Merry Christmas from The Dawson Family

Luke 2:8-14
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

We pray your heart will be filled with the peace, joy, love and grace that can only be found in Christ the Lord. Merry Christmas!

-Scott, Dawnua, Autumn, Noah, Eli & Lucas Dawson

Dear Santa....

Dear Santa,
I've been a good boy! for Chrismas I want a remot contle plane, I want some games, tranppoling, aplay groud, a Hada car, swiming pool, diving bord, hamik, a really big slide That gose from the tree to the pool, from: Eli
P.S. I also want a Ipod
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Dear Santa,
I want A Polo cologne. I want some more PS2 games. I want some more sea things for my space. That is all I want. Noah
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Dear Santa,
I want
1. Darts
2. Marbles
Lucas
(Ipod)
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Dear Santa,
I've tryed my very best to be good this year, and for Christmas I want......
1. Lots, and lots of littlest pet shop.
2. A baby alive baby doll.
3. Hello Kitty things
4. Cat Stuffed animal (cute one)
5. A big fluffy I Dog
and.....
6. a pink gameboy
7. Lots of pictures of my brothers, and family
8. a cute small pupy, and if I can't I want some kind of pet that is cute.
9. gum and candy.
And that is all! Merry Christmas. Love, Autumn
P.S. Smell the writing (written in pink smelly marker)

Dear God....

Let us have a good Christmas and give us the power to be able to make it until Thursday...and please let us get everything we wished for...Amen (Lucas Dawson)

Lucas on Marriage

We have some great conversations with Lucas and last week was no exception. He is very detail oriented and can remember buttons, colors, hairstyles, jewelry, who, what, when, where and why for most of the memories he has. It's pretty amazing to hear what he notices. Last week we were talking to him about girlfriends and his future wife. He's 6 so you don't want to wait too much longer to have that conversation. :) He told us that he wanted to wait on choosing a wife because he wanted to pick the right one. Daddy and I told him that was a great idea. Apparently, Lucas doesn't remember that he signed a contract in September saying that he would not date any girls until he was 30. It's an official document with witnesses and everything. It will hold up in court, right? Anyway, later when he was going to the store with me we talked about his future wife. He has some very specific qualities in mind.

Here is what he wants...
1) A wife who is a little bit shorter than him because the wife is ALWAYS shorter than the husband.
2) A wife who has blonde hair like Lucas.
3) A wife who has eyes that "change color" AKA Hazel eyes.
4) A wife who has hair like mine, kinda straight and not curly. (His words)
5) A wife who is funny and makes him laugh, but not as silly as me. (His words)
6) A wife who knows how to wear makeup. He said specifically that he doesn't want a wife who wears a lot of makeup so you can see the red cheeks on her face (rouge). He doesn't want to see the makeup. Funny huh?
7) A wife who is smart.
8) A wife who talks kindly to him and loves him.

So, those are the requirements for his future wife....

We Speak Our Own Language...Dawsonese

In our family we have accidentally developed our own little language. I like to think that part of it is due to how Lyme Disease affects your speech but after I went thru our list of words...I see that most of these came from me and the kids. Hmmmm.... Not sure what that means other than we have a lot of fun when we are together. Besides, Scott and I are artists...We don't need "No Stinkin English!"

Here are some of the words that have stuck around. Noah comes up with new ones daily so I may have to add to the list.
Muddle- A mud puddle.
Flippers- Fuzzy slippers.
Tushin- Cushin for your tushy.
Disturbinating- Autumn's word for Disturbing.
Ripsy- Our latest nickname for Sissy. When we text sissy the phone calls her ripsy and it stuck.
Fluffy Bunnies- This is in place of those grownup expressions of frustration...plus who can resist smiling after you "cuss" fluffy bunnies? :)
Snicky Snack- This is a small snack for the afternoon munchies. This is different than a snack.
Girl & Boy Cheese- I'm sure you have this one in your house too...this came from my childhood.
Relatative- Autumn's word while trying to explain someone who was sort of related to her but not really.
Refridgalator- This is either Autumn or Eli's version of Fridgerator.
Icebox- This is my word for the fridge. This came from my mom, who got it from her mom because they really DID have an icebox.
Tortilla (Emma Style)- On any word that has the double ll, it is no longer silent.
Quesadilla (Emma Style)- Same as above.
Cheeze- This is what Autumn says from the back seat when she wants us to know that she is smiling because of something we have said.
Skabetty- This is what Lucas use to call Spaghetti and it stuck.
Sug Blug- The famous game of Slug Bug when you're saying it at lightning fast speed so you don't get slugged...

We have retired these words- Heckapocter (Helicopter) and Lellow (Yellow) but we love to talk about them still. I think all of the baby words are gone now...must be time for a baby. :)

YMCA (y my muscles currently ache)

It's official...our family joined the local YMCA! I have been meaning to get back into shape since 1997....I know that was 11 years ago but time flies and life happens and you just don't take the time to exercise like you should...I have had little spurts of success but it was almost impossible to have a set schedule while running a small business so now that our life is somewhat normal again we decided to give it a try.

Scott plans on using the pool to do a little bit of PT because any other exercise causes him to pass out. :) You gotta watch out for that Sneaky Vasculitis! I decided to embrace all that the YMCA offers and signed up for the Fitness Assessment. My first appointment was last Monday and I came home with good and bad news. I went thru a variety of tests which could be considered torture.... I was pinched and prodded while having my body fat tested...(not good)...I performed a 3 minute step test...(not so good)....Learned my Body Mass Index....(not good)....Confirmed my Waist to Hip ratio...(average- yeah!)...Tested my resting heart rate....(111= not good)...Bench Pressed 128lbs...(average- yeah!) and learned to use the weights.
Now to my good news...When it came to Leg Press I kicked butt! I was rated WELL ABOVE AVERAGE..(Super Yeah!) and I maxed out at 400lbs!!! My fitness trainer was very excited because in 7 years she has NEVER had a female press 400lbs!!! YEAH! So, I guess I have some leg muscles hiding down there somewhere!
I even made it back to the Y last week and worked out on the weights and cardio equipment. My heart rate got up to 177(!!) while I was working out...thus the reason Y my Muscles Currently Ache...stay tuned...

Spirit of Christmas...Things That I LOVE

I am happy to report that the Spirit of Christmas is alive and well in the Dawson home. Sometimes our kids do something out of the blue that really touches my heart and it makes me so proud to be a part of their lives. They are loving, empathetic, forgiving, compassionate, goofy, silly, articulate, intelligent and full of surprises. Here are some of the moments I love...

• When Noah gave his last dollar to the Salvation Army bell ringer at HyVee. Unprompted.
• When the boys come home and Lucas runs in the house yelling "Mommy" and runs to me to give me a big hug and kiss.
• When Eli runs and jumps in my arms and gives me an unexpected kiss.
• When Autumn lays her head on my shoulder and "purrs".
  
• When Noah and I spend quiet moments talking about life and how to deal with people.
• When it's time to wrestle and the boys "kick my booty".
• When they giggle cause I'm chasing them around the house.
• When we sit together on our huge couch and cuddle on movie night.
• How one of them is always helping me cook, bake and clean up.
• When I tell them something and they do it the FIRST time. I LOVE that and I make sure I tell them how much I appreciate that.
• The quiet moments when we have real conversations and I get to hear their hearts.
• When Eli and Lucas insist on paying for dinner.
• When daddy comes home and they all run to meet him at the door.
• Devotions at bedtime. (Eli reads from the Bible and they all participate.)
• How Eli is really wanting to read the Bible and has started in the book of JOB! :)
• When I wake up to giggly kids who are playing together in their room.

I love every moment with my family. I am so proud to know them, to love them and to be a part of who they are becoming. I love watching them learn and grow.

Flashback to 2005 with Autumn

This is Autumn when she was 7/8. She is a silly, goofy girl who is always smiling. This morning Lucas told Sissy that she was "purdy"...she is our little princess in a house full of toads! Even at 11 she still smiles all the time but now she talks non-stop too! Oh, the life of a pre-tween....

Flashback to 2005 with Noah

These are photos from when Noah was 6. He played soccer that summer and worked on learning the guitar with daddy. He was a serious musician! Yesterday, he worked on his singing with Daddy in the studio. He has a beautiful voice and Daddy is helping him gain more confidence in his singing. Noah and Daddy are best buddies and they spend every moment together.

Flashback to 2005 with Eli

Here is another flashback for Sissy. This is Eli when he played soccer in 2005. He was a few weeks away from 5 in these photos. Isn't he cute? :)

The Mystery Muncher...

This year instead of carving our pumpkins we used Mr. Potato head faces. The kids got to pick the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, horns and eyebrow pieces and create their own masterpiece. They were really cute on our front porch until we started noticing parts of their heads missing. Something was eating our pumpkin heads and it got worse as the week went on. When we left one morning for Basketball there were only teeth marks on the tops but when we got back an hour later... we caught the Mystery Muncher... A big, fat, gray squirrel! It was a messy crime scene....

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Last Wednesday we kicked off our Holiday celebration with KUDL's Christmas in the Sky at Longview lake. We watched 40 minutes of fireworks timed to Christmas music while parked on the bridge. We cranked up the radio and sang all the songs along with thousands of other people lining the bridge. It was pretty cool. Then the day after Thanksgiving we started decorating our house. Sissy put us all in the mood with some Christmas Music and the kids started putting the tree together. They did a fantastic job! Daddy had some good moments and he joined in when he could. Sissy was our official photographer for the occasion so there are actually some photos of me. At one point, Noah got on my shoulders and proceeded to use a HAMMER! Luckily he didn't miss :) and we got the garland up with no problems. Lucas hung out under the tree because he wanted to look at the lights and see if there were any holes that needed to be fixed. We realized that some of our decorations are still at Grandma's house because the only stocking we found was Shadow's. Hopefully, we can finish decorating next weekend. Ashli, maybe I could borrow your mom? :)