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.....
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Trick or Treat my Pretties
Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year... what a great time to have fun, dress up, eat candy! Yummy!
- Rose was too old to care about carving pumpkins :(
- Bella carved her own pumpkin :)
- Little Man and LaLa made carving pumpkins very fun :) :)
- Trick or Treating with 4 kids gets you lots and lots and lots of CANDY!!
Rose the Candy Cane Witch
Bella the Zombie Southern Belle
Little Man as Darth Vader
LaLa as Snow White
LaLa originally wanted to be Princess Leah - which I loved (Darth Vadar and Princess Leah - how cute!), but she changed her mind after I bought the Snow White DVD. Bella was going to be a cute Southern Belle but decided at the last minute to add the zombie part (I think it's because she loves to play with the makeup!). And I can't tell you how many times Rose changed in and out of her costume; adding leggings, shorts, changing her mind, then changing back again.... Little Man; however, never once changed his mind on his costume!
It was a great evening with lots of laughs and sugar all around! Come to think of it, we will all be on a sugar high for at least a week!
Happy Harvest!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Slug a Bug
Woah, can you say slacker? I haven't posted at all since school began.... can you tell I have a hubby, 4 kids, a job and a home to care for? No excuse, since my friends and family seem to be able to post a couple of lines a week! Just like scrap-booking - if you wait, it piles up and the mountain is too big to climb! Yikes!
So much has happened in the last couple of months, so I pledge to catch up the blog via post-dating in the next week (or so, who am I kidding anyway!).
Cuz you know, I can just delete this post and you won't know the difference, hahaha!
OK, OK! To keep me honest, here is my posts-to-come list! You know me, if I write it down, it HAS to happen!
So much has happened in the last couple of months, so I pledge to catch up the blog via post-dating in the next week (or so, who am I kidding anyway!).
Cuz you know, I can just delete this post and you won't know the difference, hahaha!
OK, OK! To keep me honest, here is my posts-to-come list! You know me, if I write it down, it HAS to happen!
- First Day of School
- Princess LaLa is 4!
- Happy 18th Anniversary
- Cirque du Soleil "O"
- Casting Crowns Concert in So-Cal
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Casting Crowns Concert Weekend!
One of my favorite bands is Casting Crowns and I have been wanting to see them in concert for a few years now. It seems they aren't going to come to me, so I decided to go to them! I looked on their website and found they were going to be in Southern California on a weekend that my family could schedule in! Yay!
Oh, it was such a perfect weekend! One of those that makes you go, WOW, this is what I always pictured when I was a little girl and wanted a husband and children! Sorry so Polly-Anna, but it was a
Family Vacation Weekend 2009!
much MUCH MUCH MUCH much
needed weekend getaway that only laughing, tickling, music, ocean, movies, junk food and the people you love most that makes the daily grind worth it all! - The kids watched some great movies on the car ride down (whoever invented the built-in DVD player; I love you sooooo much!).
- Saturday morning was full of driving around Hollywood trying to get our GPS unit to work with no success, so instead of geo-caching, we played tourists and drove in circles around the Hollywood sign; good times (it is a QCrew tradition to "get lost on purpose" so we see more sights, I truly love this part!)
- Saturday afternoon was spent at Zuma Beach in Malibu enjoying the sand between the toes, waves, and playing tag with little Man, I think we ran a 5k on the beach!
- Finally, time for the Main Event ~ Casting Crowns ~ BEST CONCERT EVER!!! I would drive to Cali anytime to see them again. My favorite part? That my girls loved it when Mark Hall (lead singer who is also a youth pastor) spoke about his faith and told about their new album coming out November 17th, titled Until the Whole World Hears and how their mission with this new cd is to share the love of Christ Jesus with the whole world through World Vision (seriously??? This was their favorite part of our Hollywood / Malibu / Beach weeked???? ). It was especially touching because we recently started sponsoring a child in Albania through World Vision and just received our first letter from his family! It really hit home that we are trying to share our faith with others as well!
- Sunday came way to fast, but we decided to drive to Malibu and up the coast a little then swing over to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It was so much more than I expected, they had a full size Air Force One there and a piece of the Berlin Wall. We spent all afternoon there because we just couldn't leave without seeing absolutely everything! Of course we got home super late, but it was so worth spending the time doing all we did!
- The ride home was the icing on the cake! We had an amazing, open, honest, serious life discussion with our teenager about life, love, friends, marriage, music, God, Jesus, family....... it was amazing and I am so grateful we have the family I always prayed for.
Rose & Bella didn't come out of the water for hours!
Little Man and LaLa didn't make it throught the concert, Casting Crowns weren't as exciting as the beach!
piece of the Berlin Wall
I can't figure out why Air Force One is sideways, sorry to give you a crink (sp?) in your neck!
*** Reminder!! The new album comes out November 17, 2009
& after hearing most of the songs during the concert, it is going to be aaaaahhhhhmazing! ****
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