My favorite picture

OK, I think this one tops them all. Chloe is such an enthusiastic person. She gives her all to everything. She can go from laughter to tears in 2 seconds. In other words, she is extremely emotional. Typical girl, I am sure. Since my other three are all boys, I don't have much to compare to! :o)

Anyway, Chloe opened her Christmas box from Santa and saw a sewing kit she had been hinting for. She was happy and excited about that. But what she didn't realize was that underneath the sewing kit was hidden the DVD "High School Musical" that she really wanted. It was a pure stroke of luck that I happened to snap this picture at the same moment that she realized she had received the DVD too. Look at the look of shock on her face as she looks up to her Daddy in a very excited state of disbelief! I love that I captured that. She was sooooo excited.

I love her enthusiasm. It brightens my life!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD

A very merry Christmas to all my friends and family (aka my faithful blog readers!) I love you all and so with I could have seen you this Christmas. I pray each of you had a restful day and were able to pause in the hustle and bustle and reflect on the real reason we celebrate. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11



We had a wonderful day. Yesterday was a day of visiting friends. (Christmas Eve is the BIG day in Costa Rica so we enjoyed spending it along side many of our Costa Rican friends!) Today was a day with family. Just us in the morning, eating coffee cake, opening gifts, being thankful, and playing with lots and lots of Legos!



Then in the evening we spent time with our dear friends the Twitchells to celebrate Christmas and their daughter's birthday, which is also the 25th!

Good times. Sweet day. Blessings to you and yours!


"Our 2006 Christmas Card Photo"

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Snow in San Jose, Costa Rica? Yes. Well, sort of!

It is a long-lasting tradition here to go downtown to Avenida Central and throw confetti. There is a stretch of the main street about 6 blocks long or so that is a walking-only street. No cars allowed anymore. And during the month of December the tradition is to throw confetti on anyone who walks by. And not just a little. Like loads and loads of confetti. They sell big gallon-size buckets of it for about a dollar. And everyone, young and old alike, toss it on those they meet. It was hilarious to see!!

Our good Costa Rican friends, the Abdallahs, called Thursday afternoon and invited us to join them to "throw confetti" downtown. We had heard of this tradition but hadn't experienced it first-hand so I was quick to accept the invitation. Oh my! We were in for quite an experience. I should have known when I saw many families whose children were wearing swimming goggles that things could get a little crazy. :o) At first we started out rather innocent. Buying a little tiny bag for about 20 cents and tossing it up in the air and watching it fall while yelling "Feliz Navidad" (And yes all that white confetti does start to look like snow!!) But after walking a bit we realized it was so much more. People began to pelt us with huge handfuls. Men, little kids, teen-agers, old women --all with their hands stuffed full of paper confetti tossing it right at your head or face! Ha! I couldn't stop laughing which was a big mistake as I often ended up with a mouthful of the stuff! My hair was covered. Our clothes were covered. The streets were an inch thick in paper confetti. And everyone was loving it. Zachary and Austin quickly discovered the little bitty weeenie bags of confetti Mom bought weren't enough. And they dug in their pockets for change and bought the big bag and buckets full. Actually, to be honest, we ALL went through quite a few bags each! So funny to see grown-ups beaning one another with handfuls of confetti! Much like a snowball fight. Except is wasn't cold and the confetti doesn't hurt (unless it gets in your eyes like it did for poor Austin and his friend Isaias! We will definitely join the goggle-wearing groups next year!)


**TO NOTE ABOVE-- Please notice the adult man in the center throwing a large handful of confetti right into Zachary's face as this photo was snapped. (Double-click to see this bigger -- It cracks me up!!) Obviously he was a pro as his daughter and son both came in swimming goggles as you can also see. We'll be ready next year!!**


The kids are quite obviously having a good time!

As you can see, it is hard to get out of your hair!! L to R, Chrissy, Darrin, Emilia and Fran.


The kids enjoying a Frosty. Growing up we had hot chocolate after a snow ball fight. Here it is a Frosty after a confetti fight. Still fun though!!

Such a fun, fun night. Laughing with good friends. Playing in the snow! Ending it all with a big Frosty (new Wendy's in town! yeah!) What a fun Christmas tradition!

Tagged. . . .

I was tagged by jennyl. So here you go:

A - Available or single: Married
B - Best friend: My sister Amy
C - Cake or pie: cake--Red Velvet, to be specific
D - Drink of choice: Diet Coke
E - Essential item you use everyday: Bath & Body Vanilla Bean Noel body creme
F - Favorite color: green -- avocado green, lime green, spring green, etc.
G- Gummy bears or worms: bears
H - Hometown: Mason City, Illinois
I- Indulgence: Large Diet Coke in McDonald's drive thru (way too often!)
J - January or February: Tie--January is Zachary's birthday month, but February has Valentine's Day!!
K - Kids & names: Zachary, Austin, Chloe and Wyatt
L- Life is incomplete without? God's great grace & good, good friends
M- Marriage date: March 21, 1992
N- Number of siblings: 4
O- Oranges or apples: oranges (apples only in the fall with caramel dip!!)
P- Phobias or fears: Losing those I love
Q- Fave quote: "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." --e.e. cummings
R - Reasons to smile: My sweet hubby, 4 sweet kids, and one sweet doggie, Buster!
S - Season: Fall
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Nadine; michelle_d; Susie (nothing else to do, right?! Ha!)
U - Unknown fact about me: Won our county fair pageant in High School and got to pass out all the ribbons at the fair! :o) And compete in the big Miss Illinois State Fair pageant the next year! Ha. Makes me laugh now!!
V- Vegetable you don't like: brussel sprouts
W - Worst habit: biting the inside of my cheeks and making me have what my sister calls "the corpse face" I do it all the time without realizing it!
X - Xrays: teeth; foot (broke it jumping on a trampoline when Zachary was a baby!)
Y - Your fave food: Tie: Roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy OR Chalupas (with extra guacamole) from Tomasita's in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Yum-O
Z- Zodiac sign: Libra

Graduation and Card making

Zachary graduated from grade school into high school last week. We don't claim he is a high schooler yet as our "home" culture of the USA considers high school to start at 9th grade. But here in Costa Rica high school is 7-11 grades. Soooo, in the eyes of all his friends and peers here they are all high-schoolers! It makes him sound way too old so I haven't used that phrase yet! :o) But he seems quite fond of it. Here he is in his cap and gown and with his proud parents and his diploma!

I have been making lots of cards lately. I am giving some sets away as teacher gifts, etc. Actually I gave most away without remembering to take pictures. Here are a few that I have pictures of. (These were all used in my sets too -- and some of you may recognize these as I made some for me to use as well!!) I love finding a great basic pattern and then using it again and again with different colors and paper. The first two horizontal cards were inspired from a Becky Fleck Card Sketch. And the last three horizontal cards were inspired by a birthday card my friend Suzanne B. made several years ago. I have used it again and again and again for so many occasions and in so many colors. I love that it is so simple yet looks so cute!!

And this last one I just made for a friend's anniversary. I haven't mass produced it yet as the Calla lilies take a while to make. But they are my favorite flower so it was worth it!!

Fun with My Family!!

>>The kids with Grammy and Grandpa

>>> The three sisters!
>>> My sweet parents

Yipee! After many months of waiting my family finally arrived for their much anticipated visit. It was the fastest 9 days ever. It seemed the time just flew by! But it was so wonderful to have them here. My parents and my two sisters all four came and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of their time with us. We, of course, had to take them to the beach for a day or two. They are all from Illinois and had just experienced that huge snow and ice storm that went through a the beginning of the month. So we took them away to warm up for a few days! My two brothers were probably a bit jealous that they were out working every day in the ice and cold while the rest of their family was at the beach, but maybe that will encourage them to get their passports and come along next time too. (hint hint guys!!)

>>> My Mom and Dad enjoying the sun!

>>> Wyatt the snorkeling enthusiast with his latest find, a star fish!

>>> The gals! -- Me, my sisters, and my daughter
>>> Monkey in the trees at the beach!

We also did a lot of this:

Just hanging around together. That was the best thing of all. Just having a week in December so close to Christmas to just be together! We made some Christmas candy and went out to eat and laughed till we cried. It was a fun time! Thanks Mom, Dad, Amy and Jeni for giving us all such a wonderful Christmas present!
>>> Making Christmas candy

Hope that you, my blog-reading friends, are all well. I decided to enjoy my family while they were here and have taken a bit of a break on reading your blogs and catching up on your latest. But I hope to take some time to do that in the next few days! I hope you are all enjoying this special time of year!

Blessings!! Chrissy

Catching Up!

Well my faithful few blog friends, I have some catching up to do! First of all, Thanksgiving was wonderful last week. I, of course, forgot to take any pictures of the actual Thanksgiving dinner and the sweet friends we had here with us. We had an international group with people from the United States, Dominican Republic, Panama, Honduras, and Costa Rica all here sharing our meal with us. They enjoyed some typical US Thanksgiving food (for the most part!!) and we enjoyed having people we love here with us on our special holiday!

I did take some pictures on Thanksgiving day though. Of my birthday boy. Wyatt turned six on Thanksgiving Day this year. He was actually born on Thanksgiving Day also, but this is the first year his birthday has again fallen on the holiday! So here is my birthday boy (painted like a clown from his school party). Instead of a birthday cake he requested an apple pie. Since it was Thanksgiving that worked especially well!




The following day we wasted no time in beginning our Christmas decorating! On Friday afternoon we went to look for a tree. Can you believe they have Christmas tree farms everywhere here in CR? It was a surprise for me. So we decided to leave the musty, damp, dusty artificial tree in its box for one more year and cut down our own tree. Christmas tree farms here make me smile. No snow (which we always had in the Midwest where I am from). Not even cold. And you know what grows around the Christmas trees? Great big banana trees! :o) Here is a picture of a Christmas tree in the foreground and the big banana tree back behind!! We found an affordable one about the right size and brought it home. We worked on it over the weekend and by Sunday night is was looking good!

I have begun listening to Christmas music all the time. We have lights outside and our nativity scenes up inside. And I am feeling happy! I love Christmas-time. And it gets better! My parents and my two sisters are coming for a visit next week! Yipee!!