Resting

I have absolutely nothing to say except, "Yipeeeee". Everyone is resting. I have had one hour of peace and quiet. I cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry and even found a minute to blog! Miracle!!! Hope your days are going as great as mine. (If anyone still reads this blog.) What? It's only been a month and a half!

Slacker!!

I am a blog slacker!! I cannot seem to find the time to update these days. So many times in recent days, Mark or I have said, "Oh, that is so blogable." If that's a word. Now I have forgotten all of those blogable moments. Hmmm, let me think. Maybe I can remember a few.

Ella-ism: Mommy, don't say that to me. You're going to make my feelings come down! (I was fussing at her for not picking up her toys.)
Annie-ism: At night when I say prayers with Annie, I always pray that God would draw her to Himself. One night she asked me, "Mommy, how does he draw me? With a crayon or a marker?"

Since I last blogged we have had a wonderful Christmas, a fun trip to Shreveport, Ella's 4th birthday and party, and Mark's 32nd birthday. I will try to post some pictures to show how much fun we have had. Also, Mark and I have been on a real date complete with a babysitter and it was so much fun.
My sweet Ella is 4 now. I can't believe it. Her party was so fun and low key. My sister-in-law and niece came over and we had a little tea party for the girls. They dressed up in fancy dresses and ate finger sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and drank apple juice.
I better run. I have one child to my right trying to match state names with their shapes and one to my left coloring and asking to do a reading lesson. Duty calls.

The Perfect Tree.....or maybe not.

Friday afternoon we took the girls and Jack to pick out a Christmas tree. I love having a real tree. The house smells so good and, for me at least, it's a lot easier than putting together that artificial one and fluffing all those branches. The girls and I located the "perfect tree" for our home this year. There they are like two Vanna White's showing you our find! We all go get into the van and wait in line for the men who work there to tie it to the top. It's finally our turn! Wait a minute. There's a problem. "Sir, your "perfect tree" has a cracked trunk." Oops! Now Mark gets to go back while we sit in the warm van and pick out another "perfect tree". Alls well that ends well. The tree is beautiful and the girls really got into decorating the house this year. They were so excited to see all of their homemade ornaments that we affectionately call filler ornaments. Usually we put on all the hallmark ornaments first and fill up the holes with the others. This year the homemade ornaments and lesser ornaments took center stage. There isn't a branch without something hanging on it. Now, let the baking begin!!!

That picture of us holding an ornament was taken by Annie. She had wrapped a little cross ornament that she made in Sparks and had hidden from us for several weeks. She let us open it when we began putting the ornaments on the tree. What a special treat! She is so precious and thoughtful.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we celebrated on the Wednesday before since I had to work Thursday night. We had a great meal together. The most wonderful smoked turkey breast from Honey Baked Ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, yeast rolls, deviled eggs and apple pie. Yummy!!! The girls acted silly as usual and Jack looked as though he wished he could have his very own plate. It was a relaxing day and we so enjoyed having Mark home with us for 5 days.

Our little narrator/indian

Annie was the narrator in the 1st grade reading of "Stone Soup". She did a terrific job and enjoyed holding the microphone even though it was hard to hold it and turn the pages in her book at the same time. After the reading, we all had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast in the gym that consisted of chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls and dessert. Annie sat with us and by her best friend Alannnah. We all had a great time except for Ella who, like her friend Molly, was more than a little disturbed by the giant turkey that kept coming by our table trying to get her to smile.

Also, Annie made her an Indian costume for Sparks and ended up winning best costume that night. The prize was a GIANT pen. She was so proud. I couldn't believe it. We used the standard paper bag and glued beads and feathers on it. It turned out really cute.

Side note: We got Annie's school pictures yesterday. So cute....except for that giant piece of food on her face! I don't remember seeing that when we ordered them. Maybe because it was a smaller picture but it is sure there now and not very inconspicuous. Too funny! I guess that is what she will remember when she is older like when I look at my 1st grade photo and say, "Yeah, that's when my mom cut my hair to look like hers." Sorry, Mom but you know it's true! :)

Halloween

This year we had Tinkerbell, an East High Cheerleader, and a Jack-o-lantern. How cute is that? The girls love to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Most of our neighbors are retired couples and there aren't that many kids in our neighborhood so our girls get a ton of candy. It's also nice that they don't use scary decorations so all the girls have is fun! Nanny was here this year and handed out candy while we were out in the rain. Annie made a sign that said, "Out trick-or-treating, Please ring doorbell, Our Nanny is selling candy." I convinced her to change selling to giving out. She is so funny. We had a great time that night!

Taking a break from the wheel

I should blog. I know I should, but my brain is mush. Is that because I have 3 kids or because it's 4:23 in the morning and I'm at work killing time before I have to feed some munchkins? Either way, I can't think of where to even begin. There is so much to catch up on... Halloween, Nanny's visit, Jack's dedication, Annie's Thanksgiving feast at school, our visit to see Santa Claus and ride the pink pig, many Ella-isms that have already left my brain and so much more.

I have had a great week. Chalk that up to God's provision, godly counsel from some very dear friends and prayers from my family and sweet Melissa from our Sunday school class. I'm very glad to be in the middle of a much needed break from school. I think I'm more excited than Annie for this little break in our schedule. I love homeschooling her. I truly enjoy teaching her but I'm ready for a little down time around our house. Next week, no school, no dance, no Wednesday night church, and maybe even no Tuesday night Chick-fil-a!

Goals for the week: Relax a bit more, finish schoolwork, enjoy Thanksgiving (we have so very much to be thankful for), make Tomato Basil soup at least once and decorate for Christmas. I might even squeeze in a bit of organizing to make life run a little smoother when the wheel starts turning again.