Gingerbread house 2008!!!

Here we are once again,,,the Brassell's gingerbread house made from scratch!! So much fun!
We finished the house tonight and then watched the roof collapse on one side! It was ok, we stuck a baby gingerbread man on the roof and pretended he was vandalizing the house of his parents...very disturbed little gingerbread fellow. Yes dad, that is the kitchen aid mixer you gave me for Christmas about 6 years ago!! still plugging along! makes great frosting!

We have made a different kind of cookie almost every day this month, that was my goal, and tonight we even made a PEPPERMINT CHEESECAKE from scratch! holy cow...it was amazing! Chocolate oreo crust and lots of heavy cream and sour cream and cream cheese...
we are obviously kicking off the end of the year with a bang! Might as well gain it all now so we can spend all next year trying to lose the winter insulation!

Christmas at the Billy Graham Library

John works at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and the Billy Graham Library is adjacent to his office building..here you can take an hour long tour of the life of Billy Graham and see pictures of his ministry. There is a huge Christmas tree in the lobby (where we are posing) and they have a live nativity as well as carriage rides and caroling this time of year.

Bowling is only $5.00 on weeknights!

We took the kids bowling, it is only $5.00 per person and that includes shoes, and with a family our size it is still expensive but lots of fun! We have also found every "kids eat free" place within a 20 mile radius and can eat out for about $20 on a good night!

unfortunately Camden bowled a higher score than me this night, I think I bowled a 72!! but then again, you try bowling with a 34 week pregnant belly! balance is off, weight must be shifted, and the bowling ball blends in against the big old belly!

Planting tulip bulbs in the fall...

Since I planted 220 tulip/daffodil bulbs in the ground before we moved from Pennsylvania (and never got to see them bloom) I decided to try again...200 bulbs planted. Red, pink and yellow tulips and daffodils of several varieties..

Baxley helped me and had so much fun, each of the kids shares a different interest in things that I like to do...Savannah likes to be in the kitchen, Baxley likes to work outdoors and lick the beaters when I cook! Madison and John are content to eat whatever we cook and play outside while the rest of us work! Camden likes to direct things and tells everyone what to do!

Thanksgiving Dinner Fun!

Thanksgiving at the Brassell's house, with our newly painted dining room!! Mark and Emile, the inlaws and me and the kids..the rest are at the little kids table with John playing photographer!
We had such a feast! Turkey, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, and yes, that is sparkling grape juice NOT red wine! haha!

Soccer Champions!!!!

Camden's soccer team had an undefeated season, the only one to do this in the 5/6 age group!

They were so cute tonight getting their trophy! Camden has the red hat on! She was so excited because she got some ball time tonight, and made a great kick! ..too bad it was the wrong direction, but who cares right?

Museum to see Pompeii

John has begun his homeschooling adventure, all this after a series of unfortunate events in school (like being stabbed with a broken pen, having gum in his hair and having his backpack searched every morning by other kids) So...we decided to take our inaugural field trip!

We went to see Pompeii recreated, which was fun, there were all kinds of artifacts and the casts of bodies that were covered in ash. Very interesting! The 2 hour tour only took us 20 minutes and we had seen enough! BORING! haha! But it was good bonding time after all!

Ask and you shall recieve!

Ok, so here it is...the belly picture you have been asking for! This is baby number 6 at 30 weeks along..that is 7 1/2 months in case you are mathematically challenged! She is growing well, and moving all over the place, I am having the 4d ultrasound done soon and will put pictures of her online as soon as I have them.

The camera always adds a few pounds doesn't it? I was actually told to gain a few more before my next visit, so for once I can enjoy the peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes from Chick fil A haha!!

Here's the crew in front of the house today, John was taking the picture so I put two picturese so you can see how tall he is getting...he is almost the same height as me (5'7). The rest are getting so big as well! We went to Chick-fil-a tonight..they have amazing peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes now...and the baby really really likes them!

another zoo trip

so it seems as if all we do is go to the zoo! maybe, but it keeps them busy for a while!

short update...pics to follow

Hi all,
no pic right now...kids downstairs unsupervised! So I'll be quick..
we are doing well, John has a football game tonight yay!! Girls had soccer last night and won their games again! Baby is kicking and all that good stuff... John just finished his Masters degree!! Finally! and is applying to law school here in Charlotte for next fall...yep law school!
we went to get pumpkins last night and got ripped off! paid $10 for a pumpkin just because the kids wanted to go to a pumpkin patch instead of the grocery store for $5.99..
Gas down to $3.09 a gallon! yay!

and that is our life in a nutshell!

Soccer Star!

Camden had her first soccer game this weekend and they didn't exactly win, but they got chips and gatorade so she was happy! It was awful because I was at work the night before and John picked her up late for her game so she got there 15 minutes before the game was over and played for about 7 minutes!!! she said "it was fun but it was a really short game!" she had no idea that she had missed part of the game, and I didn't have the heart to tell her!

Girls at Chuck-E-Cheese

This was Camden's birthday, I was home with her and Baxley for lunch and we decided to make a day of it! Haven't celebrated her birthday much because John was out of town, so we ate lunch before we went and spent all our money on tokens!

Camden got her first real haircut!!

it's amazing what a haircut can do! from ratty little ragamuffin to sassy little cutie!! here are the before and after pictures (backwards, sorry!) but it was such a dramatic difference!

Girls at the mall

took Camden and Baxley to play at the mall on a rainy day this week, they had fun!

All I kept thinking about was the germs they were probably picking up from those games and play things that every snott nosed brat climbs on and drools over.....I guess that's part of the fun.

Sisters forever..

Sometimes they don't get along all that well! Savannah refused to have madison stand beside her in this picture!

Baxley's ice cream

This is Baxley with her rainbow sherbert...happy as can be, messy and stinky! Just what summer should be! This was also at the safari that you will see in the next post...

Kids at the animal safari....

All my kids, plus two more (Carter and Jordan) went to this animal safari the other day... you pay a ton of money, then more money for a couple of buckets of animal feed, and then the fun begins...
In your car, you drive through a gate that leads to the "safari" where animals come up to your car and eat out of your bucket. The animals are things like goats, deer, potbelly pigs, cows, bison/buffalo, and even zebras!! Oh, let me not forget the giant ostriches! that peck your bucket and make all the kids in the car scream in terror!!!!
this was a great adventure for all of us, we had 9 of us piled in my SUV and there was animal feed all over the place! Kids screaming, some crying and some laughing....what a blast!
the best part is the ice cream after it is all over! This picture is the kids on a swing enjoying the day!

Its a Girl!!!!!!!

Yes, the Brassell's have done it again! another girl on the way January 24th!

John was distraught, he lost the boy recipe I guess, all he could say was "do you know how much money weddings cost?" But, like always, when they are born and he is holding them, they melt his heart and he is in love forever! Savannah makes him cookies, Maddy wrestles with him, Camden sings him songs, and Baxley just likes to give kisses to her daddy....He is a happy man!

Little John was happy though, he is now the only boy, so they plan to do many "manly" things together in the near future!!

Eat More Chicken!

This particular day, I heard that you could dress like a cow and get a free meal...so what do you do? Dress all your kids like a cow, and get $20 worth of free lunch!! Of course! It was so much fun, I'm sure the kids will remember this one until we do it again next year!

Paddle Boating with the Fam

So much fun! so how many Brassell's can you fit in a paddle boat? well we were determined to try and answer that question for ourselves! It took us two boats but we did it!

Family Beach Trip!

We took a trip to myrtle beach a few weeks ago, and our pasty white legs caused a scene I'm sure! It was absolutely gorgeous weather and the kids had a great time, Baxley had never seen the beach and stood awestruck for the first couple of minutes and didn't know what to think, but after that she ran and never stopped! Her favorite thing was to let the water touch her and scream "you no catch me" and run away. The girls played with the sand crabs and little john just floated around in the ocean like some kind of shark or porpoise or whale or something!!

sunny sunny Charlotte!

A day at the pool, ahhhh...our rule is that if the weather is 90 or above we go to the pool...it's supposed to be 98 all the rest of the week!

Looks like we need some sunscreen!

Grandpa loves strawberries!

this visit, we took Grandpa strawberry picking! We figured that if grandpa wanted strawberry pie he should work for it!! ha ha! They had a great time and picked about 10 pounds of strawberries! the weather was gorgeous, about 85 and sunny!

Turkey anyone???

This was classic, John had his hands on a turkey leg at an air show this weekend! Don't let him fool you! he ate it all! We were all at the air show because the Billy Graham Association had a booth set up and was giving away books, water bottles, and other mementos :-) we all came along to spend time with John, and ended up having a great time! Funnel cakes, turkey legs, and sunburn! What a treat!

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Girls day out!

another picture of the zoo, this time posing on a lion! not a real one of course, but it was so much fun!! Baxley is getting a lot of "firsts" this summer, this was her "first" pose on a fake animal!

This one was at the Knoxville zoo when we drove out to meet John at a Billy Graham Festival.

Spring is in the air!

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago, and the girls found caterpillars! Baxley had never seen one before, and was on her face on the floor trying to look at them! It was so funny! she kept looking up and screaming "pidder" which was her version of caterpillar.

slow to post..sorry

Well, I will put some pics on here tomorrow..I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post..I'm lame, I know.

Anyway, here are some new and exciting things..
* bought a beautiful home, got moved in, still don't have a sofa, but we are working on it
* we now own our first set of patio furniture !! Cant' do that in the Burg can you??
* John and I are on summer break from school, both of us will be graduating this fall (me with a BS in Nursing and John with a Masters in Business)
* Kids are almost done with school! one more week!
* Everyone is sick, sinuses and bronchitis...but still doing ok
* did I mention I love my new house?
* We attended Chinese church for the first time and will begin lessons on Sunday!

Otherwise, nothing else new...
oh, Camden had to go to daycare the other day so I could do a training at the hospital, and she didn't want to go back, so when we told her she was going one more day she said "I cant go back because they gave us beer to drink" we were like "huh?" and she said "yeah, the other kids drank it but I just wanted apple juice..." I guess one of the kids must have said that it looked like beer or something? who knows, she is always making wild stories up :-) gotta love it!

Strawberry Picking

Strawberry Picking!!! It was so much fun, we are going again this week...

so we picked 10 pounds of strawberries this day, then we went back when John got off work and picked again! 11 pounds that time! Then you may say "what did you do with all those berries?" well, let me tell you. I learned how to make jelly :-) yep! I washed, hulled and cut 20+ pounds of berries, made them into jelly, canned them myself and now I have...about....40 jars of strawberry jelly! (laughing) it's in the freezer, it's in the fridge, its everywhere! What was I thinking? So I guess I'll have to make some homemade bread to put it on! I already made biscuits from scratch and took warm biscuits to the neighbors with a jar of jelly...they loved it!

by the way, I dont' have a picture here, but since I was on the canning spree, I bought about 20 pounds of pickling cukes and made bread and butter pickles too! lets just say my fridge is full and if I was on the Oregon trail, well...we would have lots of jelly and pickles. I might have to barter one of my children for a loaf of bread though!

another fine day at the zoo!

The best thing about this trip to the zoo, Columbia zoo actually...it was 92 miles away, ugh.. anyway the best thing was that it was free. We had purchased an annual pass at the Pittsburgh zoo and found out that we could get free admission here too! So we drove an hour and a half to see sleeping animals! Regardless, the girls had fun, I took a picture of them on this elephant...see Victoria? we ride elephants too! ha ha! Little John refused to ride the elephant..hmmm

Beautiful Girls...and Dad and Baxley

The girls played on the playground at the park and had so much fun! it's been in the 70's here and sunny, and the evenings cool off to about 50. John and Baxley were sitting at the pond feeding the ducks (that is why he is holding bread!) and Camden was running around with Madison and Baxley and Savannah and John chasing the ducks away.

We took the post about the house off because we decided not to buy that house. We felt like God was telling us just to rent for a while longer...and reevaluate at the end of May when our lease is up on the apartment we are staying in. We desperately need a second car, and with a house payment we could not fit another car into our budget. We decided that we would be content here until God provides the right home for our family, and provides the right car. Right now I am driving John to work at 6:15am, dropping the girls off at school by 7am, running home and picking up little John and the two youngest girls, driving him to school by 8am, coming home, running errands and cleaning and then picking up the girls again by 2pm, little John by 3pm and Big John sometime between 5 and 6pm. I think I am driving 125 miles a day, last time I calculated it..and we only get 12 miles to the gallon in the Armada. Add that up....with gas at $3.25 a gallon??? we need a second car! Please pray specifically for that!

Complete Rest....

Oh what I would give to sleep like this! She was chewing gum..as you can see on her right side of her forehead and chin...and when she woke up she experienced the joy of cutting it out of her hair. At least it wasn't on her eyebrow..right Stephen?? :-) ha ha! But seriously, I left that gum in her hair for 2 days because she wouldn't let me touch it. You could say..."hey Bax, what's in your hair?" and she would say "nyum" because that is what she calls it! and we would all laugh!

can someone say "ahhhh sunshine!"?

This was taken last week at the park! Here in the Carolinas it can be February and still look like this!! Baxley didn't know what to think, she just stood in the park with her mouth open drooling. She has not seen this in so long!

Our married couple group...and friends forever!

this is our couples group...When we moved they organized this group to help us load the truck and clean 4800 sq ft of house! Mostly all of us still keep in touch, although sadly, our house guests have proven themselves untrustworthy and we have ended any type of relationship! We are thankful however, for the Coders, the Romeo's and all the other friendships that were forged from this couples group!

What's up with those crazy Brassell's???

No picture today, I'll post one later this week! My camera is downstairs and I'm too lazy to go get it! So, here's the scoop:

• God allows us to sell our house because John has not had a job and we were getting short on money..thinking we were going to get an apartment and stay in the area...
• John interviews for a job with Billy Graham Evangelistic Association....which, by God's plan, was with the father of the ones who are staying in our basement...
• Tons of people pray for us.....
• John got hired!...
• We have less than 2 weeks notice, that we are moving to Charlotte...
• Renee is frantically packing 4800 sq feet of house into what will have to fit in a 1200 sq foot apartment..did I say less than 2 weeks? Make that 4 days now...
• John finds out that our insurance is going to be $350 a month and that is going to make it hard to live on one salary...
• We pray harder...
• John's new boss calls and says "hey, I'll raise your salary by $5000 a year to cover that expense, no problem"
• God gets the glory!

So, we are now about to begin a new journey...We have amazing friends in our lives, and plenty of people praying for us, we have never been to Charlotte, don't know a soul there, and we are a little nervous.

We have a new address, but obviously I am not going to post it here, so if you want it, you can call or e'mail us :-)

I'll update you with some great pictures in a couple of days, Thanks for the prayers!

Renee and John