this week on the island

hello bloggy friends. how are your holidays so far? we've barely started ours. there's a nice little lull in the hustle and bustle today and we are taking advantage of it.

i'm sitting at my computer blogging while listening to michael buble's christmas album, let it snow. perfect way to spend a bit of the afternoon!

so i make breakfast last week for my family. here's a picture of my biscuits!

now you know what i was talking about when i said i like the taste of burnt food.

sunday we had a christmas get together at my sister's house with my aunt and uncle. this is the daughter of my grandma who died this past october. it was strange without my grandma there. my grandma shopped all year around for christmas presents. my aunt decided to give us all the christmas presents my grandma had purchased for us for the years to come. i am more like her than i thought. when i was helping pick up her house a bit before the funeral, my sister and i found christmas gifts all over the house. some wrapped, some not. my grandma was on a limited income, and she spent some of that on her loved ones so their christmases would be special. it was a good time visiting with them.

sunday night my children sang with their children's choirs at church. this year since we had gotten together at my sister's house, a lot of my family went to the choir performance too. my kids were so excited to look out and see their grandma with the sunglasses, papa with the sunglasses, grandma k, papa bill, aunt g, uncle g, cousins a & a, and cousins k & a, and of course mom and dad. i had a hard time taking pictures. most of them turned out blurry. however, i did get one of my daughter and her kindergarten class.

the officer took off tuesday, wednesday and thursday of this week to spend the christmas week with us. yesterday we spent the day running around together. the officer left early to get some stocking stuffers. when he came back, he took us to lunch at golden palace. the officer and my daughter were very excited about this because during the lunch buffet they have the special corn nuggets they love so much. the corn nuggests did not disappoint!

we went to bass pro after we ate. the officer spent a birthday gift card and got something for his boat. can you believe that it's christmas and he's just now spending his bass pro gift card from september? crazy! :)

after bass pro, we decided to take the trolley ride downtown. it came up just as we were leaving the store. perfect timing. it was a pretty bumpy ride! we were so close to the cars parked on the side of the street. so if you park downtown at a meter and come to find your side mirror on the street beside your car, you might question the trolley drivers. in the end the trolley ride was free and the kids enjoyed it.

when the trolley brought us back to bass pro, we went through a parking lot where we saw some land run statues. they were really huge. the kids asked to go see them when we finished with the trolley ride.

the kids were so excited to just be outside. they were running around like monkeys.

the statues were very cool. they were huge! we had a short little history lesson and then ran around some more! :)


getting stepped on by the land runner!

the ammunition you put in your cannon is very important!

after we finished loading the cannons, we headed to north pole city. have you been there? it's a beautiful place to go during christmas. twinkly lights everywhere! my son especially loved this large nutcracker!

do not be alarmed....no nutcrackers were harmed while taking this picture!

i know you can hardly see the kids in this picture but this spot was so pretty! it had all the white lights (which i love) and these icicle lights that looked like the dripped.

today has been a relaxing day. tonight i will get all the food ready for our family get togethers. my mom decided to not have a big, huge meal. she decided on finger foods/appetizers. what a great idea. everyone is bringing 3-4 things. we will be stuffed! can't wait.

i think we are going to do our christmas with the kids tomorrow night. christmas morning we will get up make a big breakfast and read the christmas story.

i hope you have a very merry christmas. don't forget what it's all about! God's amazing, undeserving, merciful, graceful, love for me and you. sending His son to be our Savior.

Luke 2:9-14

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”