Programs and Parties .. All in One Day!!

Today Eli and Brynne had their preschool parties and Brynne had her program (that was on the fly because we were out of school on Tuesday).

Brynne's preschool had been practicing their Bible verses and songs since school started. They sang "Away in a Manger" and "Jingle Bells".



Little Miss was very serious about her responsibilities in this program! She didn't mess around! She did sing, but only with great concentration!

After her program, her class got to eat Happy Meals from McDonald's and then decorate sugar cookies. I just don't think she enjoyed her cookies very much ...



Brynne and I had a good time together as usual! Here she is holding the book she opened in the class book exchange.



After Brynne's party we went to Eli's at his preschool. Unfortunately for Eli, Brynne was "involved" in everything he did. He really didn't mind, but everything really was a joint effort. His class had three centers. They played "Pin the Carrot on the Snowman", made bead candy canes and decorated their treat sacks. Then Mrs. Dunkerson read them a book and they had a snack. Today they are having a pajama party where they will get to watch a Christmas movie, eat popcorn and drink hot cocoa and open their books in their class book exchange.




Let's just say Brynne had a busy day!



I'm pretty sure she just fell over. Rick said he thought he would probably be able to take a picture of me looking like that if I sat down.

Fun day! You know me, these are the days I live for!!!

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Thought I would share some of my favorites over the next few days.  

This is one of my favorite recipes, and with the exception of Dawson, everybody loves it too!

Chicken Stirfry

2 boneless chicken breasts cubed

1 package frozen deluxe stirfry veggies (or fresh, if you have the time)

1 can Golden Mushroom soup

6 T soy sauce

1 T garlic powder

(1 extra can water chestnuts .. because we love them!)

Brown cubed chicken in 1 T oil, add all veggies and cover until cooked.  In separate bowl, mix soup, soy and garlic powder.  Pour over chicken and veggies and heat through.  Serve over rice. There you go!

I make a double batch because it is FABULOUS for leftovers!

Enjoy!

Snow Day #3

When I am stuck in the house for days on end, literally without even stepping outside once (even to get the mail ... I had Dawson sled it down to me yesterday), I start to get antsy and I start "thinking".  I am also sure it's because of the time of year.  I always get a little bothered by the excess we experience with Christmas, but this year it has really weighed heavily on me. When you ask your kids what they want for Christmas and they really can't come up with anything, but you spend your limit on them anyway, having to work really hard to come up with something they might like, then you've hit that disturbing "excess" I'm talking about.  I've been reading other people's blogs, total strangers, women who take their home budget and simple living to a level I haven't experienced.  And, although it's challenging, it seems so peaceful!  It inspires me!

Seven years ago (yes 7!!!), when I quit work, we had an extremely tight budget!  It was so tight that frugal living was an absolute necessity!  And you know what, I enjoyed it!  I was even pretty darn good at it .. an inspiration to others!  And we NEVER went without, even one day! During that time God blessed out efforts and we were able to pay off an incredible amount of debt.  I remember thinking at that time that even if we had more money that I would never let up on my strict budgeting.  But, guess what, I did .. we did!  We built our house that put us over, we became complacent in our spending, lazy in sticking to our budget .. and we are regretting that now, especially with the economy the way it is!  Gas prices and food prices have eaten us alive.  Couple that with some medical bills and continued home improvements and it doesn't add up to a very good situation.

Now, don't get me wrong .. Rick and I are blessed beyond measure with his job and ability to make extra money, and paying our monthly expenses is not an issue.  But getting that debt paid, that debt that's creeped up again, is an issue if we continue to live in excess.

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a planner, I'm stubborn and I love a good challenge! I don't like to be told what to do, especially told I can't do something.  So, I've got an itching to do something amazing with our budget!

Every two weeks I receive cash to divide up into several categories:  groceries and household, clothing, activities, lunches (school, primarily), allowances, hobby.  I try hard to stick to those budgets.  However, if I go over in one I am really "good" at just borrowing from another, etc. That's not really sticking to a budget!  And it doesn't ever give me an opportunity to save my surplus from each two week period.  For instance, we don't need that full clothes budget every two weeks.  But, I always manage to have it spent, even if it's not on clothes.  And then when summer hits and we need new wardrobes for everybody, I don't have any money saved.  But, if I would just take that budget during downtimes and save it, we'd have plenty.

And, with our increase in income over the years, I have allowed our grocery and household budget to double.  Yes, grocery prices have increased pretty dramatically, but we don't really need that much in our grocery budget if I just planned like I used to.  I still plan meals every two weeks, but I've gotten lazy about ad-matching, using coupons, planning meals around ad specials, etc.  

I have not been a good steward of the money that God has entrusted me with.  And I am ashamed of that.  By being more frugal, I could save money, and family vacations, etc., would be easily paid for, and those debts would get paid off quickly.

Now, I am not saying I am dreading  this.  In fact, I have a new mission, a new goal ... and I'm PUMPED UP!  I actually plan to share my successes, and failures, here on my blog.  I just haven't formulated my plan yet.  I'd like for it to have some consistency, some purpose.  So bear with me as I start this journey.

And I would appreciate your prayers.  Although I love a good bargain, I also love to shop!  So, I want to get some healthy control over this, and I'll need help to make that happen.   And, who knows, I might even inspire you!

The Simple Woman's Daybook for This Week

FOR TODAY December 15, 2008

Outside my window... my 14 year old daughter and her friend are sledding down our iced-over driveway.

I am thinking ... about taking a shower.

I am thankful for... a happy family.

From the kitchen... I can smell coffee and waffles.

I am wearing... my jammies, robe and slippers .. it's a snow day here and COLD!!

I am creating... zucchini bread today.

I am going... NOWHERE ... icy and cold and my husband took our 4WD vehicle to work!

I am reading... House (still)

I am hoping... that the kids can go back to school by Thursday so they can enjoy their holiday parties!

I am hearing... my teenagers screaming as they slide down the driveway.

Around the house... there's laundry to be done, beds to make, kids sleeping, kids watching cartoons, things to do ...

One of my favorite things... happened this weekend .. we had an awesome family weekend!

A few plans for the rest of the week ... hopefully to go back to school! To attend holiday parties.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

I will cherish, all through this season, the wonderful time our family had at The Christmas Train this year!! It was truly special and what "family" time is all about!

For other Simple Woman's Daybook ideas, please feel free to visit:

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com

Slip Slidin' Away

It's Day 2 of being iced in .. but at least we have power!!

Yesterday the kids were thrilled to be home! Even though there wasn't any snow, our driveway was a solid sheet of ice! Kyndal and Dawson got sleds from Santa last year and never got to use them even once. So, they were outside and ready pretty early. It was SO COLD but they sledded for a little while to try them out.

Kyndal and I finished our Christmas baking, and she went next door to babysit. Dawson was bored, already!

Later in the afternoon, Kyndal and Dawson, the Gardner girls and the Bonds all gathered back outside for more sledding. It was so fun to listen to them screaming as they shot down the driveway. They had so much fun! Dawson, Kristina and Ethan were outside for about three hours. As we suspected, we have the perfect sledding hills at our house!

Since we're home today, too, I suspect they'll be back out it later. I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. It's really too icy for Eli and Brynne to go outside, but I might have to break down and take them out for a while. They were really mad I wouldn't let them yesterday.

Julie's coming over today to pick up some coats for her school's coat drive. I think I'll make some zucchini bread before she gets here so we can have a treat.

Great Weekend!

Being a "blended" family, we certainly have our struggles.  Of course, all families have them! Sometimes weekends are tough because we are all crammed in one place with our competing personalities and things don't always go the way I would like.

But this weekend has to be one of the greatest weekends we have every spent as a family! Things have been so great with us for a long time, but this weekend I was really able to just sit back and look at what lots of hard work and lots of prayer causes to happen!

Like I said earlier, we went to The Christmas Train on Thursday night and just had such a great time!  Then on Friday evening we just hung out at home, while Kyndal babysat.  We skipped a Christmas party to get ready for Eli's birthday party on Saturday.  Rick helped me get prepared and I made the brownies, decorated the table, set up the games, made the pinata.  It was fun! Rick and Dawson ran into town for a bit and, from what I hear, looked at every pet at the pet store before coming home!

On Saturday we had the time of our lives watching Eli enjoy is birthday party!  Everybody had a good time!  We came home and just spent the rest of the day and evening together.  Rick decided to take Kyndal to the movies and shopping, so they were gone for a few hours.  Me and the little guys, and Dawson, just hung out at home.  

Then yesterday we had a great morning at church.  Kyndal and I went grocery shopping, baked some Christmas goodies and worked in the nursery at church last night.  Then after everybody went to bed, Rick, Kyndal and I watched the finale of Survivor.

I know it doesn't sound that exciting to most, but to us it was a priceless weekend .. a nice prelude to the holidays!  I have such a hope and joy at the coming of Christmas!!!

Brynne, on the other hand, was just worn out!!

 She fell asleep still in her towel after her bath before we could get her dressed!

Can We Build It?? Yes We Can!!

Today was Eli's birthday party. This is the first party we have ever had for him, because he has not really been the social type until here lately. At the top of his list of invites was mommy, daddy, Kyndal, Dawson and Brynne. He wanted to invite Hayze and his friends, Logan and Cole, from school. Cole wasn't able to make it. Eli was so excited for his party, because he has had to sit through all of the other kids' parties since school has started. He just kept saying the last couple of days, "Is it my turn now?"

Several months ago I came across the idea for a Construction party. Eli's never really been into construction .. I'm sure he would have rather had Star Wars ... but the ideas were too cute to pass up!



Our local Lowe's has free Build and Grow clinics for children two times a month. Being a thrifty mom, I arranged for us to all meet at Lowe's at 10 a.m. to build gingerbread houses. When you do the clinic you get a free tool apron and goggles ... SCORE!! The kids all really enjoyed it, especially Brynne! I think she may be a construction worker someday, during her breaks from the Hunting Network!



After we built our houses we came back to our house for treats and games. I had the fortune to happen upon construction-themed resin plates and cool see-through glasses at Target several months ago, $1 for two plates and $1 each glass. So I picked them up as extra party favors! We decorated the table with a black table cloth and caution tape. For the centerpiece we put a big, really old, metal Tonka dumptruck in the center of the table and filled it with brownies for dessert. At each place setting was a construction hat. Above the table hung construction signs. After eating brownies and opening gifts, we headed upstairs for the first of two games.

Our first game was a wrecking ball game. We stacked up large cardboard blocks and put three numbers on it. We hung a tennis ball from the ceiling, taped to a string, and the kids pretended to "wreck" the building, trying to hit the number Dawson called out. Then we headed to the garage. In the garage was a blow-up pool filled with dirt. In the dirt, plastic tools were buried. Each of the kids' parents were given a sheet that had certain tools photocopied on it. The kids then had to dig in the dirt and find the tools on their sheet. They got to keep the tools in their tool apron to take home.

Before coming back inside we did the caution cone pinata. I made an orange cone pinata and attached caution tape strips to the bottom. One of the strips pulled a trap door that released the candy. It worked out that Eli pulled the last strip that was the right one. Rick shook out the candy and the frenzy began!

To end the party, we had purchased a stand-up photo cutout from BuyCostumes.com I took pictures of each of the kids, and we're going to use them as our Thank You notes. It was cute!

All-in-all it was a really fun, and calm, party! Eli said his favorite part was building the gingerbread house. We plan to do more of those clinics. It was really fun!!

Elves .. Disco Style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Remember to pause my playlist at the bottom so you can hear this disco music.

Also, who's the creepy elf???

A Night at The Christmas Train

We had THE most amazing night at The Christmas Train last night!  Let me just tell you that we could not have had a more perfect night weather-wise!  It was a little less than 40 degrees, clear and no wind.  It was cold (but you want it to be cold because it's a Christmas town) but not too cold that we were miserable.

We went this year for the first time since 2001.  Rick's sister, Julie, and her family (Milton, Tommy and Angela) went with us.  It was really special to spend the evening with them.  And, it was nice to have a couple of extra strong backs to carry Brynne around!!

We started the night off at the big playground they have installed.  I was afraid that was all we were going to see!  But, then Rick took Eli, Brynne and Dawson to the carousel while Kyndal, Angela and I went to wait in line for the wagon ride.  The kids loved that!  They took you out through the woods and had large billboards with "The Night Before Christmas" on it that we read outloud as we passed them.  Brynne's eyes were wide open with excitement!  Eli just had fun counting the page numbers on the billboards.  Seriously, that was his favorite part of it!

We stopped off for a picture in the horse-drawn carriage in one of the restaurants, then headed to the LONG line to ride the train.  It actually only took about 25 minutes to wait in line, and the kids were so great!  But it was worth it to see the reactions out of the kids!  Eli and Brynne loved the train ride and Dawson was overtaken with emotion as to the presentation of the complete story of Jesus.  It really affected him!

Our last stop was to see Santa.  Eli told Santa he wanted a little green car and a "little something else" that sounded like a bad word and shocked us all for a minute, but then we realized he said "tracks" .. like in train tracks.  Brynne followed up and said she wanted a "little yellow car".  They should be easy this Christmas!  Both little ones sat on his lap, which totally surprised me, and we even got Kyndal and Dawson to crowd in for a picture.  It was awesome!

We grabbed some hot cocoa and headed home.  We didn't get to bed until almost midnight.  (K & D are not too happy to be up getting ready for school at 6:30 this morning!! ... sorry!!)

This was one of those nights where everything just went so perfectly!  Everyone had a good time and enjoyed each other!  I really couldn't have asked for a better time for all of us to spend together as a family.

Now the negatives.  Eli had a little bit of a cold yesterday and by last night he was MISERABLE! I really hope he feels better today and gets better by tomorrow so we don't have to cancel his birthday party!  I will probably keep him home from school today.

The Christmas Train was closed for a few years while they did renovations.  I really wish they would have left everything alone!  They have completely taken away the old town feel by paving the streets.  There didn't seem to be as much emphasis on the town, but more commercialism with a modern play structure, carousel and modern theatre for the message.  And the Santa .. let's just say he must have been a "helper."  When we went in 2001 Dawson walked out (at age 5) and said, 'Whoa, that was the real Santa.'  I felt like I was at Silver Dollar City.  You used to ride the train to Santa's Village where you could see Santa, walk around and look in all the stores, and then ride the train back to the town.  At the end of the train ride you went into an "old" theatre to listen to Christmas carols being sung by an old-time choir, then they did their message of salvation.  Don't get me wrong, it was still fun and cool to see and I loved it.  But I don't understand why they made all the changes.  That part was a little disappointing.  All-in-all, however, it was one of the best things we have done as a family in a long time.

Bi-Polar

Goodness, I've been sounding a little bi-polar on my blog lately, huh??  Up one day, down the next, up the next, down the next.  Welcome to the Christmas season!!  That's sad, isn't it???

Today is a good day, and tomorrow I'll have more pics.  We are going to The Christmas Train tonight and I'll have tons of festive, old-time Christmas pictures.  It should be fun!  I hope we don't freeze to death!