So Far This Week...

It's only Wednesday, but we've already had loads of fun at Grammy's house. Since our family Christmas on Saturday, Sunny is very wound up and knows that there are more presents for her to open on Christmas Day. She totally grasped the concept of opening gifts this year! She and Thunder were here on Monday and Tuesday. Here are some photos of the fun we've been having...

She loves this little train set from IKEA

Such a happy boy!

This is what happens when you stand at the door and swing the blinds...

Me: Did you learn a lesson?

Sunny: Yes.

Me: What did you learn?

Sunny: I don't know...

Summer getting her turn in the Toy Story tent

Sunny, Gramps, Thunder

Dan, Sunny, Katie, Thunder waiting to see Santa Claus

Don't know why I'm so wild-eyed while singing "Jingle Bells"

Santa!

This is my surrogate grandson, Kyler.

He's turning 13 this year!

We got to see him last night to give him his Birthday and Christmas gifts.

Isn't he a handsome young man?!

2011 Family Christmas

What a night! Christmas with three grandkids was everything I imagined and more. Lots of noise. Lots of laughter. Lots of oohs and aahs. Lots of wrapping paper. Lots of memories!

Skye and Sunny - all dressed up

Gramps, Skye, Thunder, Sunny, Papa

Grammy with the grands

Papa and Zach

Buster came along to be introduced to everyone

Ashley, Zach, Skye

JoAnne and Carl (Gigi and Papa)

me and Dan

Katie and Gabe

Adam and Jessica

"I saw Gigi kissing Thunder..."

Skye and Papa

I Shouldn't Be Surprised... But I Was

So, today Jessica and I ran a few errands together. We stopped at Ross (nothing I couldn't live without there), Barnes & Noble (cross another person off my Christmas shopping list), Target (got a stocking stuffer for Gabe), and then headed off to Michaels. On the way Jessica remarked that she wanted to look for a Nativity at Michaels. I told her I hadn't seen Nativities there for years. But it wouldn't hurt to ask.

We get to Michaels and start looking around. A young sales associate walked past and I asked "Do you have nativities?" SA: "What?". Me: "Are you selling Nativities?" SA: "I don't know what that is." Me: "A Manger Set". Jessica: "You know, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph". SA: "Do you mean this?" (pointing to Christmas Village pieces). Me: "No, never mind". (Lady in aisle behind us is laughing).

We wander off and in a few minutes the Manager approaches us. Mgr: "Can I help you find something?" Me: (warily) "Do you sell Nativities?" Mgr: "Yes! We have them this year after not selling them for several years. Please tell your friends. If they come buy them then maybe we can sell them again next year!" As we're looking at the nativities, I relayed to him quietly our experience with the SA. He commented that "maybe she's not Catholic" (I wanted to say, well neither am I). I explained that I don't think she should be reprimanded, but it might be a good idea to show her what a nativity/manger scene looks like. He agreed.

Oh yeah. We each purchased a nativity set just so maybe Michaels Stores will be allowed to sell them next year too.

The Last Day of October 2011

Wow. I don't know which blows my mind more. The last day of October. Or the year 2011.

Sunny and Thunder spent the night Saturday night. I am so out of practice juggling two kids that I only took two pictures! Here they are:

Sunny and I are going to the park today to play with Joanna's kids. I'm taking the camera. I hope I get some good photos. Tonight we are going to Katie's house for pizza and trick-or-treating. The Chargers are on MNF so Dan will be watching the game. I hope he or Gabe or Adam can pry themselves off the couch to answer the door while us girls are out in the neighborhood!

Tomorrow is November 1st. Since I'm not having Thanksgiving my thoughts are turned to Christmas. I have three of my trees up and decorated. Tomorrow I start writing my Christmas letter. I will take down the Halloween stuff and consolidate the Thanksgiving stuff so I can start on my Christmas decor. I have two of the eight stockings I need to make completed. I'm going to try to get two more done, but the other four will have to wait. The grandkids have priority so I'll explain to the adult kids that I am not SuperWoman after all.

We are going to have a typical Fall weather wise. It's going to drop from the 90s/100s straight to the 70s. We only get two days in the 80s this fall. The same thing normally happens in the Spring. We go from the 70s to the 90s with just a pause in the 80s. Last year we had 80s in the spring and fall and it was wonderful! I know it sounds weird to most of you, but 70s is pretty chilly around here. I will be putting a blanket on the bed this week. And I have socks in my sock drawer at the ready.

Enjoy your day. Happy Halloween!

Monday Meanderings

Joplin - My heart goes out to the people impacted by the tornado that struck Joplin, Mo. The pictures are just devastating. I'm praying for those who are trapped. For those who have lost loved ones. For those who have lost their homes and possessions. For the emergency workers. The injured. The local government.

Faith - An acquaintance of ours lost his battle with cancer this past Saturday. We have known this family for about 20 years. Sometimes we have been more involved with them personally than other times. His wife, Ellen, wrote the most beautiful Facebook post about his passing. Her faith shone through brightly. She was unapologetic in her unswerving belief that he is Heaven with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Today, I am praying for this family in their loss. But I am mostly thanking God for this wife who in the midst of her sorrow, finds the strength to share the love of Jesus Christ with others.

Breaking the rules - I have to confess that I have been breaking the rules lately. One of the rules I try to live by is: when you bring something new into the house, something old must leave the house. I abhor clutter. I probably to overboard in trying to assure that my home is not cluttered. I haven't been doing so well lately. My downfall is in the craft area. I have been bringing crafts into the house and then letting them sit around making me feel guilty that the craft projects are not completed. Or in some cases, not even started. I have got to get a handle on this. My goal in June is to get this bad habit kicked. We'll see...

Potty training - Seriously, it never occurred to me that I would be participating in potty training again. When Zach was potty trained, I thought it was all over for me. I celebrated. I was wrong. Sunny is potty training and since she spends time at my house, I have a participatory role in this momentous event. The worst thing about potty training this time around is that I have to follow Katie's rules, instead of doing it the way I normally would. Oh well. Sunny is doing quite well. Katie's goal is to have her trained by the time Thunder arrives. She just may do it.

Appraisals - Dan had a phenomenal month in April, 26 orders! yippee! May has been quite a bit slower, but we still received more orders than we did in Jan, Feb, or March. What a blessing!

June - June begins next week. Seriously? I just know the summer will fly by. Before June arrives though, I will face May 25th. May 25th is traditionally the day that I get serious about my holiday planning. I start my Twelve Days of Christmas gift planning on that day. If you would like to follow along with me as I prepare for another stress-free holiday season, check out my Christmas blog. I'd enjoy hearing how you prepare for the holidays, your traditions, what works - what doesn't.

Have a great Monday!

Christmas Celebration #1

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Adam, Ashley, and Zach. Tonight we'll attend Christmas Eve Services with Jessica, and then back home for Dan & I to open our presents. Tomorrow is Christmas with the rest of the family.

Keepin' it simple - pizza, veggie tray, Christmas goodies

Katie and Gabe

Jess and Adam

Zach

Ashley

Sunny



The Stockings Were Hung...

OK, they’re not really hung yet, but in our little rental house we have no place to hang the stockings except from above the entry between the living room and kitchen. So I draped them over the child-gate that keeps our dogs out of the Christmas presents so I could take close-up photos of them. I made all of these stockings except the ones for Dan & I. His mom made them and gave them to us for Christmas a few years ago. I love mine. She couldn’t have chosen a better pattern if I had told her what to get myself! Once they’re hung, I’ll post another photo…

Dan's Mom made these for Dan & I

Jessica 1987, Adam 2009

JD 1988, Janel 2008

Zachary 1991, Ashley 2009

Katie 2000, Gabe 2007  

Sunny 2009



Sunday Miscellany

1. The weather here is absolutely perfect. The highs have been in the upper 70s, lower 80s. Most days have been sunny, but we have had a couple of partly cloudy days, which we celebrate around here. It’s supposed to cool down next week to the upper 60s and there may be a chance of rain. Rain is so unusual this time of year, it would be great if we actually get some.

2. I delivered the “12 Days of Christmas” basket to my brother and sister-in-law yesterday. Kelly wasn’t home, but Mark was there to receive it and I got a couple of pictures. Yay! Mark is like me and doesn’t really enjoy being in pictures, so I was grateful to get these shots…



3. Jessica came over yesterday and we baked sugar cookies. If you look closely at the picture you can definitely tell which ones she decorated and which ones I did. I love the look of beautifully decorated cookies, but it requires way more patience and creativity than I possess. After being dissatisfied with my results for several years, I lucked out by discovering that not only do both my daughters enjoy decorating the cookies, but they’re really good at it too!

4. Please pray for Dan this week. His Sam’s Club hours are not conducive to appraisals, and he has appraisal appointments worked in around the Sam’s hours today, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. It takes about three hours to write each appraisal, so he’ll need to write them when he gets home from Sam’s at night… some nights he doesn’t get home until 8:00 pm. I’m just counting down the days until he informs them of his intention to go part-time.

5. If you know me, or if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I live in the future. That’s not to say that I don’t embrace the present, but I’m usually looking ahead. This is not always a good thing. In 2009, we began to have a motto for the year. 2009’s was “Leave Debt Behind in 2009”. 2010’s is “Start Over Again in 2010”. I began thinking about the motto for 2011 this summer and came up with “ Buying a House Would be Heaven in 2011”. Catchy, right?! Well, we found out this week that we for sure can’t even think about buying a house until 2/2012. We’re a little bummed, but not too much. However I’m totally bummed that I have to think up a new motto! All I’ve been able to come up is “Focus on Savin’ in 2011”. It doesn’t really rhyme, but it’s the best I can do.

6. I had the great privilege of being interviewed by Mrs. Santa Claus this past week. Yes, the REAL Mrs. Santa Claus. She has a great blog entitled “like Christmas every single day”. My interview will be published next Saturday, 12/18. She has published three other interviews as of today. If you get the chance, check out her blog, I think you’ll enjoy it!

Two Weeks From Today...

Christmas is two weeks from today… I feel like I have a hundred and one things left to do, how did that happen?

Don’t get me wrong, I finished my shopping and wrapping on time, but this year I took on some extra projects and I didn’t prioritize my time properly. (sigh)

I finished the “Twelve Days of Christmas” baskets and they’re ready for delivery this weekend. This year I used Christmas song lyrics as the clue to what the present is. I printed out the lyrics, with the appropriate clue words highlighted by red ink. I hope my folks enjoy this as much as they did last year, and that my brother and sister-in-law enjoy it for the first time. If you want to know how I did the “12 days” last year, look back at my blog list for the December 2009 post entitled “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.

This week Dan & I picked nine angels from the Salvation Army Angel Tree at our local Cracker Barrel restaurant. We shopped for the angels on Thursday and delivered the gifts back to the SA on Friday. I picked nine angels because I wanted one to represent each one of my eight(!) kids and my granddaughter. Before delivering the gifts, I laid each individual child’s presents out on the table along with the angel tag and took a picture. I assigned an angel to each of my kids and will email them the details of their angel along with the photo of what the angel received from us. We had so much fun doing this and I’m hoping this is a tradition we can continue.

Today I’m going to start baking. Since I feel so frenzied this year, I’m only going to make sugar cookies and M&M cookies. If I feel like I have time I might make snowball cookies. I’ve already made two batches of peanut cluster and have the ingredients for two more batches. They are so easy though, that I never feel stressed about making them.

Dan is super busy. Between Sam’s Club full-time and the increase in appraisal orders, we literally never see each other! And when we do, we’re too tired to talk. Thank goodness he’s taking some vacation days in early January, so we can catch up with each other then.