We celebrated Christmas tonight at mom and dad's house. We had most of the VanWinkle family there. We are, talked and gave the children and Granny Jane presents. I got a lot of great pictures of Granny Jane with Harrison and Samuel and even got them to sit still long enough for another picture with Shaun, me, Harrison and Samuel with Granny Jane. She is amazing at 95 years old. I'm so grateful that my children will always have great memories of her like I did my Great Granny Gibson. I can't wait to get the pictures off the camera to post so everyone can see how YOUNG she looks!! I also got a few good ones of the boys with mom and dad that I will post too.
On another note, Samuel is so excited for Christmas BUT he is super excited about his birthday too. He was talking today about the day he was born and how we came up with his name. His full name is Samuel Aster Owens. Aster was my grandfather. We knew we wanted to name him Samuel but Aster came to us at the last minute and we didn't tell a soul about it. When he was born we were so excited to see little Samuel and new Aster was the name we should put with it. It was snowy and my grandmother couldn't come over and see us in the hospital. When I talked to my Granny Jane on the phone and told her what we named him she was literally speechless. She handed the phone to my Aunt Brenda. Brenda asked why Granny was crying and I told her what we named Samuel and she was also speechless and crying. So my Uncle Glen got on the phone and asked what in the world I had said to them to make them cry. Well, I was really confused at this and had thought I had done something really wrong. When I told him the name Samuel Aster, it made sense to him. I'm not sure of the exact date, but they said either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day was Granny Jane and Aster's wedding anniversary. I never knew that. So, Samuel is convinced that Aster is his very own Guardian Angel. I believe it too. Happy Birthday, Samuel. I can't wait for your birthday party later today!!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
I'm Still HERE!!
Someone pointed out to me that I had not updated my blog since August. I know I'm a slacker. I have come to terms with it and will look for a Slacker Support group soon (not now, but soon, seriously, I'm not kidding).
Let's see.... what has happened since August. Work..... work.....work... help kids with homework, run kids to swim practice, pick them up from their after school activities, work more. Nothing really very interesting.
The one great thing that has recently happened is we are transferring Samuel from his Spanish Immersion school to my school. He is so excited to be going to an all English school. Harrison will stay at the Spanish Immersion school and follow the program to middle school next year. Samuel never bought into the whole Spanish language thing and has limited understanding of the language. I think he just tuned her out during instruction. We agonized over what to do but in the end decided it wasn't worth him missing out on learning the content just to learn the language. He wasn't happy there at all. When we told him, he was so excited. He seems much happier now too just knowing that he will be coming with me in January.
I'll post pictures of Christmas and Samuel's birthday in a few days. I have had to make list after list to make sure I haven't forgotten something for either celebration. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't wake up the night before Christmas remembering something I had forgotten. I THINK I have everything except a birthday cake. I need to ask him what he wants. I try to make his cake since store bought cakes are made with the same equipment they use for nut products. With Harrison's tree nut allergy, I try to buy from a store that uses different equipment or just make something here at home. Guess that is the last thing I need to do! I hope!
Let's see.... what has happened since August. Work..... work.....work... help kids with homework, run kids to swim practice, pick them up from their after school activities, work more. Nothing really very interesting.
The one great thing that has recently happened is we are transferring Samuel from his Spanish Immersion school to my school. He is so excited to be going to an all English school. Harrison will stay at the Spanish Immersion school and follow the program to middle school next year. Samuel never bought into the whole Spanish language thing and has limited understanding of the language. I think he just tuned her out during instruction. We agonized over what to do but in the end decided it wasn't worth him missing out on learning the content just to learn the language. He wasn't happy there at all. When we told him, he was so excited. He seems much happier now too just knowing that he will be coming with me in January.
I'll post pictures of Christmas and Samuel's birthday in a few days. I have had to make list after list to make sure I haven't forgotten something for either celebration. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't wake up the night before Christmas remembering something I had forgotten. I THINK I have everything except a birthday cake. I need to ask him what he wants. I try to make his cake since store bought cakes are made with the same equipment they use for nut products. With Harrison's tree nut allergy, I try to buy from a store that uses different equipment or just make something here at home. Guess that is the last thing I need to do! I hope!
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