Thanksgiving Day! I love this holiday! It means a long weekend at home, lotsa leftovers and naps! Hubby is home this year, too ~ Yay!
My girls are complete opposites of each other. Rose doesn't care to cook, doesn't care about decor and would stay in her PJ's all day everyday if she could and Bella loves to cook and decorate and dress up. So guess who helped prepare Thanksgiving Dinner, that's right, my 10 year old Bella! They had the funniest conversation about what Thanksgiving will be like when they are grown up and have their own homes, here it is:
Momma: Someday you two will have to cook Thanksgiving for me and I will just come to your house and eat!
Bella: I'll prepare a Thanksgiving Feast for you Momma!
Rose: Not me, I just wanna eat it! I'm too lazy to cook all day.
Bella: I'll have the fancy plates and wine glasses and the table will be all decked out and beautiful!
Rose: I'd have to order food in and serve it on paper plates.
Bella: OK then, I will cook dinner for everyone and then we can go to your house for dessert!
Rose: I'll serve Ice Cream and pie, but Bella, you have to bring the pie!
Love them. My only request is that they don't live to far away from me when they are grown up. Is around the corner too much to ask?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Money, Money, Money ~ In a rich man's world
Little man has an obsession with "The Circle Dot Store", which is commonly known as Target. He refused to call it Target for a long time - now he does & the rest of the family calls it The Circle Dot Store. This obsession of his is not limited just to one store, any store he knows sells toys he will beg to visit every time we drive by. Maybe it's a boy thing, he LOVES games of any kind, video is his favorite, but any card game, board game, or guessing game will do. Anyone want to play rock, paper, scissors? Uno? Candy Land? Wii? Nintendo DS? A puzzle? Tag? If the game involves guns, oh that's so much better! His obsession became begging to visit the store, one particular instance sticks in my head and goes like this:
"Mom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Don't know son, what are you thinking?"
"Chuck-E-Cheeses!" (With the cutest little melt the Momma smile I've ever seen!)
Because you know Chuck-E-Cheese has the best games ever, and then you win toys!
I decided it was time to stop the begging and begin the earning. You know the saying, if you give a man food he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he will eat for a lifetime? So begins the responsibility of earning money by doing chores around the house...... ALLOWANCE!
Little man has had chores for a couple of years now, easy ones for his age like clearing the plates after eating, picking up toys at the end of the day and such. He is such a good boy and helps out a lot, but allowance brings a whole new set of responsibility in our household. I spoke to him about making his bed everyday, keeping his bedroom floor picked up and keeping his backpack where it belongs. He will earn some money to be able to spend it at the Circle Dot Store with his own money instead of begging for toys every time I go! We also have a rule that of course, extra chores are encouraged! Just ask what can be done and we'll negotiate a job and a price! My girls don't really care to do extra, but Little Man has cleaned windows, folded and put away his own laundry, wiped down cabinets and anything else I can think of for a 5 year old to do to earn extra cash! He's a working machine! Every morning as soon as his little head pops up from the top bunk, he is making the bed as he gets out of it! And in the evening when his big sissy's are doing their chores, he is asking what he can do to earn an extra quarter!
After a lot of hard work for a couple of weeks, he had enough money to go buy his own toys! This is what he bought with his hard earned cash!
"Mom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Don't know son, what are you thinking?"
"Chuck-E-Cheeses!" (With the cutest little melt the Momma smile I've ever seen!)
Because you know Chuck-E-Cheese has the best games ever, and then you win toys!
I decided it was time to stop the begging and begin the earning. You know the saying, if you give a man food he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he will eat for a lifetime? So begins the responsibility of earning money by doing chores around the house...... ALLOWANCE!
Little man has had chores for a couple of years now, easy ones for his age like clearing the plates after eating, picking up toys at the end of the day and such. He is such a good boy and helps out a lot, but allowance brings a whole new set of responsibility in our household. I spoke to him about making his bed everyday, keeping his bedroom floor picked up and keeping his backpack where it belongs. He will earn some money to be able to spend it at the Circle Dot Store with his own money instead of begging for toys every time I go! We also have a rule that of course, extra chores are encouraged! Just ask what can be done and we'll negotiate a job and a price! My girls don't really care to do extra, but Little Man has cleaned windows, folded and put away his own laundry, wiped down cabinets and anything else I can think of for a 5 year old to do to earn extra cash! He's a working machine! Every morning as soon as his little head pops up from the top bunk, he is making the bed as he gets out of it! And in the evening when his big sissy's are doing their chores, he is asking what he can do to earn an extra quarter!
After a lot of hard work for a couple of weeks, he had enough money to go buy his own toys! This is what he bought with his hard earned cash!
Marshmallow Gun Attack on Daddy!
Nothing like the pride of ownership and victory over Poppa!
Now, If I could just get everyone to not eat the marshmallows that they find hiding in every corner of the house! ;)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Back to the Future
All my back-posts are now done and I can officially come
Back to the Future!
I will try to keep updating on a regular basis, looking back I have actually done pretty well (for me!). My mom and sister Model-T have volumes and volumes of journals, but I didn't get that gene obviously because I have volumes and volumes with two weeks worth of entries each! My blog now has more entries than all my diaries put together!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
All Saints Day
Today is All Saints Day, which up until today meant absolutely nothing to me. After today's sermon, I see it all much differently and much more personally than I did before. Our Pastor, and new Associate Pastor (a 25 year old woman; fresh out of seminary and oh so amazing!) had placed two tables on the stage with lace coverings and about 200 lit tea-light candles on top. It was beautiful and seemed very traditional, so I knew a surprise was in store for the sermon!
The Pastor started off talking about saints and those that have gone before us who have made significant impacts on the Christian faith.... this is a little unusual for my protestant church... we don't worship or pray to saints like other religions do. We believe that we may have an intimate, personal relationship with Christ Jesus and do not require intercession. Then he asked us to make All Saints Day more personal by looking into our own walk with Christ and people or persons who led us to Him. He asked us to come forward and say their name and light a candle for them because this day represents their being in the presence of our Savior. I named my Step-Mother (Smother!) because she was integral in my becoming a Christian.
The Pastor started off talking about saints and those that have gone before us who have made significant impacts on the Christian faith.... this is a little unusual for my protestant church... we don't worship or pray to saints like other religions do. We believe that we may have an intimate, personal relationship with Christ Jesus and do not require intercession. Then he asked us to make All Saints Day more personal by looking into our own walk with Christ and people or persons who led us to Him. He asked us to come forward and say their name and light a candle for them because this day represents their being in the presence of our Savior. I named my Step-Mother (Smother!) because she was integral in my becoming a Christian.
My Father & Smother 2002
Smother and I had many conversations about religion when hubby and I lived with them after transferring from Utah to California for a job in 1994. We stayed with them for a wonderful 3 or 4 months and had marathon "Spite and Malice" games and popcorn by the bucketful! Over the years, I attended Midnight Mass with her on Christmas Eve and drilled her on religions, culture, musicals, books and anything else she would tolerate. I loved that she was so smart and could remember vivid details at the drop of a hat and loved to tell stories of her many insurance fraud investigations. And that woman could COOK! Oh, just thinking of her jumbalaya, cheesy scalloped potatoes, seven minute frosting, coffee smoothies, mimosa's.... makes me gain ten pounds! She passed away in 2005 from Lung Cancer and I miss her so much.
My family has a "theme song" that we play before and after family time bible lessons and I would like to dedicate it to Nanny / Smother's memory today because her Lifesong gave me a glimpse of what My Jesus looks like. Thank you for sharing your faith and your love with me.....
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