MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

*SIGH*

Why do I keep doing this?

I'm talking about the Making a Happy Home Monday. I get a lot of hits on my blog...so somebody likes it. Thanks!

But on the Making a Happy Home Monday, I do get discouraged because nobody seems to enjoy it.

I take that back. I do know why I continue. I have been told by a certain friend that she will read and sometimes, it is an encouragement in the middle of life with her 4 kids*. I was happy to be able to share a hug with her. SO, for this one friend....I continue. What she told me is the exact reason I'm doing this. That being said....I will put up Mr. Linky for awhile longer. Link up if you want. Either way, I hope you enjoy.

*I have many friends with 4 kids. I'm not TALKING about you...I'm talking about HER!

SO here we go for Making a Happy Home Monday.

What is it? It is a blog carnival...well, barely that, it is almost a monologue, in which I attempt to inspire and encourage women to take on a task, big or small, to improve an area of their homes.

When there is something that is dirty or messy, ugly, or just not functional, it is very hard to be happy. Often times, I might not even like the results...however, just attempting to make it better is a big lift to me.

For this installment, I'm going to focus on my dining room. We (remember, "we" in my house really means my Hunka Burnin' Love).....so, WE hung curtains.

I know that doesn't seem like a big thing, but for me, it is. Back in the first half of our marriage, we moved a LOT (something I plan to blog about someday). It seemed like right when I would get something set just right, we would move....I finally gave up. I stopped hanging things like pictures and curtains.

Now don't misunderstand. I haven't been in this house for 5 1/2 years without curtains in my dining room. But, when we peeled wallpaper and painted in there, we got rid of the curtains.....I have been without since November. We finally found exactly what we like and hubby put them up for me.

They match PERFECTLY!!!

What do you think?

CHRISTMAS FUN

Hey, y'all. I thought it would be fun to show you what some of what I'm doing with the kids (my own, as well as my older 2 boys' classmates.)

First off, tomorrow we are having Christmas parties in the classrooms. Second grade should have the video/TV player. We will either watch Charlie Brown Christmas or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I might read a story to them...just depends on our time.

Those kiddos will do paper activities: word searches, crosswords and other things. We are going to have a gift exchange. They are exchanging books. We are also going to have LOTS of snacks. Then we are going to make ornaments.

Here is a picture of what we are making in 2nd grade.

I took card stock and cut them into quarters. I then took these glittery trees (actually gift tags) and removed the string. They were glued onto the card stock. I added star confetti and "snow." I put my name and date (hence the scissors over part of the writing), then punched a hole at the top and used the original cold cord as the loop. Cute, huh? Took me about 5 minutes....it will take them about 30. =)

For 4th grade, we will probably read a story, have our book exchange, then eat. We chipped in money for a Chick-Fil-A tray. We will also have chips, cookies, cupcakes and juice. When they are all going nuts, we will have an ornament relay. I bought ornaments (that won't shatter) that the kids have to pass, using ONLY ornament hooks. The winners get a chocolate candy cane. We are making ornaments - an idea that I stole borrowed from one of my posters on Making a Happy Home Monday. My sample looks like this.



I saved the best for last.

This is something I have been doing for YEARS. I got this idea from a teacher friend of mine.

I trace the right hand of all my children. Each year, I alternate green or red construction paper, trace their hand and cut it out. In the palm part, I write their name and the year. Eventually, I will laminate these. I keep them in an envelope in our fire-box.

It is such a simple thing, but these are SO SO precious. When I see the tiny hand from the first tracing, compared to their hand now....wow....it just makes me tear up just thinking about it. It's not too late to start this tradition. Here they are. (They are turned over so as not to show their names. Therefore, they look like the left hand.)

These are from the first year when we had all 4 boys.

A BUNCH of hands.