Happy New Years Eve!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce


"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."
-Bill Vaughn



Reflecting back, it has been a busy year, but a very good year! So very much to be thankful for...

A few of the highlights included:

-Maggie's mission trip to Mexico
-celebrating Noah's first birthday
-Sunday visits with family
-getting all moved
-Robby graduated from high school and completed his first year of college
-Good health
-two wonderful church families
-Maggie's volleyball team's state run
-every day that I spent watching Noah
-Tony celebrated his 32 year as a Conservation officer
-Jordan and Erin celebrated their first wedding anniversary

Last but not least.....
the birth of our new little grand daughter
Sydney Jade Sanders


Whether you are eager to get rid of the old year, or anxious for the hope that the new year brings.... hoping that you and your family take time to count the blessings of the past year, and have a wonderful time ringing in the new one!

Enjoying the Holidays

We all had a lovely Christmas! It has been so nice to have my sister Kathy, and her husband Clark home from Texas. This first photo is of the cousins at my Mom's on Christmas evening. (minus Jordan, and John Hewitt). The photo below is Rachel, Maggie, and Nicole (our teen cousins). We spent the day after Christmas working on flowers for Cassie's upcoming June wedding.... so much fun! Our family will enjoy two weddings this year, Cassie in June and Gretchen in the fall. The last two pictures are of our new addition.... she is so precious! I haven't had time to download the pictures from my camera.... nabbed these from Maggie's "already downloaded" ones. Aunt Susan has posted some good ones from the Sanders side on her blog. Hope that everyone is enjoying this wonderful time of the year, and is taking a little time to relax!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SYDNEY JADE SANDERS

Our little Miss Sydney Jade has arrived! 6lbs 9 oz, 19 1/2 inches. She has really dark hair and is soooooo pretty and tiny! Big brother Noah is adoring her. Last night when we talked to Jordan, he said that Noah kept sitting down and patting his little lap, letting them know he wanted to hold her again. She is the best little Christmas gift!
Addison and Brooklyn...... what precious little cuties!

My good friend DeAndrea's children Aunaka and Simeon. Aunaka is 5, and Simeon is 2. I was Aunaka's first babysitter. She was such a sweet little newborn. It is hard to believe that she is 5 now!

THANK YOU MISTY! MISTY HAS SELECTED COFFEE BREAK AS A FABULOUS BLOG. Misty is my cousin, she has a really neat blog, full of great pictures of her two adorable daughters! CHECK OUT MISTY'S BLOG AT http://fairytaleprincesses.blogspot.com
Here are the rules if you are playing along at home....Here are the rules to receiving this award:

1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.

2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. I am going to nominate five Fabulous Blogs!

and the nominations are:

1. Erin's Life, Erin is my daughter-in-law, she doesn't get much time to blog. She is a full time student, and a wonderful wife and mother. Her blog is full of great photo's of my favorite little boy! Check it out at: http://erin-schnadenberg.blogspot.com/

2. A Day in The Life, my neice Dana's blog, Dana is also a very busy mom that doesn't have a chance to blog often. When she does get the chance she has two of the prettiest little girls to blog about! What beautiful photos! O.K. Dana.... I know that you are all fighting the flu, so if you don't get a chance to accept your award ...we understand! Check out her blog at: http:dana-tow-jones.blogspot.com

3. The Warrens, Susan Warren's blog spot, Susan is my sister-in-law, I love reading her blogspot because it helps keep me connected with what all is going on in the family! Thanks Susan, for keeping me up on the latest happenings! Check her blog at http://thewarrens-cliffandsusan.blogspot.com

4. Visit The 'Ville, Brenda's blogspot, Brenda is also my sister-in-law. Brenda is a retired school teacher, and owns a neat shop in Crothersville. Brenda's blog features interesting stories, poetry, and thoughts. Check it out at http://brendasville.blogspot.com

5. Sue's Family News, Sue lives in Montgomery. She has two teenagers close in age to Maggie. She goes to Providence Church, and I get to see her at lots of ballgames! I love reading her blog... check it out at http://suesfamilynews.blogspot.com

Now for my five addictions!

1. carbs....bread, pasta, potatoes, chips, more bread!

2. Karen Kingsbury books, love to read a couple of chapters before bed.

3. Visiting at moms on Sundays!

4. Fox News

5. diet coke

Not very interesting addictions....wish I could say jogging and exercising!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

Happy Birthday Tony! Today is Tony's birthday, we celebrated on Saturday evening with Maggie, Robby, Jordan, Erin, and Noah. We will celebrate the December birthdays next week at his sister Jane's. We are finally doing great... after the flu hit each of us one at a time last week! Dana and her family were hit with it over the weekend.... hang in there Dana! The tree is up and decorated, and we started the Christmas shopping yesterday. Maggie and I took Erin and Noah to Indy for the day. We had a lot of fun, and got quite a bit of shopping finished. Noah and I are wrapping gifts today! Maggie has a doctors appointment early in the morning to see if she gets to start back playing at ballgames this week. Robby finished his finals last week, Erin finishes hers today. Have a great week..... only 9 more days to shop!

The Big Move!

We are finally moved! Not unpacked yet.... that is going to take awhile. We are all exhausted, how in the world did we accumulate so much stuff? My garage is to the top with boxes that need sorted and put away. Here are a few quick pictures. The first one is Cassie, Brooklyn, Dana, Connie, and Maggie at Mom's on Thanksgiving.
Courtney and Maggie at Thanksgiving (Maggie has her braces off!)
Maggie at the Fall Sports Banquet
The "New" Kitchen

I am feeling a little overwhelmed. By now, we usually have most of the Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree. We always put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving... if not before. Sorry to say, we haven't even purchased the first gift yet, and no clue when we will get the tree up. Not sure where the box containing the decorations and lights are stored. We have a lot of catching up to do! Hope to start all that this evening.

Maggie's knee is healing, and she should be back on the basketball court in two weeks. Noah has been really sick with viral infections and flu. He is feeling better today and should be here any minute. Noah just came in, I will post more later. Hope that you are all enjoying the "getting ready" for the Holidays!

Oh Christmas Tree

Only a couple of weeks from now and we will be putting up the Christmas tree! Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Tony asked if we should consider making the big switch to an artificial tree this year. We all talked about it and decided nah we better keep a real tree. One of our favorite traditions is putting up the tree, getting it all decorated and having a cup of egg nog and admiring the lights. Yesterday Noah and I sorted through some Christmas decorations, and we found a couple of big stuffed Santas and some Christmas story books. We read them and he thought the "HOHO" dolls were really funny. While looking through the boxes of decorations, and remembering back over the last twenty years of Christmas memories in this house, it is so hard to imagine Christmas morning any where else. It will be such an adjustment not being in this house for Christmas morning. Of course, we will be able to carry on our family traditions there too... and probably add a few new ones. Kathy and Clark will be home from Texas for Christmas! It will be so wonderful to get to have them home for the week.

Today they are putting in my kitchen base cabinets.... so hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be cranking out Christmas candy and getting ready for the festivities!


May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; the spirit of Christmas which is peace; the heart of Christmas which is love. - ADA V. HENDRICKS

Transition Time

Volleyball is over and what a fun season we enjoyed! Here is a picture of our state runnerups right before the Friday night banquet. The girls had their first basketball practice last night. So we didn't have much time to transition into it.... but they are eager to get some practices in before the first game in two weeks. Maggie will have to sit out for two weeks due to her knee injury. She has a doctor appointment next Tuesday, so we will know more then.

Our big transition .... from house to house is going pretty good. They put down the tile in the kitchen and bathrooms yesterday. Our counter tops are going to take a little longer than they thought so we won't have them installed until Nov. 26. I was really wanting to fix Thanksgiving dinner at the new house, but looks like we will have to settle for a weekend after Thanksgiving target. It is amazing to me that they have been able to accomplish so much in such a short time.

Robby is gearing up for opening day on Saturday. Mom is expecting the Florida cousins for "deer camp" next week. What a great time of the year! Basketball, deer hunting, planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Batman paid us a visit last week!

HEADED TO MUNCIE!

RUSHING THE FLOOR

Lady Vikings After the Final Game!

Mrs. Wirtz, Maggie, and Jen
Liz, Mag, and Hilliary
Jordan, Maggie, and Robby

On the Radio!

What a weekend! We are resting up from all of the excitement, and planning for one more week of decorating and celebrating. The community pep rally will be Thursday evening. The girls will head to Muncie on Friday morning. Thanks to all the friends and family members that have been supporting the team. Maggie has sure appreciated all the text messages, calls, letters and cards congratulating them.

At the house, they are painting the next couple of days.... can't wait to stop by and see color on the walls! (I hope I did o.k. picking out the colors) The tile and hardwood will be installed at the end of this week.

Ooops, Noah is up from his nap. I will post more later.

FUN FHOTO FRIDAY

DRESS UP DAY AT SCHOOL!
GOOD LUCK AT THE REGIONAL TOMORROW!

CELEBRATION!

MAGGIE AND ME
NOAH AND ERIN CHEERING FOR AUNT MAG

MAG AND UNCLE TIM
MAGGIE AND MIKE

LAUREN AND MAGGIE
HILL AND MAG

LADY VIKINGS


MIM, MAGGIE, AND PAP JOHNSON
CASSIE AND MAGGIE
ROBBY, MAGGIE, AND JORDAN
PROUD OF OUR BABY SISTER
DAD AND MAGGIE
THANKS FOR ALL THE THERAPY DANA!!!!!!!!!!

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I HAVE POSTED, BUT THOUGHT I BETTER MAKE THE TIME TO SHARE THE SECTIONAL PHOTOS!

THE HOURS OF HARD WORK AND PRACTICE PAID OFF ! CONGRATULATIONS TO MAGGIE AND HER TEAM FOR A GREAT SECTIONAL WIN! THANK YOU TO COUSIN DANA FOR THE HOURS SHE HAS PUT INTO THERAPY FOR MAGGIE'S KNEE!

THIS WEEK WILL BRING LOTS OF THERAPY AND PRACTICE FOR THE REGIONAL.

THIS WEEK WILL ALSO BE FINISHING UP THE DRY WALL AT THE NEW HOUSE AND STARTING THE PAINTING!

TONY HAS THE WEEK OFF TO START MOVING THINGS INTO HIS NEW DETACHED GARAGE AND WORKSHOP!

ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL CHANGE OF LEAVES AND THE GORGEOUS WEATHER!

The Last Blog

I've really enjoyed this attempt at keeping a blog going.....however, I am getting increasingly busier and busier and something has got to give. So I have decided to take a break from blogging. I may start one back this winter when things slow down and we are moved into our new home. God bless you all and enjoy this beautiful fall season!

WEEKEND WRAP UP

PLAYING POTS AND PANS!
MAKING A FUNNY FACE!
Maggie's team after the Wood Memorial tourney.
Noah sitting in a box eating his lunch.

We have spent the last two Saturdays at Volleyball tourneys. Maggie's team is doing really good, and we are enjoying watching the games. Noah and I spent the week playing, the last photo is of him eating lunch in his box. He also likes for me to get in the box and read stories to him. We sure know how to have fun! We have been spending a lot of time stopping by the new house to check the progress. They have the roof up and dormers on, shingles should go on in the morning. I have been spending any extra time trying to pick out flooring, cabinets and paint colors.

We talked to Kathy a few times since the hurricane hit. They were finally able to get a generator, and are so happy to be getting things a little back to normal. After the storm came through here last week, it gave me a new appreciation to what they have to experience. Can you imagine having winds more than double what we had, and the electricity still being off! Don't think that would be too easy to handle.

Maggie and I went to Bloomington shopping today.... so many neat fall decorations out! We made our first batch of peanut butter balls this weekend, and purchased a couple of mums for the porch. FALL IS GREAT!

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS: ADDISON, ERIN, AND PAP JOHNSON!

HOPE THAT YOU MAKE TIME TO GET OUT AND ENJOY THE FALL WEATHER!

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY ROSS!

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY ROSS!

Our electricity just came back on after being off since Sunday afternoon. Wow! I can't imagine how the Houston people are getting through this... hope your power is back on soon Kathy! I will post more once I get things caught up around here. House is going good... all the brick on porch and around the bottom of house is on. Should be framing in the morning. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Jonathon!

Aunt Susan, Jonathon, and Brittney
Brittney and Jonathon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHON ON SEPTEMBER 8TH!

THOUGHTS FOR THURSDAY......

John and Cathy
John, Andrea, Gretchen, and Nate
Nate, Clark, and John

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN HEWITT!

Today is John Hewitt's birthday! John is the first-born grandson of the Johnson clan of cousins. I remember how excited that my mom and dad were to get a hold of a baby boy! After five daughters, and two adorable little granddaughters they were ready to see what it was like to spoil a little boy too. We have so many fun memories of Andrea, John, and Dana when they were little. It sure has been a joy to watch them grow into responsible adults. John and his wife Cathy live near Kathy and Clark in Houston. Happy Birthday John, we love you, miss you and hope to see you at Christmas!

We have a prayer request for the Denise (Hawkins) Delaney family. Denise's son Patrick was in a motorcycle accident last night in Loogootee. Denise's daughter Megan is a senior and is a good friend of Maggie's. If you have a prayer chain please include this family.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Last night was our "Dave Ramsey" class. It was very inspirational! I wish that we would have gone through these classes twenty years ago. We are looking forward to putting these good ideas to practice.

Tonight Maggie has a volleyball game against 10th ranked Springs Valley. It will be fun to watch Allison Ragsdale (she has an awesome jump serve). We always enjoy seeing her and visiting with Sami and Darrin. It should be a really good game. The volleyball photo is of Maggie and Megan Delaney (Megan is Denise Hawkin's daughter).

Two photos of my favorite little boy looking so sweet. Then, the last two photos are of the basement walls. They are suppose to take the forms off today.

It is so nice to have fall "in the air". Our apple trees are loaded, and I am fighting off the urge to swing by the store and pick up carmel dip. Hope that everyone is having a great week!