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...