Grammy came to town!

The beginning of 2012 started out wonderfully with a visit from Grammy! The last time she was able to come was when JJ was only  6 months old so we had a lot of catching up to do. Normally, our families always get together for Christmas, but this is the first year that we were not able to make it home to MI. So we decided to bring the family to us! We all had a blast. I am so blessed to have a wonderful mother in law. She and I get along very well and can enjoy each others company quite easily. I am so grateful for a wonderful relationship. She will never add up to my own wonderful mother, but she takes a close second for sure!

The kids had the most fun!

My husband has a very close relationship with his mom.

Cliffy even managed to enjoy some of Grammy's visit!

It was really hard to see her go! Good byes are so hard. We know that this is where God wants us to be right now, but being away from our parents can be extremely difficult. We praise the Lord for every time we are able to make it to MI to see them. My husbands current job does not allow very many vacation days whether they be paid or unpaid. We are praying fervently that God either changes his bosses heart or that Josh can find a better position once things settle down in our lives. There are a lot of things we can deal with but taking away our chance to see family is not one of them!

I, on the other hand, am enjoying a part time position for a middle school. I love working with middle school kids and am enjoying this opportunity immensely! My family is so blessed already this year. God is so good to us!

Miracle and JJ are loving life as always. Miracle is flying through second grade with ease. She enjoys academics and is starting to mature enough to save her social times for recess and after school! We still get an occasional 'T' for talking, but we are seeing a major improvement this year. JJ is growing like a weed. I get asked why he is not in school all the time. He is really big for his age, and I find myself explaining his late birth date quite often! I want to put bricks on both of their heads and hold onto these young years! We are enjoying that they can do more for themselves, but mommy says its going way to fast!

I hope you all are having a wonderful January! Tax season is upon us, and we are crossing our fingers for a decent return. With all the crazy events of last year, we just aren't sure how it will turn out! I will update again soon...PROMISE:)

Blog Stealer strikes again!

Well, dear friends, my dear sister has been a bit busy. (Too busy to blog) During the holidays she was busy enjoying family as she should be. Since the holidays, she has been enjoying her wonderful mother-in-law. I was such a sweet sister to agree to bring Sue back from the wonderful state of Michigan so she could enjoy some time with her son and daughter-in-law. Sue and I decided to leave Michigan a little later than I normally would on my dad's advisement, because of weather. So, we get on the slightly still icy roads to head south. Smooth sailing through Michigan. Then we hit Ohio. Snow was blowing like crazy limiting visibility so we had to slow way down. We could not wait to reach Kentucky a state that was more south therefore less snow right? Um NOT. We hit Kentucky boarder and had smooth sailing for the first twenty miles. Then we hit snow and ice. We went from 70 mph to 10 mph. Our two hour trip through Ky turned into seven, and we were not even through the state. On all of my family's advisement we got off to find a hotel, just like all the other people in the traffic jams. Thankfully I am a northern driver and know how to drive in this stuff, but I was so scared of the crazy drivers around me who were flooring it on the ice. SCARY. After five hotels, I was ready to give up and continue. My wonderful sister Holly, got up to get online and reserve me a room at the hotel where I was waiting in line. After she did that, the twenty people in line seemed to speed up. We got our room slept and started again. Taking an alternate route home, we finally and safely made it to the state of SC. Holly was so worried bout us, but also so thankful to see us when we arrived here. Needless to say after all that rambling, Holly has been busy having a blast with her mother-in-law. Tomorrow will be the day that Sue heads back to the snowy state of Michigan, and Holly and I are going to be staying in abnormally warm SC. She will be busy still, hopefully able to blog on her own soon.
If you have made it through this long ramble from me, I am amazed. I was just telling you some of the stress and things Holly has been up to. Hope that you all enjoyed the Holiday season. Remember to treasure every moment with your family that God grants you. Don't forget to support our country this weekend. VOTE!

Christmas Eve in SC 2011

Crazy that Christmas Eve is here:) Our family has had to do some major psyching ourselves up for a Christmas in SC. The kids are not effected as much as Josh and I, but its still weird. We have always been in snow filled MI for Christmas. I have never missed Christmas morning with my mom and dad. I guess its a miracle that I have managed to miss that part of being a grown up. The part where you are supposed to start your own Christmas traditions at your own house. I have always childishly held on to the magic of Christmas morning at my mom and dad's house. God has apparently decided that it's time for me to grow up. This year it's Christmas in SC unlike any other. No snow and not even cold weather. It was 70 degrees yesterday. It is supposed to be colder today, but it will still be vastly different from the weather we would be bundling up for in MI. I am very thankful to have family here in SC that we can get together and celebrate with. Not having mom and dad with us will definitely be hard, but we are determined to make everything fun and magical in our own way. Christmas is still Christmas. We still celebrate our Lord's birth the same as always. Josh and I are prepared to fill the Christmas tree with gifts from santa while the kids sleep tonight. I have baked goodies and planned fun stuff and attempted to make this our own magical Christmas. It will be magical and memorable, though different. I keep reminding myself that our kids will look back on this one day and wish they were here instead of where they are. Its crazy to imagine really. They will see being at our house for the holidays as special as we see being in MI. I have a huge responsibility to make this memorable!! With all these crazy thoughts written down, I feel it may be a jumbled mass. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted as to the firsts of our OWN Christmas day:)

Christmas cleaning?!?!

Well today started out quite interestingly. JJ started complaining of a stomach ache, and I could not figure out if he was faking or not. Unfortunately, he has learned to fake, and I am still hoping that is all it is for today. I HATE stomach bugs and poor JJ seems to catch them all. I always end up coming down with it soon after he gets it, so as soon as I hear 'my tummy hurts' the anxiety of a long week sets in. Hopefully today's anxiety is all for nothing! So after this announcement this morning, I decided that the best way to make it through the day without worrying or hovering over him was to keep myself very busy. I did a few things throughout the house and then got really brave. Our guest bathroom is also the kids' bathroom. The caulking around the tub was not done very neatly before we moved in, and it has bothered me since. Sadly, we have lived in this house for 5 years, and I just got around to working on it:) It had one of those nice white sticky rings around it to hide the actual caulking but the white ring was starting to detach and needed replaced too so...I got really brave and decided to tear it all apart and do it over. Mind you, I am not a handyman at all so I am very happy for Google at times like these. A few hours after the start of my project, my arms desperately needed  a rest so JJ and I took of for Lowe's to get some supplies. (I brought the bucket just in case!) We got home, and I continued working on taking the old caulk off. It was some stubborn stuff and my forearms are now killing me from all of the chipping away! I got it off though and after thoroughly cleaning the area I bravely applied the new caulk. It is drying now, and I think it looks pretty good! I hope my husband agrees when he gets home. Silly me did not realize that it takes a good 24-36 hours for the caulk to fully dry. OOPS! We will all be bathing for a few nights in order to make sure its good and dry. I'm pretty proud of myself. After years of seeing that nasty stuff, I finally got brave enough to do something about it! I guess our Christmas guests will appreciate it too:)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas:)

I tried to get cute pictures of the kids for a Christmas picture but they just weren't cooperating. This one is pretty cute and is still in the running:) We had so much fun with putting up all of our decorations and listening to Christmas music! I love this time of year. If you ask me, Christmas just brings a certain amount of magic with it. It's almost like the pulling out of winter coats and sweaters and the decoration of an evergreen tree just magically brings an extra ounce of happiness to everyone's step.

We got all bundled up on Friday night to see the big tree lighting at our local university and then again on Saturday to go to the Christmas parade. The kids enjoyed every minute, and it was a great way to kick off the Christmas season! I have been wrapping presents and buying gifts like crazy and cannot wait for Christmas morning!

Finally...an update:)

Well, blog friends, it has been a long while since a good update. I must admit...I have had writers block. I just could not put together a good 'blog' post for the life of me! However, after this most wonderful Thanksgiving, I have lots to be thankful for which provides much to write about. First and foremost, I am so thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He has brought this family through a lot this year and is continuing to do so. He is my ever present Comforter when things seem overwhelming. I am also very thankful for my family. I have been under serious stress lately, and they have stuck by me through thick and thin. My gracious husband deserves a 'husband of the year' award for sure! I just love that we all work together to make each day special! I am also VERY thankful for my house and for two running cars. God is AWESOME!

Despite the stresses of life, my family is gearing up for a fantastic Christmas. Thanksgiving was a great kickoff to our fun filled holidays! Black Friday shopping was great, and I got a whole bunch of stuff crossed of my list. Just a few more things, and the Splan Clan will be ready for the big day! I keep getting 'oh yes...I forgot', 'oh, they need that too', 'oooooh, she needs this for Christmas','oooooooooh he needs that too', 'Im done..no I'm not...yes I am' thoughts that are causing me to come up with a million more ways to spend money this Christmas:) I love spoiling my loved ones and really cannot wait to see their smiling faces when they open gifts. We are very careful to keep the real meaning of Christmas at the forefront of out minds and hearts, but I love the tradition of gift giving. I really don't want to buy for myself...just for EVERYONE I love! It is definitely keeping me busy! Don't get me wrong, I don't spend a lot of money...I just put a lot of thought into each thing and try to spend a few dollars on everyone.

I'm loving the new look of my blog and hope you do too! Enjoy your pre-Christmas days and don't forget the real reason for the season!

Its official....:(

So the final word came today. Josh's newest employer will NOT give us any time to go home and see our families for Christmas. We have been down her for 5 years and have managed to get home every year. Somehow, this company's policy of only allowing 1 unpaid vacation a year managed to slip past us until after our 4th of July trip home. As fun as that was.....I would have traded it for Christmas:( I keep getting little thought bubbles of Scrooge yelling at my husband that he cannot take more than half a day on Christmas....What has happened to the world? I am still praying for a miracle but am also trying to prepare my heart for a MUCH different Christmas this year. The fact still remains that God is good all the time. I will have to remember this as the big day approaches.