Ten On Tuesday, Holiday Edition

1. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a very busy but fun weekend.

2. Christmas Eve was filled with house cleaning, visiting with Hillary and Joanna and dinner with my family at my parents house. We concluded the evening with Christmas carols. Our family would make a fabulous choir!

3. Christmas day started around 6am. Cole was the first up, of course. The kids were so excited that Santa had come! We made breakfast burritos for the family that were delicious! Everyone stayed for a few hours and sat around, played games with the kids and watched Christmas movies.

4. Tyler bought me white strips for my teephers (my Christmas list has changed over the years!) and I got him some more of his nice smelling cologne. We both got money and other tidbits, too. The kids got lots of stuff from us this year. Among the gifts were legos, books, silly bands, m&m's, clothes, baseballs and bats, a t-ball stand, cars and gum. They were very blessed with gifts from my parents, Auntie JoJo, Krista, Grandma Jackie and Pop, Grandma Pat, Aunt Kathleen and the Powell family, too. Kayley and Cole have lots of new toys and books now!

5. A couple of weeks ago our laptop screen broke. Josh is going to replace it for us as our Christmas present! It sure is nice to have people in our lives that know how to do stuff like that. It was really great to have Josh home for Christmas, too.

6. Christmas evening Tyler and I took the kids to see Tangled. I was a little apprehensive because I really dislike the recent Disney movies that aren't Pixar but it wasn't bad at all. I quite enjoyed it.

6. We got this for our room:

7. Cole got a helicopter for Christmas. It was the perfect gift because Kayley is learning how to fly them, too!

8. Sunday we drove down to my Grandma Pat's house for our family Christmas. We got a lot more pictures but Joanna has them on her camera. Tyler took this with his phone. I'm not sure what Tim and I were thinking because our pose did not make for a good picture!

9. Christmas continues tomorrow when we drive up to Tyler's Aunt Lisa's. We'll stay the night and drive home on Friday for our slammin' New Years partay! Sunday we'll be gone again for the last of the family gatherings. We will go down to Corona for my mom's side of the family. I'm worn out just thinking about it but I guess I can just count myself blessed for having so much family!

10. This Christmas has been a very joyful one. Only God could bring about the joy that surrounds us! I'm excited for what the new year will bring!

Good morning friends! Today is sure to be a fabulous day. I'm up early, laying on the couch watching White Christmas. We're excited to see Hillary and Joanna and Josh today! Church should be awesome and my mom's home cookin' will not dissapoint.

All in all today will be absolutely wonderful!

Ten On Tuesday

1. So what do we do when it rains a lot and my super active kids are stuck inside? We go outside and play in the rain!!

Kayley was in a weird mood

2. Kayley was picked out of all the kids in her class for the kindness award this month. Funny how you can't actually see the award. Oh well.

3. After a week of being very sick I'm finally feeling better. Thank goodness for an office that didn't send me home even when I needed to be there!

4. We are all very excited for Christmas! Our family has been blessed by some strangers who gave us gift cards to Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.com! I'm blown away by their generosity! We were able to buy the kids' birthday presents already!

5. Cole dropped the remote down the side of the couch. Then he got stuck. And, like all loving parents do, I snapped a photo before pulling him out.

6. I must admit I'm enjoying all this rain!

7. I love Kayley being on break. I wish I were home with her, though!

8. There comes a time when you don't worry about what your kids wear anymore. When they're little it's all about them dressing cute. Then they start fighting it and sometimes I'm willing to force them to be stylish, sometimes I'm not. So when Tyler and Kayley went out last night (in the rain) and Kayley was wearing a red Christmas shirt, brown bermuda shorts and her Hello Kitty rainboots I really didn't care. Judge me if you must. Just wait till your kids are six.

9. Things are in full tax season prep mode at work.

10. My oven will only heat to 205 degrees. Try cookin' up something in that. Last night our enchiladas ended up being microwaved.

Ten On Tuesday

1. A client brought in candied walnuts. They're kind of almost better than chocolate. Almost.

2. I think my love for Alvin and the Chipmunks is growing. Their Christmas jingle is currently my ring tone and I'm proud of it, babe.

3. We went to the Parade of Lights at the Channel Islands Harbor this weekend. "Santa" flew overhead and Cole made sure everyone knew that it was "not the real Santa cuz he lives in the North Pole."

The lights were really pretty! We didn't stay longer than 30 minutes because the kids got bored. A nice lady offered to take our picture.

Tyler was so kind in allowing me to wear his beanie. He was fine in a tshirt. I wish I wasn't always freezing!

4. The pavilion in downtown Oxnard has lights that are coordinated with Christmas music. After the harbor we headed there to check it out.

5. I love the way our picture turned out!

6. I'm sick. Thankfully not too sick to work.

7. I get very excited about ordering office supplies. I'm getting a new phone and calendar this week. Talk about an early Christmas present! Haha, sad city Batten.

Sad city just took me back to middle school. What an awkward time full of braces adjustments, flute playing and getting those fun packages full of Clearasil and Always samples (I loved those things). Good times.

8. The kids are doing really great with their new chore charts. Kayley earned her $2 last week and Cole earned his $1. They have been taking more responsibility and that means less for Tyler and I to do and I love it.

9. Cole is for sure going to play tball in the Spring. Talk about cute! Kim, I think you will be here during the season!

10. Next week I'm doing 2 on Tuesday. It is so hard for me to come up with stuff to yack about.

Thinking Ahead

I have to plan a birthday party. Both kids want to invite their classes. Cole has 12 kids in his class, Kayley has 22. That's a lot of kids. I wish we had the money to do whatever they wanted but we don't!

What should I do??

Ideas, please!

Christmas Tree Fetching

Our trip to the tree farm was so much fun! We first ate lunch at Carrows with my parents, Jo and Tom. My french toast was not wonderful but no harm, no foul. They serve a mean cup a joe and as far as I'm concerned that's all that really matters. So we fed our rumbly bellies and headed out to conquer the search of the mighty Christmas tree.

The trees this year were a little disappointing. They were a little funny, especially at the top, but we finally found one we liked. The kids also rode a camel and fed the animals in the petting zoo. Just for the record, geese are not nice birds.

I think we've been chopping down our tree for ten years now, at least! What a great tradition!

Joanna found her boyfriend tree

Tommy was very jealous. He put that little tree in it's place.

A dark picture turned ok via black and white. I would love a photo editor one of these days.

Manly man chopping down the tree

Kayley helped...

...and so did Cole

The glare was really getting to her

Well there's a camel

My mom and the camel had an understanding

There's nothing like a good camel ride

Checking out the petty zoo

Ten On Tuesday On A Day Other Than Tuesday

1. Tyler got out the Nintendo and the kids have been playing Super Mario Brothers. Last weekend Cole asked me if he could play the comprendo brothers.

2. I had coffee with Chelsie on Sunday night and it was so nice. We could have talked for days I think!

3. I got a new phone! It's a purple LG Optimus (not prime) android phone with a full touch screen. Adios Blackberry, you were good for a time but I love my new phone much more.

4. The tree is up, the stockings are hung and the house is decorated. I love this time of year! The smell from the Christmas tree is probably the best part. Speaking of which, I will posting the tree farm pictures tonight or tomorrow.

5. Happy Birthday to my Hillary friend! We have know each other since the awkward days (some might say they haven't ended). I wouldn't trade the short haircuts, unkind chants about having to wear certain underclothes at a young age, leg ballet, beautiful duets and extreme attachment to my oldest child for the world. Love you like a sis!

6. All of a sudden the swelling in Tyler's leg has decreased a whole bunch. He can pretty much see his knee now. That's progress we're so thankful for!

7. I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow!

8. There are only five people in the office today. Just me and Georgia downstairs equals a jolly Christmas music festival (while we're working, of course)!

On the subject of the office, apparently one year they hired a temp for tax season and she painted her toenails up on the desk in the middle of office hours. Gross. Please, someone come work here so I won't have to deal with someone like that, ha.

9. Today I woke up and would have been perfectly happy with rolling out of bed, not brushing my hair and heading to work in my sweats. But I didn't. You're welcome.

10. Just a few more days until Linzo is back!

Good morning bloggy blog friends!

I realized that I negected to post a picture of our wonderful apple pie from Thanksgiving.

It's fun to bake but it gets eaten so quickly! At least Tyler and I each got a piece.

Yesterday I had my office Christmas party. We had it at a restaurant called Opal in Santa Barbara. The food was amazing and the place itself was so beautifully decorated. After we ate we were given our Christmas bonuses. I count myself very blessed to work for a company that can give out bonuses because there are lots of places that are struggling right now.

Today we are going to chop down our Christmas tree. The kids are very excited, probably more than any previous year! I will be sure to post pictures later.

As soon as Tyler wakes up I'm probably going to go do some Christmas shopping. I know the mall is madness but I want to go to Old Navy. Wait, there's one in the Esplanade. Anyway, I'm going shopping.

I didn't want to do a ten on tuesday. So I didn't.

We just finished week six of our Bible study and I am so blown away by what I'm learning. Growing up in church I have pretty much heard it all. But this time it's going deeper; it's going to my heart. It's like a cold drink when I'm really thirsty. It quenches my spirit so deep within I just cannot describe it.

I love this passage below by AW Tozer.

"The Spirit-filled life is not, as many suppose, a life of peace and quiet pleasure. It is likely to be something quite the opposite. My point here is that if we want to escape the struggle we have but to draw back and accept the currently accepted low-keyed Christian life as the normal one. That is all Satan wants. That will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless to the kingdom of darkness. Compromise will take the pressure off. Satan will not bother a man who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be a life of peaceful stagnation. We sons of eternity just cannot afford such a thing."

I'm encouraged to keep fighting. I never want a life of peaceful stagnation. I want to move forward...Jesus is coming soon and I want to be ready!