Gobble Gobble

We are heading to Missouri this afternoon (after Rick fits in a round of golf  ... hmmmm...).  It's a fair tradeoff, really.  He is graciously staying home with Eli and Brynne while I go shopping on Friday.  Yes, we're doing it.  We do it every year, actually.  But we're not the psychos out there willing to battle it out with an elderly woman over the last $5 Barbie.  We just like to get out there and see what's what.  We like to go out to lunch.  To me, it's just a fun day with the girls, without kids.  I get to spend the day with my mom and my favorite aunt and my sister.  It's just fun.

I still need to get us packed.  That's what I'm heading to do now.  But I wanted to, first, leave you with a couple of adorable turkeys to get you prepared.

Brynne and her class turkey.  Her feather is the noodle one on the far right.  She also made this turkey she is holding.  She loves art projects and I am confident she did each part all by herself.

Here is Eli's turkey hat.  On the contrary, I was told he was a pill during this whole project.  He hates art projects.  He might have colored the brown, although I am sure with help, and he did draw lines on the green turkey feather, but you just can't see it.  He did enjoy wearing it, though, and saying "gobble gobble".  I told him I always knew he was a turkey.

Our family hopes that each one of you reading this has a wonderful time with your family this holiday.  Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks.  Sometimes we forget to do that in all the hustle and bustle of turkey dinners and shopping.  But, this season I am eternally grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on me, most especially the blessings of an awesome family.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!  

Before and After -- EMBARRASSING!!

BEFORE

AFTER

And to think I actually get after my kids for the way their closets look!!  

Like Totally, Fer Sure!!

Well, Kyndal's 80's Murder Mystery birthday party was a success!  I was a little stressed about it! I had flashbacks to her 10th birthday party where we did a "game" theme.  It was tons of work and all the girls did was complain and fight.  That was the last organized party I let Kyndal do. Since then we have just gone to the mall, etc., with a few girls.  But this year she begged for a party, so we picked the theme and went for it!  But, I was really afraid the guests would think it was lame and that she would be embarrassed!  Then we couldn't get any guys to show up, except for two, so me, Dawson and his friend Bennie had to fill in to play the guy parts.  I had spent hours preparing the clues and food, etc.  Like I said, I was stressed!

But, it went great!  Everyone played the parts and mingled and had fun.  They all participated until the end without any grumbling that it was stupid!  Alligator Dundee (Dawson) was murdered with a Rubiks Cube to the head by Lindy Lauper (our neighbor Kristina).  Two of the guests guessed the murderer correctly, so they arm-wrestled for the prize.  Wee Pee Verman (Blake) walked away with a Ms. Pacman Plug-n-play game.

We were completely done with the party an hour earlier than expected, so the kids just played basketball in the gym of the church until parents came to get them.  It was a great group of kids.  And Kyndal had a great time!

I have now taken a large sigh of relief ... and launched into planning the last birthday party of the year.  Eli's construction themed party is December 13th.

Kyndal's Birthday (3 days ago)

Kyndal's birthday was on the 18th ... 14 years WOW!  She had a great day, I think!  I've tried to post a picture, but it's being ornery, so I'll have to try to add it later.  My camera was acting squirrely so I don't have any very good ones.

Hopefully tonight I'll get some good pics, though!  Kyndal's birthday party is tonight.  We are having an 80's Murder Mystery party, complete with a three-course meal and a murder of one of the guests.  We have 8 required characters and have had trouble getting enough 8th grade guys to get macho and accept the invitation.  So, I have to be one of the guy characters as well as Dawson and his friend Bennie.  Dawson volunteered Bennie to help and it kind of reminds me of the movie "Father of the Bride" when Matty and Cameron are at the wedding parking all of the cars in the front yard.  Kyndal really didn't want Bennie to come, but I was still reminded of that same movie when Matty says, "Don't worry, Cameron won't even eat."  

I hope we have a good time and that the kids don't think it's too dorky.  We have spent a ton of time preparing for this and I do think it will be a lot of fun if everybody gets into it.  We're having "Radical Rotel" for the appetizer, "Totally Tubular Tacos" for dinner and "Pretty in Pink" cupcakes for dessert.  We have a cd of '80s music.  Lots to do!

Sign of the Times

Yesterday when I picked Brynne up from school, we ran to Kohl's.  I was carrying her in and she was up over my shoulder playing with her pink cell phone, dialing numbers.  I said, "Who are you calling?"  She said, "I'm not talking to anybody .. I'm texting."  Oh, dear.

Happy Birthday to Kyndal!!

Well, the biggest baby is 14 years old today.  Wow!  That's weird!  

I woke her up with my annual song, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, you look like a monkey and you smell like one too!"  They actually look forward to that song!  She woke up and immediately said, "I want to open my presents!"  Since I still have to pick up one this afternoon, I let her open the one I did have.  On her dry erase board for the past few weeks she has had her birthday and Christmas lists.  She had listed "spa day".  Then I noticed that later she added "pro" to it.  I know she did that because she knows how "frugal" I am and she was probably afraid she would come home from her school on her birthday and I would be dressed up in a spa outfit with all of my homemade potions ready to give her a facial, manicure and pedicure.  She's probably right.  Since I can't afford a $200 spa day, I did made arrangements to take her to the Broken Arrow Cosmetology School for a facial and pedicure on Saturday.  That's about as "pro" as I get.  She was happy with it, though!  

Rick took her to get donuts before school, although she was so caught up in herself that she was almost too late to get to go .. "everybody keeps calling me!!!"

I always cook the meal of their choice on their birthday, although they would always rather go out.  She requested juicy hamburgers (not the frozen patty variety), corn on the cob (hmmmm... do they sell that this time of year?) and cottage cheese.  So, I'll do my best.  I'm also going to make her a cheesecake.

Her birthday party is Friday night .. an 80's Murder Mystery Party.  We have lots to do to prepare for that.  And I'm actually a little nervous that no one will show and it won't work. We'll see.

Be a Part of the Legacy

Okay, this is a cool thing!  I don't know that I will be able to make it down to do it, but wish I had the time!  If you can spare the time, how cool to have your handwriting in a handwritten version of the Bible to leave as a legacy for your family.  Neat.

Mmmm .. What a Nice Weekend

This post is going to be all about me and what a great weekend I had!  Steph and I left home at 9:30 am on Friday and drove to Branson, Missouri.  We made a short stop in Springfield to surprise my Ozarks Pal, Linda.  It was so good to see her!  She hasn't changed a bit!  We ate some Chinese food at my old favorite restaurant and then headed on to Branson.  It poured the entire way, but that didn't dampen our spirits!  We arrived at the Stout's campground, Lakeview Campground, at around 2:00 or so and unloaded the van into our tents ... JUST KIDDING! Actually we stayed in the park model trailer, that was really nice!  We had full use of it ourselves, so we set up our scrapbook tables and supplies in the little living room, got the dvd player all hooked up, layed out all of our snacks and immediately got to work.  We scrapbooked from 3:30 pm until 3:00 AM, only stopping to eat dinner!!  In that time I caught up our vacation album (finished our trip to Baltimore and Great Wolf Lodge) and had a good start on Eli's album.  We collapsed into bed and were back at it by 9:30 Saturday morning. 

Steph made her world-famous cinnamon rolls and then we were at it again!  We scrapbooked until about 3:30 pm and then got gussied up and headed to The Landing for dinner.  It is so pretty there this time of year!  The little brick-layed street and trees with lights is so fun!  We did a little window shopping, and slipped into a couple of stores to warm up .. it was FREEZING!  We ended up eating at a Mexican restaurant (can't remember the name) and then headed back to the campground.  With stuffed bellies we put on our pjs and got back to work! I was EXHAUSTED by this point, but still had so much I wanted to accomplish.  I had gotten Eli's album caught up that morning and was wanting to make a dent in my biggest project I had brought, which was Dawson's album.  We worked from 8:30 pm until 1:30 am.  At that point my mind was mush and I had not an ounce of creativity left!  So we gave up and went to bed.

Sunday morning we just got up, showered, cleaned up our stuff, cleaned the trailer and said good-bye to the Stouts.  We went to Tanger Outlet for some shopping before we left town. After lunch at Hard Luck Cafe, we headed back to home to our eagerly-awaiting husbands and children. 

Of course getting 50 PAGES scrapbooked is paramount on a trip like that, and eating junk food in my pjs all weekend is a close second.  I enjoyed watching movie after movie without interruption (and none of which were cartoons), although most of them were horrible and not worth our time!!  But really, what I enjoy most of all, is spending a weekend with someone who loves me for me!  Steph and I solve all the world's problems in those weekends, lift up each other as wives and moms and encourage each other's faith.  I need those weekends to survive. It was awesome and I loved every minute of it!  I can't wait to do it again!  I need to look at my calendar!

Outta Here!

I say that with such confidence and joy!  But if you had seen me yesterday you would think I was just trying to convince myself.  Maybe I am.  My day yesterday was set in red ink on a piece of notebook paper.  I had myself scheduled to the half hour from 6 a.m. until I collapsed in bed last night!  I did my usual preschool deliveries, went to Wal-Mart, Aldi, Reasor's, Hobby Lobby, The Scrapbook Store, the bank, the bread store, Brahm's, Papa Murphy's Pizza, McDonald's TWICE (to get two different Madagascar 2 toys) .. did I leave any place out?  I made a meal for a friend, fixed our dinner and started Chili for Rick to eat this weekend (until I realized that I don't have chili seasoning .. a vital ingredient for chili!)  I washed sheets, cleaned the upstairs, helped Eli with homework, organized my scrapbook stuff for the weekend, got out clothes for all kids for all three days (down to the coordinating bows for Brynne), wrote notes for Dawson's various activities, packed a movie bag.  I feel like I'm leaving something out! Yes, this all happened yesterday!  I know you're thinking, "Good grief, let Rick handle this!"  And he graciously would, but that's just not my style.  I'm a control freak and it freaks me out to leave my domain without KNOWING they have all of their normal comforts taken care of!

Then at 11:30 p.m. last night I woke up with a sicky stomach and my heart was racing.  I said, "Oh, please, Lord!  Please don't let me get sick!  I REALLY want to go this weekend!"  It seems the whole town of Owasso either has a violent stomach flu or strep throat.  I thought, well, if I do get sick at least everything is in order so I don't have to do a thing!  Except I'd have a broken nose because Steph would punch me for getting sick and ruining out weekend!  I got up and put some Phenergen gel (my absolute best friend) on my wrist, prayed for healing and went back to bed.  I am pleased and grateful to report that I woke up this morning feeling fine!  Now I need to go shower, get my clothes packed and be ready for Steph to pick me up at 9:15 to head to Branson!  

I am sorry you won't get to read any of my rantings until Monday.  I will have a book to write after a weekend away with my crazy BFF .. wait a minute, most of it won't be suitable for print! Just kidding! (maybe ..)

A Smartie!!

Okay, I don't like to brag .. well, maybe I do a little.  So here goes:  You win a prize if you can read what this says.  Of course, it says "Brynne".  And she wrote it herself.  This one is her 3rd try.  She and I were sitting in the office and she said, "Look, I wrote 'Eli'!"  Sure enough, she had.  And it was perfect!  So I said, can you write 'Brynne'?  She said, "I don't know how."  I told her to just think of the letters in her name and write them on the paper.  And, here you have it!  I was shocked!  In case you have forgotten, she just turned 3 in August!!  As you can see she needs a little help on her 'e' and she does hold the pencil in her fist instead of the correct way.  But, please!  Eli has handwriting assignments every week, to practice his letters, and he can barely scribble his name.  Yes, she is an over-achieving girl.  But, please!  I just had to share.

Better today!

Brynne is all better today!  The fever is gone and so is the tummy virus.  She's back to normal .. irritating Eli at every opportunity!

Rick is leaving for California right now.  We won't see him until Friday morning, briefly, and then I'm leaving for the weekend to go scrapbooking so I won't really see him until Sunday night!

Today it's cold and rainy.  I just want to curly up and take a nap!

I am so excited!  I have the majority of my Christmas gift bought!  That's quite an accomplishment for me since I usually don't really even start until the 1st week of December.  I really only have my kids left .. all extended family is pretty much DONE!  

Getting up, Throwing up, Coming up!

Brynne has been having some problems staying in bed lately.  We thought it was due to a dream she must have had about pumpkins under her bed coming up and getting her.  That's what she told me.  But, now she is still getting up in the middle of a night a couple of times.  I hear a little movement and look over and see the top of her blonde head peeking over the mattress.  She is a smart girl and usually goes to Rick's side of the bed, but I hear her and get up.  I make her go right back to bed because I don't want to start having a bed-full.  We've managed to not ever have kids in bed with us and I'm not about to start now!  Then I have started worrying that maybe she is getting too much sleep when she takes a nap.  So, I don't give her one but then she usually falls asleep on the couch or on our bed watching t.v. around 5:00 in the evening. She'll go right to bed at 9:00 but then gets up between 1 and 3.

Well, last night when she came in she said, "I'm sick."  Yeah, likely story.  I took her back to bed and even gave her about a 1/4 tsp Benadryl (she had taken a late evening nap and then went to bed right at 8:30 so I thought maybe she was having trouble sleeping .. don't look so shocked .. you've done it too!!)  About 15 minutes later she was back in our room.  She said, "I'm sick" and then threw up all over the floor.  Ooops, I guess she was sick.  Then she proceeded to throw up about every half hour the rest of the night (from 1-7 a.m.)  She never ran a fever though.  And this morning she is feeling better.  Her and I are home from church, however, so that she doesn't infect all of the 3 year olds at OFA .... you're welcome!!

This is going to be a busy week!  Rick leaves tomorrow for a business trip to California.  He won't be back until midnight Thursday night.  Then I am leaving Friday morning at 9 a.m. to go to Branson with my BFF to go scrapbooking.  We are staying in one of the camping facilities at her aunt and uncle's campground. We plan to crop till we drop and then shop!!  Let's just say, "I can't wait!"  I hate it that I won't see Rick for a full week!  We won't be back until Sunday night. I'm hoping we'll be able to spend some good time together this afternoon before we scatter. I think he'll be more than ready for me to come home after the weekend because he has a full weekend of running everyone around.  It's going to be crazy for him!  I'm leaving him a detailed schedule.

Hives AGAIN!

Eli has hives, again!  Since he has a very small amount of chest congestion, I am assuming it's viral again.  Irritating, though!  He looks horrible because they start on his face.  And his don't "come and go" .. they linger for at least a week!  That means he's on Benadryl for a week or more.  I hate that.  But, I will say that so far we have managed to keep him healthy in the midst of several things going around.  I'm praising God for that!  Hopefully we have caught them early enough that he won't be completely covered like he was the last time he had them.

He's been asking me all week, "Is today Friday?"  He is completely absorbed in the new "Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" cartoons.  We've DVR'd them and the new one is on tonight at 8:00 p.m. Today he told me he wants to watch 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (he actually has the episodes numbered and tells me which number he wants to watch).  I think he wants to be all caught up and ready for Number 6.  He's playing with all of the Clone Wars toys Dawson got for his birthday.  He wants the Clone Trooper voice changing helmet SO BAD!  That's a Christmas gift however.  So, if you need birthday or Christmas gift ideas, you can't go wrong with anything Star Wars.

Dust and Duties

Well, I first used the Swiffer spray on Saturday, I think, and TODAY is the first day I have noticed any dust on my J-Bar in the kitchen.  That's the place I usually see dust first because the light shines in our wall of windows on the back of the house right into the kitchen.  It's a light dusting, however, not a barrage of thick dust that usually settles the morning after I have just dusted.  I am quite pleased with that!  I broke the rules on the can and dusted my concrete floors with it too, hoping to repel a little dust.  It makes the floor a little slick, but must have adhered because the floor "squeaks" when you walk on it in socks.

Thursdays are crazy days for me.  I will leave here at 9:15 to take Brynne to preschool, will drop Eli off in the Bible study nursery and go to Bible study from 9:30-11:30.  Since we only have an hour until he goes to school, I'll take him somewhere to eat lunch so we don't have to drive all the way home .. probably Chik-fil-a.  I'll take Eli to school at 12:45 and then probably go run some errands.  Again, I hate to drive all the way home when I have to pick Brynne up from school at 2:30.  I may go shopping for Kyndal's birthday presents.  That's coming up quick!  I'll pick Brynne up at 2:30 and then she and I will probably go to the library.  We'll pick Eli up at 3:30 and head home, hopefully for the evening.  Dawson has a math test we have to study for tonight and Kyndal has about 90 pages in her book to read so she can take her first AR test of this quarter.  The girl kills me with this reading goal every quarter!  When she's done with this book her and I are going to read, together, a book called "The Mother Daughter Book Club".  I am hoping that if I read a book with her, that we can talk about, that she might be more motivated to read.  We can only hope.  Busy day ahead, but at least the sun is shining!!

Aftermath

Well, the math is done and now it's "after".  Really, it's easy to just accept that God has a plan and to accept it and go with it.  The hard part is listening to the onslaught of gloating by those who make me sick on a good day (i.e. Oprah).  Every person running their mouth in the media (at least so far that I have seen) has made it clear verbally and the way they live their lives that they don't care two hoots about eternity or where they are going to be in it.  It makes me want to scream! I'm trying to be supportive of our new President, and will be.  I just don't know how much I'm going to be able to stomach his followers.  I may seriously have to shut off the television.  Not a bad idea anyway.

... God have mercy on those of us who tried ...

Brynne says ...

If you haven't done this already ... DO IT!

Regardless of what happens, I know that my God is in control. He is Sovereign and He has a plan. No man will thwart that plan. Even if things do not turn out the way I vote, or the way I have prayed, God still has it all under control. And His plan is so much better than mine anyway! Take this election, Lord, and make your will known to man.

" ... every knee will bow and every tongue proclaim, that Jesus reigns."

Oh, yeah, and on my "campaign" for a dust-free home with the Swiffer Dust and Shine .. it's Day 4 and there is barely any dust on my entertainment center and none on the granite countertops!!

Day Three .. Still Dust Free!!

 ... now I wish I could say that same thing for my laundry ...

Update on Swiffer Dust and Shine

I wanted to do a quick update.  Usually when I dust our house I wake up the next morning and the granite countertops on the bar are covered in dust again .. same goes for the entertainment center. But not this morning!!  With the sun shining in the back windows, there was no dust in sight!!  I was elated!  Tomorrow I'm going to spray some on my dust mop and do my concrete floors.  We'll see if it repels the dust as well.  I am so excited to try it!

My New Best Friend

Meet my new favorite product!  My mom told me about Swiffer Dust and Shine.  Dusting is my least favorite thing in the world to do!  And our house is always so dusty .. especially our dark furniture (and all of our furniture is dark!)  So, I bought it yesterday.  I read that it is also good for granite and other surfaces, not just wood.  I used it today on my granite countertops in the kitchen, all of my wood surfaces, and even my stainless appliances.  It was AWESOME!  It's not greasy, like most wood polishes.  It actually picked up the dust instead of moving it around. And my granite and stainless were streak-free.  I highly recommend using this.  I'm sure it's not "green" or anything like that.  But it works.  One warning, though, I read a review that said that it contains almond oil.  If you have a child with an allergy, you should probably know that.

Happy Halloween, cont.

Ahh, finally! Here is Eli as Kung Fu Panda. I hated the store-bought costumes, because they were just cheap and cheasy, so I "made" this one. I bought a Land's End panda outfit and added the shorts and other accessories. He loved it!! As you can see here, he has the moves down! I didn't get a "good" picture of him at home like I did with the other kids because he was "in the restroom" when we needed to leave and I never got the picture taken. In fact, I didn't get one of them all together either. It's impossible with their age differences, and different schedules, to have them all dressed and together. Oh well.


Dawson was Penguin from Batman. It was really funny because he had said he wasn't going to dress up at all. Of course the week of Halloween he decided to, but most costumes his size were gone. He saw that tuxedo shirt and said, "I have a top hat at home, I could be Penguin." And, the costume just evolved from there. I think it's pretty good actually!

And Miss Brynne was Minnie Mouse. Isn't she cute?? You can't see it, but she has a tail, too. She loved her tail!!

Well, there you have it! Another successful Halloween! I'm exhausted! I can take about a 15 minute break before I need to get in gear planning Kyndal's birthday party. That' just how it is this time of year ... plan, plan, plan!!