Backing Up-Part 2

The Saturday before Christmas we went with our friends the Easthams to play a little bit!! First we took our caravan to the Grand Floridian where they have a HUGE house made out of Gingerbread. This has become a family tradition for us (man, oh man, their gingerbread men are to die for!! ) and then on to Celebration where it "snows" every hour on the hour. The girls had never done this and they had a blast! We're looking forward to continuing this next year!! (Julie missed all the excitement as she was in rehearsals....next year, she goes too!!)

p.s. this computer is funkified(or I am....don't answer that!!) and won't let me leave comments on some of your blogs. I've tried! On this New Years Eve everyone know we're thinking of you........ and our hearts and prayers are with you this dawn of a new year!!

Backing Up A Little~

Life with 2,4, and 6 yr. olds, in addition to others :)......gets pretty hectic the week before Christmas. I'm going to 'back up a little' and share what the few days before Christmas looked like for us......Starting with Julie.....she was one busy girl! Mom had the opportunity to attend dress rehearsal for Metro's Christmas Production "A Christmas Tale." It was the story of Christmas (duh!) told from the perspective of a traveling theater troupe and ended with the cross and Resurrection. Very well done by all! One of the highlights for Julie was getting to sing Whitney Houston's version of 'Joy to the World' with her friend Ariel. Friend Elizabeth did the choreography this time, and all involved deserve a pat on the back!! We hope all that saw the actual production on Sunday morning were touched by the timeless story of the Birth of Christ.

Then, last Friday night....Julie, David G. (see, told you you'd be on here!!) and Steph L. sang at a coffee house set up for live entertainment. (Catch them New Years Eve as well!) This was their first time doing this, and they did an amazing job! Mom and Dad came to give support (Jason and Mel got all the little girls and Cade this time!!) We're looking forward to New Years and hearing them again!!

The Faces of Christmas~Some of Anyway!

Just a couple of pics of our day yesterday. Fun, madness, chaos and we wouldn't trade any of it for anything! The last pic is our living room at the very end of the day (close to 11 pm) and yes, we had cleaned it several times throughout the day! We had 7 children under the age of 6, and many more over 40, and a few in between. Can you tell?? (That's Julie on the phone, Katie trying to sweep with the broom and Leni going strong....Eloise is somewhere hiding candy under her shirt!) Hope your day was grand!!

Merry Christmas!

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Luke 1: 30-33

We pray God's blessings on you and yours this Christmas! Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

(These pics are from Fort Wilderness at Disney. Our daddy took them over Thanksgiving weekend. Can you believe this is at a campground?! Can you believe no one jumped in the mud or got remotely dirty during our family photo event?????)

Eloise's Big Day!

First this week, Kristin had her ballet recital....where she danced beautifully to the "Nutcracker Suite" and Rudolph. She has made huge progress in her dance and we're so proud of her!! You will see her with her teacher who was also one of Julie's first teachers! THEN....on to the Pre-K Christmas "Program" (she will correct you if you call it a show!!). Again she was magnificent and you will see some of her fan club that came to see her along with a pic of Eloise with her teachers. She's having a great year and rising to the occasion of all that's asked of her!! That's our girl!! (this text just wouldn't format before I had to leave. Sorry!! Hope you figure out this puzzle!!)

Move Over Rachel Ray! The VanLue Kids Are In The Kitchen!

Mom Jo (grandma) bought the little people this train cake pan....so we planned a day to make/decorate it. We baked....set up outside....showed little people the box and what we were attempting to do....handed out candies/decorations and let them have at it! We here in homeschool land are firm believers in "letting each do his/her own work".....so what do you think?????? Does our final result look like the picture on the box cover? How about our budding culinary masters of design??? We think they're a shoe in for their own Food Network Show!!

HEY! Unto You A Child Is Born!

.....and Mary brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in an old doll blanket,poked his eyeballs, colored on him, laid him on pine straw, fed him hot chocolate......and laid him in a laundry basket......and sent him down the slide. Yes, this happened today. And mom works so hard to keep scripture accurate. However, this was very, very cute. The post title is from the book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". If you haven't read it.....please do so. It's hilarious.....and not unlike some of the things that happen here.:) Ho-Ho-Ho!

Leni's Great Disney Adventure~

Leni is our nature girl....through and through. She would live outside in her treefort if she could:) So, here we are at Disney on Tom Sawyers Island. Nature Girl's happy, delightful place. There are caves, trails, barrel bridges, an actual fort (Davy Crockett style) with cannons and rifles, lookouts, etc. You get the idea. We had the girls in the play area and guess what?! Nature Girl disappears. Well, she could be anywhere on the island. Even in the water(you must know Leni....water and mud is a magnet!!) We sent in reinforcements when we couldn't see her. You know....Eloise .....the family siren. Her shrill voice began to beckon missing sister. Eloise found Nature girl....stuck in a tree ....in a 'cast member only' area, forbidden to mere mortals like us. In goes the daddy rescuer when he realizes Nature Girl is really stuck on the side of a hill, up a tree (kinda like a treed cat). While Eloise gives a play by play, and Katie is hanging on Mommy's leg, you will see the rescue operation. Wish you could've heard it. What would we do without our Daddy?! We do not know!

Party Girls~What Fun!

We've had party after party this week and the girls are loving it! After Bethlehem, there was Julie's recital where Eloise 'tolerated' it pretty well....and we learned that Leni really, really, really, really, doesn't like recitals. Julie was wonderful. She sang a song called "God of Mercy" by Louise Fellingham all about orphans with AIDS in Africa. An extraordinary song! Did I say that Leni doesn't like recitals? That bears repeating...:) and repeating, and repeating.

Then, we had our homegroup party at the Rejonis' . They live in a 100 yr. old house which was decked out for the holidays complete.......with a "hoeman" upon entering the door. (see pic). They even showed "The Polar Express" at their 'outdoor' theater. Fun! Fun~!

After our Disney day, we went to a 'gingerbread-house-decorating-party' at our neighbors. She buys houses with all the fixins and lets the kids go wild decorating them. Here's a few pics of how our turned out! A great idea for a party! It's become an across-the-street-tradition for our girlies! (Just FYI- most times there's lots more people at events we go to than are seen here. I won't post people's pics unless I've secured permission from them or their parents first....) And now......we must get back to planning this next week's activities! We have cousins coming in, parties to attend....and oh yea.....Eloise's School Christmas Production!

P.S. The new pic on the header is really our girls feet, taken by their Daddy at Thanksgiving. It's part of this year's Christmas Card :)

Anyone Know......

Where the Oreo Girls went today? And yes....they took their parents!:) They weren't so very excited were they?!:)

Our Walk Thru Bethlehem~

Last Sunday night we went to a local church that does an annual "Walk thru Bethlehem". They construct an actual working "city", duplicating the days during which Christ was born. A guide takes you through....you pay your tax to Caesar at the city gate, you meet the 'leper' at the entrance, you encounter Roman guards....you visit the doctor, fruit vendor, typical house, weaver, baker, ....go to the inn and ask for a room (sorry, no room at the inn) then on to see a newborn with his parents recently born in a stable (!) .....(the baby Jesus was a month old and his parents were actually Mary and Joseph. They were brave first time parents to take this on!! ) You find Wise Men who actually have the same 'gifts" brought to Jesus...then you hear the story of the cross....All using scripture directly taken from Luke, Romans, and Isaiah to name a few. It was remarkable and a must do for every year from now on! We went with our friends the Easthams who have 3 lovely children and are hopefully completing their paperwork to adopt from China as this is being posted:)! The VanLue group also had the excellent addition of Cade who was letting his parents have a couple of days vacation. Mom Jo came along to help.....and the entire group topped off the evening at Jason's Deli. A great time was had by all! Cade's new claim to fame is that he's had his diaper changed in Bethlehem!

Oh, And One More Thing~A Contest!

Today is buy one, get one free day! I was walking by my kitchen cabinet a while ago today and noticed this. I had brought home some of those foam sticky-back things in Christmas shapes for the girls from the dollar store. There are candycanes, gingerbread people, santas, stockings, snowflakes, trees, ball ornaments, just to name a few, and the one represented here.......I had given paper, crayons and the bag of foamies to a certain princess to keep herself entertained for a few, and here's the final product of her work.(on kitchen cabinet instead of paper:)) Any ideas on who decorated the kitchen? Whoever can guess which princess is the artist, wins a candy cane (real, not foam)!

Not BAAAADDDDD For These Two!

So, if you were wondering whatever happened to our stellar sheep (prev. post) here are the results! On Sunday, our church had part 2 of the children's Messiah production. "And there were in the same fields, shepherds abiding...keeping watch over their flocks by night." And that's where the ya-ya-sisterhood of VanLue sheep entered the auditorium on their hands and knees (with the other kindergarten sheep).....crawled up the stairs, to the center, and down-n-out the center aisle. Somehow the shepherds that were accompaning them got lost, but they were the cutest first graders ever! Big job for these two, who have never really done anything in front of people. Kristin loved it.....Leni was nervous. They did it and this family was very proud of our little lambs. Well, one lamb . Leni's too tall.....she is definitely a sheep. What do you think of our stage debut? And who knew Eloise could multi-task like this?!