Our Christmas traditions ~ trimming the tree

Years ago when David and I had our first child, I remember my Dad encouraging us to start our own holiday traditions.  We have taken his advice and have worked to incorporate traditions that we brought with us from our families as well as some new traditions over the years. 

 This past weekend we decorated our tree.  Actually, the kids decorated it…entirely…and by themselves.  David and I just handed out ornaments and reminded them that breakables needed to go towards the top. {smile}  And even though the tree is a little different that I may have decorated, I think it may be my favorite decorated tree ever.

Some of our Christmas tree decorating traditions are…

Tradition number one:  Each child gets a new special ornament each year. 

The ornament is usually something that is special to the child.  The plan is that the children will take their ornaments to their new homes when they are adults.

 for our cowboy

 for our car lover

 for our animal lover

 for our girly girl

 for our dinosaur lover

Tradition number two: We make new ornaments every year.

I love monograms so this year we went with these very easy but very cute monogram ornaments.  The glass ornaments can be found at craft stores (and  are usually 1/2 off).  Fill them with a little shredded paper of your choice of color.  (Also at the craft stores) 

Tie on a few ribbons of your choice.  Stick on a scrapbooking sticker for the letter of your choice and you’ve got a very easy and super cute ornament! 

Tradition number three:  We have gumbo, hot cocoa, and make a special dessert on Christmas tree decorating night. 

Tradition number four:  We listen to Christmas music while we decorate our tree.  (Some how we mixed in a little 80s music this year too.  It was so much fun to see everyone dancing around while decorating the tree.)

Tradition number five:  We add one new family ornament each year.  According to tradition number one, we will be giving away our ornaments when the kids are older.   Since that may result in a very bare tree one day, we are adding a new family ornament each year too.  This year we added

a monogram ornament

and

a coffee pot!

 

These are our very simple Christmas tree decorating traditions.  The kids love to decorate the tree.  David and I simply love to watch them as they talk about the ornaments, remember Christmases past, and think on the approaching season. 

Happy Birthday to my Honey…

{Ok, I don’t actually call him honey but I thought it sounded cute…}

Today we are celebrating the birthday of my husband,

David.

He is a wonderful husband and father.

I can’t imagine what I could have ever done to deserve a blessing such as being married to David.

All I know is that I am thankful for him everyday.

A few words that I could use to describe David are:

forgiving,

giving,

loyal,

brave,

hard working,

servant-hearted,

trustworthy,

thoughtful,

self-sacrificing,

fun,

funny,

daring…

and that’s just a few. 

Happy Birthday, David!

 

Counting my blessings ~

After my post earlier today, I figure the best way to rejoice in this day is to count my blessings.   Today has not been the easiest day.  It is a day that requires me to choose to be glad.  So today, I’m glad for: 

• our little white house ~ It is small for our family but after seeing a pioneer house this weekend that held more children than ours and was much smaller, I am thankful.
• our little white house {again} ~ because of this house, I am able to stay home with my children.
• my husband who wants me to be at home with our children and encourages me.  He does what he needs to in order for us to do what we feel God is leading us to do.

• modern conveniences that make cooking much easier than pioneer times
• grocery stores and department stores so we don’t have to depend on us to supply all of our food & clothing needs

• a pumpkin patch and a little boy who ran around and exclaimed, “pumpins, pumpins” as he searched for the one that was “just right”
• the joy of children who enjoy simple pleasures like a patch of brightly colored pumpkins

• friends who share with you knowledge of new pumpkin patches
• friends whom you can call  {or they call you} and they “get you”
• friends with whom you can laugh or cry

• RAIN for a dry and weary land
• a boy who is excited that it is raining and asks you at least five times if he can go out and play {despite the thunder}

• the colors of autumn
• a boy who helped me decorate the porch and stoop with fall colors and donated his pumpkin that he bought with his very own money

• two little girls who can and will spend time everyday creating things
• girls who bring pictures to me and tell me, “I made this just for you, Mommy”.

• visits with parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents
• talking with my Grandma and hearing of when my brother and I were little
• making a new friend with my Grandma’s roommate.  Ms. Foster had eight children herself.  Her eyes had the sparkle of a woman who loved life.
• hugging my old friend, Denny, whom I’ve not seen since I was quite young.  He still asked me to hug him though I’m sure he didn’t remember me.

• a hay ride around PawPaw & Grammy’s yard {minus the hay}
• roasting hot dogs & making s’mores over the fire pit
• eating outside surrounded by my family and nature

• little boys in overalls {you should have seen when he was barefoot – CUTE!}
• my Mom & my Dad ~ I wish we lived closer.  I love them dearly.
• my husband who thought to snap some pictures with his phone because I forgot the camera.  He knows I love pictures.  He always thinks of the “little things”.

• children who love the outdoors
• children who love their grandparents
• a boy who gives me glimpses of memories of my brother whom I miss

• teacher declared holidays {we took the day off today}
• a rainy day nap under my favorite quilt
• sharing a rainy day nap with Sunshine Girl who slept on the other end of the couch

I am truly blessed!

 

 

October Family Fun~

I can hardly believe that it is all ready October!  We are finally starting to feel like we are changing into the season of autumn here in the deep south.  Our family loves the season of fall ~ the cooler temperatures, the falling leaves, the warm colors…we pretty much love it all. 

We will be having some family fun this month.  Here are some of our autumn plans for our little white house.

{in the garden & yard}

• add some fall color with mums to the flower beds and front porch (and possibly kale or ornamental cabbage…new one for me)
• plant some more dark leafy greens, swiss chard, and root crops in the vegetable garden
• drain, clean, and store the pool
• rake leaves as they fall {and be sure to play in them too!}
• prepare unused portion of garden to rest until spring planting
• clean bird feeders and fill with seed

{in the schoolroom}

• make apple pie playdough
• make an apple print garland
• carve a pumpkin
• roast pumpkin seeds
• visit the pumpkin patch
• make leaf rubbings and a book
• learn with candy corns  {counting and patterns}

{in the kitchen}

• apple crisp
• taco soup & chili
• pumpkin spice muffins
• hot chocolate {with marshmallows} & apple cider
• fall flower cupcakes
• popcorn balls & caramel apples {oh, the childhood memories that these bring back}

{around the house}

• plan and begin making Christmas presents
• make autumn banner for nature table
• sew cloth napkins
• prepare windows for colder temperatures

{out and about}

• autumn nature walks
• pumpkin patch
• fall family fun fest
• the fair

{What are your plans for autumn?}

{All pictures were taken in autumn of 2009.}

September 11th changed my life…

Most of us can probably say this same thing.

September 11th changed my life. 

I have vivid memories of standing in the hall with my second graders as another teacher whispered into my ear, “A plane crashed into the World Trade Center”.  I took my class to recess and went to the library where a few teachers had gathered on our breaks to watch the events on the TV. 

We were shocked.  We were upset.  We were scared.

I’ve talked about this before but all I wanted to do was bolt out of the school and grab my two boys who were in a daycare across town.   But I had a job to do and finding a sub that day would have been impossible so I carried on.  I remember teaching on that day with such a heaviness upon me.  As soon as 3:15 rolled around, I headed out the doors of the school and picked up my two boys who were probably a little confused by their mom who only wanted to hug them tightly.

On that day, I realized the importance of making the most of our lives.  Instead of dreaming dreams and being too busy to enjoy family, I knew that I needed to make my dreams a reality and soak in every moment that I could with my children.

On that day, we decided that I would become a stay at home mom.  On that day, I decided to live my life as much as possible without any regrets.  I want to live everyday doing what I can for God and my family.  I know all too well that our “lives are but a vapor”.  These years can rush by and I don’t want to get to the end and realize that I had not spent time with my children & husband.  I want to make the most of every single minute that I can.

Today, I sat with my family around our little table in our little white house and ate a pancake breakfast ~ an unrushed breakfast on a day where we get to be together at home.  We talked of September 11th.  We remembered the tragedy.  We remembered the loss of lives.  We remembered the heroes.  And we remembered the living who are left behind & live with the grief left by the events of that day.

And I remembered how September 11th changed my life, brought me home, and taught what is really important in this world.

A little peek at our Friday

On Fridays, we are usually busy getting the house ready for the weekend.  I love to start a Saturday with a clean house and mostly clean laundry.  (Are you ever completely caught up on laundry?)  It really seems to make our weekend go a little smoother when we can focus on projects and family instead of cleaning the house. 

This weekend we have a family reunion and are going to visit my mom & dad too.  Due to cooking for all of this, I had an even longer than normal to-do list but somewhere along the way I decided that I also needed to tackle a few projects that have needed doing for a while.  Of course, they were not on my to-do list and really I did not have time to do these projects but it sure did feel good to get them done. 

One thing that I decided to do was take all of the chairs and the bench out of the kitchen and scrub baseboards and walls.  This led to cabinets being cleaned and floors being scrubbed too.  It’s so hard to stop once you start.  When one thing gets clean, the other things start to show that they need to be cleaned too.  My two little ones made a restaurant with the furniture that I removed from the kitchen.   I love to see my children using their imaginations and pretending!

Another thing that warms this mom’s heart is when my children all pitch in and help me around the house.  It makes me think of The Five Love Languages.  I know!  That’s quite a jump there!  Let me explain…

When I took the quiz to see what my love language was, I came up with two.  They were “words of affirmation” and “acts of service”.  So the two ways that I hear “I love you” are by the words people speak to me and when people help me.  And that is very true.  When my children help out around the house, I truly feel loved.  Crazy, but true!  Everyone did help out today and made my load a lot easier.  Not only do I love the help, but they love to help too.

Quite a few hours were spent in the kitchen today as I cooked food for my parents (my mom is still unable to cook since her accident) and some for the freezer to help lighten the cooking load when school starts.  Pictured above are a huge pot of taco soup, tea cakes, and easy enchilada casserole.  In the morning, I will be making a sopapilla cheesecake for the reunion which is oh, so good! 

I looked out the window while in the kitchen and saw my two girls walking down the sidewalk.  I could tell that they were having a wedding with Flower Girl being the bride and Sunshine Girl being the attendant.  I had to go out and snap a picture of my two beauties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday night is usually pizza night around here.  The older boys helped me make pizza and even helped make a little mess too.  You might notice a little pizza sauce here and there. 

~Friday night, Pizza night~

I have always loved Fridays.  I love to end a busy work week and begin a weekend of time together. 

I hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Our trip to the mountains ~

 

We live in a state that has very few hills.  If my memory serves me correctly, the only mountain that we have is around 200ish feet.  So when we went north this past weekend, David and I were excited that our children would get to see some mountains. 

 David and I made this same trip a few years ago for an anniversary trip and we found this park that had a mountain to hike and a beautiful stream that you had to cross to get to this mountain.  We hiked this same mountain with Sunshine Girl in a carrier some four years ago.

 

 

 

After we hiked up the mountain a while, we came back to the stream and everyone just played and played in the cool water.  I really think that we all had just as much fun at this park as we did at the theme park.  Actually, I know that we did because they keep telling me how great of a day it was. 

I splashed around in the stream a bit but mainly followed everyone around with a camera & helped people climb around on slippery rocks.  And now, I’m going to subject you to tons of pictures!  :-)

~ My nature loving girl ~

~ My littlest nature explorer ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Watching the little fish swimming in the clear water~

~A bridge that begs to be the backdrop of pictures~

~ The older boys have told me that we have to go back again~

~I can not tell you how badly I wanted to join them as they swam~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Sunshine Girl loved the water too~

 

~ A mom & her Flower Girl ~

~ Before we left to come home, we headed up to the lookout over the city~