Christmas Wrap-up

Wow, what a great December/Christmas we had.  We did a lot of fun activities with the girls and family.  I had many times that I wanted to blog, but just found that I didn’t have any time.  We were so busy, I had to try and catch up on sleep when I could.  I did get sick and am still on antibiotics, but it hasn’t been anything too serious (though I did miss all of Christmas Eve with ML’s family with a throwing up child). 

Our event's consisted of: walk-thru Bethlehem/live Nativity with the girls and friends, Christmas Under the Stars with our church, sleepovers with friends and grandparents, bowling on Christmas Day with family, road trip to Sedona, Jerome, and outlet stores, Tempe Town Lake, going to the movies, and shopping for a needy family and delivering their presents.  Well, that’s all I can remember right now. 

We just love spending time with our families.  It was extra special because we have South African family that was in town for 10 days and we got to spend tons of fun with them.  This was the first time the girls had met them and they immediately fell in love with them.  I think we created some great memories for the girls that they will remember for a lifetime. 

And now that today is the first day back to school, it’s time to get the house back in order and mommy to rest and get back on a good schedule.  I am glad that 2012 is here and so excited to see what God has in store.

Happy 2012 to you!

Balloon Glow and Tree Lighting

I just love our town.  They have so many family friendly FREE events.  This was the first year we went to the Balloon Glow and Tree Lighting.  Of course, I go to take my first picture and the camera’s batteries die.  So these pics are compliments of my cell phone (not too bad).  Unfortunately, the picture of the tree didn’t turn out.  But, boy, were the balloons awesome.  We got to get up close and personal with them. 

We were so close we could feel the heat from the fire and smell the propane burning.  It was awesome for ML and I and for the girls.  We had never been that close to hot air balloons.  And getting to watch them from beginning to end was soooo cool.  Now if only we could for an actual ride.

Gingerbread House Fun

We always end up doing Gingerbread Houses at some point doing the Christmas Season.  We have become “honorary neighbors” to some friends of ours even though we live several miles away.  Our friends were hosting breakfast for their neighbors and we were invited.  It was such a cool thing, I hope to do it for our neighbors one year.  But anyway, my friend Veronica bought the simplest stuff for the kids to make gingerbread houses with.  My girls had so much fun and it was so easy.  I will definitely do it this way next year (just use graham crackers, frosting, and candy).

 

Happy December!

Awww, I love the holidays.  There were so many times I thought to blog during November and I just never got to it.  We had a great Thanksgiving and loved the fall season.  And now I am ready for Christmas!  The house is 95% decorated and we are getting scheduled with tons of festive, Christmasy stuff. 

I have some fun events planned to get out and share with others and love on others during this Christmas season so stay tuned…

 

Thanksgiving vs. Christmas

I absolutely love Thanksgiving.  I get upset when so many people and stores forget Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas.  We have so much to be thankful for and it’s like people just forget all about it.  It’s sad that we need to force ourselves to remember to be thankful for stuff and even then people want to pass over this day/month. (ok, off my soap box.)

Well, with that said, I messed up this month.  We accidentally as a family (including ML) stumbled upon the Christmas Hallmark channel this weekend.  We are now ALL addicted.  Every weekend from now on they are playing Christmas movies.  So I am torn because I am now in the mood for Christmas.  I still want Thanksgiving, but I kinda want to put my tree up.  (some one told me about a thanksgiving tree, maybe I will try that next year.)

I know, I know, I am a hypocrite this year.  I feel so bad.  Why is there not more time between Thanksgiving and Christmas?????  Then we could celebrate Christmas longer and wouldn’t be on a time crunch to put everything up in a few days right after Thanksgiving.  Maybe we should start a Nationwide petition to move Thanksgiving to earlier in November.  Anyone with me???

September is Here, Where is Fall?

I love Arizona and the people that are here, but this August has been horrible.  I thought we were gone most of July to beat the heat, but it returned in vengeance the past few weeks.  And now September is here, but Fall is no where in sight. 
The beginning of September is usually when I start decorating for Fall.  So technically I would start now, but I just don’t know if I can bring myself to do it. It is just too d%@# HOTTTT!!!!   Fall is my time of year and I like to get a good 3 months of decorations in, but not sure what’s going to happen this year.  Let’s hope and pray for cooler weather soon and that I have the energy to decorate when it’s time. 
So even though I haven’t decorated my house for Fall, my blog will begin the makeover.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!!!  May you take the day and spend it with the ones you love creating great memories and long lasting relationships.

Mystery Solved!

I’ve solved a mystery this early (well, not that early) Monday morning.  For the past 3 years, except this summer, we have gone on a family vaca to Cali with the in-laws.  And every year while we are there I get this annoying itch.  It’s like a rash, though you can’t really see anything.  It attaches itself where ever it wants and can last for months (even when we return to AZ).  One year it was on my butt and arms, another on the front of my legs, and the last was on my neck.  I’ve gone to the doctors and they can’t figure it out (what a shocker). 

But TADA!!!!  I did this morning…we didn’t go to Cali this summer and I didn’t get the rash.  Soooo what that must mean is I am some how allergic to the sea air?  The one year it was the worst we stayed directly across from the beach and the other two years we were an hour outside San Diego.  Now I have gone to Bakersfield with no problem (there’s probably a joke in there somewhere).  So it’s gotta be the salt in the air??? 

Just a guess here, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.  And since I love the beach so much, I guess I will just have to put up with the rash.  Oh, how I wish I was at the beach right now.

 

June 2010 (pre-weigh loss) :)

Wrapping Presents

All I can say is I LOVE wrapping presents.  BUT there is a down side...by the end of it I am in massive pain.  My back hurts so bad from bending over and sitting up that I can hardly move.  My legs hurt from sitting on the ground that I can hardly walk.  My arms hurt from holding and lifting things that they feel like they are gonna fall off. 

So as much as I love to wrap I decided to let ML do it this year.  We were going to spend a day doing it together and then he decided he wanted a date day and wrapped them the night before.  At first I thought, but wait I wanted to help.  But then I realized that even though I loved doing it all it does is cause me pain so why not just let him do it all.  He was completely willing to so I let him. 

I figured I had had years of wrapping presents before FM and now it's time I let someone else have some fun at it.  I did go back a few days later and put some ribbon on the packages, but that was nothing and didn't cause too much pain.  Thanks to ML the hard part is done and they look just as good as if I would have done them.

Merry Christmas!

Wow, I can't believe December is here.  And before we know it, it will be 2011!  Can you believe it????  I am almost all done Christmas shopping, just need to start wrapping now.  I hope you have had little stress so far and take time to enjoy this month.

Happy December!

Happy Thanksgiving

What a successful day!  Thank you Lord for the strength and energy to get through (and the help of pain meds.)  We had 18 people total in our new house.  It was awesome.  We had enough places for people to eat.  The weather actually feels like it should, nice and chilly and breezy all day.  I actually got to wear winter clothes and we had a fire in the back yard. 

Thanks family for coming over and letting us host you.  It was a blessing having you.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We went to the coolest Pumpkin Patch in Bakersfield, CA last week. There was barely anyone there. It was decorated and layed out so cool for the Fall season, we loved it. We had a nice picnic and tons of fun picking out all of our pumpkins. They had so many different pumpkins, way better than anything in Az, and they were so cheap. We got big ones, small ones, white ones, green gourdes, yellow jelly fish looking ones, etc. So here are some pics of our fun day.

 

No Santa Here!

This may come as a huge shock and surprise, but we don't celebrate Santa Claus.  Growing up, my parents always told us the truth and we knew Santa was fake.  With ML's family, they completely celebrated Santa.  ML remembers when a cousin told him at age 8 that there was no Santa and he was completely crushed and devastated.

As we started dating and were engaged, I was quite clear that my children would not believe in Santa.  And thankfully, ML agreed.  We didn't want our kids to grow up with the "lie" of Santa.  We heard of a little girl who one day asked her mom "Mommy are you going to tell me that Jesus isn't real just like Santa?" That just really hit home for us and we are happy with our decision to not celebrate Santa with our girls.

Now this belief has really shocked people over the years.  We are absolutely fine if others do it with their children.  And usually when someone asks my girls "what do you want from Santa this year?", they just smile (they are too shy anyway to talk to others, which kinda helps).  It has made us do some extra talking to the girls when they hit school to not ruin it for other kids, but for the most part it has gone smoothly.  We thankfully have several friends who believe the same, which has made it so much easier with their support. 

What is your family tradition?  Santa or no Santa?

Being Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Throughout this month, a lot of friends have posted something everyday that they are thankful for on Facebook.  We have been dealing with a family crisis and so I haven't participated.  So today I will list 30 things I am thankful for.  I hope you have a blessed day and remember to thank God for all of the things in your life!

1.  My wonderful husband, who is so completely understanding with my FM
2.  My lovely girls, who make life so much fun
3.  Our house and the fact that we are able to own one
4.  Hot water
5.  Electricity
6. Awesome parents who are so supportive
7. Great in-laws who are very supportive
8. Wonderful friends
9. My cry and prayer friend (you know who you are)
10. Cars that work (even if they are on their last leg)
11. My daughters teacher and school
12.  Our great church
13.  Our pastor who only speaks the truth
14.  That my hubby has a stable job
15.   That at the moment, we are all pretty healthy
16.  That we have food in our fridge and pantry
17.  We have clothes and shoes to wear
18.  All of our bills are some how being paid for
19.  The computer and internet, without which I would have no blog :)
20.  Our backyard, we spend so much time out there and have created so many memories
21.  My brother and his new wife (can't wait to meet you Nadine)
22.  That ML and I get to go to S. Africa for my brother's wedding celebration in July
23.  My physical therapist, she is working wonders with my body
24.  For insurance, that pays for my physical therapist
25.  That the Lord gets me through my pain (along with wonderful pain pills)
26.  That God is constantly watching over us and protecting us
27.  That God never gives us more than we can handle
28.  That we get to praise and worship God whenever and where ever we want
29.  That the Lord is ALWAYS in control
30.  That we never have to want or worry about anything since God has it all taken care of

Have an absolutely blessed day!

Three Gifts

As a way to help cut down on Christmas gifts expenses and also teach a lesson at the same time, we have started the "3 Christmas Gifts."  As most everyone probably knows the story, after Jesus was born, 3 Wise Men or Kings came to look for Jesus.  They brought with them 3 gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.  Based on this, we only buy 3 gifts for each girl. 


After hearing of a few friends that follow this, we decided that it was a great idea for our family.  On the financial side of things, it really helps to not go overboard with gift giving.  This is our second year doing this and I am really loving it especially since we are even more financially strapped than usual.  It helps us financially plan out exactly what 3 gifts we are buying them and how much they are (sometimes you can bundle a few small ones together as one gift too).  Another reason we went with it was because our girls always get spoiled from their Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle, so we don't need to spoil them.  They don't need tons of presents and they are remembered that Jesus received 3 special gifts when He was born.

Happy November!!!!!

November is here!!!!!  That means Thanksgiving time, family get togethers, turkey and mashed potatoes.  I love Thanksgiving.  Not sure exactly why, but it is my most favorite time of year.  The weather here in AZ is finally cooling off, this last week we got to where jeans and jackets.  It was so nice. 

What Thanksgiving traditions do you have?  How do you share with your kids about the meaning behind Thanksgiving?  I would love to hear what other people do to celebrate.

Tickle Bug

Back when E. was somewhere around 2 years old, I came up with a fun song to go along with a game we played. My hubby came up with the game Tickle Bug and I came up with a song to sing when Daddy was gone at work. E. is just about 8 and we still play Tickle Bug and we still sing the song. I think my girls will remember it forever. So, what fun things do you do?

Here's our song, though you won't get the full affect of the tune.


"Tickle bug, tickle bug, where are you? Daddy's at work and he can't tickle you." And the next part is for when Daddy has come home from work. "Tickle bug, tickle bug, where are you? Daddy's at home and he's gonna tickle you."

Fall, finally!

Fall is HERE, well, sort of in Arizona. I just love Fall!!!! I mean really love it! I have Fall galore in decorations. In our family, we don't celebrate Halloween, but we do celebrate Fall and Harvest. (That means we don't do any ghosts, witches, scary stuff, etc.) So I deck our house out with all of my Fall decorations and it is so much fun.

I really have met my max in Fall stuff. I haven't bought anything Fall in at least a year and a half or two years. And I am sticking with that. I don't need anymore. Besides, we had a close family friend die and I was able to inherit all of her Fall decorations. So when I get it all up and decorated, I will take some pictures of my most favorite items to show you. (Hint: If you are looking for some great Fall stuff at great prices, check out Kirkland's and Real Deals.)

With me getting sick this last week, I haven't been able to start decorating yet :(. I usually start decorating on Sept. 1st and it stays up until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Depending on my energy level and pain (this usually means me over doing it with my body and I end up paying for it later), it only takes a couple days to go through by 8-10 boxes of Fall stuff. Yes, I know, I have a lot of stuff. But my house looks so good decorated. I am hoping that I will have it all done by the end of this week, hopefully :).

Keep your eyes out for some upcoming pictures. Happy Decorating!!!!

Sunday Tradition

I just love Sundays with my hubby and girls. It is our "Family Day." We go to church (if my FM gives me the ability to), we stay close to home, don't do a lot of activities, and eat dinner with Grandparents. This gives us a day to focus on the family and prepare for the week ahead.

Growing up we would eat dinner at my Grandparents house pretty much every Sunday. I have tons of memories of this. And we have continued that with our girls and my parents. We do dinner and then watch our most favorite show: America's Funniest Home Videos (AFV). It is so fun to watch a show with my girls that I watched with my parents growing up. AFV never gets old, and we love watching the girls laugh at the videos. The girls just absolutely love it and if there is a Sunday where we happen to not get together with my parents they say "But it's Sunday, why aren't Grandma and Grandpa coming over?"

What traditions do you have? I love that we carry on things from my family and my hubby's family and hopefully our girls will carry them onto their family.

So enjoy this day of rest that God has made for us. Take time to give your kids a few more hugs and I love you's and focus on all that God has given you.