A Momma's Love

Dear Santa, This year for Christmas I would like the following.... Snow on the ground, Peace in the world, No one to be hungry, No one to be cold, Everyone to have jobs, and a full nights sleep..... If that is too much to ask, could I have a relaxing day with my family instead?  One full of happiness and love? Love, Me

Hard to believe it is December already!  Are you ready for Christmas?  Do you stress out about gettting Christmas just right?  In the past Christmas for me it has been about stress...get the ornaments out, get the baking done, buy the perfect presents, mail out the cards, and the list goes on.  All the things a good old fashioned Christmas is.  This year I have decided its going to be a little more relaxing around here.  Yes, the tree is up...but I did not go all out and decorate the whole house.  The presents are a little more simple.  Who knows it any baking will get done or not.  Instead of hustle and bustle I am looking for morning cups of coffee with time for reflection..preferably coffee with peppermint mocha creamer!  Listening to my holiday music, preferably without words, while dancing with the little ones in the morning.  Snuggly afternoons with my now 4 year old puppy and maybe my knitting.  And family filled eve...

I cannot believe my last post was in April!  How time has flown by. Here are some highlights! A very busy summer was had by all in the Chittick household.  Jeff spent a great week in Wisconsin with his dad and got to see Stephanie and Tom!  Jeff also went on his second trip across Iowa on RAGBRAI.  He came home tired but rode the whole way this year and is looking forward to going again next year.  Jenna and Taylor went to Kentucky with the church youth group and served in many capacities.  One of the things Jenna did was to play with children and served in a soup kitchen.  Taylor got to help with the renovations at a churchy international building he says.  Greg moved into an off campus apartment and spent the summer driving a fork truck at a local factory.  He is in school again this fall at UNI and is working with some of the local speech teams. Jenna Bea is now enjoying her senior year of high school and the fact that marching ban...

Funny how life brings us in full circles when we least expect it?  Yesterday I made my first batch of homemade granola.  It smelled delicious in the oven.  And looked wonderful cooling on the table.  I am looking forward to having some on my yogurt!  However, laying in bed last night I was reminded of how many times my mother had made granola and how I hated it.  I dreaded having it for breakfast.  I remember not liking how it smelled at that time.. I wonder how my children will feel about my granola?  Will they eat it or will they turn their noses up at it like I did as a child?  I hope that someday my children will look back on the things I have done and come full circle as well.  Maybe they will find out I was not as crazy as I appear and that their tastes will change as well.  Maybe I should look thru mom's recipes to find more that I want to try now- maybe I will even come across her granola recipe!

  Today is the day!  Jeff is celebrating his birthday today.  The old man will be 42 this year.  Here he is sporting his winter beard.  I asked how long this would be around since he has not grown one before and his reply was that he wanted a family picture with it at Christmas and then we would see.  Well the picture has been taken with most of us!  Missing Greg in the picture- be assured I will be working on that one as soon as Greg gets back from school on the 22nd!!!  I thought the beard would be soft but it is not.  Very deceiving.  To celebrate this monumental day we are having dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings tonite with the kids.  Then a quick trip to Target.  I tried to go last night to Target but the car was not cooperating so I turned around and came home.  Happy Birthday my love!!!

Who would have thunk that on the weekend with the first blizzard warning of the season we would be soo busy?  On Friday night we ventured out to Cedar Falls to see the How Many Kings Tour Concert with our friends Phil and Louanne.  There we were treated to the music by Ali Rogers, Downhere and Mark Schultz.  On Saturday we found ourselves enjoying dinner at Gringos in downtown Cedar Rapids and then settled in at TCR for their performance of White Christmas.  It was the first time we had seen that production and they did a great job!  TCR never fails to impress me!  I love attending the theater there!!! On Sunday after we braved the cold and watched the childrens christmas program at church then we slid out to Jeff's Dads house for Christmas.  This was the first year that Greg did not join us as he had to work, however we were blessed to have Jenna's boyfriend Jonah join in the festivities!  Tom and Mary made us all feel very welcomed and a gr...

So Thanksgiving is over.  What a busy day that was! We started out the morning with the 2nd Annual Turkey Bowl at church and then came home to fix dinner for 9 people at our house.  Jeff is a wiz in the kitchen so it was not that difficult to get ready.  The day after Thanksgiving Magge Rose (my 13 yr old niece) helped me decorate the house.  She loves to wrap presents so this year I had her wrap up the pictures on the walls so that we would have gifts up.  This is an idea that I had seen in magazines several times and have heard how wonderful it is to unwrap the things on your walls after the holiday.  So our tree is up and the house is ready for Christmas!!!  How wonderful! So where is the snow?