I..............AM...............

DONE!




Christmas Shopping that is!



WOO-HOO!

First, um............?snow?

"SNOW SNOW SNOW!" was the excited shriek that came from down the hall where the kids had been playing.


I peeked out the window and sure enough, snow was falling. Pretty, soft and silent snow flakes. I adore snow. I love watching it fall, I love the crunch when walking on newly fallen flakes. I adore the quiet-peacefulness of a snowfall.



However....................

When it snows and my three small children see it, they can think of nothing else but going outside to play. This requires that I bundle them up in three layers of clothes, boots, hats and scarves. They go running outside and play in the snow for about 10 minutes and then come back in the house. Cold, wet and stripping layers. I do laundry for the rest of the day while I clean up the dirty snow from the floor.

Anyway, lets take a peek at the fun ten minutes the kids spent outside in the ?snow? Well snow is a stretch....skiff...dusting....only enough to make snow to make the kids excited and my floor wet and dirty.

Look..the snow is so deep...I can barely see my children. KIDS! KIDS!! Where are you!?

brat....

brat in training


baby doll

so happy that I bundled him up like an Eskimo...see how happy he is?

CHRISTMAS TREE!

To lighten the mood around here...lets take a look at our newly up Christmas tree.


We have a pre-lit artificial tree, well....actually pre-lit is an exaggeration. It USED to be pre-lit, but now 9/10 of the lights are burned out. We got this tree when I was pregnant with Makayla. I loved it so much. It is one of those high quality trees, with all of the lights tightly interwoven in the branches, the strands are clipped on to the tree and when it was new and all the lights worked, it was breathtaking. However for the last three years we have had to add more lights every year. Sitting down to remove all of the lights from the branches would take days and more time and patience than I possess. Instead we bought lights and put them on the tree with the burnt out strands. It was not terribly noticeable until last year when all 8 pre-lit strands were out and so it was fairly obvious that there were 800 burned out bulbs on the tree under the 600 or so that we had put on in replacement.

So anyway...this year we decided (we being the kids and I) that we would get a small real tree and make all of the ornaments and decorations. So I popped pop-corn, bought fresh cranberries and the ingredients needed to make cinnamon and salt dough ornaments.


We spent days stringing pop corn and cranberries, you see here Cameron eating the pop-corn intended for the garland. It kind of went like this; one for the garland, five for Cameron, one for the garland, three hand fulls and 15 minutes of Spongebob for Cameron.



Finally the garlands were done and we put them in a "safe" place. Safe until Olivia woke up from her nap. She then proceeded to pick the pop-corn from the garland and eat it until I hid the strands from her grubby little fingers.



We spent nearly a week making, baking and painting salt-dough and cinnamon ornaments. They were fun for us all.



Then on Sunday we went to get the tree. We had originally decided on a small tree so our ornaments would look good, however we had MA with us and in his opinion, bigger is better, so we ended up with a 61/2 foot tree and our few ornaments and garlands only covered a small portion of the tree. So along with our few home made ornaments we also have some of our regular ornaments too. The tree turned out well...oh and hey...we did not have to buy any lights....we already had 600 waiting to be used!

The kids waiting to decorate the tree

The finished product!

So, we don't have to worry about making it on the flex board anymore

Things are happening quickly here. Too quickly, my head feels like it is spinning and I would like someone to stop the dizzying spin..please?

Someone?

Anyone?

Oh good...it is you LORD...thank you. You are always here...please keep reminding me of YOUR presence...I need it right now.
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This morning, after working all night MA came in and finished up his paperwork and prepared to come home, when his manager stepped from his office and said, "MA...we need to talk"

MA emerged from that office unemployed, or the technical company term is "economically terminated". For the first time in his working life...he is unemployed.

Can I tell you how far your stomach drops when your only source of income for your home; the support for your three small children; the check that pays your mortgage, groceries, utilities, is instantly gone. Let me tell you, it took me a little while to pick mine back up.

We are being blessed with a small severance package and full unemployment pay, it is more than many.

MA has a lead on another job but it will be after the first of the year before that possibly comes through. His manager told him he felt pretty sure he would be able to call him back, but that also would not be until after the first of the year.
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LORD?

Oh good You are still here. Stay close....my knees are feeling weak.

Thanksgiving, short trip, shopping, a funeral and job woes

A catch up thread:

Thanksgiving day we packed up the van, ready to skip out on the holiday. Preparing to leave the dysfunction that holidays inevitably bring out in all families, the stress of Michael's impending job changes and life in general behind for a few days. We didn't make it out scott free however. My grandma called, she had purposely cooked early so we could eat before our planned escape time of noon. Bless her heart, we contemplated escaping early but decided that even with all of the dysfunction, we love our family dearly and stayed for lunch.

While eating, my grandfather got up from the table and to the bathroom, he had a piece of turkey stuck in his esophagus. This is not the first time this has happened and not thinking it was going to be a big deal, we loaded to kidlets into the van and away we went.

Wrong. Papaw ended up having minor surgery that evening to clear the obstruction. He was home that night but still.....crazy.

Our trip was nice, relaxing, we got most of the Christmas presents bought for the adults in our families. I am, however, a lame brain and forgot my camera, so you will just have to take my word for it, it was fun.

On our way home my mom called. My great aunt had passed away. Her funeral was today...it was so sad to see my grandmother mourn the loss of her sister-in-law. She was the first of her six siblings and their spouses to pass away. It is also very sobering for me to think that someday I will lose my grandparents, it is not a thought I want to entertain.

Moving on to more fun stuff...Mikes work has been slow. They laid off two people which means we lost our bid and are now back on the flex board. What is the flex board..you ask? It means we are not guaranteed work. It is also swing shift, days nights, whenever...we will never know day to day...hour to hour. It is also a 20-40% pay cut.

So um...yeah.

We are ok though God has never let us down, and I do not expect Him to start now. We made it for two years on the flex board and we can do it again. God will support us spiritually and financially.

Now...on to Christmas!! Tree is up this weekend...pictures to follow :)

Yeah Yeah...I know...end of the week and all

So...last week I told you that I would tell you all about the Fall Festival, show you the fruits of my labor and let you know how it went. To be honest, I was to lazy all week to make that happen, well lazy and drowning in turkey. We had a dinner at our house on Sunday for 17 people so I was a *little* busy.


Never the less, I want to keep my word, albeit a few days late.


The piles of diapers that I showed you in my floor? They were to make two diaper cakes that our family donated to the benefit auction. What? You don't know what a diaper cake is? Well my friend, let me show you.


At around 3 hours each, these pictures represent a lot of work.

One for a boy;





One for a girl;





Each class room collected items and made baskets to be in the auction as well. This is the basket that Makaylas' class collected, the theme was toys.






This...this we will call "When Good Ideas Go Bad"

My first attempt at a "Lolly pop tree" yeah...I use the word "attempt" lightly. More like goofy looking mess that I created and blush to admit that.


Second attempt. Better, more like a "Lolly pop flower" instead of a tree, but it is late, and the Fall Festival starts in just a few hours, it will have to do.


The Fall Festival was a success. The games all came off with only one or two glitches, nothing major. The auction was lucrative, and the school raised a very good amount of money. Exhausting...yes. Worth it? Definitely.

Groceries

OH MY!

I am so glad that gas has come down, here it is now below 2.00 a gallon. Very nice. So, when are groceries going to follow suit?

I went grocery shopping today, I had to buy items for a Thanksgiving meal I am preparing on Sunday, do you know how much I spent?

Guess?

$200.00!

Yes, it is insane. I swear I do not know how you can live today, it makes my heart skip a beat or two.

*SIGH*

Ummmm....OOPS

As I flew out of the house last Wednesday, I was weighted down with a baby on my hip my purse on my shoulder, my make up bag and a change of clothes in my hand. I was BUSY! I was herding the Makayla and Cameron out in front of me to the van, headed to school. I was going to drop them off and head to the walking track. After a 4 mile walk, my plan was to change clothes, throw on a smidge of make up and Olivia and I were to go grocery shopping. After that was done we were headed to get Cameron at school, come home put away the groceries and eat lunch. A full morning no doubt, but nothing out of the ordinary, until;



That darn top step. As I was stepping down from the top step of the porch, I caught my heel. My ankle twisted as I came down, with my load of items and my precious baby girl. I managed to fall/stumble/dance down the following 4 steps and get on the ground, sit Olivia down before I fell. I managed to get all the way down with out dropping her, or falling on her. In fact I did not drop anything!

(Where is my SUPER MOM cape that Cameron unceremoniously took from me?)

No seriously, it was a miracle from The LORD above, HE protected me and my baby.

I sat on the ground writhing in pain while Makayla and Cameron danced around me asking me what was wrong. Makayla ran back in the house to get MA who had just gotten home. He came out and helped me back in the house and took the kids to school. I did NOT make my walk that day, or for that matter the rest of the week.



The swelling is better now, but was UGLY that night. I was back on the track this morning, at a quarter of my usual distance, but it is a start.


Darn that top step. It must not know how busy I am.

I love these little people

What is not to love I ask you?



Again....how could you not love these four humans and that one fluffy canine?



I love MA, I love fall too. I am in all sorts of love today.

I love fall because it is cool, the bugs are gone, it feels clean and crisp. Oh, and pumpkin patch trips. The colors of fall are so vibrant and deep much like the deep oranges of the pumpkins, the bright yellow and red of the trees or the crisp brown of the end of the corn field and the sweet aroma of ripe apples. All of these previous things are found at the pumpkin patch.

So come with me on our recent pumpkin patch adventure..........

Makayla insisted that we bring Alyce along, adamant that she would thoroughly enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of fall as much as we do.

Makayla loves taking pictures with Alyce....

Can we please get one where they are looking at me? Probably not....



Take it fast, I finally got them to look at me. Actually I told them I was not going to leave them alone and let them play on the fun obstacle course until they looked at me. I am a mean mama.

Well, I almost got them all. Two out of three isn't bad, but seriously...she is cute anyway...who cares if she is looking at me or not.

The rest of the afternoon was so much fun for us and the kids. Cameron drove a tractor

They did have baby cows in pens in the back of the property, but our kids were not impressed, they can walk to our back yard any day and see cows.

As the afternoon came to a close, we began the all important pumpkin choosing. We told them they could have a 5.00 pumpkin, we then showed them where those pumpkins were. Like dutiful little children Makayla and Cameron picked pumpkins from that area, Cameron choosing a white pumpkin and Makayla choosing a funny shaped field pumpkin.

While the two older babes were picking out their pumpkin, Lil' Miss Olivia had wandered to the large pumpkins in the 7.00 row. We gently re-directed her to the 5.00 pumpkins, but once that girl has her mind made up, there is no changing it. However, I ask you...how do you say no to this?

Now she is saying "mama...daddy! Help me!" I swear...this will come back to bite us some day, but right now...I just can not say no to that.

Look...daddy is helping her...daddy to the rescue.

I really do love Fall.

They are MULTIPLYING!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!


I woke up this morning and..and...and....and there were TWO MORE! I blinked hard and no...there were still two more. I looked at MA and gave him THE LOOK.


"Did you do this to me?" I asked.


he answered, "no, you did this to yourself"


"oooohhhh...yeah, that's right, I forgot"



I had told Misty, (remember her from the birthday party post...the one who could have never found true love and happiness with out me, she NEEEEEEEEEEEDED me to find the ONE person who would put up with her...er I mean marry her...er I mean the one person who would love her forever (I kid Misty...maybe.... :P)) anyway, she has spawned three children of her own, and asked me to watch her two oldest one day this week. Her girls are 6(almost) and 7, and are great friends with Makayla.


They arrived early in the morning much to the joy of my own babes. Like the PERFECT mother I am I fixed pancakes, like I do every morning (I will repeat my disclaimer here of breakfast, "EVERY" in this case means maybe once a month, or when the moon is blue) because you see, I am SUPER MOM!!

CAMERON...quit pulling on my super mom cape!!


ok....moving on, Cameron took off with my Super Mom cape...mumbling something about me getting stuff from his toy box...dang kids and wanting to play with their toys.


Misty brings her kids who have not eaten in DAYS, or at least 20minutes.
(if one is going to take pictures of her house, one should remove the basket of laundry eh?)



poor poor little malnourished children...if they only could eat at home....**shakes head in despair**

It was not long until the girls had located Makaylas make up. Let me tell you, when you turn 3 6-7 year old girls loose with make up, many things happen, including glittery hair, perfume to make you choke, several colors of lip gloss, eye shadow, blush and finger nail polish..all at one time....one the same girl.

See Makayla in the back ground getting ready to attack somebody with more hair glitter?

What are they doing under my cabinets?

Get out of my cabinets child! What is my child doing? Is she trying to get IN the cabinet?

Mayci looking not to badly attacked.

uh oh, the little brother is crashing the party...

Look, these three have found Sponge Bob...we love Sponge Bob.

Night in Nashville

As promised, the complete run down of our night in Nashville.

We arrived at MAs' aunts home around 6pm on Sunday night. The kids jumped and ran from the van to see Rachel, Bessie and Rodney. But mostly Rachel...

When Makayla found out that Rachel was going to be home this weekend, she could have cared less if the rest of us were there, or if Aunt Bessie was there, only that she was getting to see Rachel.

Immediately she scooped up Olivia to love on her.

Then she took them down to Uncle Rodneys' pond...or puddle...what ever you want to call it. After a few minutes, the door opens, in walks Makayla, Olivia...............................no Cameron. I peek around the corner to see Cameron dangling from Rachels' arms, being stripped naked.

Curious, I asked a flustered Rachel what happened, then I see the mud that covers Cameron from his knees down. Evidently he thought it would be a nice afternoon to go wading, even though he protested saying it was "just an accident" I am quite certain his little feet knew exactly where they were going.

After running embarrassed in his skivvies through the house to grab his HULK pajamas, he was back to get some love from Rachel too.

Makayla, not to be left out was sure to stake her claim to Rachels' lap for the rest of the evening.

Sadly, we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked, they had to work the next morning, and we had plans as well.

We took Rachel to breakfast and then to the airport for the flight back to L.A., and headed for Opry Mills Mall to spend the rest of our day.

Makayla had a few dollars burning a hole in her pocket and wanted to go to Build A Bear so badly, Cameron wanted to go to the arcade at Dave and Busters. Upon Arriving at Build A Bear Olivia decided that this would be good place to spend some of her money too...she wanted a "PUFFY!!!" "I want a PUFFY DADDY!"

So we are now the proud owners of a Bunny and a "Puffy"

At this point my camera battery died so I have no more pictures of our day, but just know that Dave and Busters was a BIG hit, Cameron had a blast. I wish I had video of him on the Dance Revolution game....that was hysterical, I haven't laughed that hard for quite some time. He had a little audience even.

It was a very nice weekend, and we can't wait to see Aunt Bessie and Uncle Rodney again soon and be able to spend some more time with them next visit.

A GREAT Birthday!

Yesterday I entered the last year in my twenties. MA surprised me with a beautiful gold/yellow Cala Lilly. We went to lunch with my parents at a local Mexican restaurant..mmmmm......

We then bolted to MAs' company pic-nic. We stayed the appropriate amount of time and then blew out of there headed to Tennessee.

We spent the evening with MAs' aunt, uncle and cousin. They are the most welcoming and loving people. The kiddos love them completely and absolutely adore going to visit them. We then bunked there for the night, and spent today shopping and having nice family time, and just got home a few hours ago. I will update tomorrow with details and pictures....I promise I really will!

Friday.....

Friday nights are special in our home. Friday signifies the end of the school week, a rest from getting up early. A night when you come home, drop your back pack and don't look at it for two days.



Supper is normally something easy and kid friendly. It could be soup and a pb&j. It could be pizza or Mc Donalds. Followed by a leisurely warm bath to wash away the week, as opposed to the rushed bath that happens on school nights, to make sure we meet bed time. Daddy tucks in on Friday nights, that is a treat, it is the only day he is home late enough to do that.



Friday is also the day that I change the sheets on the beds. So on Friday night, after the back pack dropping, kid friendly supper, warm bath, off to the fresh, clean smelling sheets, and a warm bed, already turned down. The movie is already playing in the TV, a luxury only for Friday nights. Daddy follows to do the tuck in honors.

Doesn't this make you want to crawl in?


Look at the paint peeled on the walls...I give up.....but the bed...doesn't it look inviting?



They may be spoiled a little, but that is ok. Watching them snuggle down into their fresh covers and drift off to sleep is worth it.