Snow Day…

Oh snow day… please be at peace in this household. Although, you’ve not started out good so far… why did you beckon the children out of their beds at 7:15 when you cancelled school? I don’t really like you for that reason.

Pioneer Woman…

I don’t know where you were all of my life but hello, I’m glad you made an appearance. Your food is beyond divine. And people love me more because of you. Thank you.

(PS… cinnamon roll recipes made 52 rolls… our senior ladies loved them, our worship team loved them, well… we all simply loved them.)

Bon Appetit…

I’m sitting in the quietness that is normal for almost 12:30 am.  My youngest is on the couch next to me, crash for the past couple hours.  The middle one is in MY bed with my pillow having just fallen asleep to the latest Indiana Jones movie.  Stephen is zonked and the oldest spent the night with a friend.  They were going to get to go swimming so I hope they had a great night…

We went out for the evening earlier… we had a couple returns to do at the mall from CHRISTMAS!  Uh, hello… about time.  Then we headed to Charlie’s favorite restaurant.  Red Robin.  It’s another place we have down to a science.  We, Stephen and I, split a whiskey river burger, tomato on the side so I can have it and Stephen doesn’t have to touch it, then we can get drinks.  Not that drink…  Stephen gets a chocolate milkshake and I get the raspberry limeade.  Delight.

We swung by Family Christian on the way, I love that store, picked up a couple cd’s, a book, and a magazine and headed home.  The boys went to the bedroom and I rented a movie I’ve been wanting to see…

Julie/Julia.  It was good.  I won’t say it was the best ever but I really, really enjoyed it and the story.  I kinda get the lady.  There’s something to be said about not really having a clear cut direction and feeling a little lost at times.  And, I love cooking, although I must admit Mastering the Art of French Cooking has never appealed while mastering Pioneers Woman’s Cookbook has a ton of appeal.  I don’t know what that says about me though because they probably each contain the same amount of butter.  Seriously.

The past few weeks have been really crazy.  Not like hair-pulling crazy.  Just simply back to the routine crazy…  and it’s honestly taken me a couple weeks to get back into the groove.  You see… I could probably look you straight in the eyes and say, “I feel no need to compete with June Cleaver or Mrs. Prov31…”  And in some way I would even believe it.  But.  Well, simply put… But.

I.  Do.  Feel.  The.  Need.  (and confession… when I can’t or when I’m feeling really inadequate I tend to shut down.)  Give me any list and I can knock out each item faster than you can say it.  Give me a room to organize, it will be alphabetical.  Leave me in my life where I feel like I’m spinning my wheels with no tangible progress…  goodbye world, goodbye.  (I’m hoping you heard the Cathedrals when I said that last line.  If not, look it up.  Great song.)

Anyways…  The book that I picked up… okay, I picked it up… Stephen bought it for me is called… are you ready?!?

Ta-Da. So, beginning Monday… my house will be worthy of June and Mrs. 31 because it will clean itself.  Oh shoot… I fell asleep and was dreaming.

Anyways, I’m only through a chapter and a half and something made sense.  Not only for our house/home but for my life.  She says you must have your HBZ… Home Base Zone.  One place… any place… that can set your mood.  One place that if it’s clean, all is well and if dirty… well, the bottom has fallen out.  I’m not quite sure of my place yet.  I have a couple thoughts rolling around but her premise is… make HBZ your priority.  Promise that no matter what befalls…  that one place will be inspectable, clean, picked up at all times…  So, you choose your HBZ and there is your peace spot.

And I was thinking… hmmm, I think life in general is kinda like that… If I’m not on top of anything or on task with anything I’m completely tail-spinning… But, if I can keep one area together and focused and on point… well, it’s all easier to handle.

Not sure what that means but maybe in the morning it will make sense.  Or, maybe the book will tell me.

I do know that today felt successful.  It’s amazing how good the little things sometimes feel…  I finished my assignment for my Illustrator Class.  Finally choose a movie poster to replicate for my Photoshop final project (not due for several weeks but there’s several phases…)  Here it is:

I love this movie, mostly because it makes me uncomfortable and makes me cry.  But it makes my insides intensely patriotic and in general, I love it.  Anyways…

I paid bills.  I folded socks.  I processed a couple Pampered Chef orders.

My To Do list still has things that need to be crossed off.  I’m not sure I’ll ever manage Prov.31 status…  while watching the movie, it crossed my to maybe take that challenge and post about.  Then I reconsidered.   Then I considered.  I re-read that dreaded chapter 31 and truth be known.  She’s a mighty fine woman.  One that I would love to be… and quite honestly, each of us could choose to be her.

I’m sure this mighty woman had melt downs but a legacy doesn’t speak of the exceptions… they speak of the majority.  So…  quite honestly, this should be my pursuit.

I’ve got several aims for this year.  Some big.  Some small.  Some new.  Some old.  I am going to implement the new book I bought because I think it’s going to be a good fit.  I would like to get art hung on my walls.  I would like to establish more routines.  But in general, two verse stuck out.  If this could be my legacy.

She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

I would stand before my Father fulfilled.

Until later… Au revoir

Please Pass the Pearls…

Umm, June Cleaver… could you please pass the pearls. A few months ago I won The Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook and I must testify.

That woman can COOK and praise the Lord that she shared her gift. So far, her recipes are wonderful!!

Sugar Cookies, Pancakes, and Texas Sheetcake. Heavenly.

Although, I must say, the sheetcake… Stephen made that. From start to finish from scratch.

Yup.

Food for Thought…

I packed my son a official Army M.R.E. for lunch today… I just pray he can get the thing open to eat it. And hopefully he likes it because if not he’s gonna be hungry. Nothing like mac&cheese in a pouch, flat bread and pretzels… he was excited and it was quick. THanks, Uncle Stephen. We made need more if he like’s it. Anyone know where I can purchase those in bulk? (Side note: Have you ever noticed how many calories are in ONE MRE?!? Almost 2000!!!)

Last night, I made heavenly sugar cookies straight out of the Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook. They were beyond divine.

That’s all for now. My life is taking my time: school (4 classes… hello), Pampered Chef (although it’s been slow… I have two shows next week though), church (getting some new brochures and post cards done), piano (taking Maddie to lessons and playing every other Sunday takes time), the house (don’t get me started… it’s not bad but it ain’t good), yearbook (yeah, I need to start on that thing soon…), along with various other things that I haven’t been able to say the word no to… argh… so, the blog must suffer. sorry. (not that it means a ton…)

Christmas and Such…

Reading the Thank You note left from Santa...

Uhhh... why are we up so early?

Madeline's "Big" Gift... and MP3 Player...

Charlie's New BIG Gun... (the thing will shoot 3 bullets per second!)

Sophia's Phone and her favorite gift... M&Ms... seriously.

Madeline reading the Christmas story from her new Bible...

Sophia, Ethan & Poppaw...

There’s a glimpse of our Christmas.  Last week I when vacation was coming to an end I decided the Christmas stuff needed to be dealt with.  This week starts real life:  school restarted, my classes start, I have a few Pampered Chef shows coming up, church stuff, etc… but I was having a majorly hard time getting going last Tuesday.  Oh, wait… it could have been because of this:

Yup... complete with the Adobe Suite CS4...

This was staring at me in the face begging to be explored and installed.  (The annoying part, I put it aside and just tried to install it today and there’s problems with the coupon code!!!  HIGHLY annoying!)

So anyways, while this was sitting, staring at me, begging to be used… this was what was going on in my house…

Charlie's Room Before #1

Charlie's Room Before: #2 (Yikes!)

Charlie's Room Before: #3

Maddie's Room Before: #1

Maddie's Room Before: #2

My Helper... Cheesy Sophia...

Let the fun begin…  we had made a trip to IKEA on Tuesday night…

One allen wrench and hours later...

Tada...Charlie's Room After: A lego workstation

Charlie's Room After: #2

Charlie's Room After: #3... the biggest miracle, the closet.

And the girls’…

Madeline's Room After: #1 (New Bookshelf!!)

Girls Room After: #2 (The New Art Easel!)

Here’s some of my favorite things from each of the kids rooms…

Michigan Helmet, Buzz Lightyear, and Yoda... what a combo...

Charlie's Bookshelf: Charlie Brown, Indiana Jones & Indiana Mickey, Baseball trophy, and Bakugans...

The Lego Station Ready for Action...

Maddie's Favs: Alarm Clock, MP3, and iDog...

Felicity & Elizabeth in matching nightgowns... they match the girls' from Christmas (oh, and Samantha, she's mine)

I just like this lamp and picture...

Two Favs... Vera Bradley ($12 at outlet) and 31 Bag with Monogram...

One of Sophia's new Favorites...Little Miss Sunshine

Sophia's New Dollhouse... she loves it.

So, it’s almost a wrap but here’s a couple more for you, since I know you’re hanging onto every word…   just kidding.

My favorite gift for the kids... I have a thing for new crayons what can I say? And a tower of them... heaven.

Dippin' Dots Maker: Fun for kids, clean up... not so fun.

THese are heavenly in a chocolate fountain...trust me, or try it, I don't care... either way, you'll love it!

Our new favorite Bible/book for the kids... Pick it up today. Another I promise you'll love it thing!

And drum roll please... the top pick for wii game of the season... adults have logged more hours than kids. It's that fun.

Well, I think I’ve bored you enough.  Hope you enjoyed your first day back to reality.  I’ve spent too much time on my hinney putting this post up, so until later.

Not A Creature Was Stirring…

Now this is Christmas… White Christmas is on the TV (have I ever mentioned how passionately I love this movie… one of my favorite songs… well, I can’t say that, I seriously love this movie and so much of the movie. One of my top five is ‘Snow’… LOVE IT! Anyways, I digressed…)

It’s quiet through the house. The children are all nestled in their beds (that’s a nice word isn’t it… nestled. It seems cozy.) ‘Santa’ has come. My wrapping paper all matches… three nights ago I ran out of Santa paper. That was a tragedy. I got the paper from Hobby Lobby… we have two kinds. Green foiled with brighter green 2″ dots and Red foiled with a swirly florally pattern in it. It looks great. Only, I ran out with two presents to go. A friend’s husband came to the rescue since he works by Hobby Lobby… Buddy the elf delivered the paper yesterday… thanks Brian!

The stockings have been filled. The cocoa has been drank down, leaving the last drop. The cookies have been eaten and the last one nibbled… the carrots gnawed… the coke drank (yes, Santa likes the bottles with his picture on it).

This afternoon we had Christmas with Stephen’s family. His uncle, aunt and cousins came into town and brought Mammaw with them for dinner and a gift exchange. I really enjoy spending time with them and hate that they live in Louisville. I realize that’s not timbucktwo but it’s a bit away. (and Ann, I know you’ll read this and I’m not trying to brown nose… we really do enjoy your family and wish we could get together more…)

Then we headed to church for our Christmas Eve service. It was simple, sweet and I love it. We closed with Silent Night. (Do not ever get me started on NOT closing with Silent Night. I realize it is not right to be ruled by traditions however, most of the traditions I grew up with, I have had to outgrow… there is one thing that means Christmas and that is the candlelight service and closing with Silent Night and then ending accapella… don’t mess with it.

So, now here I sit. I’m excited about tomorrow. The kids getting up. This could be our first early year… we’ve gotten extremely lucky in past years… we don’t have early risers however, I think Charlie’s going to kick it up a notch this year… we’ll see.

For the next week or so, I aim to savor it… when January comes we will be jumping into a new year… head first and at 45 mph. But right, it’s a silent night…

And I can sit and count my blessings (instead of sheep… sorry, I’m still watching ‘White Christmas’)…

Blessings to you and have a very Merry Christmas…

PS… If you normally get a Christmas card from us it’s coming… I had a brilliant idea and then procrastinated. Imagine that…

PPS… Oh, and if you’re wondering… I think I mentioned it… I had surgery earlier this month and I have completely healed… WHOO HOO!

Sneak Peak

So, seriously, I just ordered our Christmas cards last night. Whatever. I had a great idea and took a couple weeks to materialize. It’s called a Christmas production and an anniversary trip… I’ll have to post on that later today hopefully. Stephen and spent three and a half days in Nashville celebrating TEN YEARS!!! Ten years, yeah, I feel old.

Anyways, here’s a sneak peak at our Christmas card…
Christmas Card Front

PS…  okay, so during upload part the picture pixelized but you get the drift… Merry Christmas!

Bear with Me…

I was blog hopping off of Lisa’s… and came across this blog.

I have to share my thought because there is laughter at the picture in my head…  my dad has a couple mounts in their house.  You are allowed to pet them but you must always pet going with the hair not against it.  Well, every once in a while the kids get going and it gets snagged.

My dad has been known to pull his little black comb out of his back pocket and come it down… really and truly.  So, when I saw the pictures on this blog I was just imagining dad going deer to deer coming their coats…

Sorry, it’s funny to me.

Blessed…

“Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Confession:  I love Christmas.  period.

But, here’s the deal.  Why?  I have a sinking feeling that it’s because I’m blessed…  Would I be in love with Christmas if I couldn’t afford to get my kids gifts, or if I wasn’t able to make delicious junk that makes me fat but I love to give away (in order to share the joy :O)  Would I love it if I didn’t have a family, both in and outlaws, to share it with?  What if I couldn’t participate in Christmas productions?  What if?

I don’t know…  I have those things.  I experience those things.

Christmas comes down to a baby… a baby that was born to a girl that was probably scared witless.  I’ll never forget going into the hospital to deliver Madeline, there was a younger girl on the elevator with us going up, too.  She was alone.  I don’t know that she didn’t have someone meeting her there but at that moment she was alone.  I know that Mary had Joseph but she was in a BARN!  And her family wasn’t anywhere close by, and this child wasn’t Joseph’s… they were humans, there had to be some crazy, scary stuff swirling around in their heads.  Anyways, back to the babe…

I suppose simply put… my life is richly blessed because of that baby.  That child that was born so long ago that holds the promise of reigning forever…

I don’t really know what’s eating at my brain and gnawling at my soul but I suppose in a weird way it’s gratitude and feeling completely inept…  My kids don’t know what it’s like to not have food, they don’t know what it’s like to not have clothes that fit them (okay, right now we can’t find jeans that fit Madeline but give me a break… just ask her to pull them up if you see her…) or that can keep them warm on these cold winter days, they have security.  They have a mom who yells to much because she loves them too much…  (twisted I know but at the core of it… yes it’s true)

While, we have already started and pretty much finished the Christmas shopping and we have plans for the CHristmas experiences yet to come their way to make this Christmas magical and meaningful…  (there is a place for both Santa and Jesus…) we know that we are blessed.

We have been blessed beyond belief and we know that with blessings come obligations.  We’re required to, sorry to borrow this but… pay it forward.  What can we do?  You and I can do a lot…  there’s all sorts of ministry opportunities to touch people’s lives this year.  Near and far…  Send a shoebox (check!), give financially toward a ministry like Lottie Moon (next week, check!), contact a local school to find out if there are local families that are really have a tough Christmas season… they’ll let you help.

But, here’s the thing…  I’m feeling very full right now, probably a little over dramatic at this moment, but it’s my blog so back off… just kidding!  I want to savor the next two weeks.  I want to maximize them to their fullest potential.  I want them to have be filled with everything that Christmas has always included for me… lights, music, food, friends, quiet nights, Christmas specials (even the corny ones… love ‘em), laughter, a simple Christmas Eve service that ends with Silent Night (don’t get me started on not ending with Silent Night… you won’t win!).

I want my kids in twenty years to be able to FEEL Christmas just in their memories.  I want them to be able to remember that they were blessed in their childhood and I pray that they will never forget that and that it will instill in them a spiritual and moral obligation to keep Christmas alive.

I get that some of this may sound superficial… our Savior, our King came to this world to save us.  But He also came that we might have life to the fullest…   and I truly think that He can receive glory in this season, even if it’s over marketed.  Is there any time of year when more people are willing to give to strangers?  Is there another point in the year when people will smile and say Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays (don’t worry about them being a scrooge… because if you do you’ll look like a scrooge… just say Merry Christmas back to them and move on…)  I really don’t think there’s another season or time of year where our Savior gets more glory…

So I say, bring on Griswalds… hang up the lights, put up the tree… smatter yourself in flour up to your elbows…  but remember we’re blessed…

Remember the last scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life”…  we’re blessed.