Our FAVE FIVE this WEEK!

Lewis starts Basketball- Lewis is stoked to be playing basketball and I gotta say, I am too. Basketball is my favorite sport, so I am excited to get out there on the pavement with him and teach him some of the basics. He had such a great first practice. I have a confession though, we as parents totally spaced his first game this Saturday. Well, we didn't space it, we just got mixed up on the time. He ended up only getting to play for a few minutes. When we first told him we had goofed, he got so sad- total tears and all. Steve and I felt HORRIBLE! But, he perked up after the game and I explained to him that when I was a little girl, I didn't even get the opportunity to play ANY kind of sports. This seemed to help put things in perspective for him. Even though his parents biffed this one game, he is still a pretty lucky boy to be able to have all of the opportunities that he has. This is a pretty short season with only six more games to play, but he is absolutely on fire about it and it will be short, but I know it will be super sweet! (Maybe I'll remember to take some pictures this week too!)

Fixing the Playground- So when we built our house five years ago, the goal was for me to be able to do a preschool in our basement so I could be home with our boys and still make a little money and do what I love-TEACH! That first year was crazy. We moved in on the same day that I did my first preschool open house and we didn't even have grass! I still can't believe people actually signed their kids up to come! Anyway, by that first summer, we had our grass and Steve went to the ends of the earth to get this play set for our yard (I don't have a picture and my camera is M.I.A. right now, so just imagine a "wannabe" Costco play set with smaller scale everything but which includes swings, a slide and a little loft area). It was from Walmart and it was only like $300 which was about all we could afford. The only problem was, it was always sold out at all of the Walmarts we would go to. Steve finally found one when he was doing practicum work in Vegas and he snatched it up (if I recall correctly, he had come down with the stomach flu too and was on his death bed trying to figure out a way to get the dang thing home). Anyway, this play set started off fufilling our needs just great, but over the years, it has been worn down and has gotten so rickety that I almost am afraid to let the kids even get on it! Anyway, my friend Marci who has been running my school for me while I've been doing Kindergarten this past two years finally came up with a solution. Apparently her father-in-law is a genius with wood and he found a way to correctly reinforce this little play set and now it works better than ever! I am just sooo grateful to have this figured out and to not have to worry about it anymore or try to figure out how to come up with the funds to replace it. I am so glad there are handy people in this world (since Steve and I are not) and that they are willing to help out such a cause. Amazing, amazing! I am so grateful!

New Computer Armoire-

Another thing we had been putting up with for the past five years was a rickety old computer armoire that BARELY functioned. The doors BARELY opened and closed and the filing cabinets had to be duct taped shut because they no longer worked. We don't have an actual office in our home, so we needed a place to house our computer that could be closed up and out of sight when not in use. Well, earlier this fall one other piece of this old armoire broke and I had HAD it. I began looking on line, just to browse and get an idea of price range for a new one. Our old armoire was one of those fake wood Sauder brands and it just did not hold up over time, so I knew I needed to step up a bit. Well, I found this particular armoire at several different sites but it was a particularly GREAT deal at one site. Well, to make a long story short, the reason it was such a good deal, was I only bought the BOTTOM! I felt like such a dork when it came and I realized I had only purchased one part of it (of COURSE it was too good to be true)! So, after awhile, we decided the only solution was to order the top as well (this time we ordered from a local retailer who could guarantee mess ups) and it FINALLY came last weekend! Steve was totally mad at me at first when this whole incident went down, but now that we have a fully functioning armoire, he is glad we have it. I was soooo thrilled to get rid of the old one-this is just so nice. It's like REAL furniture a grown up would buy! It is really beautiful. Anyway, I obviously have not gotten a chance to organize all of our junk yet, and it appears I need to dust a couple of areas (funny what pictures show that you normally can't see) but I cannot WAIT to get on that! Here's to being organized and free of duct taped filing cabinets!!!!

Getting Our First Christmas Card-

So, one of my FAVORITE things about Christmas is getting greetings from long lost family and friends, through the old fashioned mail box! I love opening the mail and seeing those envelopes ready to be ripped into and read. I love hearing about what people are up to and seeing how people have grown and changed over the years. I totally keep my Christmas cards (all of them) filed in a special box that I intend to go through when I am old and gray. I am really not a "keeper" of much, so this shows how much I adore Christmas cards. I also really enjoy the whole process of making cards and sending them out. I am not a great cook or a seamstress or anything like that, but I do like to keep track of our family memories through scrapbooking and I totally LOVE the process of card making and the feeling of ending the year with a really great memento of our family. Even if I only do that ONE project and plop it in our scrapbook, it is a really good reminder of our year (I always type up a few paragraphs about our year to go alongside our card in the scrapbook) and our family's life. It has been hard for me to find time to do handmade cards this past couple of years, but this year, I have decided I will make the time. I am sure it will be simple, but it will definitely get done.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Our first Christmas card arrived this week and I was so excited! This year, the first card came from our good friends in Pennsylvania, the Stathams. They got the coveted first spot on our door and now I get to look at their beautiful grins for the next month or so. She too is a lover of the handmade cards and I totally appreciate them! Take a look at how cute that family is! On the inside it says: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14 Merry Christmas! Love, The Statham Family

Thanks so much Jen- I am now officially inspired to take on my Christmas Card tradition!

Feeling the Holiday Spirit- I am grateful to have been able to taste a little of the holiday spirit this week in so many different ways. If you look around, there are lots of ways to get distracted from the true spirit of the season. But, if you look even further, there are plenty of opportunities to feel the great joy too. Through GIVING and sharing, I have definitely been lifted up and I can't wait for the Christmas season to unravel even more. Soon, our boys will help us execute a "Twelve Days of Christmas" to some needy families and I look forward to seeing their little faces light up as they feel the spirit of giving too. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Hope you can feel the spirit in your neck of the woods too:)