Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas...






our reindeer food,




Santa's Magical Key,


This morning was very long for the Bain Boy's as they had to wait for daddy to come home from work. They were extremely excited.


Guinness wanted to get into the act, Shadow wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take the picture.



This one is for you Amanda...everything you're missing, shoveling. As of Christmas morning we've received 21" of snow in Chicago.



Yesterday we went to Christmas Eve Mass at three o'clock, it was beautiful and sang many songs. We were blessed to have dinner as a family tonight before Scott went to work. The boy's tracked Santa's progress until 9:30 pm, way past their bed time. Finally we all were able to get some rest before our day today. We'll be celebrating Christmas with Scott's family later today.

I pray that you all find time today to pray and be thankful for all that we are all given on this day. After all, we are to celebrate the birth of Christ. He is the reason we have this day. Merry Christmas to you and your families.


Holli

Another Adventure...Ice Storm, Cold & a Road Trip

Well, this weekend was a quick one. Thursday we kept hearing stories about what a bad winter storm we were about to embark one, accumulation of snow, ice and wind. We sure did get it all! Where we live in Oswego, we were at the line of snow & ice mix. We had about three inches of ice on my drive when I got out Friday morning. It was a good thing I had salted the day before because it helped with clearing. The chunks of ice were popping up in sheets as I was digging out. Our snow blower wouldn't even work on it. Oh well, God knows, I need the exercise! It did take me 2 hours to clean the drive. Once I was completed, I looked back and pleased of the work then the city came through with their plow...I now had about 2.5 feet of an ice pile at the end of my drive. I threw up my hands at the guy, he just laughed. I didn't find humor in that. Back at, I opened up that part of the drive.

That afternoon, we decided to leave and follow our original plans and head to Peoria for Christmas with my side of the family. We got into town late, relaxed a little and went to bed early as we were all tired.

Saturday the rat race was on running errands and making the stops to various places. During the middle of the night poor Logan got sick. I think it was all the junk he ate with all the juice. He was fine on our trip back, thank goodness!

The wind and the temperature is ridiculously cold! So those in the Illinois area, stay warm!

Merry Christmas,

Holli

Puppets & Polar Express

Sunday started out with the boys dressing up to go see a Puppet Show at Grandma's church. They loved the show! Once they got back to Grandma's they helped get her Christmas tree up and had to pose under the lights.



Once we left there it was off to the North Pole on the Polar Express via Oswego. They got to see Santa, have cookies and hot chocolate, pet a real reindeer and warm up by the bon fire.



When they met Santa, they both expressed their dreams for Christmas but didn't forget to tell him that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday too! That was cute.





Mrs. Claus was really sweet, making sure we were all being taken care of.





As we left the North Pole, we all were singing up a storm. It was such a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Holli

The Adventures of Christmas...

Our adventure begins with going to Kuiper's Family Farm to get our Christmas tree...

Many of the trees that were pre-cut were either too tall or too short so we decided to venture out to cut our own down...It was extremely cold on the hay rack ride. The wind was extremely strong making it rather cold. But the Boys did enjoy themselves.




Scott wasn't all that excited to get down on the snow to cut down the tree but he was a trooper! The boys thought that was really cool to cut our own tree.



They were able to have a little snowball fight and had a ton of fun!



Logan and Coulson

Lost Billfold/Wallet

Have you ever lost your billfold/wallet?

I've had one stolen before and tonight I lost it! Do you realize how your life can change with all that information?

The gamete of emotions have run through my system all within four hours! Four hours of time seems like a lifetime right now.

All the precautions have taken place, contacting the banks with my debit cards, the credit cards, the drivers license, etc. A police report was filed. The officer who took my report was kind of shocked at the detailed information that I provided him. Luckily I had all the numbers to the information along with my drivers license number. Why do I know my drivers license, I don't know, I just do.

My personal banker made a recommendation after my billfold was stolen two years ago and did it pay off today!!!! Patience recommended that as I received all the new cards to make photo copies and place them in a safe place at home. In the event something should happen, you have copies of everything important. All the phone numbers for contacting the banks are there, plus your account number and you are protecting yourself. It paid off today!

I felt so bad because Coulson had his heart set on getting our Christmas tree today. Tomorrow we'll get our tree.

If you can learn anything from this and me today, make copies of important documentation and place it in a safe place, where you can access it in a hurry should anything come up. It will pay off. Trust me!!!

Good night,

Holli

Logan, a salesman?

Several weeks ago, Logan & Coulson both came home with a fundraising opportunity. They were selling Ponsettia plants in time for Christmas. For every six plants you sold, your name went into a hat for an opportunity to win an IPOD. He heard, "IPOD," and was all over it! He said, "I'm going to call everyone I know and ask them if they want a plant!"

He called many people and do you know, he sold 23 plants? The research began with asking all the questions:

What colors are they?

How big are they?

When will they be delivered?

How much are they?
With some of these basic questions having been answered, he practiced his little pitch. The best part was when after he got done with his pitch, he asked, "How many would you like and what color?"

I was impressed!!! He did that all on his own, no coaching from mommy the saleswoman. What a natural! How could you turn a kid down with that passion?

In the end, a week after we turned in the paperwork, we received a call from the Home & School Organization. They informed me that Logan was one of three kids who actually sold a lot of plants but he sold the most, 23! Wow! So, his name was in the hat three times, one more plant he would have had four. His name was pulled. Can you believe that?

He was so excited. I'm very proud of him. He worked very hard to earn it and I think with that he definitley deserved it.

I'll post pictures with him and his Nano Ipod later.

Have a great evening,

Holli