You Don't See That Every Day

We are 3 days into the month of December and yet it feels like Christmas is coming in just a couple of days! Have I done anything to get ready for Christmas? We strung some lights - have yet to plug them in. We've gotten out the boxes. Maybe I will decorate today. I've thought about the cards and yearly letter. Still thinking. I sure enjoyed having all my kids at home during the Thanksgiving break. Even though it was busy with school conferences and shopping for items we don't have time to shop for during 'normal' days, I still had fun with my minions, playing games, having dinner together (!) visiting family. And now, I am so ready for that Christmas break! Between basketball, swimming and choir rehearsals, and everyday life, we've managed to celebrate another birthday. The Boy turned 17 this week. How is this possible? I ask myself nearly every day this week, And yet, the return image from the mirror of my white hairs threaded through my head shocks me int...

Something unusual happened to me today. Since the kids are at VBS all week, either helping or attending, Little K and I have been having some fun. Ok, not really 'fun' to a 3 year old, but we are getting things done! Today we hauled some more stuff out of the house and dropped it at a relative's garage sale. Then we hauled some cans and bottles to be recycled - gotta love the Oregon .05 back deal!! I had a big bag that another relative had given me because they didn't want to be bothered with returning the cans. Free money - I don't mind! So far, nothing out of the ordinary. So here I am in my running clothes, hat in my hair, I didnt' think I looked too bad for 11 in the morning, since I had not even run yet! And K was dressed and happy sitting in the grocery cart handing my cans to recycle. Along comes this older man and he sticks out his hand and says, "You dropped this." Um, what? He is handing me a $20! I told him oh no, it wasn't me. He in...

When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was a magical day, full of anticipation, and occasionally snowy fun. As an adult, and mom, it's just not quite the same. I was still fixing up presents and writing out cards this year on Christmas Eve. I had it in my mind to paint candles for a gift. But my attempts, my rough drafts, turned out horribly. So I knew that wouldn't work. Then my husband suggested melting them down and making a candle. So we did some Internet research and tried it. Using an old pot, some chop sticks, and (thankfully it was in the cupboard!) wicks, we tried our hand at candle-making. I wouldn't have made it too far in the pioneer days if my life depended on candles. We would have been the family in the dark. Thankfully, again, my husband came to my rescue. He actually got into the 'craft' more than I did, trying different colors, and forms. We melted a bunch of wax and crayons to make colors. The kids were in charge of peeling the crayon paper....

Do you ever have themed Christmases? The movies do that well, with trees that are all matchy-matchy, and family photos where everyone is wearing matching shirts. Or maybe everyone gets a certain theme gift(s) for Christmas. Although I think I would get some grief from my family if I gave everyone a theme gift, like stopwatches and workout videos; or action figures and comic books. Our theme this year is : Stress , er, I mean Experiences. We want this holiday to be about more than presents. We don't want the kids sitting around dreaming of what they are *getting*; I don't want to stop and think about what I may be getting! But on the other hand, I want it to be fun, and I want the family to know we love them and are thinking of them. Money feels like it is just flying out of my purse this month. I can see it, in my mind, being sucked out of the zippered pockets of my bag, *whoosh*. And so we came up with the idea to have an Experience Gift instead of having the kids unwrap a...

 Pre-Holiday weekend This girl got her braces off and is waiting for the retainer coming next week. I think it's safe to say she is thrilled to be able to eat popcorn again, and caramels, and gum.  I think those might show up on her wish list for Christmas. On Friday evening G and the Boy went to see The Hobbit movie. So the girls and I watched a movie at home and had craft time with my sister. We made ornaments. I got to color! That can be SO relaxing! And we used glitter-glue. Normally I hate glitter glue. When I taught 5 year old's, or 3 year old's at church, I was that teacher who hid the glitter-glue when it was craft time. But this time around, I kind of had fun with it. Maybe because I had older children and not as much chance of a mess. Although when Little K got a hold of the glitter glue tube ... I started twitching.     Ice cream was involved. As it should be. And this weekend the girls had their choir performances. They have been working o...

I love having a pickup - the thought crossed my mind more than a few times this morning. I hurried up the girls and we headed out to my dad's farm one more time before the rains come. We had some potatoes and carrots to dig! My dad wasn't so sure I should drive our pickup down to the field; he even offered me the tractor! I don't think Dad has ever let me drive that tractor. I politely declined, knowing my 4-wheel drive could handle it. I did stay on the dirt road, per his instructions. And we experienced some awesome fishtails and 'squizzling' with the back tires. If I knew my dad and husband wouldn't have minded, I would have tried spinning some donuts out in the field. We got nice and muddy - on the tires, and our jeans. Digging potatoes and carrots in the near-winter is not a neat and easy job like it can be in the summer. But the end results are delicious. In other grand news - our Boy is having a birthday this week. I have been searching and researchin...

A few weeks ago a facebook friend shared the following website with us. And once I looked through the Inspiration Gallery , I was hooked! I love these little nests and how you can personalize them. A mother's ring, or charm bracelet are something that everyone has, (or could have) but these - I have never seen such a cute idea! The above photo is the one I had made for my mother in-law. She doesn't read this blog, that I know of!, and so won't see her Christmas gift too early. One color represents our kids, the pink represents the colors of G's brother who has girls, and the other brown is for the other brother's children. I'm wondering how I could fit 21 on there for my parents! ;) One more cool thing about this gift - the story behind why the crafter is making and selling these. They are raising money to adopt! And since orphans have been so dear to my heart for many years, I couldn't resist helping out someone who wants to bring a child home a...

I hit 4000 swagbucks today! I'm on my way to earning more for gift shopping come the end of the year! And it hasn't taken any effort to get here. I joined Swagbucks sometime last year, and used some of my points last December for gift cards at Christmas time. All it took was searching things on the internet (which we do plenty of during school) and answering a daily poll every morning (which is kind of fun). You can watch videos or take surveys or play games to earn points too, and then when you feel like it you can redeem them for items. Very cool. Of course there are plenty of other ways to earn them, but the ones I mentioned are the few I have tried. If you want to join up, use my referral link http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/TinyElvis or check them out first at www.swagbucks.com

Yeah - this is about 3 days later now, but I was on vacation (which you'll see in the next post) Mother's day and all you know... We're off and running again. The Big Day has come - Miss M's first race. She has been training with me for about a month now. Back before my half-marathon I would take her out once in awhile when I could fit it into the schedule. Afterwards I tried to make more effort to get her out and running. And she was always ready to go. So this past week we worked her up to 2.5 miles. With some walking.  I wasn't sure how this race would go. She has never in her life run 3.1 miles. But this Saturday she did it! With only one walk, because I Made Her Stop and Walk up a hill! My girl amazed and delighted us. She kept up the pace the whole time, and really enjoyed passing people! She ran the whole thing in 31 minutes and 19 seconds. Wow! I think the deal her dad made her at the start of the race also motivated her - ice cream if...

Last night my oldest girl and I went down to the church for a fun night out. We learned some new crafts and got some great ideas for Christmas gifts. Hopefully I'm not giving any secrets away here ... We started out singing Christmas carols, and then set to the work. All we used were simple household items and glue guns. First for our group was earrings. We picked out whichever buttons caught our fancy, glued them together and added the backing. So simple! After we had made a couple of those and burned our fingers enough times, we headed to the next demonstration - marshmallow pops. Many of you might have seen the cake pops craze going around the country. Well this is similar, but OH, so much easier. All that we used was a marshmallow, candy cane, and some sticky powdered sugar/ milk mixture. It will be perfect to put in hot chocolate this winter. After a short break time, my Girl and I headed to the next craft instead of the other food demo. We were short on time an...

I had some alone time today! I did not have to take any girls with me I went to pick up the Boy from school. And I also got to go for a run, all on my own! Which gave me lots of quiet time to think. Here is what came of it: 1. I am trying to budget better. i have been keeping track of what we spend daily, and monthly. The one month (October, blech) that I did not keep daily track, we went over on our spending. Oops. It's a great motivator, for me, to try and beat the numbers each month. 2. Should we keep Netflix or not? I have been thinking about where we can cut costs. Yes, the looming bills for the remodel are spinning in my brain. And I am in the cutting mode. But ... I sure like watching certain shows I can only get through Netflix... unless I buy it from Amazon. Hmm....and then I could sell it ... I think I might be leaning towards Cut. 3. I am beginning to think of gifts for that holiday that comes after Thanksgiving. I won't say the word, because November belongs to...