Ramblings on a Tuesday

I am in the industrious phase of my monthly cycle--this time is great in many ways--boundless energy and the motivation to do it all! But--I ultimately wear myself out and take pretty much no time to rest. Yesterday I made two pots of soup, pretzel yummies, reindeer food, three loads of laundry (washed, dried, folded, AND put away!!), and dyed a skirt, robe, and sweater, and later took my kids to perform at a retirement home, and then home to sit with Hannah offering moral support while she took her Spanish final and then did dishes and finally crashed at about 9:30. I love having productive days but some days are too productive and leave no time to just spend time with my family, my God, or just having some down time. Yesterday was one of those days. Today will be a little less hectic but still lots to do. Top on my list is to get two raffle prizes donated for the show this weekend. This involves making cold calls to various restaurants and establishments and asking for a gift certificate. I try to vary the places I go to and today it's going to be the downtown area. While down there I plan to buy myself an awesome new Christmas puzzle (and force myself to slow down and take the time to do the puzzle!!) and check out one of the newer shops that supposedly has a used books/reading area in the back. I'll have the kids with me so we'll get some time together and they love walking around downtown--although it's going to be a cold walk today! After that I plan to eat too much pizza at the local Pizza Hut buffet. The kids have Book It coupons for a free buffet that need to be used this week. I love Pizza Hut buffet but always, always eat way too much.
My mom, dad, sister, and nephew come to town on Friday afternoon to see the kids in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," and to celebrate Christmas with us. We are all very excited to see them and for this fun weekend. Show weekends are crazy and exhausting but so fun! I love all the excited energy and the fun of seeing all the kids put on such a great show.
I finally got our Christmas card picture in the mail yesterday so I have a bunch of envelopes to stuff and send out. I am bummed though because I chose a different border this time and part of Grace's headpiece (a Christmas star) is cut off. It's still a cute picture but not as cute as it was originally. I guess I should do a better job of previewing before ordering.
Well, that's enough rambling...time to go get busy!! I hope you have a blessed day!

This Year's Photo Ornament

Starting a few years ago (and skipping last year)--I have pulled out the kids' handy dandy "How to Draw Christmas" book and use it to craft a really corny, but super fun photo ornament. I get pictures of the kids, cut out the heads and then draw a picture and color it on regular white paper. Then I take it to Office Depot and have it reduced and made into 4 smaller prints. Then I laminate it, punch a hole, and tie a ribbon and hang it on the tree. I think this year's is my favorite.

This is What Happens...

...when you leave your laundry in the basket for a good week before folding. My mother is probably just dying right now--she never folds a load of clothes more than two minutes after the dryer stops. She is morally opposed to folding cold clothes.
Oh and....when in my life did I EVER have time to make that crazy Christmas quilt--can't even imagine it now!

Another One Bites the Dust...

....and another one down, and another one down, another one bites the dust! Hannah and Joe spent all day Monday and all day yesterday sick. The sick where they laid (not sure if that is the proper word) in bed all day watching tv, sleeping, and moaning. I cancelled all school and any other plans and let them all just watch tv all day. I got caught up on lots of things around the house and kind of enjoyed my "break." So, today I was thinking we'd be back to normal and I was looking forward to baking and decorating cookies, doing some school, and going to the library tree lighting this afternoon. About an hour after she woke up Grace all of a sudden started feeling sick. She quickly started running a fever and has now taken to bed and the tv is back on. I feel bad not letting her watch tv just because she is the only one sick. I am letting H and J watch a movie with her but I'm hoping to get them involved in other things after it's over. Things like SCHOOL... I really hate when my kids are sick, I can be a nervous nellie. But, what I do like is being forced to stay home and slow down. I'm feeling calmer and less stressed and enjoying the down time. Hopefully this will be short lived...

Lots of Pictures to Share...

I've decorated my car for Christmas this year and had so much fun! I've wanted to do this forever and finally took the time to do it. It's so fun and makes me happy. It also embarrasses me sometimes when I see someone that I know but not really well. I'm sure they think I'm a nutcase and sometimes I'm good with that and sometimes I feel stupid.



I've been having the kids do some Christmas art and Hannah's picture is above and Joe's below--Grace is still working on hers. I'm framing them as part of our Christmas decor.

We've had such a busy week and were also eager to get the tree up so one night this week right when we got home we got the tree out of the shed and up and the kids did the decorating while I cooked dinner. I missed decorating with them but they had fun.


In the picture above, Grace is looking for something and managed to find the Christmas pickle that was lost in our tree last year.
This past Friday was the annual Christmas Walk and all three of the kids performed with their theatre group and then we walked around town a little. Landon's parents were in a show that night so he got to hang with us. He was super cute in his Santa suit.



Saturday was the parade--we saw an old friend, Eva there and Immy (a theatre friend) sat with us for a little while.
After the parade the kids performed in a Christmas Cabaret. They had a great time and those of you who are my FB friends have already seen some of the videos. I'll get some posted here on the blog later today.

Happy Monday

It's 12:30 in the morning and I'm still awake.  I know, I'm going to regret staying up so late tomorrow.  Or, maybe I won't because I will wake up to a clean house.  Well, not completely clean but decluttered--everything in its place.  It's been a very busy week and the house had gotten pretty bad and I just couldn't bear to wake up to a mess.  We have a small house and while that's a blessing because it is fairly easy to clean--I can do a pretty deep cleaning of the whole house in just one day--it is also a problem.  When you have a small house, there is just only so many places to put things.  We are at a point where we really need to get rid of some stuff because we are completely out of space.  I would love bigger closets, a bigger kitchen (with lots of cabinets) and a couple more bedrooms.  But, that is not the house I have and I have learned to be content with what I have.  If only I had time to do a big purge...maybe next summer???  Anyway, I made a huge dent in my to do list and that feels great--worth the fatigue I will battle tomorrow.  I'm hoping for a full school day tomorrow but it may turn into a sick day.  Hannah had a low grade fever before bed and Joe is barking like a seal.  If we are going to have a sick week this is the week to get it out of our systems--next week is crazy busy but this week we get a bit of a reprieve to catch our breath and get caught up on some things.  

The Reason for the Season

Okay, so I've--

• decorated my car for Christmas
• decorated the house
• put up the tree
• taken a Christmas picture
• loaded lots of Christmas music on my iPod and bought a few new songs (some old--Tennessee Christmas by Amy Grant and some new--There's Still My Joy by Indigo Girls and Where's The Line to See Jesus)
• almost finished my shopping
• wrapped half the presents
• watched the kids perform in two holiday events
  

Still on my list...

• write the annual Christmas letter
• print the Christmas picture
• address and send out approximately 100 cards
• buy gifts for the kids
• make Christmas cookies
• make the annual photo ornament
• watch the kids perform in 5 more holiday events
  

...somewhere in the midst of all this I also want to remember that the whole reason we have Christmas is because of the gift of Jesus' birth. I also want my kids to remember this. There are so many ideas out there for fun, creative, unique ways to celebrate advent and to redirect the focus of the family towards God. But--most of them involve making something or adding something to an already busy, busy holiday schedule. After surfing the web some this morning I've decided that the best way to celebrate advent with my kids is to be present in my time with them. Instead of neglecting them to check off one more thing on my list--take an extra half hour to read Christmas stories to them, take the time for a devotional and Bible reading in the morning and remind them daily that their gift to Jesus can be in their actions. Doing something nice for each other, or a neighbor, choosing to be a friend to someone, just sharing God's love and joy that they have in their hearts. I don't need some new project or big event to turn our hearts to the real reason for the Christmas season--I just need to live it out loud.