Light Bulb Moments....

I love light bulb moments! And I love my friends because that is where I learn so many great things!

Today I was speaking to a friend and she told me how she handles Christmas presents for her children....

Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.

Wow. You would have thought she had just told me the secrets of the universe, I was that excited inside! As I was wrapping my children's Christmas presents just now, her method was on my mind and I felt the need to take a break and blog about it.

I have a hard time not going Christmas crazy. As much as I wanted this year to be different, I got caught up. Again. I love my kids and love making them happy and there are just so many neat things to buy for them! Yet I also want them to grow up balanced. Since I find it very challenging to myself to stay balanced, you can imagine my quandary. And understand my failure!

A guideline such as the one my friend told me about sounds like it could be a wonderful solution to both keep me in check and to teach my children. Knowing my boundaries would help me to stay on track. Setting a budget along with it would really help! And the lessons for my kidlets...some of which could be less materialism, more focus on what they really want and enjoy and with less to take care of perhaps that could also mean more appreciation and taking better care of what they do have?

I also thought it would be nice to add a fifth category...Something to give. We need to work more on that too.

So, it is pretty much too late this year (unless I wanted to do a LOT of returning, which I don't!) but I am definitely going to be promoting this for next year. And maybe over the next year I can convince my kids that this is a GOOD thing! :)

Do you have a method to your Christmas gift giving madness, especially when it comes to your children? What do you think of this method? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Professional Pictures of My Niece and Nephew....

You must check these out! They are precious! And if you are in Kansas or Missouri, she's a wonderful photographer! http://tenderportraits.com/blog/?p=1243

Happy Monday!! :)

Welcome to the World!!

Please welcome the newest members of our family.....

From left to right....Little Miss Calie, Big Sissy Sam, and Little Mister Kain. Gorgeous & healthy! :) Hooray!!!!!

Oh, The Busy Life and Being Sick Do Not Mesh Well!!

The sun is shining today! That is a good thing. I have been fighting off the crud and now I have some weird thing going that I initially thought was my gallbladder but now I am thinking it is Costochondritis - which is an inflammation of the rib cartilage, probably related to the crud and coughing.

Yes, I SHOULD go to the Dr but, argh, I just don't want to! Stubborn and silly, I know. My husband told me to quit acting like I am 10 years old. :) LOL And I am the QUEEN of self diagnosis. Not that I am always right, you remember the recent ER trip that I thought was a massive heart attack that ended up being anxiety? Other than THAT one, I am usually right. And God love the Internet for self diagnosing! :) And I am such a total 'wait and see' type too. And then there is the long sordid story of insurance and everything where we live being out of area, having to drive two hours to get anything covered, blah blah blah blah blah. I am just not in the mood! I have things to do!

Thursday my sister is being induced to have the twin babies. Hooray!! :) Thank goodness I am off Thursday!!!!

This week and weekend is booked up with school home coming festivities - the parade, the football game, every day is a different theme for spirit week, and the homecoming dance Saturday which my oldest daughter is going to. My youngest daughter is on the dance team for the half-time show so she has practice this week.

Then the next weekend is my oldest daughter's sweet 16 party which I am in the process of planning.

I am trying to keep up! :)

Today I have been taking the time to go sit in the sun for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. All the latest research is talking about vitamin D deficiency and the impact it can have. And really, I DO feel better! I think there is something to that. Most of my "spare" time lately has been spent napping since I have been sick...the sun is doing me some good.

Oh, and my hubby is laid off this week. He was off last week too, but will be back to work next week! :) But since he has been around he is a lot of help and has saved the day with me not feeling well. He's a wonderful man.

We have been getting between 10 - 14 duck eggs per day. I have been giving a lot away, and I think I am going to try selling them. The guineas are great too...they love life in their new coop and they are getting so big!!

Alrighty, I am signing off for now. Back to your own busy life you go now! :) Thanks for stopping in and I am wishing you peace and happiness and HEALTH! :)

I Was Just Thinking I Should Update You About My Pregnant-With-Twins-Sister...

Remember me asking for prayers because she went into preterm labor and had to be in the hospital on bed rest? Well, after that she went home on bed rest. Then after that she made it far enough along that the babies were out of danger they let her off bed rest! And now.....

SHE IS STILL PREGNANT!!!! One more week and they are actually going to INDUCE her!

The happy couple....isn't she absolutely gorgeous? :)

Daddy's hands.....(and her crazy outie!)

Yeah, go ahead and kiss now you two...

....because you are going to be way too busy to kiss after those two babies get here! :) LOL

I just think it is amazing that she went into preterm and we were so worried and here she is pretty much full term! :) Thank you all for the prayers...PRAYER WORKS! :)

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Congratulations on 44 years of marriage!

We love you!!!!!

Time Marches On....

Hello everyone! I have been reading and enjoying all of your blogs, but not posting many comments or on my blog lately. School started which means I started my part-time nurse job at the school and I absolutely love, love, love it! I haven't worked outside of the home for a good 5+ years, and I thought it might be more of an adjustment, but really it has been smooth sailing! Hooray! :)

My sister...she is home on bed rest now, no babies yet! Hopefully she can hold off on labor for another couple of weeks. Every extra day in there is a good thing for the babies! Yet if she were to deliver now, I am confident they would be ok, but spend more time in the hospital. I took her a big scrap booking kit and that has helped her occupy the time some.

The weather has been gorgeous and cooler so I have been able to have the house opened up, which I adore! But it is supposed to warm up for the next few days, so I'll probably turn the AC back on until later in the week when it is supposed to be back in the 70's.

The Dirty Diva's are still doing grand! No eggs, yet. My hubby tried an experiment...he left their gate open while he was relatively close by to see if they would go out. They didn't. He said they'd go check it out because it was something new, but they never went out. Suspicious they are! Curious they are! Brave and smart, they are not. :) LOL But we love them! No Guineas yet, still. I still go back and forth about getting them.

We did some outside work this weekend, got the pool drained and put away for the season. It was bittersweet, I'll miss summer, but I love Fall and I am so excited for this fall and winter! Round about January & February I will be drooling for Spring and Summer.

Hubby made some 'burn your taste buds off' hot salsa this evening. I didn't even try it! I plan to make some mild in the next couple of days. Thanks for the tomatoes Mom & Dad! And I am looking forward to some apples too! Mmmmm...apple butter! :)

Life is just clicking along and time's marching on. 123 days until Christmas! :) LOL I hope to get back into the blogging groove soon!

Requesting Prayers.....

My sister went in for her regular check up yesterday, she is at 31 weeks with boy/girl twins, and found out she was dilated to three. They put her in the hospital with drugs to stop any contractions and also did a series of steroid shots to help the babies lungs with the hopes that she would be in for 24 hours and then go home on bed rest. Today when the Doctor checked her she is dilated a little more so they are transferring her to a larger hospital, just in case. Hopefully the babies will stay put for a few more weeks, if not they will all be in excellent hands at the new hospital.

Please keep her and the babies in your prayers! Thank you. :)

The Squash Bugs Must Die!

Happy Belated Independence Day! I hope you had a safe and happy one.

We spent the weekend camping at a lake like we do just about every year, with a big group of friends. Despite rain on and off, we had an absolutely wonderful time.

However, when we got home, I did a garden walk through and found that in the two days we were gone, the squash bugs went wild! There are eggs everywhere. Ugh. I picked a lot off and squished them, and found several adults and they met their demise as well. I also found some nymphs, baby squash bugs, which means some eggs have hatched. Those are the first babies I have seen, so I think I had been doing a decent job of keeping up with them up until now. There are some on the pumpkin vines now too.

Tomorrow morning the kids and I are going to do some major garden work. We have got to get things down in the garden caught up. There are peas and peppers to pick, potatoes to dig, weeds to pull, and THE SQUASH BUGS MUST DIE!!!!!!

Oh, one more thing...my mother in law got me a dutch oven for my b-day! It is gorgeous, blue enamel cast iron and she also gave me a matching blue cast iron trivet with it. I fell in love with it. It is gorgeous and I am excited to use it! If I can force myself to...it really is THAT gorgeous! I just want to stare at it and take in its beauty. Silly, I know. :)

Feeling Out of Whack.....

Summer is a double edge sword. I enjoy the lack of routine, yet the lack of routine also drives me insane at times. :)

We had a death in the family, so have been busy and have had a lot of family in town. Rest in peace GG Pop. We will miss you! We have also had some other family members in town who stayed with us. Always fun, yet chaotic!

Garden is growing, most things are doing wonderful, but the tomatoes look terrible. We had a ton of rain and I don't think they liked having their feet wet for so long. Maybe they will snap out of it. I have picked a few yummy cherry tomatoes. And have eaten a few sugar snap peas off the vine. Oh yum! :)

I dug some red potatoes for dinner last night and they were so delicious!

I am about to pick our first Zuchinnis. I have also been hand picking and squishing squash bugs and searching the leaves for their eggs and smashing them too. Other than that, no major garden bugs yet.

The ducks are doing wonderfully. We need to get their nest boxes built sometime in the next month.

I have been knitting. I made a trip to a Hobby Lobby and drooled all over the yarn isle. I bought yarn for gifts I am making for Christmas. I got one of the newborn hats done for my sister's twins-to-be and have started on a pair of matching booties. It kind of amazes me that I have acquired the needle and yarn stash that I have already! And I have so many projects going on at once. I am a "bouncer" though...I work best when I have a lot of irons in the fire instead of just doing one thing to completion and starting another.

I have been working on some organizing and cleaning out and getting rid of stuff. Where does all of this stuff come from? I think the Stuff Fairy must sneak in at night. I am filling up the back of the van to make a trip to the Goodwill for a drop off.

We are all healthy and happy and life is good. How are you and yours?

Who Wants To Talk About Christmas?

Me either, but I have this Dave Ramsey saying stuck in my head...Christmas is a Craft. That is, until you are out of debt anyhow. We are close, but not quite, and some things have come up in life that are postponing our debt free scream. If you listen to Dave on AM radio then that will make sense. If not, go listen and then it will make sense. Due to the delay I have the urge to scream other not so nice things. However, I will refrain and instead will focus on things that move us toward our goal.

(This is not my house...it is last Christmas Eve at hubby's moms)


The whole Christmas is a Craft thing brings up a few thoughts. Do people think you are cheap for making instead of buying? Or do they realize the value in a homemade/handmade gift? I certainly see the value, so I guess while this worries me a bit, it wouldn't stop me because it is something I would like to get. And what if they hate what I have made? Ok, I don't plan to make any of my nephews pink bunny suits. I do know I would do my best to make things they would use and enjoy and to make them of good quality. Actually, I have had an easier time coming up with a list of ideas to make for my loved ones than I ever have when thinking of what to buy them and the store! And odd things come up that would make good gifts...did you know my 12 year old son was surfing my Ravelry account and wants me to knit him a stuffed Yoda? Who ever would have guessed THAT one? :) And there are several things that one just cannot go wrong with. Like food gifts! :)

(Kids had fun building it and we all had fun eating it!)

So why am I talking about this when it is barely June? Because I am sure that handmade/homemade means more planning and time for creating. To do it this way is going to be a bit more involved than a last minute dash to the stores two days before Christmas! And I could really use some good frugal ideas! I have started a list over on the right of some ideas I have had so far. I would love to hear about handmade/homemade gifts you have given or received and what you do for Christmas of gift giving in general!

Introducing....My Newborn Nephew....

Isn't he adorable? They live in another state so it will be a while before I can meet him. Until then I will enjoy every picture they send and close my eyes and imagine that newborn sweet baby smell and soft baby skin. If that stinky diaper smell memory trys to creep in, I will push it far, far, far out of my mind. :) My sister who is only an hour away is due with twins this fall. TWINS! :) I'll definitely get me a baby fix then!

The Suspicious Minds Of Ducks....

The Dirty Divas are suspicious by nature. It's a duck thing. Or maybe it's a Diva thing.

Anyway, they were VERY suspicious when I replaced their little cut off mineral tub spas with a kiddie pool. They wouldn't even come out of the coop. They would come up the ramp, see the pool, and then go right back in. And repeat. Finally, they got brave and came outside. They'd eyeball it, then forage, and move a little closer, and forage and eyeball it some more, and forage some more, and move a bit closer. And over and over and over until they FINALLY went to check it out and poke and peck at it.

Now, you know I had this little duck fairytale in my head that they were going to just love the pool, know exactly what to do, and jump right in. Uhhhh...yeah. Didn't happen. There was a lot of neck straining trying to reach the water for a drink. I felt terrible! Poor things straining to get a drink...what kind of duck momma am I? I told hubby that the ducks is dumb. I know! That was not a nice thing for a mother to say about her ducklings at all!

But then, then they FINALLY figured it out! I was so happy. They love it!

Like the ramp I built with a plank and some fire wood?

Hey kids, while were in the van want me to tell you a story? Great!

Once upon a time, there was a slightly odd woman who got 16 ducklings and named them The Dirty Divas.....

Oh, no. Please. Not THIS story again....... :)

Queen For A Day....

I have to say I am blessed to be a mother and wife and to have the husband and children that I do! They are always good to me, but yesterday they treated me like a queen. It started with breakfast...my oldest daughter made me french toast with sliced strawberries around it in the shape of a heart, and two eggs. While I was eating they each gave me the cards they made and my oldest wrote me they sweetest letter that brought tears to my eyes. They helped a round the house. They entertained each other while I worked in the garden planting the rest of the seeds. Hubby helped me in the garden. They told me Happy Mother's Day at least 100 times through out the day. I got a zillion hugs and kisses. Happy Mother's Day!

I talked to my mom and wished her Happy Mother's Day. We'll get together soon, I have a gift for her. I was reminiscing and remembered the time we went to the gas station and she accidentally pulled away without paying. The attendant ran out hollering and smacked the back of the car and mom stopped and very apologetically, very embarrassed, paid. I can so see myself doing something like that. The older I get and the busier life with three kids gets, everything about my own parents make more sense. :) I love you Mom!

The entire garden is planted! I do have plans to succession plant a few things, so I will make out a schedule for that. I got sunburned doing all that gardening. It is clear that I wore flip flops and my feet look silly now. Seems like we always get a good burn around here before we remember to drag out the sunscreen again. I did put on a bright orange hunting hat after I realized my face had been lobsterfied. Which was funny for two reasons, beside hat hair and looking dorky...one I was planting pumpkin seeds and hubby asked me if I was hunting for pumpkins. I was like 'Uh, no, why?'. Duh. Took me a minute to get that one! Second I was sitting on the deck wearing the hat and the humming birds kept flying up to it to see if it was food. That was hilarious and so neat!

Today is back to normal...kids off to school and housework and laundry to be done. Life is good. :) Happy Monday!

What's in Your Crockpot?

This week my crockpots are my absolute most bestest wonderful friends! I have a deadline to meet which means I am spending a lot of time working toward that goal. However, life must go on, and my family must eat! :)

I discovered this wonderful blog not too long ago, A Year of Crockpotting , so in preparation for this week I researched recipes and made sure the ingredients were bought and ready. It has made life a whole lot easier this week for me, and the hubby and kids are loving the new recipes!

I don't have time right now to tell you the ones I have tried, deadline and all, but I wanted to do a quick check in and tell you that if you are in need of some time saving yummy recipes to use in that magical kitchen tool the crockpot, check out that blog!

And have a great day! :)