Advent Activities

During the waiting time before Christmas we have been very busy! Josh and I have many things we want to keep as traditions for our family including...

Placing the first Christmas Card of the season in our card holder

Cutting down our Christmas Tree at the Radde Christmas Tree Farm

Decorating our beautiful new tree

Setting up the Christmas Train

Setting up our Nativity Scene (picture courtesy of Roy Carney)

Doing puzzles with Daddy

Visiting the Mayborn Museum all decorated for Christmas

Trying on the reindeer antlers

Creating an Advent chain, reading from our Advent book, and eating the chocolate from the Advent calendar

Visiting the Train Display in the North Park Mall

Baking cookies for Santa!

New Orleans

Just before Thanksgiving Josh attended the Society of Biblical Literature conference in New Orleans and I tagged along to make it a mini vacation for us we had a glorious time! Since Roy was born we haven't had a night without kids, Roy has only been away from us when we were in the hospital having Lillian. It took some planning but we did it! my parents flew down from Wisconsin to take care of the kids and we were off!

We drove down with another couple, the Wilhites. They attend our church and David is a professor at Truett where Josh went to seminary. Our plan was that the men would attend the conference and Amber and I would fill up our days with shopping. Each day Josh got up and went to a morning session at 9:00 then he and David met Amber and I in the lobby for lunch about 12. After lunch the men returned to attending sessions and Amber and I walked around the French Quarter and shopped until we were tired, it was amazing! At about 5 or 6 we returned to our hotel where we would wait for the men to return and then head back out to find a spot for dinner. It was amazing to just throw on a coat, (not put 2 wiggly children in their coats) sling my purse over my shoulder (not my diaper bag) and head out the door. I was shocked how quickly 4 hours of shopping can fly by! I bought Christmas presents and souvenirs, and found a really fun little yarn shop called "A Quarter Stitch" (a highlight for me) where I bought severals skeins of really beautiful yarn.

On our third day Amber and I took a street car down to Magazine Street where we had heard about more shopping and a 'sweets boutique.' It was most definitely worth our time and Sucre (the sweets boutique) was amazing!! I've included pictures of the special desserts Josh and I got, they were as delicious as they were beautiful!

the French Quarter where Amber and I walked each day

me by the Mississippi River!

one of the many 'Human Statues' around the French Quarter

the view from our hotel room

Josh and I standing by the window in our hotel room

Josh's amazing dessert from Sucre

my amazing dessert from Sucre, who knew a dessert could be so shiny you could see the reflection of the trees in it!

Even though we had an amazing time and I enjoyed my kid free days and nights we were thrilled to be able to come home to our little monkeys! I wouldn't trade the slobbery kisses, and wiggly hugs for a million shopping days!

Milestones

Roy and Lilli have both recently reached some pretty helpful milestones.

Lilli can retrieve things when asked. This morning we were getting ready to leave and Roy only had one shoe in the living room so I helped him put it on. I asked Lilli to go get me the other one from the hallway and away she teetered, coming back with the shoe! I thought, this is amazing I should try it again. So I asked her to go get Roy's coat from the bathroom and low and behold she teetered away and returned with his coat. Roy and I were both very surprised and thankful to have such a cute little gopher helping us out.

Roy can now answer the phone and hold a complete conversation with someone. The other day I was in the shower while Lilli was napping and I heard Roy knocking on my door, I decided to finish my shower and check with him when I was done. It took me a few more minutes but he was still knocking and when asked what he needed he told me "Mom it's Tracy!" I wasn't quite sure what he meant so I said, "Is Tracy here?" He replied, "No mom she's on the phone." I quick put a towel on, opened the door and sure enough there he was talking on the phone to my friend Tracy like he was a little man. Tracy told me he told her all about his day, how he had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch and how he was going to meet her at the museum later. Maybe next time you call you'll be lucky enough to have a conversation with our little secretary!

Derek

Roy continues to amaze us with his uncanny memory. The newest display of this was just the other night when he informed us that he was 'Susan' and Lilli was 'Derek' from Monsters vs. Aliens. Since we had seen the movie only once a while back (whenever it first came out on DVD) I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. I recognized that Susan was the name of the main character played by Reese Witherspoon but didn't think that there was a character named Derek but I just went along with it. After a few days he was still calling Lilli 'Derek' so I told Josh to look at imdb.com to check if Derek existed. Low and behold Derek is indeed a character in the movie, he is Susan's fiance who only has a few brief parts. It's a bit scary to think about what else he's storing in that little brain of his!

Conversation with Roy:
Roy: Mom where's my milk?

Mom: I don't know where did you put it?

Roy: (walks over to Lilli who is sitting in her high chair) Derek, where is my milk?

Lilli: Silence (eating her dinner while staring at Roy)

Roy: (still staring at Lilli) Derek do you know where my milk is?

Lilli: Silence

Roy: (walks away to find his milk, frustrated that 'Derek' couldn't help him out)

Pumple Fest '09

We were inspired by our friends the Polks to have a Pumple Fest for our Mi Casa group the week of Halloween (Mi Casa - a group of people from church who come hang out at our house each week). The rule of the Pumple Fest is that everyone must bring something to eat and each dish must include pumpkin or apple. Josh was afraid our Pumple Fest would turn out to be just a bunch of desserts so I looked into making some sort of pumpkin dish that included meat. After searching for a bit I found this recipe on cooks.com for a casserole made in a pumpkin!

I was a bit skeptical but it turned out fabulous! (as long as you like mushrooms) We had a great

Pumple Fest with all sorts of amazing food including: apple pie, homemade applesauce; apple

stuffing; apple juice; pumpkin pie, pumpkin butter with bread, and pumpkin cupcakes. Our Pumple Fest also included wearing costumes, watching It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, listening to the Mannheim Steamroller Halloween album, carving pumpkins, and watching The Office Halloween episode from 2005. Really it was just all around a really fun night!

Here are a few pictures of Pumple Fest '09 and the recipe for the Dinner in a Pumkin!

The pumpkin being cooked, it took up nearly my entire oven!

Ready to eat!

Here's what it looked like on the inside, you could also scoop some of the cooked pumpkin out to eat with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, since our pumpkin was a 'field' pumpkin instead of a 'sugar' pumpkin it didn't have much flavor.

1 med. size pumpkin, topped and cleaned out
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 pkg. UNCLE BEN'S® long and wild rice, fixed according to directions
1 can mushrooms or 1 c. fresh mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Combine ingredients and put in pumpkin. Put top on pumpkin. Place pumpkin on cookie sheet in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 2 hours.

Serve dinner in pumpkin. May use pumpkin as vegetable and serve with butter and brown sugar or honey. Do not open pumpkin while baking or it will expand and top will not fit on pumpkin again.

Pumpkin carving!

Roy and daddy digging in!

Lilli exploring pumpkin guts for the first time!

Our spectacular Mi Casa group!

Our beatiful Jack-o-Lanterns

Roy and Lilli's pumpkins, Lilli's is supposed to look like her - 8 teeth and pigtails - but somehow it turned out looking a bit more like Shrek :o)

Jacob's Christmas tribute pumpkin

The Vocab of a (nearly) 15 month old

Today Lilli added a new word to her limited vocabulary - cracker. One of the most incredible things about being a parent is to observe my children learning and conquering something new. She is very proud of herself!

Lilli's vocab as of now:
Mama
Dada
ball (ba)
baby (bay-bay)
balloon (ba-l)
night-night (ni-ni)
bye-bye (buh-bye)
tickle-tickle! (tika-tika, while grabbing her or someone else's feet)
cracker (ka-ka)

100 years!

Yesterday my great grandmother, Lillian Mucha (my Lillian's namesake) turned 100 years old. It's hard to imagine what she has seen and experienced in 100 years and up until a couple of years ago she could remember nearly all of it. I am so thankful to have been able to listen to her stories and spend time getting to know her spitfire personality. My daughter certainly has big shoes to fill.

Roy with his Great-Great Grandma Lillian Mucha in July, 2007

My dad forwarded me this e-mail describing some of what life was like in 1909, the year she was born, I can't imagine what changes could happen in the next 100 years!

The average life expectancy was 49 years.
There was no health insurance.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '
There was NO LIFE INSURANCE.
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30,
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.

Happy Halloween from the "Corny" Family

After being inspired by a onesie Roy's aunt Toot-Toot gave him for his first Halloween I have been planning to dress up as the Corny Family for 2 years. I was waiting for the perfect year and the time has come! I bought the felt, created the pattern, custom fit each costume and it all paid off. I dragged my family out to the Central Texas Marketplace (a shopping area here in Waco) and signed us up for a costume contest. There were over 300 applicants and 4 age brackets we entered the 0-2 age bracket since Lilli is 1 and Roy is 2. We found a spot amongst the other contestants and waited patiently (as patiently as a 1 and 2 year old candy corn can) for them to announce the winner. And the winner is.... (a drumroll would be appropriate here)... The Candy Corn Family!!

After a few photo ops and some congratulations we received our prize, a Children's Place trick-or-treat bag and a $25 gift card. I'm already feeling a lot of pressure for next year... what could possibly top the Corny Family? We'll just have to wait and see!

The Corny Family Trick-or-Treating

Lillian ready to hit the streets!

Look at what I got mom!

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to our new family blog!

After forgetting the password for Josh's previous blog I've decided to finally start our own family blog to help document the ins and outs of our crazy life! I'm hoping this will be a great way to keep our friends and family near and far involved in our daily lives.

Let's start with this...

Roy has renamed us. After Josh jokingly called Roy 'Bob' Roy decided we all needed new names to match. Without any leading from us here are the new names Roy has christened us with - Lilli is 'Buddy'; Mommy is 'Turtle'; and Daddy is 'Peacock.' We don't always go by our new names, only when Roy deems it necessary.

I find the correlation between names and personalities pretty fascinating!

At the Baylor Homecoming game (where Roy renamed us)

Mmm... nothing quite like a foam finger

Of course my son would need sunblock at the end of October!