration when a big sneeze produces alot of stuf...