Joy to the World

Joy to the World from amy colon on Vimeo.

New Sister

Meet Ingrid, the girls' new Compassion International "sister" from Ecuador. They don't realize it yet, but Ingrid is definitely the best gift they received this Christmas. We will start supporting and communicating with her starting this New Year. It took over an hour of sitting in front of the computer browsing for the girls to choose Ingrid. Such indecisiveness (and Kevin was so patient!). . .but after praying about it, we are sure that we chose the right little girl for our family.

Christmas Eve and Morning

Merry Christmas Morning, everyone!!

Up on the Housetop

Emma's Piano Recital - Up on the Housetop from amy colon on Vimeo.


I'll add a few more songs later. . .

Claire's First Score

Claire's First Score from amy colon on Vimeo.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Traditions (Part 3)

Just finished reading this one to the girls. . .it's so much fun to hear them laugh out loud as I read. . .

Christmas Traditions (Part 2)

Every year since the girls were tiny we have made a gingerbread house during the holidays. I have done everything from making it from scratch (the overachiever Christmas about 3 years ago) to buying the Wilton Gingerbread kit (the one that made me so mad that I threw half of it on the floor in anger in front of the kids and they still remind me of it to this day.) But this year my goal was simplicity during the holidays. So, here is our 2008 gingerbread house.



It took 30 minutes to complete. There was no mess except for all of those little white papers from the sticky foam shingles. No one cussed (oops, I guess I forgot to share that part from last year) or threw it down in anger.







And we still have a lovely "gingerbread house" to be proud of. . .actually a gingerbread house with LANDSCAPING!



Are you doing anything SIMPLER this holiday season?

Flatiron Youth Chorale Christmas Performance

December 2008 - So Far

Thanksgiving Day "Must Haves"

**Making and eating Cranberry bread on Thanksgiving morning with our own "secret recipe" while watching the Macy's Day Parade.





**Emma LOVES her homemade cranberries - she doesn't eat turkey or dressing, only cranberries.

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**And homemade applesauce makes the day complete.

I hope you all had a terrific Turkey Day!
What were your "Must Haves" for the day??

Let the Traditions Begin

Emma is my girl who loves TRADITION. . .she is always very intent on sitting in the same place every Christmas morning as she opens her gifts. She wants very specific kinds of food every Thanksgiving. . .so this year I decided to chronicle every holiday tradition that our family enjoys.

Here is tradition #1. . .Operation Christmas Child. Last week we delivered 51 boxes from Cool River. The girls always shop for and prepare one box of their own. This is a tradition I'm always pretty excited to keep.

Happy Holidays!!! Keep checking back for more.

(Also, Click here for photoblog pics of Claire playing basketball. . .)

Family Fun WEEKEND!

So this weekend we took advantage of this perfect time of year and had some extra family fun that took us all the way from Saturday morning to late on Sunday night.

We rarely go the to theater as a family. It's pretty crazy what 2 hours at the AMC can cost a family of 5. My girls weren't really interested in taking pictures, but I was able to catch Claire grinning in her High School Musical attire. Yep, you guessed it - what brings a family of 5 to the theater on an early Saturday morning - only Gabriella and Troy in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3! Yea, it rocked! I'm not sure who liked it more, the girls or me. . .or maybe even Kevin. . .I did see his head bopping a little bit to the music a time or two. . .



Saturday afternoon was yet ANOTHER birthday party. Thank goodness this time all we had to do was attend. The girls had a great time at Julia's American Girl mystery party.

Finally, Sunday night was the official Family Fun Night #2. It was a bit impromptu and after a long day of church activities we were a bit pooped, but still, we had a lot of fun celebrating Fall by dipping caramel apples (thanks for the idea, Wilson's) and carving a giant pumpkin into none other than Snow White.

















Isn't she beautiful??!! Happy Fall!

A Gooey Twist on the Original. . .

During family night a few weeks ago we tried this fun new dessert recipe from my friend, Brandi Wilson. . .it was a huge, sweet and yummy hit.

This morning we decided to try our own new twist on the recipe and make "cinnamon rolls" for breakfast. You've gotta try it!


All you need is a bag of large marshmallows, one package of original crescent rolls, cinnamon sugar and a cookie sheet.



Roll marshmallows in the cinnamon sugar and place them on the crescent to be rolled up. MAKE SURE you seal off the openings so that marshmallows are completely covered.


Cover wrapped marshmallows with cinnamon sugar - the more the better!
Bake at 375 for 10 minutes


I was surprised that the marshmallows popped out, but it didn't matter. . .



It's gooey and yummy and sweet - everything a kid loves!!

ENJOY!

Is She Ever Going to Write Again???

For those of you wondering what has happened. . .I'm still around. It's just not as easy to keep up with 2 blogs as I thought it would be. If you haven't heard, I am also writing for a really great organization called Glocalnet. You can follow me here .

As for keeping up with the family - I'm really trying, but forgive me for being so brief. I did successfully post new pictures this morning from September. Click here to see those.

I will continue to use this blog to let you know what is happening in the life of the Colon family. Don't stop checking!

Have a great week!

Venture Vietnam Fall '08

Check out Kevin's blog to see pictures of Cool River's latest relief trip to Vietnam. . .http://kevincolon.blogspot.com

My Little Olivia Turned 5!!

Click Here for lots more photos of our week of festivities

Check Out My Newest Adventure!

For a long time I have dreamed of sharing my stories and experiences and lessons learned with other church planting wives. It has always just totally amazed me that these brave ladies aren't loved on more or equipped more fully. But for me, life has been crazy since we started Cool River. And I needed lots of experience before I could ever speak anything worth hearing into their lives.

I suppose God has now decided that I am ready to get my feet wet. Check out my newest adventure. I feel very honored to get this opportunity. . .pray for me, please, and wish me lots of luck. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Family Fun Night #1

So I've been following my friend, Brandi, as she has started blogging about their testosterone filled family nights. Minus the testosterone in a house full of girls, it sounded like fun. So this week I decided to give it a try. I must admit, I stole some ideas. Hopefully I will get more creative as we continue. But for now, here are some pics from the first official Colon Family Fun Night. (And by the way, Brandi, Kevin and ECO may be interested in joining your family every once in a while for some rough and tumble boy time. Next week I'm planning a fairytale princess night!)

Ingredients to a yummy Family Night - Emma was my Sous Chef as we cut up everything for make-your-own salads.
Appetizers - Mine, Kevin and Emma's favorites - the other girls just said "EEEEWWWW" and dug the white bread out of the leftover French baguette.
Make-Your-Own salad buffet was a hit!
And dessert was yummy! (This is the idea that I stole. Thanks, Brandi!)

We ended the night with everyone's favorite game - Apples to Apples. . . Claire won! (I just didn't share the pics because she didn't have a shirt on and I don't want to be one of those moms who scar their kids by sharing naked photos :-))
O yea, and ECO joined in the fun, too.


FUN, FUN family night!!! You should try it!