January Pictures

If you remember my new year resolution it was to take a photo a day and I did a pretty good job capturing every day activities.  I missed a few days here and there but had fun with it.  Here are a few I liked.

As for teaching my children to stop and breath, I’m not doing so good.  January was so very busy thankfully we still have 11 months to learn how to stop and breath.

For Christmas E got 2 beauty heads, we decided to put 1 of them in O’s bed, we used a body pillow, sunglasses and we decided to let her read from an IPad.  When we were done we were laughing so hard we were almost crying.  O did not find it as amusing as we did.

Go Blue

Happy Birthday O

Yes that is 6 IPads C is our tech guy

the boys played putt~putt together and only 1 ball went into the water

R and Keith watching Harry Potter together

The mouse and no motorcycle

On the morning of E’s birthday we woke up to a pink sky we decided it was a birthday present to E from God.

Pantry eater likes Krispy Kreme 

E wasn’t feeling well so she and Daddy were reading books before heading back to bed

How are your resolutions coming?

Jen

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crayon hearts

I know it is not even February 1st and I am already talking about valentines.  Since E is in kindergarten this year we get to pass out valentines to her classmates, but since this is not my first valentine rodeo I know it is all about the prize NOT the paper valentine.  I remember choosing what valentine I would give to each person in my class, who got the sweet one, and honestly who got the yucky one.  But not any more, now it is about the tattoo or the candy~mostly the candy.  This year E is making homemade valentines… crayon hearts.  They are super cute and simple to make.1 box of broken naked crayons

2 super cute helpers {speaking of naked}

snacks are a must

fill the muffin tin with broken crayons

just like this

put in a 300 degree oven until nice and melty

cool on the counter then in the freezer {for best pop out ability}

attach hearts onto paper hearts

place in a zipper baggie 

label and pass out to classmates/ball team/ballet group/etc.

{which C informed me is Latin, guess the big study session is paying off}

We had a good time making hearts, playing Toy Story Yahtzee and snacking while crafting this afternoon, but just so you don’t get any ideas about it being neat and clean this is what the table looked like when we were finished with the 2nd round of yatzee and hearts.

So our valentine craft is done.  I’ll put it into baggies and label them tonight without any help from my girls.  Now to see if J is willing to give these to his 2nd grade class or if I will have to remember to go buy a box for him to pass out.  I think he will go for the hearts. 

Tomorrow I plan on posting a few of my favorite January pictures.   It has been fun getting a picture a day, the camera stays out on the counter and the memories are being preserved on my computer.

Jen

P.S.   R says to tell you that if you are planning on giving these to children who might think they are candy, tell them they are crayons, and use crayola because they are non toxic, they only taste nasty.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle…

That sounds way better than what really happened… 

We live in an old house, and by old house I mean it is almost 90 years old.  So we have a problem with mice/bugs/termites/uninvited guests…  We have battled mice since moving in and except for the year that our yard could be confused with animal hoarders we have had mice.  Once I found a mouse super highway under our couch, another time I found that they really like my chocolate stash {it’s for baking, at least that is what I tell my kids}, and the time Keith found them in a pile of dirty dishes waiting to go into the dishwasher.  So yeah I hate them I put out poison, glue traps, whatever just to try to kill them.  And when you kill them if you cannot find them they stink and they have flies, big. dumb. slow. flies.  If you are a rodent lover who wants me to stop killing them feel free to come over and rescue them yourself. 
All this leads to last week.  On Tuesday I was washing dishes and noticed a few of the big dumb flies on the window, but did not smell death and wondered where they came from, by the week’s end we had lots of big dumb flies I still had no idea what died or where since I still did not notice the smell anywhere in the house.  Then on Sunday morning I decided it was a good idea to empty the diaper bag before adding more to it.  I have the greatest diaper bag which is not really a diaper bag at all but that is what I use it for.  {I got it here http://www.mythirtyone.com/EllenOncu/ and it is called the ORGANIZING UTILITY TOTE}  Any way it has wonderful pockets perfect for water bottles,diet coke bottles, baby bottles, you get the idea.  So I was pulling stuff out of the pockets, the stray hair bow, elastic bracelet, sticker, crayon and some dusty weird shaped dried up thing…  YUP you guessed it, it was a mouse.  I know it was a mouse by the sad dried up tail and the tiny claws, it was a small mouse but it was a mouse.  Not the cute mickey mouse clubhouse mouse, not the cute little cartoon sweet story mouse but a rodent IN MY BAG, MY BAG!!!  I yelled out shivered and yelled again, the thing had been dead so long it was dusting {the after death rot dust}  I had been carrying around a dead mouse for who know how long in my bag, IN MY BAG.  I took the whole bag to the porch and shook it out, that dead dusting rotten mouse lay on my porch.  I carry that bag with me everywhere, church, ball practice, ball games, the store, and the grocery store, shopping, I let the little ones dig thru it looking for things to do when they are bored. I carry baby stuff, snacks, my things… ugh.  I scrubbed my hands over and over then threw the bag into the washer after a good soaking with oxyclean.  and washed that bag right up.  I love that bag and I love the print so I do plan on using that bag again but it might be a few weeks before I do.  I know one thing I will be looking before I reach in and grab anything out of a bag for a very long time.

So not really a mouse on a motorcycle but more like a mouse in a diaper bag, which does not have as nice a sound as the other.  And for the record, yes I took a picture, it is part of my Picture A Day goal, I plan on posting some of them at the end of the month.

Jen

Pop tarts in the pantry

I don’t normally buy pop tarts they are full of questionable chemicals and products which I try to avoid feeding my children.  I was grocery shopping a few weeks ago with Keith who asked for pop tarts, they were not on sale and I did not have a coupon so I did not purchase them at that time.  Last week however they were on sale and I had a coupon so I decided I would treat my family to some pop tarts, and honestly the yum of the brown sugar and cinnamon ones are oh so good!  I have let the kids have 1 a day, not 1 pkg of 2 but 1 individual pop tart.  Today C was home early, it is exam schedule at school for high schoolers so he is done at 11 (2 core class exams a day for 4 days… glad it is him not me).  Anyway, he made his lunch and came to join me in the family room to watch a little tv and visit before going back into the hole to study more for his Latin exam.  We were talking and realized that the baby had not come back to the family room, we went looking for her.  I found the sneaky little girl in the pantry eating the other pop tart in C’s pkg.  She was standing close as she could to the corner and eating it.  When I came upon her she looked guilty, I guess I have a closet eater (or at least a pantry eater.)  But I do know I need to move the snacks to a higher shelf where she cannot see or reach them.I’m off to move the snacks now.

jen

camping and pretty cups

camping & pretty cups

C went with the youth group on a camping trip this weekend.  Yes we are in the south so it is not terribly bitter snowy-cold but it is still cold!  And He likes it warm, the boy runs his space heater every morning so when he is done with his shower his room is toasty warm, he will probably never leave the south.  Anyway, I think about 80 went camping.   This morning it was reported to me that at 2am another child went to go to the bathroom and they found C standing at the hand dryer trying to warm himself.  The poor boy was freezing!  {It actually dropped down to 39 degrees so it was very cold}.  We picked him up in front of the gym and told him to take off his hood we were going to dinner, he begged to go home, said he had not showered since Friday morning, smelled like a campfire and felt like a homeless person since he was wearing every piece of clothing he took in effort to get warm, the kid was right we had to roll down the windows in the van he stunk. 

I like to have an idea what meals we will be eating for the month so I make a menu, this is just a rough plan and it can change as our schedule changes.  I also like to ask the kids for their imput on meal ideas.  Yesterday at lunch I asked them if they had any thing in particular they wanted to eat this month.  C was gone so he had no imput on the menu, although he likes anything except rice he is easy to please.  They were all naming meals they like, chicken chili, ravioli, hot rolled sandwiches, lasagna and tacos.  J asked if I wanted “sides ideas” he said cantaloupe, and R said cheesy potatoes.  Then E piped up with “can we have chocolate chip cookies?  Oh and pretty cups”.  I am not at all sure why she said pretty cups…  But I assured her we could have chocolate chip cookies but I was not buying pretty cups at this time,  now I’m going to have to take her to IKEA with me to buy pretty cups in the near future…

I hope you are finding the funny in your life!

jen

Birthdays and such

This weekend I became the mother of a 16 yr old and a 14 yr old.  How did this happen?  When did that sweet squishy red-faced newborn placed so gently in my arms become the tall, smart, curly-haired boy asking to drive?  When did that “it’s a girl” surprise become a pretty, athletic, smart, young lady?

Because of school we usually celebrate birthdays with a family party, cake and presents on the weekend BUT on their “real birthday”  we give them a gift and dinner out.  They get to choose what parent they want to go to dinner with and the place to eat.  Because there are so many of us, going out is too expensive so this is a treat.  This is just one more way we can connect with that child alone and listen to them.

The big one is a traditionalist, he likes pancakes on Sunday nights, cinnamon rolls on holidays, and 5 guys for his b’day dinner.  He has chosen this for the last 4 years, and he always gets his “real birthday gift” at that time.  This year I did not get his gift wrapped before they were ready to leave BUT since he is a traditionalist I had to rush wrap it so he could open it when eating with Dad.  He has never chosen me to go with him.

O is a daddy’s girl all~the~way, sure she likes me and once a month she wants to be with me and not him but the rest of her whole life she has wanted to be with him.  She likes to mix it up for dinner but she always chooses a dessert, after dinner they went to cold stone for a shake.  She has never chosen to me to go with her either.

I like to fuss at them all complaining that no one picks me but honestly is makes my heart happy that they all love to spend time with their dad.  And when it is my real birthday I pick him too.

How can my little babies be 14 and 16? 

Resolutions… what’s yours?

               Happy New Year!!!

2012 How many times have you written the wrong date this year??? Me not so many only because I don’t often write the date, but this summer I did sign my maiden name and it has been 18 years since we were married. I know the next time I sign in at a Dr’s office I will put the wrong year.

Soooooo, the big resolution time has come and gone, have you made any, have you broken them already? I made 2 simple resolutions, one I saw on pinterest {you know crack for crafters, and a black hole where time just disappears} I wish I had pinned the idea but I did not actually even read it. The header said something like, pictures 365  from what I gathered by the tiny print after the header the goal was to take a picture every single day this year. I tried searching for it again on pinterest and found a lot of 30 day ideas, with a nice check list of pictures to take. I think I like the 365 better and the no check list. So that is my goal, to take 1 picture every single day this year. I like this goal, it is do-able, it is simple, just 1 picture every day, no restrictions, just a picture. I like this goal is because I gave a few family members those wonderful and so fun to make digital photo albums {I had an amazing coupon! which made it even better!} when I was working on those albums I discovered that a few of my children did not have many individual shots, there were lots of them with someone but many were hard to find alone. So I had already decided that I needed more individual shots then I saw the idea on the pin pinterest and I decided that would be my resolution my own personal resolution. I may post a few of my favorites as the year goes along, and please ask me if I have kept it up. I want a full set of pictures on my creative memories photo storage keeper {memory manager} to choose from this year. As a side note if you are interested in Creative Memories please check out this link and you can order right from Kim Overholt~she’s my friend and sister-in-law and an amazing teacher too. http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/kimoverholt That is where I get all my supplies from.

My second resolution is to teach my children to stop and breathe. We are a busy people, places to go, people to see, things to do, worlds to conquer… you get the idea. But what are we teaching ourselves and our children??? Go Go GO GOOOOO!!! We are constantly saying yes to things and running from event to event. I tell my kids “I feel like I am running a marathon, I hate to run” {usually I say this as we are running late to school, church, an activity…} Many of these things are required of us. But what about the extra stuff, the party, the youth activity, the ball game, going to see friends, the g-n-o, the trip to the mall, target, IKEA… What can we take back for our family? What can we all give up for our family? What are we teaching our family? Are we teaching them to cherish their time or are we teaching “time management” as we drag them from ball practice, to music lessons, to church, to cotillion {it is a southern thing}, to the game, to get homework done, to bed. What time management? Yours? What about time to sit and visit with them, to listen to them, teach them, to read a book for fun, work a puzzle, build with legos, what about playing with all the toys they got for Christmas? When is there time for that? Sure there are a lot of positive things kids can learn from all those activities, but what about playing with the neighbor until dinner time, working on resolving a conflict on their own, what about riding bikes, or shooting hoops, what about free play time? We are a nation on the go, but can we be a people on the go slow? My grandma used to say “stop and smell the roses” {I am sure many other grandmas said the same thing} and when you take a child to the park you have no choice but to stop and smell the roses, watch the line of ants, chase the butterfly and look at the clouds. That is what I want my kids to learn, stop breath and enjoy. So we will be saying no to things this year, we will relax more and spend more time together.