Christmas Morning

Before the children are awake....

The stockings

Here they come...

The only thing Terry asked for was - Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Bobby wanted a leather coat - isn't he a little young to be asking for a coat for Christmas?

Stephen had as much fun with Hungry Hippos as Terry did.

All the little boys got new animals. They were cool - from Planet Earth - and each had a DVD that showed their animal in it's natural habitat.

Terry - penguin

Bobby - Jimmy the elephant

Stephen - Oscar the chimpanzee

The boys all got building things - Tinker Toys, Magnext, Lincoln Logs - and bicycles - they are at such a fun age.

Emily had a doll Christmas - she got a new girl doll and twin babies. She also got a kitchen so she can cook for them. She's so good in the real kitchen, it won't be much longer that she plays with a toy one... I want her to stay little as long as she can.

Emily also got this beautiful book - Little Mommy. It went well with her whole doll theme. I love this book and had it when I was little.

Brenda got some Jonas Brothers and Family Force Five music. A camera and her favorite - a phone with unlimited text messaging. See how fast they grow up - no dolls or babies or kitchens...

Here she is with a Jonas Brothers poster for her new room.

Troy (have we lost our minds?) got an electric guitar. He keeps it in his hands most of the time. He is currently learning his scales.

It was such a fun morning. God is always so good to provide for us.

Icing Cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve PJ's

Every year the kids get one present to open on Christmas Eve. Usually it's Pj's. This year we couldn't disappoint.

(2008) (2007) It's fun to look back and see how the girls have grown from last year.

Brian wasn't with us for Christmas Eve this year - but we still made sure he got his pj's - you can never be to big for monkey pj's...

Christmas Eve Chili

Eating our Christmas Eve Chili while watching the Nativity Story. The children didn't make it through the movie this year. It is such a beautiful movie, I think next year we will have to watch it before Christmas eve.

See that present under Emily's dinner??? Looks like maybe a Christmas Eve present...




















Stephen's maybe a little bit excited?

Elmo was in his Christmas Spirit too!!

Christmas Eve

Here are the Christmas pictures. This is our church's Christmas Eve service.


Iman, Brenda, Emily, and Emily

Artie and the boys

Bell Ringers

Bobby and Stephen were bell ringers for the Salvation Army with their wolf pack. They took an hour slot in the middle of the afternoon and it was freezing that day!!! People felt sorry for them out in the cold and seemed to give even more money. They took turns and when it wasn't there turn they waited in the warm door way of Belks. (They have about 5 layers under their boy scout uniforms and jeans.)

Christmas Parade

Stephen and Bobby in the Christmas Parade

Wold Pack 53

Emily (wearing a do-it-yourself hair-do) and Terry (very cold) watching the parade.

French Braid

Brenda's working on her French braiding. She's getting good ~ (a lot better than her mama!)

Swagbucks

I signed up with swagbucks today. Looks pretty cool. I found the site through a blog I like - economic endeavors.

Here's her description of Swagbucks:

"First, it's simple. You earn "Bucks" for something that you're probably already doing - searching the internet. With one click you can install the Swagbucks search bar on your toolbar in Firefox or IE, and when you do a search, it'll give you your results from Google or Ask.com.

By using Swagbucks for your searches, you can earn "Bucks" randomly. On the very first search I did, I earned 2 Bucks! In the first two days, I was up to 14 Bucks, just by doing my normal searches that I would have done anyways, with or without being paid.

You don't need a lot of points to claim a prize, either. With only 45 Bucks you can get an Amazon gift card, and with 50 Bucks you can get a giftcard for Starbucks. There are other prizes as well (DVDs, XBox games, an iPod shuffle, etc.), but gift cards are all I'm interested in.

In the past 2 months, I have earned a $50 Best Buy card (for Hubs for Christmas) and 5 $5 Amazon gift cards. And I consider that free money, since it was earned by doing nothing but searching the internet, which I would be doing anyways.

Another perk is that Swagbucks offers incentives for getting your friends to sign up. You earn every buck that your referrals earn, so if you have a blog (like me), put a referral link on there and promote it! It's a win-win for you and your readers, they get paid for their searches, and you get paid as well."


You can also check out her Christmas shopping using her Swag Bucks too. Pretty Cool~~


So, I'm trying it out. We'll see how it goes. If you's like to try it too, please use my referral link here to do so.

Emily's School Program

Here are some of my catch-up photos. This is Emily's school's patriotic program. Emily is on the top row in the middle in a blue shirt. It's kinda hard to see her, but here is a close up.

Here is Emily and her daddy. What a cute date he makes!! He rushed in from Charlotte to be there for her.

Terry at Kindergarten

On their way to Boy Scouts

Bobby, Stephen

Mama's Spaghetti

This is my all time favorite recipe ~ my mama's spaghetti.

It was one of the original 4 meals I could cook when we first got married and has remained a staple to this day.

My new favorite past time is Facebook. I have loved getting in touch with some long lost people in my life ~ one being my Jessica ~ the beautiful little girl who lived with us high school ~ my daddy and his wife had custody of her then. One of Jessica's memories of that time was my mama's spaghetti (along with me listening to Tina Turner!!) :-)

So here is the recipe...

10 oz tomato paste
20 oz tomato puree
3/4 t oregano
1/2 t red pepper
2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
3/4 t garlic
1/4 t pepper
3/4 t salt

1 pound browned and drained hamburger

vermicelli

French bread

Combine first nine ingredients. Add in a can or two of water it get it to your desired consistency. Cook on low for several hours.

The longer it sits the better it is, great leftovers!!!

Serve over vermicelli topped with Parmesan cheese with a side of French bread.

As our family has grown we began doubling the recipe - today we triple it. Sometimes it is enough for Artie to take a bowl to work the next day, but sometimes they will it every bite of it!!

Jessica, hope you enjoy it. Let me know when you try it!!

The Littles coming home from school

Emily

Bobby and Terry

Terry and StephenElmo begins barking as soon as he hears the bus rolling down the road. He can hear them way before I can. They are always so excited when they run in the door. School is a great place to them and they are learning so much!!

This is the way Dollie spends her time while Emily is at school - propped up reading a book waiting on Emily to return.

Terry's kindergarten nap towel

Blogging?

It seems as if it has been forever since I've been on my blog. We been so busy with the holidays and my grandmother being in the hospital that I just haven't had time to sit and write. I am trying to recover from that!!

Mostly this blog is an online way for me to keep a family journal for our girls to look back over, so over the next couple of days I will be back tracking to fill in some of the gaps.

It's been a good day here. Over the past couple of weeks all the children have been/are switching bedrooms. Brenda and Emily just finished painting their room today. What a project that has been. This is the first time Brenda has really painted on her own and I think she now appreciates all the painting Artie and I have done in this house. :-) She and Emily are moving into Troy's old room which was painted a dark Army green. Kilz - the one coat paint - took four coats!!! I've ended up spending over $100 just on the silly paint!! Tonight she is going to be working on cleaning the floor - can you believe there was a little spilled paint even under all the plastic we had down? Tomorrow will be cleaning windows and then hopefully moving furniture. Brenda can't wait to get up there and hang some Jonas Brothers posters on the newly painted walls!!! Plus the room is twice the size of their current bedroom and twice the closet space. Each girl will have their own walk-in - currently they have no closet. (These old houses are definitely wanting in the closet department!! The girls have been using a nice pick shelf/closet from the ABC Distributing store for things that need to hang and bags and shoes and belts and stuffed animals. It was definitely time for a switch!!)

I'm cooking on one of my new Christmas presents. Artie and I got a big George Forman grill on the day after Thanksgiving sale at Wal-Mart. We have loved it so far. Tonight we are cooking pork chops.

All the children go back to school on Monday. I think Artie and I might just sleep the whole day!!! :-) He doesn't have to go back to work until Tuesday, so one day alone will be so nice!! I will miss everyone when they are gone but will enjoy getting back into some type of routine.

Managing the Home

Lady Lydia had a wonderful post on Managing the Home on Tuesday. I thought some of you might like to read it as well.

I love the idea of a written plan for the day. I get so overwhelmed at times with the amount of work to be done, a written list seems to make it more do-able. Even if I don't get it all finished, it helps me prioritize and then I am able to look back and see all I accomplished.

Off to the Dominican Republic

My friend, Gwyn, left again today. It's so bitter sweet. I'm happy for her and her family, but so sad for myself. (in that first link, you can see pictures of the house they will be living in) Gwyn is so excited to be living with all her own stuff again. They have shipped a big container with everything they haven't sold by boat down to meet them. Please pray they get it out from the dock without any problems - sometimes people have been known to hold the containers for more money and more money. They have a "friend" who is suppose to be helping them out with it.

They have embarked on their lifetime adventure. They have picked up their whole family (three children included) and moved (after a year at language school) to the Dominican Republic.

Here is where they will be. They will be working with Restoration Ranch (no connection to our old church - Restoration, even though they do support the work there) - which is going to be an orphanage to the countries neediest children.

Right now, Shay will help with the construction and Gwyn will continue to home school their children.

Here are a couple of pictures of the work in progress...

Thanksgiving

We had such a full Thanksgiving this year. The children all being in public school this year, have picked up every type of virus going around. It has been a mess!! I still haven't caught up on all the laundry yet.

We missed Thanksgiving with Artie's family but were blessed to all be well finally the day of Thanksgiving. We went and had dinner with all my granddaddy's brothers and sisters and all their children and grandchildren. It was so much fun. I love to be around my mimi and grandy all I can!! My daddy and Karen were there and all my first cousins who I hardly get to see. I wish we all lived closer and could visit more.

Mimi is getting ready to have surgery in a couple of weeks for a hernia in her chest. We are all praying for a quick recovery for her. She has been sick for quiet a while with reflux and they are hoping this is going to fix it all.

It was good to eat her dressing and gravy for lunch. We took turkey, gravy and green beans. There was so much food. I didn't hear a count of how many people were there, I'm guessing about 50? I hope this becomes a tradition. Brenda and Emily and I have cooked Thanksgiving for 2 years now at home; but, I so love being with the big family more.

At the end of the day, we all got together and Artie lead us in a prayer to God for what we were thankful for. The children make me smile so. Terry was thankful for Thanksgiving, Brenda for family and friends which prompted Terry to also be thankful for Mama and Daddy. Bobby was thankful for Squanto :-) (see, he is learning something in school) and Troy said he was thankful for second chances. There are such moments of brightness shining through the days here and there. Artie was most thankful for Mimi and Granddaddy and being able to share Thanksgiving with them - his grandparents have all passed away, so he's adopted mine as his own. He loves them so. And I was thankful that Artie is still my best friend in the whole world. The next day we celebrated being together for 26 years (we started dating when we were in junior high).


By the way, the children have all been well for a whole week now. They went back to school two days and I already have 2 home sick with a stomach ache and throwing up!!!! There are some things I'm never going to like about public school. Mrs. Coggins (the office lady) said they had so many sick now, I had been hoping while they had all been separated over the holiday they would come back to school all well. Maybe by the end of Christmas break???

Kelly's Thursday

It's a quiet morning here at the Quinn home. It has begun a hard rain outside, blowing leaves everywhere!! We have two beautiful trees in our yard. I hate to see the leaves fall. Here's a picture I took a couple of days ago.





I had been working in the kitchen this morning washing up a few dishes and wiping down the counters and had Dr. Phil on in the background. It got so disgusting, I had to turn it off. Ever now and then they have a show I like - talented kids or inspiring people. I don't know why I deal with the possibility of goodness when most of the time it's trash. I've got WLFJ - my local Christian station (you can listen online if you don't have a great one) playing now. It's always good to uplift and help me keep my eyes on Jesus. I I especially love it when they play - Third Day.

Talking about good Christian music, Brenda is going to see Toby Mac tonight in Greenville. She is so excited. I guess DC Talk was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I'm sure Toby will be great too.



We are still recovering from a wide variety of illnesses. Bobby came home from school Monday morning sick. He seemed better all Tuesday, but the came home sick again yesterday. Today I kept him in, hopefully to conquer this totally. He's sleeping now. Very sweet, like a baby again. :-) Everyone else is hard at work or school, at least for a little while. I am fixing to go and pick up Troy and Brenda for a dentist appointment. How old do they have to get before they are thankful that you watch out for them and do the right things? They are still whining about going to the dentist and I am trying to talk Troy into getting braces. He doesn't want to mess with them and needs them very bad. I had hoped (0a couple of years ago) when the dentist first started talking about them, that when he grew up a little, he would be more responsible and ready. Unfortunately we haven't hit that place yet. The orthodontist said if waits until his adult life, they will probably have to break his jaw to set things right. Kids......



So, after the dentist and getting the kids back to school, we will be getting ready for Emily chorus performance tonight. I have to make sure and get my camera ready!! :-) I think they are suppose to be singing patriotic songs and dressing in red, white and blue.

The day after...

I am slowly making my way through the day. I didn't cut the computer or phone on until after lunch - Artie thought I had been in bed all that time. :-) Not in bed, just moving slowly.

I am just trying to keep up (or really catch up) with all the dailies. I've had a nice warm shower and washed my hair, picked up and swept the living room, got dishes washing in the dishwasher and sheets washing in the washer.

There is still a lot to do. I've got dinner to prepare for (an easy dinner tonight - it's church night for the children), clothes to wash, outfits to prepare for tomorrow, lots more picking up and sweeping and still more dishes to wash!!!

I think it's time to eat something today!! I'm starving. I think I might treat myself to a Sub Station sub for lunch. :-)

I do realize that it is a historic day in our country, I'm just trying to figure out all my thoughts on the subject. I guess the main thought I have is I just wish it had been a different African American man who had won the presidency. One who was against abortion and the for the rights of the unborn. It's hard for me to feel very excited about the boundaries broken when the new president still isn't for the rights for everyone, especially the most in danger in this country - the unborn ~~~