Give

Here's is my sweet funny Baby. He's modeling what all the elves are wearing this year. ;)

I have such a blessed, such a plentiful life. Cam kept asking me what I want for Christmas. I was wracking my brain. I could come up with a couple of things but nothing really stuck out at me. I realized it's because I have EVERYTHING in the world that I could need or want. I'm spoiled. I suggested to Cam that we buy a goat. Not a goat for us...although the thought of not having to mow the lawn sounds good. I suggested we buy a goat for a family in Africa.

Immediately Cam was on board. He was thrilled. I got online to World Vision and started to look at what we could get. Right away I saw a package of 5 ducks. It brought tears to my eyes. Perfect! 5 ducks from my 5 sweet babies. I started reading the list of items to Cam. I wanted to give a micro loan for a woman to start a business but Cam really wanted to buy a goat. Well, can we do both, he asked me. Yes! We can! I love this man who is so giving and loving not only to me and our children but to those in need.

In less than 5 minutes I had made the purchases. World Vision sent me beautiful cards detailing the gifts. I'm wrapping them up and putting them under the tree for our kids to see on Christmas morning. Sharing the joy of giving is the best gift.

Oh Doh!

I love Christmas!! I truly do. I didn't use to....but now...I do! No anxiety, no stress. I'm cured. Today is the last day of school and now it's Christmas break! Yeah!! I'm so excited to be home with the kids. No early mornings trying to get Tuba on the bus...in the dark...while he's cranky. Whoohoo!
Not only do I love Christmas but I've noticed some other changes in myself. Previously I did not like to entertain more than about 6 people at a time. It was too stressful, too chaotic and not fun for me. But, I got a wild hair and decided to have a Christmas cocktail party this year. And...I loved it. No stress, no anxiety. Just fun!! I can't wait to do it again next year.

I'm really livin' on the edge now! You will not believe this one! I have been letting the kids play Play-Doh...A LOT! Now, my fine friend Erika would say...Are you crazy? Isn't Play-Doh just like bubbles? Well, not quite the same. Bubbles are sticky, slimy, and clear colored so you can't really see all the places they've been spilled. They cause BIG stains in the carpet, you can never get out all the suds! They feel disgusting on my hands. I HATE bubbles!! :) Now, Play-Doh is much better. I like the smell, and it's much easier to clean up. Okay, here's the truth. About 5 years ago Mr. P got Play-Doh for his birthday. Fun, right? No! I was very worried that it would never come out of the carpet. And I most certainly did NOT want the colors mixed...under any circumstances! Flash forward to today, and yesterday and a few days last week. PlayDoh mixed into a million chunks of colorful mess. Kids happily playing Play-Doh.

What is the difference? Well, here are a few theories. You leave your answer in the comments section.

A. I'm crazy
B. They kids have worn me down. I no longer have the energy to care.
C. I'm on meds.
D. All of the above

Let me tell you the real reason. My youngest three will sit and play with PlayDoh for hours, yes hours. And the best part, without me helping....AT ALL!! Glory!! Busy Guy and Baby G will be done after about an hour or so. But, Sis (my wild child) will sit at the table happily singing and making the hugest Play-Doh mess in history....for 3 hours!! 3 fabulous hours!! And my friends I tell you this Play-Doh is easy to clean up! True story. It will come out of all clothes, all carpets. I clean the tools and then use the vacuum cleaner to suck up all the little bits that Sis has tossed in a 10 ft. radius. After it's been on the floor for 3 hours it's nice and dry and comes right off the floor. Then I vacuum the table top off and wipe it with a hot rag (or leave it, put dinner on the table and then wipe just once that night). :) I strip Sis of her clothes and the job is done. 10 minutes of cleanup for hours of sanity! Genius!!

Of course I'm not totally loosey goosey! Heavens no. There are ground rules. 1. You cannot leave the table while playing Play-Doh. 2. When you are done playing you have to take off your pants and socks and give them to me for the laundry. And....3. No fighting, if you fight over a tool then you are done. :)

Dirty Hair

Here's the crazy way my mind works. This morning I was thinking about how much I hate cannot stand dirty hair. I don't mean my own hair. I never have dirty, I mean really dirty hair....except for once...more on that later. I mean people I come across in public whose hair is so dirty I can smell it 10 feet away. Ewwwww. I don't mean homeless people. I mean people with access to showers and soap. Stinky people who must not believe in hair and or body washing on a regular basis. Back to the smell. Ugh. The foul oily dirty hair smell is the grossest. Stenchy body sweat mixed with grease. *GAG* Why do these people not wash? Why oh why.
On to the crazy thread my mind takes. Starts with washing my hair in shower, gets me thinking about dirty hair and then next thing I'm remembering how I once had VERY dirty hair.
It was long ago...maybe 2001 or so. Cam can tell you...he's good with remembering years...not so good with names. ;) I came down with viral meningitis. I was SICK! Sunday at church I started to get the most awful headache. I went home and laid down. I couldn't eat or move. I laid there all day. At bedtime Cam put Tuba to bed and then he too went to sleep.
I awoke on the couch around midnight in horrific pain. I could not turn my neck. My head was pounding so hard and then I began projectile vomiting. I woke Cam to tell him I was going to the ER. I drove (shouldn't have) myself. Luckily the hospital was about 10 blocks away on quiet neighborhood streets. At stop signs I couldn't turn my head so I just moved my eyes as far as I could to each side to check for cars. I held a big Tupperware bowl between myself and the steering wheel.
At the hospital the triage RN had me list my symptoms....headache, vomiting and stiff neck. She took one look at me, read the list and whisked me into an exam room. Wow! That's never happened before. Hmmmm....that is a worrisome sign.
In the exam room I laid down on bed in agony. I was getting delirious. The Dr. came to examine me. He informed me that he needed to do a spinal tap. A needle into your spine to draw out fluid. Okay, you know you are sick when you do not care that the Dr. is going to do this. Next the nurse put in an IV and gave me some pain meds. It stopped the vomiting and eased the headache.
The Dr. asked me a zillion questions and one of my answers caused him to jerk his head up. He asked if I was or could be pregnant. Cam and I were trying to have a second baby and it was in that unknown time of the month. I could be pregnant. That got the Dr. VERY worried. They gave me a pregnancy test and it was negative.
After the spinal tap confirmed I had meningitis the ER needed to admit me. Unfortunately I had to be transported by ambulance across town. I remember calling Cam...sort of. He freaked! The ride in the ambulance was awful and painful and nauseating.
Once at the hospital they put my on massive doses of antibiotics. They had to culture the meningitis to see if it was bacterial (very deadly) or viral (the much better kind to have). It took 5 days to culture it but in the meantime I was on antibiotics just in case.
I felt awful. Terrible. It's all a bit fuzzy from my 5 day stay. In fact I barely remember Cam being there. He of course was there all the time. Poor guy was studying for his RN licensing exam. Back on how terrible I felt. I am a clean person. I cannot go a day with a shower, I wash my face twice and day, brush my teeth twice a day, etc. This was not the case while I was sick. I was so nauseated and still throwing up every day and sweating so much that my hospital gown and sheets were always wet.
The nurse's aid came to give me sponge baths...every day. I would NOT let them. NOT EVEN ONCE. Not because I was modest or shy. I was too sick to move or have anyone touch me. The most I did in the cleanliness arena was to change my undies each day and brush my teeth maybe once a day. Cam would come up in the morning and help me. I had something called neurogenic bladder which means that the signals in my head to make myself go pee weren't working. It was horrid. I could feel my bladder was full. I would sit and sit and try to go but it wouldn't work. So frustrating. Not to mention that getting from my bed to the bathroom with an IV pole and vomiting the whole way and trying not to fall over from dizziness was enough.
I slept a lot while I was there but it was not restful or in long periods. One night I looked at the clock and it was about bedtime...8:00 pm. I went to sleep and woke up the next morning at 9:00 am. I was so glad I had slept all night. I was so glad that much time had gone by. I wanted the days to go by fast so I could get well. I turned on the TV to watch some morning shows I like. It was so weird...I couldn't find any of them on TV. It was all this strange stuff. It took me a little while to realize it was still the previous evening!! I had only slept an hour! Frightening.
My roommate was a real doozy too! She was about 100 years old. She was always fighting and yelling at the nurses. Then they'd call her son on the phone and he'd tell his mom to behave and she'd calm down...only to start over again in a couple of hours. One night I had to call the nurse to come get her. She got out of bed, pulled up her nightgown, sate down on my garbage can and peed. Yup.
After 5 days in the hospital I was released to go home. I had not had a bath or shower. I had not washed my hair. I was stinky and greasy and sickly. Cam brought me home. I came into the house and walked past my sister and Tuba on the way to the shower. My own child wouldn't come near me (I hadn't seen him the whole 5 days) and the look on my sister's face was shock and horror. She does admit I was stinky. :o
I was so glad to be home. So glad to see my sweet Tuba. He wouldn't come to me for another couple of days. Poor baby. I think he was scared of how bad I looked. I was so glad to have clean good smelling hair and body.
It took me another 2 weeks to heal and get back on my feet. After two days home I went back to the Dr. I remember crying and telling him how terrible I still felt. I thought that since they were discharging me I'd be feeling better. Not so lucky. But, slowly I did get better. Thank God!
Whew! That was a long story. In my head in the shower this morning it didn't seem so long. Funny how that works.
Well, I left you with a picture of my hair on a really good hair day. Luckily there are no pictures of my hospital stay or dirty stinky hair. :)

Birthday Weekend

It was my 55th birthday yesterday. I love birthdays!!
I've decided to say I am much older than I am. Sound crazy. Here's my reasoning...If I say I'm older (55) then everyone will be in awe of how great I look! ;) If I did what most people do and fib and say I'm 25....everyone will look at me and think "Yikes, she is looking old!". So that's my reasoning.

Okay, the truth is I turned 41. I feel great...and I think I'm holding up pretty well.

Here's my awesome birthday weekend.

Saturday:
Pancakes with the family
Sewing day with my awesome friends. Seriously love my friends so much. What a treat to spend the day sewing and chatting and eating and chatting. God has blessed me with amazing women in my life.
Came home and had dinner with the kids and Cam. I had gotten dinner ready and Cam put it in the oven. Cam had the house clean, table set, kids' church clothes laid out and had bought me an ice cream too! Awesome husband. Blessed I am!! After dinner and dessert he even rubbed my back with lotion. Ohhhhhhh.

Sunday:
I got to spend time with my hubby and kids worshiping God. The best! I love to sit and snuggle my kids and stand with them together.
After church we went to Starbucks for some treats and coffee.
At home Cam built a raging fire to warm me while I read the newspaper in my pj's. Yes, I put them on as soon as we get home on Sundays.
Then off to dinner out. We all got dressed again and went to our favorite place for delicious food, drink, and of course more dessert. :)
After dinner we took a drive to look at Christmas lights. So much fun!
I have a great family and each day with them is such a treat....but the birthday treats were great!

Oh speaking of treats. My gift from Cam and the kids....a telescope to enjoy the amazing view from my bedroom...and stargazing too.

Best Friends

My sweet "twins". They spend all day playing together. They go to school together too. I've been so pleased with the teacher's reports of them playing together and helping each other. They even choose each other to be the other's snack helper. :)

Of course there are plenty of fights (mostly in the car). But, they are such good friends. Last night they were having cocoa together while the big boys were gone to TKD. They were hysterically laughing and carrying on together. In typical toddler fashion they were having lots of potty talk. ie: "Hi, my name is poopy bottom hiney". I was tempted to stop them but they were laughing so hard and getting along so well. Instead I took their picture and sat back and enjoyed the giggles.

Trees

It's funny when you're in a new house. Where should the tree go, how big should it be? Where should the decorations go? It's been fun to decide and then sit back and see how we like it. We get to have two trees. We put our real tree in the living room and our fake tree up in Cam and I's bedroom. It's so fun to have a tree in our room! Sitting in bed at night and enjoying the tree has been very nice. Plus the neighbors can see it in the windows.

We have been working hard at making lots of new house memories this Christmas season. I love our new house. The kids all love the new house. But, a few of us have mentioned that we do miss the old house. Sounds crazy. We don't miss the size or the location but we miss the feeling. After 8 years I had redone each and every room and it felt like home. Plus all the years of memories. Kids going from babies to toddlers and beyond. Trials and celebrations. I'm very sentimental and attached to things that bring memories. After all I am the gal who wrote this about some furniture. Busy Guy was saying how he missed the old house. I told him we just needed to get a few holidays in the new house under our belt and we would start to feel better. So, we are busy making memories. Busy making our new house our feel good place.

Trim the Tree

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend we worked off our turkey by decking the halls. We have always wanted to go get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. Well, this year we did it. I'll let ya know closer to Christmas how that works out....could be kind of a dry tree. Eeeks.

We had a great time decorating our tree. I did the lights. Of course. Cam remarked that he did them one year but I didn't like them. True. But in my defense they were strung like telephone wires. :) Okay, I'm picky and it matters to me so I'm the one who puts them up. Ornaments were fast and furious! Whew. All the kids were chomping to get them on the tree. I could barely unwrap them fast enough. I did set aside my Radko glass ornaments to do myself. And...yes, I rearranged lots of the kid ornaments. Why? Do you like the look of 10 ornaments on the end of one branch? If so then do I have the team for you!

Over the rest of the weekend we ate leftovers (yum) and got the house all decked. We also took the kids for the annual Santa photo. Yeah! Decking the halls early plus getting the Santa photo done means lots of free time without the mental checklist in my head. Now it's onto shopping. We'll be doing it all online...in our pj's...while drinking wine and sitting by the fire and enjoying our tree. God bless the Internet! Missing from my fabulous weekend was shopping. you could pay me to go out on Black Friday. Blech! To those who want to stand in lines in the freezing cold for hours I say to each his/her own YOU ARE CRAZY!! I'll take family snuggled up by the tree with a piece of pie. Mmmmmm.

Fabulous 4

Thanksgiving weekend was a fabulous four day weekend for our kids and for Cam. I loved it. Thanksgiving was so fun and so nice to host it. No driving home late at night with tired kids. :) We ate and played games. We don't have TV...so sorry no football. Muwahahaha!

Cam did dishes...all the dishes. He rocked! Love that man!!



My MIL and SIL putting together the puzzle we worked on.



Sis and Baby George had a great time playing with my BIL and sitting on him. :)

My sister and niece. Precious! Of course Tuba is never far from the baby in the house.

Games and pie. Whoohoo. Cam talks all the kids into playing Risk. Blech! Of course they loved it.

Green Bean confession

I have a confession to make. I've never had green bean casserole!
I just know I would NOT like it! It looks terrible. I do not like those nasty crunchy things on top and I do not like casseroles made from canned soup. Blech! You may be saying "I bet you'd like it if you tried it". Ummmm, no. I do not like it. Not in a car, or a bar, or on top of a star. I do not like it with a goat or on a moat or in a boat. Yes, I have toddlers and am forced to read too much Dr. Seuss. I don't really like Dr. Seuss either.....but that is a topic for another day.

I don't buy much packed food....processed food. I like things from scratch. It's cheaper and healthier. I make pancakes/waffles, cookies, cake, etc. from the flour and sugar and such in my cupboard...not from a package. I make casseroles and soups and sauces from scratch too. I really hate canned soup...as I said earlier. It's too salty....too nasty. Homemade soup is so easy and so good.

Confession time: I will admit to a few packaged foods I like (don't criticize). I LOVE microwave popcorn. I like the Homestyle one. It tastes just like homemade. Yum. Oh, and I do love Pepperidge Farm cookies....the ones with dark chocolate and nuts on them. Yum. I also buy Costco meatballs. I'm sure they are terrible for me. They are not organic, not locally grown and full of salty badness. But, they have gotten me through quite a few crazed days when cooking dinner just didn't seem possible. So I vote them as Yum too.

The picture is my little helpers (in their favorite outfits) unwrapping butter. Sis will take a bite out of the cube when I'm not looking. She loves butter. Mr. P had school lunch last week and told me the waffles were really good. He said there was something "like butter" on them. I told him it was margarine. Ewwww. He voted Yum for margarine.

What are your favorite things to make from scratch and what are your favorite processed foods...even if they are a secret. :)

Thanksgiving is coming. Yipee. I LOVE Thanksgiving. I love the fall. I love the leaves changing and the cool weather. We get to host Thanksgiving this year at our new house. Fun! We finally have the space to have more than two people over at a time.

I love Thanksgiving for the time to reflect on what I am thankful for. I have MUCH to be thankful for. I love it for the family center holiday minus gifts that Thanksgiving is. I love it.

I love Thanksgiving for the delicious food. I love to cook. I've been planning out my dinner for a good month now. I keep all my recipes in a folder and have been adding to it as I find new things I want to try. I am a traditionalist (shocking I know). I like the same things each year but I do like to try new recipes and add a couple new twists. There will never be Greek food for dinner on Thanksgiving (that's an inside joke for my hubby :) . I am going to try roasting my turkey differently. I am having the butcher cut it up and I'll roast it in pieces in a pan. I also made homemade rolls for the first time (trial run). They were delicious! They tasted just like Cam's Grandma. Well, just like her rolls. Yum.

As for traditional Thanksgiving foods. Why does anybody like green bean casserole? I don't get it. You won't find it at my house. You will however find cranberries...from a can...jelly style. Cam and I must admit we love them. My Sis is bringing the real kind too.

Here's our menu. Turkey, gravy, whole grain bread stuffing with sausage, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, steamed green beans, cranberries, raspberry jello salad...have I forgotten anything?

Oh! Dessert!! Pumpkin pie, apple pie, whip cream, and wine. Okay, wine isn't dessert but I forgot it too. Plus sparkling cider for the kids. I'm SO excited.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Do you like green bean casserole?
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I have been thinking a lot about silence and ways to silence my mind. During my last confession I spoke to my priest about trying to find ways of quieting my mind. I have a terrible time trying to be silent....and still. It is never quiet in my house, or car....ever. In the moments it is a little quieter I fill my mind with reading, talking to Cam, listening to music, or surfing my computer...and phone. Yes, I try to quiet myself when I say my prayers. But most of the time it's with 5 little wiggly bodies. It's at night and I'm tired and in a hurry. It's not very quiet. Do I really have time? Of course I do. But, I tend to busy myself right out of it. I do not feel comfortable in silence. I do not like it. At all!
My friend suggested I spend 10 minutes a day in silence praying the Jesus prayer (Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner). WHAT?? I panicked. 10 minutes is a LONG TIME! She laughed. Okay, try 5. So the next day I tried it. After what seemed like an eternity I opened my eyes and checked how long I had done it. 3 minutes! I need more practice. Way more!
There are things we have done lately that have been great for quiet time. We canceled cable. I love it. I do not miss it at all. I used to have the TV on while I read magazines in bed at night or I'd have it on while folding laundry. I don't miss it a bit....especially all the political ads.
There is more I could do. Much more. I know it would benefit me...and others. I need to carve out the time for it. Why don't I do it??
What do you do to quiet your mind? How do you spend time in silence? Tell me your secrets so I can copy you. Seriously.
PS I'm terribly addicted to multitasking...which makes sitting in silence really hard. While writing this post I changed a light bulb, got milk for Sis, went to another website and checked my texts on my phone. Help!

On Monday night I had just put dinner on the table when Sis screamed and came running into the kitchen....blood running from her head down her face. Ugh! She had jumped off a chair and hit her head on the fireplace hearth. Of course Cam was at work...working late...of course. I grabbed a towel and pressed it on her head. I started to cry, started to freak out. Then I noticed Mr. P was freaking out. He asked if he should call 911. I wanted to say, "YES". I knew I had to look at her head to assess it but I did NOT want to. I'd really rather call 911 and let the pros look at it. I also thought I could run her next door and have a neighbor look at it. In the few seconds it took me to think all these things I realized I had to suck it up and look at it myself. ARGH! Sometimes being an adult and a mom is hard! I quickly pulled the towel off and looked. Ewwww. a gaping wound. I then called Cam quickly to freak out a bit and ask if he thought she needed stitches....I offered to take a photo and send it to him. He calmly told me to take her in. Ahhhh....the voice of reason.

I then called my MIL...who lives 3 blocks away. Thankfully she was home and got to my house in 2 minutes flat. The thought of taking all the kids with me to the clinic was scarier than looking at Sis's wound. Busy Guy was such a great help. He held the towel on his sister's head while I got ready to leave. I grabbed Sis and Mr. P (he wanted to come to help me) and off we went.

At the clinic it was busy. Flu season. Lord please keep us from getting the flu today was quickly added to my prayers. Sis's head had stopped bleeding and she hadn't cried since the first couple minutes it happened. She sat on my lap and from time to time would wince and say it hurt. Poor girl. She was tired and hungry and in pain. The wait time at the clinic....2 hours.

The nurse did get us into a room after about 30 minutes so they could assess her. Mr. P was very anxious and wanting to go home. At one point Sis's head started to bleed again and that caused Mr. P to have a major anxiety attack. It was terrible. Poor guy. Meanwhile Cam was on a bus trying to come home from the city.

Finally Cam arrived....after 1.5 hours at clinic. He took Mr. P home and I stayed to have Sis stitched up. She is THE bravest girl in the world!! She laid perfectly still and looked right at the Dr. for the whole procedure. Amazing! She has 5 stitches. The good thing is it's right along her hairline so I hope the scar won't show. No, I'm not a mom who thinks scars add character. :) Also, it was school picture day on Tues. Awesome! Not!

The next morning she woke up and announced, "my owie is ALL better". Then she took off at warp speed and hasn't slowed down. Ugh. I on the other hand have had a huge headache. 



Doodles

While cleaning up after carving pumpkins I saw this. We had the table covered in the day's newspaper. My first thought was that Busy Guy had drawn this. Nope. My next thought was that Cam had done it. Nope. I didn't believe either of them and asked them numerous times. I also asked Mr. P.  Nope they didn't do it. I finally asked Sis if she did it. Yep!
I hope it's not offensive to anyone but I found this to be hysterical. I could not stop giggling. I cut it out to put in Sis's baby book. She is good with a pen!

Pumpkins

I've got my posts out of order a bit. We actually did pumpkin carving the night before Halloween. Oh, well. My camera battery was dead so I took these photos with my phone. I took lots of photos but of course we were all nude...okay, in various stages of undies, pjs and...undies. :) I have to confess that I have never carved pumpkins with the kids. Cam has always done it and I've watched and taken photos. Well, this year we had lots of kids who wanted to carve so I figured I'd join in. It was SO much fun. I remember it being REALLY hard to carve a pumpkin....from way back when I was about 10 years old. But, it was actually super easy. We have these awesome carving tools (thanks Nana!). We had the kids draw the faces on the then Cam and I carved. Mr. P got to carve his own this year.

The face on Busy Guy's pumpkin! Love it!

Sis had a great time coloring all over her pumpkin. We decided her pumpkin was a girl and it needed eye lashes. I love this pic of her staring at the lit candle. Precious.

Mr. P did the whole thing himself. Awesome! He even put pj's on so I could take his pic and post it. :)





The last pic is all the pumpkins lined up and lit up. From left is Cam's, Baby George, Sis, Busy Guy and Mr. P's. Works of art!

Happy Halloween

The kids had a wonderful Halloween. We had a Batman, a princess, a Transformer, a GI Joe, and a witch. The weather was great...clear and not too cold. We had our annual Halloween night at the kids' Godparent's house. Dinner was yummy and trick-or-treating was great. The kids were thrilled that the lady with the big snake was handing out candy again this year! Yep! A big boa. Blech!! Nasty. I stayed WAY far from the snake. All the kids pet it. Blech!! Other than the snake I had a great time. Now I'm feasting on all my favorite candy. Mmmm....mini candy bar heaven.

Apples

On Saturday we spent the day at my Aunt and Uncle's house for their annual Apple Cider Pressing Party. It was a beautiful fall day. My Uncle got 800 lbs. of the most beautiful juicy and pristine apples. Yum! They are so good. The guys ran the press and filled everyone's jugs with fresh cider to take home.

Here's my awesome Uncle Bert next to his super cool press.

Busy Guy is a serious worker! He did every job available. He is always willing to help and loves to see how things work. He is going to make his future wife very happy!

The scenery was amazing!

Busy Guy turning the crank to press the apples.

My Uncle sent us home with two boxes of apples. Yum! I made apple crisp tonight. Fabulous.

Liam was transfixed watching a bagpiper. Yes! My Uncle's friend plays the bagpipes and walked around the property playing. It was magical.

Some kids didn't want to help at all. :) But they had fun running all over and playing soccer.

Sliced apples waiting for freezer bags.

My Aunt Thonnie or "Donnie" as Sis calls her. She was in the kitchen all day turning out apple sauce, apple cake, apple pie, and caramel apples. Mmmmmmm. Oh, and we had delicious soup and other good things for lunch.

Tuba helping Nana turn the apple peeler. He loves to help too!

Sis and I got invited to a friend's birthday party. A GIRL party! Woot! Sis was so excited to go with me. We went shopping to buy the gift. Sis picked out tights for the gift. Of course! While we were picking out tights Sis spotted these "skinny jeans". She whipped them off the rack and said, "Mommy, these are just like yours! Can I have the PLEAAAAAASE?!". Sis does NOT need any more clothes but I melted. I couldn't resist her request to dress like me. You know how I love to match! So we came home and Sis got to work planning our outfits. Pretty good! She would have been happier if our shirts were exactly the same but it's close.
We had so much fun at the party. We made pizzas, played games, had cake, and played girly toys. So much fun!

Girly Room

Sis's room is so beautiful! The path to get here was long and a lot of work but the end product is wonderful. The color turned out so lovely. I don't know if it shows so well in this photo but I really like it. I bought the cube storage and it is great to get her things off the floor and organized.

Sis still has a toddler bed...which fits her little self just fine. In fact two of her brothers also still have toddler beds. That is going to be an expensive day when we buy three twin beds. Yikes!

My favorite part of the new room is these curtains. Love them. They match the stencil I have too. I haven't put the stencil up yet. I'm enjoying her new fresh walls so much...maybe I won't do the stencil. Not sure yet.

Here's a side story about the painting of Sis's room. I was feeling very compelled to paint her room. It was really weighing on me. I would try to brush it off but it just kept coming back to nag at me. I'd tell myself not to be so crazy...that I didn't have to do it right away. But, the morning I decided to paint I was feeling especially anxious about getting to the painting. I decided to just do it and get it done. So, the first thing I did to start prepping the room was to take the light fixture down. Well, the second I touched it I jerked my hand back in pain. The fixture was so hot! I turned the light off and waited for the glass to cool. I then took it down...still rather warm. When I felt the fixture and the ceiling around it I was shocked to feel how hot they were. Scary. Then the very scary part. I next took down the smoke detector. I am VERY careful to have lots of detectors and always have fresh batteries in them. BUT, as I took hers down...it had a dead battery! Oh my! My stomach was sick.

At that moment I realized that the Holy Spirit was speaking to me. Paint that room wasn't about getting a job done but about safety. I always say that you should listen to your inner voice when it is nagging at you and telling you something. It is God speaking to you. In this case I wasn't listening because I thought it was just my "project obsessiveness" speaking. Nope. Turns out I should have listened sooner. Thankfully all is well. Sis (and her brothers) are all getting new light fixtures tomorrow. An electrician is coming to put them up and inspect the wires. The old ones are halogen which the electrician....and lots of others (grandparents and friends) say are not safe. So glad I finally listened to my inner voice!

What NOT to do

Just in case your teenager ever wants to paint his/her room this color....say NO! We bought our house with this lovely color already on the walls...and ceiling. Yes, it was the room of a teenage boy and yes his parents let him pick this color.

I really wanted to get this room painted before we moved in but I didn't. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Packing and moving were a bit overwhelming. This is Sis's room. Her very own room. Too bad you need sunglasses to stop the glare of the fluorescent color!

Well, I have finally gotten around to painting this room. Sis and I chose pink. Really, did you expect something else? I have spent two days working on this room. It took 5 hours and two coats of primer and then 3 hours and 3 coats of paint to cover it. I'm not joking when I say that I'd let my teenage child dye his/her hair this color before I ever let them paint the walls this color. Seriously! One haircut versus hours of my own blood sweat and tears. Okay, so no blood.

Oh, and I'm not done. I finished the ceiling today and will move onto the walls tomorrow. You see I spent many hours choosing just the right pink only to put it on the wall and hate it! Yep. So I went back to the paint store and had it mixed with white. Now it 's much better, much more pale and I think I love it. We'll see. I'll post pics of it soon. After the walls are done I'll be stenciling up those cute flowers and butterflies that were on Sis's previous room. Then it's curtains, shelves and room decor. Oh the fun!

Pumpkin Farm

What I didn't do this weekend:
Clean the bathrooms
Laundry
Clean the floors

What I did do this weekend:
Went out for breakfast
Went to the Pumpkin Patch
Went to The Art Walk with my MIL
Went to church
Went out for lunch
Went to a baptism
Drank wine in front of the fire with my hubby

So just in case you stop by for a visit...don't be shocked at the filth of my house. You can however marvel at the gorgeous pumpkins on my front porch. :)