Indoor Camping

We had a wonderful, but busy weekend. Saturday morning we attended a very special birthday party - Happy Birthday, Nicole! What a fun time we all had, and what a beautiful, delicious cake! After the party and after a quick trip to the grocery store, my parents brought over my niece Kayleigh (6) and my nephew Caden (4) to spend the night. Alex and Nathan were so excited to have their cousins over, especially to stay the night. We were excited, too, and had a camping theme prepared for the kids. We ate hot dogs for dinner, which Bill grilled out. Then after dinner, the kids went out and made smores using the fire pit. Though it was very cold out, I think they all enjoyed it.

Later, Bill constructed a tent in our den using rope, sheets, and various furniture to secure the tent, as well as a bunch of coats and whatever else he could find to help maintain it's shape. It was an impressive sight and the kids had a great time sleeping under it on the makeshift pallet I made. Bill was gracious enough to stay downstairs with them all night, making the couch his place of rest. Amy and I were the lucky ones who got to sleep in our comfy bed upstairs.

The following morning we had cinnamon rolls and watched television until time to dress and head over to my parents' house. It was a success! We hope over the next couple of months we get some dry weather so our backyard will no longer be a swamp, as well as slightly warmer temperatures, at which time we will set up the real tent and have another sleepover campout, this time in the backyard!!!

Good Intentions

Last night I decided it was time for a change. Inspired by several friends who are already doing this, I asked Bill to wake me up in the morning at 6am, at which time I would come downstairs, get myself a cup of coffee (which would already be brewed and waiting having been prepared and set on timer the night before), and sit down to my Bible and prayer journal for some quality spiritual enrichment time. I was very excited about this idea and made it a point before going to bed last night to get the coffee ready, have my Bible and prayer journal out on the kitchen table and even forced myself to go to bed at 11pm so that I would get enough sleep...

Amy had other plans. In addition to many awakenings througout the night, shortly before 5am she decided she was ready to be up. We spent a long time in bed discussing the many objects in the room: Mommy's pillow, Daddy's pillow, painting, stereo, closet door, and on-and-on it went. Bill came out of the bathroom dressed for work at about 5:45, and we all went downstairs. So instead of my peaceful prayer time, I had some mother-daughter time, sitting on the couch with cereal and coffee (water for Amy), watching Mr. Rogers on television. I guess I can't complain. It was still quality time that I will cherish forever!

Housekeeping MeMe

Celeste tagged me to do this little MeMe and I must say, I'm a little scared to confess to my housekeeping details. But here goes!

APRON:
I have a couple that remain in a cabinet in my kitchen until Christmas time. I usually wear them when I decorate Christmas cookies. No idea why I only wear one then, but that just seems to be the one time when I think to put one on!

BAKING:
I like to bake but I don't do it very often because if I bake it, I tend to eat it!

CLOTHESLINE – Y/N?:
Not a formal one, unless you can consider the doorways my "clotheslines". I was taught to hang most everything and therefore when I do laundry, my doorways are blocked completely by drying clothes.

DONUTS – Have you ever made them?:
Never. I also haven't had one since I was in high school.

EVERY DAY – One homemaking thing you do every day:
Cook meals (or sides to go with leftovers) and clean up the kitchen... though the dinner time clean up has been known to be put off until the following day, depending on how busy our evening is.

FREEZER – Do you have a separate deep freeze?:
Yes. We had a medium sized one we bought used before having Amy and it came in handy for freezing meals for after she was born. Now we have a large freezer we got from my parents that I am still determined to fill. I like Celeste's idea of filling it with ice cream! :)

GARBAGE DISPOSAL – Y/N?:
Absolutely! Nothing helps make clean-up after meals go faster than a garbage disposal!

HANDBOOK – What is your favorite homemaking resource?:
Bill bought me a book by Williams-Sonoma called "Kitchen Companion: The A to Z Guide to Everyday Cooking Equipment and Ingredients" which has come in handy so many times. I also make use of the internet and my mom for advice.

IRONING – Love it or hate it?:
I hate it. Bill irons his own clothes everyday. He has no problem doing it because he was doing it long before I came into his life. So if I need something ironed, I either let him do it when he's doing his ironing, or I wear it wrinkled. I don't iron.

JUNK DRAWER – Y/N? Where is it?:
Yes, all of them. :) No, I'm not that bad. But I do have several in my kitchen that I just can't seem to get organized.

KITCHEN: Design & Decorating?:
I am inspired everytime I eat at a Cracker Barrel. I just love all of the old antique kitchen gadgets, signs, and just about anything else old you can think of that adorn the walls and ceilings of the restaurants. I currently have a bunch of old various cans arranged on top of my cabinets, though I've purchased old skillets and other antique items I'd someday like to display in my kitchen.

LOVE: What is your favorite part of homemaking?:
I just like knowing that I am responsible for holding things together here at home. For the most part, when the house is organized and clean and has that comfy feel, I made that happen. Of course, it also goes the other way. When the house is messy and dirty, that means I didn't do my job, which is more often than I care to admit!

MOP - Y/N?:
I used to do it about twice a week; now I do it when I can. Let's just say it doesn't happen nearly as often as it should!

NYLONS - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?:
I rarely wear them, but when I wash them I wash them in the washing machine.

OVEN - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?:
It depends on what I'm cooking.

PIZZA - What do you put on yours?:
I actually prefer plain cheese pizza.

QUIET - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?:
What's that?

RECIPE CARD BOX - Y/N?:
I have a binder I've started with plastic sleeves, but I have yet to convert all of my recipes into it. So I still use my recipe card box some of the time.

HOUSE STYLE:
Traditional and very open. I like it, but it's a little more open than I'd like it to be with a kitchen that's way too small.

TABLECLOTHS AND NAPKINS - Y/N?:
The kids use plastic placemats and Bill and I use woven cloth ones. We use papertowels for napkins, though I keep wanting to go to cloth ones.

UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK - Organized or toxic wasteland?:
It's pretty sad looking. I store a lot of my cleaning stuff down there (we have child locks), but it's all crammed in there and needs to be organized better.

VACUUM - How many times per week?:
Almost daily. I can get away with every other day if I don't mind it looking a little messy on the off days. We have green carpet and it shows every speck of dirt or lint or string or whatever. It's pretty carpet, but terribly high-maintenance.

WASH - How many loads of laundry do you do a week?:
I can't even count, it seems like so many. And yet I can never catch up!

X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?:
That's about the only way I can get things done. I'm a list fanatic. If we go on a trip, I have about 5 lists going, covering every aspect of our packing and preparation.

YARD - Who does what?:
Bill mows and trims everything. I just plant the flowers.

ZZZZ's - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?:
I guess I try to straighten up a bit, though it's certainly far from perfect when I go to bed at night. Amy still wakes several times a night and eventually ends up in our bed by the time we go to bed; so I guess my biggest homemaking task before going to bed is typically to fetch an unhappy Amy and bring her to bed with me each night.

All I Want for Christmas...

Yes, I said "Christmas". I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. It's amazing how quickly time gets away from me!

Not too long after Christmas, Amy finally grew in her two front teeth. She is so cute with these huge (for her little mouth), slightly crooked front teeth. She's been fussing a lot lately and I believe she may have another one coming in right along side the top two. I can't tell if anything is coming in (or has already come in) the bottom or not. When she smiles, you can't see the lower gums and she won't let you use your fingers to check. So I guess someday we'll luck out and catch a view of those lower gums and may be surprised to see a whole row of lovely white teeth.

Amy changes so much, almost on a daily basis it seems. She can say just about anything, and not always as an echo of what she's just heard. Her vocabulary is amazing. Right off the top of my head, she can say the following: Mommy, Daddy, Alex, Nathan, Paw-Paw, Granny, baby, puppy, kitty, water, bye-bye, hi, hello, yes (more like yeah), no, mine, night-night, jacket, ball, eat, teeth, hold me, help me, thank you, more, nurse, there-it-is, here-you-go, and Caillou. That covers the majority of her regularly used words. I'm sure there are other words I've heard her say, but I can't think of any right now. We are in constant amazement at all of the words coming out of her mouth. She learns a lot from her brothers. I especially notice similarities between her and Nathan. She mimics Nathan quite a bit, perhaps because her personality is a lot like his. They both seem to feel the need to constantly entertain, whether by acting silly or teasing/aggravating others to get a response. With Nathan and Amy, you never know what's going to happen next!

Oh, and as you can see in the pictures, Amy's hair has reached a length that I can now pull it up. She looks so cute with her little pigtails!

Daddy Time

I don't think I expressed in my Christmas/New Year Update post how much the kids enjoyed having their daddy home. The first couple of days, they would say to him, "Daddy, you don't have to go to work anymore?" They wanted him to play with them constantly, and wonderful daddy that he is, he would often comply.

Bill got a daily workout playing games with the kids. Climbing all over and riding on Daddy is one of Alex and Nathan's favorite games.

What fun Amy had sliding down the slide with Daddy at the park!

Bill even took the boys camping in our backyard. They'd tried it once before but had to bail out when a thunderstorm rolled through. But this time they made it all night and now the boys can't wait until their next campout adventure!

I miss Bill now that he's gone back to work, but I think his return to work was hardest on the kids. They are back to greeting him with excited squeals and hugs when he walks in at the end of the day. Even Amy comes practically running up to him, saying repeatedly, "Daddy!" I think Bill missed that during his time at home. Now he can look forward to coming home each day to an enthusiastic welcoming by his wife and kids!

Christmas/New Year Update

Whew! The holidays flew by once again and here we are in 2007. I don't think I ever got used to writing "2006"! It was a busy and productive break. Bill finished working the flight on December 19th and didn't go back to work until yesterday, January 2nd. That was so nice! Alex's holiday from school also began on the 20th, so we were able to begin our family time all on the same day. Late one evening Bill and I put the kids in their pajamas, prepared coffee in our Starbuck's insulated mugs, and then all piled into the van to go look at lights. We looked and looked until all children were asleep and then drove home to transfer them into their beds. Despite the thunderstorm that had begun around us, it was a very pleasant outing.

We spent the days leading up to Christmas finalizing shopping, baking cookies and wrapping presents. Then Christmas Eve after church we spent the day at my parents house and had an early Christmas with my brother and sister-in-law. It was wonderful as always. The traditional luminarias and light-looking did not pan out this year due to rain. In my parents' neighborhood, white bags and small candles are sold and are supposed to be set out along the sidewalks on Christmas Eve night and lit at a specified time (these are the luminarias). When enough people participate, it is quite the site. We have made a tradition out of climbing into the back of my dad's pickup truck and driving around the neighborhood to look at all the lit up luminarias and Christmas decorations. This year was the first time I ever remember not being able to do this exciting activity. Sadly, Bill and my dad had just finished setting them out when it started raining, destroying all of the bags such that they could not be lit on Christmas night, the appointed rain date. But even without this fun tradition, we still had an enjoyable Christmas Eve. Having not gone on our "Bubba Truck Ride" as my cousin once called it, we were able to get the kids home at a more reasonable hour, which meant our getting to bed at a more reasonable hour - if you can call 2 am reasonable. Christmas morning we thought the kids would never wake up. My parents came over at 6:30 in the morning so that they could be there when the kids came down the stairs to their Santa gifts, but it was probably 7:30 before the kids woke up. At least we had some quiet time to enjoy our coffee. :) When they did come down they were so excited to see what Santa had brought them. Among other things, Nathan got the main item on his wish list - a new vacuum cleaner. And Alex got lots of new superheroes to play with. Bill and I let them play with their new toys for a little while before doing our gift exchange with each other. My favorite gift - the amazing cell phone holder my dear husband made for me so that my cell phone would not just have to lie on the kitchen counter. He's quite the craftsman! We gave the kids the morning to play with all their new treasures at home and then went back to my parents' house for a delicious lunch and Christmas with my sister and brother-in-law.

The boys decorating their Christmas sugar cookies

Christmas Eve at Granny and Paw-Paw's

Christmas morning

My very special cell phone holder (and really neat cell phone cross charm given to me by my sister)

We tried to use the rest of Bill's time off to accomplish a few jobs around the house. The biggest of these was painting Amy's room. It's a lovely shade of purple that compliments her new bedding perfectly. I'll post pictures soon!

New Year's Eve and Day were spent at my parents' indulging in way too much delicious food, as we did throughout the holidays. Now that the holidays are over, we are working to get back onto a healthy diet and exercise program. The diet part is going better, but the exercise... Well, maybe we'll get that going someday, as it is one of my New Year's Resolutions. :) I have lots of New Year's Resolutions I'd love to share, but I'll save them for another post.

Random Photos

Amy riding on her brother's car.

Alex and Nathan playing in the leaves.

Nathan and Amy playing together.

Alex, Nathan and Amy.... Daddy's boys and girl, every one.

Holiday Craze

Posting has been difficult lately because of the many holiday activities that seem to be taking up most of my spare time. For several days there I was just on robot mode. My house was cluttered with craft supplies, gift wrapping and greeting card necessities, and recipe ingredients. I would literally be working on one project and would happen to pass another project in the works and would pause to work on it, forgetting the other project I was supposed to be doing. I felt like I was constantly on the go and half the time found myself with only enough time for a Clif Bar (something my husband introduced me to) for dinner. Bill has been working the current shuttle flight and has had to work every afternoon/evening for 9 straight days, thus we've all been a little off without our regular routine. Thankfully, today, Bill's 10th day on console, is the last time he has to work this year.

The first big event was in my Mission Friends class Wednesday evening. We had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party for our 3 year olds. I cut out ornament shapes from poster board and brought glitter glue in various colors for the kids to use on the ornaments. Sparkly pipe cleaners attached at the top for hanging provided the final touch. The kids had fun with it, though it did get a tad messy. And I was able to let my own kids make ornaments with the leftovers, which came in handy one difficult evening when the kids were in desperate need of direction for their endless energy. They did a fabulous job!

Then Friday afternoon was Alex's preschool "Holiday Party". It was really a Christmas party, but we are not allowed to call it that since it is a public school. How sad is that? Thankfully, the party was ran as a Christmas party. They sang Christmas carols and everyone wished everybody else a "Merry Christmas". As room mom, I had to bring all of the party essentials, and I made these cute santa and snowman cookies for the kids. The recipes were from the 2006 Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes cookbook. I was going to take a picture of the ones I made, but I forgot. So I've included pictures from the actual cookbook, which are probably cuter anyway.

Saturday we went to Jacob's Birthday party. The kids had so much fun at the party. I don't think my kids are destined to be cowboys, though. I think that's perfectly fine with Bill, who is somewhat anti-country. There goes my dreams of ever living on a horse ranch. ;)

Sunday I had to teach (my co-teacher and I alternate weeks), so I was up late the night before preparing my crafts and Bible lesson. And in addition to our regular class, we had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party, too. It was right in between the 9:30 and 11am Sunday school classes, so we had the 11 o'clock teachers helping with the party as well. The kids had a great time singing happy birthday to Jesus and then decorating and eating star shaped sugar cookies. We also let them have ice cream, a special treat for them. Alex, Nathan and I had another birthday party to attend at 12:30, so we had to rush off after church.

Now things are almost back to normal. I can focus my attention on my own family's holiday activities. I still need to bake Christmas cookies and wrap presents for family and friends, but I can do that at my own leisure. We're also planning to go look at Christmas lights one evening this week. Alex and Nathan are old enough to enjoy it this year. Of course, I think even Amy will get a kick out of it. I'm just looking forward to days spent playing with the kids and evenings spent watching Christmas movies by the fireplace with Bill. There is even a forecast for some cooler weather by the end of the week, so the fireplace may even be lit!

New Look

I decided to follow Celeste's advice and go to the new Beta format. And as long as I was doing that, I went with an all new look. What do you think? I thought it added more color than the old one. :)

Birthday Meme

I'm finally getting around to doing this fun birthday meme that Celeste tagged me to do - sorry Celeste!

Here's how you play:

1) Go to Wikipedia
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays and one death
5) One holiday or observance (if any)

My birthday is April 12th.

3 events:

1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space
1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.

2 important birthdays:

1947 - Tom Clancy, American author
1957 - Vince Gill, American musician

1 death:

1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Holiday/Observance:

Yuri's Night, an international celebration of the first human in space; in Russia, the Cosmonautics Day

Boys Will Be Boys

Last Sunday after church we spent the day at my parents house, relaxing and enjoying their Christmas decorations. Alex and Nathan had a great time helping their Paw-Paw with the outside decorations. I think Nathan especially got a kick out of getting to use a real hammer. And ever since, he has been running around beating everything with his play hammer! He also had fun with the ladder. That has been Nathan's big obsession lately. Everytime we leave to go somewhere, he tells me about how Daddy used the big ladder to get onto the house and hang lights. And when we were at Wal-Mart the other day, he had to tell me about how the people use ladders to put the stuff up really high. It seems that every other sentence coming from his mouth is on the subject of ladders. He LOVES ladders! He wants one from Santa, but we've told him that he can't have a ladder until he is big like Daddy. Maybe Santa can bring him a fire engine with a ladder...

Holiday Photos

Now that I'm finally getting another moment, I thought I'd post those holiday pictures.

Eating turkey cookies on Thanksgiving...

Helping put together the Christmas tree...

Helping decorate the Christmas tree...

Helping put out the outside decorations...

I just realized after I uploaded all of the pictures that Amy is not in any of them. It's not because she wasn't present, but I guess because she wasn't actually involved in any of the activities. We usually kept her distracted while decorating was occurring. :)

A Moment to Post

I have so enjoyed reading about everyone's Thankgsiving experiences and Christmas preparations. I feel bad that I have not posted in so long.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. The day before, I made sugar cookies cut out in the shape of turkeys. It was fun decorating them in all colors for the kids to enjoy. Thankgsiving morning I made Pistachio Salad (also called Watergate Salad) and Ambrosia to take to the Thanksgiving Feast, which took place at my parent's house. We went before mealtime so I could prepare my green bean dish and help my mom finish up the other sides. It was a delicious meal, as always. My mom tried a new stuffing recipe this year - it was a sausage stuffing and it was amazing! Her stuffing has always been delicious, but she would spend so many hours in the kitchen preparing it, and though I've enjoyed it every year, she hasn't been as pleased with it the past few years. This new recipe is far easier for her to make, though you'd never know it by how it tastes. It's wonderful! Of course, one of the greatest aspects to Thanksgiving day at my parents' is watching the kids play with their cousins. They have so much fun each time they are together.

The weekend following Thanksgiving we jumped right into Christmas mode. I decorated some on Friday and then that evening the boys helped their daddy sort all of the tree branches and then they somewhat helped us shape them to assemble the tree. Then Bill put the lights on the tree, with a little help from Alex. The kids were so excited to see the tree all lit up! But by this point, it was late and past time for the kids to go to bed. So we let them hang their new ornaments before taking them up for bed. Bill and I then hung all of the ornaments that we do not let the kids hang, leaving plenty of room on the lower branches for the kids to hang the remainder of their ornaments, which they did Saturday night. With the help of Celeste's husband Brian, Bill put up the icicle lights high up on the house Saturday morning before we headed out for my nephew's birthday party across town; he completed the outside lights and decorations on Sunday afternoon. So after a very busy weekend, we were able to finish most all of our Christmas decorating, though I still have my garland to hang over the front door, Christmas wreath to hang, and Christmas mugs to pull out. But for the most part, we're done. I wish I could say the same about my Christmas shopping! Thankfully, even that is nearing completion. Then we can sit back and enjoy everything as we get ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior on Christmas Day.

I plan to post some pictures from Thanksgiving Day and of Christmas decorating, but I'm afraid if I take the time to try and select pictures and upload them now, I'll never finish this post. So pictures to come!