Mommy Confessions

If confession is good for the soul then here it is. I love my children dearly, no surprise of course. I treasure their gifts to me (just step in the door and look around). BUT after having been a mommy for more than twenty years, I hit my "I can't look at this hodge podge tree for one more year" stage. I agreed to not having the newest and best so I can be at home, I am great with second hand and goodwill-buy used and save the difference (thank you dear Duggars), but "the tree" really again really?? (yep, that is momma whine your hearing). Sooo I figured I had three choices, deal with it (this is the year of growth for me but that is a whole other blog), tell the children I can't have their stuff on the tree (break their precious hearts on purpose-never) or (drum roll please) put up another tree in the classroom and make it "all just for you guys to decorate however you want!! Wow how exciting is that!!! It worked :o) I have a tree with just light and the kids have a beautiful in their way (really) Christmas tree of their own. Maybe this weekend I can find some (dare I write it?) matching decorations!! Whohoo

Traditions

One of my favorite traditions is the great Christmas tree hunt.

We've found this lovely christmas tree farm that lets you cut your own tree. We have soooo much fun hunting and deciding, then hunting some more and more and more (yes, we do usually go back to the first tree we found, but that is not the point!)

Gabriel taking his hunting a little too serious.



How about this tree?

Or this tree??

We settle on this one and Gabriel with the help of Haven start sawing away.
Brilynn is overseeing the task

TIMBER!!







Haven is "helping" bring it up to the van.

(yes, we do tie it to the top of the mini van, I refuse to let the Griswolds top our family time!)

When we got home and set up in the tree stand with just the lights on (more on that in the post "Mommy Confessions") Gabriel snuggled up to me and asked if there was a reason people had Chritmas trees at Christmas. Thank you Lord for allowing me be the one with my children to treasure these precious teachable moments. I never stop being grateful nor do I take lightly that I have been given the most important job on earth.

Traditions

Christmas is all about traditions for me. Both old and new. This one is an old one but a great one. Black Friday morning....our supplies: holiday binder, ads and snacks. Stop by starbucks and we hit the road (sadly, we found that our starbucks didn't open until 5;30 what were they thinking?!!
Jessy and I got to spend a whole half day together :o) (exactly 12 hours ironically). It is highly unusual for us to have such a huge chunck of time to be alone and just enjoy our "adult" relationship that we are nurturing.
We got to wait in line and shop, found starbucks closed ;O(
wait in another line and shop, then shop and shop and shop, go out to eat ;O) shop, shop,shop ok you get the idea, it was a great day!

Thankgiving 2011

This was such a different but wonderful thanksgiving. After much prayer and struggling I decided to not help with the community thanksgiving meals this year. I have been doing this since Jessy was in first grade, it is just part of Thanksgiving for us. My "job" is to be in charge of the dressing and coleslaw. Not a huge endeavor unless you are preparing for 8,000 meals! I truly love doing it. It can be a struggle (keeping the littles occupied while waiting for daddy or grandma to take them for a while) accompanied with the physical exhaustion of being on your feet working those crazy long hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Never has a year gone by when God has not brought someone to me just when I really needed them. He is so faithful. Hopefully, you can feel my passion for this program and understand why this decision was so difficult. I called my dear Bucky, she heads up the program, what an incredible, beautiful, on fire for the Lord women, and explained my decision. Instead of being frustrated with me, she talked and prayed with me and told me how much she loves me :o). I am blessed.

The decision to take a year off freed me to really focus on my family this week. We snuggled on the couch, read great books, spent a whole day baking together, and really focused on what thanksgiving, giving thanks to God, for all things and circumstances, really means. The timing was God's because the kids and I really needed this time and focus more than I had even realized.
I got up early Thursday morning and was not exhausted.
Not that the exhaustion of helping others is not worth it, it is, but this was such a different beginning to most Thanksgiving mornings I wanted to note it. Because we had been able to prepare our food and desserts ahead of time, we got to watch most of the Macy's thanksgiving parade. I had been missing this for years, or so I thought. I made the sad realization that it seems to be 70% commercials, 20% singing and dancing and very few floats. Guess I really hadn't missed out on as much as I thought :o)

We spent the day at my sister, Deb's house, it was so relaxing. My mom and dad were there and my nephew Lucas, whom I hadn't seen in years, joined us for a while that evening. The kids had so much fun together. Here are Brily and Haven with two of my nieces, Grace and Miranda.




My silly Haven


My beautiful Brily

My creative Gabriel with Grandma.

Apparently, these bionicles were getting pretty hungry so they helped themselves to some snacks.

For some reason, I did not get a picture of my darling Jessy but she was with us. What a wonderful way to begin the season of advent...

American Heritage Girls

Brilynn is being escorted to the stage
by Carson Rody.

Brilynn is wearing her favorite outfit for the show.

Pam was gracious enough to come to our meeting to teach our girls how to walk down the runway and how to hold themselves properly. More importantly, she taught them about showing grace towards others, manners, and modesty. Modesty has been a large focus this year. I am so appreciative of a group that promotes and encourages what we value.

Heritage Girls has been such a blessing to Brilynn. They really focus on Christ and learning and applying the Word. Showing kindness and including everyone is of utmost importance. We have already done a service project this fall and are planning our second one to complete before Christmas. The girls have raised and sent $68.00 to purchase a goat for a needy family. This is one of those wonderful groups you pray for and then realize how truely blessed you are when you find one.

First hair cut

Haven finally got her first haircut. I took her to my precious friend Kathy Jo who thankfully has the patience of a saint since she is crazy enough to cut all my kid's hair! Haven was wonderful during the cut although she almost fell through the back of the chair more than once :o) . It is so nice to see Haven's beautiful eyes again.

Owl Moon

We had a lot of fun today with the book "Owl Moon". We read the beautiful story then my dear friend, Teresa, came to share with us about owls. the kids were enthralled. She taught us much, such as where an owls ears are located (may not be where you think) and how they eat (yummy) and many other things. She also brought an owl with her. Such a blessing, what a wonderful day.

Gabriel loves making projects in his ceremics class. He has come home with some really amazing creations. His favorite so far has been his dragon bank and his "chicken rice soup" bowl. :o)

Brilynn having a blast making a yarn balloon and eating yummy snacks while listening to Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car.

Webelo Service Project

Gabriel and two of his Webelos friends. The boys were to rake out all of the bushes around the church and the surrounding parking lots. It was a lot more work than they had expected but they did a great job and had a ton of fun also.

the Artist Within

We went on a great field trip to "The Artist Within" as a go along with the book "Harold and the Purple Crayon". We all had a really good time and came home with some wonderful projects.

Gabriel just loves to go hunting in and around Grandpa's pond. I never know what might come home with him but that is just part of the adventures of boys! Here is one of the many frogs we housed this summer.