Happy Birthday Jesus!

So I had this grandiose plan of having some of my Mommy friends come over with their little ones to my little humble townhome to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Besides the house being a tad bit small to accomodate 11 little kids and 7 mommies, was in complete disarry because we are adding some new shelves and moving some things around, I was still planning on having it here. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way. My little C-bear fell ill with a cold and was running fevers. I didn't think it was kind for him to be giving those germs to our friends this holiday season, and so sweet S graciously offered her home for me to host. So this morning  I gathered everything I needed to host a party at someone else's house and having a hard time saying goodbye to my little sick bear. God was so good to me today. He stopped the rain so we stayed dry, helped me to stay calm during the entire party, and to not forget a single thing. It all went off without a hitch! The kids ate, played, stocked stuffing to be delivered to other children through our church, listened to a story on the reason for Christmas, exchanged book gifts, and did a craft. I had a great time and think the kids did, too.  Thanks again S for letting us use your home!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!! We love you!

~ H

Ack! I didn't make a homemade Christmas card!

Yes, dear friends, I have not hand-made our Christmas cards this year. I know...it's so unlike me.  Even with all the craziness of the past holidays, I still managed to tweak out some type of h-marked card but not this year. I've decided to take a break and be still...ok, not really still at all, but trying to keep my sanity and still enjoy this season with my family and get some sleep. I was a little back and forth about it. A big part of me still really wanted to cut out cardstock and other shapes and maybe do some stamping, but the saner part of me decided otherwise. My sane side really won out, because there wasn't a good recent family picture of us that wasn't blurry or someone had funny eyes. I finally decided on using a picture of us that my brother took of us at E-pie's ballet recital. Upload, choose a card, and pick up. Voila! That's easy! Even E-pie told me today as I was still pndering over my decision to order photo cards, "It's okay Mommy, it was really quick." Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with photo cards. I even have photo card envy because there are some cute ones out there I know I can never make myself. Anyhow, I used photocards before the kids were born. I guess I became more compulsvie about making things myself after having kids. Which I just realize is kind of funny.

Before the kids were born, I ordered photo cards and did things quick and easy. After having kids, I started making home-made cards, which took longer and costed more probably. Hmmm...makes me wonder what I did with all the time I used to have. That's right...I taught ;) (Side note: I have so much respect for those of you teaching and raising children. You still manage to find the time to do what you need to do) I know I've definitely picked up more hobbies and interests since having children that I did not have before.  Now, I read too many blogs about so many crafty moms and want to do it all, unfortunately, reading those blogs really eats up my precious time, too. If I had all the time in the world, I think I would want to make all my children's clothes. I would also make some handmade toys. I would have scrapbooked everything since their birth (I still have not finished E-pie or C-bear's first years, and they are now 4 and 2). I would have more paintings and artsy creations up around our house. I would sew other household stuff and go thriftstore shopping so I can transform old stuff into new, good looking stuff. And read more blogs about it.

But the reality of it all is I can't.  I have 2 wonderful children who needs their Mommy to be present in more than just body but also in mind. I have a husband who actually loves to spend time with me. I have a home that God has blessed me with so I need to take care of it. I also happen to enjoy my sleep. So I can't be the Super Mom who does it all, but I can be a Super Mom who does all she can for her family.

In the end, who am I doing it for? My kids or me? Or for others to see? I have realized that some times I need to be better about balancing my time and organizing my priorities. I have learned from a great mentor mom that we can do our best when we start the day off by praying that the Lord guide and help to sequence our day for us, because it's so easy to get distracted by all that there is to do and possibly to do.

I still fall into overplanning and doing too many project mode, but I am working on it and leaning on God to help guide me back to where I need to be for me and for my family.

I hope our holiday card will find it's way to you, soon. (Still have to mail it.)
And I hope that you are enjoying your holiday season so far :)

~ H

Sing and Dance?

So today E-pie had her Christmas performance at school. She was the lamb along with another little girl. Last year, I think we had given her a little bit of a hard time about why she wouldn't sing or do the hand motions during the performance because she just stood there. This year, we refused to do that again. We know she is a rather shy child so we figured giving her a hard time about it wasn't going to help anything. We told her we were excited to come and see her show. Hubby worked from home today so that he could make it to see her. We told her that if she did her singing and dancing, then we would give her a special treat. We asked her what she'd like and she told us a piece of bubble gum. Not a problem. I also told her that I would take her and C-bear to lunch at Chick-fil-a afterwards. Well, she didn't sing her songs (at least out loud- I could see her mouthing the words) and didn't do the hand motions. She was okay with not getting her gum but we got to go to Chick-fil-a. Which is a good thing since I forgot to pack her lunch thinking there wasn't time for lunch at school with the performance and the after party in her class. Good thing the teachers gave her a snack. We did tell her we were proud of her for standing up there with the rest of the kids. She could have cried and ran off the stage. Plus, she was really cute in her little lamb outfit.

my little lamb

So now we have her ballet recital to look forward to. She started last year and did a pretty good job for her first recital in the winter. Then, spring recital rolled around and the "stand and do absolutely nothing" struck. I think I gave her a pretty hard time about and I feel guilty about it now. I was not thinking about her precious little heart, I was just thinking about all the money that was spent to pay for the classes and the time spent to take her to her lessons which was not around the corner. That definitely did not help I'm sure. So this year, I have thrown my selfish desires and complaints out the window (at least as it pertains to this situation). She told me she wouldn't dance and I told her that is fine but if she wanted to, she could dance. I did offer her a treat if she did a good job and she seemed excited about that, but again, I am not going to push it.  So we will see...she has a performance early in the morning for the little ones, and then, a dress rehearsal the same day. Her actual winter recital is on Sunday when the grandparents will be viewing.

Don't get me wrong...she loves to sing and dance. She is a dancing fiend at home as she pretends that our fireplace is the stage. She knows the words to the songs that I have been singing to her since she was a little baby. She sang the entire "You're My Sunshine" to me today, and I mean the whole song not just that one verse. I am not particularly happy with the other verses but haven't taken the time to change them yet. It's quite a sad song if you know it. Even C-bear knows the words. He thinks it's funny when he knows the words as I am singing them so he breaks out into laughter after singing several words which is also pretty funny. They also know some of the words to "Baby Mine" (which is more of C-bear's song) and "Love Me Tender" (which is E-pie's song). I think she has even gotten C-bear to love to dance. He will hold her hands and dance around with her.

Maybe public performance is not in her blood. I mean, hubby and I are NOT performers. In fact, we both shy away from being the center of attention and being on stage. So who could blame her. She is good at bossing us around...wonder where she gets that from? ;) The apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?

~ H

New Traditions...

So this year, as we get ready to prepare for celebrating the birth of Christ, we are going to try our hands at some new traditions. First, there's the Advent calendar, something that hubby and I are not very familiar with. I have heard about them and seen some but have never done anything with them. Hubby thought I was making up the word and could only think of the Advent brand bottles everytime I said it. But he was supportive as I suggested (demanded) that we recycle our old Christmas cards to make origami boxes that would hold the activity and treat for the day. There are LOTS of cute and wonderful ideas out there. I just Googled Advent calendar ideas until I found something that I liked and could do in a reasonable amount of time with what I had. I found the idea for the origami box at Crafty Nest but just set up differently.

Crafty Nest

My creation

What's in box #5?

I put velcro on the boxes so I could move them around if necessary.  I searched around for things to do and came up with some of our own based on what we had available near us. Here are the list of things that we will be doing this December:

• It’s time to get our Christmas tree!
• Let’s decorate our house and our tree!
• Let’s write a letter to Santa!
• Watch a winter ballet show (E-pie has a ballet recital)
• Make an ornament
• Collect warm clothes to donate to others
• Watch puppet show (at the library)
• Mail out Christmas cards
• Play a Wii game together as a family
• Let’s go ice skating today!
• Time to bake some cookies!
• Let’s bake more cookies to share with our friends and family!
• Let’s go see some Christmas lights!
• Meet Santa Claus
• Special shopping trip with Daddy :)
• Let’s watch special holiday movie.
• Listen to Christmas music and dance!
• Make a gingerbread house!
• Read some Christmas books and drink hot chocolate.
• Time to wrap presents for our friends and family.
• Let’s have a playdate and have a servants’ heart as we do something for someone else.
• Take a walk in the park
• Ride a merry-go-round
• It’s time to open our stockings!
• Remember the Lord today and give thanks for all our blessings that we already have in each other.

The second thing we are doing is the Advent paper chain idea from Spell Outloud, a homeschooling mom of 6! She's got some great ideas on her site. Makes me excited to homeschool :D It's funny. I decided to make this (actually 2 copies so that C-bear will get to tear off a chain, too) and E-pie brings one home from school that she had made. We will hang her school one in her room to tear off at night after prayer. We will tear off the one I made in the morning for our morning scripture reading together.

Inspired by the lesson we discussed in our Sunday school class this past Sunday about remembering to praise God for our many blessings and to help be a blessing to others this holiday season, I decided to do something different with our kids' holiday party. For the past 2 years, a few friends and I have gotten our kids together to play and do secret santa. This year, instead of getting together to get more gifts, I thought it would be a great idea to show our kids how blessed we are and to be a blessing to others. The children will be the ones stuffing the stockings for our church's Project Kids Eat Ministry. We will still do a small book exchange but the emphasis will be on serving others. I'm really excited about it!

We will be bringing our little Elf on the Shelf back out again...E-pie named him Dopey last year. Hopefully, we will be on top of changing his location every night.

found our perfect fat tree :)

Hope I can keep up with everything.
I will let you know how everything goes ;)
Might  not be making homemade Christmas cards this year for the first time in  5 years. Might :O
I hope everyone is enjoying all the festivities of this special holiday season!

~ H

Giving Thanks

There is just so many blessings that I want to give thanks for this holiday season. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, immediate and extended, and so many friends that love and support me. I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful that my husband has a good job so that I have the opportunity to be at home with my children. I am thankful for the gifts that I can share with others. I am thankful for all the comforts that He provides me with everyday; clean water, food, warm bed, indoor plumbing, a car, the ability to connect with friends and family through technology and the list can go on. I am most thankful for His love and His sacrifice.

We had a great day of celebrating Thanksgiving this past week. This will be my 3rd year hosting Thanksgiving, I think. After not having much time to recupe after the trip, I went straight in to prepping for the feast. I spent most all Wednesday preparing the food and was up early to start putting things in the oven Thursday morning. I am also thankful that my children were mostly cooperative while I was dashing around like a madwoman trying to get things done. OK, I wasn't that mad ;) The food turned out good. Some of us went outside for the traditional game of flag football, some played Mahjong, some played Rummikub, some played other card games, some took naps, some checked out Black Friday sales in the paper, and some just sat around and chat. All in all a great day spending time with family.

I hope that you had  a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!
~ H

One diaper, eight years, and a wedding

Ahhh...Back from the beautiful beaches of Cancun, Mexico. We got to take a little trip out to Cancun to celebrate my brother's wedding. It was the first time to Mexico for me and the kids. The night before we left, Honey springs the news on me that they have implemented these body scanners at the airport, and if they make us walk through it, we are going to opt out and request the alternative, which is the pat down. He then describes these scanners to me, how we don't know how safe they are and they can basically see you naked. They say the information is not stored but that's a lie and so on. He recounts the experience of the guy in San Diego who was thrown out of the airport for refusing the scanner and other horror stories. I'm upset because he is telling me this the night before we are leaving. But because I am his wife, I have decided that I am not going to argue with him about this. If he thinks that it's better for our family, then I will stand by his decision. But I am fretting it a bit because I'm thinking, maybe we won't be at my brother's wedding. He tells me it will be alright and I believe him...and I pray about it. :)

We are all ready to go before 6am. We had the kids sleep in their clothes the night before so we wouldn't have to change them. The airport scenario was a good one, too. The kids and I didn't have to walk through the scanner, but Hubby was scanned and patted down. He was fine with it. Apparently, he was just worried about the kids and me and not about himself. The kids were super! They were awake enough to pull their own rolling suitcases and carry their backpacks. I figured if we are paying full price for their seats, we will be getting the maximum amount of luggage allowed for each person.

We stayed at the Dreams Resort. It was beautiful! The view from our room was gorgeous! We got to see dolphins every day. Everything was included! I was thinking how easy this trip was. I just booked it because I knew that we were going for my brother's wedding. I wasn't about to miss my brother's wedding. I didn't have to look for the best and cheapest place to stay and compare prices and locations. I just booked it. Now, there should be an EASY button for that. I wished all our trips could be as easy as this one. I guess it could if we didn't have to worry about money, but alas, I will continue to pinch pennies and compare prices for all our future trips.

dolphin lagoon

up close and personal with the dolphins

our pretty room

The view from our balcony

enjoying the good food and drinks

So, you're probably wondering what I mean by one diaper in the title of this post. Well, that is how many diaper I packed for our trip for C-bear. If you have a weak stomach or prefer not to read about C-bear's potty issues, I would suggest skipping over this paragraph. Just look for the next set of pictures. Anyhow, I completely forgot to pack diapers. I had my mind on him being potty trained that it slipped my tired mind that he would need them for nap and bedtimes. The only reason we even had that one was because when he woke up the morning we left, I took it off of him and stuck it in my bag. The first 2 or 3 days were fun...he would tell me he went poo in his underwear. Luckily for me, it wasn't the mushy kind so very easy to clean. I also had the forethought to bring laundry detergent...the sample size ones...go me! Unfortunately, laundry is not included in the cost of the resort. Pee accidents were fewer. After the third day, we were pretty much accident free. That one diaper lasted us the entire trip. He ended up wetting it one morning when he got up. So, lesson? Potty train your kid on vacation where they have marble floors ;) We did!

We didn't really venture out of the resort. We figured for the price that we paid, we were going to get all we could from the resort. Plus, I don't think the kids would have enjoyed long car rides to do expensive excursions or walking around the city so we could go shopping. Maybe when they get older. Right now, the beach, pool, and the food kept them pretty busy. They also had a lot of new "friends" that they could play with (drive crazy)...aka my brother and S's friends. Honey and I did have a night out with the group when my parents flew in. They were celebrating the bachelor and bachelorette by going to a club called Coco Bongo. When we heard how much the tickets were going to cost per person, we almost backed out. My brother looked a little hurt when we asked if he would be upset if we didn't go. He told us that there was a  really unique show. We're glad we decided to go. It was truly an experience. The price paid for the show and all you can drink, but I guess Honey and I paid for the show. It was like a circus show around you. I've never been to a Circus de soleil show but that's what people were comparing it to and we were standing in the middle of it. We definitely had a great time and it was good we got to celebrate with my brother and S.

E-pie showing off her painted nails :)

The many faces of C-bear

Don't let the smile fool you. This was hard work!

the lighthouse on the resort

C-bear's sand castle with a little help  ;) taken by J

My brother and S did book a sunset party cruise for the group the evening before the wedding. I don't think we were quite the party crowd that the crew was expecting and the waters were a little rough but the experience just made me so much more in awe of our God and his beautiful creation.

Everyone sitting front and center before they got wet ;) taken by J

My brother's pants got all wet just as the boat started...

 Well, the eight years refer to how many years we are celebrating in our marriage. Yep! This was also our anniversary trip. It was just a week early but who's counting?  Plus, this year's gift is bronze. We figured we would try to get "bronze" for our anniversary, but that didn't happen. It's ok...that's how we'll remember this year's gift to ourselves. So here's to my high school sweetheart, my soulmate, loving husband and best friend...I love you! I am so lucky that it was in the Lord's plan that we meet all those years ago.

And of course, there's the wedding :)
My little brother and sweet S chose this beautiful location to tie the knot. C-bear and E-pie were so excited to be in the wedding. The weather was beautiful! The bride was gorgeous and the groom was pretty handsome, too ;) I am so proud of my brother for his beautful speech and declaration of love to his new wife. I am so proud of my kids for doing such a great job in the wedding and being on their best behavior at the wedding.

taken by J

taken by J

taken by J

taken by J

All in all, the trip was a success. Happy memories shared by many. Thanks to my brother and S for making this trip happen for all of us. Although, we are happy to be home and getting geared up for Thanksgiving festivities...no rest for Mommy and Daddy! We hope that all our friends and family have a wonderful Thanksgiving with much to give thanks for.

~ H