A Big Shu Christmas

So for several months, big shu has been planning and plotting this year’s Christmas light display. At the beginning of the month he officially turned it on and our house could be seen from the space station…well not really that far, but pretty darn close. Big Shu has setup his own website (http://www.shumakerchristmaslights.com/index.html) for them with a couple pictures and some video from last year and this year. So come on by and enjoy a little lights.

Here is a sample of our house in daylight:

The Language of Love & Respect by Cracking the Communication Code With Your Mate Book Review

The Language of Love & Respect by Cracking the Communication Code With Your Mate was more a let-down, with the notion that it would help with communication with new improved techniques. I did not feel that there was no new information presented, just techniques re-worded or renamed. It was not hard to get caught up with what Dr. Eggerichs had written in his first book because he did a nice job of reviewing the material.

In the past I have read several of the male vs female communication books (ie men are from mars, women are from Venus and the five love languages) and found those more helpful with communication.
Though for those who are new to the idea of communicating with the opposite sex, this book is helpful is seeing where others are coming from in their communication and what drives them. This would be a great book for a couple to review in a pre-marriage counseling to see how their partner’s communication style is and how to overcome some of the typical challenges relationships face.

Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together By: Jim Burns, Cathy Burns

I found this devotional amazing…I have never read a book by the Burns, but I want to read more after reading this one. The devotionals were laid out exceptionally well, they were short and very direct in where you need to go. As well the conversation starts were very helpful and really made you consider your answers. This is a devotional that was easy for us to get through with each devotional topic being for a week time-frame and with our hectic lives we never really have the daily time to devote, but are able to consider things through the week to bring back to our marriage.

The activity I enjoyed the most was actually writing out how we first met through today. We have been together for a little over 12 years and though we still talk about it, we never had never really written it down. This is something that I plan to pass down to my kids as the grow older. This is appropriate for dating through longtime married couples.

Next time read the fine print

When you are inducted into parenthood, you never really think about the fine print that comes with being a parent. I swear that the day after thanksgiving shopping for toys was in the fine print, but I do not remember the clause that state you had to get up before the crack of dawn. This year, Santa is bringing the boys each a power wheel jeep. Santa knows that with two boys so close in age that you have to buy either two one-seaters or one two-seater. As well, Santa knows to shop for bargains. This year Wal-mart had a great deal on them, so Santa made the decision to head to wally world at 3:30 am to get one or two. OMG! The parking lot was almost full and the items could not be bought until 5 am.

The store was complete crazy-ness. The carts were parked down isles and they had roped off lines of where people were to be (and not be). Of course the jeeps, bikes, and big tvs would all be in the same line and of course that line would be in the toddler’s clothes. Why where else would it be??? So after 2 ½ hours of waiting, 1 fight, and three separate lines for getting the actual merchandise…we had two jeep power wheels, a tom tom, and a bike…then off to grandma’s to store all of it until Santa makes his arrival.