Fuzzy Friday...

Hope you had a warm and FUZZY Friday!! :)

Tis the Reason for the Season...

We had the pleasure of going to church tonight & celebrating one very special birthday....

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

We started by making some pigs-in-a-blanket for the party...

(which C LOVED telling everyone there that he made... he was so proud!).

Then we got there and got party hats, party cups, great snacks and yummy birthday cake!

Then on to musical chairs and TWO pinatas!

And we made it through the whole party with only one small attempt at a meltdown. :)

Remember... Tis the Reason for the Season!! :)

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Fuzzy... uuummm... Saturday...

Well... as a stay-at-home mom, sometimes I lose track of my days.  So here is your Fuzzy (Friday) Saturday. :) Lol.. I love it when he lives up to his (nick)name.

Green versus yellow...

After staying on green (the "good student" color) for about 2 months straight... C got into the car today and told me he was moved to yellow (the "not-so-bad but not-so-good" color).  I explained to him that it made me very sad when his color was moved and that I knew he could do better than that... however, I told him, I was going to let it slide this time because he had been doing so good for so long.... but told him I fully expect him to stay on green next week.  So we ride along in the car for a few minutes and he is very quiet... then he so seriously asks me, "So if I get on yellow next week are you going to make me CLIMB it?"

                                          I guess sliding sounded like much more fun than climbing. 

My super happy point for the day?  I was talking to a friend today and discovered they were wishing someone would take a perfectly good quilt off of their hands so that they wouldn't have to take it to the goodwill.  As it turns out... I LOVE quilts... so I got to be that someone! :)

This quilt just inherited a whole new lifetime of kids laying on it at the park, sleepovers in the living room with spilled popcorn and pizza and the incredibly important job of keeping a mama and her babies warm on chilly winter days. :) I hope it doesn't mind. :)

Have a great day!!

Life lessons...

     If you don't already know... we didn't get custoday of our nephew C until 11 months ago (January 2011)but have had him off and on through the foster system since he was three.  He came here for the first time not being able to talk ... and he didn't know things such as body parts, colors, etc.  So, I started on those things and as a first time parent have just worked my way through little lessons as time as moved on.  Well, he recently made the statement that he wanted 150 presents for Christmas.  I feel like I work pretty hard at making sure my children understand that the meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ... but I guess that simply knowing the meaning doesn't change their idea about getting presents on this holiday.  So, after hearing C proclaim the need for 150 presents, I decided it was time to start working on a life lesson.

     I explained that those presents cost money and that someone had to buy all those presents.  So this year... to help him understand a little better... I told him he needed to pick 3 people that he was going to buy Christmas presents for - any three people.  I expected maybe a best friend... a teacher... a brother... even a parent.  But I got two aunts and an uncle.  Okay... whatever floats his boat.

     So today was the big trip - we went to Walmart and began shopping.  The aunts went pretty fast - he picked out a couple of practical items and was excited to continue on.  At this point we moved to uncle.. he decided on and then against ... a coke, pajamas, a christmas r&b cd, a christmas gift bag and a box of greeting cards.  Let me just tell you... 40 minutes later and 7 laps around Walmart... I was questioning the need for this lesson... and then finally... we found it.  The perfect present for the above mentioned uncle.  The thing that will make his heart happy when he opens that perfectly wrapped gift.  What is it might you ask??...

                                                            A package of post-its.

Finally ... we stand in line... his gifts are scanned... he counts out his money... he gets his 11 coins in change (he counted) and we walk away.  Halfway to the door I turn around and he is happily walking along... "Where are your presents?" I ask. "Oh" ... he says.  We returned to the check-out counter and retrieved the bag.

His life lesson? Generosity, selflessness, thoughtfulness.  My life lesson? Patience.

No words...

A little early...

     Every year I manage to talk "The Papa" into giving me my Christmas present early.  I almost always know what it is and somehow I always know when he gets it too.  So, once it's here... who wants to wait??!! The pleading and sweet talk begins almost immediately.  Well this year... I knew what the gift was again... but as soon as he ordered the gift online the pleading was cut off with an immediate... "You're NOT getting it until Christmas." So, when the package was delivered Friday I decided that it wasn't fair for me to argue my present out of him every year and made up my mind that I was okay with the fact that I had 23 more days to go.  Then ... miraculously... the Papa walks into the living room today with a box in his hands and a smile on his face.  "Hmmm... I wonder what this is???" he says.  After ALL that... he decided to give it to me anyway! Whew... I am SO glad he did!!

So here it is.  A beautiful new Nikon D7000 - with a Zoom and Macro lenses.

I am SO excited to start on Christmas card photos!! (I'm not sure my kiddos feel the same.)

Now I just have to figure out all these buttons!

Merry (early) Christmas to you!

Oh Christmas Tree...

By far, one of my favorite Christmas traditions... the Christmas tree.

This year was just a LITTLE different... as C and I worked so diligently to hang the ornaments... they were secretly disappearing at the same time.

After finally understanding that he couldn't steal the ornaments... our adorable thief decided he would just kiss them all. :)

What another great tree day!

God Bless You All!!

Fuzzy Friday...

Our holiday...

So here they are...

the pictures I promised from the 2 week whirlwind.

Our first event... getting my new 2010 Nissan Armada!! "The Papa" wanted me and the kiddos to feel safe so we traded my smaller SUV for an 8-seater.  I'm so happy with it... and we had bluetooth installed so we can talk hands-free ... even safer. :)

Next was a bout with an unknown rash that had us pretty worried until we realized it was hives.  It came and went for a day and a half... and then I realized it was the sweat pants G was wearing.  Needless to say... he hasn't worn those since... and we haven't had hives since! Yikes!

Then... a long car ride to the big city of Houston, Texas.

 

Our time there involved a ride on a ferry (the kids thought that was SO cool), a stay in a hotel (the kids ALWAYS think that is cool) and a random alligator (that the kids could never actually find in the distant grass).

So then we came home (the night before Thanksgiving) and had our first Turkey Day at my grandfathers house the following day.

Here we had four generations: my grandfather, my mother, me and my little G.  So amazing.

The next day... our 2nd turkey day... was at our house.  Tons of food, fun and family.  It's not often that all 5 grandkids in the immediate family get to be together and play. It was a great day!

In the end... I was able to capture two victims of the turkey coma on camera.

I hope everyone else's holidays were as good as mine!

Have a great day!!

The Missing Blogger...

Well, I have never done a blog without pictures ... but I've been M.I.A from the blogging world for about two weeks now and I just wanted to say (before drifting into a deep sleep)... I'm still here!!

It all started with a new car for me (Yay!!), then we left town for five days (without Internet) to spend some quality time with "The Papa." Then it was two Thanksgivings, two days of everyone in a turkey coma and then finally back to school... and now back to blogging.

It has been a whirlwind two weeks and I am SO happy to be back on schedule.. and let me just say that I for one am ecstatic at all the Christmas music I hear now! It is my favorite holiday and favorite time of year. I plan to post pictures from the last two weeks starting tomorrow... so don't go anywhere!! Until then...

As I tell my six year old... "Nighty Nighty Tighty-Whitey!!" :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fuzzy Friday...

I like to imagine what he was thinking about in this picture. :)

Boys are gross...

I am a girl.  I have always been and always will be a girl.  By that, I mean I am not one of the opposite sex that is... yes, gross.  I am, however, fortunate enough to be raising two boys (fortunate in so many ways, unfortunate in this one).  Therefore, sometimes I am speechless when it comes to the level of gross they are able to achieve. Literally, speechless.  Really, I'm referring more to the six yr old... since Fuzz isn't old enough to "use" the bathroom yet, but you get my point.  I have made it a habit for the last 6-12 months to simply ignore the "boys" bathroom and pretend that it does not exist.  Since being a stay-at-home mom again, I've decided I simply cannot ignore it anymore.  So, about 10 days ago I decided to do a thorough scrub down.  The result?... 2 days later it looked EXACTLY as it had looked 3 days earlier.  Don't ask me how... but I am serious... exactly.  So... I came up with a solution very quickly.

This... is our new addition to DAILY chores.  

Whew... SO much better!!

The cook in me...

     I love to get in the kitchen and try out new recipes... whether that be appetizers, dinner or dessert... I like to try it all.  However, I am cursed in that the majority of my attempts are complete failures.  It never discourages me... I'm just pretty sure that my family comes in to the kitchen quite frequently with hidden grimaces as they are used as taste testers.  Today's test... was a hashbrown quiche.     

     If you've never had a quiche... its sort of like a breakfast casserole.  Sort of.  It consists of egg, cream or milk, veggies, cheese and some type of crust. I have always loved quiche... but normally its a bite size quiche that came straight out of a box and into the oven.  Today... I was cooking in full Paula Deen style. The best thing about a quiche is that you have base ingredients... but you can add and subtract any number of veggies or meats that you want.  Look in your fridge and you probably have ingredients for a quiche. For mine... I chose onions, cilantro, turkey pepperoni, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.  I also used egg beater (instead of real egg), skim milk (instead of cream) and shredded cheddar cheese (2%).  For my crust, I used frozen shredded hashbrowns  I didn't take before pictures... because like I said... I fully expected this to come out looking like egg and potato soup instead of hashbrown quiche.  However... let me say... this was a HUGE success!! I mean... Delicious... yes with a capital D.  After it was done, I added a little homemade hot sauce and it was pure heaven.  So if you're a (not-so-good) cook... try one of these.  Super simple, fairly fast and amazing!!

For the full recipe and directions... click here.

Details...

     We all have things that we enjoy... things that we could live without but would rather not.  Mine... is Red Bull.  I don't know what it is about that little blue can... I think I've grown immune to the effects... that's not what I like about it.  There is just something about opening the ice cold can and taking that first drink... it's absolutely delicious.  I know they aren't the greatest things for you (there isn't much that comes in a can that is) so I try to make myself feel a little better by drinking the sugarfree.  Well today, I decided I must either DRINK them too often, or TALK about drinking them too often. 
    

    Skip ahead... C gets a "day snack" every day if his color at school doesn't change to red.  It is very rare that he doesn't get a day snack, therefore, it is crucial that I keep my cabinet stocked with some sort of small snack so that he can have something before he starts homework.  Today... I failed in that regard and my cabinet was bare.  So, I told him he could go in the little corner store down the street and pick out any snack he wanted... and added that while he was in there... could he grab ME a drink.  Of course he said yes.  So as he got out of the car I rolled down my window and asked him if he knew what a Red Bull looked like.  He said, "Yes! And you want the LIGHT blue can right? Not the dark blue... it has too much salt in it!" Lol.  You've got it kiddo.

Kids listen so much more than we think.  Even if the details don't always turn out just right.

And since we missed our Fuzzy Friday this week... here's a Fuzzy Monday. :)

Hope you have a great week!!

A surprise for C...

     Well I will be the first to admit that I am a pretty strict parent.  I'm not real keen on messes (unless the circumstances are very controlled by yours truly) and I don't step out of my parental comfort box very often.  Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom again and not exhausted at the end of every work day... I'm trying to work on this.  I will always be a strict parent... but I could definitely stand to loosen up when it comes to the  kids having fun... the last thing I want to is stifle their amazing creativity.

     So last week was finger paint and playdough... what would this week be?  I started thinking about it and poor little C comes home EVERY day after school and goes straight to work on 1-1 1/2 hrs worth of homework, takes a bath, eats dinner and has very little time between dinner and bedtime.  So today I decided Fuzzy and I would surprise him with his very... own...  fort.  I don't think I've built a fort since I was 8... so this project was as much enabling my creativity as it was intended to enable my children's.  Out came the dining room chairs, the coffee table, the blankets, pillows, books and flashlight.  Fuzzy and I actually had a great time building it... but not near as much fun as C's anticipation of his "surprise." 

     He guessed all the way home... "Is it cupcakes?"  "A cake?"  "Mom... Mom... What is it!!??"  We drove into the garage and he bolted out of the car... fully prepared to bust in on whatever secret I had prepared.  "Whoa!!" I pulled him back out of full sprint mode and covered his eyes.  He bounced all the way to the living room with his eyes closed and the pleasure in his face and voice when I uncovered his eyes was enough to tell me that I definitely need to loosen up more often.  Now it's this... "Mom, can I do my homework in the fort?" "Hey Mom, can I watch a movie in the tent." "Mooommm... can I SLEEP in the tent!!??"  Well sure, why not.  :)  He has now added a door, half the toys in his room and a bag of marshmallows.  I'm so glad we did this.  :)



And I even climbed in there myself... quite a nice place to lay and type a blog.  Don't you think?

My perfect husband...

Well I want to start by saying that approximately 23 hrs and 58 minutes per day... I have the BEST husband in the world. There are very few things that fit into that two minutes of the day... but one of them... is bread.

Now some of you will probably blame this more on my previously mentioned obsessive-compulsive problem than actually blaming the husband... but of course I see no problem expecting the bread bag to be free from air, completely sealed, with all edges tucked under the loaf after using it. Like this...




Instead, I get this...

This is a battle I will not pick. :)
Have a great day!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Goodbye Halloween

Well... I am officially ready for the Halloween candy to be gone. It seems as though it has found its way into every nook and cranny of our home. That why for the past two days I have let C eat as MUCH of it as he wants. And let me just say, he's taking full advantage of the situation.
He actually tilted the bowl, leaned his head down to it and said, "Mom, I'm just going to gobble this up!"






 

Even Fuzz has caught on.

Hope y'all are enjoying all the candy at your house!! :)

The end of a season...

It's always a little bittersweet at the end of summer... bitter because most of the things we love to do outside must come to an end.  Sweet because that means it is time to get creative indoors and pull out the things we've forgotten about most of the summer.

Good-bye soccer... see you in the spring!

Hello Play-Dough!!

And Hellooooooo Finger Paint!!

 Hope y'all are having as much fun in the colder weather as we are!!