Glimpses of our country egg hunt

I just love these little blue galoshes! Diego wears them everywhere! 

(Old news alert! I'm playing catch-up this week!)

This year I organized an Easter egg hunt that would help the children be unified, rather than competing against each other for eggs. I hate the competitiveness and greediness of normal egg hunts, so I made a way to encourage them to work together. It all has to do with the gold eggs (more at the end of the post).

Here are glimpses of our Easter egg hunt this year. I spread 100 eggs around our property while the children were at school. The school bus pulled up and dozens of noses were pressed against the bus windows, looking at the colorful eggs scattered in the yard. Our Littles were so eager to hop off the bus and begin the hunt. 

The children had a wonderful time and did a great job working together to help each other find eggs. 

At first Diego thought the eggs were just pretty toys to collect, which he dutifully did. He giggled each time he discovered another colorful treasure.

Then he finally opened one. And discovered the sugary goodness inside. 

He lost interest in any other eggs and the world paused for him while he licked out every last speck from the sugar-coated marshmallow chick inside. From then on, he 'got it' and ran laughing from one patch of grass to another, searching for more treats.

 Cutest thing ever.

Matthew found several golden eggs this year, and generously gave a gold egg to each sibling. 

At one point Daniel was disappointed that he didn't have as many eggs as everyone else. Matthew quietly went around the corner, removed several eggs from his own bag and hid them. Then he came running back with excitement and yelled, "Daniel! Look over there! No one found those eggs yet!" 

Daniel was SO excited and Matthew watched with a small smile on his face while Daniel scooped up each egg. Matt didn't see me watching from across the yard. Oh, my heart melted!

I wanted the children to work together as a team this year, so I made a puzzle with clues to lead the children to the baskets. Each large egg had pieces of the puzzle. The gold eggs held the most important parts of the puzzle with the key words of the clues. 

It was neat to watch the children pool their pieces and work together to solve the mystery. Each child contributed to the solution, then they read the clues together and ran away to fetch the prizes. 

It was a delightful day! I hope your day today is full of joy!

Lover's Day

The children woke up this morning to a breakfast table covered with love notes to each of them. These were my Valentine cards to my Littles. I wanted them to know how I admired them. I wanted them to know what talents I can see in them. I wanted them to just feel LOVED.

Breakfast was heart-shaped pancakes (just like every other cool family in the world on V-day....I'm not feeling original this week.) covered in fruit and served on our elegant Sunday dishes with hot cocoa served in tall goblets.

Did you know Valentine's Day is my wedding anniversary? Cheesy, I know. (Actually, if I could go back in time, I'd tell my younger self, "I know right now you think it's such a romantic idea, but don't do it! Resist the urge to get married on Valentines Day!  There will be one LESS day of the year to celebrate your marriage and love! Everyone else will have TWO days to celebrate their relationship (Valentines plus an anniversary somewhere else on the calendar), but you........you will have chosen to roll those two precious days together. You'll be cheated!"

Then I remind myself that we don't technically need a special occasion to celebrate our marriage. We can make everyday special. Lucky for me, my heartthrob husband is wonderful about making me feel like a queen every day.  He showers me with sincere compliments and thoughtful gestures every day. He is my Prince Charming for all seasons, not just V-day. Take that, Cupid!

Here's a look of our love-notes we have had hanging up all month. They've been so wonderful to read each day! The house is filled with hearts in every room!

Today Nathan and I enjoyed a lunch date to a local Asian diner, then we purchased our anniversary gift together. I wanted a new Sunday suit for my man, because I have such a weak spot for men in dashing suits. I go weak in the knees every single Sunday when I see my husband emerge from our room dressed in his finest suit. His previous suit had been worn to bits and couldn't be patched anymore. (But 4 years of regular wear is not bad for the life of a suit, right?) Anyway, I am totally doing my happy dance over this gift. I can't wait to see him wear it on Sunday.

I couldn't fit everything I wanted to say to Nathan on a beensy little Hallmark card from the store, even though I tried.

Instead, I filled our bathtub with balloons.

The balloons are each filled with notes telling Nathan one of the things I love about him.

Matthew made a handy weapon for Nathan to wield in his quest of freeing the captive love notes. Matt taped thumbtacks to the end of a wooden ruler and left this carefully constructed weapon next to the card I wrote to accompany the balloons..

Here are a few of the notes from my list of  45 Things I Love About Nathan:

3- I adore your singing voice- it melts my heart

4-You look so cute when you hold the guitar in your lap, and your music is lovely

6- I love it when you cook with the kids and make them feel special

7-I love it when you brush my hair! It's so relaxing!

9- I love it when you rub my feet. You make me feel so special!

13- I love how you enjoy cuddling with Diego

14- I appreciate it when you lead our family in prayer or Family Home evening

15-I really love that you honor your priesthood- this means SO MUCH to me!

16- I love hearing your spiritual insights. You teach me so much!

17- I love hearing you bear your testimony to our family. Thank you for your good example!

21- I love the fact that you love my natural beauty instead of a face hidden behind makeup

22- I love hearing you play the piano and filling our home with real music

23- I love your ability to fix everything! I admire that so much!

24-I am so impressed at the way you teach yourself anything you want to learn. 

25- I admire your talent in writing poetry- thank you for sharing that with me!

26-I admire your incredible strength! You are SO strong it's amazing!

28- I love the way you make my heart melt with a cock of your eyebrow.

31- I love the way you treat me like a lady and open doors for me. Thank you!

32- I love the way you hold out your hand to help me out of a car. It never fails to make me feel like a princess descending from a carriage

33-I love it when you put your arm around me on the back of the church pew. It's so perfectly loving!

35- I love it when you tell me I'm beautiful. Thank you for boosting my confidence!

36- I love your sense of humor! You're fun to be around!

37-I love your laugh! It's so contagious!

38- I love working together outside in the morning with you! It's a great way to start my day!

39- I love the way you can design and build anything. 

40- I love the fact that you involve the kids in building projects. I will always remember their joy in working with you on the ladder for the treehouse.

41- I love your bread! Thank you for always making bread for our family to enjoy!

42- I love your flair in the kitchen. You have such talent for making dishes go from 'blah' to 'beautiful'

43- I love going to the temple with you and looking in your eyes in the Celestial Room.

44-I love your spiritual strength- you are often much more in tune to the Spirit than me. I truly admire that strength.

45- I will always remember each time you held one of our new babies in your arms. You steal my heart away when you gaze into their new tiny faces with such unbridled adoration and joy.

I love you, my darling!!

We joined in a new delightful tradition this year.

It's called:

Run, Run as Fast as You Can, I'll Blow up Your House, Little Gingerbread Man!

It's a holiday to creatively dispose of old stale gingerbread houses...with explosives.

Several families gathered to enjoy the cold weather and sip hot apple cider while we watched the spectacle unfold.

Here is part of the lineup waiting to be demolished:

The boys and men carefully filled each house with explosives.

Some people chose to use M80's, others opted for bigger explosives with more spectacular effects.

Check it out:

The spectators kept a safe distance away while waiting in excitement for each new explosion.

After each demolition, the kids would squeal and swarm to the ruined house, eager to see the rubble. 

During the festivities, children played all over the property and roasted marshmallows.

Nathan and I tried to sneak a picture together, but it turned out totally blurry. I kept it anyway, since we have so few pictures together.

To end the day of fun, there was a polar dip in the frigid swimming pool. 

True, we may live in Texas, but it was COLD that day. 

The water must have been in the 30's. (Okay, you Alaskan relatives- mock me all you want. Our 'polar dip' is probably a steamy hot tub compared to your arctic dips midst ice-filled water. It's all relative.)

It made me shiver just watching people jump in the cold water and gasp in shock. 

Most people dipped in once, squealed in astonishment, and ran for a towel.

Not Sarah. She LOVED the cold water.

She relishes cold weather.

Today was her favorite day of the year.

While almost everyone else gasped and spluttered in the cold water, she laughed and luxuriously swam laps.

She climbed out into the brisk air and dove into the pool over and over again with delight.

She stayed in the pool way longer than anyone else, not even shivering when other kids lips turned blue.

Valentine Wrap-up

We have some fun traditions as a family for the holiday of love. We always have a pink breakfast (last year Daniel decided it was magical Cupid's food, and he tried to fly after eating his meal. He batted his eyes while looking heavenward during his attempt. Hilarious.). The afternoon snack was chocolate heart-shaped cakes.

We also have Cupid come for a visit. There is a catch, though. Bedrooms must be clean and children must be friendly and kind to encourage a visit from Cupid. We say he's flying around the windows, peeking in to see if he can drop off his suprises yet. I love it when my kids are happy to clean (and boy, didn their rooms need the attention!). It was so nice to listen to Sarah and Matthew help Daniel with his cleaning.

Cupid knocks on the door and leaves gifts behind. Cupid makes several visits and leaves different gifts each time. We have the children take turns answering the door, and that child is in charge of distributing the gifts or treats to the rest of the family. It's so fun and they look forward to it every year (and yes, they know it's me and not a real Cupid, but they enjoy pretending anyway.)

We started a new tradition this year for the month of February. I purchased felt hearts of different colors (each person has 6 hearts of their own color). We have the hearts hanging on our mantle. For each act of service that is rendered, we get to put a heart in a large jar.

The goal is to have all the hearts in the jar by the end of the month. Sounds easy? Each time a child is contentious or disrespectful, they have to take one of their hearts back out of the jar. They have to do service again before that heart can re-enter the jar.

At the end of the month, any family members who have all their hearts in the jar will be going to the theater for a family movie night.

I did this as an effort to stem the sibling contention in our home. I'm amazed it's working. They are so eager to do kind things for each other so they can earn hearts.....and taking a heart out of the jar is an unexpectedly successful punishment. I've been so thankful for the increased harmony in our home.

Our Anti-Black Friday tradition

(Editor's note- This was a post I wanted to write a couple weeks ago. How lame is that? Tough luck. I've been too busy with my family. Now you're thinking sarcastically: "Great! A post about old news!" That's okay, I'm not at all offended if you skip this one. In fact, I won't even know.)

How do you spend Black Friday?

I have a confession: I have never attended a Black Friday sale. Ever. My friends know that I am very anti-Black Friday.

Why? There are a few reasons.

1. They never have sales on the type of toys or things I would buy anyway. I don't care how cheap the sale is; if I don't need it, I'm not buying it. I also don't 'do' electronic toys that flash, beep, play music, whatever. If it requires batteries, it's not welcome in my house (with the notable exception of the Wii). Have you ever noticed there is NEVER a great sale on classic toys, like...say, wooden blocks? Legos? Magic sets? Chemistry sets? The loss leader toys are always either A- electronic in nature or B- stupid name brands that I refuse to support (Barbie, anyone? How about Elmo? Or even better, Bratz brand. Ug, I cringe.)

2. Even IF there is a sale that interests me (everyone could use new clothes, right? Especially at the rate my kids wear theirs out!) I still don't go. The entire spirit of the thing bothers me. I am a competitive person, but I try very hard to keep that competitiveness friendly and under control. Black Friday is competitive by its very nature, and I don't want to be around people acting competitive, frantic and greedy.....those feelings are all too contagious.  I don't want to feel greedy or care so much about 'stuff', so I avoid stores like the plague on Black Friday. I don't like any of that bad karma saturating the stores to touch me.

Usually we just stay at home on Black Friday, enjoying games and puzzles while enjoying Thanksgiving left-overs (I feel terrible referring to Nate's cooking as 'left-overs' because the very word inspires images of gross food past its prime.....his cooking is too good for that and needs a new name.... perhaps Thanksgiving abundances? Nah.) It's usually a quiet day to rest (and recover from hosting the large group we invite every year for the Thanksgiving feast.)

We found a new family tradition to celebrate Black Friday this year. We attended a Homesteading Fair and celebrated the 'Simple Life' of self-sustainability. I can't tell you enough how much FUN we had! I was actually shocked....it was more fulfilling than I expected. It was so...what's the word?.....REFRESHING and INVIGORATING to be so removed from the rampant materialism in my world. It felt a lot like a state fair, except without sponsors/advertising/sales pitch guys.It felt like a good, old-fashioned idyllic state fair full of good food, handmade crafts, and a deeply agrarian base to everything.

This fair is hosted by a religious community who operates a self-sustaining village. They don't buy anything....it's all made at home. It's very similar to the Amish, but it is a different group. I was so impressed with the entire village.

There are residential master craftsmen who create the necessary supplies for EVERYTHING a family needs: farmers provide food, blacksmiths make all the tools needed for a home/garden, women spin wool and weave their own fabric for all the clothing, potters make all the kitchenware, leather shops even make all the shoes for the village, etc. Isn't this so fun?! I ADORE visiting Amish shops, so this was even more fun.

There were educational demonstrations all day. Our favorite demo was watching the sheepdogs herd the sheep through an obstacle course. Other highlights included casting aluminum in the blacksmith shop (Nate has been wanting to build a blacksmith shop in one of our barns, so this was a great class to attend), shearing sheep, milking goats, building brooms, making soap, distilling essential oils, and weaving fabric. Of course our kids adored all the livestock, poultry, and petting zoo. We spent a LOT of time playing with animals. (You'd think we didn't already have several dozen animals of our own.)

Our children made several souvenirs to remember the day. Daniel learned how to make a leather bookmark punched with his name.

Matthew made scented soap balls and used a printing press to make his name on a bookmark. Sarah stitched a purse and made soap. Their favorite activity was hammering brass spoons and punching their initials into the handles. At each of these activities, village members (I guess I should say church members) taught the children how to create the project themselves, so it was very hands-on.

We brought a picnic for our lunch. Can I just say this was the BEST picnic I've ever had? Thanksgiving leftovers (er..."abundances") worked so well as a picnic- the boys each had turkey legs (isn't that a staple in state fairs?), and we all feasted on rolls, turkey breast meat, fresh veggies, fruits, sweet potato ambrosia, and strawberry/rhubarb pie with whipped cream. Oh, it makes me salivate just to remember it.

Nathan and I were surprised to discover we kind of wished we could move to this village. I always thought the perfect place to live would be next to Amish neighbors, and this place was so similar in principle. I learned so much and felt so empowered to go home and get to work on our own property.  Luckily we have several friends from church and work who are gung-ho on self-sustainability the way I am, so there are lots of resources for us to learn from.

Just tonight we went to a Christmas party at one of these homes. The owners built their own house (even down to extruding their own electrical wiring- just to see if they could do it) and cleared some of the forest to plant a large vineyard. Now they make their own wine and beer (sweetened with honey from their own beehives). The vineyards are watered from rain water collected from their home and barn. They make their own cheeses (amazing kinds we've never tried before, like smoked gouda and Shropshire) and process their own deer that are shot on his property. Actually, the way they harvest deer is interesting. He sets up a night vision camera at his deer-feeder so he can monitor which animals are patronizing his property. He simply picks out what animals he wants to 'harvest' whenever he wants to stock up on more venison.

Doesn't this all sound so amazing? Who wouldn't want to be friends with people like this? I feel so blessed to be surrounded by interesting people.

Happy Memorial Day!

I love this time to remember our ancestors or deceased loved ones.


I have copies of some of my ancestors'  journals, and their words often strengthen me. I love reading about their struggles and triumphs. There is such a powerful strength of character conveyed in each page, and the heroic sacrifices and faith encourage me to be a better person.


I love reading their stories and feeling connected to the family that came centuries before me. It adds so much to my identity; in how I view myself.


I hope you enjoy this weekend as you contemplate your own loved ones.

Click the link below for a timely message about loving deceased family members:
Until We Meet Again

Happy Birthday

My birthday was on Sunday this week. My family was so sweet to me, and I felt perfectly blessed.

 On the drive home from church the children plotted out their schemes. As soon as we arrived home, Matthew opened the door with great dignity and helped me out of the car as he called me 'Princess'. He escorted me into the house, where Sarah was busily setting up  a container of water for a foot scrub. Nathan moved the furniture to make a comfortable 'throne' in the middle of the room, where he instructed me to sit. Matthew brushed my hair while Sarah rubbed my feet and Daniel napped. Nathan worked in the kitchen, cooking chicken cordon bleu, gourmet mashed potatoes (with garlic, heavy cream, and butter-YUM!), and salsa green beans. In the place of birthday cake, he made Tres Leches cake and Rasmalai (my favorite dessert! I CRAVE it!). The meal was sumptuous and the company was the best.

This is Rasmalai, an Indian dessert made of tender cheese curds (like ricotta, but firmer)shaped into balls and cooked in a sweetened milk syrup with saffron, almonds, and cardamom. YUM! The flavor is very delicate and light, and highly irresistible. After one taste, you'll  discover yourself craving it and salivating at the mere smell of cardamom. Unfortunately I have a jar of cardamom in my spice cupboard, so I smell it everyday, which makes me long for this dessert!

The children made lovely birthday cards and picked flowers for me. They were excited to watch me open gifts. Nathan bought several pounds of candied fennel (one of my favorite candies), an Indian movie, a label-maker (YAY!) and arranged a session of swing dancing lessons. I am SO excited about the dancing lesson, as I've wanted to do dancing lessons for years now. This is such a special gift, and I'm looking forward to it eagerly. I'm also very thankful for the label-maker.

 I've been trying really hard to make my house a house of order, so I've been organizing closets, cabinets, and boxes and I've been labeling everything. I'm really excited to use a real label maker that will standardize all my signs. I think I'm slowly gravitating towards some OCD tendencies. Organizing has never come naturally to me, so it's hard for me to figure out how to logically categorize some things. I have longing for more order in our home, so the clutter has been slowly disappearing as I downsize possessions.

Holi part 2

Another picture of the HOli festival. Nathan is giving children a ride on the rickshaw. This wouldn't load earlier, so it's a late post.

This one I couldn't figure out how to rotate, so just tilt your head to the left. This is Matthew after he tried to wipe of the dye. What a comparatively squeaky-clean face!

Happy Holi!

We celebrated the Indian holiday of Holi this month. Some of our friends have lived in India, whether for work or missions, and they organized a Holi festival. It was so much fun!

One of the families imported a rickshaw when they moved back to the USA, so it was a highlight of the evening. A rickshaw is a bicycle with an attached metal carriage. It's used like a taxi in India. The children loved piling into the carriage and riding up and down the residential streets. Each of the husbands took turns serving as the fuel source. The rickshaw was very heavy and had only one gear, so it was a bit tricky to drive.

We enjoyed a wonderful Indian feast, which is the highlight for me. I love Indian food very much, so I relish any opportunities to enjoy it! It's very fun when there are several varieties of dishes so I can try lots of new things. YUM! Whenever we go out to eat (which isn't very often) I pick Indian restaurants. On my birthday I prefer Indian desserts over the traditional birthday cake.

The culminating event was the dye-fight. Holi is a day when Indians buy powdered dyes and throw them at each other, completely covering your clothing and skin. Our hostess had made several bags of dye in red and yellow, so the guests all chased each other and dusted them with color. It was so much fun! I've always wanted to particpate in Holi festivities, so this was very memorable. Matthew really got into the spirit of things and dyed everyone with gusto. Sarah hid in the house because she didn't want to ruin her pretty shirt. Daniel had been run over by the rickshaw right before the dye fight, so he only came out at the very end and was given the last bag of dye to play with. Nathan had stayed inside to comfort Daniel and only came out at the end. Luckily Dan's ankle didn't suffer lasting damage from the intimacy with the rickshaw wheel, so he perked up and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

For Mother's Day we had a real tea party with some other moms and daughters from our ward. Our daughters were all the same ages, so it was really fun for the girls to be together. The girls all wore fun hats. Nathan and I had spent most of Saturday cooking lemon scones, cookies, several kinds of tea sandwiches, etc. It was a lot of work, but worth the effort. I'm hoping this will be one of the memories Sarah keeps forever, and that makes any amount of work validated.

We had a variety of herbal teas so everyone could choose their own flavor. Sarah really loved pouring in the cream and sugar. It was delightful, eating this lunch of really tasty treats. I had never done a real tea party with guests before, just pretend ones with the kids and their dolls, so I looked up tea party etiquette rules. It was ridiculous. All the strict, meaningless rules would take any fun out of the occasion. No wonder English tea time is so formal and stiff...we decided to leave the rules alone and just enjoy ourselves. I figured having classical piano playing in the background would make it formal enough. It was nice to chat with my friends and catch up on everyone's lives (there never is time to chat at church!). After the girls were finished with their treats, they ran outside to play with the baby bunnies. They had a blast and were so cute in their Sunday dresses holding white rabbits.

With the girls distracted outside and the tea table vacated, the boys landed at the party to enjoy the remains. Matthew sat at the head of the table and acted like he was the lord over it all. It was so funny to see how important he felt to sit at the head of such a grand spread. They really enjoyed 'cleaning up' any treats left behind.

One horse open sleigh

For Family Home Evening the Kingsleys took us to a farm in the woods that charters sleigh rides. The weather was too warm for sleighs, so we rode in a hay wagon. We all snuggled into the warm hay and layed quilts on our laps. The horses were decked out with jingle bell harnesses, so the music from the bells filled the air with each step. It was so enjoyable to ride through the quiet woods and laugh together. The children really loved the dalmatian that accompanied our ride. The ride lasted an hour and wove through the property past several Christmas light displays and decorations. It was so breathtaking. Midway through the ride we stopped at a blazing bonfire to roast marshmallows. This was really fun. Daniel loved spearing the marshmallows onto his stick, but the dog would steal it from him each time before Dan could eat it. He ended up just carrying the same marshmallow on hissick for a long time. I helped him roast a few and eat them. Sarah and Matthew were pros by the end. Daniel was heartbroken to leave his stick behind when it was time to board the sleigh again. He thought we'd get to keep our sticks and was so sad to see it stay.

At the end of the ride we played games and enjoyed treats in a large game room. We enjoyed checkers and a really fun round of The Adverb Game. It was hilarious! I always really enjoy playing this with the Kingsleys. It was over much too soon. What a singular night.

Winter fun

This was the first time for Daniel and Matthew to experience snow, and Sarah doesn't remember playing in the snow when she was one year old. They were so gleeful to run outside, the first time they went they had on only mittens and a hat-- no coat, snow pants, scarf, sometimes no shoes. They were so excited they didn't notice the cold. Gleefully Sarah and Matthew ran outside to make snow angels and build a snowman. They had told me for a month that these were the first things they wanted to do in the snow. The snow was so heavy that they could only make a small snowman, but they were so delighted with it. Matthew ran inside to get a carrot for the nose.

We took the children sledding for the first time. I forgot what an ordeal it is just to get dressed for playing in the snow. I felt like it would never end! There are so many layers I never even think about in Texas! It literally takes me 30 minutes to dress all three children, but it was very worth it.

The sled hill here is colossal. I've never seen a sled hill like it. It's so tall and slopes so gently at the end that the sledders would glide across the top of a frozen pond into the grassy bank on the other side. I've never seen Sarah so enthusiastic about an activity before. She absolutely loved it and was pretty daring. She loved going downhill on Uncle Andy's sled. Matthew caught a face full of snow after a big crash into a snowbank, so he invented a face protector by putting his hat on over his face, obstructing all view, but keeping out the snow. He was so proud of it! He was so delighted whenever we crashed into the bank and his face was still dry and warm. We all had a great time. I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to sled and share that joy with the children. After we came home, Nathan asked Matthew what his favorite part was. Matt replied without hesitation, "Going down!"

The ice on the pond was pretty rough on the sleds, so several sleds broke into pieces. Betsy, Sam, and Nathan all used the sled pieces to slide down and really had fun.

The weather had warmed up a bit, so the snow was melting one day. Matthew was so sad at the thought of the snow disappearing, so he took a hand shovel and filled several buckets with snow. He hid these under the BBQ grill cover so the sun couldn't shine on them, confident that these buckets would preserve the snow for another day. It was so cute!

Grandma Kingsley took all the children for a walk in the woods to see a frozen lake. They had lots of fun and the scenery was beautiful.

Merry Christmas!

We found some incredibly cheap airline tickets so we went to New Hampshire for the holidays this year. Nathan's family was extremely accommodating and went out of their way to make us fell welcome. This was the children's first time on an airplane, so getting there was an adventure in itself. They were so excited at the idea of flying. The airline charges for all checked bags, so we packed teeny backpacks for each child. They each carried their entire wardrobe as a carry-on and they did so splendidly, pulling their luggage behind them at each stop. Our first flight was delayed for an hour (and we had arrived three hours early), so we spent our morning playing with play dough, making shapes in pipe cleaners, making music, and reading stories in the terminal. We were schocked that we arrived so early. We had anticipated bad traffic and long lines, but there were literally no lines anywhere. We had lots of fun spending time together watching the planes all land and take off outside our window. They also found a bird living in the terminal. The children all handled the loading and take off really well and loved looking out the windows as the city shrunk beneath us.

We brought Christmas cards and candy canes to give out to each passenger on our plane. We signed all the cards and placed a pass-along card in each envelope. Halfway through the flight the children and I passed them out and wished each person a Merry Christmas. The flight attendant was particularly shocked that we had brought enough cards and candy for every passenger. He really enjoyed watching us pass them out. When we reached the front of the plane, he gave the kids chocolates and apple sauce cups from the first class meals. He also drew a little Christmas card for the kids to keep. It was really fun for them. At the end of the flight, he came on the PA system and said, "We'd like to thank the Kingsley family for their Christmas cards and candy canes and we'd like to wish them a Merry Christmas, especially their children Matthew, Sarah, and Daniel." The passengers on the plane applauded after the announcement. That was really neat! I'm glad the gifts were well-received. Sarah and I had prayed prior to handing them out, asking that people would receive the gifts with open hearts and understand the love behind the gesture.

All told, we traveled from 7:00 am until 9:30 pm. We were really relived so see Grandpa Kingsley at the terminal waiting for us.