Peace On Earth...and in Me

We are busy decking the halls. We've got our tree and decorations up, been to see Santa and have attended one of the two Christmas concerts for our kids' schools. Tomorrow we are hosting our annual Dessert Open House and collecting basketballs, soccer balls and playground balls for orphanages in Ethiopia. It's a very fun time of year!

It's also that time of year when I get a wee bit overwhelmed. Eeeek! But, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve i.e.; a long list of things that have worked in the past. Cam is my best friend and he knows what gets me feeling stressed. So, he is enthusiastic to get some of our Christmas "to dos" done early. Although I was tired from Thanksgiving, Cam insisted we head out for our tree AND get our Santa pics of the kids done. He is right though, getting those things done early gives me lots of time left in the month to sit back and enjoy the festivities.

A few other things that help me to ease the stress and therefore enjoy the season:

I have several beautiful nativity sets displayed. I love to look at them and talk to the kids about the reason we have Christmas. It helps me to focus on Christ's birth and remind me what really matters.

I look at the world through my kids' eyes. They don't care about the end result, they enjoy the experience of getting there. It's a good reminder.

I *try* to take a few minutes each day to sit and enjoy the view from my bedroom windows. I drink a hot drink and rest, relax and quiet my mind. Sometimes one of the kids lays next to me and we visit. Sometimes I snuggle my sweet dog. It's amazing how just 10 minutes relieves stress.

Newest Black Belt

This awesome kid just earned his black belt in TKD!!! We are so proud of him. Three years of hard work and dedication! Way to go Mr. P!

Apples

We went to my Uncle and Aunt's house for their annual Cider Pressing Party. So fun! The weather was a beautiful sunny crisp fall day.

Cam is wearing kind of a crazy outfit....but wow....hubba hubba! I didn't take too many pics since I was having so much fun...and enjoying the sunshine. We took home a few jars of cider to drink. Man oh man is it good!

We also took home boxes of apples. We ate a bunch and then prepped the rest for the freezer.

I finally went and bought an apple corer/slicer....the kind that suctions onto the counter top. The kids did all the work. I have been struggling with a pulled muscle in my neck/shoulder so I couldn't turn the crank.

Moses and Mr. P were thrilled to do the work! We decided to prep all the apples for pies. I put flour, sugar and cinnamon on the apples and put them into freezer bags. Now when we want to make a pie all I have to do is pull it out and thaw it. Yummy! 

Sis loved to help too. And I think Kali wants to get in there too.

Mr. P sampled them to make sure they were nice and cinnamon-y!

I'm totally cracking up!! Why is there a roll of toilet paper on the kitchen counter??? I don't know! All I can say is that it was one of those crazy days when I was behind in everything and the kitchen was a wreck but I had to get the apples processed. So...toilet paper on the counter....okay....awesome!

I love fall! Love apples....love pie....love cinnamon. 

What Doin'?

Okay, I just went a little nutty trying to find the link to write a new post. I could NOT find it....and then I got panicky....

What if I am really losing it?

Why can't I find it?

What if something is wrong with my brain...or eyes...or brain?

Where is it?

Oh my gosh....okay, don't freak out....holy cow...seriously!

Oh, there it is. 

See Becky...you're fine...no brain tumors.

So how have you been? Me? I've been wearing the Landlord Hat, which apparently is making me question whether or not I have brain issues/diseases. We have decided to sell our rental house. **Please take this time to send up prayers that it sells.....quickly**

We feel (hope, pray, beg) that the market is good now to sell. Plus, we are really not so good at being landlords. It's a lot of work to maintain two houses when really I only have the time to do a good maintenance job on a kid's playhouse.....or maybe dollhouse.

I will be SO glad when the house sells and I can throw away my Landlord Hat.....it's ugly and hats always wreck my hair. I've spent the last two weeks dealing with The Rental. Cleaning, fixing, repairing, hiring repairers (yes, it's a word) is exhausting. We are trying to get The Rental in tip top shape. 

The downside to selling is that we will be paying two mortgages without the benefit of rent coming in. Hmmmm. Very NOT good! 

So, in the spirit of saving money having enough money to eat we are cutting out all fluff. What is fluff? Let me tell you. No TKD, No YMCA, No gymnastics, No piano lessons, No Weight Watchers, No dinners out, No entertainment. 

And yes, Christmas is just around the corner. I've told the kids that we will have really yummy food AND love each other all day.

The end.

I'll leave this rambling post now with this lovely picture. I've been taking photos of things I see while I'm out walking. Walking is exercise...plus, it's free!

Kairos moment when I saw this lovely trellis covered in hops. Beautiful. 

Halloween 2013

Halloween at our house started at 5:30 am. Yes you heard that right. I think the kids are conditioning me for Christmas. No, I was not thrilled. They ran around the house talking WAY too loudly. 

We are lucky to have a school that allows costumes. They call it Story Book Character Day. Genius! I decided to get into costume too! The little kids were thrilled and Mr. P look petrified that I might come to his classroom as a kitty. I told him that yes I would be coming to his classroom and that I'd be doing the Litter Box Dance....you know....the one from the movie Puss In Boots. Muwahahahaha!!

First stop on our Halloween Party Train was Sis's classroom. The room parents did an amazing job with the party!! Seriously....it was so cute!! 

I love hanging out in my kids' classrooms. Plus costumes and candy!! Woot!

Then it was on to Moses's classroom for his party. More fun! I painted kids nails and put black lipstick on them. So cool!

After all my partying I brought the little kids home and put my pj's on. Time to re-group and get ready for the rest of the day. 

I make chili and corn bread every year for dinner. While the dinner cooked the kids ate MORE candy. Oh!

Cam got home in time for dinner and then off to trick-or-treat our neighborhood. It wasn't raining AND it wasn't freezing. Double bonus!!

This year we had a ghoul. I do not like this! I begged and bribed him to be something cute like Batman.....again. Hmpf! I do not like my boys getting big! I actually shed a few tears at the Halloween store. Okay....1. The store was full of horrible creepy things. 2. I was a bit overwhelmed that day. 3. My baby wanted to dress as something creepy. My tears did nothing to change his mind and quite frankly my husband wondered if it was close to "that time of the month". No it is not!! Rude!

So, I ended up with a ghoul and a Ninja. What a cute ninja!! That ghoul...he's disgustingly scary! Turns out that during trick-or-treating he found out the mask was sweaty and he took it off. Happy Mom.

Tuba is always a witch. A good and happy witch.

George was a pirate and Sis was Bell the princess. Oh how I love the little's costume choices. I'm savoring it. 

Let's talk about the candy. HOLY MOLY!! We came home and weighed the candy. 40 lbs.!!!! That's more than Sis weighs! Although she ate so much candy in one day surely she will gain a pound or two. 

Today she is buzzing with nasty sugar energy. NOT pretty. Poor girl. Her candy is not under lock and key and she can have one piece a day. Anyone who feels sorry for her can take her for the day....I'll provide the candy. :)

Tooth Palooza

The kids have lost four teeth in the past four weeks. Eeeks! The Tooth Fairy is working overtime....and if you remember from past posts....that Tooth Fairy is a little lame. 

Sis lost her first tooth. She is ecstatic!!!! I'm sad!! My baby!

The Tooth Fairy actually came on the first night that the tooth was out. I wrote her a BIG note AND set an alarm for her to remember. Sheesh! 

Sis was so thrilled with her $3.00. She wanted to buy a Barbie Camper. Hmmmmm.....she only needs another $147.00. 

I took her to the Dollar Store today. I've never been into a dollar store. New experience....I didn't realize that EVERYTHING in the store is actually $1.00. Wow! 

Sis was so happy to buy three items!! She chose two Barbies (fake Barbie dolls that will surely lose all their hair in about two hours flat), and a packet of Barbie stationary with stickers and rubber stamps. She's been playing all afternoon. So fun! 

Photo Shoot Turnout

As I said in my last post I was going crazy trying to figure out all our outfits. I finally settled on this bunch.

The scarves on top of the ironing board I borrowed from my fab friend and neighbor Ann. I could NOT decide which scarf to add to my outfit. I asked the kids numerous times. They just smiled and said, "yes, that one" even though I was wearing a different scarf each time I asked. I asked Cam too. Finally he warned me not to talk to him about scarves.....ANY MORE. Sheesh! I settled on the scarf on the left side. 

The only items I purchased for the photo shoot was a red bow for Sis and Cam bought a new down vest. Not bad! The rest of it came right out of our closets....matchy and all.

It was a long 90 minute drive to the location for the photos. The kids were not excited about spending that much time in the car. I gave them the "mom does lots of things for you" speech and then plugged in ALL of our electronics to charge for the trip. 

The setting was amazing! Exactly what I wanted for our photos. An old farm with a huge barn, fields of grass, a pond and lots of lovely trees with fall leaves. Oh my!! 

We spent one hour taking lots of shots. The kids were good and put up with all of it. Of course the promise of pizza and root beer kept them smiling and posing nicely. 

We went to a yummy pizza place for dinner. It was so fun!

My favorite yummy beer too!

Look at my loves! So precious!

We have seen just one of the photos so far. LOVE!! I can't wait to see all of them. I will post them here soon! I have one fabulous and gorgeous family!!