Winter Wonderland

Its snowing finally!

This is the view from my kitchen, looking out to the deck.




This is from the bottom of our yard, looking up the hill.

It is beautiful white wonderfulness! I put soup in the crockpot, suited everyone up, and we headed outside to play til lunch.

Such a wonderful way to spend a Monday morning!

A Very Merry Christmas

Our Christmas celebrations started the morning of Christmas Eve when we gathered clothes, toys and gift cards that had been donated by friends and neighbors and ourselves and organized them into gift boxes for three families from the Sudanese Lost Boys of Cleveland. We then loaded everything up in our truck and headed into Cleveland to personally deliver the gifts. What an amazing blessing for our family to give to others. We were warmly received at each home and spent some time talking with each family. They were all so happy to see us. Our children said they were happy to help give Christmas to others. It was a great way to spend the eve of our Savior's birth and prepare our hearts for Christmas.

We attended our church's candlelight service. Beautiful music and a wonderful message by our pastor. After the service we headed home to have a light supper and open some gifts. Since we have always had one family or another far from us, one of our family traditions is that the kids are able to open any gifts that have come from "out of town." They love this, since our gift to them on Christmas eve is usually a pair of new pajamas. Oh so exciting...

Unfortunately, all of our snow has melted off. We are anxiously waiting for more to come, since the kids only want to play outside when there is something white and fluffy on the ground.

Only four days left of 2009. I started talking with the boys last night about New Year Goals. Trying to get them to think of ways we can serve those in need and those around us this coming year.

Until next time!

Please Remember

If you are a frequent traveler on Bell St. here in town, PLEASE remember that the speed limit is 25mph!! Also, remember that it is a RESIDENTIAL area. This means that its actually a NEIGHBORHOOD! People live on this street, who see it as their neighborhood. There are 18 school aged kids who live on the stretch of Bell St. from Ridgewood to Main. Children walk to school everyday who have to deal with speeding cars and drivers who carelessly come up on the curb as they whip around the bend.

As long as we live in our home, we will fight the good fight to keep people aware of the dilemma our neighborhood faces. And for those of you who have complained about the little green "slow" guy blocking the sidewalk, or the lady with the stop sign crossing children...GET A LIFE!!! When drivers are so concerned about their own travels that they can't take a minute to stop for a pedestrian or slow down so a child can cross the street, and they complain to the police about the efforts trying to be made to help our neighborhood...I say find another route to travel on!

And when the village sends out their henchmen to tell us we can't put the slow sign on the sidewalk because of "complaints" and take our slow signs down and the police say we can't cross our children with a stop sign because of complaints...I say you don't intimidate us! Help us solve the problem and stop being so overly concerned about the drivers and start looking out for the residents who actually live on this street in this neighborhood!

Oh Boy!

No its not a baby! At least not in our house anyway. My bro-in-law and his wife are expecting next month...a precious miracle baby boy. And I say miracle because he will be the second child for them and his sister is 15 years old!! WOW! And no, this was not planned! Suuuprise(insert Nacho Libre voice here).

Anyways...on to my very own Oh Boy! Its snowing finally. The tree is up. The gifts are wrapped. The halls are decked...and the house is going up FOR SALE. Yes, you read it right. We are putting the house up for sale. My darling husband has decided that he'd like to live on a quieter street with our house further off the road. I can't blame him really. What makes this a sad turn of events is the fact that I love my neighbors. Anyone who's moved numerous times knows that when you get good neighbors, you've really lucked out! You stay put and hope that they stay put. At least we aren't changing towns or schools...and the house has to actually sell!

With all that too say...its going to be a busy winter full of constant cleaning and decluttering. The realtor came to photograph the house yesterday. When Parker came home from school he said to me "why did you clean up so much that you made it look bare in here?" Bare as in naked? Bare as in I put away everyone's stuff that they always leave lying around? Hhhhhhmmmmm...either our house has been cluttered or I never clean. Any of you who know me well, know that I am NOT a fan of clutter. I guess I went above and beyond in putting everything in its place.

Happy Thursday to you all! Oh and if you're interested in an adorable house in Chagrin Falls. OH...let me know. I have one for sale!