Weekend Wrap-Up

Ever feel like you are so busy, but yet you have nothing to show for it??? We did a whole lot of nothing this weekend. Eating, shopping and visiting with family. That is my idea of a good time! Scarlett and Ethan made their hand print Christmas tree shirts with my mom. These turned out SO CUTE! They love doing any kind of arts and crafts that gets their hands dirty!

Scarlett couldn't wait to try hers on and model it for all of us to see.

We had a lot of fun on Thanksgiving day. It is always so much fun just to spend the day sitting around with family. Scarlett and Carson colored all afternoon on the floor at my Granny's house. They used styrofoam plates to made puppets. Too cute! Carson is only 2 1/2 years old, but he thinks he is as big as they are! Ethan, Scarlett and Carson have a lot of fun playing together.

Mitchell came home and spent the night with us. I went to bed at eleven pm and when I got up at 3:30 am they were STILL up playing video games! I was informed they were having a tournament! Did you see the story about the kid that collapsed after playing video games for 20 hours??? That would be my husband. I am so glad Mitchell feels welcome at our house, and our house is a fun place for him to be and I am glad that hubby feels like a kid when he gets to hang out and play video games all night! ha!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing pretty much more of the same. Shopping, Eating, and hanging out.

Sounds exciting, huh?? That is my idea of a holiday! Now I start to hit the panic button, trying to get everything done over the next few weeks. Better get busy...

Wishing you all a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving

WOW, it is Thanksgiving all ready! When Thanksgiving rolls around I realize how fast this year has gone by, I realize how quickly everything is passing these days. Is it true that time moves faster the older we get???

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Thanksgiving. I remember growing up and being at my grandmother's house early Thanksgiving morning so my mom could help her in the kitchen and my brother and I would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. What fun! Now, I sit back and get excited as I watch my kids watch the parade and get excited over which huge air filled balloon will roll down the streets. Just once I would LOVE to be in NYC for the parade. That would be a thrill. I love going to my granny's house on Thanksgiving, not because the food is the best but because I have such a big family on that side. Her house is crowded, it is hot, but we have the best time. My granny had four kids and each of them have two or three kids and now each of use have two or three (or even four like my brother) kids of their own. Imagine what a loud house that is on Thanksgiving day! We sit and talk and laugh and of course the Dallas game is playing in the living room while the men pretend to watch with their eyes closed! ha! My cousin, Kristy and I , scope out the ads, and see just where we needed to be in the morning and divise a plan of who gets what for the other. I have much to be thankful for!

Now that I am older and married I have a new family. Hubby's family is wonderful! Thanksgiving lunch at their house has become our tradition. Hubby's Aunt and him fry the turkeys every year on Wednesday night. That is their bonding, their time together. We eat BIG at his house! It has become a joke that the food at my families house is not nearly as good.. so we fill up BIG TIME at his family during lunch. :)

As I sat and watched my children and husband sleep this morning I thought about how lucky I am. Even when things don't seem to be "right" they are still far greater than most. I have so much to be thankful for on this day and every day of the year.

I am a child of God, which is probably the single most important thing I should be thankful for. I have a wonderful family! I have parents that define unconditional love, I have two brothers that have great families and I love them all dearly. I have an amazingly good husband and two children that have blessed me beyond what I thought possible. We have our health, our jobs; we have plenty. I hope we are teaching our kids to be thankful. To be greatful in all that they have been given. The list could go on for days! I have great in laws that accepted me with open arms. I definitely can not forget my friends! I have some of the best friends any girl could ask for! I think long and lasting friendships are rare and I feel so blessed to have found a bond with such a great group of friends.

2008 has been such a great year for my family! We are blessed with so much. New friends, new house, new traditions. We are creating a wonderful life!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Take the time to tell those around you how blessed you are they are in your life! Wishing you all the best this holiday season!

Almost Home....

We are almost there! Our home is almost ready for us to move in and I am so excited! I don't think we realized how much of a project this was going to be and I also realize that we are no where near finished. We have done all the major work, but it will be a while yet before we finish everything. We plan to replace all the light fixtures/ceiling fans and all the interior and exterior doors. One thing at a time I try to keep telling myself, but I am the type that wants it all done yesterday! ha!

The big projects are all finished. My dad finished up our bar area and it looks great! Our kitchen looks completely different. I have to order cabinet handles and knobs and then we will be done. We bought a new dining room table and chairs and have it in the house just waiting for us to be there and use it for family dinners.

Here is a before and after picture of our kitchen.

These cabinets were taken out to make room for a light fixture so that we could use this area as a breakfast bar or eating are for the kids. I think we will probably use this A LOT. They can do all their projects, make their cookies and everything from this area.
The light fixture is a brushed nickel, so I am trying to find cabinet knobs and handles with the brushed nickel finish. I know what I want just have to find it at a price I can handle buying 60 of them! We have SO MANY cabinets and drawers in this kitchen.
Yes, this ugly ceiling fan is the next thing to go! We are trying to find a light fixture to go over our dining room table now. Hopefully I will find it this weekend and this fan can find its way to the dumpster. :)

I am starting to get excited at the thought of moving. I just hope and pray we are in the new house before Christmas.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Lunch with Hubby and "Flellie" comes to stay

Today we went to hubby's work and had lunch with him and his co-workers for their annual Thanksgiving lunch. We are so lucky that we are always invited to their parties.

We took a few pictures before leaving the house. The kids just love being the photographer. This morning we never did get a good picture of Scarlett and I. :( Lunch was yummo! I made the mashed potatoes.. well I sorta made the mashed potatoes. I used the new Steam and mash bags from Ore Ida. You talk about easy and good. One thing I do not like about mashed potatoes is the peeling, so these were perfect! Steam the potatoes, and mix the way you want with all the seasons and butter you desire.

Here is Ethan just before leaving. I wish I had a picture of him by the time we got home. He had shoes in hand and his sweater vest was long gone! We had been home ten minutes when I found him in his room playing basketball in his undies.

Our "elf" came to live with us today. The kids had to name him in order to "adopt" him. Naming this elf proved to be difficult. These two didn't agree on anything! I finally told each of them to pick one name they liked. Scarlett liked Ellie and Ethan like Flappy. So, the elf's name is "Flappy Ellie" or "Flellie" for short.

A rather uneventful day, just the way I like it. Hope you all are excited about this holiday season!

Where does she get these things???

We were getting dressed to run to Hobby Lobby today and Scarlett decided she wanted to dress herself. She went in her room and about ten minutes later came out like this:


She told me she was "fashion and fire" and this was how all the cool girls were doing it this year! Wow! Is there something you can give these kids to make them SLOW DOWN!!!

Fun time with Friends

This past Friday the kids and I went to Branson with Ms. Nancie and Hayden. What fun we had! This was the first time the three of us had gone somewhere and left daddy at home. Scarlett was not to happy about leaving her daddy home. It was so sweet that Friday morning before we left. She kissed him goodbye as he was leaving for work, and then she sat down and looked so sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just miss my daddy!". So sweet! We headed outside to give daddy one more kiss and hug before leaving. That seemed to make her feel better.

We took the kids to play at the Grand Country Inn and their indoor water park. What a great idea! They had so much fun! Nancie and I even decided it looked like fun and we hung out in the hot tub the whole afternoon. It is so much fun to just get away from things and have some fun with friends. Nancie and I only had mild ticks as we pass the outlet malls without stopping! ha! We decided it would be a great place to come back with the husbands and leave them at the water park with the kiddos while the two of us shop! Now that's my idea of a good time! :)



The temperature dropped while we there and we even saw a few flurries as we were leaving on Saturday. I hope this means we might have a white Christmas! I just hope it waits until we are back home from Nashville, TN to bring us a white Christmas.

That small break was just what I needed for a "new" attitude. I am getting excited about Christmas! I have started making my list and even been able to check off a few things for other people. I can't wait to put up my tree and decorate for the holidays. I can't wait to get picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits, make our Christmas cards, and finish our projects for gifts.

I think we are going to start a "new" tradition here in our house. What better time than moving into a new house to add a new Christmas tradition. Have you seen the book or heard about the "Elf on the Shelf"? The little elf reports back to the North Pole daily and then reappears on the shelf the next morning for the kids to find. I though this would be so much for the kids during the month of December. I can't wait to start his new tradition with them.

and on a final note, here is our little puppy. You can't tell much right now, but he is the brown one in the middle. He won't be ready until December 16th which is just right in time for Christmas. I am so excited to see the kids faces when they open that box Christmas morning. I think that will be the best Christmas gift I could give myself to see them as excited as I know they will be!

Hope you all are getting the holiday spirit! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!

The Little Things

Learning to appreciate the little things in life is a "life lesson" I need to learn. I let things get me down and stress me and really stay with me way more than they should. This week has been one of those weeks. I am so ready to move into our "new house" and yet the house is not ready for us. The floors have been there waiting to be layed, and they will be layed but not until the week of Thanksgiving. Not a big deal compared to the bigger picture. We could have no house, we could not have this opportunity. In the grand scheme of things, waiting another week or two to move in is really a small thing.

I sat at work tonight and thought about all the little things in my life that will not change no matter when I move into our house. I need to learn appreciation for all the small things that surround me daily.

After my "mini-melt down" I had today. Poor Abby, I think she must just know WHEN to call me! It seems that anytime I am ready for mini melt downs she calls me at just the right time. Just when I need someone to hear me out and agree with my side, Abby is there! Thanks, girl! :) I am ready to move on and appreciate all the small things! Don't sweat the small stuff, right???

I decided these things: th e mindset that something great (or even something planned) has to happen before we can be happy is a myth. If you believe that winning a prize or buying yourself that great item that you've been wanting so long is going to make you happy, you're absolutely right. It will make you happy...for about two hours. Then you'll be looking for something else to bring on that shot of joy. Take pleasure out of the little things in life that happen more frequently and you'll find the long term solution to true happiness.

I wanted to include a poem by Mother Theresa that sums it all up. Life is beautiful. Appreciate it!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it.Life is bliss, taste it.Life is a dream, realize it.Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it.Life is a game, play it.Life is costly, care for it.Life is wealth, keep it. Life is love, enjoy it. Life is mystery, know it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it.Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.Life is tragedy, confront it.Life is an adventure, dare it.Life is luck, make it.Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.