Saturday, December 06, 2008

December 2008

Welcome!!!

Sit around the fire while we catch up!!



Wow, it's been a while I see...lol My sister has been coaxing me to start a blog and I knew I had already started one, but remembering my password and all to get back into this thing was very interesting, espcially since Donnie had started it while I was in the hospital after having Ann Marie. Wow, she's 3 now...hehe
We arn't ready for Christmas at all. However the kids did decorate the 9 ft tree in the den before they left for Thanksgiving with their Dad.
Ann and I put up and decorated the 6 ft tree in our green living room.... (it has the title because of the carpet color) The tree is very interesting. I wanted it to be perfect, but ended up having lots of fun, and the lower ornaments are right where Ann Marie moved them to after I had already put them on...lol She keeps us hopping.

Our 6 ft tree!!



The kids and I went shopping for a few exchange gifts that I needed, and then of course they found a couple of things that they wanted also...I should know that I need more $ than I plan on...lol Part of having kids along. I try to sneak and shop by myself as much as possible. I use to sneak to the ice cream shop on the way home too, but now I've joined the "TOPS" group (take off pounds sensibly) No more ice cream for me....lol



We are doing a family project this year of getting a couple stockings ready for teenagers to take to the Urban Mission in town. They have a hard time comming up with things for the teens.



I challenged our church people to do somthing for needy people this year, even if all they could afford was a plate of cookies. Just some little thing to show the love of God at this time of year. Dad was a good example of this. One year we took a couple bags of groceries and a Christmas tree to a needy family. Our family will never forget the joy that it brought them as well as us. We also have a mitten and hat tree at church that goes to the Urban mission.


Vanya played football this fall. Many bumps and bruises, but he seemed to really enjoy it! He's in the bottom right hand corner there in the picture. I found out that the coaches are soooo mean and they use the worst language...think I got on their bad list a couple of times for makeing mention of it.



Vanya also is very into Boy Scouts of America. He is curently a "Tender Foot" as far as rank goes. He was able to get one of his friends to join! They have so much fun. The leaders he has are awsome! He was given some high honers at the last Banquet they had for the boys. They say he never opts for the easy road. He always takes the toughest challenges in the group of boys. We are proud of him, and he really enjoys it. They have a ski trip comming up in January, he's really hopeing to go. This picture was taken at Summer camp 2008



Victoriea, Vanya, And Doenisha Laynne

Doenisha Laynne letting Ann Marie help with our 9 ft tree decore!




Doenisha Laynne is into homemakeing. She gives her little sister plenty of loving. Whatever she does, she has the patience to let Ann Marie help her. She got a 4.0 on her report card this last 9 weeks! That gave her a $50 deposit into a savings account from her Dad, $10 from her Grandma, and $5 from her preacher!! She also got her name printed in the paper. She got the presidents award at the end of last year...she is a very good student, and seems to enjoy school. She will be joining the track team at school again in the spring. She really enjoys that and did an awsome job last spring. She also is our #1 cookie maker. As we speak she and Ann Marie are makeing sugar cookies! She has more patients than I do...lol Doenisha Laynne and her friends love spending the summer swimming any chance they get. Could go for a nice warm day right now...We're proud of her and all her hard work at home and at school. I forgot to mention that she is on the Beta Club at school. This is only for students that get a certain grade point average, and their club does things to help out in the community as well as at school.

Donnie's Birthday gift, Anniversay, & Christmas 2008...hehe
A much deserved and long awaitted Dodge Ram 4X4 Off Road




He has always put the family car first to make sure we had somthing reliable, and he has driven mostly junk cars that needed lots of fixing from time to time.



Donnie has been at his Job for 21 years now. A lot of changes and people have come and gone. He is the Chief Engineer at the Local TV station for those of you who don't know.


They have been doing a lot of upgradeing with modern technology. He has said he's glad he's not a Dr. becasue he wouldn't be able to stand being paged all the time, but he is on 24 hour call if anything goes down at work, so I'm not sure what the difference is except for maybe Dr.'s get way more calls. He is able to lay in bed at 3:00a.m. and work someone through a problem over the phone. Most of the time that works, but sometimes, he just has to get up and go to work. It's funny to hear him say "ok, if you look up to your left, there's a swith....blah blah blah"

He's is also a lay speaker for the United Methodist Church. He helps out when the preacher is away, and in my opinion does a very good job. The preacher got so many compliments about him the last time, that he joked about the fact that "my name is Jim, and I'm your pastor".

We were able to attend his 25th high school reunion this summer. It was pretty interesting hearing them tell stories about each other and what all went on in their high school days!

Hmmm....been leaving me till last...not sure what to say except that I'm responsible when no one else will take the blame...lol I'm a taxi driver for my family. Too bad I dont' get paid per mile, that would really stack up. I could probably go on vacation every month for a couple of days. Lets see here.

Monday: TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) group at 5:30p.m., Vanya's Boy Scout Group meeting from 7:30 till 9:00 p.m., so we leave here around 5:00 and don't get home till 9:30 to find Donnie and Doenisha have fixed dinner for us and are patiently waitting to eat together.

Tuesday: Ann has dance calss at 5:00 p.m. She is in the Todlerific class. Seems to really enjoy it. She really likes her tap shoes.

Wednesday: Christmas Contata practice has been at 7:00p.m I"ll be glad when that's over. The kids were allowed to join this jear, so it's been a family affair. Makes it more special.

Thursday: ???? Whatever didn't get done... or squeezing Dr. appointments for the whole family. Try to catch up on the chores.

Friday: If Donnie isn't working sometimes we'll go out for dinner, but that's been really rare here lately.

Saturday: Sleep in as long as possible. We've working on getting a few more things done before the Johnson Reunion...It's comming up this Saturday the 13th.

Sunday: We attend church, and I accompany the Organist at church. I'm not the greatest piano player, but it's a lot of fun!! Then the kids and I fold bulletins and mail them to those who can't get out to church. This is a fun project. We put stickers on the envelopes and try to make it nice and cheery for them. The kids are working on the Christmas program now. I was asked if I could play the music for it. Pretty simple songs, so I agreed.


Well, I've probably board you to death, so I'm going to shut up, but I've got to wait for some more of my pictures to upload. I'm not real good at this yet, so sorry if it looks kind of strange.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pics and the kids all look gorgeous! And THAT TREE! SO absolutely love it! :) The kids keep you hopping I see that! Sound
like my daughter and her hubby with
their four kids! LOL! Thanks for sharing all your family info with us and I sure hope you have a real beautiful Christmas-time this year!
Lovely house and the fireplace is absolutely awesome! Love you girl!
GOD bless and keep you. Katie

Jeanne said...

Good job with your blogging! Thanks for sharing pictures and news. I always enjoy seeing the kids! They are growing so fast. Great job with the Christmas trees.

Anonymous said...

I am surprised--but very glad--to find you, read your news and look at your pictures. Hope to continue to check in on you in the future. Missy

Shaun said...

Hello Donna - I can't even remember the last time that we would have connected. I saw the link to your blog on Jeanne's and enjoyed getting a glimpse into your family! Glad that you are doing well - the activity level at your place sounds real similar to the rat race that we run at our house. We have three kids - two boys(8 & 5) and one girl (3 next week). I just joined the blogging world recently - if you would like to see ours drop me an email at witterjscb@aol.com and I will send you an invitation to view. I have a lot of great memories with you and your family! Take Care friend!
Shaun (Cox) Witter

Mrs. Deb. Blowers said...

Wow, Donna, so great to catch up with you after a VERY long time. Nice to see all the pics and read your blogs. I don't have a blog, yet, but a church website that is all I can keep up with right now. It's mwmchurch.com and there are pics of our kids and their families, and Ma and Pa, on the Pastor's page. Keep in touch.
Mrs. Blowers

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