Needed a change

(I'm still working on uploading those Thanksgiving Program videos. They've been uploading the whole time I've been redoing the blog. This is my second and final attempt. If it doesn't work this time, it isn't meant to be. It if does work, they'll be up today sometime so check back.

EDITED TO ADD: No go on the videos. Sorry grandparents. Maybe next time.)

Oh, and if you have a blog and are interested in where I get all my backgrounds and cutesy stuff, I use Shabby Blogs for just about everything and do most of my editing on Picnik.com.

Thanksgiving Play

Today Matt, Lily, and I had the privilege of getting to go see Abby's class put on a Thanksgiving play complete with lots of songs. It was so much fun. The class was split into Pilgrims and Indians. Abby got to be a Pilgrim. She was very excited about her costume. This morning at breakfast, she kept talking about the different parts of it and how she was going to look so pretty. We were given instructions that she was to wear a dress or skirt, and her teacher would provide the rest. I love the picture of her as she sees us in the audience. That grin.

Here is a slight sampling of the costumes:

(So, right where I am typing this are supposed to be really cute videos that I have now been waiting for 2 hours for Blogger to load, and I am now done waiting. I will try again when I have more time. Grrrrr. Bummer.)

Afterward, we got to go to her classroom and spend a couple minutes with her. Lily only wanted to be with her big sister. (Unfortunately, by then, my memory card was full of video and I only had my cell phone camera!)

Cause and Effect

When I taught third grade, cause and effect was one of the major skills I taught in Reading. I used to come up with all types of silly ones to get the kids interested. My example for today is...

Cause: Lily wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn't fall back asleep for over an hour- maybe two. She's been running a fever and not feeling so great.

Effect: She fell asleep watching Playhouse Disney this morning on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Feeling the breeze on their faces

I love my girls.

They make me laugh.

They are total dorks sometimes, and I love them for that.

Meet the ball popper. Or "ball pop" as Lily tries to call it. If you aren't familiar with this particular toy, it takes little plastic balls (that came with it) and with air pressure, and fun (obnoxious, at times) music, pops them into the air. They love it. Lily got it for her first birthday from my mom and dad. I just recharged the batteries this weekend and so yesterday it had fresh, fully charged batteries for full-on fun. We brought it downstairs to play with and the girls decided that the feel of the air pushing through the top of it felt good on their faces. However, this also meant that they got popped in the face with the balls. They didn't seem to mind. It was too funny.

Decorating and Easy, Cute Crafts

Does it seem to you that everyone and their brother is already decorating for Christmas? Yikes. It is hard not to feel behind if you haven't started. I haven't, by the way. We were totally lazy yesterday and didn't do the lights like we thought we would. We might today, but even if we do, they won't get turned on, of course.

That said, I am starting to get the bug to get started. Sad, right? As I'm sure you know, I read a fair amount of blogs and a lot of them are pretty creative. I keep reading about all these cute crafty seasonal things they are doing. I have done none of these. Hmmmm. I keep thinking I should come up with SOMETHING for Thanksgiving. I mean, I know it is a few days, but we could take something cute to Grandma and Papa's that they would enjoy, right? Yeah, no inspiration. I keep blaming it on my cold. Maybe it's not the cold. Maybe it's me.

So, instead for right now, I'm thinking a little more ahead on Christmas. Cute crafts that will get more than 2 days of use. So far I've got nothing. Actually, that's not true. I want to try to make some kind of cute banner, but that requires buying the supplies, and then I wonder if it's worth the money. ...and then I feel like a giant Scrooge. I guess for now, I'll keep looking for ideas.

What about you? Are you looking forward to decorating for Christmas?

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I don't know about you, but I am tired this morning. I have been battling a cold for over a week now, and I feel like there is no end in sight. I do feel like I've passed the worst of it, but I also feel like it will never be completely gone. And, that is no fun. I still sound terrible. My cough is a LOT better, so that is a good thing. This dumb cold is part of the reason I've been a bad blogger lately. I just don't feel like doing ANYTHING unless it involves laying on the couch sleeping. Seriously. Anyway, moving on...

Last night, Matt volunteered at a function through Second Helpings, an organization dear to his heart, so he wasn't home all night. I took this as an opportunity to have a Girl Night Party. We invited Jaimie over and I surprised Abby with Toy Story 3 and a few special guests:

Now, not all these guests are new to our house, but I collected them all up and pulled them out as a surprise for the movie. I did buy 2 new ones though: Rex the Dinosaur (he's a flashlight that roars and then asks if he scared you- it's hilarious) and the alien. The rest we already had. Abby also has a big Jessie doll, but I knew if I hid that away, she would notice her missing. I also pulled out our Mr. Potato Head with all his 4,000 parts (see the link- we bought a ton when we were at Disney). We had tons of fun watching the new movie. Abby and I saw it at the theater when it first came out last summer, but it was fun to see it again and share it with Jaimie.

With it being Saturday, it also means that we have passed one week since Matt ran the half marathon and we haven't had any health issues, which is great news. He hasn't run since, giving his body some time to rest (not to mention he's been crazy busy with work and sick with this dumb cold). He's anxious to run again, but just isn't feeling all that great. I gave him the green light to run, so we'll see.

Today it's supposed to be a little warmer, and then colder all week, so I actually think we're going to try to get some Christmas lights out front while it's warm today. Much better than doing it in the freezing cold. I'll be glad we did it come next week. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is in a few days? Yikes! I have to get with my parents to coordinate food. I'm not sure what dishes we're in charge of yet. Add that to the 'To Do' list.

I'm hoping you guys have a great weekend! Rest up!

Quick Update

Just a super quick update for some of you...

Matt got his bloodwork results back, finally. A bit of a boring story there, but not really worth telling.

Anyway, everything looks great. All levels of everything are perfect.

Good news.

Unedited Fun

We took some pictures of the cousins while we were in Tennessee. These are my favorites. It doesn't matter if someone isn't looking straight at the camera. In all the serious ones, there is always one child that isn't looking. These aren't edited yet, so please excuse the red eye and such. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, so I'm waiting to edit/crop. They had a terrible time, can't you tell?

Crossing the Finish Line

We had a big weekend.

It started bright and early on Thursday, though I should really say dark and early Thursday. Matt and Lily got up at 4:00 and caught a 6:30 flight to Chattanooga to visit Grandma and Grandpa D. Abby and I followed on Friday morning. We came a day later because we didn't want Abby to miss 2 days of school, but really wanted Matt to be down there by Thursday.

He had to be down there because he ran the Chickamauga Battlefield Half-Marathon, which is located right outside of Chattanooga. Matt said it was a beautiful course. It worked out perfect for visiting family and giving him a chance at another half-marathon. He ran this one with his best friend Robert, who he hasn't seen in way too long.

As some of you know, we have a few health worries about him running, but we are monitoring them. He went to have blood work done today to make sure that everything looks okay. Hopefully, if something is too low (potassium?), we can catch it in time. All of the doctors that he saw after the seizure last time (and there were lots) say that there is no definite link, but we just aren't sure and want to cover our bases. I'll be glad when we get past the next few days. Thank you for all your prayers. I know we have a lot of prayer warriors and I love you for that.

That all said, I am very proud of him. Way to go!

A day off

Yesterday Abby had a full day off from Lily. I thought she might enjoy the break. You know, no little sister getting into all your stuff, always messing with everything.... I asked her if she enjoyed just having a day of the two of us. Her response surprised me: She missed Lily. Made my heart smile.

Smores!

We decided to use up some of our leftovers from the party last weekend, and make some smores. This time was a little more relaxed because we weren't have a big party. Abby is getting to be quite the little marshmallow roaster and Lily is a little marshmallow thief!

Ah, all the "supplies"...

There she goes, stealing the marshmallows. She became quite territorial about them.

(Notice Lily still clutching the marshmallows for dear life, and making sure she still has them.)

Yummmm, the finished product!

Wordless Wednesday

Afterschool Snack

Thanksgiving Placemats

Abby and I have a subscription to Disney's FamilyFun Magazine. We have fun looking though it for fun seasonal ideas. Actually, it is where we got her Pippi Longstocking costume idea for Halloween.

Last night I was looking through the November copy and found these cool placemats. I had to actually go to the website to print them, but aren't they cool? Here is a link if you are interested. I just printed them this morning, so I haven't had a chance to show them to Abby yet. They will be fun to color and talk about. I'm sure different days will get different responses. You could take them to a family gathering for all the kids to do. You could even laminate them and use dry erase markers if you wanted. It certainly wouldn't have to be limited to just a Thanksgiving activity.

If you are interested in more ideas for November, here is the link for the whole November page for Family Fun. Have fun exploring!

Family Day at the IMA

Abby's school had a Family day at the local Art Museum this weekend. Matt and I have often talked about checking out the museum and just never have gotten around to it. They have a really cool outdoor area with sculptures you can climb on and walk among. We didn't have a ton of time so we only saw a couple of them, because it is a huge area, literally 100 acres. We're hoping to go back and see more.

All Aglow

We had a big cookout for church last night, complete with a firepit and smores, since it was so cold. We had burgers, baked beans, and all the normal cookout foods. When it got dark, we gave the kids glow sticks/bracelets, which they LOVED. I thought the picture of them with the bracelets on turned out cool.

Since it was so chilly we added Mulled Cider, or as a few called it, Moldy Cider. Here is a recipe for those that want it (we tweaked the recipe a little last night since we couldn't find the recipe when we needed it, but it is soooo good):

• 1 gallon apple cider
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Heat the cider in a large pot over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Add 3 strips of orange zest, the orange juice, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice and stir. Bring to a simmer then turn the heat down to low to keep it hot, but not simmering.

Thanks to everyone who came, it was so much fun!

Grrrrrr. Winter skin.

I hate cold weather. I should live in Florida this time of year.

Seriously. Already, my skin (along with my family's) is already showing the signs of cold weather.

Poor Abby is in the worst shape. She gets really bad eczema flair ups on her upper legs when it gets cold and she is having one right now. Poor thing. Her bath last night made it worse. Both she and I have little cuts all over our hands from dry skin. We're a mess and it's only the beginning of November.

My only saving grace is this stuff:

I should buy it by the case. I used to use a ton when I taught. I kept it on my desk at school, and one at home by the kitchen sink. Matt keeps it in his car. It isn't greasy (which is a deal breaker for me) and it lasts through hand washing, which is a rare thing. I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately for Abby, she breaks out from just about any kind of lotion, so we go through prescription strength hydrocortizone cream like crazy. I actually have to stop by the pharmacy today to get a refill. We upped the % of medicine in the cream this summer and it did a world of good. We don't have to use nearly as much as we used to. Hopefully after we laid it on thick last night, we have this outbreak under control. She was mess of tears last night. I felt so bad for her.

This dry air is so hard. What do you do to combat it?

Candy Philosophy

Do you have one?

A Candy Philosophy, that is. I bet you do, and you don't even know it. That is, if you are a parent.

I think there are basically 2 options:

A. You dole out a couple pieces a day after trick or treat (or Easter baskets, or whatever your holiday is) and the candy lasts quite a while.

B. You let your kids go at it and eat as much as they can for a couple days and then its over with. (Stomachache- maybe, maybe not)

So, which camp are you?

I am with camp B. I am learning I am in the minority among some of my friends, but I would just rather get it over with and get the candy out of my house. Don't you have fun memories of chowing on Halloween candy? I actually read an article a couple years ago that it is a better health choice to go nuts and get it over with than to eat candy every day for a month, but now I don't have the article to prove my point. :) I think its probably better on their teeth. Not to mention, I get so tired of being asked, "Can I have some candy?" Drives me insane. Abby knows that she has about 24 hours left before its all hitting the trash.

What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday