Favorite Pic of the Year.....so far!

I looooove this pic from our recent snow days! I took the boys out to my mom's house (since our yard is completely flat.) We had so much fun and I loved hearing my mom laugh like that. It's good for the soul :)

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye......

NEWS ALERT.....This is a MONUMENTAL post.....there will be no more pull-ups at this household....I repeat...No more pullups!!!!
My little man is officially potty trained!! What will I do with the extra cash I save each month? Manicures? Buy myself flowers? Go out to eat? Nah, as most of you parents of boys know, it will probably funnel over into buying Clorox wipes!

Vices

What is willpower? Is it the ability to drag yourself out of the bed at 2am to give another feeding? Is it going out into the 20 degree weather looking for the dog when no one else will? Is it coming home from an exhausting day to cook dinner for your family when you really just want to drive through McDonalds? Apparently not. Apparently, willpower is the power to restrain yourself from doing something. And, apparently, I have none because I REALLY want that chocolate, glazed donut my kids are eating. Yes, I'm venting. Is there something wrong with me that medication can fix? Psychiatrist? Hypnotics? R has the metabolism of a 15 year old boy and eats any and everything he wants. After I told him I was dieting, he wants to order chinese! Uggh! Anyway, as I begged him to eat the last chocolate donut this morning so that I wouldn't be tempted (I only bought 3 so that I wouldn't have one,) he lectured me on willpower. Do I really lack that much willpower? Yes, I have a hard time dragging myself out of the bed to workout, but I get up all those other times when no one else will. Doesn't that count for something? Now, that I've vented, I feel better. Thanks, bloggers:) Please share vices!!!! Misery loves company :)

Quickie

Here's a quickie post to explain the pics below. I ran out of time (kids calling me) to get an explaination out with the pics. Just wanted to show off my "homemade" goodies from R's family. The top pic is a really cool idea that my sis-in-law did. There's a website where you can put in your pics and it blows them up and divides them out and you print them on your own computer. She put it on foam board and I hung them with tacky-stuff so that I could position them as I wanted. I thought this was really cool :) My other sis-in-law made these cute little ornaments with my kids' pictures on them. My bro-in-law made his yummy pickles and tomato juice from his garden. The best part is seeing what others come up with each year!

Hope You Had a SUPER Christmas!!!

Yes, that is Superman riding a horse with a cowboy in red gingham pajamas. Only boys!!

Twinkle, twinkle little star

When I was about 8, we moved to what I thought was the "country." Living just down from the high school, I thought 5 miles out of the city limits was country living. Ha! Anyway, once we got out of the "city lights", my dad would set up the telescope and show me the moon and the stars. I would look at the moon forever. Funny how much humility you can find on a cold, clear night with a sky full of stars. Makes you feel very small and in awe of the universe. We would get up for meteor showers as I grew older. And after I moved out of the house, my dad would always call me when there was going to be a meteor shower. R and I have gotten up to watch showers before. We even went to a big dam one year when we lived in Nashville to watch a huge shower. Tonight, is probably the biggest meteor shower of the year. The Geminids. This should be a great show (if there aren't too many clouds) because they shoot slowly and should be around 100 an hour. While I love having R to watch them with, the little girl in me will always wish my dad was standing beside me.

Brag

No picture, yet, but I have to brag on one of our local high school's FFA. BHS sold Christmas trees this year. We took the kids down this weekend to check them out and they had the cutest little "shack" set up with trees. They had lambs out w/ felt reindeer antlers on them and sold hot cocoa. You know I'm such a sucker for anything quaint or "hometowny" (yes, I know that's not a real word.) I have to brag on them (and will post pics later,) but this is one of the prettiest trees we ever gotten. They had pre-cut the branches that stick out all crazy and they loaded it on the car for us. Thanks so much BHS! Great job!

Christmas Challenge

After years of thinking up something for someone to give you or gift cards, R's sister came up with the idea of "homemade gifts." For me, this sounded like fun. Those of you who know me well, know that I love to "create," but you also probably know how I pile a little too much on my plate. Well, last year, between school and kids and work and Christmas, I was completely overwhelmed. You should have seen me snapping at R while stitching away at my sewing machine the day of. Well, not this year! I have been to Hobby Lobby and bought my "stuff." I AM going to be on top of it!!! I really do love doing this. It really is fun to watch everyone open them and it really does feel special to know that you made it. Here's what we did last year....R wasn't too excited, but everyone can make SOMETHING. He made his brother personalized labels on his computer for his canning. His brother gave us all jars of his pickles and tomatoes that he canned out of his garden. His sister made me a cute knob board and R a decoupaged picture frame with the kids. She made their brother an adorable personalized stepping stone for his garden with colored glass. I appliqued pjs for his sister and a sweat shirt for my other sister-in-law. Well, I can't reveal what I'm making just yet this year, but here's some pics of really cute fabric I bought. I'll show when it gets closer to time!! BTW, if you've got any ideas for the guys, please share!!!

Thankful

Thank you Lord, for my beautiful, healthy children, for a loving husband, for parents that are still here, brothers and sisters to share with, and wonderful friends. Thank you for sending your son. Thank you, thank you, thank you...