Category Archives: 2 Mi Familia
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVERI-KINS!
Today my little Averi is 3!!!
A birthday video and tribute to follow
{because I cannot fast loving my familia!}.
Grandbebe # 5 www.lilacphotography.com
One, one-one, one-one, at one
Arriving at Kansas City airport to see my mommy and daddy {1.11.11 @ 1:00 pm}!
On the 12th Day of Christmas I shared my – 12 Favorite Things!
The Twelfth (and final, *sniff) Day of Christmas ~ Epiphany!
Christmas is not over until Epiphany (January 6, today), the day commemorating the Wise Men, having followed the star, finally finding and gifting the baby Jesus, so let’s just get that straight right now. That said, I could keep blogging Christmas because there was just so much (I wasn’t finished!), but I won’t…for at least 10 or 11 months.
My 12 Favorite Things about Christmas 2010
No. Not really. I can’t be bound. There were more than 12, but I will try-try-try to edit as much as is humanly possible. Please don’t box me in.
Friends.
I wonder sometimes, how I have any friends at all because I am not great at friendship. But God gives them to me anyway. Denise just gave me a gift bag full of Tetra pens. She found an ebay.com source for these discontinued writing utensils (I’d written a mournful blog about them here), once made in France and available everywhere, my pen-love, my passion, and she just got them for me. Who deserves that? I know I don’t.
Then, my 3rd Thursdays ~ we meet once a month. They are my go-to prayer partners, busy, amazing women, but time. They gave me time. And we met at The Olive Garden and laughed and talked and thoroughly enjoyed steak gorgonzola alfredo, no dainty appetites or feigning diets: we eat, we are merry, together we spread joy.
And the young “Ww/God” group? Show up at my house on a December night and let me dispense advice and cheer them on. I was just in my 20s like 5 minutes ago, right? I feel lucky to be surrounded, I am letting their youth and exuberance rub off on me.
Cards from long-ago friends, sweet letters and notes, catching up over miles and years. At Christmas, I thank God for the friends that decorate my life.
Presents with a Past
Our family enjoys the search for treasure and aren’t afraid to gift something used. The girls have become masters at finding things I or some one else once loved and would love to have again. Daughters Stephanie and Stormie run a very successful business selling hip, vintage wares (www.maydae.com) so it is no surprise. But guess what surprised me the most? Pencils! Anderson-Erickson Dairy pencils! My dad was a milkman when I was little, at an amazing dairy in Des Moines, Iowa. He did his bookwork with these lightweight, narrow pencils and always had one tucked in his ear. I spent hours and hours writing and drawing with them as a little girl. I mentioned how I missed those pencils and Tara contacted the company and they sent some out. I LOVE them! I never use pencils, but now, I shall.
I got old issues of my fav late 80s/early 90s mag, Victoria. There are the cool retro 70s TV trays, and some crazy-awesome orange 70s pottery!
Gifts from the heart
My creative family is so fun. Besides the usual gifts and odds and ends you buy at all the fav stores, everybody throws themselves into love-projects and makes things for one another. I got THE CUTEST stud earrings from Little Bits and Giggles (Jovan’s business), bright turquoisy-blue and Jeanie green. She also made me an iPod cover (very cute!). Stormie embroidered me a perpetual calendar (she embroidered a picture of Steph and Tristan for them and a unicorn for Guini, too…and Tre embroidered old-fashioned kitchen towels for Stormie – what a bunch of loves!). So many cute gifts, handmade with love (CLICK HERE TO SEE SOME).
Oh-oh-oh: platform boots! AND the James Taylor/Carole King Troubadour Reunion Tour DVD/CD set (since I didn’t get to see them live…next best thing).
One fun project was that we all painted Stephanie red-haired-girl portraits. She has an entire art collection now – of images inspired by her likeness! CLICK HERE
Plus other gifts – like my favorite Jack Hayford sermon ever from Tredessa, worship music from Dave and Tara. There is this awesome travel mug and a Starbucks certificate. Jewlery and clothes and books and music (and my husband still is insisting on getting me a new phone (iPhone – because I adore my iPod Touch so), but I haven’t let him yet. We’ll see. Too many wonderful gifts, from so many wonderful, thoughtful people.
My Christmas card.
I just love how it turned out and how I got to preach it up on the card. I HOPE some one read it and was encouraged! Yeah for sweet, longsuffering grandbebes and their ever-enduring parents. Cheers-bells-and-love to Stef and Wrex for the use of the farm and animals (and baby Sawyer to play Baby Jesus!)! Thank-you, Tredessa for snapping madly over the course of the fastest 7 minutes in the world. And thanks to Stormiekins for putting the card together and somehow fitting all my words on there. My Christmas card makes me ever-so-happy!
Family
Gavin & Hunter wrote and performed their worship song at the pj party. The kids made presents for their parents.
Dinners and craft sessions, thrift store shopping and ice skating. Christmas movies and Christmas concerts and Dave starring in the community theater – with family, all the more delightful. Grandbebes everywhere, pj parties and pancakes. We got to borrow the Phipps’ on Christmas since their families are far away. Dana came for a visit from Indiana early in the month. And right after Christmas, Elise-the-Niece and her little sister Christiana from Aberdeen came for a week to hang out. “God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68.6a
Elise with Stormie; Christiana with the kids on move-in day at Tara’s
Christmas morning
I am so blessed. My grown kids still love the magic of a Christmas morning at our house. How cool is that? So, at about 9 am, they begin trailing in and we meet in the living room until everyone arrives. Then the grandbebess line up waiting to go see their “big” unwrapped gifts from Nonna and Poppa. The chaotic joy begins!
9:30 am While the kiddos enjoy the first of the gifts (o, there are more) and the contents of their stockings, breakfast is served. The grown-up-kids are very particular about breakfast and have determined very specific food they must have so I let them. Cinnamon and orange rolls. Little Smokies. Mini-bagels and cream cheese, juices and good, strong coffee – right next to the Hot-Cocoa-Makin’-Station. Eggs and whatever else. We eat, the little ones play.
10:00 am My husband gathered everyone. He read scripture and exhorted the family. He prayed over us all.. Then we dive in to gifts!
10:15 am Paper flies, laughing, loudness. Squeals of “Oh-look!” and “Thank-you, I wanted this.” You hear “I am opening a gift from you,” so no one will miss an important reveal. Paper fills bag after bag, is mounded high. The kids are on overload. Your face gets tired from smiling. I sit is a nice chair and sigh with satisfaction at all the thought and generosity that is shared among siblings on Christmas morning. We open gifts for over 3 solid hours, alternately trying to go just a few people at a time and just everyone tearing in with zeal.
1:30 pm We look at everything and take pictures and smile and play with our new toys. We reveal secrets that almost didn’t make it to Christmas and how we hid things from one another all season long. We exchange gift receipts for wrong sizes and the little ones love the family gift-wrap wars (balling up used gift wrap and declaring a battle with some one lse – usually Uncle Rocky!).
4:00 pm The Phipps’ arrive and there are piles more presents all around. Then a big family Mexican meal and Christmas movies on the big screen until we are so tired we nearly drop.
10:00 pm Silent night. Holy, peaceful night. Thank-you for this blessed day, Father.
These are a few of the things, my favorites, that made this past Christmas season so warm and sweet. Seasons come and go, times change and things may be different in the years to come. So, I hold these days close and thank God for them. It was a Merry Christmas, not pain free, not perfect, nor idyllic, but in its zaniness and realness, it was merry. Hope yours was, too.
That was then…
On the 11th day of Christmas…
I remember Christmas 1968, the oldest of 5…
Des Moines, Iowa. It was Ross the Boss, Mrs Moss and all the little Landers: Jeanie, Joey, Timmy, Tammy and Danny (known at that time as Dana, his given name). My mom was always trying to set up a scene. In the days before Photoshop and Picnik.com, she colored on sheets and set up vignettes. I come by it naturally, you see…
I remember Christmas 1988, when I had five of my own…
No one can say I didn’t do my part to populate the earth with godly seed – really, really quickly (5 kids in less than 7 years)! Church plays and cantatas; school programs and crafts around the kitchen table. Opening our home to be toured (9 trees, NINE trees!) in an 1886 Victorian, winning the community house-lighting contest. Popcorn balls and having the whole church over for a party. I was young and thought the energy would never wane.
I remember Christmas 2008. With 5 grandbebes.
Their parents do the work and I just rake in the love. There are 6 now!
Does it mean you’re old when you have this much stuff in your headful of memories? Ohmygoodness. I do have a bunch of memories. And since I can no longer remember everything, I am sure choosing the good stuff. If I could only bottle the great moments of my life and share it, hold them close..but I guess, in a way, I really can – that is the cool thing! Want some?
Be merry all, be merry all,
With holly dress the festive hall;
Prepare the song, the feast, the ball,
To welcome merry Christmas.
~William Robert Spencer
~
Red Letter day for Guini! I look ahead at many years of wondrous joys to come…
On the 11th Day of Christmas – Guini lost her 1st tooth.
J
I remember Christmas, 11 days ago…
Ice Capades
Downtown Louisville, CO a few days before Christmas, our very own Family Ice Capades.
WINTER SKATE~A sunny warm day in the high 40s suddenly got icy as the sun set. Gavin tracked down the way to the hot cocoa and Rocky and Tristan pretty much freezed their buns off. Averi, however, who became a skater last Christmas at the age of one, was raring to go! “Bring on the double-bladed skates!” she seemed to be saying.
The skating is in historical downtown Louisville {Old-fasjioned Ice Skating}, where WinterSkate continues until February 1 (free horse-drawn carriage rides on the weekend) CLICK HERE FOR INFO, situated on “Front Street” which if you know our family….Anyhow-they played Christmas music and some 60s sort of pop-jazz (they played Frank and Nancy Sinatra singing “Something Stupid” my kinda music!) and generally made it a fun experience for the whole fam.
Boo-hoo for me. Because of the knee thing, I didn’t go. I so wanted to, but too wobbly still, I fear. Stormie and Steph in the Skate Hut where a wood-burning fire made me smell like a Camp Fire girl. Guini’s rented skates had laces to match her. Averi was first to be ready to tear out on to the ice.
ok!
It should read “Go to the bathroom at your own risk”, because they had this nasty port-a-pottie and poor Gemma had to use it. It was almost full of you-know-what, if you know what I mean and she cried in mortification when she saw it, so I sort of held her up in the air and prayed to God I wouldn’t gag (or drop her). Go pottie before you arrive! Seriously!
Stephanie and Tredessa get Gemma and Guini going. Lots of resting on the wall.
The Powers Fam. And Tristan and Stephanie coming around the end of the rink with Guini in tow (see also the 9-second video above).
Jovan captured these shots of the “original 5” kids {Tara, Stephanie, Tredessa, Rocky and Stormie} trying to relive the glory days of their childhoods when they all, at one time or another, may or may not have secretly been entertaining thoughts of becoming olympic skaters….back in the day. Remember? When skating was so big? Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. Good times, huh? Haha. No, my kids loved Scott Hamilton, though!
Lottsa laughing going on out there on the ice.
Rocky and Jovanie. And? L’heure bleu. The blue hour was a gorgeous backdrop to the early evening fun.
This was my fav picture of the day {above}. The sun setting, the Christmas lights just beginning to twinkle. Guini waves hello as Steph pulls her on a sled (hey! why didn’t anyone pull me on a sled??)…and Rocky and Jovan, holding hands and pulling Averi-kins along are right behind. In the background is my husband (in his hockey skates) and Gavin is actually skating alongside Tris, which was rare because that Gavin skated 90 miles an hour the entire time we were there (taking after his G-pa)! Around and around and around he went! He didn’t need hot chocolate. He kept peeling off layers as he went.
Me and Jovanie, me and Mr Skater-man, me and Storm-kins and me and the Gav.
I WAS there…manning the video camera. This is proof.
We’ve skated. We’re cold. We’re hungry. Let’s go to Chick-Fil-A!
The End.
Family Greetings
I bet you have never seen a Christmas card like this!
It is the Kelley family! How cute is this? You cannot buy this at the photo counter! Stephanie and Tristan are unique in a million ways and they have blessed us with three of the most honoring and loving children who make grandparenting this amazing royal experience. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Steph & Tris! NINE years-you are an inspiration and a great success story! Love your love, love your hearts, love your family. So proud of my daughter and the family she is nurturing, the husband she chose, the example they have become! What jolly-makers they are!
At the local shopping center~
www.lilacphotography.com shot Rocky & Jovan and the girls (we like to call them Rhoades-2). Rocky and Jovan are in a time of big transition right now, but can’t you tell what a bright future the Lord has in store for them? Can you see, just by looking, what an adventure each day is with those two little girls running (or crawling) around? They are like a great big present with a bow on top – the gift is the focus, but oh, isn’t the package a thing of beauty?!?
The girls~
Tredessa is SUCH a good auntie, to Gavin and Guini and Hunter and Gemma, to Averi and Amelie and to Sawyer (pictured), too. She came to stay with us for a few days for Christmas (even though she just lives across the metro area from us in Arvada (way west). It was exciting: a holiday houseguest! She attends to the details, and gifts {in the verb sense} like you wouldn’t believe! Tre is a solid rock in our fam, a bridge of peace between us all. What a joy-bringer!
Stormie is Little Miss Christmas. Like her dad, she works hard to bring home the magic, to gift, to give, to serve. She was still creating gifts on Christmas Eve, because she loves like that, because she loves to gift from her heart. Stormie is a Giver {with a capital “G”, you will note} and is actually Holy Spirit anointed to be a giver. She is a family girl, she is a gentle spirit and a good daughter. What a merry-maker!
A new house!
Dave and Tara closed on their new house on December 23. Right before Christmas! New carpet is going in and they have so much going, but they came for Christmas day – the whole thing. When I know they’d have loved being in their new home, just enjoying it, they hung out with us for Christmas, from early morning to late night; from opening the first presents to watching a movie after dark (“Christmas Vacation” projected on the big screen!). What a couple of hall-deckers! And the little Magoo, too!
Did you see Dave and Tara’s Christmas “card” when I posted it before? So fun! Well, just in case you missed it~
The Angels are STILL singing!
True confessions: My Christmas card “greeting” this year is shamelessly ripping off Jack Hayford’s Christmas teaching, “The Angels are Still Singing” because I so LOVE this timeless message.
For these days and these times, for the the things that made 2010 maybe a less-than-perfect year and for the brokenness that sneaks up on us season after season, for the weariness that comes from a battle being waged against us by the enemy of our souls, for the good times and in spite of the bad times ~
and mostly for the hope that remains because Jesus Christ came ~ a SAVIOR, remember today:
The angels that sang and rejoiced in the sky pronouncing PEACE & GOODWILL on the night Jesus Christ was born are the same angels who now attend to the household of faith! “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1.14
Dig it, friends and familia! The angels of the Lord are near. Listen for the song – it’ll be good news for sure. Did you notice how often the angels said “fear not”?
Our Christmas card this year:
Click on the image, then click again to see in full size (cuz it is a big card! :D )
This image was captured in early November at a nearby farm (remember the world’s largest corn maze?!?) Gavin 7; Hunter 6; Guinivere 5; Gemma May 3; Averi-J 2 1/2; Amelie Belle 7 mos.; Sawyer 3 mos.
Merry Christmas, PEACE and GOODWILL to you and a very Happy New Year! ~ from the Rhoades family!
Nativity Photo Shoot
The pictures we didn’t use, Part 1
Click on the images, then click again to see them in a larger size.
In early November (we were so far ahead this year…until recently…what happened???) we took the kids to a nearby farm where the Wrex-ter had secured the use of a few animals for the shoot. An icy wind blowing in that morning could not stop this fun piece o’ Rhoades-family fun. We have come a long way since the first one I did a few years back with a tablecloth tacked to the kitchen wall as a backdrop!
Two miniature donkeys were the picture of patience and endurance. Hunter liked making the feathers on Gemma’s wings flutter.
Hark, the Hearld Angels Sing! Gemma May and Averi-J are experienced angels by now! The alpaca severely questioned the right of all the other animals to be there. Baby calf just wanted to eat some hay. Pictured on the right – a farm guy I don’t know, Wrex’s dad, Bill Phipps, from Nebraska, and Wrex himself!
Behind the scenes, “Baby Jesus” had not yet been placed. The angels again – wearing hot-glue-gunned white sheaths underneath vintage altar boy robe toppers. Pretty!
The photo on the left was snapped as Wrex was bringing the calf to the right of the set and the mini-donkeys went a little ballistic. They bolted, knocked over the pottery and almost trampled Baby Amelie Belle, meanwhile Gemma was hiding behind Averi because the alpaca was kind of aggressive and the goat was head-butting the bale of straw. It was all falling apart at this precise moment! “Baby Jesus” was waling! Good times!
Baby Jesus was “loaned” to us: Sawyer Joel Phipps, whose “other grandparents” live in Nebraska and Texas. Sawyer was not that fond of the manger set up. No she was not. I don’t think she really liked her sparkly glory-halo headband, either. Huh-uh. No. I don’t think she did. And she may have been freezing to death. Sure, she was barely over 2 months old, but I don’t think it is too early for her to know that though it may be pretty darn uncomfortable, the Christmas card photoshoot is the most important thing! Hahaha! I hope you know I am kidding, people!
We had to coax the angels out of hiding and try to regain control of the photoshoot. Guini as Mary was ever the professional, remaining in character throughout the shoot.
Hard to believe, but true: the whole shoot was less than 10 minutes.
Tredessa shot the pictures, Stormie created the Christmas card for us. The animals made it an adventure. Their parents blessed us with the grandbebes. The grandkids provided the laughs. God gave us a Savior!
There is a part 2!
PJ Party
I-Hop pancakes + hot cocoa + pajamas + cousins + Christmas + driving around to look at lights + grandbebes = LOVE!
Gavin, Hunter, Guinivere, Gemma May and Averi-J came over for movies and popcorn, Christmas crafts and merriment~
That darn Rudolph toy – who always forgets and leaves the batteries IN??!! It sings so stinking loud! But the kiddos love it!
Got the last grandbebe to sleep around midnight. They started the wake-up train about 5:20 am. Sleepy…