2007 - The Year in Pictures

What a year we've just had! And, boy did it go by quickly. Our family is blessed in so many ways, too numerous to count. There's no way to really list all the important things that happened in our family this year. Many important events never get photographed -- just daily things, common things, that happen to us each and every day. I thought I would scroll back through the year in pictures and see just what we did in 2007. What really scared me was how many pictures I have to print and scrapbook. We are a picture-taking family! I did this for me (gotta remember this stuff for the scrapbook), but I hope you enjoy it, too.

JANUARY

Ice, with some snow mixed in

FEBRUARY

Family Valentine's dinner

MARCH

Father/Daughter Western Banquet

APRIL

Easter

Rebecca's 12th Birthday

MAY

"Race to Win" Presentation

Katherine's 15th Birthday

JUNE

Volleyball Camp

LIT Mission Trip to San Marcos, TX

JULY

Happy 4th of July!

Family Reunion

Genny on mission trip to Vancouver, Canada

YCAM to Green Bay, Wisconsin

AUGUST

Family Vacation to Point Venture, TX

Genny's passport arrives
(biggest miracle of 2007)

Rebecca gets braces

Abigail back to school on Tues/Thursdays

Katherine and Rebecca back to school on M/W/F

SEPTEMBER

Abigail's 10th Birthday

OCTOBER
The month of Sickness.

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving

Wild Worship leads on Sunday morning

DECEMBER

"Christmas in Reverse" Presentation

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Sorry, still no pics of Christmas Day.


THE END.

Looking forward to an exciting 2008, and much more blogging! Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, Everyone! The day started early in the Holmes' house -- 5:58 a.m. I remember that time specifically because Abigail had promised to let us sleep until 6:00 a.m. I'm pretty sure I had just fallen asleep when I hear, "Merry Christmas. Time to get up!" Roll over... look at the clock... can't be time... yep, 5:58 a.m. Ugh. I guess I should be thankful because she had been awake since 5:20 a.m. It's always fun to see and feel the excitement as everyone wants to know what Santa brought them. I think Katherine could have slept in, but she was a good sport and woke up when asked.

After gifts, stockings and Santa were all completed we had quite a pile of wrapping paper, boxes, ribbon, etc. Everyone was very happy with their gifts. We had been finished with gifts for awhile and Abigail said, "It's only 7:30?!?" Yeah. We just kinda snacked for breakfast and I started on lunch, which was well received by all, especially the green bean casserole. (Funny how this is the only time of year I make that and we all really love it. Well, except for Rebecca.) Best part of the day came after lunch when the girls all went upstairs to play with their various games and gadgets. Jeff took the rocker and I got the couch and we both took a nice, long winter's nap.

Once again, everyone just ate whatever they wanted for dinner. I had ham, chex mix and pumpkin pie. Doesn't sound so good when you write it out like that. We played Jeff's new game, Dicecapades, for almost 2 hours! It was so fun. I have a few pics of the day to share (taken with my new camera) and will post them when I get a chance.

Christmas Eve

Well, here we are at Christmas Eve. Didn't it get here really quickly? We attended the Christmas Eve service at church. It was a packed house. (Side Note: I'll have to thank Wayne for not pulling out "Peace, Peace" this year. Could be from the fact that I found it in the music library and burned it a couple weeks ago. Sorry. Kidding!) Jeff and I have been going to that service for 16 years. (Really getting old...) I remember our first one, Katherine was about 7 months old. I had her dressed in a beautiful green velvet dress and an older gentleman came up to us and said, "Isn't HE the cutest thing?" Must have been the dim lighting, since it was a candlelight service back then. Fast forward...really fast...and here we are with two teenagers and one preteen. I understand why people reminisce. It takes a lot of remembering to hold on to time that flies by so fast. Why, it was only a few years ago that I was on the floor, looking out the window of my Grandma's house, convinced that the blinking red light I saw in the sky was Rudolph's nose. I just knew it was. And I could not force my eyes to close in sleep. I don't think I slept a wink that night. I didn't.

How times change. I'm sitting here wishing MY kids would go to sleep because Jeff and I have "things" to assemble and I'm really sleepy. Very sleepy. Unfortunately, all I hear from upstairs is giggling and running around. They are not even close to sleep. Yawn...I... hope....they....go...yawn.....to bed........sooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Yawn...sorry. Dozed off for a minute there. I hope the imprint of the "N" key on my forehead will be gone before morning.

Happy Christmas to All and to all a good night!

I Have A Question

If I know that I am going to start back on my diet/healthy lifestyle after the holidays, why do I think it's o.k. to go ahead and eat everything in sight, thereby giving myself even more pounds to lose when I do finally start trying to lose weight? Why don't I start eating better now so I have less weight to lose?

OK, that was two questions, but can somebody help me out here? My standard answer has always been, "Oh, sometimes I just don't have very much will power." I remember Becca Deaver, my aerobics instructor saying, "You have plenty of will power, you just choose not to use it." Ouch!

Cookie Decorating Party

The Holmes' First Annual Cookie Decorating Party was held tonight. I think it was a great success. The girls invited several friends. We had a quick meal of corn dogs and tater tots and then let the decorating begin.

Essentials for decorating: several colors of icing, lots of colored sugar and sprinkles, M&M's (for decorating and eating) and several dozen freshly baked sugar and gingerbread cookies. (I know the pic of the cookies is sideways, but I could not get it to go vertical.)










It took only a short time for everyone's creative juices to kick in. We had several self-portrait gingerbread girls, and some very interesting Star Wars characters, including Darth Mal's equally evil twin.

Sarah and Katherine, Star Wars creators

Abigail and a very nicely done Christmas tree

Hannah gets the award for most cookies decorated.

Rebecca and Amanda teaming up on design ideas.

Abigail, Rebecca, Patricia and Amanda
with their favorite cookies

Katherine, Hannah, Sarah and Christina

show off their favorites

A very fun, relaxing evening. Love doing stuff like this during the holidays. Wish we would slow down more during the year and have our friends over more often.

Found Out!

OK...so I'm getting really old and slow or I just don't care anymore. I don't know. I cannot have Christmas secrets. I have been found out by Katherine. I knew it was too much to hope for that I could be gone Christmas shopping all day after church on Sunday until Sunday night. And, try to sneak into the house with OBVIOUS items from a certain store. What was I thinking? And, I have been peppered with questions about where I was on Sunday, why can't they know, blah, blah, blah,....

The mistake came in the form of the laundry room. "NO ONE will possibly go in the laundry room to wash clothes on Monday, right?" I said to myself. "I'll just hide these candles (with obvious labels on them) underneath stuff on the dryer." Uh, yeah, HUGE mistake. That, combined with the fun new apron I just HAD to get out and wear while we made cookies... "Where did you get that apron?" Aaagggghhhhh...what was I thinking????? CLEARLY, I WASN'T!

So, while Christmas isn't "ruined" because she doesn't know ALL, I'm frustrated with myself, to say the least. I just would have preferred all to be revealed on December 25 instead of December 18. She knows, she just doesn't KNOW. Did that make sense?

You know, having smart kids can be both a blessing and a curse. Especially when they're smarter than you are. Heavy sigh...

I think I'll go bite the head off a gingerbread man.

Christmas = Clearance?

I was out and about finishing up my shopping today. Let me just say...if you want to drive on or near Hulen Street during this time of year you are taking your life in your own hands. Wow -- I think the nut house released a few squirrels this morning. But I digress...

So, back to my point. Does Christmas equal clearance? Here we are 8 days before Christmas and I am already seeing 60% clearance on many items. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I guess the stores are really pushing to get rid of their inventory. With the shelves being emptied so rapidly, what fun will there be to go shopping the day "after" Christmas and save really big? There's nothing left but a few rolls of ugly wrapping paper, some broken poinsettias and glitter on the floor. My husband would say this is a good thing because I do NOT need to be shopping for more Christmas items anyway. JoAnn Fabrics actually had Valentine's Day stuff on their front shelves. Shocking...

It should be noted here that even though I think there might be only a few things left on the shelves, I will most likely be out on December 26 on Hulen Street with all the other crazies. Anyone interested in going along?

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

The Holmes family annual Christmas card photo shoot took place this last weekend. Barb was our photographer. I think she took about 140 pictures. We took them at the seminary in front of lots of beautiful greenery/landscape. These are a few of the "good ones." There were a few really bad ones, of course. You know, the ones where Barb forgot to take the picture from my good side. You'll have to check out Barb's blog later for the outtakes. (which Abigail will kill her for) You'll know why when you see them!


What lovely children -- 15, 12 and 10 years. Wow!

With my favorite, Rebecca

With my favorite, Abigail

With my favorite, Katherine

No one in this family really likes having their picture made. I pretty much force the issue since it is one of the few times all year that we have our picture made together. It's a lot like "Cheaper by the Dozen" when the family is supposed to be interviewed by Oprah and the mother tells them, "Just put on a happy face and pretend that we're one big happy family." Then the camera guys show up and everyone is fighting and arguing...well, we're not that bad. Thankfully we made it through without too much complaining. And, we're done for another year. Whew...

Overheard in the Holmes' House

Katherine: "You know, I've decided something."
Mom: "What's that?"
Katherine: "I think I'm actually going to study for finals this year."
Mom: "Uh, that's good, Katherine because they are tomorrow."

Yep. True story.

Winter's On the Way?

If the news reports are true, winter might be on the way to North Texas. I have just one question: What happened to fall? It seems that we've barely had time to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves (in 80 degree temps). Ahh, Texas weather. Gotta love it. I think weather forecasters have predicted cold and rainy for the next few days. Not so fond of cold and rainy. However, I am looking forward to wearing a scarf and coat. Didn't I mention several months ago that it was almost scarf weather? And yet we wait...

During the waiting, here are some of my favorite pics from last winter -- January '07 to be exact -- when we had a little snowfall.

Love those rosy cheeks!

This huge icicle was hanging on the corner of our house.
The girls had fun watching it shatter on the concrete.

Brrr...ice covered rose bushes.
This makes me think of the biting cold wind that was blowing.

This pic just looks depressing for some reason.

Love this perfect little snowball, made by Katherine.

Pretty Kaki.

Into every life a little snow must fall...hopefully.

Lessons Learned from Christmas in Reverse

After each musical, inevitably the leaders sit down at some point and talk about "what went right," "what went wrong," and "what could we do better for next year?" Funny how we always learn something. I guess it's good to always be learning, but some lessons are better left unlearned if you ask me. For instance...

1. Children will ask you a million questions, even when you have just said, "Do not ask me any more questions. We will tell you as you need to know."

2. If you stand and lock your knees, it might make you get sick. Yep.

3. If you eat lots of food and then run around and get hot, you will get sick. Yep. Even in the city of Bethlehem.

4. Wise men don't always have to travel with camels.

5. The loudest, most off pitch kid will always manage to end up right under the choir microphone.

It does seem, though, that even in the "yucky" stuff, (see points 2 & 3 above) there are so many blessings and joys that absolutely make you say, "Yeah, I think I'll keep doing this. It's just so much fun." For instance...

1. A little lighted star makes a whole lotta joy.

2. Sparkly, precious angels can light up an entire worship center.

3. Stinky, dirty shepherds bring lots of smiles to faces.

4. Three little kings bring a wealth of treasure to more than just the baby.

5. Mary and Joseph in harmony -- need I say more?

Now that we've done "Christmas in Reverse," I think I'll move on to "Christmas in the Present" -- putting up the tree, shopping, wrapping gifts, Christmas cards, etc. My family will be glad to have me back.

The Wise Men Wore Tennis Shoes

Well, we survived the first presentation of "Christmas in Reverse." It was both poignant and puzzling, frustrating, yet funny. I know we see everything that goes wrong, where the congregation doesn't notice all the little mishaps and missteps. As Barb, Melissa, Jeremy and I gathered in the hallway this morning we all had different comments and concerns. One funny story: A mother stopped by and said that her daughter said she had a wonderful time. And, the reason that the scoffers did not come out in the Noah scene was because they were being eaten by the large palm tree that Adam and Eve hide behind. They literally could not get through the leaves to get on stage. Gotta fix that! (I was glad to have that question cleared up.)

As the wise men came walking across, dropping camel legs as they "traversed afar," we could not help but giggle. And the look on Brayden's face when he picked up the camel leg was not something I will soon forget. Then, I noticed their feet. I looked at Melissa and said, "Why are the wise men wearing tennis shoes?" She didn't have an answer. It reminded me of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson, where the Herdman family comes to church to be in the Christmas pageant. So hilarious!

If you come to "Christmas in Reverse" tonight, be prepared to laugh, to be touched, and you will, most of all, be blessed.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (in Reverse)

Melissa and I spent most of yesterday at the church. It was very tiring, but so fun! I love working with a "genius" (as my girls call Melissa...and she is) And, as proof of my post from yesterday, see the picture below, with her directing Michele, Evan and myself. Also, a huge "Thank You" to Barb who brought us lunch. That was a blessing.

Sitting in the middle of the shepherd's hillside

Isn't this the sweetest baby Jesus?
I keep singing, "Come, thou long expected Jesus...
born to set your people free."

It reminds me that we are not just doing this for fun. We have such an important message to share with unbelievers, that God sent Jesus for everyone. My prayer is that this message would come through loud and clear on Saturday and Sunday nights.

There will be no room in the inn .

Wow! This is Ricky and Luis covering the window and hanging the banner.
It was scary for us just to watch.

It will be a rollercoaster from now until Sunday. Pray that we keep our focus on God and not ourselves, on priorities not problems. And, may EVERYTHING we say and do glorify our Father in heaven.