Oh Christmas Tree

I give you, the most out of focus picture ever...our Christmas tree!

Happy Thanksgiving.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

yep, Christmas.

I know, I know, Thanksgiving is not even upon us-SLOW DOWN!

I usually don't even want to HEAR Christmas music until I am shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. For some odd reason this year, things are different for me.

While I am excited about Thanksgiving, I have Christmas a lot on my mind this year. It probably has to do with the fact that Matthew's family is coming to our house for the holiday to celebrate with us.

So, while I am looking forward to our trek to Texas to spend the holiday of thankfulness with my family, I thought I might do a little post on how Christmas usually looks in our home.

(And since this is our first Christmas in our new house, I might not have the most definite answers for some of the questions that I make up.)

White lights or colored? White for the tree and colored for the outside of the house. And I really hope we have lights on the outside of our house this year! Matthew is busy doing things like painting the trim on the outside right now.

Real tree or artificial? Really, is that even a question? ARTIFICIAL!!! I can't be responsible for remembering to water the tree and hoping that it doesn't burn our house down.

Egg nog or Hot chocolate? One way for this house...hot chocolate. Matthew, however, would rather have boiled custard (ugh!).

When do decorations go up? Usually the day after Thanksgiving (or whenever we get home from visiting family) but this year-gasp!-we are going to put up our tree tomorrow night. When we return from Texas, we are ridiculously busy on Monday and Tuesday nights and have singing practice on Wednesday night, so it would be ONE WEEK after Thanksgiving before it got put up...unacceptable.

Theme for your tree? Yes, the theme is old and meaningful ornaments. I don't do a whole bunch of theme trees, mostly because I would get lazy around tree 1 1/2 and give up. I would also be a little stressed about maintaining the themes. We use the exact same ornaments every single year.

Does Santa wrap presents or just leave them under the tree? Santa does not have time to MAKE all of the presents in his workshop (with the help of his little elves) and have time to WRAP the presents! Of course, Santa just lays them under the tree, unwrapped. Have you ever seen a single Christmas movie (other than Christmas Story) where Santa wraps the gifts. No.

Mistletoe? No, but I need to rethink that this year...I think a few more kisses are in order.

Favorite Christmas movie? Elf. Love it. And I am pretty sure that I will cry at most movies this year, ya know, due to hormones.

Do you open presents on Christmas Eve? Yes, but very specific gifts...the girls open presents from each other and we open presents from the girls and we all open pajamas. Don't try to sneak any other ones in there or you don't get to make cookies with us later on.

And that is all I have energy for tonight (fyi, I came home and took a nap on the couch this afternoon while the girls watch Sesame Street-because it lasts ONE HOUR-and it is 9pm and I am ready for bed...pregnant much?).

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Early Christmas!

I lose

yep, I lost my own challenge...post 30 posts in 30 days.

sigh.

Oh, well, moving on. It's not the first time I have lost and certainly not the last!

I have so much to write about too! So, let's start out with the random...and I'll get more meaningful as the days go on.

I watched Oprah's "Favorite Things" episode today and it was hilarious! Absolutely hilarious!

I mean, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be on the favorite things episode! And I'm sure I would go mental institution insane. Positive.

But the people on today's episode were capital I-insane!!! I have never see as many tears over presents as I witnessed today.

And when the first present is a diamond watch valuing over one thousand dollars, I can kind of understand the tears.

There were some pretty awesome presents...here are a few:
diamond watch, beautiful earrings, Nikon camera, cashmere sweater, panini press, a closet organization from the Container Store, 5 year subscription to NetFlix AND a 52" 3D TV from Sony, a cruise...all the gifts added to up to around 13,000 dollars!!!!!

Merry Christmas audience!

Too bad it's the farewell season...I'll never have a chance to take home a diamond watch from Oprah.

See, I lose again.

Grandma

Matthew’s grandma passed away today.

She was a wonderful woman!  I learned so much from her and hope that as I grow I will be able to be the kind of wife/mother she was.

I will write more about Elizabeth Ann Henderson tomorrow or Monday.

We will miss you Grandma!

FALL

Can you feel it? The chill is in the air, football games on tv, fall clothes are being brought out...

except none of mine fit.

Grrrrr.....

I am loving being pregnant but not so much loving that most of my clothes are getting a little too tight. Just tight enough for people to wonder, "Hmmmmm, is she packing on the pounds or is she pregnant?"

Both people, both.

I am LIVING in leggings and dresses right now. I have about 5 dresses that I will be rotating through for the next few weeks. It's a pretty exciting wardrobe. Thank goodness for scarves and jewelry.

Just a few more weeks and hopefully I will be looking less fat and more pregnant.

And have more options of clothes to wear.

a rockin’ Friday night

Wow.  We are having a crazy Friday night around here.

Matthew is at a school function being a ref for an 8th grade Friday Fun Night.

The girls have been in bed since 8:15 pm.

I spent the evening doing dishes, ironing and doing a little sewing.

Now I am sitting on the couch, trying to come up with some lame post to meet my goal of 30 posts in 30 days and watching shows on the DVR.

Wow.  Big night here!

I hope your Friday night is almost as exciting as ours.  Good luck with that.

Happy Veteran’s Day

Happy Veteran’s Day!

We made some “America flags” (Nora’s phrase) at Mommy and Me today.  On our way home we dropped off one of the flags at our friend, Michael’s, house to wish him a Happy Veteran’s Day-as pictured above.

I have so many in my family that served our country: my dad, my uncle Chris, my Papa Bill, my grandaddy, my father-in-law.

I am thankful for my freedom and for those who fought for it.

Thank you Veteran’s!

going back in time

These are flower girl dresses that I may or may not have worn (I’m betting on Marty wearing both of these).

Matthew found them while he was unpacking (yes, we are still unpacking and will be unpacking for the next few months-quit judging).

The girls thought they were beautiful and wanted to wear them all night.  Just going back in time a little.

OH, the butter!

I made these cookies today and they were a hit.  I saw them on Pioneer Women’s website this morning and thought about them pretty much all day long.  I had no baker’s sugar and used regular sugar and did not use almond flour but all purpose flour instead.  And they were delish!  I can’t imagine how yummy they would have been with the correct ingredients.  (Although, I’m not really an almond flavoring kind of gal.  I think a wedding cake is ruined if it has almond extract in it.  I’m probably minority.)

You can get the recipe here.

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Look at how sweetly they are working (which does not mean they were that sweet all day long.  Elyn forgot how to obey today.  Just completely forgot.  It was a long day!)

Anyway, they are working sweetly because we were waiting on the people to put two new tires on our van.  I was walking out the door this morning to get the gymnastics (on time!) when I saw that our back tire was flat as a pancake.

Thankfully, some men were at our house this morning working on the outside, preparing it for a new paint job.  They were kind enough to throw the spare on and we were only 10 minutes late-I thought it was impressive!  Had no one been at our house, working, we would have missed gymnastics completely.  Yep, just the kind of gal I am.

Nothing like completely changing all plans at the spur of a moment.  Oh well, jobs done and we have two new tires.

Merry Christmas to us.

Word families

Nora has been asking ALL THE TIME “how do you spell….”.  Usually it’s something like, “How do you spell ‘I am going to go to the birthday party and have a really fun time’.”

Seriously.

She can get the beginning sound and the ending sound about 95% of the time but, forget the middle sounds.

I have not been too worried about it (small lie, I have been worried.  I know what she should know when she gets into kindergarten and even though she already knows enough, I want her to know IT ALL.  I know, I know, calm down obsessive mom.), I encourage her to sound out the words and do her best.

In her nature, she gets very frustrated with me for not telling her EXACTLY what she should write and frustrated with herself if it’s not perfect.

(Which, I have to say, I have not encouraged her OCD tendencies.  If anything, I steer towards the opposite, constantly telling her-it’s no big deal, do your best, it’s okay if it’s not 100%.  She will have stomach ulcers and be appalled when she learns that I had so much fun my freshman (and sophomore) year of college that I pulled a “C” average.  Not proud of it but not ashamed.  I have a job and not a single soul has ever asked to see my GPA.)

So, tonight, at dinner she told us she was going to be in a spelling bee.

(I really don’t think she is going to be in a spelling bee.  I think she heard the announcements at chapel this morning and heard them mention spelling bee in reference to the upper grades and she took it to heart.  I was impressed she actually called it a spelling bee instead of spelling flea or something like that.)

And she told us she didn’t know how to spell anything.  Bless her heart.

Matthew and I were all, Oh, yes you can!  You can spell Nora and Elyn and hey, let’s practice some other words.

We went through the torturous process of sounding out words and spelling them.  Finally I said, let’s just write down some words and have her read them.

And she read words from the ‘at’ family.  (Written by Matthew.  I know that is crazy that I put that as a disclaimer, but I am proud of my handwriting and I just want you all to know that I would have done perfect kindergarten lettering had I written it.  Swallowing pride now.)

  We were so proud of her and she was proud of herself.  One step closer to kindergarten!

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We got a package of clothes from my mom today and in it were these pajamas…

How cute are the bedtime ballerinas!

Kitchen/Family Room progress

Despite the lack of pictures on my blog regarding our house, we have still been working on it.

The progress has been painfully slow mostly because we have actual jobs and children and LIFE that has slowed things down.

Matthew has been a workhorse when he has time and I have been pretty much useless because of the human I am growing. It is difficult because we (we=Matthew) really only has time to work on the weekends.

Sad story, huh. Feel free to come and help out whenever you get a few free moments of your own.

Now on to the progress. Here are some before pictures, pictures of what we saw when we decided to buy the house…we are a little crazy.

And here are some pictures from tonight. Disclaimer: we are definitely still in progress. You will see that none of our windows or doors are trimmed out (and I have been BEGGING for wood and trim around both so that we can have window treatments and door knobs). The doors still need to be painted. We have no mouldings yet. I made no attempt to “stage” the room, as you will see. And I have clutter scattered about. Enjoy.

Our new backsplash. I actually assisted in this project with the grout. I know, I should be on HGTV.

The view of the family room.

Few of the kitchen from the family room.

Another view.

Me standing on the hearth of the fireplace.

So, there you go…some progress. And people, there is so much more to go. Our upstairs…oh my goodness. I can’t even go there, it’s pretty bad. Some day I’ll take pictures.

We are getting the outside of our house painted this week. We are pretty excited about this. The weather is supposed to be pretty so it’s now or never. I will be sure and post pictures of that progress.

Fall Back

Don't forget! Fall back tonight.

Oh halleluah, we get to fall back and gain an extra hour of sleep. Glorious sleep.

I wonder if the 2 hour nap that my ENTIRE family took today is going to affect us. Not me and this baby in my tummy, I am fairly confident of that!

Weak post, I know, but maybe one or two of you forgot and this is a gentle reminder for you not to show up at church an hour early tomorrow morning.

You're welcome!

first doctor visit

today we went to see our new doctor! i have been very anxious about today. i think because i didn't want to go in and the doctor tell me i have a "hysterical pregnancy" and i have been making it all up.

good news. there is a baby!

we did not get an ultrasound, which i know for some would be devastating, but we were able to hear the heartbeat and that was gift enough for me.

the doctor did a full exam and decided that i am 12 weeks along (which is about what i thought). when we have our ultrasound around the 20th week, we will get a better idea.

our due date is around May 20 and since we will be having a c-section, we will meet our baby about a week before that.

my doctor who delivered Nora and Elyn is no longer practicing obstetrics (just family practice) and i am sad that he will not be delivering this baby. however, after our visit with our new doctor today, i am very pleased and peaceful about him being the one that walks with us on this journey.

we are praising God for a good report today! i cried tears of joy when i heard the little swoosh of a heartbeat! (funny story-Dr. J told me that it was more difficult to find the heart beat than it normally is...i guess i'm difficult-ha!)

next visit is in four weeks! and we are taking the girls to that one...it should be interesting :).

High waters

Last week (or maybe it was earlier this week, I CANNOT remember time these days) I went through our fall/winter tubs to change the girls clothes out.

That job is a BEATING!  (If we have a third girl I do not even want to think about the sheer amount of Rubbermaid tubs Matthew is going to haul down from the attic.  Although, if we have a boy, I do not even want to think about all the tubs Matthew is going to have to haul down from the attic for me to go through and figure out what to give away/consign/keep….I’m tired thinking about both options.)

Elyn is a SOLID 3T right now, they fit her perfectly.  (Which makes me a little nervous, because are they going to be too small by February when I still need them to fit…vicious cycle).  Anyways, she has approximately 500,000 pieces of clothes to choose from.  Between all of Nora’s clothes, hand-me-downs and a few that still have tags, she is set for the fall/winter…unless, of course, she has a crazy growth spurt and we have to open up the 4T tubs.

I asked Matthew to get down the fall 4T tubs down for Nora because I was sure she would still be able to wear a few things.  I went as far to get them out of the tubs, fold them and PUT THEM AWAY.

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

This morning I went to get the girls dressed in their “new” clothes and discovered that just about EVERYTHING I had pulled out for Nora was several inches too short.  Awesome.

Nora has approximately 5 things to wear now.

Bless her heart.

Good news though, she will now get all new things (well, all new to her…I’m sure Goodwill and Helping Hands has some gently loved clothing items that will work perfectly for her).

My mom came to the rescue when she hit up a Carter’s outlet today.  Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that Nora deems them “beautiful”.  Because heaven help us all if she doesn’t think they are pretty.  Sigh.

Now it looks like two girls are having trouble getting dressed each morning.  Nora and her mama (although only one of us has a growing stomach problem that contributes to the clothing dilemma).

High waters are no fun!

Food

This week, thankfully, food has started sounding appetizing again. I no longer have gag reflexes to the most basic foods.

Thank goodness because I love some food!

I still stay away from heavy foods in the morning and don't really desire anything sweet until the evenings (and even then, it's not chocolate that I want, it's sweet tarts, laffy taffy, now and laters...yummy!).

Well, tonight I made a pretty yummy soup. And it made a TON. (I got this recipe from a teacher friend when I taught in Searcy.)

Cheesy Vegetable Soup (although, the title is deceiving...there is also chicken, potatoes and rice in it)

3-4 pounds of chicken
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced carrot
2 cups diced potatoes
2 cups uncooked quick rice
4 chicken bullion cubes
2 cups water
16 oz. Velvetta, cubed

Boil chicken in 8 cups of water. Remove cooked chicken and dice. Reserve chicken broth in Dutch oven. Return diced chicken to broth, along with raw veggies, rice, bullion and water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 1.5 hours. Add Velveeta and cook, stirring often until cheese melts (do not boil).

This made a huge batch. The girls and I each had a big bowl, Matthew had 3 bowls (typical). I made Matthew a big bowl to take to school for lunch tomorrow and put enough in the freezer for the girls and I to eat one night while Matthew is in class.

And I know it is odd that there is potatoes AND rice in the soup, but both textures were really nice.

Enjoy!

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). Since I miraciously posted yesterday on the 1st, I figured, "Why not....let's give it a try. 30 posts in 30 days."

I have done a seriously horrible job of posting on my blog and I am hoping this jump starts my motivation again.

Today is a "fall" day. The temperature has dropped and you can smell that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Which, by the way, is crazy! I cannot believe Thanksgiving is this month. Which means Christmas is next. Which means I have A LOT to do between now and then. We are supposed to have Matthew's family here for Christmas, which I am excited about, but there is a lot to do!!!!!!!

Okay, so maybe I will have something interesting to write about these next 28 days. Maybe.

All things Halloween

Hello November 1st….let’s get caught up on Halloween and activities, ok?

We went to a local pumpkin patch in the middle of the month.  It was a day that Matthew had class all day, so he wasn’t able to join us.

It was very windy because a “storm was comin’” but the girls still had a great time!

Big deal for the girls….petting a LIVE animal.  Seriously, they are chickens.

Even though Matthew wasn’t able to come, Gibson and Mrs. Amber joined us!

Here they are coming out of the corn maze…they went backwards through the entire thing.

On the hayride to the pumpkin patch…

 

Nora saw one of her school friends, Callie, at the pumpkin patch.

And finally, the cow train…and this cow train was a very bumpy cow train.  The girls LOVED it!

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I was able to go to Nora’s school for a “field trip”.  I put field trip in quotation marks because it was actually at her school.

When she first got to school, the kids killed some time by working with puzzles.

Then, the necessary class picture

The “field trip” was a visit from a local pumpkin patch.  The lady who did the first demonstration was GREAT!  She showed the kids some of the “friends” who live at her patch.  If you click on the pictures you might be able to see her friends: spider, snake, bat and owl.  Some are not very friendly if you ask me.

Then she showed the kids how to plant a pumpkin seed and what a plant looks like after it grows.

 

She had the kids predict if pumpkins float or sink…what do you think?

They float.  All pumpkins float.

 

Another station was face painting, although, Nora went with hand painting.

 

They got to decorate pumpkins and bounce on fun bouncy balls.

Play in a corn trailer…it was a hit!

Nora’s class (minus one boy who DID NOT want his picture taken)

 

The girls in the class…

 

Nora and Mrs. O.  We LOVE Mrs. O!

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We carved pumpkins and the girls really enjoyed it.  It is not a favorite activity of mine, but thankfully Matthew really enjoys it.  (In college he thought a fantastic date was to invite a girl over to carve a pumpkin.  I was never invited to carve a pumpkin with him so I refuse to do it now-ha!)

Like Matthew’s shirt?  Very true!

 

 

Nora was so proud of her pumpkin!  She drew the face on the pumpkin and Matthew carved it.  If you look closely, you can see it has eyelashes.

The “family” pumpkin.

 

Nora specifically asked me to take this picture of her.  I think it is the first time she has ever posed for a picture with her hands on her hips.  Sniff, she is becoming sassy.

 

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My little unicorn…I know, her horn is hilarious.  Give me a break.  I was trying to think of an economical way to create a unicorn costume for I covered a floral cone with fabric and made her some fabric leg warmers.  You can’t see her silver tail in the back, but it’s there.

 

And I made Nora’s cape…because I was trying to make something for each.  I told her to smile pretty and she said, “I will smile like a princess”.  This, folks, is how a princess smiles.  With her cheek shoved up to her shoulder creating a crick in her princess neck.

 

At Mommy and Me, the kids got to show off their costumes.  Our friend, Sydney, was also there, but she did not want to join in the group picture.

They made a craft using their hands to make ghosts and goblins.

 

Nora said her ghost was a girl…Look carefully, does it look like a girl to you?  I was concerned as to WHY it was a girl and she told me it’s because she has eyelashes (she is really into eyelashes right now).  I asked her what the two things were at the bottom of the ghost and she said it was the mommy and daddy ghost.  Phew!

Elyn’s masterpiece

 

Both girls….and Elyn closer in case you couldn’t see her well enough the first time.

 

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And finally…trick or treating (or trunk or treating).  We went to our old church and enjoyed seeing all of old friends and filling buckets up with yummy candy!

 

And we are DONE!  Let’s get this season of thankfulness started!