Wrong Spellings

I really do know how to spell, so forgive my spelling errors in the blog below. I even double check myself, but I missed a couple anyways. I really do know that "opened" is spelled like I just did and not "opended" and "down" is different from "done". :)

Christmas Memories

It was just the four of us together for Christmas day but we had a great time anyways. I must admit that I get homesick the most around Christmas because there was always lots of family around on Christmas day when I was growing up. Since we don't have any family around the area-no chaos or lots of bodies around. I told Jeff that we'll have to start a new tradition of inviting people from church that don't have family in the area and have a traditional Christmas feast, then chat & play games. I am really liking this idea more and more, especially since our girls are getting older and things are bound to change (boyfriends, marriage, kids, ...AAAHHH!!).

Kerri "bumming" in her new saucer chair and her favorite present: a digital camera. I had wrapped the camera in a shoe box, so she thought she was getting a new pair of shoes (like her sister had just opended). When she opened the lid, she exclaimed, "Are you serious? You've got to be kidding me!!" All this was said with a huge smile on her face, and I of course did not capture the "Kodak moment" even though I had the camera next to me. :(

Sharree comfortable in her pjs and smiling about her new CDs.

(Notice the old boot with a red bow on it- Jeff's present to Zeus. He said Santa left it and definately not him. As we told him, "Yeah, right!")

Zeus enjoying his Christmas bone. He walked around with it in his mouth for about 1/2 hr. before he put it done. It was quite cute. :)

The yearly Christmas eve picture in PJs. Usually I only take some of the girls, but we did a family one with the timer on Sharree's camera.

At any rate we hope everyone had a joyous Christmas and made lots of wonderful memories. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to all our friends & family!

The Pouzars

Saturday night we took the church youth group to Toledo to see Christmas lights at the zoo. There were over a million lights and it was beautiful. Friday brought freezing rain to the area so everything had a coating of ice on it as well.

The view, looking down, from the entrance ramp.

This tree had around 32,ooo lights on it!!

Our church youth group.

Another beautiful tree.

Christmas Caroling

Zachary

Sharree & Kerri

Hannah, Isaac, & Caleb

Xavier

Ashley & Jennifer

Mike, Michelle, & Randy

Randall, Rodney, & Ryan

Evan, Kaitlynn, Ryan, & Allison

The lobby of one of the places we visited.

On Wednesday, our students went caroling at four senior facilities. They presented the songs from their Christmas program and then caroled up & down the hallways. The different places were beautifully decorated, and I especially liked the tree & life-sized Santa at one of them (the backdrop of the family group pictures above). One of the students mentioned that he liked caroling at all the places, because then it didn't feel like he practiced countless hours for our school program for one night/one performance. All of the places we visited thanked the students for sharing with them, so I believe this may have been the start of a new tradition for our school students. :)

Gadgets

Does anyone know why my profile & link list are not showing up? I downloaded the new background from "The Cutest Blog on the Block" and now the print is not there. If I go to my layout page it shows that they are there and are saved. I can even get the little hand when I go to my link list, but I have to guess whose page I am checking out. Thanks in advance for any help.

Christmas pictures

These are just a few of the proofs of the girls' pictures taken at JC Penny portrait studio. We have been pleased with their work for the last 8 yrs. or so.

Now, these pictures are NOT from JC Penny Studio, but are from MJP portrait studio. Christmas pictures are another one of those traditions that I have to do each year. :)

I do wish that the pictures I download would be clearer (these shots of the girls are very nice).

I love getting the tree lights to glow like they really do in my living room.

Thanksgiving

Zeus is very thankful for his Thanksgiving dinner: canned food instead of the usual dry! :)

Getting ready to enjoy our Thanksgiving feast!

We had a wonderful time with Jeff's parents during Thanksgiving. His mom & I got up at 5:00 a.m. to do some "Black Friday" shopping. We went to ten different stores, bought some good bargains, and had a great time together. That brings me to another thing I am thankful for: an awesome mother-in-law!! Jeff jokes around and says that I have two moms and he has two mother-in-laws. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I trust all of you will have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! God has done and given us so many things for which we should be thankful. As I stated in a previous blog, my students and I have been writing down something different every day (since mid-October) for which we are thankful. It has been a chance for us to be specific, and helps us realize exactly how much we have. All of us could easily write down or think of something different everyday of the year and still not be done listing all of our "thankful things." So..... I want all my family and friends that read this blog to know that I am very thankful for you!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas decor modifications

Well, Jeff has done it again. He helped me fix my outside Christmas lights, then came inside and did this to our tree/angel.

A close up of our Christmas angel with her machine gun. Kerri says it's our guardian angel. :)

Christmas decorations

Jeff's tradition of mangling my manger scene: The kneeling wiseman is holding a purse, the wiseman behind him is wearing a bike helmet, & the 3rd the wiseman has scuba goggles over his face; Joseph has a rifle over his shoulder with a blue cowboy hat on his head, Mary has an apron on, and the shephard in the back has a bridal veil on. The camel on the left is wearing a visor and the donkey on the right is carrying oxygen tanks. :)

Well it's that time of year again: getting out the Christmas decorations! My in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving, so I want to get my decorating out of the way this week, so I can enjoy their visit (As a side note, I look forward to Jeff's parents coming, because they are wonderful people and we always enjoy our time with them).

I sweet talked Jeff into putting up our outside lights on Thursday, since it was in the upper 50s. He doesn't like to put them up when it is actually "Christmas" weather. When he came home Friday, the dog decided that the extension cord looked like an awesome chew toy, so he pulled the extension cord from the lights and chewed off the plug-in end. Then, Kerri reminded us that we didn't use the extension cords last year because we thought Zeus would chew them up. Oh, the memory of teenagers :) ! Anyways, we'll have to re-rig (a Marea word) them to my outside lights.

Jeff says that I like my traditions and things done/decorated a certain way (which I do), but he does as well. The picture above of my manger scene is a "tradition" of Jeff's, as well as mangling tree branches as we put our tree together. Thank goodness that he has not done one of his traditions for the last couple of years: hiding all of my Christmas CDs and tapes!!

Anyways, as Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming quickly upon us, I hope all of you enjoy your Christmas decorating and any memories you make with your family!

P.S. To my brother: I remember our tradition of decorating at 12:00 & 1 second (a.m.) on December 1st, since dad said we couldn't decorate for Christmas until December 1st. It was always lots of fun. :)

Happy Birthday

Jeff and his girls - Christmas 2007 (sorry it's a bit blurry)

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday! He is a wonderful husband & father and takes good care of us. He works hard and does beyond what he needs to, he ALWAYS plans for our future, and he loves spending time with us-his family. There have been many times that I just go up and kiss him and thank him for being who he is (especially for the previously stated facts) whenever I hear how some husbands and fathers treat or take care of their families. I trust we'll have many more years together, for I wouldn't want to face life without him.

I LOVE YOU, JEFF! Marea

Cookware

I am in the process of looking for some new pots & pans. I have given up on Tefelon (nonstick)coated pans, since the last set (Phillip Richard) I got started warping and loosing its coating within 6mths. I have narrowed down my choices to a stainless steel with copper band set or an anodized set. I would like to know what my friends and family use and I would like to hear your opinions. For those who don't have a blogger account you can email me at: jeffmareapouzar@bright.net

Thanks for your help!!! :)

Piatt Castle

Piatt Castle: Mac-O-Chee

Sharree near one of the many beautiful fireplaces. The picture doesn't show the stenciled borders very well, but our guide said it took the painter 3 yrs. to complete all of the stenciling on the walls and ceilings.

Believe it or not we went on another field trip Thursday to Piatt Castle: Mac-o-Chee. The woodwork, stenciled borders, fireplaces, etc. were beautiful. We were supposed to go into the "haunted cellar" but the furnace broke and I assume they were working down there, so to my students' disappointment, we didn't get to go in the basement. Needless to say, we experienced how cold it could be in a castle without any heat, save a fireplace, and we didn't get to experience that either. It sure made you appreciate furnaces that supply heat for the cool and cold weather.

Happy Halloween!

Zeus wearing "kitty ears"

Camp Retreat

My roomies: Wendy & Sarah (we even stayed up late: 2-3 A.M.)

Christianna, Stephanie, & Sharree in the loft of their cabin (they stayed up until 4).

Evangeline, Kerri, & Lindsay in their "living room." They stayed up until 2, and even though you can't see it too well, Kerri has a Cheeto in her mouth. These girls ate an incredible amount of junk food: Cheetos, Pringles, cupcakes, candy, ...


This week-end our church met together at a local Bible Methodist Campground for a retreat. I believe this was our fourth retreat and I believe it was our best. The girls and I spent the night with friends in cabins and enjoyed lots of DELICIOUS food, fellowship, scapbooking, games, etc.

As I have stated in my introduction, we have a wonderful church family. They are our official "family" in Ohio since our immediate families live in Michigan and New York. Therefore, we enjoyed having the opportunity of spending time and fellowshipping with them this weekend.

Happy Birthday

Kerri and her choice of "birthday cake": chocolate-covered creampuffs.

Our baby is officially a teenager this week (Yah!, AHH!, sigh ...)! She is very creative, a tomboy, a dog and animal lover, and much more. We are thankful that God brought her into our lives 13 years ago!

FALL

My beautiful girls.

Our friend, Wendy, took some family pictures for us at our house yesterday. Thanks, Wendy!!

Beautiful fall colors.

Our little fall nook.

Friday I gave a challenge to our school students to think of something they were thankful for, everyday until Thanksgiving. I told them I would be asking them occasionally and they could ask me. I think I am going to pass out calendars so we can keep track and find something different to be thankful for each day.

Yesterday, I was thankful for Saturdays: sleeping in a bit, catching up on household chores, relaxing with my family or friends, etc. Today, I am thankful for fall, hence the fall pictures above. We had our first frost last night and the air is a bit chilly, but it truly seems like fall now. I love the colors-red, orange, yellow, rust-and am always looking for those "special" trees that are just spectacular. I have done this with my girls since they were little, so now they make sure they point out those "special" trees as well.

At any rate, HAPPY FALL to all my friends and family!!!!! :)

Marmon Valley Farms

Stephanie Burley & I resting in the hayloft (yes, we did climb up the ladder). :)

Sharree splitting wood with a wooden mallet & a "thingy-ma-jig."

The Pilgrim Christian School gang.

Kerri & a "pal"

Sharree trying out the rope bridge (sorry it's sideways-I forgot to turn it).

Pioneer girls?

Yes, we went on another field trip. And yes, we actually do school work :) ! But the fall is just a wonderful time of year to plan field trips. Marmon Valley Farms is a Christian, family-run farm with many activities available. We came for the pioneer days (which is my classroom theme this month) and we learned about cooking & tools pioneers used, and we made candles & candle holders. After our demonstrations, we had lunch-the highlight for many; especially since many of my students were asking when lunch was on the 50 min. trip to the farm. Afterwards the students played in a barn "playset", checked out many farm animals, crawled through a hay maze, and played in a hayloft. Of course it was another perfect day: blue skies, just-right temperatures (70s), and beautiful fall colors.