Christmas Is Coming!

Today marked Maggie's last sign language class for the semester. As we were driving home she said that she felt like class had just started. She has enjoyed it SO much and she will probably take it next semester too. Today was my day clean the downstairs of the church where we meet. Each family signs up for a cleaning day. Two people are assigned for upstairs and two for downstairs. Of course, I was the only one that showed up to clean downstairs (an ongoing problem with the lazy homeschool moms), but Maggie helped. We took out lots of trash, swept and did a little "tidying" in the bathrooms. (Maggie loves the word tidy) My mom was kind enough to keep Ellie so that I wouldn't have two cleaning helpers. I enjoyed quiet time in the car and managed to get our Christmas cards addressed while Maggie practiced for her concert. It's next Tuesday and she's so excited!

I think it's safe to say that I'm finished with Christmas shopping! The attic is holding the presents that need to be wrapped and I'm sure I'll to get to that soon! I bought several things for myself this year, but they'll really be from Big Daddy and the girls. I think I'll probably get a surprise too. Big Daddy is hard to buy for because he buys what he wants/needs throughout the year. Since becoming a SAHM, I limit my "me" things.

I spent nearly all of Friday working on our decorations. Big Daddy was doing homework upstairs, so both of the girls "helped" me. Ellie wasn't all that interested, but Maggie was in the middle of everything! Therefore, it took about 8 hours. The longest it's ever taken. It was fun to go through all of the ornaments and Maggie wanted to know where every single one came from.The Foyer
(I decided to add a little garland to the table because I had some sort of light/garland mishap with the mantle. I used extra garland and lights on the mantle and didn't have enough for outside of our TALL front door, like I did last year.)

The Mantle
(Big Daddy sent me flowers a couple of weeks ago and they came in that vase! I bought a few red berry branches from Hobby Lobby and it worked out great as a little something different!)

Our Tree

Both girls have their own trees again this year. I love the way their rooms look when I tuck them in at night. They look so angelic under the glow of the Christmas tree.

Ellie's tree is white with silver balls and gingerbread men. Maggie's is a pink tinsel tree with multi-colored balls and a few of her small ornaments. I MADE her put her big ornaments on the big tree this year.)

Olivia (the hamster) has her own tree too!!
(White lights and red berries)

We have our first holiday party this week! We'll be going to our homeschool group Christmas party on Thursday afternoon. That evening will be our town's Christmas parade. If the weather cooperates, we'll be there!

Our church has something Christmas-related every weekend in the month of December. There are different musical performances, plays and a "Birthday Party for Jesus" for both preschoolers (at the Children Museum) and K-5 grades (at a bounce place). Lots of opportunities for celebration.

Maggie is counting down to Thursday! She loves the first day of any month, but is especially excited to start the season of Advent and get a chocolate treat from her Advent calendar too.
We will also be doing a daily devotional leading up to Christmas during our morning "Circle Time". It's a great way to share a little bit of the Christmas story everyday.

If you celebrate the season of Advent I'd love to know how!

Long Story Short

I'm not sure how nearly two weeks have passed since my last post, but a lot has been going on.

I've been raking leaves, having migraines and Christmas shopping to keep me busy.

And speaking of Christmas shopping, my mom bought me that pair of boots that I was really wanting. Big Daddy has told me to buy what I want/ need. I'm thinking that I need something to wear with those boots!

I ordered Christmas cards from shutterfly and cardstore.com this year and the cards have been sitting on my desk waiting to be addressed.

My friend A found out that her cancer has returned. Needless to say, we are devastated. The doctor is hopeful that it will be zapped with one radiation treatment and chemotherapy. They have told her that she will most likely not be able to have any more children, but I haven't had the heart to ask if she'll lose her hair. (It sounds silly, but it's not when it's your best friend) I am able to hold myself together when we talk on the phone, but my heart just breaks for her.

Maggie started tying her shoes...finally. We worked on it for a while and then I decided to out it on the back burner because she would get so frustrated. Sure enough, it finally clicked and she tied them a couple of weeks ago when we were getting ready to leave for Awana. I was in the kitchen and she yelled at me from her room. She was so proud.

Ellie has a new haircut. Of course, we are probably the only ones that would notice, but in my eyes it made a big difference. She has quite a bit less hair than Maggie did at this age.

Big Daddy and I are really longing for Disney World. We talk a lot about our next rip, but it probably will not happen until next fall.

And that's it!

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!

Mid-Week Randoms

We've had a busy start to our week, so I'm making today a lazy day! We have no place to go until church this evening, so we may even have a pajama day. I always have all these little things going through my mind and I thought I'd share them today. Things like this are always fun for me to go back and read in weeks, months or years.

• I googled "What is Pippa Middleton's job?" one day last week. It had been bothering me for months and I was relieved to finally find out where she was "commuting to" in those photos that appear on People.com where they go on and on about her style. Google it for yourself if you're curious.
  
• I have never watched The Duggars (we only have free tv) and probably never will. I don't care how many children they have because it is none of my business. Lots of people seem to think that they shouldn't have so many children when their are orphans that need parents or other couples struggling with infertility. None of that makes sense to me.
• We don't watch a lot of reality tv, because it's. not. real. I believe that Survivor was real the first season and then everyone started talking about "alliances". I prefer sitcoms and dramas. Big Daddy and I like Two Broke Girls, Rules of Engagement, The Mentalist, Hawaii Five-0 and The Big Bang Theory. (we only watch these shows if/when the kids are in bed. I also really love and look forward to Revenge! Big Daddy has been out of town every week since it has been on, so I've watched it alone, but it has been a happy place for me.
  
• I have been items to my fantasy Christmas list like crazy. I thought I would jot a few of my wishes down, but it hasn't happened. I still want a sewing machine and I saw a pair of boots at Target that were straight out of my dreams.
• About those boots...they were so pretty. I saw a pair last year that I loved and then once I tried them on they were dead to me. I "need" and want so many things that I decided not to walk over to the boots because I may love them if I tried them on. It sounds silly, but if I had them I would also want stuff to go with them and I feel like we spend so much money on things that we have to have to live. While we have plenty of money and live comfortably, I am a stay at home mom, have no income and do not like to buy frivolous things that are just for me.
• Potty training Ellie is going well. I felt like all the girls her age were trained, but now that she's pottying I realize there are lots of girls older than her that are still in diapers. I am all about following the child's lead and I think Ellie was ready.
• Ellie has a cold today. That means that Maggie and I will probably have it by the weekend and we had an extra-special Saturday planned that I'll probably have to cancel. I will remain hopeful until the weekend, though.
• I feel sorry for Kris Humphries. I haven't really followed the whole Kim Kardashian/Kris Humphries thing, but I check People.com daily (guilty pleasure). I don't think the whole wedding was orchestrated for publicity or income, but I think they might have gotten caught up in everything. I had a small, private wedding and would not have wanted to cancel it beforehand. I can only imagine the pressure that they felt to go through when it was a multi-million dollar production and was being filmed for tv. I think marriage should be taken seriously and I'm not so sure that girl knows how to do that. I hope they both find happiness.
• I'm one of those people that hopes that everyone else is happy. I
  
• We had Big Daddy home for four days and then he left this morning and will hopefully be back next Wednesday. We picked him up at the airport this past Friday evening and Ellie was almost arrested by the TSA. If you give Ellie a line and tell her not to cross it, she will.
• After my post last week declaring that things were going well without our fearless leader, things fell apart. Big time. There are so many times during the day that I just want to say "EPIC FAIL" and hit a restart button.
• I pray daily for patience that surpasses all understanding and sanity.
• I keep thinking about how much less-stressed I would be if Maggie went to school everyday.
  
• Everyday I am thankful to be homeschooling Maggie.
• Ellie is hilarious and sweet and has such a kind heart. She also likes to pull Maggie's hair, but usually it's in self defense.
  

The New Normal

I'm trying so hard to get into our routine, but I admit, I am struggling.

We have been homeschooling since July, but changed to first grade curriculum and I had to adjust. Then it was time for Awana, dance and Maggie's homeschool elective class to start. Once you mix all of that with Big Daddy's heavy season of travel, you have one worn out mommy!

Things are going fairly well without Big Daddy at home during the week. He has traveled 7 of the past 9 weeks, but one of those weeks we were in Disney World, so he was traveling with us. Maggie and Ellie usually cry for him at bedtime and Ellie cries for him if she gets in trouble. We went shopping with my mom on Monday and Ellie freaked out and started screaming for him when I got out of her sight. It's hard on all of us.

Big Daddy and I had a little date night this past Saturday. It had been a pretty good while since we had been out for dinner and a movie. We went to see "Courageous" (I cannot recommend it enough- especially for men) and then had Japanese food and walked around a little. It was a much-needed break. Maggie & Ellie stayed with my sister and played with Callie and put on make up!

I went shopping on Monday with my mom and the kids. I'm happy to report that nearly all of my shopping for the kids is complete!! We were able to split up so that I could get a few things without them seeing. There's one thing on Maggie's list that I couldn't get and I still need a couple of things for Ellie. I am very pleased with my progress!

My sister, brother-in-law, nephew and Cousin Callie came over to trick or treat in our neighborhood on Monday evening. We seem to live in THE place for trick or treating. Thankfully, our hose is in a new subdivision at the end of the street and our house is the last one on the street and we kept our lights off and no one came by! I was NOT going to open the door to strangers in costumes when I was the only parent at home. The girls all had fun and we got a small amount of candy.

Other than that, things have been as busy as usual!

Busy is my new normal.