Christmas Traditions

We all have Christmas Traditions that are dear to our hearts. We have a few that are so dear that the kids ask at least once a week from Halloween on when we will be taking on these traditions!

A little story behind the first one I want to share. When Dan was in kindergarten he came home from school telling his mom all about how wonderful these cookies were that he had at school! That was back in the day when you could take homemade items! So, his sweet mom called the mom who made them and got the recipe! She has been making these cookies for Dan ever since!

Usually, from Thanksgiving on Dan works up several batches with the kids. He mixes up the batter with his hands and refridgerates it. Once it is ready he calls the kids in to work on their tray of cookies! They are so intently working on them!

Another traditions is making gingerbread houses. Usually we all work on one house and take turns decorating one side! This year, I thought it would be neat for them all to have their own house! How fun is that! Well, they all turned out sooo cool and unique! They all worked for a long time working on their houses and enjoyed decorating! What a fun time we had!

I hope you all have some neat traditions to share as a family!

MmmmmmmmMmmmmm

I got them all in one picture, FINALLY! Each night while Dan has been away working over the holiday, I have tried to do something "FUN". Well, tonight I had a PLAN! We made S'mores! You know what? I was called, "The Coolest Mom in the World!" Heck, I think I need a new shirt, now! We had a lot of fun! We sang silly songs at the top of our lungs and danced on the porch in our Pj's! See, Mom's can have fun! I think we will do it again this weekend!

Mother Daughter twins?

The night before Thanksgiving I was making me a skirt to wear to Dinner with family the following day. I just love animal prints. I whipped up this totally adorable skirt out of a fun Pink and black Cheetah furry print fabric. Hattie saw what I had made and asked me to make her one! I was shocked, as she really had not worn anything I had made her in a while. She said she really wanted one! So, off I went to make her one! Well, the results...Matching skirts for Mother and Daughter! Cool thing is, she wore it the next day, too when her friend came over! So, she really must have liked it! Now, she wants one in brown and black cheetah! I have that fabric on hand, so that one will be easy to make! Maybe she will be wearing my line of clothes again! Yipppeeee!

Cheer...

Once the letter came out from school stating there was going to be a cheer squad, Hattie was so excited! She was going to join! She has ALWAYS wanted to be a Cheerleader! She was always on the THICK side and was not very coordinated when it came to tumbling and such. But the letter says, no experience neccessary! She was so excited! I could not argue. Heck I must say, I was excited, too! I must say, she is cute in her little cheer set and for her first program, she was right on the mark and LOUD! Now, if her hair would grow out a little faster for a longer ponytail, that would be GREAT! We can't wait to see more!

A Partridge in the Pantry...

It was the night before Thanks-giving and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.......

Wait a second, that is not how it goes at MY HOUSE!

T'was the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house, the creatures were stirring but not a mouse! The kids were playing so sweetly you better believe they had been so good all day and the cat and dog were chasing each other all over the house!

Mom was sewing away and having so much fun and Dad was away on a trip in Japan and BOY did we miss him so much, uh ummm!

We were listening to Christmas music to get us in the mood, now all we needed was some Thanksgiving and Christmas combination Yummy GREAT FOOD!

So down the stairs the kids came with a clatter, the dog and the cat came down, too with a splatter!

What song came on next on the radio you ask? Well, the song the 12 days of Christmas sang by the Muppets and they needed NO flask!

So we sang and sang as we danced along sliding in our socks on the slippery tile floor. The dog howled and cat meowed and we sang until our voices cracked,

Once the song was over and we all took a deep breath, Miss Hattie simply asked.....

" Why was There A PARTIDGE in the PANTRY?"

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See we just have to giggle!

(if you didn't get it yet, you will....just sing the song and put that phrase in the first verse!)

The Phone Call

Well today was a day like any other. I had been busy sewing on an order and just finshed up two sets and totally HAPPY as a LARK that I got them finished before lunch! I sat down to make a phone call or two and while I was talking to the dr on MY cell phone, Dan's cell phone rang. The all squinched up face appeared, it was work. My face dropped and I totally lost what the nurse said on my phone. I had to ask her to " could you repeat that please?" I quickly hung up and glanced over to Dan as he hung up his phone. My heart SANK into my chest, deep into my belly...with his long face I knew it couldn't be good. It was two days before Thanksgiving and he was ON CALL! Well, TAG he was it! Work didn't just call him for an overnighter, or even a two nighter.... they snagged him for a 13 day trip. Yeap, I burst into tears. I can't handle Dan being gone for a few hours, there is NO WAY I can handle 13 days! Ok, I am sure I can, but it will be tough!

I quickly gathered my head, jumped in the shower and cryed some more! What in the world and I going to feed these kids for 13 days? Dan is the cook in the house! I just do quick meals, you know, Mac and Cheese, hotdogs, frozen pizzas and such! They can't eat that stuff for 13 days! I burst into tears again! Then a light bulb moment hit! If I decided to attend Thanksgiving dinner, which is up in the air, because I just hate to attend alone, that is two meals taken care of! hehee Now, I have a 37 more to figure out! WONDERFUL! I got my mind together and finished getting ready. Dan and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together running errands and eating lunch. You know, I am sure those meals will come around...the kids won't starve to death...heheee

Once the kids got home we told them, they didn't take it well, which was to be expected. They each asked daddy to bring them something neat and different from the different countries he was going to. It will be really neat if he will be able to find what they asked for! Hattie asked for a China doll from China and an Effiel tower from Paris. Sam just wants some Money from China! Peter's request was one of my favorites.... he just wants Dad to come back home...Safe! How sweet is that! I started crying when he asked for that! I LOVE IT! Now to count down the days....

FREEZZZZZINNN' My buns off!

Ok, It is cold enough to snow, but there is NO SNOW! I don't think I like this! If it is going to be 20 degrees, don't you think there should be SNOW! I do! Chapped hands, lips and cheeks(I don't just mean on the face) hehee are TOUGH in our house! Not to mention those sore runny and stopped up noses! I am looking forward to spring! Now, don't get me wrong, I like the winter the sweet smell of other folks fire places burning(we don't have a real one in this house) and the warmth of the newly found HOT APPLE CIDER, that I just LOVE!!!! But, BRING ME SPRING. I LOVE to see my tulips poking their little heads out of the frozen ground and saying HELLO PEOPLE! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! Off to get warm under the blankets.... STAY WARM FOLKS I know I am TRYING!!! If you have any hints, please tell me! My layers and layers are not helping...hehehee (ok, sometimes they do, hot flashes make me remove them at times, but most of the time, I am FREEZING!!!) hehee

Out of Hiding.....

Ok, I have been challenged to come out of hiding. It was a challenge since I am the one who is always BEHIND the camera! I found this ONE picture Dan took of me on our trip this summer to St.Louis. Yes, I am wearing my glasses...I guess my contacts were driving me BATTY that day! hehee I have lost about 15 lbs since this picture but, hey I look like I am having fun! We are at the City Museum, a GREAT indoor/outdoor playground of sorts for children and adults alike! We stayed just about all day long! You must go if you are in St.Louis but you better wear jeans and some good shoes! Be prepared to PLAY HARD and squeeze in to some TIGHT places!

Ok Ladies are you satisfied now? I have NOW come out of HIDING! It is YOUR TURN!!!

Tell Me WHY?

My favorite book as a child was this AWESOME Golden book called "Tell me Why". Remember those cool little books with the gold spines and the train on the back hard covers? Well, to tell you the truth I had a bunch of FAVORITES...but this was one of my favorites. Anyway, back to my post. TELL ME WHY. Tell me mother tell me why, why do the birds stay in the sky? Why are grown up people tall, while Jane and John and I are small. (do you remember this book?)

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Tell me why are all my friend FAR AWAY? I called up a customer today and got to chatting. Heck we chatted like FOREVER! We had so much in common! We live FOREVER apart! I live in TN and she lives in VIRGINA! Now, if she lived closer we would be like at each others houses ALL THE TIME! We have soooo much in common! Right?!?! Rebecca! GOSH! I have a friend that lives across town and we NEVER can get together! yeah across town. WHY can't we get together? TELL ME WHY! Maybe it is for the better...then we would still love each others company when we do get together!

FIGHTING for the TITLE!

I was in line at Hancock Fabrics last week ALL BY MYSELF! YES, I got out with NO KIDS for once! hehheee Behind me was a Mom who did not enjoy the same feedom that I was enjoying. Well, in her basket was a SCREAMING toddler with little blonde curles and a bow. On the floor using his sweet little manners was a adorable little man donning paper butcher hat searching through the candy below the check-out lane. As I stand there searching for my credit card and the check-out lady looking for my tax-exempt info the little toddler yells at the top of her lungs! The mom then says in the calmest voice ever, "yes, dear I know, I am the meanest mom in the whole wide world." Then she keeps on with her business. Well, I just had to step in on this one! hehehee So, I turn with my hands on my hips and with the next breath and looked straight in the little curly locks eyes and said, "No dear little lady, I am the meanest Mom in the whole wide world". The little child looked at me, tears rolling down her face, then looked at her mom, sniffled and not another scream came from her lung the rest of the visit at Hancocks!

Sometimes, a little intervention goes ALONG way! hehe ehhheee I think I might embroider a shirt for moms with the saying, "IF you think your Mom is the MEANEST in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD just wait until you see ME!" heheee Something to that effect! Whatcha think? hehheee

I don't mind just saying a little something sweet or even silly to the kids infront or behind me at the stores if things are going kinda harry or even good while we are out running errands. You know you never know if it has been a good or bad day for the parents. It just might make for a better day for them!

The other day I had to take Hattie and Sam shopping... I NEVER EVER take them ANYWHERE! Oh, it was ROUGH! Someone stopped us in the grocery store and told Hattie her glasses were soooo cute! It was a grown lady! That made her day! I motioned to the lady a BIG THANK YOU! She didn't have to do that, but it was sure a day brightener!

Just enjoying Life

I was busy running around the house one afternoon and out of the corner of my eye I see my adventursome son, Sam, just "hangin' out" in the backyard. I just had to snap a picture. This is the spot where our pool was this summer and we took it down for the winter. He was checking out some footprints that were in the sand. What did he find and why was he laying on the pallet? Well, I had to ask when he came in. He was laying on the pallet so not to mess up the prints. He found deer and raccoon prints and of course, dog and cat that belong to our two pets, BoBo and Cotton! Mind you this circle is only about 3 feet from our back patio! So that means that the deer have been visiting our house when we were probably asleep! How cool is that! I must say, I might just have to sneak out there and lay on that pallet and JUST ENJOY LIFE when noone is watching someday!

Growing up before our eyes....

Did you ever think they would grow up? You know the day you found out you were having a baby... the day the little stick had those two pink lines.... And you started CRYING PROFUSELY!!!! WE ARE PREGNANT!!!! I remember the day I found out with all three of them! Oh, my goodness!!! Well, I just have to show you how big my BABY is now! I never though that my BABY GIRL would EVER GROW UP! I know they do, but HELLO, she is my BABY...she is suppose to stay little, in smocked dresses, pantaloon sets, bows and ribbons, MaryJanes and ruffled socks.... NOT BLUE JEANS and boots and UGH.... Oh... see for yourself. Oh, she is not a teenager but she is 9 now and the cute little smocked this are NO MORE. I am not crying I promise I am SMILING! I love to see her Happy! I really do! I LOVE to see her smiling and laughing and Happy about how she feels about herself! Look at my baby NOW! Isn't she Beautiful! I LOVE HER AND AM SO PROUD OF HER!!!!

Halloween

Each year the kids come up with their own costumes. Some years they BEG to buy one and we give in. But this year with all the hospital bills and dr bills coming in all at one time, a trip to the store was a "NO GO". The kids did not argue. Thank goodness! So, here are their creations! I must say they turned out AWESOME! Sam, is a Jetti, he usually has his hood up, but for this picture I am really surprised he didn't! Under that cape, he has about 3 other lightsabers of various colors! Miss Hattie is a 50's girl complete with the leather jacket and poodle skirt! She even has a scarf around her neck and an inital tee! Peter is some character off of a StarWars computer game he and Sam play. He actually made that costume out of some t-shirts and a pair of my black jeans! hehee The red on his hat is some of my fabric he striped! The hat is a straw hat we spray painted! It really turned out cool, I think! The kids had a great time and we only spend maybe $2.00 on the black tee and hat at the thrift store! Whoo hooo! We didn't even have to buy candy, because noone trick or treats in out neighborhood! hehehe I hope you all had a good one!

Getting back to normal....

Many of you know that I have been down awhile! If you looked at my blog lately, you would notice that I have not logged on in a long time. Well, the months of Sept and Oct have been a blur for me! I had to have a complete hysterectomy Sept. 19th. Here it is the beginning of November and I am still trying to get some sense of normalcy! The Surgery was really not the problem! It was what happened as a result. I had to have this surgery because the drs were not able to "calm" down my female organs. After much research and tests they found polyps, cysts and endometriosis. Not only were my female organs damaged, but the endometriosis decided to fuse my organs to my bowels!

So after the surgery we had no idea that my bowels didn't like surgery! They decided to shut down. I ended up in the hospital a week later severely dehydrated and had lost 10lbs in less than 2 weeks. More was to follow. After the tests the drs decided that, as one dr put it, "I am fragile". Surgery, medication and food did not agree with my bowels! Here it is nearly 7 weeks later and I am still trying to get everything straighten out! But, as the test show, I am severely twisted on the inside! They had never seen bowels so twisted and red before and show no signs of a disease! WONDERFUL!

I will say, that life is getting better even with these ups and downs. I have one more dr visit this week to the neurologist to find out more. We will see!

I must say I could never had gone through this if it wasn't for my WONDERFUL husband! He is the best Dad and hubby in the whole world! I thank God for him and will be sad if anything happens to him! He has been my rock, ears, dr, cook, housekeeper, and the MOM, when I was not doing well! I LOVE HIM TO DEATH!!!

Thanks for letting me share!

After spending most of the day in bed and not feeling very chipper, I was not looking forward to an afternoon of homework with the kids. But with the afternoon ritual of picking up Hattie and Sam at 3pm, Hattie starting her homework first, Sam taking his turn on the computer for 1 hour then he will start his homework at 4:30, I was gearing up for a "wonderful" afternoon of GRUMPIES coming from the boychild! Well, when it was time for Sam to start homework there was a little resistance who wouldn't when there is "TONS" of it, MOM! heheee Then, Peter comes POUNCING in the door around 4:45 off the bus! He was such in a good mood despite someone picking on him all day! He asks Sam what he was doing for homework and if he needed any help! Whoa.... I am thinking... did I hear this right? Sam then responded, "I don't need help right now, but I will in a minute, I have history and it is about the Civil War!" Peter jumped on that one! Peter grabbed the book and sat down read the chapter and then proceeded to help Sam with his Math so they could get to the History faster! I was then, able to start and finish cooking dinner, take a LONG DISTANCE phonecall and get dinner on the table the whole time they did all this homework and study for science, too! They whole time, I was in TEARS!!!! I was even able to snap this picture!!! I just HAD to capture this moment, I didn't think ANYONE Would BELIEVE ME!!! It was AMAZING! There wasn't even any fighting or raised voices either! I was on CLOUD NINE!!!!! STILL AM!!! This was the best ending for the day!!! THANK YOU, JESUS!!!

Stop to smell the Miniture Roses!

I stepped out onto my porch the other day to watch the kids swim and what did I see, not ONE but TWO miniture roses peeking up at me! What a sweet feeling it was to see these two dainty little things! I just had to take a snap shot of them! You can see how tiny they are next to my fingers! It sure makes you think about how God has his hands on everything, even the tiniest of roses! Stop and smell the flowers today!

Passing out....

Now, usually you may think of it as, passing out at night of exhaustion, right? Or, passing out from not having enough to eat, maybe? Well, not my teenager, my SON for that matter! You don't hear boys Passing out much these days! Peter decided that there has not been enough drama in our family these past few days so, he needed to add some more yesterday! He didn't feel very well at school. While in the bathroom, taking a bathroom 'break' he started feeling faint. finished his bathroom duty and grabed onto the bar above the stall, started seeing the room go black, gray and brown with stripes, he said. He called out to a friend in the restroom to get the teacher, but doesn't remember much else except going in and out like that maybe once or twice more. Later he woke up with the teacher standing over him. On one account he was standing up, the other he was on the floor. The teacher made him go back to class! WHAT?!?!? Anyway, he started feeling sick again, so the teacher sent him to the office by himself to call me! I came to get him and take him straight to the dr. They are sending him to a cardiologist! The soonest they can see him.... Sept. 18th. We will see what they say! This is the second time this has happened within a year. Still can't believe they didn't call 911. UGh...

Sam on the hunt

This evening, instead of doing his homework, I found Sam outside enjoying the sweet, cool, fallish weather we were having. It was around 68 degrees at the beginning of September! Very unsual, I think! Anyway, Sam had a cup, he couldn't find a jar he said. He was looking for a skink! Insead, he stumbled across a vine of berries that he was collecting in our backyard. I reminded him that these were not for eating. He promptly said, "well Duh, mom", "I was going to use these to trap the deer". Why did I not think of that? I guess I am not Sam, that is why! Here is what he found.

We need to stop and pick to berries more often, now don't we ......

Cotton

Introducing our newest addtion, Cotton! Yes, he is as white as a Cottonball. His ears and nose are as pink as a piece of pink bubble gum! And YES, his eyes are two different colors! I did not alter the photo! He has one brownish/green eye and one blue eye! Isn't he just the coolest kitten! He was born on April 15th, tax day! Bawahhahaa funny huh... He totally believes he is a dog! He will follow the kids around the yard or through the woods just like a dog should! (not like our dog will, hehehe) He lives in our garage and loves to eat all the insects and bugs so we don't have any in our house! He is keeping the mice away, too! He is doing his job! Thank you cotton! What is soooo funny about Mr. Cotton... He lays on the windowseal and rolls over and falls off! Totally disappears from sight! The kids get a crack out of it, especially if they are doing their homework! Or he will hang on the backdoor with his claws knowing FULL WELL I will come after him with spraybottle of water. When I come, he takes off running! He is a hoot!

Happy Birthday to Miss Hattie!

Happy Birthday, Miss Hattie! Hattie's real birthday was September 1st, Labor day. On that day I baked her a "real" cake and she got to open

gifts from us. Later in the day we met the rest of the family at her favorite resturant, Shogun and had dinner! She opened more gifts from the rest of the family! Hattie, mommy and Aunt Heather then went to the mall to spend her birthday money and giftcards before bedtime! What did she buy, you ask? JEWELRY and clothes!!!! hehee What else would any typical 9year old buy! Well, this weekend we got to get together with her friends! What fun we had, 6 little girls at the Build-a-Bear store and the mall! They were the PERFECT mix of girls and sweetness, I must say! I have never had such a PERFECT group of little girls in my life! We had so much fun! Not sure who had more fun, me or the girls! I do hate to see my little girl growing up...but it sure is great to see that she is growing up to a wonderful young little lady and that she has picked out some AWESOME friends!!!! I am PROUD of her!!!

Why is it....

Why is it that the best pictures of your kids are the ones from behind? Maybe it is because they don't know you are taking it? Or they are in their own little world and you can sneak up on them and just snap that picture when they are sooo intently doing their own thing. They don't have time to make the silliest faces at you even though you tell them to "just smile". I totally LOVE the pictures of my kids from behind! This picture was taken on our trip this past summer when we went to St.Louis! We were on our way to the train station for a tour! We took a little detour to see the cool fountains out front!

Going to try this again!

People always send me their blogs and I have always wanted to start my own. I have started these manyatimes but failed repeatedly! I am going to try really hard this time to keep this one up!