Never thought this would happen...

the first weekend of February.
Last year at this time, we were finally able to get the Christmas lights down because of all the snow and ice we had. This year...it's beginning to look like Spring.

The tulips are popping up,
The Dogwood tree is getting ready to bloom,The Hydrangeas are beginning to turn green,
And the Lilac Tree is turning green!!I love all of this but I'm starting to worry that we might get some sort of winter storm and it will all be ruined. And, with no winter...I can only imagine what the bugs are going to be like this year. I'm dreading the mosquitoes because they seem to really like me.

It's things like this...

that make me smile!

Jason had decided that he wanted to make cookies and it looks like he found a helper. It warmed my heart to walk into the kitchen to find this. LOVE IT!

Dinner made easy!

This last weekend, we headed out as a family to Costco to get some much needed groceries. There were just a few more freezer meals left and it was getting very hard to come up with lunches for the girls...thankfully they like to take hot lunch most days.

Anyway, on Monday, Ethan and I headed to Safeway to get a few more things and then came home to start the meal making marathon. This is what my counter top started out looking like...everything I needed to make 9 meals!
Now, normally I could put these meals together in about 15 minutes. But this time, it took me an hour. I had to cut round steak into strips and I tried to cut away as much of the fat as possible. And, for those of you looking for some money saving tips, I cut my pork chops in half. The pork chops from Costco are so thick and our kids just don't eat that much meat at one time. So, I decided to cut them in half and then cut away all of the fat. So, this step also took a little extra time but one package of the pork chops gave me 3 meals and there were 6 pork chops in each meal.

Once all of the meat was prepped, I was throwing meals together and done in a matter of 30 minutes. Interruptions from Ethan and the phone were not helping. But hey...an hour total isn't bad and this is what went into the freezer!So, for those of you wondering what we do at my Homemade Gourmet Supper Clubs...this is it! And other than my cutting board being dirty from cutting up the meat...there really wasn't much of a mess. We are set with meals and I'm looking forward to just pulling them out and dumping them in the crock pot! Dinner made easy!!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2010? Wow...where did the last year go?

We are excited to see what God has in store for our family this year. We are looking forward to the changes that may be coming our way and seeing where those changes lead us.

Many of you have been wondering what is going on with our application to FamilyLife and currently, our application time has expired. Our original application only had a 2-year time frame to get approved and because we were unable to sell our home and get the budget that they were looking for in place, it slowed everything way down. We don't feel at all that this door is closed but that this opportunity is only put on hold for now. We will more than likely re-apply with FamilyLife but will wait until we can get our house sold. We will also be open to any other opportunities that God may bring to us.

We would love to have you join us in praying that our house will sell soon and quickly. We realize that currently this housing market is not favorable and even more so with us having the house "For Sale By Owner." Selling on our own is ultimately the best solution for us financially.

We hope that 2010 is a great year for you and your family. May God bless you abundantly in ways you never expected!

Silves Family Christmas

Christmas with my family this year was at my sister's house. Jason and I started out doing what we enjoy most...loving on the babies! (It's a good thing they love us as much as we love them!)
My sister went all out this year with the decorations. I only have a few pictures but if you want to see more, go here. This is what the adult table looked like. There was no mistaking where we were to sit because the snowmen that you see on the table had our pictures in them.
The kids were at the table in the kitchen. They also had some special table decorations from auntie.
Weston was the only kiddo that got to join us at the adult table. I love him but I could not imagine what the "kid" table would have been like with him there. This little buddy needed all the adult supervision he could get that day. He gets away in the blink of an eye. (Love ya little buddy!)
After dinner, the kids were so excited to open their gifts. Wayne got to open the first gift and Weston and Paige were right there checking it all out.
Ethan did such a good job this year at waiting his turn. I will admit that he did have a few moments of being impatient waiting his turn but for the most part, he made his mommy proud! I think it helped that Grammy made a point of snuggling with him.
This little cutie, Paige, was so fun! She knew exactly what to do with her gifts and made her cute little "oh, oh" noises.
Of course, our kids were trying to figure out how Grammy knew to get them Wii games for Christmas because they had just told her at Uncle Todd and Aunt Trisha's that they got a Wii that morning. I had to tell them later that Grammy knew they were getting a Wii and wanted to get them each a new game for it.
Ethan was so excited for his Madagascar game. If you know Ethan, you know how much he is into Madagascar. He has the four main characters all represented in Webkinz pets. (Now that he finally got the giraffe in his stocking!) He was also excited for his new "Marty" zebra. He only has a very little zebra figure to play with so this bigger one is great!
My mom went a little over the top this year. She made each of the grand kids a pair of fleece pants. She put so much thought into each of the prints. Our kids received fleece blankets last year from Jason's parents, that his mom made, so my mom tried to find something that would go with their blankets.
Alyssa was the only one that got the exact match to her blanket. Of course, this was the perfect one to have the exact match...Alyssa is very matchy, matchy!
Ethan couldn't wait to get his on and neither could Wayne.
Before we left Trisha's, both boys had their new fleece pants on...over their jeans. I think Wayne eventually got his jeans off but not Ethan. There was no way he was going to let us take his new pants off. Even if it was just to get the jeans off and put the fleece pants right back on. Whatever!

Christmas day was fun but boy were the kids, and us, exhausted by the end. It was nice to be able to go home and get everything somewhat put away and just have some family time with the Wii.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning started a little later than normal around here. I guess that's what happens when we play Mouse Trap until after 11:00 pm the night before. The kids all slept until just after 8:00. It was great! I was able to get breakfast started and in the oven before the kids were ready for their stockings...house rules: sleeping bags, pillows, etc. must be put away before stockings are touched and gifts are opened.

The kids were very excited for their stocking because sticking out the tops of them were Webkinz pets that they had all requested...thank you Costco and Hallmark! I was on a mad hunt one evening at Costco to find the double pack combo of Webkinz that we needed. We had been earlier with the kids and saw that the Husky and Chihauhau were boxed together. When Jason and I returned the night of Christmas shopping we didn't see the combo set. I refused to leave until I had gone through the entire stack. And, there at the bottom, was the set we were looking for! I had completely restacked all of the Webkinz, blocking part of the aisle. I was one determined Mommy!
Ethan and I had been at Hallmark one day and Ethan spotted the giraffe he had been wishing for for quite some time. He was determined that we were taking it home that day but I was sneaky and the gal just set it aside for me. I returned later that afternoon, once Ethan was at Preschool, to purchase the giraffe and was able to get him into hiding before Ethan found him. We had one excited little boy on Christmas morning.
After breakfast, we started in on the gifts. The kids were confused as to why there were two more gifts under that tree with all of their names on them. That was, until they opened them and found a Wii and the Wii Fit board. They have been wanting a Wii so we decided to make this the main gift for us all this year and just picked up a few other little/cheap things.
I know...you are looking at this next picture thinking "I thought they just got a "little" something more to open." Well, my resourceful sis-in-law found this major deal on the LeapFrog Tag system. This item is normally a $50 item. Just before Thanksgiving, Target had this on sale for $40 and also had a $10 coupon offer for it. On top of that, we were able to get a manufacturer coupon for an additional $10 off. We could not pass up this $20 deal! Ethan was excited to get this and was ready to put it to use. It's going to be a great tool in helping him to learn to read.Jason and I got each other a little something also. Again, thanks to my resourceful sis-in-law...I was able to surprise Jason with a new electric/cordless shaver. His was no longer keeping a charge but he never complained. I just knew how frustrating it was getting for him and was glad I was able to find an amazing deal on a new shaver for him.
It was nice to have time at home to enjoy our gifts before having to head to my sister's house for my immediate family's Christmas.

Christmas Eve = One Gift

Christmas Eve was very relaxing for our family. We went to our Candlelight Service at church and on the way home, Jason and I decided that we would let the kids open up one of their joint gifts...yes there were a couple of those this year but the next post will explain why.

Anyway, we had the kids their pj's on and got their sleeping bags out...because they were sleeping around the tree and needed to get to room temperature after being stored out in the garage.

Once they were ready for bed, we gave them their gift...by this point, it is almost 10:00! They had all mentioned at one point or another that they wanted Mouse Trap for Christmas so...that's what they opened!We of course, could not make them go to bed before playing the new game...we forgot how long it actually takes to play this game, oh well!Ethan was the first one to make it to the turn the crank spot and captured Brenna's mouse...do you think he was just a little excited? He instantly started in with the "happy dance."He was so cute! I love the excitement that kids bring to Christmas!