Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

The year has flown by, and here I am recapping how my 2011 resolutions were accomplished (or not). It's amazing how we all look at this time and reflect on where we have been and where we are going. It's also almost my blog's 2nd birthday too! So, let's see how I did the past year (here is last year's post):

1) Budgeting- Well, I wrote down a budget and followed it from Oct- Dec. I have been really strict with the it's-only-a-dollar's.

2) Home ownership- I looked at houses online but haven't looked any farther then that. We are going back and forth between where we want to live- out of the wind and sort of away from friends, or in the wind and closer to Hubby's work.

3) Character Traits- We worked on these, and I am happy where the kids stand.

4) Date Nights- We've been having date evenings when the kids are in bed and we are up. I'm happy with how this resolution has been!

5) Blogging & Books- I haven't moved the blog to it's own domain since I can't figure out how to do it on my own, and I'm not thrilled with my domain choices. I did manage to read and re-read a lot of books this year.

As I was in the car flipping radio stations today, and thinking about what my resolutions would be, I heard a sermon on the radio. He was talking about doing one thing well. I think that was God's nudge that I should make my resolution to do one thing well too.

So my resolution for this year is to do one thing well- be myself.

Christmas Recap

I don't think I've had such a busy Christmas in a long time!

We started off by having my stepdaughter down for two weeks to spend Christmas with us. My Mom so very helpfully paid for her ticket (It was a huge help!). My stepdaughter is 17 and lives with her Mom in Oregon, so this will probably be one of the last visits for awhile. Who knows when we will get another long visit once she starts school and work. We've been treasuring this time very much.

My Mom and her new hubby also flew down my step-sisters and nieces and nephews too! At family pictures, we had a party of 19, and then a party of 16 at dinner. We tried to spend what time we could with them, as they were only down for a few days. It was fun to see the kids all play together and have fun. We spent Christmas dinner with them and their side of the family (And my favorite Aunt from the Avocado farm). It was a crazy dinner! Plus we had my Dad, my brother and sister-in-law over for breakfast Christmas morning, and saw my other brother, sister-in-law and Niece too.

Thanks to all the overtime my hubby worked, we had plenty to go around for Christmas. It was really fun to think that I was shopping for all 5 of my kids. That then made me laugh because if each kid got 10 things, that was 50 presents. Crazy! The kids got lots of things they wished for, and things they didn't wish for but loved. I love surprising them. My hubby is awesome and got me a kindle. I LOVE to read, and now when I'm waiting at all of the kid's classes, I can read any of my books that I have. 

Now we are enjoying our last week with no places to go, before we get back to schoolwork and lessons and regular chores. The house is a mess, the laundry is piling back up, but we are going to make homemade pizza, play games together, and enjoy the rest of our vacation together.

I hope your Christmas was as special as ours was!

Full

My stepdaughter is here- our house is full

My stepdaughter is here- the van is full

My stepdaughter is here- the table's full

My stepdaughter is here- there's little voices full of excitement

My stepdaughter is here- and she's full of stories to tell

My stepdaughter is here- and we are fully enjoying every minute she's here.

Priceless

Leotard, $12: Tutu, $14

New Tights, $2; Hair bow, $1; New Tap Shoes, $15

Tickets for Us and Family, $35

Watching your daughter dance on stage....

Priceless

At Least I'm Not....

I love to read different blogs. I read blogs of every type and size. I like crafty blogs, and blogs from large families and blogs from thrifty people, and blogs from other homeschoolers, funny blogs and many others. My feed reader is full of entertaining and informative people that I pop on to read in the mornings.

Sometimes when I'm reading, I start to wish. I wish for that person's decorating skills, or that person's cooking skills, or that person's house, or that person's super organized kitchen. Sometimes I compare myself or my kids to whatever their kids may be doing. I start to wonder if I should start waking up at 4 am so I can jog 10 miles and cook a homemade breakfast before I sew matching outfits for all of my kids while singing hymns in perfect harmony. I come up with grand plans to do schoolwork from the time we wake up, to the time we lay down, and chore systems.

There was a Mom blog I read for a long time. The Mom had a son who was sick, born with a heart condition. I prayed and wished I could do more. I used to wonder why I couldn't keep my house as pretty and clean as hers, that my food wasn't as healthy as hers, and I had 4 healthy children, not 4 healthy and a sick one like her. I even wondered how she could stay home with her kids and have tons of nice, beautiful stuff. Then I found out she was a complete and total scam. I was angry that I was made to feel inferior. And I also realized that it partially was me who was making myself feel that way.

So now when I read blogs, I remember to take everything with a grain of salt. Blogs are just a little window into a person's life. And when I look at that bloggers 700k worth of bankruptcy debt, I think at least I am not in her shoes. I may have a un-glamorous mommy-van, but at least I'm not owing 90k on a expedition. At least I'm not plastered all over the internet as an example of how not to do things.

And at least I'm not going to have to write a I'm-flawed-like-an-onion post about Jesus (like that blogger does every time she is trying to get in reader's good graces...when it's not their graces she should be worrying about). Ahem.

Boys Will Be Boys

"Sometimes being a brother is better then being a Superhero" -Marc Brown

"A friend is a brother who used to be a bother" -Author Unknown

I'll never get tired of playing cars, trains, boats and legos, and neither will these 3 (even though they may not admit it). Some days I am in awe of the people they are turning out to be. Some days I think they are conspiring to drive me nuts. You can see that your teachings are actually being heard when you see them teaching each other, and taking care of each other.  They are very quickly becoming not my babies anymore. Sniff. Sniff. Genius will be 11 in 6 more days and Doorbuster is 2. The baby door is shut and we are heading full steam into the land of no strollers, diapers, and onesies.

I know when you are worried about holding your child for naps or getting them to sleep in their own bed, it seems like the most important thing to take care of. But, looking back, I never, ever look back and say, "I wish I cuddled them less often". My kids may not be that old, but they are too big to hold for naptime (aside from Doorbuster, who I cuddle whenever I get a chance).

11 years has gone by so fast, and so slow, all at the same time.

This, That & The Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend. I think we are booked almost solid until Christmas. Tis the Season!

We went to Home Depot and picked our tree. First tree we saw and opened was the one we took home! We went early and they even helped us get it on top of the car and tie it down. It's probably about 8 feet tall.

We got the tree lighted and decorated, and even cooked a yummy ham dinner and had Grandpa over too.  Plus, we went shopping at Sam's Club and ate lunch there. On our shopping list- 35lbs of frying oil for the deep fryer, a 8lb jug of Ragu, 5lbs of pizza cheese, 3lbs of pepperonis. I see lots of pizza and spaghetti in our future. After frying up some frys and tacos in the deep fryer with the new oil, I like it much better then the corn oil we were using.

Then there was waking up at 4am to see the lunar eclipse. Well, only Hubby and Genius woke up. They had fun watching until they couldn't watch anymore.

Then we went to my Niece's 1st birthday party. I always tear up over singing Happy Birthday. They are tears of joy over how much they have grown. It also makes me feel incredibly lucky to see each birthday come along. So, if you invite me to a birthday party, I'm the one getting misty eyed.

They also had the cutest pinata. The kids took turns pulling the string until the bottom opened. It's so much better on your nerves then giving a kid a bat and then blindfolding them, and hoping they stop when you ask them too. Much, much better! I also have the cutest Niece in the whole world.

On Sunday we didn't make it anywhere we were supposed to be. My poor van needed new brakes very, very badly. We bought the parts on Saturday night. Took the brake pads off and needed a bolt that one Auto Zone and one Pep Boys didn't have. Finally found one that did, and got them on. Then we bled the air out of the brakes (we because I did the important job of pushing the pedal). Now my cars brakes feel like new. It only took us.....all dang day! At least it only costed about $60. The brake pads alone were $40, and I have no idea how much labor would have costed to get the parts unstuck that were stuck.

So, we didn't make it the places we were going to go, but now we can get places safely.

And that was our weekend!

More Pictures from Princess

By her desk

What our living room really looks like

He's very proud of his trains

There's something in the way of the window!

Family, or friends

Schoolwork

What's up!

Posing with props now?

Stuffed Friends

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

My favorite part of Christmas is decorating the house. The kid's favorite part of Christmas (aside from the presents), is helping to decorate the house. I am super thrilled- my hubby re-covered the kitchen chairs to match the table cloth. It was a good practice run for when I decide what fabric we are going to upholster them in. I also know how much fabric I will need. Total cost for 6 chairs and the table cloth- $10. 

Fishing line, snowflakes from Dollar Tree, and 3 rolls of scotch tape....snowflakes on the tree, snowflakes on the wall. 

Our snowflakes blow over the hall and into the living room. It's the only snowflakes we will see around here. 

It's a bit hard to see, there is white snowflakes in between the blue ones. 

Our snowflake parade keeps on going over the entryway. 

And eventually the snowflakes will end at the other tree. That empty spot on the right is for the real tree we will go pick on Friday. Our tradition is to go to home depot, pick a tree, look at a dozen others, and then go home with the first one we picked. Then we continue on with our jam-packed holiday month. We have two birthdays down with two to go; a Christmas Party for Hubby's volunteer work; Step-child is flying in for 2 weeks; my step sisters and their kids are flying in for Christmas; I still have two kids and two couples to finish shopping for; and we need to see Santa for our pictures; Sears for a family picture; Princess's dance recital; drum lessons; PE class; Awanas; Dance Class; and schoolwork. I think we have one day with nothing scheduled between now and Christmas.

But....We are looking forward to every second of it!

Practicing for Her Future Facebook

All self taken by Princess...."Mom, Can I take a pickturk?"

I especially admire the messy face, and the marker.

Fossils

The past month the kids and I did a unit on Fossils. I think the only thing missing out of our unit was a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits (who had a free homeschool day on the day we had everyone's lessons), or to the LA Natural History Museum to look at the new dinosaur wing. Maybe we will do that this month.

The idea for my unit came from the Science in a Nutshell Fossil Formation kit. I love these kits because they have everything you need to do the experiments. The only thing I change is the Activity Workbooks- they are probably more for a 4-5 grade level. I just ask the questions and have everyone answer.

You could do the same experiments at home by pushing shells and other objects into clay, and then pouring plaster into them. Then you can take the plaster cast you made, and push the clay in to make another imprint. You can also make reverse casts by pouring plaster into your plaster mold, and then splitting them apart (which, didn't work for us). Another experiment was to make footprints in clay (we used our hands and plastic dinosaur feet), and then cast them in plaster. The kids had lots of fun playing with the plaster and trying to get good imprints from the fossils.

I also matched the Let's Read and Find Out books to the kit. The books we read were Digging Up Dinosaurs, Fossils Tell of Long Ago, Dinosaur Bones, My Visit to the Dinosaurs, and Dinosaur Tracks. They matched up perfectly with what they learned in the kit. The books are a little young for Genius, but I think he likes to take a little break every once in awhile.

Our next month- Breaking Earth's Hold....space, the moon, and the planets. And probably a trip to Genius's favorite sport, the Griffith Observatory.

Terrifically Two

We had a big event over Thanksgiving weekend......Doorbuster turned 2!

It's hard to believe that he's 2 already, and not my bitty baby. Time flies when you have kids. Especially ones as sweet as Doorbuster is.

He still gives us this look. He always seems older then what is age is. I suppose it's all the big brothers and big sister that play with him.

I think he is the first one to figure out how to blow out his candles at 2. He wanted us to hurry up and light them so he could lick the frosting off. I love looking back and seeing how they grow.