Rough Day

Today was a rough day.  Really a Very Bad Day.  The girls, especially Pilly, were just wild.  It could be a long winter!  After some time in their room playing and me praying downstairs, things did go better, and after nap was fine.  We actually pulled out my old spirograph, and the girls loved that!  I got to go to Bible study at church tonight, which is always very encouraging.  I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new start with a new start and reminded that I need to spend time with the Lord and remain dependent on Him.  I, of myself, am not patient and loving! 

So now I am going to clean things up for my sanity and fold some laundry.  The next two days are busy so I'd better get things straightened up now!

Christmas Decorating Commences

Today, as Thanksgiving is officially over, we began our Christmas decorating.  We started with some things I saw on Pinterest!  I thought this idea for the windows was really neat, although it looked neater on there because they had different shaped ornaments and such.

We also tried these 3D snowflakes.  On one site, they have templates, which I couldn't get to print (not the site I linked).  That was after we had tried making them out of construction paper, which did not work.  They were very tiny as I only wanted to use one piece of paper per snowflake, and the tape also didn't stick as well to construction paper.  So we ended up making each point out of a 4 x 4 piece of computer paper.  Much, much better!

They really are neat, and LB loves them.  He just stands under them and giggles.  I'm glad he is delighted!  We won't be making many more of these (if any).  They are very time consuming!  However, it is an excellent fine motor skill practice!

We are probably putting up our tree Sunday.  I do love having it up, but I am not looking forward to the many "no's" that will be coming out of my mouth because of a certain little boy!  Have you started decorating yet?

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a fun Thanksgiving, and I've got the pictures to prove it!  I'll only show a few of the 39 I downloaded though:)  My mom got a 5 piece gingerbread town set this year, which was really fun.  The kids each had one of their own to decorate with one for the big boys to do together.  Here is what they came up with:

Nice. 

I forgot to get the camera out except for during this part so no pictures of cookie making.  In case you didn't know, we don't eat turkey (cause it is gross) and we make cookies on Thanksgiving day.  We did enjoy some grilled chicken this year:)

Someone concentrated very hard during the decorating of his house!

I told the kids the red icing was snowman blood, and Pilly wouldn't eat it for the longest time until her daddy assured her that it did not come from snowmen.  Apparently, Pnut had no qualms about hurting snowmen!

Have you eaten much sugar during this process?

This little girl wants to help with everything!  And she will do whatever you want as long as she is helping.  Nice!

This kid mainly caused trouble.  Just look at him.  Have you ever seen a cute troublemaker?:)

The baby mostly did this, alternating between the bed and people's arms.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are going to be really busy the rest of the week so I will not be posting any more until next Monday.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Furnace Fixed!

We got our furnace fixed today!!!  The UPS man brought the part and Joel and Ben fixed it.  Very exciting!  It is so nice to have heat again:)  We had a crazy weekend that was not at all what we expected.  Pilly got sick Saturday into Sunday and we had to cancel all our plans for yesterday and today.  It is okay, it was kind of nice to just stay home.  I am praying that no one else gets it.  So far so good. 

Some people were a little crazy over the weekend (and continued to be today):

She made arm bands and a head thing as well as a shield and sword.  She also colored tape green and put strips under her eyes.  It was intense.

Another person is beginning to demonstrate how much he loves to climb.  This is where I found him today:

The problem is that he can't get out of it so he stands there and yells until you pick him up.  He is cute though.

"Now take another picture while I kiss him."

A Little Cold

Soooo, it is now 37 degrees outside, and we are awaiting the delivery of the part for our furnace.  It is a little chilly.  Thankfully, we have been very busy this week and hardly at home.  Tomorrow we will be at my parents' during the day so we will only have to be here in the evening.  Maybe we can bake something to warm it up.  And drink hot chocolate.

I was trying to take a picture of my adorable baby who isn't really much of a baby anymore and this was the clearest I got:

I have several blurry shots since he moves so fast and gets so excited when I turn the camera on.  He is a funny little guy:) 

I'm too cold to spend any more time here at the computer.  I have a blanket to sit under!  Have a great weekend!

Baby Love

Today we went to Randa's, and I got to love me up some baby!  Baby Ethen is very sweet and tiny and cuddly.  Babies are so nice when it is cold out (really nice anytime) because they are so snuggly and warm that you feel that something is missing when you have to put them down.  So we enjoyed our visit quite a bit!  The girls had a ball.  I felt at first as if they had just disappeared as I didn't see them for quite a while after we walked in.  It was like they were sucked into the walls or something.  LB is still fascinated with the baby and would like to run right over him and lay on him and poke him in the eyes.  And of course he was only interested in me when I was holding the baby.  Turkey.  I did manage to leave the camera at home so I have no pictures to show the little darling off.  Take my word for it, he is sweet:)

So Productive:)

I am experiencing unprecedented levels of productivity this week!  Last night, I made 4 receiving blankets and a bag for my knitting and mended Pnut's tights that have holes in the toes that she just won't give up.  Tonight I mended a teddy bear and two pairs of pants and prepared our Christmas child boxes.  It is really nice to have these projects done, and I have a few more to complete before I run out of steam!  It is all about self control.  Making my self get up off the couch and do something.  That kind of self control.

To add to the busyness of our week, the exhaust fan in our furnace went back.  Yesterday the furnace turned on (for some unknown reason) and I thought the house was going to blow up.  It made a very horrible noise.  Thankfully, Joel knows someone from work who came over and checked it out and is ordering a piece for us.  He is going to help Joel install it and it shouldn't cost too much, not nearly as much as having a repair man in would.  I am so thankful that Joel knows so many helpful people and that the weather is so nice so that we don't need our heat!  I'm praying that it stays warm until the part comes in!

All of this work has made me tired so I'm off to bed:)

Fall Decorating

Today I made the girls walk downtown, which takes about 20 minutes either way.  They are always very enthusiastic on the way in and very tired on the way back.  We went to some shops and the Creative Reuse, where I got two pairs of circular knitting needles for 50 cents each (a steal!).  On the way back, they picked up some really cool leaves so I thought we would hang them in our window for some fall atmosphere!

The girls were very excited about it. 

Joel invited a friend from work and his fiancee over for supper so I did a super-cleanup of the table today. 

I filled my little candle holder with cinnamon sticks, which fascinated Pnut.  She wanted to eat one.  That would have been a surprise to her! 

Tomorrow Pnut has a birthday party at 12 so Pilly is going to work with Joel because we need to take a friend over too.  We have something going on every single day this week!  I'm not used to our weeks being this busy!  It should be a fun week, though!

Slow Week

This has been a slow week for me as far as thinking of things to post.  I'm not doing a good job remembering to take pictures.  Maybe if I jazz things up with color people won't notice.  What do you think?  We had a pretty nice day today.  It rained so we just stayed inside, but we got out a puzzle that makes a car map and drove matchbox cars on it.  LB even was driving his little wooden car.  And then removing puzzle pieces and sitting on our cars, but the girls thought he was hilarious.  I'm trying to just savor theses moments while they are little!

So now I'm going to bed!  Have a great weekend and hopefully I'll think of better things to post next week!

Cooking Club-PW Style

It was my turn for cooking club today, and I was really pleased with the things I made.  We had Corn and Cheese Chowder, Chicken Melts, Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce, and Blackberry Tea.  The soup and dessert were both Pioneer Woman recipes so I am just linking them instead of retyping!  The dessert was really delicious!  The maple cream sauce is really the magical touch!  I did cut the amount of peppers in half in the soup, and I was glad, but I am not a huge pepper fan.  I also didn't include the onions because I don't like onion in my soup! 

Chicken melts are really easy.  I made chicken salad out of some chicken tenders I cooked last night just with mayo and then made grilled cheese with chicken salad in between the two layers of cheese.  It is a very filling sandwich.  I love the warm chicken salad.

The girls were upstairs playing with Kate, who is just a little bit younger than Pilly, and they were laying in the hallway with all of the doors shut so that it was dark.  They had their blankets and Jackie said they said "did you see that shooting star?"  How cute are they!

Playing in the Sunshine!

Today couldn't have been any more beautiful so I did what any sane person who doesn't want to be driven nuts by their children would do...we went to the playground:

LB wore his sneakers that are too big for him, and he didn't fall down too much.  His feet just grow too fast and he doesn't walk around outside that much for me to buy him a new pair, unless of course I find them at Goodwill!  He also went down the little slide with the girls a few times and seemed to enjoy it.  The girls certainly did! 

The girls chased a squirrel around a tree.  There really isn't that much difference between bringing them and the dog!

Gorgeous!

They were all enjoying the tunnel quite a bit, mostly because LB was in there for the first time.  May giggles emanated from this area!

Someone wouldn't stick his face up to the hole:P

Just a beautiful, fun day that we all enjoyed.  Quite nice with winter coming up.

On Friday night, we got a new gift!  My sister had our new nephew and he is quite darling!

He is already extremely well-loved!  We are all very excited about him:)

Wordless Wednesday-Hammy McHamsterson

What is this?

I'm pretty sure I didn't sanction this activity:

I'm not a fan of snow ever but especially not in October. 

It came down heavy like this all day until about 9:30.  And it is still melting.  At least if it had to snow, it could have the grace to melt the next day.

On the weekends, Joel sometimes makes lunch for the girls, and is it any wonder?

This is a monster eating some fish.

And here is a cutie with his weapon of choice, a golf club.  Thank heavens it is only plastic!