gallerywall

Ok, so randomly I am posting this. My mother in law is pretty into Pinterest these days and begged me to put it up so I could pin this and be mega famous. She thinks its better than all the gallery walls out there, isn't she sweet :). But I will say I got all my ideas for my new home, and the collaboration of ideas off of Pinterest for this wall.  I have such an odd mix of tastes, and this area is our main living area. All of the smaller side furniture is either from a vintage/thrift shop (you can see much of that other than the table) in this picture, because I like antique and vintage. So tables, chests and t.v. chest. The couch and ottoman and two other chairs are very basic, some old, some simple but big box looking if you know what I mean. I like simple and clean and modern too. But the last thing I like that wasn't being incorporated is fun, color and quirky, thus enter this wall, that really makes this room. So I have my antique side furniture, my basic, clean staple furniture, lots of modern accessories that you can't see either, and then this wall, the color and fun that I am also drawn to. Most of this is my children's art work, my 7 year old is a budding artist. A few go back to my childhood, and the other were random things I was drawn to for whatever reason. Some old, some new. So there ya go, happing pinning Mama J :).

Ziplocs

Ok, this is such a random blog post. But as I just finished up making lunches for my kids for tomorrow, I am wondering if I overuse ziplocs. Am I filling landfills, choking dolphins, poisoning my kids by my extreme use of ziplocs. With all these cutesy BPA free sandwich cases, snack containers, and so on, I'm wondering. But then I think, geez, then I have to wash those every night. That is energy consumption, water consumption, more plastic bottles of dish detergent. So, is it really that bad to use ziplocs, there's the deep thought I am leaving you with tonight, as I contemplate in the quiet of my house at 11 p.m. making pbjs and baggies of grapes.

oh my gosh, she's back!

How easy was that. A friend told me to blog again on facebook, so out of the blue here I am, with once again, not much to say.
Except I played the good mom tonight and let my kids bake with me, and it was even their bedtime. And I had to drive up to our church to steal their grater for my zuchhini since I left mine at my inlaws. All this to say, this baking project was up there on difficulty and mommy points. The boys lasted about 10 minutes. Coop ran off to go poo, he told me as he left he was a quick pooper and he'd be right back. Yeh right, that kids sits there for like 30 minutes. Parker was too into his latest creation of legos. So they poured they measured out the dry and wet ingredients and I did the rest. I knew the batter looked kinda funny ( I make this all the itme) , but I surveyed the recipe again and thought I was good. However upon taking it out of the oven, it looked real funky, and it immdiately hit me, the sugar! And let me tell you, I tried it and it is nasty. I am a sugar addict anyway, but this bread is proof, that sugar is a necessity of life. So I just finished up cleaning my massively dirty kitchen, since even the 10 minutes they helped means total destruction, but with nothing to show for it, and even worse, the house smells so yummy. What tease.

But on a serious note, and no I do not plan on catching you up with my life the last six months, and it might actually be another six months before I blog again, except for personal requests and dedications (rachel). Oh, wait, where is my serious note, oh yes. YOu may have seen on my facebook page a while back a link I posted re: motherhood. It is so good, please go read it. And it hit me on a night where I was just sharing with this young woman I meet with, how I have been really convicted at my mothering skills and my extreme laziness. I know all of mom's say that, but I really meant it and felt it. One line in the article that hits you where it counts is that kids can tell where they fall in your priorities. And I realized my kids fell behind my personal comfort, my lying down, my facebook and blogging time, and getting work done on the computer. So after the article and my bible study time with my friend, thats all it took, I am officially a perfect mom now- oh, wait, no. But I will tell you of the small changes I have made. Instead of fixing my kids breakfast and lunch and then using the opportune quiet time to check email or get some work done, I sit down with them and join them. I keep my computer closed most of the day, and fight the urge (and I've been surprised at how strong it is) to pop it open and check my inbox. I hop on fast in the morning, get my work done and catch up time during nap time, and then hop on in the evening (pathetic huh) I have also purposely played with them. We had story hour today, we've had a lego building contest, puzzle time, wrestling, evening inside camping. Just for real, I love you and I want to be in your life, not just hovering around it mom time. And wow, only 2 weeks left of summer, thats kind of a bummer. But I guess better than nothing. I love my kids, they are my number one priority (outside of my hubby and God), and its about time my life and time reflects that truth. ok, off to be by myself, oh and go back to post #1 ever, I don't edit, I don't re-read my posts, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit! And if you know me well, you know that's pretty much real time Mel.

In-laws, naps and blogging.

Well, it is 11:30 here in Conroe, TX. I left Ritchey at home for the long weekend. Boys have 3 days off for Mardi Gras break,(only in LA!) which is a 5 day weekend in case you're not good with math, which means 5 days of nothing to do but clean up messes, listen to fights, say no to video games all day and just kinda be bored out of our mind. So off we went to the in-laws, the land of all things perfect and wonderful. Ritchey has to work, but really this is the best present I could ever give him. I even stocked the fridge and only left 2-3 things on a honey do list for him, yes finishing taxes was one of them, but no big deal.The kids did awesome in the car. I pay Parker a whopping $1 an hour to babysit in the car, meaning pick up dropped toys, switch videos, entertain, etc. And he did so great. Petty bickering aside, he is such a nurturing young man. So the 4 hours were a breeze in the car, really. And what do you do while at the in-laws, especially the kind that take care of your kids 24/7 for you, take a 2.5 hour nap. I never nap, not even when I have newborns. But today, I was out like a light, I'm still in that fog even now, but it is also 11:30 and I am wide awake. I actually have zero content to report to you on this blog post, but to throw out the idea that I may just let down all 10 of my followers. I've been debating again whether to keep blogging. I said I was doing it to preserve memories, which I sort of have been, but kinda not. I find myself writing more for you all then for a keepsake. Plus I am realizing that Ritchey's job, and really any of our husband's jobs I guess, makes it a good reason not to put myself so out there. One google search for him or I would lead someone here, and as much as I am about being real with people, you have to take it slow. I'd hate for someone to judge him based on the content of this blog. But I will never be a serious, devotional, oh I'm cherishing these toddler years kind of writer/blogger. So I don't know, we'll see. Thanks for indulging this late night rambling. Good night- oh creative title to this blog, huh?

This year's tacky card submissions.

Well, I believe there is a clear winner. But Ritchey gave it his best shot. In his defense, his definition of tacky is not as well-defined as mine. In his defense he did buy a second card that hit the nail on the head in re: to our relationship, so he gets a point for that.

I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day and that you were able to express love to those you love and to pause to reflect on the depth of love God has for you. I was in children's church on Sunday and we made Valentines and talked about God's love for them. What a simple little topic, but so lifechanging and profound.

Valentine's Day Cable style

Ok, so Valentines day can be a nightmare for cheapskate non-crafty, lazy mom's like myself. And to knock me when I'm already down, the school my kids attend are requesting non-cartoon/character driven valentines. Shoot, there go the Star Wars valentines my kids would have loved more than homeade crafty glitter ones. Oh, and yeh, one other thing, in the past their classes have just decorated bags in school to collect all their valentines. But this year, both classes requested homeade decorated shoeboxes. Now I actually have very fond memories of making these kind of boxes. But that was probably in like the 4th grade, and by a then artsy girl. Ugg, I don't even own shoeboxes thanks to my massive and random walk-in closet that has 12 drawers. So I would have had to gone out and bought wrapping paper, shoe boxes, and decor. And seeing as my kids don't know how to wrap yet, I would have had to do all that. So already your getting to my cheap and lazy. My first stop therefore was Hobby Lobby, and their brilliant all in one packaged craft kits, no brain required. My first aha moment there was the kits for valentine boxes, on sale for $3 a piece, yay!.I also picked up a Rice Krispie Valentine snack craft thing, cuz I'm one of those fun moms too :) And at Target I found non-character tacky valentines that came with suckers attached, candy always wins kids over, that and tatoos, but those were a$1 more, so nope. Ritch had to be gone most of Saturday, so that was going to be our fun Valentine preparation day. It started out with my pink buttermilk pancakes. Buttermilk pancakes are our Saturday morning ritual.

And here is how it went. Below you see an example of Cooper's Valentines. He can write all his letters and is beginning to read the basics, so I thought it would be nice for him to write his own valentines, oh how painful, it took forever and he wanted to give up with 4 left to go, thankfully there were only 14, not the 20 Parker had. I took a pic of two of his, one with stellar handwriting, one not so much, Julie spelt with a backward J, which is kinda cute, and for some reason he thought his name began with a G on this one.

This all while Sophie was taking a bath and I was going back and forth. Because doing Valentines with a Pre-K, a 2nd grader who is perfectionistic, and a 2 year old was carazy. So in the tub she went. Next we tackled the oh so cute boxes. I'll show you a pic, but then tell you the nightmare that they were.

Ok, can you tell these will hold maybe 3 valentines. They are tiny. Secondly a sneeze would knock these over because they are made with a paper that is one step above card-stock or construction paper. It also took a degree in engineering to assemble these (they started out flat). And they required double stick tape, which might be a staple in a crafty home, but not around here. Right away I knew this wasn't going to be a group project. They couldn't even decorate them post assembly because it required brads and double stick tape, so tonight while Ritchey cleaned up dinner, I made valentine boxes. I guess next year I'll just break down and do shoeboxes, because really I don't know what the boys are going to do once 3 valentines fill this box up.

Ritchey and I went out for our Valentine's date on Saturday night. We had so much fun, went to 3 different spots and ate all of our favorite yummy food. Including ending it at one of those yogurt spots where the toppings are endless and they charge by the ounce. It was worth it even though we were sick by the end of the night. We are both officially on diets now, for real. I left the Rice Krispy treat craft with the babysitter. She said it was kinda hard to do with the kids, so she just made them and let them decorate them. Oh, and on the side she makes cakes, so hers looked real nice.

And to end our fun Valentine weekend (it isn't even here yet!) I made heart shaped biscuts for our Sunday night breakfast dinner. Parker put on his most gangsta face, he even snapped his fingers when he took the picture.

Ritchey says I'm taken Valentines day a bit too far. But I am trying to compensate for my other failures I suppose. Oh, and I'll post a pic later after he opens it. But this year we are having a contest for whoever can find the tackiest card. Red velvet, Rhinestones and Sexy Devil written in flames, thats all I gotta say. Ok, well there ya go, Valentines Day Cable style.

The mean boy at chick-fil-a and how I put him in his place- sort of.

So Friday school was called off for ice, yes we probably had some ice up in trees that could have proved deadly. It was nice having Ritchey home with us but by Friday night we were going a bit stir crazy, yes folks, it takes less than 24 hours to get me ansty, I'm a get out of the house at least once a day gal. So we headed to Chick-Fil-A, a mother's dream. Clean, good food, playground, and free newspapers and free refills of awesome lemonade, plus I always have a free coupon for something there. Anyhoo, we set our kids loose in the very small playland there and sat inside with them. Most parents were outside of the little play around in a booth having a nice quiet date while Ritchey and I decided to take part in the hysteria of the room, really, mainly for Sophie's sake, she is a little young to let loose on her own, and she wouldnt' have let go of my leg anyway. And Parker saw a boy from his class there too, so that was fun. So anyway, to the point of my story. There was this little shrimp kid, maybe 3 years old, going around terrorizing everyone. Literally would just go up to a kid and hit them, or push them down, or spit on them. Out of nowhere. So soon after we got there, we saw a dad come in from his outside of the room playground date with his wife. He saw the kids just push his son down. The pint-size bully ran under the little steps while the dad was trying to talk with him. Ritchey and I are just fidgeting at this point, kind of awkard. The dad tells the little boy to come on out buddy, nice and polite, the kid doesn't, so the dad says, right as the bully's mom comes into the playland, "I'm not asking you to come out, I'm telling you and if you don't I am going to pull you out," Ouch, really awkward now, the wife of this guy was mortified. Anyhoo, the mom of the bully basically told him to play nice then left the play area and went back to her paper. At which Ritchey and I sat there and watched in amazement the nerve of this kid. So then the kid turns to Parker, who is double his age and his size. Parker is climbing up some pole or something (ignoring the no climbing sign) and this kid grabs his ankles and pulls him down. Ritchey isn't in here at this point, which is a good thing, cuz the mama bear came out in me, but I had to keep it cool cuz the kid in Parker's class was in there too. I said, "hey little guy, its not a smart idea to pick on an 8 year old boy who is much larger than you, if he wanted to he could squash you. He won't cuz he's kind, but he could." Can you believe I said that. I had to say it again, because he did again. "leave my boy alone, he is bigger than you and could pound you in."Parker just kinda laughed at me and let this kid pick on him. That is so my boys, they are so freakin shy/polite/doormats sometimes in public. So the kid does it again, drags parker down by his ankles. Cooper is just standing there with mouth open watching this, wondering what I am going to do now. I told Parker that he shouldnt' let this boy do this to him, to just shake him loose off his ankles and tell him to cut it out. Which he didn't. Well the kid moved on to some other kid to terrorize and we went out to eat our food. I gave the kids a pep-talk, trying to be as Christ-like and turn the other cheek as I could, but also wanting my boys not to be bullied, abused, or walked over because they didn't like public speaking. I told them that if anyone ever does something to them that they don't like, or don't want them doing to them, that they HAVE to speak up and say, Stop It Please, and if that doesn't work, to yell it, STOP IT!. And at this point I am fearing for all those perv. freaks out there who love quiet little boys. So this was serious training going on here. Both boys laughed at me and agreed they would yell please stop. I really wanted to tell Parker just to take that little buy bully and shove him up against the wall and tell him to back off or he'd grind him to a pulp. But I didn't. So back into the playground we went. Ritchey made a joke about cooper's track pants and hooded sweatshirt with hood up thwarting away the bully, "Cooper looks like a thug so no one is messing with him." Too bad, cuz Cooper is a prime target, being only 30 pounds at age 5. Anyhoo, so this kid starts spitting. Literally backs Parker in the corner spitting, or making raspberries, I don't know. And of course Parker's tutorial didn't really work, he just kind of stood there with a stupid grin and kinda laughed it off. Geez Parker. This takes me back to West County Mall when Parker was 2 and let some kid push him out of the little ride on and Parker just sat and watched. Anyhoo, I told the kid to quit it out, then he came over me to spit and I just stopped him dead in his tracks with my hand, i wasn't hitting him I was just keeping him away from my face. Ritchey is laughing at this point and we are both wondering where the heck is his mom. I'm pretty sure she saw me stop this kid with my hand to his face. Well, I could go on and on, cuz it did. Oh at one point while we were eating, this military dad sees this kid push his kid and gets up and screams toward the playland at this kid to cut it out. And what did the mother do, oh she finally goes and sits in there to monitor her kid. Only to 10 minutes later go back out and sit with her paper. I feel kind of bad for her. He obviously is not the best kid, she appeared to be a single mom, and was trying to get some peace and quiet at the chick-fil-A and let her kid loose in the playland. But 3 parents later, multiple crying children (at least mine didn't cry) you think she would have gotten the point. So there was our funny/odd,/disturbing time at Chick-Fil-A. What do you think, how should we teach our kids to respond to bullies, or behavior they don't like. Do they really turn the other cheek, ignore, make a joke (like their dad does), or do they stand up for themselves. I don't know, it is so hard to just sit there (apparently not hard for my boys). How do I encourage my kids to be a wee bit more aggressive so they aren't sitting ducks, or I guess their plan is to just fly under the radar socially at school. Ok, that's that. Here's hoping we don't run into that kid on our next playland adventure.

Random boy fun

So just thought I would post a couple pictures of life here recently. One is of a fort the boys built, and their funny little sign, the only girl allowed in was Sophie. The other pic is from the light saber duel they had when they each invited a friend over. And a picture of what their room looked like afterwards. Literally, light saber battles, stomp rocket fun, wrestling and video games. Don't ever let someone convince you that boys are wired the same as girls, I can't make this stuff up. A therapist once tried to convince me that the only reason boys liked guns and balls is because that is what their parents bought them. Whatever. I actually was one of those mom's who tried to keep guns out of my house and vocab for as long as I could. And out of a room full of guns, balls and dolls, sophie goes to the dolls and crayons. God created us to be nurturing women and men to be conquerers, plain and simple. Anyhoo, enjoy the random testosterone pics, oh and one pic of what Sophie chooses to do on playdates.

My favorite Christmas gift

I kept meaning to post this, and today we are stuck inside thanks to cold weather. Yes that only means the 20s here, and my sister who has 50 mph winds and 5 degree weather would argue with 20 degress being cold, but I'm a southern wimp now. Anyhoo,  here is a picture of the fabulous find that I, err, Ritchey, got me from an etsy shop. I have been wanting a pretty way to display my jewelry and found this for under $30. She makes smaller ones that are even closer to $15, but I asked her for a large one. I know I could have made this easily by  myself, but I have not one ounce of crafty patience in me. Isn't it wonderful. This is hanging in my random ugly walk in closet, but it would be just as fabulous hanging out in the open.

Here is the link

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/A2ndTimeAround?ga_search_query=a+2nd+time+around&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

Friday happenings.

Trying to keep motivated and to keep blogging, so here are just some boring little tidbits. Ritchey is out of town at Presbytery. That is the regional quarterly meeting for our denomination. Sounds boring and business, but it is very much not. One thing I love about our denomination is its connectedness and brotherly love. These meetings defintely conduct business, but there is such sweet fellowship, communion, and worship, that most pastors need. It is pastors supporting pastors. This presbytery will be difficult as they are having to discipline a pastor that was caught in serious sin. But I know God is going to use this difficult moment to humble and perhaps warn, or cause repentance in the other pastors there. It has been a trying time, but God is often seen most and most mighty in such circumstances. Plus Ritchey gets a hotel room for 2 nights and a free morning to himself, he loves it. We had a funny converstation about this actually. See I am an extrovert (shocker) which I was told the defnition of a extrovert is one who is re-energized by people and fellowship. Yep that is me, if I'm having a bad day or am overwhelmed sad or depressed, just get me out with friends. I could hang out with friends literally 24/7. I know my introvert friends are just cringing at the thought of that. And so is Ritchey. Cuz he is an introvert, and even time with me doesn't count as alone re-energizing time to him. Took me a couple years to get over that fact. And sometimes he purposefully stays up late after I go to bed so he can have that alone time. Anyhoo,  he was going on an on about how much he was looking fwd to presbytery, and I asked him, in a very neutral way, just to point out our differences, if he would rather have me there with him or be alone. He was cautious with his answer. He said, if the purpose of the trip is to have fun, then he definitely wants me there, but if the purpose is to re-energize or reboot, he doesn't want me there. He then supposed I would feel the same. Nope, I told him if I could, I would be with him 24 hours a day and actually prefer not to be alone. Made him feel like a chump, but really we just kinda laughed about it. And now I have been giving him a hard time about not wanting me around :). Actually it was quite a breathru in our marriage when I finally came to grips with this. Cuz now I'm not so bitter if he doesn't come to bed with me or doesn't want to spend hours in the evening conversing with me. And when we are on vacation, that means he wakes up early and goes to starbucks, and I'm not bitter about that either, sort of. Now bummer for Ritchey this time around is that he got a flat tire on his way to his alone morning coffee time at presbytery and therefore spent such coveted time at a dealership. Poor guy, I bought him some girl scout cookies though to make him feel better.

On a last note, I told the boys they could each invite a friend over to play after school, a non-church, but school friend over (look at me trying to put myself out there again). They have been so excited. The little boy Cooper is inviting over had a stipulation by his mother. He had to have 2 smiley faces (good behaveior) this week if he was to come. Well my sweet cooper has been praying for his friend all week for his behavior, and cooper vowed to help him to do his best. I have no idea what we are going to do with more boys around, probably video games, maybe basketball, hopefully no fighting between the pre-kers and the 2nd graders. And these other boys probably don't eat sleep breathe starwars like my boys do, so we'll see. there was a small scare this morning when Cooper's friend didn't show up for school, but I just got a text from his teacher that he arrived, phew, crisis averted. So that is our Friday around here, Ritchey gone, friends coming over, and then when everyone is gone and kids are in bed tonight, I'll just wallow in my alone time.

I'll leave you with a picture of what else is occupying us these days, potty training. I've got one kid learning cursive, one learning how to read, and one learning how to use the potty, big life accomplishments going on here folks. Wait, nevermind, no picture, I've decided although you can't see her bum or anything, cute potty training pics are TMI for the internet. Wouldn't want it to go on her permanent record.

its me again

wow, can you believe it I am here again. I am taking the first step back into blogging world. I really have no excuse. In fact I have had tons of time and have been a lazy blah bump on a log since January began. I hate how this new year has started for me, but I am beginning to see the light and come out of my slump. I will say this is in large due the my husband's past 2 sermons. See my facebook if you don't know what I am talking about. But really I have been a slug, kinda sullen, boring, lazy, in retreat mode. Which if you know me, is pretty rare, well not the lazy part. But I have taken God's word and Ritchey's reminding me of it, in Philippians, to REJOICE, GIVE THANKS, and to THINK of NOBLE And RIGHT THINGS. And you know what, God's says that for a reason, because it really does usher in peace, as that scripture says. It may start out as lip service or motions, but now my heart is catching up with my actions. So I hope my blog will pick back up, as will my zest for life, my love of the Lord and my service to others. I am making dinner dates, inviting kids friends over, and blasting the praise music (that helps me rejoice and give thanks). God is good. Oops, gotta run, my hubby is home.

we interrupt this program...

I interrupt this christmas program with an all time low kid gross out moment. My daughter who is potty training just wiped herself down there... and then her nose... with the same tissue. nuff said.

I'm baaaack.

Ok, so promised I'd be back and I am. Christmas is put away, school has resumed, life is slowly returning to normal (outside of dieting and potty training). Our Christmas break seemed like forever, which is good I guess. We didn't kill each other so thats a start. I'll give a quick ( probably not) recap of our christmas season, for memory keeping sake because it was full and fun. Although I will admit as I look back and examine my heart, something was missing, something didn't feel  right. We weren't crazy busy, we as a family don't get caught up in the gift giving santa thing too crazy. We do it, but we don't emphasize it, the kids don't really ask for anything or maybe even know to ask for anything. They genuinely are so excited even to get a $5 little star wars action figure or board game they have been eyeing, even a light up magnifying glass. So that is nice for us, no pressure to find that one perfect gift. Just lots of fun little things. Santa around here only brings stockings and some few little things strewn around the room, but it is still fun and exciting for them. And this year all the adults woke up before the kids. We set our alarms for 7 and told the kids not to wake up before 7:30. Parker of course was awake, but the others kept sleeping. So I had time to get breakfast in the oven and coffee made. Kinda a nice change of pace. We read the story of Christ's birth while they are still in bed, we thank God for the perfect gift of his son Jesus and for every gift that is from above. They surprsingly don't find this to be torture.We then storm into the Christmas room, open stockings. Always lots of chapstick, tissue paper, sam is crazy with walnuts and oranges which is great cuz those take up a lot of room in the stocking, I throw some candy around the floor and have normally hit up the dollar store the night before. Its always a real chore trying to keep the stocking items hidden or secret cuz those are from Santa. Parker always seems to overhear some comment or randomly sees something that I meant to be from Santa. And I try to keep things from Santa not from Old Navy or other familiar stores. I think I pulled it off this year. After stockings we have Jesus' birthday cake, which is monkey bread every year and also my egg casserole. It is super yummy and easy way to put on a birthday party. We then commence with gift opening. But despite the under emphasis on Santa and even the little birthday celebration, plates and all for Jesus, He was definitely missing from our holiday season. We had such a travel filled december and because I am lazy, we just didn't do much in the way of advent celebrations, no jesse tree (which is a great way to count down days and trace the lineage of Jesus). No advent wreath, no scripture readings. We have this silling little advent story book we read every night about this little bear on a journy to bethelem, it is sweet and the kids like it, but it  isn't necessarily based on Scripture and just has feel good truths throughout. I myself did not spend time to be still and quiet and reflect on the incarnation of Christ. Truly the highlight and solitary moment of this was at my kids pageant the week school let out. Parker is in Ms. Kathy's class this year and for years I have heard about Ms. Kathy's christmas pageant that she wrote herself. Parker had been memorizing lines, memorizing songs, it was like a 4 page draft he had memorized. Ms. Kathy is a stickler on details so I knew it was going to be good. I also had heard it was a tearjerker, and I normally cry at the drop of a hat anytime children are singing or doing anything remotely close to worshipping. Anyhoo. parker was a shepherd, as he was in our church's make shift but still special pageant. Good news cuz we already had a costume. My sewing glue is running low :) Anyhoo, this pageant was beautiful. They sang every special carol imagineable, including Oh holy night, and even Silent Night in German! (thats for your Keri). Then they had a few grown women with amazing voices join them. This is where the tears flowed. One little child wheeled out the cross and another  brought baby jesus' manger over to it and placed it under it. And the woman with the beautiful voice along with the children's choir behind it sang Here I am to Worship, Here I am to bow down, oh man, I was sobbing. I mean really, do you think anything is more beautiful to God's ears. It was just so special. I am so glad my son now knows all these rich carols/hyms and scripture. I really was the spiritual highlight of my season, and one of the few times I paused to consider the birth of jesus. Now Parker's show was followed by Coopers hysterical little musical he does with the kindergarten class. So picture 40 kids in matching shirts ages 4 and 5. Doing hand motions, riding pretend camels, shame shaming King Herod and singing the hallelujah chorus. My  normally publically introverted Cooper was put next to wild and crazy Logan, this brought out the wild and crazy Cooper, but it was all good, he showed life and gusto. Most of the kids were picking their noses at some point, some were faced backwards. One girl right smack dab in the middle of the group up and left the show to go potty, when she came back she ran up to the conducter to get her to snap her pants, then she resumed her prime spot and belted out. Again, so sweet to see these kids in all their glory giving glory to God in only the way they can. Sooo, this post is getting kinda long. Should I keep going only to bore you or attempt to come back and post more, knowing I may never. Ok, I'll keep going in a new post, but here are a couple of pics.

Slow re-entry.

I promise i haven't left you forever. the fact that all my christmas decor is still up, including a live tree that hasn't been watered in at least 2 weeks, shows you that i am just about behind on everything. I finally went to the store today, so at least we have food now. I'm also waiting for my husband to load all our pictures from his expensive fancy camera onto my computer. His camera takes such great pictures, but you would never know cuz we never get to see any of them. I hate when i rely on his camera and leave mine behind. So anyhoo, i will be back. i may just act like the holidays didn't happen, or maybe I'll do some recapping. I may even try to do some crazy crash 5 day diet or cleanse to lose the 5 lbs I gained last month, we'll see, if I do, no telling when I'll be back cuz my brain might become starved. Ok, so anyway, talk to you soon!

Hide and Seek, little Cable style

On Monday nights Parker is at the beloved scouts, which leaves a rare opportunity for Cooper, Sophie and I to play. The sweetness comes out of Cooper as he gets a chance to be the caring big brother to Sophie. Anyhoo, hide and seek has become our go to game for this night and for these two ages. Candyland ended up in Sophie moving our pieces around non-stop and Trouble just meant over and over again popping. So hide and seek it is, no clean up and lots of fun, cable style. Here are highlights of how we roll.
-After I count to 20 and Cooper is hiding I pretend to look for him all the while I am checking my email or just sitting in the counting chair for a breather, hollering, where are you in the confines of my spot.
-I always choose my spots in comfy places that allow me to just chill out for a while, cuz it takes Cooper forever. Under the duvet in my bed is my favorite spot.
-I also have learned to choose places in dark rooms, because Cooper is scared of dark rooms and doesn't come in them, thus affording me longer chill time. I"m such a good mom aren't I.
-Sophie loves to hide now too, she always hides in the last place the most recent player hid. And she normally crawls into place right in front of you. Quite funny.
-Cooper I think caught on to my dark room trick and brought around a spatula with him so he could reach the lights, darnnit :)
All in all it is lots of fun, lots of laughs. The kids are learnig to count to 20, learning to be creative and quiet, and I am getting some alone time :)

Off for now, (Cooper is still under the bed, just kidding) I"ll post about our pageant fun soon. My favorite part about Christmas with little ones. Oh and I'll leave you with a picture or two of Sophie and one of her many outfit changes. Notice anything wrong?

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If you have 5 minutes

Ok, so I stole this entire post from my recent Real Simple magazine. But as I read through this list, I kept thinking, man this article knows my world. So thought'd I share. I challenge you to do 10 of these things! Here is the premise. Pick a task, any task. These mini chores will give you that juicy accomplishment buzz while making the most of sudden-and fleeting-downtime. Gold star for you!

Call your dad (wish I could)
Refold your sweaters and stack them by color
floss your teeth
sew on a button (Ritchey didn't wear his favorite pants for 6 mo cuz I never got around to this)
pitch 3 old items from your fridge
put to-be donated clothes in a bag by the door (mine are in a bag but have been sitting in my closet for a year, I don't think that counts)
Find that evening bag, scarf or top that got lost in the closet
test pens or markers and toss the dead ones
arrange your hangers so they all face the same way (oh and I hear this trick of hang them the wrong way starting out, then by the end of the year any clothes still hanging that wrong way should be tossed into that donated clothing bag by your door)
clear off the  top of the fridge (I am personally saving all that dust for parker's future science classes)
Remove gum wrappers, receipts and atm slips from your purse.
Scan your medicine cabinet and throw away any expired prescriptions, sunscreens and vitamins (I probably should throw away the painkillers from each birth, i was saving them just in case)
Shred something, anything.
Write a thank-you note you've been putting off.
Walk aroud your house with a small can of white paint for touch-ups.
Download the pictures in your camera to you computer (that one is for you janet, who just buys a new card when she runs out of room :)
Paint your toenails
throw out expired coupons
scan your sock drawer and put any one-offs in a basket. If their matches don't turn up after another load or two, toss them.(I could probably fill a landfill with all of our onesie socks)
Open your file cabinet and get rid of five old files. (ritchey and I fight about this every year at tax time, cuz basically I have no files)
Return the netflix movie. (ok, we suscribed to netflix this summer, we literally still have DateNight on our counter from that first week, unwatched)
Match tupperware with lids, if one doesn't have a lid, pitch it. (This alone could lead to world peace)
Look in your shower stall, ditch any shampoos or body washes you haven't used in forever (or in our case that have been empty for over 2 months but still sitting there)
neaten up the freezer.
Sweep under the kitchen table.

Ok, those are your tasks. Now seriously, don't those resonate with you. I really would feel like I climbed a mtn and had the most productive day if I just did a few of those. Instead of killing all my time reading blogs or posting, oh wait....

Christmas Home Tour

Christmas Home Tour of Alexandria.

Thought I'd give you a Christmas tour around our Griswold house. Actually I think we are the opposite of Griswold, cuz he goes overboard and I go way underboard. This year is especially pathetic because we are only in town in the Month of December about 1/2 the month between Aruba and being in TX this year for the holidays. But I supressed my lazy scrooge and on a 70degree day in Saturday we put up the tree and decorated. I normally decorate both living rooms and mantles, but we put it all in one room this year. So here is a tour of our tree and the random things around the house. The first picture below is Ritchey reading like a week's worth of advent storybook readings, since we were gone the first week of advent. I think the 3 of them lasted in that chair together a total of 5 whopping seconds.

Lets take a closer look at this sweet little tree. The year we went to a Frasier Fur, my favorite, we went smaller because they are more expensive, I love small little trees now, although this may be our smallest, standing a whopping 6 ft. This is also our most random tree, I describe it as a crap gun going off on it. But nobody is coming to visit us this year, I am not hosting a party this year, so we just let the kids go crazy, even helping with the lights and choosing whatever they wanted to put up. I didn't do ribbon, or coordinating bulbs and I tried hard not to rearrange what they put on, although I did just a couple times when I found 3 on one branch. I know someday when they strip my tree of all their ornaments for their own homes, I will have that oh so chic tree, so for now I love my toddler tree. Ok, Lets take a closer look and tour some of the time honored ornaments.

Aah, here is me in my brownie uniform when I was 10 I think. See Scouting does run in the family! Carrie I hope you still have yours.

Here is Ritchey in college. My crafty roomate Rachel made this of Ritchey at the time. He's in a bumper car in case you were wondering and wearing Revlon lipstick I believe. This is one of my favorite ornaments so I always put it in a prominent, gaping hole spot.

You think this is Sophie's don't you, nope, Ritchey's. He had a crush on Ariel, in elementary school actually thru college, at which point his parents bought him this ornament for him to admire on a daily basis. Ritchey did actually get to meet Ariel in Disneyland when his family visited (while they were college aged :). She was kinda scary though, very large busted, with very large seashells, so he kinda got over her and then met me :) But each year the boys make fun of daddy for liking a girl movie.

This is our newest ornament. We try to get an ornament from wherever we travel. We are sorta good about remembering to do that. This was a cute one because Santa is snorkeling, and so did we! I'm so intentional about my design like that.

Here is the bottom bough, which you can tell one of my midget children thought was a great spot for many ornaments.

Each one of my kids has an ornament from their first Christmas, this is sweet little Sophie.

Here is our first Christmas together ornament. Look at the love.

And finally, here is the best part of our craptastic kid tree, the handmade crafty ornaments from the kids. It is true that our tree is pretty random and a hodgepodge, but these really are the best part, although this one is actually rather large, therefore perfect for barespots, but still large for basically a piece of construction paper. But those angel wings are Parker's handprints. There are many more such ornaments on the tree. Ok, finally just a couple shots from around the house.

Another tacky but oh so cute handmade Christmas mobile. I think Cooper actualy made this. Which is great because Parker's crafts far out number Coopers.

The boy's private own little nativity outside their room. I can't believe we actually still have the baby Jesus on this one. It is the true Christmas miracle.

Here is the grown up nativity that I just love. I don't do the best job displaying it, but I still love it. This was one of those gifts Ritchey got me early on in our marriage, the first and last time he listened to all my hinting and figured out what I wanted for Christmas. What is missing is this ginormous camel that he added to it, it literally is 2x the size of Joseph, so we leave it out.

This sweet picture of Parker when he was Sophie's age,caught our eye last night after we came home from a party. We just stared at it, laughed and reminisced. We then went and kissed each kid as they were sleeping. 

And finally our paired down Christmas mantle. I just didn't have it in me to fill the vases, put out the candles, yada yada yada, but hey, all of this isn't so shabby for a 2 week December. I guess we're done having kids, there isn't room for more stockings :). Ok, well that is the only home on our tour this year, thanks for visiting, and come back next year when there will be a whole nother year worth of crafts on our tree.

A brief conversation in our home today

Here is just a brief post and a brief convo in our house today during 5 o'clock clean up.
As Parker passes by cooper he punches him in the stomach. Cooper starts to whine and cry.
I tell him, "I think you'll be ok, you're a tough strong kid."
He keeps half-crying.  "he's mean"
Me to him, "yeh, but you're kinda a whiner"
Parker pipes in, "yeh, you're a whiner"
Me to Parker, "heh, only I'm allowed to call him that".

That is parenting at its best folks.

Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya!

That song has been going thru our heads for the past month. So here is my Aruba trip blog. I'll probably blog thru pictures and captions to help jog my memory. Cuz let me tell you, as a parent of young children, you forget all about your vacation on day 2 of being home. Ok, so here we go. This first picture is taken in Miami at a yummy cuban cafe. We had to get up at 3:45 a.m. to make our flight out of houston. Ouch, but after sleeping on the whole flight, we were ready to eat, even in the airport. This is cafe con leche and some kinda spicy potatoes. Oh, I"ll warn you, I love food, and this trip was all about food. Mainly because it was an all inclusive and unlike other all inclusives, this food was awesome. So I ate and ate and ate. Literally had 2 breakfasts a day, two lunches... cuz it was there and free. Bad news for a foodie like me.

Breakfast was amazing, please let me tell you. There was a smoothie station where you could give this sweet woman any fruit and she turned it into a smoothie. Then there was an egg station, a carbs/fried food station, yes that is a homeade hot donut on my plate next to a fried plantain (cooked and carmelized banana), at this spot was also hot off the griddle pancakes, how you like them, banana pancakes, chocolate chip, whatever, with french toast, waffles, and oh yes, a big vat of Nutella, my friend emily and kelli always go on and on about it, this was my first experience and I literally covered an entire waffle with it. There was a bread area with any loaf of anything, a fruit bar an oatmeal, yogurt and hot chocolate area, espresso area, you name it. Ok enought, but like I said, food was the highlight of the trip. Not cooking and forcing food down 3 little ones, not cleaning up, not ever getting to eat sitting down, made this a vacation. Oh and lunch was so yummy too, there was always a station with some sort of ethnic food, the first day was a delicious paella!

We celebrated my birthday at this quaint little restaruant off the grounds that literally sat in the sand. Lobster that night, and chocolate mousse with a firework in it :)

Here is a view from our room, gorgeous. Aruba is a dessert island (despite the fact that it rained a ton while we were there). It is also like the wind surfing capital of the world cuz it is so windy there. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but no, super windy, but that means it kept you cool while on the beach. The first day we just spent by the pool and the beach. I even did a pool aerobics class and we played bingo. People watching on a beach and pool, especially one with a bar, is lots of fun. Let me tell you how american I felt in my "tankini" while even the heaviest and oldest of people are sportin their string bikinis. That water aerobics class was scary, one false move and huge bosom could be flung out for all of us to see. Speaking of which there was one solitary topless woman. I get that other cultures are down with that, but when you are absolutely the only one a beach with tons of people, I mean c'mon you know she had to feel a little odd.  More power to ya sister, I guess.

Another highlight of the trip was a catamaran and snorkeling cruise. It was a rainy morning but the last hour it got sunny. The boat ride was fun, lots of fun people on it, good food, gorgeous blue water. We got to snorkel at 3 different spots, but one of the spots was over a sunken ship. It was really kind of freaky, it came very close to the top of the water, so when i looked down some mast or something was right there, like a ghost ship with all these fish coming at you. Ritchey loved this part as he is fascinated with history and things gone by.

The last day we were there it rained all day, so we hopped on the public bus to go into town shopping. Aruba is a great island, very clean, wonderful people, 100% employment there. It is a dutch colony, but almost all the way to south america, they speak spanish, dutch, english and their own native tongue.

Oh, here is a picture of the hotel where Natalie Holloway stayed. That abduction took place 5 years ago, and is like the last murder they had. Super safe place and that poor incident hurt people's perceptions of the island. Ok, this post was really boring. I'll leave you with a two more pictures. One of the book I devoured while there and a funny picture from the arubian airport. I rarely read books, partially because I am an all or nothin kinda girl, like with food or t.v (why we don't have cable). And when I get into a book, there is no putting it down. This was a fantastic book.We had to wake up at 4:30 the day we left(2:30 LA time), but I slept on almost every flight. The sign below was posted in the Arubian airport, random. So now it is back to life here in cold Louisiana. It is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you are gone the first week of December and are leaving before Christmas to celebrate somewhere else. I so desperately want to go get a little charlie brown christmas tree and not do much else. But Ritchey probably wouldn't let me get away with that, and I would be eaten up by mommy guilt, so we'll see.