Christmas With The Laughlins

Grandpa reading the Christmas story to his grandchildren.

Seth showing us his tricks.

The J Laughlin family.

Justin and Samuel wrestling.

All of the cousins in their matching pajamas.

Samuel in his usual picture mode.

Lots of fun.

The older two boys got to spend the night at Grandpa and Grandma Laughlin's house with all of their cousins. It was their first sleepover with all of their Laughlin cousins, so they thought that it was the greatest thing ever.

Merry Christmas to All!!
XOXO

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day with the Beals' Family. We ate plenty of food and watched each other play Wii. What else do you do during family gatherings?

My sister Sheryl and my niece Desiree.

My brother Gary and his son Devan.

Samuel fell asleep in mom's arms.

My sister Lori and her girls; Natasha, Brittney, Lori, Sadie and Ashley.

Ashley and her fiance Jared.

Jaydah kissing Samuel goodbye.

Nate Arrived

It has been a few days since I last posted what has been going on around here. December 19th we had the opportunity to meet our newest nephew Nate Laughlin. He is the sweetest little baby with a look of his own. I am sure that it won't be long before you can read more about him at "The Laughlin Life."


After meeting Nate we went to Bella Milano with Lonnie & Debbie and Mark & Sheila Thomas to celebrate several degrees being completed. Rarely do Justin and I go out for an evening without the boys, so this weekend was special with two nights out alone. We were given tickets to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's Christmas program for Saturday night with built in babysitters. Stephen and Lacy were great with the boys and I am sure that they got a good taste of life with children. Ha ha!

Snow Days

Yesterday, the boys had a snow day. It was a lot of fun for them, since they have been waiting for snow to sled. So, I bundled them up and sent them out to play with the neighbors. It began with a few trips up and down the dirt pile at the Schaff's house. Then they started jumping on the snow and ice covered trampoline. A couple hours later my bundled up boy appears sledding across the back yard with his hard plastic freezing cold batman mask on that was left outside all night. Brrrr! Off to the dam they went, they spent most of the day outside. It was a great day for them, I just hope that we have snow over Christmas break.

Seth came home early from school today because of the possibility of ice on the roads. I guess two snow days in a row hit him the wrong way. Right off the cuff, he started picking on Samuel, so I said, "Go to your room, you have a 5 minute timeout." He stomped up the stairs and shouted, "How about 6?" I said, "Okay 6." He quickly said, "Five." He quickly recovered though. I turned on David Crowder Remedy Tour and he came over and gave me a big hug, Sam and Matt ran over and hugged me too. What fun to have my 3 boys giving me a big bear hug all at once.

Soakin' Samuel

Just one of the reasons why I love it when my boys have long hair.

It's Easy!

Do you remember when it was popular to say, "It's Easy."
Some days my boys just make me feel like this. Seth made the 25 point club today in accelerated reading. Matt doesn't need speech. Since I have been teaching him sounds during his reading lessons his words are perfectly clear. Matt told me today that he wants to start playing the piano. Yay! We will get started on that after we get our piano tuned. Although I am questioning his motives, it seems that he is interested in it because our cute 15 year old neighbor played it in a school concert that he attended a couple of days ago. He says, "I want to play the piano like Elizabeth." We are having a family debate about Seth's musical future. I was going to start teaching him piano this winter, but Justin wants him to start learning the drums. I said that if he will seriously instruct him, then I will wait until summer to start piano lessons. I know that Shane will side with Justin for sure. You boys just want another substitute drummer for the worship team.
The boys really enjoy watching David Crowder Band Remedy Club Tour Live. I recommend it. I might try to get a video of them singing, we'll see.

Justin is off to finish his very last paper before graduating from Graduate school. Way to go, Justin! How many years before you start your doctorate? Not near enough!

Last but not least by any means, my sweet Samuel has been pulling his weight around here. He loves to throw away just about anything. So, when I change his diaper I give the used one to him and he carries it to the trash and throws it away. At least one of my boys picks up after himself.

Pre K, Government & Church

I received a letter from our local Pre-K a few days ago. Since it is a little bit of a concern to me, I am going to share it with you.

Dear Families,

We are in need of your help. Due to the shortfalls in state revenue, only 2% of promised funds have been provided to the Pre K program. We have currently been serving children for 50% of the school year with only 2% of the money we are supposed to receive. Imagine running a business for 4 1/2 months with no money coming in. Unlike a business, we are not allowed to save grant money from the previous year to pay our bills this year.

One idea that has been presented to address the shortfall is an 8% across the board cut in all state budgets. If this occurs, it would remove $600 million from education. Instead of spreading these cuts out across all education funds, it is a real possibility they would simply cut it from categorical grants. Pre K is one of these grants!

While the school district has been providing funds up to this point, it is taking away from other areas and programs that serve Litchfield students. I do not believe our Board of Education will want to continue this practice indefinitely and there is currently no answer as to when funding will be provided. Etc, etc, etc.

Ultimately, they are not sure if our Pre K will continue after this school year. I am not too concerned about my own children, because I am able to teach them what they need to learn before Kindergarten. However, I am convinced that there are many children who would be far behind if it wasn't for the program.

Knowing that the economy is struggling, government spending is being cut (according to their preferences), and that the Illinois Governor has been arrested, I have really found myself wanting Christians to make a stand. I would like to see an Illinois Governor who can't be tempted by corruption. I want to see people rise up and reach out to those who are struggling. In the past, it was the Church who took care of the people, not the government. The government has tried to take on that role, but I am not sure that it should be that way. The government has done a lot of wonderful things for people in need. But I think that it has taken so much of the responsibility away from the Church, that the past several generations of churchgoers don't even know what it means to meet the needs of the people. We do our occasional outreach programs and mission trips, etc., but do we provide shelters and food for the homeless or health care for the poor?

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

Memories

Samuel did something today that brought back a memory from Seth's younger years. When Seth was about 1 1/2 years old he used to make a sound when something was stinky or yucky as I would call it. I began to say that his diaper was yucky, but he couldn't talk at that point, so he would make a sound instead. It kind of sounded like a mix between someone clearing their throat and a cat hissing or just the "ck" from the end of the work yuck. We always got a kick out of it, until he grew out of it. Honestly, I had forgotten all about it until today. As I was changing Sam's diaper he pointed at it and started making the sound with a disgusted look on his face. He will never know how absolutely sweet I thought it was to hear him make that sound and follow in his big brother's foot steps. Each day I am amazed at the new similarities that I am finding between Seth and Samuel.

It's Getting Exciting

I have been putting some of our Christmas presents under the tree over the last few days. I started putting some of the name tags on them today. The boys started looking all over the presents for their names. It was cute to see them so excited. We decided that most of the presents that are toys will have Seth, Matt & Sam written on them. It will make it a lot easier to diffuse arguments over the toys later. As Seth and Matt are snooping around the presents, Samuel likes to get between them and look at the ornaments.

When I picked up Matt from school today his teacher was asking students, "What comes in boxes?" I heard Matt answer, "Presents come in boxes."

Our Thanksgiving

Each year we spend our Thanksgiving in Watseka with Justin's Grandpa & Grandma Johnson. We usually spend Wednesday night and Thursday with the family. Sally, Justin's cousin, posted a picture of the family on her blog. For all of our family and friends who do not know our extended family, this is a good opportunity for you to see how we spend our Thanksgivings. Here is a link to her blog.


Thanks Sally