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!

So Proud of My Claire!

I can't let the evening pass me by without sharing a quick story that was just so fantastic from today. I wish I had a picture to share as well. Maybe next time.

Today Claire and Emma went to try out for a theatre group in Boulder called the Peanut Butter Players. It's a kids group for ages K-6th. They are terrific, and because my girls have been twisting my arm for such a long time to let them be in a play, I finally gave in.

Anyway, a long story made very short is this. . .there were 30 kids. Each child had to prepare their own song to sing for the audition and they had to sing it in front of everyone. For my girls, this was their first solo experience. I have to admit that I was very nervous. And I thought that they would be nervous as well. My heart beat so fast when each of their names were called. I really had no idea what to expect.

First up was Emma. She did fantastic! She rocked and her boldness shocked this introverted mom who has thought all along that she had the introverted first child in Emma - but theatre definitely brought out the best in her.

Next was Claire. Now Claire is my sweet and innocent 6 1/2 year old. She has a heart that is bent towards God and loving others. She is so sweet. And Claire chose "Jesus Loves Me" as her solo debut.
(Now let me just remind you all of this. I LIVE IN BOULDER COUNTY, COLORADO. This is the place where they say that 1 in every 10 people that you pass on the street MIGHT believe in Christ. This is liberal-town, USA. Obama rocks here! Trees are loved a lot here. And "Jesus Loves Me" - well, let's just say that it's NOT the first song that most preschoolers learn like in my home of the South.)

Anyway, my sweet Claire, of course, has no idea of these things. She loves Jesus. I'm fairly sure that she believes everyone loves Jesus. She has no fears or apprehension in talking about God like her best friend. And as she marched up onto that public school stage in Boulder, Colorado, she gave it all she had. She sang at the top of her lungs. She hit every note. She was confident. She was so darn cute. And she had no idea, but she was one of the greatest witnesses at that moment that I have seen in a really long time - knowing the crowd as I did.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the entire group applauded. No one raised a hand in protest or yelled any rude remarks. And Claire was beaming.

The best part was still to come, though. At the end of the auditions - when we had successfully made it through and I knew that no one was going to give a second thought to her song selection, the teacher gave one final call. She said that she was giving anyone who thought that they might need one more shot to re-audition and do a better job the second chance. Any takers? And whose hand shot up in the crowd? Calire's! I have no idea why. She did so great the first time. All I can figure out is this. . .God wanted somebody to hear those words ONE MORE TIME! And so once again. . .she bounced up on stage. "Jesus Loves Me" rang throughout the school auditorium. She smiled her biggest Claire smile. Everyone cheered even louder than before. I didn't have a heart attack after all. And at the end of it all - it was a beautiful thing.

I fully believe that God was using Claire today - if only to plant some little seed in one little child's mind. Who is Jesus? What was that song about? I suppose we'll never know the real significance of today. But I'm so proud that I have a brave little girl. I'm so proud that God is using her even in her niavity. I'm so proud that the Holy Spirit prompts her. I so wish I was as brave.

Honky Tonk Murder Mystery Night

Meet some of our very best friends in Colorado. They are a rough looking bunch - an up and coming country music star, a bar maid, a guy named Rowdy who just got out of prison, a trailer park manager who much resembles Mama on Mama's Family, the sheriff, the corn dog machine cleaner, the tv evangelist and me, Mary Kay, the preacher' wife.

You move to a new place and you never know what kind of friends you're going to get. . .Kevin and I lucked out and got the very best!!!!