Almost Christmas!

Cody and I got Bethany and Hans off to Texarkana safely, and they are having a nice time!  Josh rode down with us to North Carolina, and we stopped in Stafford to drop him off at his grandparents.  Obachan has time off through Christmas, and they should be spending time together, along with Aunt Michelle and his cousins.  And he's looking forward to a delicious Suki Yaki dinner for "New Year's" eve (which they'll celebrate a little early).  So Cody and I finished our trip to NC Friday morning, making a brief stop at Hinnant Winery on the way down.  We've really just relaxed so far and enjoyed ourselves (doing a little Christmas work along the way).  I'm relieved and blessed to know that all the kids are safely visiting family, and that we made it to Cindy's safely.  We are having a wonderful time with her, and hanging out together.


Our love and prayers are constantly with the families in Newtown, CT, who are suffering this season with such an unimaginable loss.  May God watch over them and everyone affected by this and all tragedies.

Love to all...

-Kris (Mom)

Social Security, ugh!

I'm pretty pleased with myself, at the moment.  Tomorrow was the deadline to turn in the appeals paperwork to the SSA; they gave Josh a payment for 18 months of UNDERpayment, and then 3 weeks later sent me a letter saying that those numbers were incorrect and now I owed them $1400.  WHAT?!?!?

Seriously, I'm not paying it.  I went through all my paperwork today; they have a history of underpaying Josh annually, and this time seemed no different.  And then, on the appeals questionnaire, they ask why we didn't tell them (the SSA) about whatever change or event caused the overpayment?

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, since we didn't do anything to cause it, and all the other reasons I have proof of, I'm feeling pretty confident.  And if all else fails, I'll send a letter to the President, his whole Administrative Staff, and my Congressman.  Certified mail.  And if anyone thinks I won't, ask Dad what happened when I sent a letter to the president of Embarq and his entire Board of Directors.  I didn't know they HAD an executive complaint department!  ; )

It's late, I'm tired, and I have some butt to kick tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Love to all...

Christmas is coming...

We had to go by the mall today to get a bunch of vitamins and things for Bethany, and decided to 'meander' a bit while there.  Macy's had tons of Christmas things out all ready, including some beautiful Nutcrackers, and I wanted to stop by Claire's to find some new clip-on hoop earrings.  Of course, it's never "just" with us...

For starters, Josh saw this lovely Nutcracker, and Cody pointed out that it was specially designed to crack Chestnut's.  ; )









And Josh got into the Jingle-Bell Hop mood at Claire's.  He's such a cute elf!  Be sure to press 'play' to watch him jingle his bells!  Hahahahaha......

Love to all...

Making 'new' friends...

So I was pulling the last bits of drywall, insulation and miscellaneous crap out of the kitchen for the last of the demolition the other day.  Wanna see what new 'friend' I made while doing this?  Remember, I wear a breathing mask and goggles, along with a hat, gloves and long sleeves to protect myself as much as I can...  but some things you can't prepare for!

Yep, a 3' long, mummified snake came out of the insulation.

For all of you who think I'm such a tough B, you didn't hear 

me whining like a fire siren!

Ugh............

New York, New York!

So months ago, I bought tickets to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular - long before we knew about the storm that would hit.  But the show must go on - and it did - with wonderful grace and incredible sets.  The 15-20 blocks of Manhattan we walked looked 'business as usual', which was a blessing for all the occupants, and it was nice to spend the day in New York (and infuse it with a little financial assistance!).  We went by Dylan's Candy Bar (the largest candy store in the country) - all 3 stories of it! - and had a great lunch at the Metro Cafe...  a little gem we'll be returning to!  And of course, the Rockettes!  Most of the show was the same as last year, but I still got all choked up and overwhelmed with both the spirit and fun of the season.  It's a great way to start the holidays!

On the way home, we did something we hadn't done in years, literally - we went to Golden Corral for dinner.  Everyone was in "down south" heaven!  I had fried okra...  oh, how I've missed them!  It was a long day, but what a blessing that we're so close to NYC, we can make a day trip!  We are still praying for all those struck by Sandy, as well as the families and homeless that are just struggling this time of year.  We can't forget them.

Love to all...

Hans and I LOVE OmNom! 

   

Cody looking good between the black and
white candies.  Gray is his color!

Josh wasn't the only one who looked good at Barney's...
OmNom really rocked the bow tie! 

Snow?!?

Whoa...  It's November 7th, and it's SNOWING outside!  It's not sticking, but it is coooold outside, and the snow is coming down.  It sounded like rain at first, and when it got quiet, you could see the flakes beginning.  This is a good omen for skiing this season!

I hope that things are well with everyone else - my parents, who were out of communication for a while; Cindy, whom I desperately need to call; and all the people affected by Sandy.  Our prayers are with all of you.

On a lighter note, the picture of Tucker is so cozy...  I wish I could be a cat!

Love to all...

Election Day...

... and Bethany and Hans had the day off.  So they surprised me with a lovely breakfast!  Mini egg and bacon frittatas!  Delish, and good for you.  Bethany did the cooking, and Hans did the decorating and reading of the directions.  They even made coffee - good coffee!  They are such wonderful kids; so thoughtful AND talented!

Well, I hope everyone got out to vote!  We are still praying for all the displaced families in the area.  Take care!

Love to all...

The best night EVER!

I love this night.  I usually squander the whole hour any way I want.  And by squander, I mean waste the time doing something inane like blogging or checking Facebo...  Oh, wait.  I'm doing that right NOW!  Okay - I have to go, because this is productive, and there is an hour's worth of squandering to be done.  Love to all!

SLEEP IN!

Happy Halloween!

YEA!  Halloween was so much fun!  And for the first time EVER, we had everybody's costumes done BEFORE Halloween!  Amazing...

"Mirror, Mirror in my hand,
who's the fairest in the land?"

And another first?  Neither Cody nor I went out with them.    They're so grown up!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Halloween, and is doing well after the storms.

Love to all...

Rouge the Bat (Shadow's girlfriend).

Hans my (cute) Angry Bird pig.

Our candy headquarters

Cody and I went as Elphaba and Fiyero, from Wicked.

Oh Sandy...

So we're all alive and fine, here.  There's some real heavy winds right now, and the kids had today and tomorrow off, but so far, we're managing really well.  Cody even has the days off (though he's working from home), so it's actually kind of nice.  We've been praying for everybody that they're safe and there's no serious flooding...

Take care, and we'll talk to you soon!

-Kristen

Church party

The boys want to attend our church Halloween festival, so we're heading out. Man, they look good!

Eyeball soup!

I had leftover spinach and potato soup the other night, so I turned it into a gruesome dinner for the kids...  eyeball soup!  The effect was pretty funny; their faces said "I know this isn't real, but it still looks gross!"  Hahaha!  I love Halloween...

Halloween party!

So last night, Cody and I went to a Halloween Social with friends for dancing. It was my first GROWN UP Halloween party, and we met before at City Tap House for drinks. We had a really great time, and Cody let me order a round of shots for everyone. So we all had a Vampire bite!  Yum... Vodka, cranberry juice and Chambord! It was a wonderful time - Cody has gotten to be such a great leader.

Vampire Bites - delicious!

Rich and Tricia

Velma, Angela and I

Love to all...

Bethany's new stick...

Used field hockey stick from Ebay = $15.
One roll of electric tape = $1.
Duct tape in purple = $3.50.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having a mom who will make you a customized, personalized hockey stick...

Priceless.

Hans and I

The other evening, we were all craving ...  cookies!!!  So while Bethany was enjoying an evening ride around the block, and Josh was at his last MMA class, (he'll be returning to  Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo - God bless you!) Hans and I made homemade cookies!  It was a lot of fun; one of those memorable 'ordinary' moments.  We mixed it all together and made half Dark Chocolate chip and half Butterscotch cookies.  Delish!

Cody caught Hans enjoying them fresh from the oven.

Bethany's new 'thing'

So my beautiful daughter has decided to play Field Hockey.  ???  I'm SO proud of her for trying something new like this - just surprised at the choice!  She started her practices last weekend, and I bought her a used stick that we're going to 'dress up' when it arrives.

I never imagined I'd be fitting Bethany with a mouthpiece...  : 0

Bethany is the tall one in back, just left of center!

On a lighter note,

Toffee is so bizarre.  She climbed into Josh's martial arts bag - the one he uses to carry his smelly, nasty clothes back and forth to class.  She went to SLEEP in it - YUCK!  Whatever.  Apparently the men in our house are wonderfully yummy, because she loves to roll in their dirty clothes, and will act crazy sitting in their laps.  And by crazy I mean, 'licking their armpits through their shirts and nibbling them if they let her'.

I know Cody is yummy, but I'll wash his clothes the more conventional way, thanks.

A week of terror and miracles...

So, the brief rundown is I returned from NC, and started to get back on track here.  But Saturday evening I was organizing the 18" pile of mail that had accumulated while I was gone (lots of magazines and junk), and discovered a letter from USAA saying they were canceling our homeowners insurance.  Given that we are in the middle of a liability claim - which, in my mind, would make it impossible to get another company to take us - and that I didn't realize even if they dropped us, they would have to settle the claim, I was terrified.  Well and truly scared for the entire future of my family.  Really - that's how it happens, right?  Some family is living out of their car, and you wonder...  "How did that happen?  How did they get there?"

Easy.  One accident, one legal action...  and everything can just disappear.  A little at first, and then it starts to snowball.  First you have trouble paying a bill, then your using your credit cards to make the payments, then your behind on the mortgage - the fall of a family isn't so hard to imagine.  And I was beyond devastated.  Fast forward to Thursday, when I get in touch with a law office.  (The other days were a bit full, what with Josh starting college, needing to see the Dr. for his ankle, and then X-ray's; he's fine, thank you God!)  After some answered questions and discussion, I called USAA.  Turns out that we're still in limbo waiting on the liability issue, and as far as our policy...

They cancelled EVERYONE in PA so they could issue brand new policies.  We weren't being dropped, it was just an easier method for what they were accomplishing.  It did mention that in the cover letter, but it was a brief blurb, and didn't really register over the fear.  May I just say, copious tears of both relief and gratitude ensued.  Sooooooo...

Several miracles this week.  Josh's ankle isn't broken and the swelling is finally going down.  Cody made it home from HIS trip to NC safely last night.  And most of all, our policy is intact and I can breathe and go back to regular life.

I feel so blessed lately - it seems like my prayers are answered pretty regularly.  I don't take that for granted; in fact I'm amazed, since I'm definitely one of the most least deserving people I know.  Maybe I'm doing things God likes.  It is nice to think so, since we've all ready had one Job, and I really don't want to seem like I have everything and then it all gets taken away.  I can tell you, it was an overwhelming experience being scared out of my mind and trying to reconcile that God had everything under control.  That is SO difficult for humans to do, but it helps - I think God likes to be recognized for what He does.  And if He all ready has it - whatever 'it' is in your life - under control, we have to accept that.  And acknowledge it; I think telling God you know He has it taken care of, even when life seems to be spinning out of control on our end, makes Him feel good.  Appreciated.  Who doesn't want to feel appreciated?


Cindy had this great plaque and I copied the message, since it was so good.

"When you come to the edge of all the light you have known

 and are about to step out into the darkness,

Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:

There will be something to stand on, or you'll be taught how to fly."

Exactly.  Love to all...

That's some hair!

Playing with Hans hair at bedtime tonight, and this is what it looked like. What a cutie!
Love to all...

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Hans and I went to his school today and he got to practice with his locker. They're not as easy as you'd think, but he got it after a few tries! Doesn't he look ecstatic? Lol...
Love to all.