January's come early...

As one of my Facebook friends stated, "Sweet. January's coming a few days early this year, kids!"

You see, I've just finished a month hiatus from Facebook. Hence the adjustment to how I'm posting. For the season of Advent, our pastor challenged us to fast from something in a Lenten style to help us better focus on the true meaning of the season: the celebration of Christ's birth. Now, most people will fast a food vice for lent: coffe, chocolate, alcohol... I fasted soda for one Lent, and have never really gone back. The interesting thing about this conversation with God was just how non-food related it was.

Caryn: "Okay, God, what am I needing to fast from? You know I'm not really good at full fasts."
God: "Facebook."
"And I'd prefer not to do coffee. I mean, I don't think I have an overbearing connection to it, but I don't want to have to dodge migraines all season."
"Facebook."
"And I like chocolate, but not in an uncontrolled way. I can give or take it almost any time."
"Facebook."
"Wha? But Facebook really isn't a thing, just a thing to do. Who ever heard of fasting from a thing to do?"
"Yep, Facebook."
"Really?!?"
"Yep."
"Okay."

The comedy of it all was that at the end of the service, Dwayne had this funny look on his face and asked, "What are you supposed to fast from?"
"Facebook. You?"
"Lost."

Suffice it to say, it's been quiet around the house this month. So I announced on Facebook that I wouldn't be back until January, claiming a month hiatus for my own personal health. BUT, as those church-calendar-ites know, Advent ends on Christmas, so I'm BACK! And a little better-balanced, I might add.

Okay, I've worked out, blogged, and now it's time to shower and change. OH, and go on a date with my husband tonight. Woohoo!

Merry Christmas!

There were a couple of very neat things that happened at the Corbin house this Christmas morning!
 - The kids slept in until 7am! Dwayne and I were pleasantly surprised not to be dragged from bed at 4am.
 - Santa left tracks! I mixed some shredded packing peanuts with glitter and voila! Magic Santa snow that won't melt! Santa came in through the chimney, walked down the hallway to check and see if the boys were sleeping, then proceeded to the Christmas tree, where he left gifts.
 - Santa paper-coded all the gifts for our pre-readers. Peter's were red with print, Andrew's were green with print. Very simple.
 - We had two tricycles, two toddlers, and we're still not sure who 'officially' owns which, and that's okay! They're in love with it.
 - Santa brought breakfast! (I can't claim this idea, it was all Dwayne) To combat that age-old "What do we put in the stockings?" struggle, Dwayne bought special breakfast treats so that the children were semi-fed, and we didn't have to battle over whether or not they could eat the candy in stockings before or after breakfast. And mommy didn't have to cook!

We are so excited to be at home with just our nuclear family this Christmas - we really needed the break. However, there are some harsh realities to Christmas at home - mommy's doing laundry on Christmas day. :-/ I guess that's just part of growing up: no days off.

Merry Christmas everyone!

pictures.

Okay, so I'm doing better about taking pictures, but I'm a little annoyed with the new interface on uploading pictures to Blogger... So. Here's one teaser, and a public link to my Facebook album. We'll get this figured out yet!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122310&id=706163182&l=1758ae6628

Houston...

...we have a camera! I'm so excited! And it's RED!

This is Peter trying to climb me to get to the new camera. So cute!

...still here

... just no camera. And sad to say, I'm more motivated by being able to post pictures than most anything.

Our camera died a sad and tragic death at the hands of a toddler. It had been having trouble closing the lens shutter, and then Andrew did something to jam the lens entirely, so no camera. My parents were sweet enough to send one of their old cameras to get us through, but it has decided to be incompatible with my computer, so I can't download any of the pictures from it. So, no pictures. We are all still here, and very much alive, so I wanted to give a shout out to say hello. When we get a new camera, believe me, you'll see!

When it's 105 degrees outside...

...you'll do most anything for fun! The boys discovered my swim cap and goggles this afternoon, and had a great time playing with them. I grabbed the camera so that we could share it all with you!

Andrew showing off the cap and Peter practicing "big hands"...

"How you like my beanie?"

...and finally, what I like to think of as the "Peter attacked by killer bee stings" look.

New acquisition!

We've added a new member to our family - Shinka the betta fish!