Sausage Day

The family that makes sausage together....stays together. Or is it prays together?? ha! Well, with the Morgenroth family it could go either way. Last weekend was sausage weekend -- the weekend where the boys (and even friends and family now) get together with Mom (Granny) and Dad (PopPop) and make their delicious hard dried deer sausage. I believe the recipe is protected...but photography of the process is allowed. If any of you are squeamish at the site of raw meat, etc...you may want to skip the slide show. :) But if you are brave - view away. If you are lucky enough to try this sausage you will understand just how fabulous it is...and why the Morgenroths go to the trouble every year to make it.

Semester Awards

O.K. - So I don't want to be one of THOSE parents who are always bragging about how FABULOUS their kids are...but I just can't help myself. The semester awards were this week and the girls are doing better than ever in school. I am pleased that they are using their God-given talents and abilities in the classroom and on homework so that they qualified for A honor roll. But even more than that -- I am thankful that both Kyla and Summer received very complimentary remarks on their conduct. It brought tears to my eyes to see them receive comments like 'a pleasure to have in class' and 'exhibits a postive attitude.' I must say THAT is what I value...more than their good grades. To see them complimented on their character makes this momma proud!! WAY TO GO GIRLS!!!

New Year's Eve

I think a good sign of where I am in my life is how I spent my New Year's Eve. As a college student, many a New Year's (3 actually) were spent in Dallas awaiting a Cotton Bowl...defeat, sadly. As a young married woman, it was either spent with friends in Alabama...or it was part of out trip to Texas. As a parent of 3, it is far from glamorous...but LOTS of fun! :) We had Granny & PopPop over for dinner and then we played games and Wii. Kyla was DYING to play poker with Granny, PopPop, & her dad...while Summer and I had a Dance Dance Revolution Marathon. Luke just bounced back and forth between the two...depending on how his mood suited him! Granny was the night's BIG winner at poker (thus, the SMILE!!) - however, the only thing she won, was bragging rights...luckily, that was enough.
Two of the BEST treats of the evening were the plastic champagne flutes and the sparkling grape juice that Granny & PopPop brought along. You would have though we were at the Waldorf or the Ritz the way the girls showed off with those things!! It made a toast at midnight a necessity and most likey, a new family tradition!

Christmas Cont...

Alright - my goal was to get these up a.s.a.p. so that I wasn't posting Christmas pictures...mid-spring. These should be the 'last' of my pictures/slideshows from our Christmas festivities. It was busy, but I did a MUCH better job of prioritizing...or really letting GOD prioritize for me! That made ALL the difference in the world!

After Christmas morning at our house, and a BIG breakfast...we headed down the road (less than a 30 minute drive) to Granny & PopPop's house. We exchanged presents with Granny, PopPop, Dustin, Lisa, Caitlin, and Taylor first...and then later visited and exchanged gifts with Poppy, Kathy, Uncle Mike, Aunt Sylvia, Trish (Lisa's Mom), Nana (Lisa's Nana), Aunt Sharon, and Uncle Herbert. Luke had a hard time when it was all 'done'...he was ready to open MORE gifts...AS IF he didn't have enough. :/

This was one of those years when Christmas was chilly...so the kids played outside a little, but not very much. Even though that meant being indoors most of the day, the kids played VERY well together - at least that is how I remember it - but I COULD be selectively blocking something out. ha! :)

We are soooo very blessed to have a loving family - on BOTH sides. I realize that it is a gift to look FORWARD to spending time with our relatives during the holidays. It has always been a priority for us. There wasn't a year while we were living in Alabama, that we didn't travel back to Texas to celebrate Christmas. It is nice that we can do that now without several days of travel...and suitcases. There was nothing like packing everything from shorts and t-shirts to jeans and sweaters for a 2 week stay in unpredictable December weather for a family of FIVE!

Christmas Morning!!

I decided I better not get tooo ahead of myself and my blogging posts...or before I know it, it will seem like too much time has gone by to be posting our Christmas pictures. Christmas morning seemed VERY early this year and I was AMAZED that Summer was the first one down the stairs and in our room. She is usually the 'late' sleeper of the group...but she couldn't rest with the possibility of Santa's loot downstairs under the tree. She went on reconnaissance missions between the bedroom, Christmas tree, and stockings at the fireplace, each time coming back to tell us all of things she predicted to be there. It was priceless!! Luke was quickly on her heels, but when Kyla didn't appear soon -- she finally went upstairs to wake her up!

The girls each received an iPod nano - Kyla's green - Summer's purple and new Wii remotes (Kyla's blue, Summer's purple)...as well as books, umbrellas, candy, beauty supplies, etc. in their stockings. Luke received a Wii Guitar Hero drum set and the Cars Race-O-Rama Wii game, Cars camp chair, Curious George videos, and miscellaneous stuff in his stocking. I don't think the girls put those iPods down for more than a few minutes ALL day! One of the funniest quotes of the season had to be Summer as she told me, "Mom, there has to be a Santa Claus! There is NO way that you and Dad could buy TWO iPod nanos AND TWO Wii remotes!" hee! hee! hee!

We enjoyed a breakfast casserole, cinnamon blintzes, and mocha punch with Mom, Dad, Adam, and Grace...as well as played with all of the Wii toys together...before saying our goodbyes and us preparing to head over to Granny & PopPop's house for more Christmas fun. (pics to follow!!!)

Brag Books and Journals

After my last blog posting, my friend Autumn asked how I made the journal and I thought I would blog about it -- it is SUPER simple -- and I figured I would include how to make board book albums too.

The journal starts off as a simple composition notebook. A little hint - they are cheaper at back-to-school time than ANY other...I usually stock up then...but they can be found with the school supplies at most stores any time of year. I use a sanding block to rough up the front and back covers a bit -- that seems to help the paper adhere to the surface. Then, I simply use Mod Podge (matte) to glue whatever paper or cardstock I so desire to my notebook. I usually cut my cardstock about 1/4 of an inch larger than needed and then use an X-acto-knife to trim it down to size after it has been glued to the notebook and allowed to dry. Once trimmed, I sand the paper along the sides to be flush with the edge of the cover and I decorate it anyway I want. I happen to have a Crop-A-Dile eyelet setter and I use it to set large eyelets to the front and the back in order to have a ribbon closure...but with or without that addition...the journal is SNAZZY!!

And then, there are the board book albums. Of course, you can buy chip-board albums from most craft stores, but you can find board books at most dollar stores for only a FRACTION of the price. The first board book albums I made were gifts - in particular, I made one for Granny Gerry with pictures of my kids as well as photos of my neices for Christmas...was it 3 Christmases ago?? I have made one ever since and have even begun to include the great-aunt/uncle and the great-grandparents by making them much smaller versions. The technique is the same as with the journal, however, you need to make sure that you REALLY sand the pages down well because the glossy surface of the books keeps the paper from adhering to the book pages. Treat each book page as a separate page with two separate pieces of paper meeting close to the inside fold. It is a trial-and-error experience on just how close you can get the paper to the inside fold of the book...if you try this...you'll see what I mean. If it's too far, you see too much of the board book...but if it is too close, you wrinkle the paper when it closes. Then, once the paper is glued down, trimmed, and the edges are sanded...you can decorate them just like any scrapbook page.

I thought I would include this slide show to give you an idea of what the finished project looks like. Again these have the eyelet closures, and I would REALLY recommend a Crop-A-Dile for that. They punch through a board book like it was just paper...AMAZING! :) I know...I'm a crafting GEEK!!! If you do try this project, I would LOVE to see your finished products -- please email me pics!

Blogging another resolution....

O.K. So far blogging about my blogging resolution has gone pretty well. With this post, I will exceed the number of blogs that I posted the WHOLE last half of last year...apparently, I work well when accountable. So I am going to try this again. Another resolution that I had this year was in regards to my spiritual life. I NEED and WANT to dig into God's Word more this year - My mom told me the other day, "More of Him in twenty-ten!" and that is EXACTLY what I want. I pray that this year will be a year that I will focus on Him...as I should. I'm not going to set a CRAZY goal to read the Bible in a year...because I don't think I would do well with that and I don't necessarily need the words, I am craving relationship. What I am trying to do is read my Bible everyday and keep a prayer journal.

The composition notebook above is how my prayer journal started out. It has since become this...

See, here is the side-by-side....

I personalized it with one of my favorite scriptures about prayer...

Just in case you can't read it - It is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I made myself START the journal before I had the chance to decorate it, because I kept putting it off until I had the journal I wanted. There is NOTHING about the outside cover that makes anything INSIDE worth any more or less...so I needed to STOP procrastinating!! My journal is a hodge-podge of ideas...sort of like me...it needs to be, in order to be something that I will find useful. I don't have any hard and fast rules...as long as I do include pages that have prayer requests and room to write answers to those prayers. I also have written scripture passages in there...many about prayer...and some from my morning devotional time. And there are song lyrics that come to my mind as I am praying and reading His word.

If anyone were to pick it up, it would probably make NO sense - but that isn't the point of this journal. I simply want it to be a tool to hold me accountable to spending time with God each day and also as a reference to see how God answers the prayers that I lift up to Him. I imagine that at the end of this year, if you help hold me accountable, that I will have more than one journal filled...and I will rejoice as I see the answers to some of my prayers and cry at the answers to some of the others. But all the while, I will be growing closer to my God. Yup - no doubt about it, I want more of Him in twenty-ten!

Is It tooo Much??

Forget it! I don't REALLY want to know if it is too much or not, because believe it or not - every year when I'm done putting OUT the Christmas decorations I wish I had MORE. I LOOOVE decorating for the holidays. I don't see how people can't love all of the sparkly lights and shiny objects!! This picture shows the containers it takes to store all of my Christmas things...well, almost. I realized after I took this picture that the boxes I use to store my snowglobes aren't included, nor is the ginormous Christmas tree box.I started taking down my decorations around 8 am yesterday and was putting the boxes back out in the garage at about 10:30 pm. I did take a break to feed my family a delicious and oh so nutritious meal of pizza from Little Caesars...but for the most part worked steadily all day. The tree itself is still standing guard in my dining room, sans ornaments, tree-skirt, garland, and star -- that job is left for Kyle and the kids...but other than that, the house has been de-Christmassed.
At a particularly exhausted point in the day, I realized that my Christmas decorating was much like my pregnancies. Each year, it seems like such a great idea to decorate...as a matter of fact I look FORWARD to it! I seem to forget just how difficult and time consuming it is to take it all down. See!?! Those who know the pregnancies I've had, know that each one had it's own unique set of challenges -- however, I was willing to go through it -- THREE times. (really 4 if you count the miscarriage!) There seems to be some sort of decorating amnesia that sets in so that I am willing...even excited...about the possiblity of doing it again. Let me be clear --- I noooo longer wish to have pregnancies! ha! This was just a correlation to the AMNESIA! :)

So anyways, I'm just sending this out into the cyber-world so that perhaps I will remember next year...when I'm begging Kyle the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving (he doesn't like to SEE the decorations before Thanksgiving is OVER) to at least let me put up the tree....come on it's just the tree...one tree...unless of course you let me buy the all-white tree that I'd loooove to have upstairs in the family room...the one for all of the kids ornaments. I invision it white with multi-colored LED lights...or maybe just solid blue lights since the furniture up there is demin...oh! and....

Get the picture! :)

Christmas Eve with the Cammacks

OK - so I have begun to download all of the Christmas photos that I took this year and put them into slide shows...and I am starting with Christmas Eve. We were blessed to have my mom, dad, sister (Grace), and brother (Adam) for dinner, church, and even as spend-the-night company. Since our move back to Texas, we haven't spent many nights under each other's roofs...a stark contrast from all of those years in Alabama when being together meant all of us being under one roof (either Texas or Alabama) for many days. I actually MISS that! I know - I'm crazy, but a bit sentimental too.

We opened our presents Christmas Eve so that we could watch the kids enjoy them and so that Christmas morning wasn't quite as CRAZY!! :) It is a good thing because I don't think Luke's large Cars-wrapped present would have had any wrapping paper left on it by the morning. I would catch him in the formal dining room (where the tree and presents were) with his fingers on that gift...just pickin' at paper. The stinker!

Ready for a Duck Hunt

Well, they may look girlie, but the Morgenroth girls can hang with the boys when it comes to huntin'...at least duck huntin' with their Daddy and Uncle Dustin. Summer got her FIRST turn to hunt with the boys over the Christmas break and she loved it enough that she DOES want to go back. Honestly, Mom had her doubts. She may have missed the point of the actual hunt...one of the first things she said to me when she got home was, "Do you know what we ate today!?! JUNK FOOD! ALL DAY!! JUNK FOOD!" Oh well, as long as she enjoyed herself! :)

I almost forgot one of my favorite pics from after the hunt. To preface it, let me say that Summer had to get up around 2:40 A.M.!!...and she probably went to bed around 10 pm...so she operated on less than 5 hours sleep and was whipped when she got home. This photo was probably taken at about 3 in the afternoon. I think she slept about 3 hours on that couch...only moving occasionally!

Half-Birthday Celebration

Luke's preschool celebrates the half-birthday of those students who have summer birthdays and therefore would not be present on their ACTUAL birthday. I think it is a clever ploy to get us to bring the snack...but it is a sweet sentiment as well.The preschool has a 'no-cupcake policy' -- I know - CRAZY! So I found the no-cupcake loophole...snowman shaped glazed donuts. :) They were quite a hit with the kids!!

This was also the day that the parents could come into the class and join their preschoolers in singing Christmas songs. What fun to see them perform!! Granny & PopPop joined Kyle and myself as we cheered on our little man.

The video...if it works...was recorded with my camera so it isn't the best quality...but it gets the point across. Those Morgenroth kids like to perform!! Where in the world do they get THAT from. hee! hee! hee!

Musical Mania

We had a few days in a row...a couple of weeks ago now...that were filled with fine arts! It began with Kyla's first EVER Wilder Band performance. The 5th grade band, which she is a part of, played 2 Christmas songs. They were soooo much better than I ever expected! The band director informed us that between the 5th and 6th grade bands, there were 120 students! I was amazed. That is just one of 3 intermediate schools in the district...I wonder if the others have such large bands?Then the NEXT day Kyla played piano at the Silver Tree nursing home facility here in Schertz. Actually, I played too - the two of us performed a duet to Jingle Bells. It was A LOT of fun...but I just kept telling myself..."don't mess up! don't mess up!" I was afraid that I would mess up and in turn mess her up! Thankfully we got through it without a hitch! She also performed Deck The Halls solo.

Finally, it was Summer's turn. There was the Schertz Elementary holiday performance the NEXT day. You 'have' to call it a holiday performance because it certainly isn't JUST a Christmas performance. I find it a little amusing that the kids go from singing Christ-centered songs, to secular holiday songs, to Hanukkah songs...not sure that Kwanzaa was represented...but they tried their best to be 'politically correct.' Regardless, the kids did a FABULOUS job and it was a GREAT way to get into the spirit of the holidays.

I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!

Do you remember that song? It is one of those songs that every once-in-a-while my husband will launch into. Of course, that is the only line from the song that we know...not even sure if that is the title to the song. I know - we're 'not quite right'...but that is why we are perfect for each other!
Luke received AWESOME cowboy attire for Christmas from his Uncle Dustin and Aunt Lisa (and cousins - Caitlin and Taylor, of course!). It included a black felt hat, red plaid cowboy style shirt, a red bandana, and a pair of Wranglers to go with the John Deere cowboy boots he has been borrowing from his friend, Dayton. He is ready for the rodeo next month!!

2010 Resolutions

Alrighty - so I've never been one to make resolutions...mostly because I can never seem to see them through for a WHOLE year...and who needs THAT kind of disappointment. ha! However, I also haven't really made myself accountable to anyone either -- sort of the mentality that it is enough that I am disappointed in myself for not seeing those resolutions through...do I really need you to be disappointed too!?! However, I am toying with the idea of letting you in on a few of mine...perhaps the accountability will keep me on track.

One resolution that I WILL share with you is my resolution to try and blog AT LEAST once a week. I always have pics and words to share, but I don't seem to get them onto the computer. I hope that this year will be different. NO, check that - I RESOLVE that this year will be different.

I haven't uploaded my Chrismtas pics yet, but I did upload these pics from my NEW camera! Yes - I put ALL of my Christmas money and mad-money toward the purchase of a Nikon5000 SLR camera. I am LOVING IT!!!! It may be wrong to love a camera...but it feels so right! ha! ha!

I finally put up the pictures in my foyer that I had been talking about for about a year now.

I found those large 8x10 frames at Target...they are the kind that the picture floats between the two pieces of glass...and then I added the vinly letters (purchased from Stampin' Up). Those are two of my new favorite things! I want more of the frames for family photos that I want to hang in my bedroom and I want LARGE vinyl phrasing (that I found at Hobby Lobby) for waaaay too many places in my home. They need to have some 40% off coupons on-line soon! ha! I'm just not sure how they will work on the texturing on my wall -- I've seen it in other people's homes on textured walls and although it is not 'ideal' it still looks fabulous. I'll have to let you know...when the coupons come out...I did spend all of that mad-money, remember!?! :)