Christmas Day

Christmas day actually started out slow for us. We had a lazy morning and then had to be at Aaron's Grandma's house at 11:00. We did lunch and then presents (for the kids only). I was the big idiot who completely for got my camera! It was nice to see everyone. Unfortunately, the kids opened their presents and then it was time to run. Our goal was to get to my parents' house (after stopping home for the camera, of course) before Julie fell asleep in the car . . . and we actually managed to do that!

-

Christmas with my parents is actually a rather drawn out affair. My grandparents (my mom's parents) drive down from Wisconsin, usually getting there b/w 6:00 and 7:oo in the evening, and then stay for 3 days. It's the only time that we see them during the year, so we basically spend those 3 days at my parents house. It's always a treat to see them, but by the end of those 3 days I'm ready to get back to normal life!

-

I made up for all of my slack picture taking over Christmas while at my mom's house. Of course, having Grandma and Grandpa in town means several rounds of posed pictures . . . Just the great-grandkids, then the Great Great grandparents with all the littles, then the 4 generation pictures . . . and the list goes on . . . At times like this, it's wonderful to have the super speed camera, where I can take 30 pictures in a minute or so. And when you take that many pictures, you have to figure that you'll get at least one that looks good! : ) Unfortunatley, I filled up my 1G memory card and had to borrow a card from my mom! Sad, I know.

-

I love this one of the girls with their cousins (My sister's boys)

(L-R, Emma (6), Julie (20 mos), Ali (7), Austin (9), Kevin (3) and Megan (3)

-

Christmas dinner was actually awesome this year. B/c my grandparents were getting in so late we did presents with my mom & dad early, then fed the kids dinner at about 5:00. So when Grandma and Grandpa got their (about 6:30) we did presents with them, and then I put the kids to bed. So we got to have dinner with no children . . . very nice! Kevin and Austin watched a movie and the adults enjoyed adult conversation!

-

This time I actually managed to get a picture of Aaron with the girls! Amazing! : ) (These are the previously mentioned cute jammies!

-

The girls got several gifts that they were excited about. Ali and Emma got tea dresses for their American Girl dolls. Emma loves her new Magic kit (I think she's feeling a bit disillusioned to learn that she's not actually doing magic - but she likes trying to fool her sisters . . . Meg makes a great audience). Meg got an Island Princess Barbie and a Donkey plush toy. Julie got her Bitty Baby (now named Baby Anna) and sleeps with her nightly. Another of Julie's favorites was one that wasn't even given to her - One of Emma's books. (Sidenote - Yes those are hives you see on Julie . . . I guess it was from a virus b/c they're gone now.)

-

Over the next three days we enjoyed lots of chat time, played loads of Cribbage (and other games), went out to Fortel's for pizza and saw lots of dog barf! (I know, sounds yummy! My grandparents have 2 little lap dogs and one of them got into Richard's chocolate - what a mess!)

-

Now we are back at home and trying to get back to some type of normal. The Christmas Tree came down on the morning of the 26th (I asked the girls if they would mind me taking it down on the evening og the 24th - they weren't especially crazy about the idea!) We're trying to clean up and find places for everything. I also have a quarter's worth of school that I'm trying to plan. Tonight we have our annual New Year's Eve festivities (pictures coming soon - assuming that I don't forget, of course). Aaron heads back to work on Wednesday, we start back to school on Monday.

My Favorite . . .

Of all of the Christmas celebrations that we are a part of, my favorite by far is our family Christmas at home. It's so wonderful to have a relaxing day at home!!

-

We actually do our family celebration on Christmas Eve . . . that is one of the best decisions we ever made! No opening presents and then running off to see other family. We have an entire day to ourselves, and I love it!

-

The night before we let the kids open one present (which is the same thing every year - Jammies! Ali and Emma have finally caught on to that pattern!) So the next morning they are all in their new cute jammies - it makes for great pictures! : )

-

Usually we do cupcakes for breakfast (healthy, I know) and we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. This year I just didn't have the stamina or the time to bake cupcakes, but the girls were happy to settle for Barbie Pop Tarts : ) After breakfast we all move to the living room where Aaron reads the Christmas Story from the Bible. It's fun to listen to the kids discussing, asking questions and commenting. It's a great time to sit and focus, stepping away from all of the chaos. Then, we move on to presents.

-

My picture taking was (as previously mentioned) quite pathetic. I didn't even take a group picture of the girls . . . oh well! The "Big" gift this year was the Game Cube from Aaron and I. The girls haven't had much gaming experience, but they have played Mario Kart on the Alligood's Game Cube, and wanted it badly.

-

The girls do all of their Christmas shopping for each other at the Dollar Store . . . so they had many little cheapy gifts to open. Some of them didn't even make it through the day, but it was fun while it lasted. In fact, one of Julie's favorites was a toy cell phone. She walked around all day talking on that thing!

-

As mentioned previously, I did manage to take 2 naps on Christmas Eve . . . ahhh bliss!! After nap time we did actually get everyone dressed (we had thus far spent the entire day in our jammies!) and headed over to the Alligood's for an hour or so. Amber's parents came in town late the previous night and were only staying for two days, so we wanted to get over to visit a bit. It was great to see "Grammy and Papa" (as my kids call them). We came back home to dinner, ready in the crock pot. We played some games, and called it an early night!

Still Going . . .

Yes, more Christmas to celebrate!

-
On Sunday (12/23) the girls had their long awaited handbell performance. They have been practicing for this for months and this was the big day. They performed 2 songs (Angels We Have Heard on High and The First Noel). Ali was one of 7 or 8 kids who played the melody part (the rest played chords). She has actually had to practice at home daily (for those of you who know how musically bankrupt I am, you can just imagine how helpful I was in that endeavor!) It's a miracle that she ever learned her parts!! They both did a great job. Grandma Klarner even made it to church to see them. After bells, all of the children, third grade and under did their Christmas presentation. I always love watching this. Ali and Emma are old enough now that they aren't the little ones standing in the front row showing off their panties, but these kids really are hilarious.

-
After church on Sunday we headed to the Alligoods house for the annual Patton/Alligood Christmas party. That is always a treat for us. The kids had a great time, and the adults stayed up until the wee hours playing games (sidenote: you know you're getting old when you consider 11:00 to be "the wee hours").
-
What a great looking bunch of kids!

Kicking Off Our Crazy Christmas!

Christmas was crazy for us this year, as usual! Every year I swear that next year something has got to change. My husband is off of work for an entire week, and I come away feeling more exhausted than I was when he was working!!
-
Well, We kicked off the Christmas festivities with the Patton side of the family this year. On Saturday (12/22) we did Christmas with them. it was really nice to do it early and have a laid back kind of a day. I even fell asleep on their couch at one point!
-

The girls got all kinds of things that they are thrilled about. One thing that I loved was the nice collection of hairbows that we got (thanks Aunt Lydia and Grandma Patton!) Those things get expensive fast, so it was a great Christmas idea! Julie managed to model several of them (until they got to be too heavy and started falling out!)

-
At one point, Aaron ended up taking Baby Bailey so that Grandma could open a present (I know, poor Aaron). Well, the bummer is that Julie did a lot of unsupervised wandering! Yes, she wandered right into a marker, which obviously jumped right into her mouth and just spread from there! Yes, all because Aaron was busy holding the baby . . . so I blame Lydia! Thanks a lot Lyd! : ) And of course, I couldn't help but to grab the camera!

-
Here we have one of Meg and Julie's favorites. Grandma Patton made them a Veggie Tales pillow . . . it was just begging to be used (hence that little nap on the couch)! Julie kept coming to me and saying "Way down, go fweep" (Read: Lay down, go sleep)

-

This might be Ali's all time favorite gift for this Christmas. Grandma Patton got her an old-fashioned Wizard of Oz lunchbox and a set of four Wizard of Oz "Christmas Ornaments." Really they are little dolls with hangers on them so they can be hung up. Well, Ali quickly asked me if we could cut the hangers off and just let them be dolls. Fine by me . . . I wasn't about to torture her be packing them away with the Christmas ornaments for the next 11 months. So, way to go Grandma! The dolls were a hit!

-

One thing that I discovered while at the Pattons was that I am not used to sitting around all day long. I was SO exhausted and I kept wondering why, since I had gotten enough sleep the night before . . . then it dawned on me that I never stay in one place for that long!! I had the same experience with every Christmas celebration (Excepting our family Christmas - I took two naps that day!). . . I was very tired. Also, I did a pretty rotten job taking pictures (the one exception to that is yet to come). Mostly I just forgot . . . I know . . . Pathetic!

Christmas Party!

We did finally wrap up our semester with a "school" Christmas Party. Amber came over with the kids on Friday (12/21). They Decorated cut-out brownies for their Daddies, made Christmas Ornaments, watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, gave their Pilgrim Presentations (which they did a great job with) and sung Christmas Carols. In between times, they just played together, while Amber and I chilled out on the couch - both of us exhausted and ready to be done with school for a few weeks!

-

As a special treat, we hired sitters and went out for the evening (Jason, Amber, Aaron and myself). We enjoyed Longhorn for dinner and National Treasure 2 on opening night . . . What a treat!!

Baby Bookworm

I've mentioned before how all of my girls love to read. Well, Julie has really amazed me here lately. For her age, it's really amazing to me how much she loves books. I had to share this story.

-

My kids have roomtime every day. They play by themselves in their room (or another room in the house where they can be isolated) and they love it. With four little girls in the house, it's great for them to have some time to play by themselves, imagine whatever they want, and not have to share anything. Roomtime lasts for one hour. On this particular day, I told Julie it was time for roomtime. She asked to have some books on her bed, so I gave her some. She climbed up and started "reading." I also got out a box of toys for her to play with. When I came back, an hour later, to get her out, this is what I found. The toys were untouched, and she was still looking at her books. She greeted me with this huge laughing smile, as if to say, "Has it been an hour already?" I love it!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Well, the man of the house officially turned 29 today! Happy Birthday to a wonderful Hubby, Daddy, and friend.

The celebration has been rather drawn out . . . beginning with a birthday date night on Monday, then an early family birthday dinner at Fortel's last night, and finally a yummy birthday dessert tonight. Unfortunately, tonight is youth group night, and as it's Jason and Amber's last night in youth ministry and the white elephant Christmas party, he didn't want to miss it.

DONE!

Well, our second quarter has come to a close. On Friday we're having a Christmas party, and the kids will be giving presentations on the Pilgrims (which I will need to give grades for) . . . but other than that, we're done!! Hours have been logged, grades have been tabulated, books have been put away. It's a wonderful feeling!

I managed to make it through an entire semester of homeschooling, and I only spontaneously canceled school once due to sheer exhaustion. I must say, I'm impressed. I'm now realizing that I need to do a school supply check so that we're thoroughly supplied to start back in January. Now I can kick back, put my feet up and enjoy Christmas! (Yeah, right!!) I guess I should say that I need to get my butt in gear, clean my house, finish wrapping presents, baking, sewing, etc . . . Oh well . . . at least school is done for the year!

Haircuts

Actually, all four girls got haircuts this week. Ali and Emma actually went to my friend Jessica (who runs a salon in Pacific) to get cleaned up a little. You really don't notice much of a difference in length, but it was pathetic to see the split ends on Emma!!

Meg and Julie got Mommy haircuts. Meg needed a real cut, and she looks adorable. For Julie it was just a trim of the bangs (I had been debating growing out her bangs, but I gave that up for now). But now, she has a horrible mullet (major pet peeve of mine) so she's going to Jessica tomorrow to take care of that!! More pictures to come!

Paper Chain

One of our Christmas traditions is that every year I make a paper chain for the kids. Each link has a special activity written on it that we do together (read a book, watch a movie, bake something, sing Christmas Carols, etc . . . ) Well, we've been rather slack with the paper chain this year (i.e. yesterday we pulled off 3 links, and now have some catching up to do!) I also haven't taken many pictures . . . but here's one. This is on Gingerbread House day (another tradition). It's been fun this year, b/c Meg is participating more. Poor little Jules just got to watch from afar!

Fun in the Snow!

This past weekend we had our first now of the year. In all, we got a good 8 inches, and our children are thrilled!! Saturday was the day it all fell, and we had the Alligood kids for the day. They got out at about 11:30 and pretty well cleared the front yard by making a snoman, pulling the sled, and many snowballs. Within a few hours enough snow has fallen so that you couldn't even tell they had been out there!

Our snow man didn't last long. He must have been unstable, b/c he fell over after about 15 minutes, and they all had a blast jumping on him and smashing him to pieces!

Jonah and Ali chillin' on the front porch.

Emma "pulling" Megan, Aubrey and Karis

-

-

And if I thought it was bad getting 4 kids in from the snow . . . That's nothing . . .try seven! : ) And here's the mess to prove it!

Merry Christmas!

Hi there everyone! In order to keep my Christmas Card budget down I'm doing a virtual card and letter. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from the Patton family!
2007 has flown by, as usual, but it has been a great year!

Our little Julie is now 1 ½, and is such a riot. While she has always been a chatterbox, here lately she has really expanded her vocabulary, and we can now understand most of what she is saying. (A nice perk!) We call her ourlittle kangaroo, as she spends most of her waking hours jumping from place to place. Yes, she started jumping at theage of 15 months (much to my chagrin) and it is hilarious to watch her. Another favorite pastime of her is looking at books. The other day I decided to lie down to read and she sat on my bed next to me for a full hour looking at 10 books. “Wead to me!” is one of her favorite phrases. Her favorites include: Sister time, room time, jumping, laughing, reading and Veggie Tales.

Megan is now 3, and is a very happy little thing. It seems that she is always laughing, or making others laugh. She has finally given up her thumb (with rare relapses) and Mommy is thrilled to be done with that! This year she has really enjoyed weekly trips to the library, where she gets to bring her backpack and fill it with 10 books. She spends two hours every day looking at those books (plus others) during naptime, which she really looks forward to. (Unfortunately, actually sleeping during naptime stopped with the thumb!) Her favorites include: Playing with her sisters, room time, playing Polly Pockets, reading and laughing.

Emma is now 6 and is in Kindergarten this year. She is being home schooled and is loving it. She is our little Math genius (those genes obviously came from her father!). Next week she will finish up Kindergarten math and starts first grade math in January. (And is loving every minute of it . . . I know . . . I think it’s weird too!) One of her big milestones this year was finishing up reading lessons. I know that I have mentioned the fact that she was working on them in my past two Christmas letters . . . and now they’re done! Her favorites include: playing with her sisters, playing soccer (or anything outside), coloring, and reading chapter books.

Ali turned 7 this year and is in second grade. She is also being home schooled this year and loves it as well. Anytime she sees the bus drive by she comments about how she could just be getting home now (at 4:15) and that she’s glad that isn’t the case. History is Ali’s favorite subject. We have just spent an entire quarter learning about the Pilgrims, and it’s really fascinating to her. Tooth pulling has become a bit of a habit for Ali . . . it’s feels like she’s lost dozens of teeth, and she’s no wimp about it. As soon one is loose she’s pulling and twisting, determined to have it out a.s.a.p. This was the year that she lost the two front teeth and she really looks so different. : ( Another addition for Ali this year has been piano lessons with Grandma Patton. She enjoys it for the most part (especially since it means time with Grandma) but isn’t crazy about practice time! : ) Probably the biggest highlight to Ali’s year was going out on a date with Mommy to pick out a kitten at the Humane Society. Ali’s favorites include: Playing with her sisters (and other friends), reading, drawing/coloring, reading, singing, reading, dancing, and oh, did I mention reading? If you ever wonder where Ali is, it’s safe to assume that she’s curled up on her bed with a good book.

Life for Aaron is carrying on as usual. He is still working for Boeing, and enjoying it (mostly). He changes positions within the company periodically, which is nice exposure and a nice change of pace. He is actually looking at the possibility of working from home in the near future. That would be nice (if it actually happens) as he already has a 45 minute commute (each direction) and highway 40 is closing down in less than a month – which will certainly add to congestion all over the St. Louis area! He is still working with the high school youth group at church, and is also co-leading a Growing Kids God’s Way class on Friday nights. His favorites include: Date nights, family game nights, Cardinals baseball, fiddling on the computer and reading.

I guess that leaves me . . . Life seems to have changed a lot over this past year. Most of that change is due to home schooling, which is going amazingly well. I feel like everyone is thriving and our day is very structured. The one thing that I’m still struggling with is keeping my house clean! Ali and Emma are very helpful in that area, but it’s still a work in progress : ). At the end of October, I joined a local gym and am actually finding that I can enjoy exercising. (I never thought that would happen!) I am also part of the Growing Kids class on Friday nights (we are co-leading it with Bruce and Geralyn Keller). This class has been a great challenge for us as we think through how we parent our children, what our goals are for them, and where we are in that process. The last time we did this class, Emma was a newborn, so life has changed quite a bit since then. Surprisingly, one of my highlights this year has been the addition of our kitten, Polly. I’m certainly not an animal person, but was willing to go for a cat. She has turned out to be the sweetest and most social cat in the whole world, and I’m so glad we got her! This year I also started up our family blog that I have really enjoyed keeping up. My favorites include: Date nights, girls nights out, taking pictures and reading.

We hope this letter finds you all well and rejoicing in the birth of our Lord, Savior and soon coming King!

Because He lives,

Aaron, Andrea,
Alison, Emma, Megan and Julie
Patton

In Memoriam

Last week we were shocked and saddened with the news we received. Alex Sutherland, a dear man from our church, passed away suddenly on December 3rd. He was 57 years old.

I didn't know him well. I knew him by reputation from his family and other dear friends. He was a jolly Scotsman through and through and a Godly man who loved the Lord supremely. He would sometimes lead worship, and would regulary read scripture as a call to worship. I loved hearing him read scripture. He did a great job helping me focus and prompting me to worship (and I must mention that he had an adorable Scottish accent, which was so sweet to listen to!! : ) ) His last call to worship, only hours before his death, was very moving to me. He was speaking on the topic of citizenship. To realize how instantaneous citizenship really is. Like he said (speaking of US citizenship ceremonies) . . . "You have a room full of aliens, and then a few words later they are full fledged citizens, with all of the rights, priveledges and responsibilties of a citizen." It is the same thing for those of us who are in Christ. At one point we were aliens, and then in an instant we became citizens of heaven. I remember when he was done talking, thinking, "It's just a shame that we carry on here for so long, as aliens in this world!" Little did I know that Alex would soon experience his heavenly citizenship to its fullest. I can just imagine that sweet accent praising our Lord, never to leave His presence again!

For more on Alex, you can visit www.alexsutherland.com

To read (and contribute to, if so desired) the memorials that have been writtien about Alex you can visit www.alexsutherland.blogspot.com

The "Throw-up Vacuum Cleaner"

Today has been "one of those days" . . . though not in a bad sense, just a busy one. The hardest part of homeschooling to me has been trying to figure out how I'm going to keep my house clean. This week we were able to get ahead a bit in school and today all I had to do was read with Emma and give Ali a math test. So, today has been cleaning day. I decided that I really needed to get into all three bedrooms and do a thorough purge of all unecessary items. I love to throw things away . . . almost to a fault. : )

So, right now it's 2:30 and I'm still wearing my pajamas (I tend to do this on cleaning days). I have finished Meg and Julie's room, and am almost done with Ali and Emma's. They did help me with most of it, but when it comes down to nitty gritty organizing and throwing things away, that's a job that I really need to do on my own. I even steam cleaned Meg and Julie's room . . . hence, my title.

I brought the steam cleaner up from the basement and Meg piped up with, "Oh, you're going to use the throw-up vacuum cleaner?" The reality of the matter is that the only time she sees me use it is when someone has barfed. Any large-area steam cleaning happens once she's in bed. So as I chuckled to myself, I responded with "Yes, I am" and left it at that. Then a few minutes later I called her upstairs . . . she came into the kitchen and very matter-of-factly asked, "Oh . . . did you throw up yet?" This time I laughed out loud and told her that no one was going to throw up (at least not if they know what's good for them). The she looked at me like a was an idiot and asked, "Then why are you using the throw-up vacuum cleaner?" Duh, mom!

Well, I'm off again. More fun stuff to throw away!