Thursday, December 31, 2015

Eve of a New Year

I am on the verge of falling asleep and feel I had better write my post in case I conk out unexpectedly.  2015 has brought with it a lot of big changes and growth.  I am grateful for all of the friends I have, old and new, who have been with me on the many journeys of this year.  As it draws to a close, I am unsure how to feel about the dawn of a new year.  2015 has not ended exactly as I hoped.  It is hard not to be with my mom at all this season.  Her birthday is tomorrow and I would love to be with her, but I know she needs her rest to heal.  I pray that 2016 is the dawn of new possibilities for healing for her.  My children are growing faster than I can comprehend and I am just doing my best to hold on and remember every second of the ride.  The hub's back is improving which is such a blessing and I hope the coming year will bring even more improvement.

I am a blessed woman, truly.  I wish a wonderful 2016 to all of you and pray God blesses each of you on your journey.

Night all.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Putting it away

Our Wisconsin family left this morning and we could no longer come up with any reasonable excuses as to why we couldn't put the Christmas decorations up. It made me sad, but it had to be done. One child went back to sleep and the other two helped take all of the ornaments off the tree, get the strings of lights and cranberries and garland off and put the Santas back in their boxes. I felt they had done their due diligence and released them from work duty. The other got up from an early morning nap and helped sweep up the remaining fir needles and also helped to get all the ornaments back in their correct boxes and bags. We then had some breakfast, sent the boy on his way to a surprise play date with his buddy and took the girls to Barnes and Noble to spend the gift cards that were burning holes in their pockets.

Currently, the oldest and I are preparing to play Canasta whilst watching the beginning of the Twilight Zone New Year's marathon. This is what I look forward to every holiday break. We sit, play games, watch weird stuff and are together as a family. I'll take it.

Night all. Time to snuggle up and play some cards.


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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Little to say

We have had a big day with lots of family activity time with our family from the snowy north. We played at the MUSE for a long time. The dog got more than her fair share of fetch time. The corn hole boards saw their fair share of use. The Tomato Head had a nice group of satisfied customers with happy bellies. We had a super smack down on the Kinect and some very exhausted and hyper children. We are one in the process of trying to calm them all down and point them towards bed. I may fall down asleep first. We'll see.

Night all.


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Monday, December 28, 2015

Taxi driver

I, blog woman, am now an official family taxi driver. My poor oldest child has had to be at school multiple times today for band purposes. I think we should stick a fork in her, because she is done. She enjoys band, but the pressure of practicing for her senior clinic auditions and getting signed off by her band directors is about to turn her into a basket case. She has missed out on time with her relatives and time out of her holiday break. Oh well. Such is life. She and her sister have now been officially bitten by the cribbage bug and are currently playing on our bed with an iPad cribbage board...or whatever it is called. The power also went out tonight which meant all the cousins played Kings in the Corner by camping lamp light and had shadow dances. Who says you need electricity to have fun?

Night all. I'm tired.


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Sunday, December 27, 2015

Visitors for the north

We have family at our house now...from Wisconsin. They have been visiting the outlaws in South Carolina for a few days and we are now excited to have them with us. Our children love playing with their cousin and aunt and uncle. The girls learned how to play Cribbage this evening thanks to Aunt S. It is too math head for me, but I envy people who can play cards and use the fancy wooden board. My only knowledge of Cribbage was on an episode of the Monkees when they decided to swindle a bad guy by playing their version of the game. Afterwards they had to battle Rip Taylor and deal with a Frodis and all this weird stuff:



It was towards the end of their run and when they were probably using some psychedelics and all that. But the Cribbage part was funny...I promise. My niece and I battled in Apples to Apples Junior with the boy and the hub. THe adults determined that it really is the game that will never end, but we had fun and lots of laughs.

We look forward to our time with them and hope that the rain will hold off so we won't be cooped up in the house too much. If not, we will find something to do with our time and wear each other out. That's what family is for!

Night all.
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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Cake Day

Today was cake decorating day in our house. G loves to decorate cakes and volunteered to do the dessert for our monthly community meal at church. Let me just say, I was thrilled that she wanted to do something to help out those who may want an extra special Christmas treat in their belly. While I was happy to bake the cakes and get them ready for her to decorate and get the 6lbs of icing it took to cover and decorate all of them, I hit my stickiness limit about noon today. The cakes were well received and, because it was a smaller group, we had a whole cake to give away. I was glad to see it go. We also made brownies decorated with snowmen and some decorated to look like reindeer.

I'm going to go cuddle up with my children and watch a show. Night all.









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Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a long day today that started with a six o'clock wake up call. They were kind. It could have been a lot earlier. They were all very pleased with what they received. It was just unfortunate that many of their gifts were meant for outside and apparently this is the December monsoon season that we unfortunately forgot about. Hopefully a dry out will occur before they go back to school. It was strange not seeing my parents this year. I wanted to go surprise them so much, but I know that this was not the time for that. Hopefully her neck and condition will improve enough that we can see them soon. We did spend time with my brother and his family. Fifteen month old little ones are so fun and busy. She wore us all out. The evening is coming to a close and we are about to watch S's Christmas present from her brother: the second season of Survivor. We will also be playing canasta.

Hope you all have a great night and Merry Christmas!









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Thursday, December 24, 2015

It's almost the day....

The kids have gone upstairs and will desperately try to go to sleep.  Not going to happen, but they will give it a good try.  I am taking a 10 minute break to watch Ralphie try not to shoot his eye out.  The hub is playing some game on his phone.  We have already gone to church.  It was a wonderful service; my favorite kind.  It is loud and unpredictable, but it is still very meaningful.  G's friends E and CR played the violin and the piano and did beautiful jobs.  G sang and her sister and I accompanied her on ukulele.  The boy said the Christmas prayer.  We are very blessed.  Once we got home, we discovered that the elves had made a visit to drop off some pajamas and mess a little in the house.  They always seem to get in the fridge and eat something.  They left Star Wars miniatures next to the picante sauce this year.  We feasted on the traditional Christmas Eve meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Right after dinner, the hub and I were surprised by our youngest coming down the stairs dressed as Ralph in his pink bunny costume.  It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life.  I would put a picture of it up, but I am writing on the desktop and not on my pad.  I will flood the next edition with pictures.  My parents and the kids pulled off a good one.  I'm still laughing.  Afterwards, we sat together and read our two Christmas standards:  the Christmas story out of the Bible(we chose Luke's version this year) and Edwin Markham's "How the Great Guest Came".  It was extra special this year as the children took turns reading the passages for us.  We can stress over the gifts and who is going to fix what for dinner, but at the end of the day, we sit down together and remember the real reason for all of this...and we are thankful.  

Sleep well all of you.  I will pray that the reindeer don't damage your shingles and that the elves flush the toilet at your house(they always forget here).  God bless each of you and have a very merry Christmas tomorrow.

Night all.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Cookied out

Fa la la la laaaaaa...I am so tired.  I have baked more cookies in the past week than I have the past three years.  I am sick of looking at them.  Sick to death.  We will be handing them out to members of our community tomorrow who have to work on Christmas Eve.  It will be fun and we will enjoy ourselves, but I am not going to be sad to retire the mixer for a bit.  

It has been another busy day leading up to Christmas.  The boy went with his friend to see the new Star Wars movie and it is killing him to keep his mouth shut about it.  He better though!  I went shopping to try and find the hub a present.  He doesn't exactly play fair and give suggestions, so he gets what he gets.  Our Wisconsin relatives came through for a quick trip to drop items off, have a little cousin play time and then make their way to South Carolina.  They'll be back for a longer stay on Sunday.  The hub is out doing something and I am trying to get some side dishes pre-made for Friday.  Then it will be on to wrapping a few more gifts before I pass out.  I keep reminding myself what this holiday is all about and focus back on the new star shining that leads us to the real reason for Christmas.  

For now, I am going to take a trip to the dungeon to wrap for a while.  Night all and happy Christmas Eve Eve.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

We talked to the big guy...

It's been a long and busy day here at the ranch.  Lots of cooking and appointments and waiting in lines.  My work gave us all a gift card to Honey Baked Ham, so I went for my first visit ever and waited in line line with a bunch of the other crazies looking for Christmas meat.  I had no idea what an operation it was.  You ask them for what you want and then they bring it out, open it up and let you inspect it.  Not really sure what I was looking for, but it looked hammy to me.  I also had a lovely discussion about ham bones and their large role in tasty soup making with the employee.  After an afternoon of baking what seemed like 5 million cakes for our community meal on Saturday, the family and I took off for our annual trip to see the big guy in red.  The kids were various levels of excited and our wait in line brought with it prime people watching.  Their aunt and uncle came along as has been tradition for several years now.  It was fun as usual.  

I need to go and wrap up a cake to put in the freezer.  And then I am going to pass out.  I'm so tired.

Night all.

Monday, December 21, 2015

What an idiot I am...

The Monday before a Friday Christmas and where did I find myself? Two of the dumbest places to be: Toys R Us and the United States Post Office. Both have a big job to do this time of year for sure and both headquarters for insanity. I needed to get a package out to family for a Christmas Eve arrival and knew that I might have to sell a kidney to get it there. Luckily, I didn't have to stand in line for the hours I thought I would. I was in for about 30 minutes and saw lots of stressed out holiday mailers. The big blue outside mailboxes were stuffed to overflowing with letters full of Christmas cheer waiting to be taken to their intended recipients. People inside the post office were juggling stacks of boxes; one man had a tower of six tat he rested his chin on as he dodged people looking for boxes and tape and stamps. I got through unscathed. After spending time there and shopping and the pediatrician's office in the morning, I went home to have a tiny little snooze. Just enough to get a second wind and then go back out to the wolves. The kids decided to go with me...safety in numbers. The Toys R Us was the height of insanity as expected. We quickly discovered, after talking to an associate, that the toy we were looking for was out of stock and not to be restocked for the foreseeable future. It took us longer to get out of the store than it did to try and find the item. I was able to keep my sanity and not lose a child. We ended up finding what we needed at a specialty store, but only after a man barley missed shooting me in the face with a pop gun. It made for interesting shopping conversation..."Hey, remember that Christmas when I lost an eye in the toy store? Those pop guns are not a joke." It all turned out okay.

Gots to go wrap now. Night all.


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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Dog tired today

I am in another season of insomnia. It seems as though the seasons are coming closer together which really stinks. After going to bed at 10:30 last night, I flipped and flopped until I finally passed out from boredom I think. It was sometime after 4...which really sucked since I got up in the 6 o'clock hour. I have been a zombie today. I then had to go to a work Christmas party and then the hub and I wrapped presents all evening. Thank the good Lord for him. He is my hero.

I can't type anymore. Night all.


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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Far behind

I've been, in the last several years, pretty good about being ahead of schedule when it comes to Christmas shopping and that sort of thing. No wrapping presents on Christmas Eve and that sort of thing...I've been pleased with myself. Not so much this year. As I sorted gifts to see what I still needed to get, I realized that I was not nearly as far ahead and actually way behind. This is not a happy feeling. Not only does it send me into a panic, but it takes my eyes off the true meaning of the whole holiday. Not good. I worked on making candy today for the neighbors and prepping cookie dough for the Christmas Eve cookies to be delivered by a group of us to different businesses who have to be open and need a little extra cheer. It will get done and all will be fine.



Now I must go and get some things done. Have a good evening. NIght all.


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Friday, December 18, 2015

Yay for break!!!

Our Christmas break from school finally kicked off today after a half day of school. The two youngers wanted to go because there were talent shows to watch at their schools. S did not want to go as she and her fellow students had been told by teachers to absolutely not come. She felt they made their opinions so strongly known that she did not want to show her face there and, reluctantly(ha), slept in until her dad got her up at TEN. She did have exams and all that business, so I can't really blame her although it has been 20+ years since I have slept nearly that long. I did a little CHristmas shopping, a lot of cleaning and some baking today. We also took the dog for yet another torture session at the self dog wash. It was as entertaining as always and I do believe she is downstairs on her bed, smelling of Pupperoni and plotting our painful deaths. She smells 100% better, so whatever floats her boat. I am tired and am hoping that the hub will rub out whatever demon keeps popping my hip in and out. It hurts like the devil.

Night all and happy Friday.


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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Party day...whew

The boy had his Christmas party at school today. No shocker here, but talk about AMPED UP. Those children were mad excited about everything and sugared up to the nth degree. I was on glass ball ornament decorating duty. No pressure there. We managed to get through 24 children without breaking one during the making of them. I heard a few bit the dust later on, but not on my watch. My boy was very well behaved and a good share friend. I was a proud mom.

This afternoon I have been a taxi driver and shopping consultant for children. I'm not sure which was more exhausting, the party of the shopping. Either way, I really am ready for bed. But I go to bed grateful for a great teacher for my son and for a son who is a great guy(and his sisters aren't too bad themselves).

Night all.



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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

I have no words...well I do.

Soooo, my morning was quite productive. I delivered children to schools, picked up groceries, picked up needed items for Christmas parties, fought through a mountain of laundry and made cookie dough. Productivity and I were friends this morning. Then I picked the oldest up from school early...they get to leave after their exams are over for the day. We got her fed and then we sat down for a little rest. I was in a documentary mood, so I went surfing on Netflix and found something that has changed our lives. The whole afternoon started off with my daughter saying, "I hate documentaries!". This sparked a lively discussion about her not really knowing what a true doc was. She took offense and said she did. Anyhoo, I basically told her she just hadn't seen the right documentary and I would change her thinking. Then, enticed by the title, we chose this movie:



I don't think we took a full breath until it was over. My child witnessed the greatest piece of wackiness she has ever seen...and she LOVED it. People dressing up monkeys and calling them their daughters and letting their monkeys have baby dolls and birthday parties with elaborate cakes and discussions of having portions of their wills dedicated to monkey care and ladies saying that their 20lb monkeys are going to have to take care of them in their old age. It was insane. The best part about the whole documentary was that one of the profiled monkey people was a lady from our area. She has a business, Sonshine Monkeyshines, and has actually visited our church as a part of a Bible School kickoff treat. She has also had her monkeys at our local Fountain CIty Day in the park on Memorial Day. The monkeys eat Dum Dum suckers and scurry about in a somewhat terrifying manner for those unfamiliar with them. Mind BLOWN. If you have Netflix Instant Viewing, you must check this out. I cannot emphasize it enough.

I have baked cookies all evening and my dogs are barking. Night all.
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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Barking in the kitchen

My daughter wants to make special treats for some people, so I am in the kitchen making them. That sounds ugly. I am more than glad to do it. I love the holiday baking fun. I am currently waiting for a batch of peppermint bark to harden up and then I will be breaking it into little pieces for gift bags. A little of that stuff goes a long way, I mean mint oreos and candy canes and two kinds of chocolate. Yowsa. I hope it is eaten and enjoyed. The hub is in helping with exam studying and prep. It is math and, since they all have surpassed my abilities, I am glad to be the provider of beverages and refueling snacks as needed. That's about as much excitement as we have around here.

Night all!



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Monday, December 14, 2015

Cake and books and bball oh my

It is late and I have little left in the tank, but I will let you in on the events of a day on fast forward. The annual taking treats to the staff at the elementary school occurred today. This year went more smoothly than most. It helps to have the help of three children who have grown stronger over the years and can schlep more and more each season. The staff of the school enjoyed the treats I think and my mom's Italian Cream Cake was the hit of the lot. I called to let her know their reaction and I think it pepped her up a bit. She's had a hard day. Her PT was different today and caused her a lot of pain...but sometimes that has to happen to get to a better place. Let's pray that happens soon.

I did my favorite kind of shopping today: book shopping. It is always dangerous for me to go to a book store and I have a hard time getting out, but I escaped. Our elementary school librarian, Mrs. J, is retiring this month and there was a reception for her this afternoon. We could bring some books for the library in her honor. We got an oldie but goodie and a new one. A classmate of mine from high school is a successful artist, author/illustrator who has more talent in his finger than most 4person families do altogether. If you want a fun book, "Archie the Daredevil Penguin" is a good choice. Look that title up on youtube and you'll find a fun song to go with it as well. The boy is having a hard time with Mrs. J leaving. He spends a lot of time in the library and enjoys talking with her about book suggestions. It will be tough for him and all the children, but we wish her so much happiness in her retirement and will have our fingers crossed that she will come back to visit.

G did not get to go to the reception today and was bummed, but she missed for a good reason. She and her soccer teammates were honored at the middle school basketball game halftime for winning the middle school championship for the third year in a row. She has only been on the team for one of those years, but he sister was also on one of those teams. We were so proud that she was able to be a part of this team and had such a positive experience.

After all of that, we went to church and participated in day two of the church Christmas concert. It was lovely again. We are all tired and a bit relieved that this day is over.

Going to watch the rest of The Great Holiday Baking Show. Night all.




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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Day one: Done

Day one of the super duper church Christmas concert is done. The recording day is over and tomorrow night's performance should be a little more relaxed. The children did fine. I was worried about the boy's stamina. His body is not at 100% or even 90% after all this medicine and infection that is eating up his sinuses and ears. He made it and so did the others. Tomorrow will be at 7:30, so I have a feeling we will have some sleepy kids.

My dad came to bring some things to us today and saw the cantata as well. I wish my mom had been able to come, but her pain is just too great at this time. It really breaks my heart. We will send lots of videos, so hopefully she will feel a little like she was here with us.

G sang her song at our friend's church today. I was shaking like an idiot, but she held herself together so nicely. If I can figure out how to put the video on here, I will share it with you. I was one proud, nervous mom.

I'm going to watch "Homeland" now and hopefully find out Quinn is doing better...he's my favorite. Night all.


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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Super quick

The boy has struggled today. His medicine and yucky drainage upset his tummy this morning and now he has another fever...102.3. He is so done with being sinus/ear sick. He is done. It breaks my heart to see him so pitiful. Please pray that he can shake this so he can sing for the church Christmas concert tomorrow afternoon. He wants so badly to be with his group and get to be on TV. The hub and I are so frustrated he can't get well.

Pray for G as she sings tomorrow. I know she will do fine, but I am worried about the person playing her music...she's a shifty one. Let's hope she(her ukulele player)steps up and does a good job.

Pray for my mom. She has injured her neck and is in excruciating pain. She is not one to be still, ever, and it kills me to hear her suffer. I hope so that therapy works. She does not want to have surgery.

Night all. This house is sad, exhausted and done.

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Friday, December 11, 2015

Okay, so I may overdo it....

I heard someone say once that the ukulele is one of the only instruments that you can't play and frown at the same time. I find that to be true. While I may not have a super huge grin on my face when i play mine, I am smiling and happy on the inside. As I have spoken about recently, I have always been a big Sam Cooke fan. That has now amped up since I have learned how to play his songs on the ukulele. What is even better is that the kids have started singing them independently of me. I heard G singing, "Nothing, NOTHING can ever change this love I have for you...". Couldn't ask for a better sound. My fingers are raw from playing that song and maybe, just maybe, I have worn the family out with it. But they sure are troopers about it. I guess I maybe should break out some Christmas songs considering the season. I need to learn "When the River Meets the Sea" from John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. Haven't worn them out on that yet.

Night all.


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Thursday, December 10, 2015

Ear trouble once again

The poor boy, I tell you what. We were awakened in the night by G telling us that something was wrong with the boy. He was trying to hide his tears under his pillow, but we could hear hime. "I don't feel good and my ears hurt and I haven't slept all night." We got him out of bed, motrined him up, looked in his ears and then bedded him down with us. It has been a LONG time since we had a little visitor in our bed. Even though he kicked and flopped a fair amount, moaning from the pain of his ear, it was a sweet time to cuddle up with my baby. Time is passing too quickly and my babies are slipping away from me. I'll treasure every kick and snore from those children...even if I may not get any sleep and be evil the next day.

Sorry to cut this short. Watching Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" and getting teary. One of my very favorite songs ever. Ever.

Night all.


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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Another dose of spirit...

We had our children's program for Christmas at church tonight. It always gets me in the Christmas spirit for sure. All those sweet little faces, singing their hearts out. They get it...they have yet to learn to be cynical and find the joy and true excitement of the birth of Jesus. This was a little bit of a melancholy night for me. The boy participated in his first musical with the singing and drama group...he is the last of the three to still participate on this special night of singing. I got a little teary thinking about it. Not gonna lie. He was still as serious as he always is singing. Never will he crack a smile, but he sang every word and danced every dance. He felt the weight of his responsibility in the group and as a Roman soldier. He worked hard and wanted to contribute. His buddy D did a great job singing a solo and being a a very expressive and excellent angel. Ms. Kathryn directed another wonderful musical and Mrs. B and Mrs. Melissa directed two wonderful choirs. What a lovely evening!



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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Busy little Bethlehem, er, household

As the days get closer and closer to Christmas, more and more acivities are added to each week and things get crazy. Cra-ZY!!! My Friday afternoon became so full with activities that got added on to it today that I think it might explode before Thursday is done. That makes no sense, but let's just say it is jam packed. This evening I was practicing with G for her song that she is singing at a friend's church on Sunday. We have been practicing it for over a month and are really both getting to the point of being kind of over it. It's a sweet song...really it is. So I said, "I know you are kind of sick of this, but what is your favorite line in the song?". She had to think a bit and then declared she had made a decision. "But the cold, the dark and hunger couldn't take away their joy...". It was a good line for today. We were sitting in the cold and semi dark at soccer practice, hungry and grumpy from a long day, but the joy of the season, of the arrival of the King is a joy that can never be taken away. I pray that each of you can find that joy this season.

Night all.


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Monday, December 7, 2015

Dying socks kinda day

The little people in our church are going to have a Christmas party on Saturday with crafts and snacks and fun that is appropriate for them and not too overwhelming. They are going to be doing a sweet craft that is requiring me to dye socks. With tea. The basement smells lovely and the socks are looking okay...kind of splotchy. This might be a little problem if the color doesn't even out. We'll see how it looks when I run them through a rinse cycle. So besides dying socks in tea, it has been a sewing, picking up children from school and going to Charge Conference at church kind of day. The hub worked, took my car to get repaired, took the boy to scouts and hemmed another pair of pants. We are ready to conk out.

Hope everyone has a great night's sleep.

Night all.


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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Hemming husband

I am so very thankful for my husband. Not just today, but everyday. He is an extremely hard worker...he is an excellent father....he makes the best hamburger in the world...he can fix anything....five million other things....and he can hem the heck out of some pants. I sew and I can hem pants alright, but I would rather take a beating than do it. This man has hemmed two pairs of pants in the last three days and I couldn't be more glad of that fact. He took a squirmy eight year-old boy and made him still enough to get the pants legs right and even. He ironed them and sewed them up. What a rock star! And, no, I am not being sarcastic. I am so very grateful for him. I am one lucky woman.

Night all.


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Saturday, December 5, 2015

We're crazy parade people

We had our community Christmas parade today. It started off very chilly, but with about 25 layers between the five of us, I think we were okay. S marched in the band, but I didn't really get to see her. I was handing out candy about 7 floats behind her. Speaking of floats, our church did their usual float of children dressed up like members of the Christmas story. The Cub Scouts walked with us and one of our associate pastors drove the church bus. The staging area before the parade is always a hotbed of activity when people boldly ask for pictures from random people they find interesting. For example:



The hub couldn't help but get a selfie with the jolly old elf...in the parking lot of a CiCi's Pizza. Oh yes, he did. Then one of our pastors and my son had their pictures made with the "Candy Cane Queens". They have been a community fixture in the Christmas parade for many years:






There are no words. Really. G rode on the trailer with the children and made sure they were happy and enjoying themselves:



It was a great morning. Lots of ways to get into the Christmas spirit.

Night all.
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Friday, December 4, 2015

Gettin' our tree on

We finally were able to get to the tree lot and pick out our favorite Frasier Fir. Boy does it smell good! G helped her daddy get it off of the top of the car and get it into the house. After the in laws arrived and we had dinner, we got to decorating the tree. I thought we had a pretty substantial tree this year, but it filled up quickly. We are learning we have to be more choosy about which ornaments go up as we have accumulated so many treasures. The kids sang Christmas songs with our Pandora Christmas station and hung each ornament with care. They placed each Santa with purpose. We had all left the living room but G. She was meticulously placing each member of the Playmobil nativity set in their proper place. "Baby Jesus? Now you are going to be right here in the middle of all that is going on. Watch out...I'm not sure how good of a camel steerer that one wise man is." She then started singing "Mary, Did You Know?" and placed the Holy Family around Jesus and put everyone in their proper place. Sure, we do Santa and the tree and all that business, but she knows what the true meaning is all about. Sweet girl.






Tomorrow is the community Christmas parade and S is marching. She worked hard to decorate her drum and get everything ready:


The others are marching with our church's flatbed and bus. It should be fun!

Night all...tomorrow's going to be busy.
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Thursday, December 3, 2015

A shot of Christmas Spirit

Tonight we had a lovely time hearing all of our oldest's(and her classmates')hard work at the high school Winter Band Concert. It was full of lots of melodies to get us all in the Christmas spirit. S was so nervous, but she did an excellent job on her pieces. It took me back to my holiday concerts and the fun, and stress, that came with them. I was one proud mom and one crazy woman hit with the holiday spirit. Now I am tired, cold and ready for bed.

Night all!



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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

I don't know what to say....

The day started productively enough really. I got some Christmas presents purchased, some decorating done, some laundry clean. I may have even hummed some holiday tunes and planned some baking to make soe tasty treats...and then I turned on the news. When, for the love of everything holy, is this violence going to stop? The non-gun people say it is because there aren't enough restrictions on guns. The gun people say that not enough people are armed and ready to defend themselves. What do I think asked no one ever? I don't know. I think there are so many sick people out there. I don't know how else to truly explain it to my children. I want to wrap them up and put them in a little bubble where nothing can touch them. But that isn't possible. All my husband and I can do is teach them right from wrong and how to deal with life in a healthy way. Give them a whole lot of love and a whole lot of Jesus's words and hope that they are equipped enough to make it through life. God be with all those victims in California and all of the recent and similar tragedies. Just heartbreaking.

Night all.


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Tuesday, December 1, 2015

But the rain came down and the flood rose up...

Good golly we need to freshen up our knowledge of cubits and such down here in the south. The hub and a hired professional replaced all the gutter guards or helmets or whatever they are called this weekend. Thank goodness they did or we would have much more of a mess than we do. After straight drenching rain for too many days in a row, we have a leak in the basement. If the guards had not been changed, there would be no blog post...only the sounds of mopping and the shop vac. I am grateful for my saint of a husband who takes care of us and this house. My hero for sure!

I cannot believe it is December. Can you? Even as I say that, I feel a great sense of urgency thinking of all that I have left to do. Instead, I really need to slow down and watch and wait for all that is to come. Jesus is coming and it is such a time of excitement and anticipation. Pray that I can remember that.

I'm going to bed now, lulled to sleep by the sound of rain pitter pattering on our roof. Who am I kidding...I'll be wondering if a mop or a vacuum will be on tap for tomorrow morning.

Night all.


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