Time to Relax

Happy Saturday....I hope this post finds you all well rested after a busy Christmas holiday. We had a great day and are extremely blessed! All the children enjoyed their gifts and were appreciated everything that they received. Russell & I were up until 3:30 AM Christmas morning wrapping presents (every year we intend to have this finished well before Christmas, however that never seems to quite happen). Rachel & Isaac were the first to wake up at 8:00, so we were thankful for a few extra hours of sleep. We enjoyed our Christmas morning (I'll post pictures later). While Russell fixed breakfast, I got ready so we could begin our morning of cooking for the Spencer family Christmas. We love have everyone for holiday and enjoy the time we spend with them all. Russell & I enjoy cooking together, and we each have our specialities. We made waldorf salad, turkey breast, ham, baked corn, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, pretzel jello salad, macaroni and cheese and pumpkin pies. Brenda (better known as Queenie) made her famous cheeseball by request - we all love her cheeseball! We munched on all the goodies that we made weeks before, cheeseball and chips and salsa. Everyone appeared to have had a great time! We are so thankful for family and being able to spend time together. We missed our family that could not be with us, but am sure they enjoyed their time with family and friends as well.

The house is now quite and it seems a bit odd, as Rachel and Isaac are visiting their Grandma & PaPa Schwarz in Cincinnati and having Christmas with them. I'm glad that we are able to work things out so that they get to spend quality time with them.

With Isaac gone there have been no garbage truck noises (he wanted this garbage truck so bad, and Santa came through), no nerf gun wars going on - both Darryl & Isaac got a nerf longshot for Christmas. Darryl received a voice recorder that he can use to play back how his music sounds when he is practicing. Rachel has not been nearly as social now that she has her new iPod - this year Santa brought her a Nano (so I get the cast off shuffle - yeah for me!) and reading her new books - the Twilight series, she received the first and second one in the series.

Well, I guess it is time to think about making dinner for the troops that are here, as the 15 year old is always hungry.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the day and weekend!

Love,
Tina