IMPORTANT BIZNISS!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Y'ALL!!!

Today is the opening day for THE Great State Fair of Texas. That means that the holidays HAVE started. Look for lots of holiday stuff.

One thing I will do (or try to, anyway) is to share daily, some movie quotes from some of my favorite Christmas movies including:

~ It's a Wonderful Life

~ The Santa Clause

~ Elf

~ A Christmas Story

~ A Charlie Brown Christmas

~ Rudolph

~ National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Of course, there are others, but these will be the ones I draw from the most. Hope y'all have fun.

To start off this 90 day Holiday Celebration, I leave you with this. I posted it last year. These are my youngest 2 children, re-enacting their favorite scene. I included the true scene in case you have never seen it.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Yes! It is that time of week again. And, being Labor Day, it means we must labor. Right?

Actually, this bit if labor was done a few days ago. I just decided to put it up.

Making a Happy Home Monday is a small blog carnival that I created. It is hopes of inspiring and encouraging others to find one area in their homes to improve upon. Make it pretty. Make it more functional. Make it clean. Whatever you do, make it happy.

I would love for you to join in. If you do, just link up down below (on Mr Linky) and show/tell us what you are doing!

Over the past month, my hubby and I have really done a lot with the boys' rooms. My oldest switched with my 2 youngest (who share a room.) They are now in the bigger room with their bunk beds. My oldest and 2nd now have "big boy" rooms....meaning it is set up to facilitate homework a bit better.

Well, in my mind, it was just a matter of moving a few key pieces of furniture. Hmmmm....it took us over a week. We had to switch beds, move dressers, clean, rearrange, switch closets....this even included my 2nd son, who had some furniture in his room that belonged to my youngest.

So, we FINALLY got that mostly settled. (I'm still working on detail stuff, but for the most part, we are done.) The thing that was just overwhelming had to do with the toys. TOYS! TOYS! TOYS! There is no way that 4 kids need that many toys! Actually, I'm referring to the 2 youngest, mostly. My oldest, who would rather be on the computer, watching TV, playing DS or reading, has a small selection of toys.....mostly transformers and a few games. My 2nd is in the transition of not really playing so much with toys. Though, he does enjoy lego's, k'nex and more "sophisticated" forms of play. He has a small tub full of his stuff.

Nope, the area is in my youngest boys' new room.....they had 3 of the GIANT tubs, 1 large tub and 3 baskets full of so much. It was sad. Now don't get me wrong. I'm glad that we have been blessed with gifts from friends and the ability to get so much of what our boys want. But, they don't play with them all. Some are outgrown. A few were broken. Some are just not liked by the kids.

SO....the other day, I decided to dedicate a bit of time. Little did I know that it would take me about 5 hours. I went TOY BY TOY! I kept the ones I knew for sure they would like. I sorted out the ones I knew they didn't like. THEN, the ones that were on the fence, I put in the floor to see if they were picked up. If not....they went into the discard bin.

By discard, I mean donation. We have a lovely charity place down the road. They run a thrift store. The merchandise is all donated. I would rather donate than go through the "fun" (note the sarcasm) of a garage sale. (For the record, there was only 1 kitchen-sized trash bag full of trash and/or broken toys.)

Here is a picture of what I'm donating.

The large tub? We still have 2 of those full of toys to be loved by my children. The basket? Just overflow. The bags? Kids' clothes. I recently went through the dresser of my youngest 2 and pulled out grown clothes.

What do you think?

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES

What can I say? I was stupid. Looking back, I can think of a dozen things I should have done, but didn't. Instead, I scared myself, my hubby and my friends. I have spent many moments since telling myself how stupid I was. Now? I just thank God that He kept me safe.

I have been skydiving. Tons of fun! Stupid? Maybe. But, still...I'm glad I did it.

I have been rappelling....a LOT! Loads more fun than skydiving.

I am not here to talk about THAT stupid stuff. No, I'm talking about the life-threateningly stupid stunt.

Let me set the stage:

Hubby and I, along with our 4 boys, joined some dear friends of ours for an outing on a local lake. It was a bit windy. Not too hot. The water was just right. We had a few inflatables to pull behind the boat. There were a few jet-skis.

My boys have all had lessons, though I only consider my oldest to be water-safe (in a pool.) However, we made sure that all 6 kids (their 2 included) had their safety vests on the entire time. You can't be too careful with kids aged: 11, 9, 8, 6, 5 and 4. We moms sat on the end of the boat sunning while the kids were in the water, at our feet. One dad was on a jet ski. The other was swimming, sans vest.

So at one point, his daughter started to drift a bit. She got a little freaked. Her dad went after her, but then had trouble. He started to holler that he needed help. Now keep in mind that it is windy, there is water noise, boat noise and he is winded. While his wife turned to my hubby (who was floating on the jet ski by the boat) to ask if we heard him, I took off my sunglasses and dove in. (Also, sans life vest.)

In my defense, as a mom, I think I went a bit blind. I saw that this sweet little 5 year old girl was panicked....though in her life vest. I was always a strong swimmer. I've never made a lake rescue.

I got to her quickly. I turned to head toward the boat and realized the issue I was in.....not only was she in a current going one way, but I think the boat was in a current going the other. I promise you that the distance I swam to get to her was doubled by the time I turned. NOT GOOD!

Thankfully, my hubby was there. He pulled off his life vest to give to me. I got it on while the little girl clung to the side of the jet ski. DH grabbed the loop at the top of her vest and pulled her up and drove her to the boat.

It was during that time that I mentally started to kick myself....and suffer claustrophobia. Though I was floating...out and away, I might add, I felt the weight of the vest against me. Being a musician, I have always breathed with my diaphragm. I couldn't expand it enough, but I couldn't get enough air with just my lungs. My hubby came to get me. I grabbed his leg and he towed me to the boat.

Now, here are some interesting tidbits.....my hubby, upon hearing our friend's call for help, started yelling for me to toss a life vest to our friend. I didn't hear him. I most certainly would have done that, had I thought of it. I have learned that he is always calm and cool-headed in a crisis....unlike myself. Also...I KNOW BETTER! I mean, really! I do. But, I guess some mommy instinct, from the stupid side of my brain, kicked in and took over.

When I think about what could have happened....well, God was definitely keeping His hand on me. For that, I am thankful....also thankful for my hubby's well-timed arrival on the jet ski.

OK....ONE MORE

If this is the first post you are reading, then you have 3 more new ones to read. If you are reading these in order of posting, then this is the 4th! WOW! FOUR POSTS IN ONE DAY!

This is a quick installment of Making a Happy Home Monday.

Chore charts!

We have created chore charts for all our kids and I wanted to share what we did and how we are working with this system.

I created 3 different charts. One chart is shared by the 2 older. They each do the same chores, I just printed an extra copy and put each kid's name on his chart. The younger 2 each have their own chores. The chart with the sun is for my oldest 2. The chart with Veggie Tales is for my 6 year old and the one with Thomas and James is for my soon-to-be 4 year old. (Sorry it's crinkled.) I placed a strip of paper over their names.

I created these from here.

Instead of reprinting the chart each week, we just have the chart in a page protector. The kids then use a dry-erase marker to check off each chore as it is done. My 2nd LOVES it.....he woke up, saw the chart and got everything done before I even got ready for the day. My first will have to be ragged and nagged constantly. Oh well.....

The little ones love to help and will adapt, I think, quickly. (Heh....I say that, my youngest was the one that crinkled his chart.)

Anyway, another way to Make a Happy Home.

*if you click on the picture, you can make it bigger and see the actual chores

WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO

It has been so crazy. Last week was the craziest! I just thought I would let you know what all I have been up to. By the way.....continue reading after this post, because there are 2 more below.

Last week was our last week of school. It was a lot of fun, but busy!!!

Tuesday....what did I do Tuesday? Oh yeah, there was a poetry reading for 2nd grade. My 8 year old, along with 124 other 7 and 8 year olds EACH read a poem that they had composed. Their teachers also composed and read poems that included the names of each of their students. Anyway, the program was cute....but made worse because the 2 little boys didn't really want to sit through all those poems.

Wednesday? Hmm.....oh, you know what? The poetry reading was Wednesday. I think Tuesday was a day to prepare for.....

THURSDAY!!! This was our big day....our busy day.

Thursday saw awards and parties. My 4th grader and my 2nd grader both had both. So, we went to the award ceremony of DS #1 (see previous post) then ran to start DS #2's party. Got that started, went to start #1's party, check on #2, a bit more with #1, awards for #2, pick up from school and off to piano lessons. PHEW!

Friday was the last day of school and was only 1/2 day. Second grade had another party. (There *might* be a post about that, but I'm still trying to decide how to be nice about it all. ;) ) After that, we all went to see the movie UP. That was fun. Then Daddy took us to Dippin' dots for a fun treat.

Saturday saw a piano recital for both older boys and then a birthday party for a friend. The party was over about 6, but we ended up staying until about 11:45. LOL!!!! FUN TIMES!

Sunday was church and then our home team....I made the "BIG" salad and Red, White and Blue Sundaes. Also made some chocolate chip cookies just because.

Today is our first, full-day of summer vacation. The kids are having a "fun" time adjusting as the chores that were NOT expected are a lot less fun than all the video games that WERE expected. Ha. We will not be wasting the summer away.

Thank you, dear reader, for being patient with me. I hope to be better blogger soon.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, guys! I hope you had a great weekend and are geared up for another wonderful week ahead.

I hope you will join me for Making a Happy Home Monday. It is a blog carnival that I host in which I want to encourage and inspire others to take an area of their homes and improve it. You can take any area, big or small, and make it happier. You do this by cleaning it, organizing it, or simply making it prettier. Either way, when you do this, it makes you happier.....thus making your home happier.

If you decide to join me, please sign up on Mr. Linky down below. I would love to see what you are doing around the place. If you can, share some pictures to go along with your project. Hope to see you soon.

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For this entry, I decided to share something that I had to do last night that really helped us out.

This past weekend, my husband and I took our older 2 children to a Junior Bible Quiz tournament. Well, wouldn't you know?,The day before we leave, my oldest begins to complain about his ear hurting. I gave him some Tylenol and he seemed to do better. The next morning, he was still hurting. I talked to the school nurse and it was determined that he had swimmer's ear.

On the way to the meet, I treated #1 with alcohol.....heh....RUBBING ALCOHOL IN THE EAR to evaporate any trapped water, then drops for pain. We put cotton in the ear. He did well until that night. He cried quite a bit, due to the pain. What a horrible feeling to be away from home, away from your doctor, on a weekend, when your child is in pain.

SO, I treated him with more meds and had him lay on a warm wash cloth....anything to soothe him and help him fall asleep.

The next morning, he did a GREAT JOB! (more on that soon) On the way home, the exhaustion and cold wind only served to cause more pain. BUT, I was reminded of something by a friend. I tried it and it worked wonderfully.

It's a rice-sock.

I can't believe I had forgotten such a thing. And seriously....everybody should have the makings for such an easy, but effective thing.

I put rice in a spouted cup and poured it into one of my sons' sock...then I tied it. I didn't fill it too full, as I wanted it soft enough to form around the ear a bit. I microwaved it for about 30-40 seconds. I placed it on my son's ear. It was so comforting. Between that and the meds, he awoke with a smile and happily told us that he was no longer hurting. And THAT makes for a happy home!

Please join me and share something good that is going on in your home.

OUR TRIP

OK...first off, there are a LOT of pictures. But, it doesn't take a long time to actually look at pictures.

Secondly, these are in reverse order. Why? Well, when you download on blogger, you can only do 5. Those 5 are posted in the reverse of what you selected. Then, every subsequent download is over the others. I didn't think of that until I was on photo number 10. It doesn't matter the order, though ;)

This is our trip to Austin. The MAIN reason we went is to go visit these people right here. If you go to Mommy Spice on my sidebar, you can read her blog. This couple has meant so much to us over the past several years....we love them dearly. You can see Spicy Girl in the pink. (You WOULD have been able to see a picture of me and all the goodies, along with my other 2 kids, but I look pregnant. I refuse to LOOK preggers if I ain't actually preggers. It was NOT a pretty picture....all hangin' out and crap like that....but I digress.)

Anyway, this couple has an Auntie Anne's Pretzel Shop in the Austin area. We went to see them, their store and, of course, to sample. As I had never had an Auntie Anne's pretzel product, I was lucky to taste some of EVERYTHING! YUM!!! The cinnamon sugar with light cream cheese is YUMMY!


Checking out of our hotel. This is one of the few places that trusts their guest to NOT jump out of the window...they still opened. We took full-advantage and let the kids throw all of the soft stuff down to DH and the FTU. TOO FUN!


After some Amy's ice cream.

DH and DS #4

Brothers: #2 and #1

DS #3

DH and DS #1

The food court area, where Amy's was, had a lot of cow statues....the kids were all over them. Here is #3 and #4.

#1 and #2

His ice cream was obviously quite yummy!

All 4 outside the Oasis restaurant in Austin.

OK...there is a story with this. This picture is taken at the Oasis over Lake Travis. It is gorgeous...a lot of fun. Well, the kids kept walking to the glass looking over onto the lower decks and down to the water. We look up and notice one of the boys "caressing" a certain part of the sculpture. I'll leave it to your imagination, but the thing I think of is Ralphie and the leg lamp.....watch the following clip to about 1:45....THAT is how it was with this sculpture.

On the train, waiting to circle the park.

#3 and #4 on the swings

#4 holding onto the bar.....INTENSE!

#3 on the sliding bar

OK...thanks for visiting. I'll be putting up zoo pictures later. Tomorrow, I will be taking the boys to the zoo....just hope nobody approaches me. They might think I'm trying to break the monkeys out of the their cage. :)

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, everyone. It's that time of week! It's time for Making a Happy Home Monday.

This is a blog carnival that I host....a blog in which I hope to encourage and inspire people to take on a project. Many areas of our homes need attention. Many areas of our home are neglected. They might not be areas that are seen, but still, the shape they are in affects how we feel. (Or at least it does in my case.)

For example, nobody really sees my son's closet. It is an easy "overlook." BUT, when I got it cleared out and straightened, I felt so much better.

So, please join me! Just sign up down below on Mr. Linky. Tell us some of the things you are working on. Do you have before and after pictures? I would love to see them!

No matter what you do, make your home a happy home!

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My entry for this Monday is not really a "project" or item around the house that needed to be cleaned....though the subject does need cleaning often. :) No, the subject of my Making a Happy Home Monday is spending some quality time with one of my children.

That's not to say that I don't spend quality time with ALL my children, it's just that this was a bit easier to document with pictures.

My kids LOVE to help in the kitchen. They love to cook (guess they got that from me). It is sometimes hard for me to let go long enough to let them help. I get in a hurry and, quite frankly, would rather have everyone out of my way and get my stuff done. I'm a messy cook, but my mess cannot compare to the mess my boys leave. LOL!

That is something that God has been working on me about. There are several facets of this work in progress...which is me...that have been touched on in this. One is that I NEED to spend the time with the kids. It doesn't have to be outside, with a toy or a board game...it can be in doing my normal day-to-day stuff and having them help out. Another thing is that I need to learn to let go. I know I can cook....my hubby knows I can cook...I shouldn't worry about every single meal looking magazine-cover pretty. I can't worry about a little flour being spilled onto the floor.

SO, without further ado, here is my 2nd son working on pizza pockets. (I'll post the recipe on Tuesday.) I was throwing together a recipe when he happened to come in and, as usual, asked if he could help. My first inclination? (I thought this, but didn't say it out loud) No...let me just get this going. Y'all have been outside, everyone needs baths, I can get 2 of you bathed by the time these are done, we'll eat then settle down for the night.

After about 5 seconds, my response was, "Sure."

I'm so glad I did. How many times have I missed (or almost missed) a truly pleasant time with my children because of my lack of patience or perfectionist attitude. I pray that I remember every time I am asked by one of my kids, "Can I help?"

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.

OMG!

I'm mildly freaked about this.

My 2 oldest boys are on their first deer hunt.

I'm very nervous.

I trust their father.

I trust the people who are with them (friends from high school).

That is not the issue.

The issue is having my children hold, and shoot, a gun.

I am not anti-gun.

Not at all!

In fact, Hubby and I hope to get our conceal and carry license in the near future.

But, for my babies to be to holding killers....not something that will merely put an eye out.

I mean....YIKES!

That's hard-core.

OK....I just remembered something else and NOW I'm totally freaked! (This is funny, though.)

Hubby shot his best friend (who is going on the hunt with HIS son) in the buttocks with a pellet gun (or was it a B.B. gun, my love?) at several paces.

WHY?

I asked that a few years ago.

His response?

"To see if I could."

I repeat:

OMG!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

JUST SOME STUFF

Hey, y'all. I just wanted to get a few pics up. I will post some Halloween pics later...they were on my hubby's camera and are now on his computer. I need to load them on mine.

BUT, you won't see it here today! Sorry. These are just random pics of my kidlets. I don't even know if it will be all of them, 'cause I don't remember what all I have on there that I want to share. I do know that several of these will be of my #4 at the arboretum....some will include his little friend.

Oh and 2 are for my friend Les, who wanted to see my pedi and mani...I think she was teasing, but thought I would show them anyway.

I'M BIASED

Of course, but this is totally cute. My kids love all things Charlie Brown. We have been watching the Charlie Brown Christmas movie a lot. (We've been watchig them all, but the Christmas is the all time fave.)

ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

uh-oh!

OK...so it's not as bad as all that. They totally had permission. We are redoing our dining room. (Let me clarify....DH is redoing my dining room ;) )

Either for fun or to keep us from backing out, we decided to let the kids color on the walls. Isn't that fun? I just hope they don't do it on the new walls.

Pictures of the finished product will follow.

THAT Mom

I have often threatened to be "THAT Mom."

You know who she is. You may have even been her from time to time. I'm thinking of the readers whom I know of....YOU have definitely been "THAT Mom" before.

You remember? She is the one that is in your face...well, maybe not YOURS, but whomever might need to be told to "step off." She hovers at the school....just showing up to make sure that things are done the way she thinks is right. She has no problem pushing her agenda when it comes to her child.

The problem comes in knowing when to be "THAT Mom" or when NOT to be. You see, "THAT Mom" can bring some definite good. (As long as she keeps her cool.)

Well, "THAT Mom" showed up at soccer today.

I thought I was going to have to kick her butt.

Seriously.

First off, it is just a game...the kids are under 8.

Secondly, it is a TEAM SPORT! You know the whole "Together Everyone Achieves More" saying? Well....it ain't about your kid lady.

Thirdly, I paid a decent chunk of change to have my son coached by a COACH! (Go figure.) If I wanted a blond female yelling at my son from the sideline, I would have pushed your fat-tushie out of the way and done it myself.

Finally, SHUT-UP!

Seriously!

You are driving me insane. I'm about to have to become "THAT Mom" just to make sure YOU step off.

Know when to use it, lady!

Know when to use it.

You don't use it in the face of a 7 year old child.

And you certainly don't use it in front of me!

There ain't room for 2 of us!

Have a nice day.