So far, we have had a great Christmas except for Pete who fell on the ice and bruised his ribs to the point where even putting on socks or getting out of a chair is difficult...poor guy!

We had a nice time at my mom's house and came home to find the stockings full. Luke checked his stocking carefully and when he saw he had candy, he exclaimed, "I have been GOOD!"

In the morning the kids were waiting for us to get up. Pete had to find a tape for the video camera so that took awhile before we could finally open the gifts. Maya was on her new pillow chewing a bone the whole time. After we got done with the gifts we loaded the car and went to Crystal Falls where we had a wonderful lunch, opened even more gifts and played canasta while hearing the Packers lose on the tv. Pete and I went to the hotel after midnight and you know you are in a small town when they leave you a key at the front desk with a note saying fill out the information and hand it in in the morning. The room was nice and we slept in late since there were no kids or a dog to worry about.

Then we stopped at the store for Betty before going back to the house. Pat took the kids sledding and they all had a great time. Pete and Pat put together the hall tree and then it was time for us to go before the freezing rain started. We got home safe and sound. We have been fortunate over the years to have wonderful driving weather over the holidays. The last time we were caught in a storm was when I was pregnant with Breanna and we had Rush with us in the Probe. We did a cheerio in front of Wal-Mart in Iron Mountain, made it to Pembine to a hotel that took pets.

We have so much new stuff.
I keep walking around the house asking, "What are we going to do with all this stuff?" and Pete responds with "Play with it!".

Today we took a car load of carboard to the dump so that was a good job done. Tonight, Pete wants to see what stuff is on clearance so we are going out for a bit. We forgot to talk to everyone about when we are going to the Tundra Lodge so we will have to talk about it over New Year's.

Have a good one, people!

Lori

Bust the Budget(Merry Christmas)

Well it's Christmas Eve. I did stretch the budget bit but I can't remember because when I was help cleaning I bumped my head so hard on the kitchen chandelier that I blew a fuse. It's so hard to Christmas shop because we tell the kids wait it Christmas and that list can be very long. I went shopping on Thursday at night because they said it was going to be so slippery on the roads Friday. I was shopping until 1:30 am. Not a lot of people out at that time. It's hard to get around with the people stocking shelves and the stores where very hot. I finished on Friday and the roads were not so slippery but packed with cars. The kids are bouncing off the wall. We are going to try with Luke going to church. Lets hope the service is good but short. Looking forward to seeing famliy tonight and on Christmas Day.

PJL

no comments by brea

hello how come nobody but grampa (thanks grandpa] comented . I can't wait to see you all . I hope our christmas tree dosen't fall down well we are gone or when santa puts the presents around the tree. Wait got to look at the clock nope not time yet . At 3:00 we are going to church and grandma starks house . I can't wait because I got a new dress and shoes . wait oh not time yet . i gess i'll just blog till it's time to get dressed . Wow that would be a long blog but it makes time go faster.
I only had two days of school but thats because was I sick on monday.we're tracking santa and I hope he dosen't mind . We made cookies for him and we're going to put out carets for the raindeer. wait let's check the time nope not time yet about one or two more hours . thatsnot as long as it was this morning it was six hours from then. this is the longest blog i
have done . It 's a record! i ended this at twelve forty eight. the crasy oblect breanna.

Meet Daisy

Yesterday Pete and the kids worked on cleaning the basement while I cleaned the main floor and Luke's room. (You guessed it, we were expecting company, therefore the cleaning had commenced). Anyway, Luke came upstairs from the basement and wanted me to meet his new pet, Daisy. Daisy is an insect that was (and still is) living in the basement. He named it so I wouldn't kill it. He and Breanna decided to put it in their insect cage. This morning I see there is a bowl of water and a cracker in the cage. Meanwhile, the cage is in the family room and Maya really wants the cracker that is in the cage. Now Daisy is in Luke's room. So much for cleaning his room.

THe company we had was the lady I carpool with and her two daughters, one who is Luke's schoolmate. We are both making dessert for Christmas Eve dinner so we decided to make a pumpkin cake roll. She had never made one and since I had made a couple, we decided to make them together. They both turned out well. Jane has really turned into a wonderful friend and I enjoy her company. Since we are the same age and are stay at home moms, we have similar interests. (Although she comes from a family of 13 - ten are girls!)

While we were baking, Breanna was trying her hand at babysitting and Pete dared to go finish his Christmas shopping. I "suggested" a maximum amount to spend, but he told me to mind my own business (hey, the budget IS my business!). He returned later to say he is finally done shopping.

Mom called to tell me church is not at the usual 6:30 but rather at 4:00 this year. THis will be nice because we can go to her house after, eat and open gifts and take our time going home rather than trying to get home at a decent time so we can get up and get to Crystal at a decent time. Pete is relieved we are staying longer in Crystal as well since we do not have to rush home. The last few Christmases have been too short of a visit.

I read an article that keeping warm helps to keep colds away...this could be a strong argument to turn up the heat in the house. (Something about when you are cold, the nasal passages are more suseptible to viruses...this according to US NEWS). Turn it up, people!

Happy holidays to everyone...Lori (&Daisy).

"Polka!"

Last night we went to the mall to do some shopping. Breanna went with me so we could try to find something for Pete but everything I suggested she turned her nose up yet she did not have any other ideas except for another Packer hat which I vetoed because he has at least a hundred hats (I know this because I pick them up all the time) and as far as I know he only has one head!

So, we met up with Pete and Luke who were in the play area and Breanna wanted to join them so I went shopping by myself. Pete showed me a picture of Luke sitting on Santa's lap. He asked Pete if that was the real Santa and Pete said he did not know but he could ask Mrs. Clause. Luke asked Mrs. Clause and she said he was the real Santa and Luke was very happy and proceeded to talk Santa's ear off(Luke did not devulge what he and Santa talked about). When I was done shopping, I met Pete and the kids at the play area and Pete said he had to go pick something up so I stayed and watched the kids. Breanna was teaching Luke and another boy, Caleb, who was maybe three years old, how to play Marco Polo. She said, "When I say Marco, you say Polo, ok?" She said "Marco!" and Luke and Caleb looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and then Luke yelled, "Polka!" and we all laughed.

Finally we went home exhausted.

Lori

sunday the week before christmas by brea

it's the week before christmas all kids are going wild including my brother . I have to shop for dad and luke and not done for mom yet .
I can't wiat to see you all . tonight we going on a bus ride . tonight or tommrow I will tell you about it . On wedsday I have a sing-a-long at school nd my chritmas party . Thursday and Friday I have off.
ttyatot what des this mean? use what I wrote above to figrue it out tell me in the coments. the crazy object Breanna.

where is pennie ? by brea

pennie where are you ? we have not herd from you. I'm now writeing on moms comuter before bed . today crissy came over and tommrow I might go to her house . she's really nice, christmas is a week away . I'm so exited . Yesterday we saw old tapes and one of them i don't remember.
breanna the crazy one

I am Back

With Lori's help I got the password and I am now back. Our system is down at work so I am taking some time at lunch to write a blog. If you ever want to see something cool or scary, suck up rope lite and christmas lights into a snow blower. It takes a lot longer to remove them. I am very cranky today not much sleep last night.

Some things I have been thinking about. Do you ever wish that God could go back and pick a different Adam and Eve? It seems unfair that we have to fight with evil because of two people picked. We should vote on the a better couple. Could any human do any better? I wonder why God picked flawed people right from the beginning. I know that freewill is part of the answer. Freewill is hard to understand. I try to compare it to raising a child. It hurts when you see you child make a wrong choice and so much joy when they make a correct one. You can't have one without the other. When you ask to a scientist they are okay with a robot that does everything correct everytime but are waiting for the day when a robot thinks for it's self including learning from it mistakes. I guess the only human that could do better was Jesus. God sent us Jesus to show us how to make good choices. Instead of complaining about Adam and Eve I should be thankfull for Jesus who forgives my sins.


PJL

We have had a good couple of days. Luke did well in school and has his Christmas program Friday. I have to remember to ask Pete to charge up the camcorder so we can record it.

After school, Luke and I made gingerbread cookies and then decorated them. They are better than I thought they would be. (Luke licked off the frosting).

Last night we took a picture of the kids and the dog in front of the tree (still up!) for the Christmas letter. It turned out well even though Luke is wearing his dragon costume which he embellished by putting Pete's big, black gloves on his feet and another set on his hands. Now we just have to print out all the letters. My printer does not seem to work too well for pictures so tonight we will try Pete's or Breanna's printer. I finally finished the top ten list for the letter as well. It was tough to get motivated to do it this year because I could not think of anything but finally came up with a solution that we are all happy with.

We took Pennie's flute in to get the pads replaced. She warned us to get them replaced but I procrastinated and wouldn't you know, last week while Breanna was practicing, one fell off. THe kid has gone to band the last week without a flute. We hope to get it back the end of this week.

Pete got the snowblower started last night and blew out the driveway but not before it ate a set of CHristmas lights...oops! I am glad he did not get hurt getting the lights out of the snowblower. (Another 911 call avoided!)

While Luke is at school tomorrow, Pete and I will try to get some Christmas shopping done. I thought we were done, but there are always a few more to get.

The reason Pete has not blogged in awhile is because he cannot remember his password...I told him but now he is too busy. Hopefully soon...

Have a good one....Lori

Timberrrrr!

This weekend we got our tree. We checked our usual places but they did not have a tree over nine feet so we went to a place Pete and Breanna went to a few years ago and they had a 12 footer they were itching to get rid of. I wanted to keep looking but I was outvoted by Pete and the kids.

We got it home and in the stand. Pete put lights on it and on Sunday we started to decorate it. All of a sudden I heard Pete say, "Look out folks, she's going over!" Sure enough the tree fell over....thankfully we were all on the other side.Luke said, "Cool!"

After an hour of arguing on how to fix it, we decided to anchor the tree to the bannister and the top railing in the balcony and finished decorating the tree. The tree is so big, the ornaments look lonely.

Fast forward to Monday. I am trying to get the ornament boxes put away and pick up the branches that were sawed off up of the floor in front of the front door and I notice the angel on the tree is leaning over. I check our anchors and they are pulled taut (The stinkin tree is so big, I cannot tell if it is leaning or not, all I see is tree). I quick get more rope to anchor and call Pete to see if he has any suggestions (answer: wait until he gets home). Luke and I had a play date at our carpool house and I was afraid when we came back the tree would be down, and quite possibly, the bannister as well. It was still up when we got back. Pete called to check in and I said things were still holding up. He stopped and purchased some fishing wire and when he got home, attached it to the tree to the bannister. He checked the base and figured out the pins were digging into the trunk and splitting the wood, therefore causing it to lean. He went and got some wooden boards from the garage and inserted them into the stand and now, we think the tree will stay up. Time will tell.

It is not such a bad tree I guess.

Lori

Where in the world is Pete Linna?

I am sure many of you are asking this question since it has been awhile since he blogged. I am here to tell you he is alive and well but busy. He is putting up plastic on the windows, working and is still cleaning the basement from when he did his very first blog (There is a lot of stuff in our basement!)

Last night I went to Breanna's dance class and met another mom who I knew of in high school and she knows my brother very well. She sought me out to specifically tell me how nice Breanna has been to her daughter who was in kindergarden last year and Breanna befriended her. They are both in the same dance class and are still friends. It was nice she made a point to tell me and I told Breanna after class.

While we were at dance, Pete and Luke braved the cold to go to the store to get some supplies for the troops at home as we were running low on medical (allergy) supplies.

The kids put out their shoes and also my shoes and Pete's shoes to see if St. Nick would fill them while we were asleep. The kids woke us up this morning to tell us that he had been here and they were very excited and happy we all got something except for Maya who did not have any shoes to put out.

This weekend we watched the Packers lose to a team that played awful which made the loss even worse. We went to church and heard a good sermon about if you believe in God, anything is possible. We told Breanna on the way home about things that happened to us over the years that as we look back on it, surely it could not happened, but it did. The time I remember is when Pete and I drove out to Mackinaw Island, we were coming out of Gladstone and we were behind a semi truck turning right. A car pulled out thinking there was no one behind the semi into our lane and we somehow avoided hitting them. We were close enough to see the faces on the people in the car, and Pete calmly drove the car around the vehicle, we were temporarily on the gravel side road and back onto the highway and on our way. We looked at each other as if to say, "Did that really happen?" Then on the way home, we looked at the intersection and there were two telephone poles and a sign that we should have hit but were not there when we went on to the gravel.

I will let Pete tell his story of him and Eicksteadt which is even better.

And all is right with the world.

Lori