One More Thing...

Things I have been doing instead of blogging....

2012-02-11T16:19:00.002-05:00

Here are just a few of my excuses for why I haven't been blogging:

1. We had to go to the Lego store and spend the gift certificate Jake got for Christmas.

2. We have been redoing my mom and dad's kitchen...I know I have already used this excuse but I don't care....

3. We have been b-balling it up.

4. Too busy playing Star Wars Monopoly...

5. Too nice to be inside...but not really warm enough to do this...but it's still fun.

6. We have been looking at houses. My parents have that is....Cats out of the bag Mom you better start telling people....

7. We have been checking out our hair, skin, and check cells in the microscope we found for $9.99 that actually works.

8. We have been decluttering, organizing, and taking stuff to storage...2 storage units full of stuff...

9. Dog sitting in SC. While we were there we upgraded the tree house at Nana and Papa's.
Before:

....& after. I am sure you would agree it is much improved.

10. Oh I forgot. While looking at houses we celebrated Nee's birthday with some ice cream!...

11. ...and we saw this really cute little ottoman (I didn't buy it...just took a picture) the same day....at the store we bought the cheap microscope at. How adorable is that and easy to make...in theory...

By the way... did I ever show you the cute paint chip/dry erase calendar I made?...I may have...

12. Having slumber parties with cousins while in SC

13. Taking goofy pictures.

14. Getting a manicure by Addie Kate with nail polish that smells like Jolly Ranchers...

15. ...when I was supposed to be helping Ranee make yummy treats for our Super Bowl Party...that I didn't take any pictures of...

16. Having our resident math genius tutor Riannon.

17. Giving shout outs to Pinterest. Can I get a "WHAT?! WHAT?!". Spent some time making crack bread and liking it (make it even less healthy and use more butter) A LOT. Also the potato rounds Ranee was holding a couple of pictures ago...Make them both. You will LOVE THEM.

18. Doing a "While You Where Out" (have you ever seen that show?) style surprise makeover of Nana's Kitchen...This is us in the process...I didn't take any of the final product...or the before for that matter. Ranee don't let me down! You have to capture the moment Nana walks in!

19. Having a near death experience and being grateful my guardian angels stepped in to help....Long story that I will save for another post....

20. Doing Weight Watchers for a grand total of....4 days! I stink, I know. I am back at it starting Monday. Yes I know I should not wait until Monday but what is one more day of being a complete slacker. when you have already wasted a month? At least I lost and kept off (I am saying I kept off because I haven't stepped back on the scale to see if they have come back on...so in my mind they haven't...) 2 whole pounds. Imagine how much I would lose if I really did it...

I am sure there are at least a million other excuses I could give for not blogging but I can't remember them right now...But if I could they would be good ones.

I am back. Officially back to documenting the boring to you but thoroughly entertaining to me life I live. Now to try and catch up on all that you guys have been doing...That could take a while so I better get to it....In just a few minutes. Right now as I am typing Aaron and Jake are getting ready to go see Star Wars in 3D with Jeremy and Della in SC! If I was there I would take a picture of them because they are wearing their matching Star Wars shirts...I may have to have them re-inact (how do you write that any way?) it when they get back...Jake is more than excited. Saying excited is a serious under statement! Aaron and I flip flopped. He is there now dog sitting and having fun and I am back home because I had to work at good old Bi-Lo helping out in the floral department getting ready for the Valentine's day rush. But don't feel bad for me missing out on the fun. My mom and I are having a Breaking Dawn Part 1 party tonight (how can I call myself a Twilight fan when I didn't even see the last movie in the theater?!). I caught my mom up on the movie she missed while she was on her mission (Eclipse) last night. Your off the hook for Valentine's Day now Aaron. Thanks for the early gift! I bought it instead of renting it since you pointed out the other day that I own the other one's so why bother rent it when I know I am going to want it. I told you he was a genius. Have fun my Star Wars Geeks!

My Name is America...

2012-01-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

Have you read any of the books from the series My Name is America? If you haven't you should. I just finished reading one called: My Name is America: The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, A Revolutionary War Patriot. I am so excited to go to the library and get more to read (I got this one at the Homeschool Store-the consignment store in our area) because this is such a great way to relive American History. The book is written in the perspective of a boy (Will who was 10 at the beginning of the book) who was orphaned and ended up living in Boston with a writer for the revolution and a widowed inn owner. It brings American history to life and makes you understand the years of trials that the early Americans went through before they actually declared Independence from England. I am so excited to start our Unit Study on George Washington and U.S. History as The United States of America became a free nation!! This book is a quick and easy read (I started it 2 nights ago but only read for about 15 minutes that day. I read a little last night-Jake has a friend from church over to spend the night because his parents and older siblings were all going to the Temple-and just finished it. It took a couple of hours total to read) but full of history written in a way that I think will really keep children (and adults!) captivated as they read what it would have been like for someone their age to live during the time period. When I studied U.S. History my junior year in high school it happened to be the year of the election campaign between George Bush and Bill Clinton (yes I am that old...) so it turned out to be more of a Social Studies class than history. I am excited to finally learn all about our founding fathers and the true patriots that made this nation great and free! Read this book and series-you will love them!

These are a few of my favorite things....

2012-01-19T19:58:00.001-05:00

We have had a really good week around here and it makes me so happy! Aaron has 2 nights left of 3rd shift which is AWESOME! Jake and I found this on our walk the other day:

(yes that is our table outside-kitchen reno's required it for cutting on. It is old and beat up and I am going to repaint it gray when we have a house of our own...hopefully "my house" in SC.)

Only in the South can you find a branch of cotton on the side of the road in a pile of racked up leaves. I have seen it in fields all over but never up close and we had a great time examining it. It is so soft and pretty. :)

Jake had his first piano lesson from Nee and really had fun with it this week. I of course had to take a picture to document the occasion:

Don't be mad I posted this picture of you Nee. She is usually well put together but she is wearing her painting clothes in this shot. Have I mentioned that for the past 3 weeks we have been living in a renovation zone?..I think I have...Aaron and my dad took out the old counter tops in the kitchen and put in a new gorgeous one, a new sink, and put in a back splash. It took longer than expected (as these things usually do) and there were a few mishaps...Like me vacuuming our bedroom one day and when I turned the vacuum off I heard the dish washer sounding a whole lot louder than it usually does. I went out into the kitchen to find water ALL over the hardwood floor. I turned off the dishwasher but still heard water. I opened up the cabinet under the sink to be drenched by a wave of even more water. Jake and I (we were the only ones home) ran and got towels and mopped it up as quickly as we could-after I wrestled with the hose under the sink and found the right knob to turn to turn it off! I then went downstairs into the basement and spent some time frantically moving pictures in frames and other things being stored down there because the water was coming through the ceiling...or floor of the kitchen-whichever you prefer. BUT that happened last week and so this week is good! Not to mention it was an easy fix, not something major as it seemed the moment it was happening. I will get up before and after pictures once the chaos is completely cleared.

Homeschooling has gone GREAT this week which also makes me so happy. :) We have accomplished everything on the list we wanted to accomplish and Jake make a break through with writing today: he actually liked it. That is big for him-he is a math and science guy and he HATES to write. Today was "13 minute Thursday"...I don't know it kind of rhymes...Making up little titles makes writing more enjoyable for Jake. He has been really into a Zelda Wii game that he rented (with a gift card from the local video store he got for Christmas) and has been playing it every possible moment that I would let him. The main character in the video game is a guy named Link and I had Jake write a journal entry as if it was Link writing it. He had fun and it was REALLY good. I was really impressed and so proud of him. He has also been having fun doing a unit study on the "Science of Flight" with Papa G (my dad is a retired pilot) and they have been having a ton of fun with it. We are starting a couple month unit study of the Presidents and US history that I am psyched about. I just finished reading a book about George Washington in preparation that I loved and I am so excited that our local homeschool store (it is a consignment store that rocks. You can use a curriculum and when you are done go and consign it and get some money back! I already had a $7 credit for bringing back the math curriculum I bought and didn't like at the beginning of the year! I used it to buy the George Washington book I read.) carries more of (I have another one on C.S Lewis that is going to be fun to do this summer). Fellow homeschoolers have you seen this series?

If you ever come across them I highly recommend them...or at least the George Washington one. I am sure the others are great too. And I am totally counting it toward my 30 new books to read this year. :)

We went to the library for a change of pace while studying today and the librarian, Ms. Gayle, signed us up for the book club we forgot about next week. And can you believe it-they actually had the book there to check out! We always seem to have to wait for the last minute to check it out 2 days before because it is always checked out. See how good our week is going?

Another awesome thing that has happened is this:

I finally found the perfect shade of gray nail polish I have been searching for, for over a year. (and that is a sneak peak of the new counter top!) Granted my search has be confined to Walmart and Target...but I looked every time I went! I have even purchased 2 others that didn't pass the perfect color test. One was too dark (I still like it and wear it is just wasn't exactly what I was looking for) and the other ended up having a lavender undertone that I couldn't see until I got it home and painted my nails and was a way from the florescent lights of Target..(..That one really bummed me out because it was $7 but I was so sure it was the right shade that I bought it even though $2.50 is my usual max on nail polish.) I actually got this the end of last week but I am just so happy about it I had to share my joy. It is the simple things that make me happy.

And while I am talking about material things that make me happy...Let me introduce my new bag:

For those of you who have been here a while you may remember I have been searching for a year for a large black bag to replace the one our new (at the time) puppy had chowed the strap off of (you can see the damage here if you need a reminder. I have searched in vain for a black bag but found this rusty red (? I don't know what else to call it) one that I loved and my mom bought it for me for Christmas. It is the perfect size and it stays on my shoulder great. I was lucky and my sister-in-law got me an adorable brown bag with a C monogrammed on it in a teal color that I love! I haven't taken a picture of it yet (what am I thinking?!) but I will and post it too because cute bags make me happy. :)

What makes you happy? I guess you could call this a Simple Pleasures post...(Cocoa used to do a link party every Thursday on peoples Simple Pleasures. I miss that Cocoa you should do it again!). I may have to start doing those again because it is a good thing to count your blessings. I have more than I can count and I don't even deserve it! :)

Jake right now...in 2012.

2012-01-16T20:07:00.001-05:00

We do this every year. Here it is from 2011. We missed 2010 I guess because I couldn't find it...Part of my posts from 2009 and 2008 aren't up anymore...Aaron saved them somewhere but I can't remember where so I can't link up to it. That was back when I couldn't put any more pic's on my blog...long story. The posts still exist I just can't remember where. I am going to print them I just haven't yet. :)

Really quickly before I go on with the tradition: check out Jake's bangs in this picture of Aaron measuring him:

He will kill me if he knows I am putting this on here but it is my blog and we are documenting our life here! Last week Jake was sick...That really doesn't have anything to do with the story but he says it does. It was in the morning before Aaron left work (Jake keeps saying: "My dad is a teacher.", with a big grin on his face. He thinks it is pretty awesome...okay back to story) and I was walking down the hall. Jake came out of his room and stood in front of me. I immediately noticed that he had massacred his bangs. Have you seen the movie Dumb & Dumber? If so picture Lloyd Christmas with his "pumpkin pie hair-cutted freak" hair do. Yep that bad. Jake needed a trim in the front and around his ears but other than that his hair was perfect!..Before he cut it I mean...In his feverish, sickly, state (he really was sick poor kiddo) he got annoyed by his bangs being in his eye a little and cut it...with safety scissors...I was a little ticked off at first because he never cut his hair when he was 4 like other kids do...He did it at 10 YEARS OLD...After a few minutes I could laugh about it-which Jake liked even less than me being mad. :) I fixed it the best I could...and by mistake took a chunk out of one spot...I forgot that I was using a smaller guard than usual for winter..He has never had a professional hair cut and I have NEVER messed up so bad...Poor kid. Any way-it will grow and Jake will never do it again because he was pretty bummed with the results. Sorry Jake-I had to post it-for posterity's sake. :)

Back to our originally scheduled broadcast...

Height: 57 3/4 inches
Shoe size: 5
Clothes size: 12 for pants and XL for shirts. He even has a couple of men's size small in the athletic cut (they are slimmer than regular cut) because they didn't make that particular Star Wars shirt in kids. :)
Fav. color: the color of bacon (we had bacon cheese burgers for dinner tonight...)
Fav. food: Creamy Crock Pot Chicken
Fav. drink: Chocolate milk
Fav. dessert: Fudge
Fav. book: Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo.
Favorite TV shows: Phineas & Ferb, Lego Ninjago, Lego Star Wars the Padawan Menace (TV special).
Favorite Wii games: The Legend of Zelda-Sword Skyward, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 (last years was the old H.P-this year it is the new one.
Favorite things to do: Play the Wii, Play with Sadie, and play with Mommy.
Favorite songs: Party Rocker Anthem, Live Like Your Dying-Kris Allen, I'm Yours-Jason Marez
Favorite place to be: With family.
Things you couldn't live with out (things not people): Wii-which includes the TV, Lego's, 4 wheelers. (When he heard the answers from last year he wanted to change his 4 wheelers answer to Blue Boo-his blanket he has had his whole life)
Best friends: Corey, Spencer, and Mommy.
Goals for 2012: Be nicer, think about other peoples feelings, appreciate Sadie more.
Habits to break in 2012: Picking on Sadie so much, and stop being annoying.

Brain Declutter: Because random is the best I can do right now....

2012-01-14T23:51:00.008-05:00

Yes, we have been busy. Yes, I do have pictures to prove it. No, I am not going to post them because I just don't feel like it. I have been slightly anti-blogging as of late. Not sure why but I am just not feeling it. It could be because Aaron is home more (only 4 more days of 3rd shift!!!!) and I would rather hang out with him (....or maybe because I love the mindlessness of Pinterest. I think it is a little of both). Two weeks from yesterday we are going on a date. We don't have any money so it may just be a throw back to our courting days-Taco Bell; but that works for me. Aaron will be home past 9:00pm and not have to sleep during the day...I think I remember what that used to be like...

Jake has been sick this week so there has been a LOT of TV watching and video gaming. I know that sounds really pitiful but I think if you are really sick (not just faking) than you should be allowed to do things that cheer you up since you are all pitiful otherwise. Jake was coughing up a lung and asked me to give him and hug and to say: "Oh my poor baby!" which apparently I used to do when he was little much more frequently than I do know. It makes him feel better he says. So I have been saying it a lot. A few coughing fits he had to say "say it Mommy..." to remind me. What can I say? He is growing up and I am kind of okay with it (I don't really have a choice). I have learned when bigger kids are sick it okay to treat them like they are little. I am making that note to self so I won't forget it next time.

On a similar topic, I just realized the other day that I don't have to cut the crust off Jake's bread anymore...I don't even know when that happened! What kind of mother am I to not notice these changes?! Just kidding. I have beat myself up enough over not really remembering what his first word was (I am pretty sure it was Mama...) so I don't feel so guilty about the whole crust thing. Am I the only one who isn't really the mother I thought I would be and it took me several years to realize that is okay? I am a good mom. Good enough that Jake tells me I am the best mom and that I am his best friend. That is something right? He has others too (best friends...not mom's) of course but he doesn't "hate" me. I have seen some kids "hate" their parents by this age....so sad they don't rock as much as me. I am humble too... :) Good enough that having a slumber party with me is still fun...even if we are pretending to be Ninjago (if you don't know what that is than you don't have a Lego lover in your house...) characters and in the middle of a battle (not acting it out jumping around-just doing the voices) I hear him say "okay it is time to go to sleep" because I am already dozing off...I don't remember what his first word was! So shot me. I do remember he said it to me and he still says a lot of things to me that parents don't hear from their kids at his age. I am good with that. :) I am trying to remember that he won't care if I didn't write in a journal every day of his life (that was my plan...that never happened) to make of a record everything thing he did. The only person that puts that amount of stress on me is me. In 2012 I will not do that to myself any more.

In my head, I have the paint color picked out in every room in "my/our house" in SC Have I mentioned that here yet? I blog in my brain so sometimes I can't remember if I really posted it our have it stored in my brain...Please tell me you do that too my blogging buddies? I have looked at a house that is for sale 3 times now. It is 2 houses down from Nana and Papa. It is walking distance from the Martin's (the Martin's=cousins that are awesome, and sister/brother/in-laws that are...well they are redonk!). And it is in the town that Aaron was born and raised in. It is a big yard that backs up to the woods we go "4 wheelin!" (picture Aaron saying this in a really crazy voice while we are going insanely fast on the 4 wheelers and having a blast). It is a great deal (the potential to be very cheap....) and it is a dream right now that I am slightly obsessed with. What can I say it is fun to decorate a house in your mind whether you are actually going to live there or not, right? We shall see if it is in the cards to be there in "my house". If not there will always be other "my houses" but they will all be in Aaron's home town because that is where we want to be and where we know the Lord wants us to be. We will just have to see if His timing is the same as ours and "our house". And no that isn't #9 for anyone who is still wondering what that is...Keep wondering because I am still not quite ready to tell yet. :)

And on last bit of randomness that just popped into my head like all the rest of this has: I have actually seen a movie that was better than the book. There is a first time for everything!!! The movie is "The Help". I read the book and liked it. I loved parts of it and hated other parts, so that averages out to liking it. The movie I heard was amazing. I didn't see it in the theater and I have waited since it came out on DVD for a little while. I finally decided to rent it and LOVED it! Which never happens to me. I usually wait too long and build up how great it is going to be in my head and them I am disappointed. A great example of that would be: "The Blind Side". Great movie-don't get me wrong! But I was bummed because I was told by so many people I was going to cry & I knew too much about it...so it was a let down...even though it was good. Please tell me you know what I mean....The Help was not a let down because it was way better than the book! My apologies to the author....

Enough for now...I am heading to bed. As a friend of ours father likes to say: "Church comes early in the morning!" I chuckled a little when I typed that because I hear it in the voice of mocking from a couple people who will remain nameless...Don't feel bad if you are wondering why I think it is funny...Or if you are wondering why I am typing that at all...because I am starting to wonder that my self. Anywho! The longer I declutter my noggin of randomness, the greater the chance I have of dozing off at Church like I did while playing Ninjago with Jake at our slumber party. :) Goodnight!

Just call him Mr. Harmon...

2012-01-10T12:21:00.001-05:00

He of course had to make a cheesy face because he is a picture taking party pooper (PTPP).

It's official!!! Aaron is a teacher. He interviewed today, got the job today, and started today. He has to observe for 10 days and when the new semester starts on the 23rd he will be teaching Geometry and Algebra 1. Just a few more days of 3rd shift!!!!

(Ignore the walls behind him. Wall paper was stripped and it will be painted once the counter top is done and there is a sink again.)

Brain Declutter: Back to Blogging...

2012-01-09T21:39:00.005-05:00

*Thank you to those of you who have kept Cole in your prayers. He went through the surgery wonderfully and the doctors were amazed at how well he was doing just the day after. It is just the beginning of the journey but it is going well so far. No doubt due to all the prayers. :)

*I have no real reason for not starting 2012 by keeping up with my blog...We have been doing a lot and my blog/journal/scrapbook is the place I am supposed to document our journey!...

*That makes me think of my non-resolutions...I don't do resolutions. But this year I am making goals. Same thing? Probably. But resolutions just don't happen for me. Here are some of my 2012 Goals:
   1. Lose 100 pounds. Yep, I am that fat people. To accomplish that I will:
        -Do Weight Watchers. It works if you really do it.
       -Exercise 5-6 days a week (Zumba, Walk/Run, Wii Fit)
       -Get back to drinking water...
       -Cut WAY back on my sugar in take.
   2. Read 30 books I haven't read before. I have a habit of rereading books I love instead of looking for a new one I will like. I know I can and will read way more than 30 books but the past couple I have read have taken me a while to get through them...I want these goals to be obtainable so I am being realistic. :) I am counting the book I am reading right now even though I started it last year...I am reading Emma by Jane Austen on my Kindle. It took me reading to about 43% before I really started to not be able to put it down. Before that it was my "I can't sleep. If I read this for 10 minutes I will be down for the count..." Not my fav. Jane Austen book so far but I am really starting to love it. I think I know what is going to happen and I can't wait to see if I am right. :)
3. Start writing down some of my crazy dreams. I think if I put them all in a book it would become a best seller for people who are slightly insane. These aren't my best examples, but the other night I dreamt (isn't that a word?...spell check is giving me a hard time with it...) that I let Sadie out to go to the bathroom and someone else let her in. When she came into the room I was in she was no longer a black lab mutt-she was a taller, sleeker brown dog. The strangest part is that no one noticed the difference but me. I kept telling everyone that it wasn't Sadie and they thought I was crazy. The same night (this one was long but I will give the Readers Digest version) I dreamt my family was in my Grampa Smith's yard looking for a GIANT grizzly bear that kept coming around. I looked over to the house and there it was laying inside a white picket fence and I had to run around everyone standing frozen while it chased me. It knocked me down and was hovering over me about to claw my face off...when instead it touched my cheek and said "Pat my face." in a sweet little voice. I am talking GIANT grizzly!... I have dreams all the time where someone is trying to attack someone in my family and I go to beat them up and no matter how hard I hit them it was like I was just patting them softly...I think a shrink might think I was crazy.

*****Aaron JUST sent an email and resume to a high school in our county and already got an email back (literally 4 minutes later!) saying "Can you be in my office in the morning?" He is going in @ 8:30 in the morning!!!!! Say a prayer for him please!!!!!!!!!!***********

4. Read the Standard Works: Book of Mormon (the rest of it. I am in Alma and I am not starting over now. I will finish it then move on to the others. We also read the B of M as part of our morning routine for homeschooling so I will still be reading it daily), Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl Of Great Price, Old Testament, and New Testament. This is going to be tough for me....That is a lot of reading!
5. Sew a quilt. I don't sew. I have sewn a few things...But for some reason I feel the need to sew a quilt....Actually I am changing that to sewing the aprons I got patterns and fabric for last January. AND the pillows I want to recover with the amazing fabric I bought myself for Christmas. :) If I accomplish those I will then sew a quilt...I am trying to be realistic here people.
6. Do more of the wonderful things I see on Pinterest and not feel guilty for being addicted to it. :)
7. Do the 30 day mom challenge every single month of this year. If I miss a day I will just move on.
8. Go on tons of dates with Aaron to make up for all the dates we should have gone since he started working 3rd shift when he gets the job he is interviewing for tomorrow. :)
9.   Leaving this one blank for something I am not ready to let the world know yet (NO I AM NOT PREGNANT...I would have no problem telling everyone if I was.), but will soon...Mysterious I know...:)
10. Be nicer to myself so I am nicer to my loved ones.
11. Make more time to read my favorite blogs...Which I have run out of time to do tonight but I will be doing tomorrow...I have a lot of reading to do to catch up with everything you guys have been up to!
12. When painting a room/rooms this year I am going to be the tortoise not the hare. I like it to be done so I can stand back and see how pretty it is. This year I will take my time painting so I don't have to do some much fixing. :) That is a random one I know but I need to work on it...and I am thinking it will carry over into other facets of my life not just painting. Examples would be:
   -Weight loss: it is better to lose 2 pounds a week, than to quickly lose 12 and stop there because I have driven myself crazy.
   -Organization: It is better to start with one closet-not all the closets in the house at once....
   -Homeschooling: Don't drive myself (or Jake) crazy with new ideas 3 days after trying another idea. Give it chance to work...or not.
   -Sew an apron before jumping right into a quilt....
See where I am going with this? Baby steps need to be made. It doesn't all have to happen really quick. I can let an idea marinade-I don't have to do it pitifully right when I think of it.

*Back to the brain declutter part of this...Am I the only one who puts away all the Christmas ornaments...only to find that one ornament or little candle holder you forgot to put away...and then you just stick it in a random place instead of pulling out the huge heavy Rubbermaid again?...then you curse that little ornament the whole year every time you open the drawer you stuck it in...just to realize it really isn't the ornaments fault but it is easier than admitting you were being lazy....? Please tell me you do that too.

*Sadie is a year old already and she is a pretty good dog in spite of how horribly we spoil her. She is simply too adorable to resist. Every morning Jake and I cuddle her on our bed and she talks to us (you know how dogs "talk" to you when you find their itchy spot? It may just be my dogs...I talk to them so much they talk back), and gives us millions of kisses. She is a mess and we love her.

*I am going to go back and post my Christmas pictures and change the date to make it look like I actually posted them last year. The great part of this is that I am in no rush because no one will really see it since it will come up several posts back. No pressure is a good thing. :)

*We are changing out the counter tops here in my mom and dad's house and we haven't had a kitchen sink since Friday. Kitchen sinks are really important. We have been washing dishes in the bathroom. Actually rinsing them and putting them into the dishwasher we can't use until the sink is back in...I feel a little like I might barf when I think of washing dishes in a bathroom. Not even possible in my book-way to many germs to even think it is getting clean. I went in the bathroom yesterday and there was a plastic container that had been holding taco meat soaking in the sink....Since I am the mother of a boy and wife of a man who has the tenancy to act like a boy, I will just tell you that the little bits of meat reminded me of pooh and I vomited a little in my mouth. I DO NOT do well with "bathroom germs" as I call them. I was very appreciative to my dad when he cleaned it out because I just couldn't do it. Seriously gross. Sorry if you live in a house full of girls and aren't used to hearing things like that but it had to be said. I am adding thank you for kitchen sinks to my prayers tonight. :)

Okay that is enough decluttering for now...I feel like I have more space in there and less stress already. :)

Please Pray for Cole....

2012-01-05T19:25:00.000-05:00

These pictures are a little old but I wanted you to see the sweet little guy I am telling you about....

Our good friends Norb and Elizabeth (and their daughter Morgan) need your prayers for their sweet little boy Cole. They just found out he has 2 brain tumors (the doctors believe that they are non-cancerous) and he is having surgery tomorrow to take some of the fluid off and relieve some pressure. He will then have to have radiation to shrink them because they are inoperable. If you would like to join us in a fast Friday, January 6th and Sunday, January 8th, that would be wonderful also. We know the Lord hears our prayers and this amazing family can use ours now.

Last Camp post....

2011-12-31T16:16:00.004-05:00

(If you want to see any pictures of our Vermont trip this summer you will have to go to older posts because this one is so long! There are 6 other posts...We were there over a month what can I say!)

The day we left Camp I spent some time walking around and snapping pictures of the "things" it is made up of. There are pillows, tables, chairs, and nick-nacks that have been there my whole life-maybe even since Camp began. It is amazing as I looked closely at all those things that held so many memories for me that I realized that my favorite color combinations in my adulthood came from my childhood. They came from Camp. I must confess I took 2 bowls with me that I remembered were Mom's (she told me I could so it is her fault) at our house growing up and then she donated to Camp when her tastes changed. I will replace them I promise. I just needed to take a little piece of my life at Camp with me. They are nothing fancy but they hold so many memories from my childhood home and Camp. They are in the colors I decorate my kitchen in and now I know why. It surrounded me during my childhood and it still does. For some reason I felt differently than I usually do when leaving Camp. It felt like a little bit of a goodbye-not forever! Just goodbye to Camp as we have known it. I know I will go back but it just seemed like it might not be the same. Not sure why...Maybe because my sister is going to be buying a house close by so we will spend time there. Maybe because our little family has never taken a trip on our own-it has always been going to Camp with family. Maybe it is time for us to take our own trip. Or maybe it is just because I had a concussion from bumping my head! I don't know what it was but I felt like I needed to preserve the memories of the things that I have known my whole life. So, this post is for me. No explanation needed for me on what the pictures are of because these things are etched in my memory, so you will just have to enjoy or skip it all together. I just needed to have pictures to remind that even though Camp is miles away it is really everywhere around me because the memories I made there have shaped my whole life.

I wish everyone I know had a chance to go to Camp and make some memories. I guess we all have our own "Camp" that shaped us. I am glad that I am able to share my Camp with Jake. :)

Vermont post #6-Some of Mom's (Nee's) pic's...

2011-12-31T15:12:00.000-05:00

Our kiddo's with my cousin Denise's kiddos. Going in a circle: Kyle, Jake, Sam, Kameron, Anika, and Saku.

The fort rock...

The...2nd cousins? Is that would they would be?

This is easier to explain: Grampa Smith with the great grandkids. Kiya is the newest member of the family and she is sitting on Grampa's lap-she is a doll! We were in Vermont the year before when she was born, but Denise and her family live in Maine so we didn't get to meet her until this year. She is definitely a keeper.

Roasting marsh mellows with all the cousins and our neighbors grandkids who were so sweet and fun to play with.

Denise and Kiya (I may be spelling her name wrong...)

Ben and Anika

More Where's Waldo time...

This is a picture of our kiddos playing with one of our childhood friends kiddos! So cool.

Earlier that day we played an awesome game of tag....

Ben and I were it. You can't tell in this picture but he is a quick little guy and we were actually running. :)

This is Ben peaking in the window. I was holding him up over my head to peak in at Mommy.

Papa G. with our life long family friends from NH. See they guy on the couch with leaning on his hand? That is Ryan and we used to pick on him a lot. Our families were best friends growing up and he was the youngest...We are getting old!

Getting ready for a ride in the big boat.

Anika reading to the boys. Saku is wearing one of Jake's old soccer shirts that we passed on to him...

Grampa Smith. My mothers dad. He turned 86 in June and is still snowmobiling. We is the man we have to thank for Camp. He built it over 50 years ago. I took this picture with Mom's camera and I LOVE it. It is so Grampa. :)

Tina and her kiddos minus Saku...He was back at Camp with us.

One more post and I swear I am done with the Vermont pictures....

Vermont photo drop #5....

2011-12-31T14:51:00.001-05:00

Almost done....Aaron and Jake checking out a cool book that Uncle Dave and Aunt Robin gave him for his b-day.

Lunch on Saturday of Jake's b-day weekend was nachos.

He got some awesome gifts.

For his b-day breakfast he wanted pancakes. He also had a biscuit that was leftover from the day before.

This big cake was ready for his b-day party that didn't really get to happen because of Hurricane Irene. We were expecting almost 20 family members so we had a feast planned but the Irene REALLY hit big time. So we had a lot of cake. :)

This is just the beginning of the flooding at the lake....

Us eating the very large cake...Warning the next picture is my head injury (you can read more about it if you click on this link. I was a guest blogger on one of my favorite blogs, Welcome to the Madness and I wrote about it there.) so if you may want to skip it.

This is the gash on my head I got when we were going out to see how bad the flooding was and I slipped on the grass and smashed my head on the bottom step. Luckily our next door neighbor is a retired nurse and took care of me. Jake freaked out poor kid. I should have gotten stitches but all the roads out were closed so I couldn't. Which was perfectly fine with me because I didn't want them to shave part of my hair to do it.

Random picture...A dog that may be Sadie's older brother from the litter before hers. The owner (in NH) got him from a shelter that said he was from SC. He looked and acted a lot like Sadie. What are the chances? My dad met him while exchanging the propane tanks for the grill and I had to go back and meet him, since he is practically family. :)

The last creamy: Raspberry and Lemon twist. It was totally redonk. :)

We got it a couple days after the hurricane when we were out seeing the damage....Here is some of it...

This is usually not this high...You will just have to take my word on that. I have no before to show you....

This however I do. This is 2 or 3 days after the Hurricane hit....See where the yellowish water is hitting the bubbly stuff?

This is us swimming there maybe the week before. It is taken from a different angle but I think you can see just how much the water was up...In fact the picture above was after the water was going back down....

In this picture you can see the current from what is usually a little stream that comes into the lake...It was a raging river on Jake's b-day.

Later that evening when the water was coming up over the deck. The dock itself was already under water.

Aaron goofing off...

The day after Irene hit...

The dock to the left of the fishing boat is usually all the way up to the big rock but it had floated out.

Jake and Nee went out on a walk to see if the road to Camp was washed out (luckily it wasn't) and picked me some flowers to make me feel better. This is the worst picture in the history of the world of me so you can tell how much I loved my wildflower bouquet if I am posting it. I had slept hardly at all because of my head...

Jake bought is first pocket knife while we were there (it got confiscated at the airport in the Ukraine on my mom's return trip from visiting Tina...It was in Jake's backpack that he let Nee use to go to the Ukraine and it made it all the way there undetected...That is comforting isn't it? It was what she used as her carry on.) and he whittled a walking stick that he was very sorry to have to leave behind. I took a lot of pictures so he would remember it.

Heading home... We stopped to say one last goodbye to Grampa Smith. Jake evidently had packed all his long pants and had to put a sweatshirt on his legs to keep warm...

Four generations...

Grampa Smith and Nee...

Grammie Beth and Jake...

Grampa Smith's workshop. It was my mom's and her siblings playhouse when she was growing up.

I really am almost done. I decided I had to post some of my mom's because we did so much more than what I have posted....Bear with me. Some of these posts will never be seen by any one but me (until I print it into a book) because I have done so many that they are already showing up as older posts. I don't mind though because I will be able to say I finished doing it before the year ended...Just barely!

Vermont...4th drop...

2011-12-31T12:30:00.004-05:00

Mpre pictures with even less words....

Every year we swim across the lake...

The other side...

Sam was in charge of the pictures and he got one of me on the way back happy to have found the sand bar and walk a little while. It looks like it should be really deep there doesn't it?

Sadie was one tired puppy the end of each day. She stopped sleeping in her crate while we were there and never went back!

Roasting hot dogs...

Jake didn't know he had stuff all over his face...

This was Jake's first fire he started all by himself...

Riding in the "big boat"

Sadie liked biting the air.

Camp from the lake...

The annual nap Jake takes on the swing. This was a day or 2 after Tina and the kiddos left and he was soooo tired. I told him to relax on the swing knowing he would fall asleep....

Jake wearing Papa's boots....

Aaron and Nana came for a long weekend that just happened to be Jake's 10th b-day weekend. :)

Jake and Daddy going Kayaking. We don't usually go right off the dock like that. Daddy's always make it more fun. :)

Sadie really wanted to go. She actually went kayaking a couple of times and loved it (pic's of this were taken just not with my camera...) but this time she wasn't invited.

Aaron with his Vermont cow t-shirt and his dorky face....

Hanging out...

Family pictures....

Aaron making the bacon..On Jake's b-day weekend he gets to pick whatever he wants to eat (the rest of his b-day weekend pic's will be in the last and final photo drop....)

The one and only picture I got of Uncle Allen. He came in town for just over 24 hours I think.

Sadie waking poor Nana up....

On the big boat with Uncle Dave....

Ice cream time....Aaron was a party pooper and didn't get a world famous Yankee creamy...

Neither did Papa G, but he had already eaten several just like we had...

Okay, almost done. Except that I am going to put some of my mom's pic's on here because I just have to document the memories...

Vermont 2011-3rd photo drop....

2011-12-31T11:51:00.001-05:00

More pictures with a few words....

Geo caching...(that's how spell check said to spell it so I am going to go with it)

Jake picked me some pretty flowers while searching. He looks so dorky with his glasses falling off his nose like they are. :) Love my little dork.

FOUND ONE!

And my flower again...just because.

Showing Grampa Smith. He is 86 years old and rides his snowmobile here in the winter so he is going to show his snowmobiling buddies.

Saku is the one that spotted it.

Then we stopped by a place that had fresh corn on the cob...and some cute animals too...

A newborn baby bunny...It was so teeny and cute.

Sharing pictures with Grampa Smith and Aunt Sheila...

Sadie retrieving 2 toys at once...

My morning wake up from Sadie, Saku, and Jake.

Sadie chasing the ducks....

We like to see what we can find on the bottom of the lake. Jake found some big rocks on this particular day....

We also found all this....

And all this...A few years a go a "wind shear" (a tornado is more like it) came down the lake and hit 2 or 3 camps...One of them being ours. We are still finding stuff that was in the shed that got destroyed. It is like a treasure hunt every time. The rest of the family that uses Camp doesn't swim as much as we do so we are still finding these beauties...

Jake and Sam jumping in!

Camp...

Ben with blueberry face. :)

Kayaking...

Fishing...

Harley our neighbor dog taking it all in.

Sadie being banished to a rope leash. She was too tired too swim but not to tired to act as a very noisy life guard protesting everyone else swimming with out her there to help...Hence the banishment.

Yes there are still more...We were there over a month what do you expect?!...Plus I take a lot of pictures. These are only my pictures. My sis, mom, and I kind of rotated picture duty so there are tons more I could be posting. Like looking at houses, doing family history with Grampa Smith's cousins, more Lebanon pic's....The list goes on and on....I am just going to stick with mine and when I do finally see theirs it will be like Christmas all over again! Oh that reminds me...I still have to post Christmas before this year is over!!!! My computer is going to be working over time today....

Vermont 2011-2nd Photo Drop

2011-12-31T09:46:00.000-05:00

Lots of pictures and a few words to describe them...This still isn't all the pic's and I am on a time crunch so that is as good as it will get.

Me, Sadie, and Saku.

Having fun on the Ortiz's water slide....

Saku, Jake, and Sam finding Waldo (remember those Where's Waldo books?)

Heading to the damn...

Following a really big fish....

Nee and Ben...

They found the really big fish. :)

On the way back...Tina or Mom had pic's of the kiddos going down the rapids (I was standing at the end to make sure they stopped) and I don't have those to post...We'll just have to use our imagination. :)

Anika, Aunt Tina, and Nee were in the kayaks.

Papa brought back a cute t-shirt for Anika and fun planes for the boys.

I have a million pictures of these in flight but I just picked one of them...

Nee and Papa also brought everyone a Lego set.

We went to our old stomping grounds (Lebanon, NH where we grew up) and meet some old friends for lunch at our favorite pizza place: Village Pizza.

Can you feel your arteries clogging? It was soooo yummy...

Then we went to the creamy stand we grew up on: Pete& Rogers (it is actually called Dairy Twirl but it shared a building with an oil company and their sign was bigger so everyone called it P&R) and I had my childhood favorite: Black Raspberry with rainbow jimmies.

I love how Saku is eying Papa's creamy in this picture. :)

Anika got the red, white, and blue. It looks a little more purple, white, and pink but you can see what they were going for. :)

A hike up the old trail...

And the traditional picture at the old sign marking the old trail. :)

This is pretty much what Sadie looked like the whole time we were there...She was one happy doggie...

Throwing rocks and watching them roll down is always fun...

The others went ahead while Jake and I stayed a little longer. Jake wanted to do some sketches. I love this boy. :)

That is all for now and I am not even close to be done but this year is so I gotta get a move on...

Peace Out...

2011-12-24T07:53:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!...And maybe even a Happy New Year! I may or may not post before then...I will have a million pictures to post to keep up with my virtual scrapbook/blog/journal. It stresses me out to think about it so I am not going to. :) That is why I love the fact that I can change the date on the day that I actually do a post. I will finish up all the Vermont pic's and Holiday pictures...whenever! Some times I wish I could do that in real life! But I can't so I will just be happy I can do it with my blog.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Vermont...The 1st photo drop of many...

2011-12-22T08:48:00.001-05:00

Way back in the summer (end of July) we packed up the car and headed North. We try to go to Camp (a cabin on the lake my Grampa Smith built when my mom was a child) every summer and this was no exception. Especially since we were meeting Nee and Papa there as they drove back from their 18 month mission in Seattle Washington. I took tons of pictures since we were there for a little over a month this is basically the 1st week...

Jake, Sadie (then 7 months old and not having ridden in the car much), and I headed out on our 2 day, 18 hour drive to Vermont. We stopped in Pennsylvania to sleep and Jake told the very friendly manager of the hotel that he couldn't wait to jump on the bed (it is a tradition-every time we go to a hotel Jake must jump on the bed since he can't jump on his own), to which she plugged her ears and pretended she couldn't hear him while laughing...I told him in in the elevator that you aren't supposed to tell them you are going to do it. I guess they didn't care too much because they gave him a full size Hershey bar (we were one town over from Hershey) and he was in heaven! Sadie was a good traveler since she was in her crate. This is too much information but here goes anyway: She would not go to the bathroom! Finally that night at the hotel after taking her out 15 times or so, she went. She held it all day because the poor dog had no idea what was going on. She then went on to pee on the floor in the hotel!!!! She NEVER pees on the floor. But I have to admit I cleaned it up and was happy the poor dog was finally going! Any way...The trip went quickly and we had fun listening to the Chronicles of Narnia on CD. :)

We spent our first week at my Uncle Gary and Aunt Julie's house. For what ever reason I have no pictures of it!!! I think it is because we were having so much fun! Just about every night after Jake went to sleep Mallory (my cousin), Aunt Julie, and I went on a walk in the dark with the dogs and laughed our heads off. I LOVE spending time with them. Motherhood has made my relationship with my Aunt Julie turn into a wonderful friendship. I loved her when I was a child but as an adult I have found a great friend. We have a ton of fun together. Tina and the cousins spent the first few days at Aunt Shelia's where we met up and the kiddos helped stack wood.

We also spent a lot of time at Uncle Ron and Aunt Sue's (Tina and her kiddos spent the rest of the week there) and had so much fun. They have an awesome tire swing...

...and Uncle Ron helped them build a clubhouse. Jake told me once "when Uncle Ron is around I feel like I have another Papa" and I am so glad. :) He is an amazing Uncle and an amazing extra Papa.

We took a walk up to another part of their property where they have a pond and little cabin and passed this on the way. I wish I got a picture of some of the more humongous vehicles that were working but I was too busy navigating the mud puddles that Sadie was swimming in. :)

We were very surprised when Sadie got right in the water and started swimming happily. The day before we went to visit my cousin Drew and his girlfriend Margo at the lake house they were renting (no pictures for some reason...) and she was very hesitant to swim.

She did end up eating (well trying to but we stopped her) the mama frog to these little baby frogs...I am so glad she didn't get sick...

It was some what chilly but it didn't stop us from kid's from taking a dip. Yes I did just include myself in with the kiddos. If there is water I will swim in it, no matter the temperature.

The next day we went back to Drew and Margo's and I had to snap some pictures of Dakota (Mallory's dog) and Sadie.

Oh yeah and her are the kiddo's too. :)

The next day we headed to the Ben & Jerry's factory...

What is that man doing to Jake's t-shirt you ask? Signing it! We were lucky enough to meet Jerry. :)

Ben & Jerry's has a flavor graveyard and wouldn't you know it Tina and Aunt Julies favorite flavors didn't make it...

The next day we went to Grampa Smith's and waited for Nee and Papa to get there. We were lucky enough to all have made a trip to visit them in Seattle, but it still had been a long time since we had! I love this picture of Saku running back as quickly as he could to tell us they were coming. The kids waited for a long time at the top of the hill to see them coming.

Dad and Sadie hit it off.

Grampa Smith opened up his shop and let the boys build fun things...

That night we went to Aunt Sue's and she made a feast of yummy homemade pizza to celebrate our parents return. No pictures of that for some reason...We all sort of took turns taking pictures and my camera wasn't used that night...I have to get my sister and mom's pictures because the hundreds I have just aren't enough...This is just week one in a very short version. Get ready for a few hundred more pictures. :)

In no order what so ever...

2011-12-22T07:52:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pictures of graduation day. These aren't in order. The only words I have time for today are these: "Redonk" was that word of the day because Aaron, Jeremy, and Riannon went to get dry ice to make root beer (yummy!) and the cashier asked what they were going to do with it. They told him and after asking if it was good (why else would we make it?), he said: "that's redonk." It turned out to be the perfect word to describe our day! I have about 1 million other pictures of the day but I also have 1 million other things to do and 1 million other pictures to start putting on my blog since this year is almost over!! So, with out further ado...Our graduate and the rest of our redonk day:

Okay...a few more words. Aaron is on the 1st row 3rd row from the right. I got in trouble to take this picture. Turns out you have to stay in your seat to take pictures. Luckily there was a nice usher lady that let me take one picture. Thank you nice usher lady! (One little memory is all I needed grumpy guy who acted like I was committing a felony by taking a picture!) It also helped pass the time because it took 2 hours to get through all the names and other graduation stuff (stuff like ringing the old bell-which was supposed to be rung 8 times but the girl rang 9 times. They joked about taking her degree back. I think the 9th one must have been a nervous ding or something). Thank you Aaron for graduating in December rather than the Spring. I can only imagine how long it would be then! :)

Congratulations Graduate....

2011-12-18T21:42:00.002-05:00

Saturday, Dececember 17th, 2011.

It is official: Aaron has a bachelors degree in Math from UNCC! Parts of me thought we would never make it through the struggles to get to this day. Other times I look and can't believe it is already here. I am so proud of you Aaron. A lot of people are proud of you. :) I will post more on this but I just wanted to get this picture up so I could look at it. The whole day was redonk! :) That is a little inside joke for the Harmon clan. :) I will explain that and all other memories we made yesterday. Right now I am just going to enjoy the feeling of having watched my wonderful (and very handsome-don't you agree?) husband jump a hurdle that will lead our family on to our next adventure! We love you Aaron!!!

Brain Declutter: Holiday Style

2011-12-13T22:17:00.000-05:00

*The ultimate compliment was given to me today at Walmart of all places! I was printing some pictures of our "photo shoot" pictures of Jake and was asked by an employee if I had taken the pictures myself. (You know how you have to push the button saying you aren't printing copyrighted prints?) She didn't seem to believe me but let me pay for them anyway.She flipped through them and eyed me suspiciously. Then she did something that made me realize I may not want to let it go to my head because she may not be the brightest. What made me think this is when she looked on the back of them, as if she expected to see a photographer copyright and eyed me one more time. I wasn't lying of course, but even if I was how did she expect to see the copyright on the ones that I had printed?....

*We still don't have the decorations on the tree! It is up, lights are shining brightly...and that is it. We are doing it tomorrow I swear. In the mean time we put these up:

(Jake decided if he could have been there at Christ's birth he would have wanted to be a sheep. The words around it are the things he thought he would feel if he were there...Note to self: we are going to have to add curios to our vocab list...He wrote: carieas...? Spelling is not his strongest subject-he talks after Aaron in that regard.)

We started the Christ Centered Christmas book tonight and talked about Mary. (It goes through all the people in the Nativity and gives you scriptures that go a long with them and ideas on how to learn about and appreciate their part on that special day.) The book suggested making heart shaped cookies or cut out paper hearts to go along with talking about the things Mary pondered in heart (Luke 2:19). It also suggested discussing who you would have wanted to be if you were there that day. We combined them and cut out the hearts and wrote who we would have wanted to be, why, and then we wrote down some words that we thought we would have felt in our heart if we were that person. Then we talked about preparing our hearts for Christmas instead of just preparing the gifts and decorations. It was a good discussion and we finally have Mary in the manger. And yes the Nativity is in the fire place. There was literally no other place to put it...This is my mom's Nativity. We have the Willow Tree (I LOVE IT) and it stays out all year long in the living room (that's how much I LOVE IT).

*So we won't forget what the house looked like the day we got out all of my mom's Christmas decorations here it is:

I know you are thinking what is the big deal...Take a look at this:

And that isn't even all of it. It was in the sun room and kitchen too....My mom is serious about her decorations.
(The putting away shouldn't be so bad because we got it all out so Mom could decide what she really wants to keep...Hopefully there won't be as much for them to get out next year!!)

*Do you ever wish your hand writing looked different? I wish mine did because I am getting ready to write on frame mating for a Christmas gift and I am scared I am going to totally screw it up....Writing it in your handwriting makes it more personal right?

*Nee is home and here is the proof:

*The picture below is of Mom's new Kitchen Aid-an early birthday gift from my sis and her family. Yes I am jealous because it matches my stuff. :) It also gives further proof that she is home.

*Aaron is down to 2 more exams and he will officially be a Math Major ~~Geek~~ Graduate! Expect several (hundred) pictures of the graduation and after party!

*I know a lot of people that are pregnant right now. Four at Church (that I know of) and my sister-in-law. Do you ever have that happen when it seems like all the sudden everyone is pregnant? It is kind of funny how that works.

*I love Mod Podge. Serious crafters probably laughed at me when I put "modge podge" in my last post. It won't happen again I assure you. I kind of think it is magic how stuff that looks like elmers glue can make anything look so shiny and pretty...I like the luster not the matte myself...That is why it is shiny. Here is a picture of a fun gift I am making for Jake for Christmas:

(Okay so it is partially for me because I want to hang up pictures of his cute mug all over the house and adding a little Star Wars is one way to insure that it will go up. :) The pic was taken in the drying phase. The things you see in the left of the picture may or may not be other gifts for people I know...Sorry none of them have Yoda on them so don't get your hopes up.)

*Science is fun! Papa and Jake made a catapult last week. I took the pictures:

*Do you have a favorite wrapping paper that you like so much you don't want to use it? I do. I got it at Target last year and it black with snowflakes all over it. I love it because you can put any color bow with it and because I love black and white. I don't want to use it but I will because it really does look great under the tree. Speaking of the tree: first time ever in Jake's decade on earth that we are having colored lights on the tree. We are using my parents tree because ours is looking pretty Charlie Brownish. It is (was maybe...) pre-lit except the middle section wouldn't light up any more so we just said it was striped and called it good....

*A massive photo drop of 2011 stuff I have posted yet will happen before the end of the year. I may even have to break it into parts...Yep it is going to be that bad. Just warning you.

*I just looked at the clock and it is 10:12. I promised myself I was going to bed a reasonable hour tonight and I still have to pick up my crafting mess and I still have to read some of Jane Austin's Persuasion that I have been reading for about 2 weeks now (it is not taking me so long because it isn't good-it is because I have been making gifts almost every night)! I guess the writing on the frame mate will have to wait. Maybe my handwriting will be fancier tomorrow any way. :)

*Happy holidaying to you ! I didn't even give myself enough time to check all my favorite blogs!!! There is always tomorrow I guess. Don't blog to much people because I already have a ton to catch up on!!!

The Good Kind of Busy...

2011-12-12T01:27:00.002-05:00

It is finally feeling and looking like Christmas around here. With temps finally staying in the 40's (maybe 50's), I am happy to say while finishing up Jake's HUGE crocheted blanket I have been making him for Christmas (and just finished 2 days ago. It is as wide as a queen size bed and should be good as length wise as long as he doesn't get taller than Aaron who is 6ft 2inches.) it has been nice to have it covering me up and keeping me warm. I am in the finishing stages of about a million other projects for this homemade Christmas and I am loving it. As you can see I am staying up WAY too late working on them. I just spent an hour and a half watching videos on You Tube to learn how to crochet hats. Blankets and scarves I can do...hats...I am still working on them. There is a stage when you start curving the hat and the lady says the hat should look a little wavy...To say mine is a little wavy would be an extreme understatement. Luckily I am seeing were I messed up and I am thinking this first one will be a perfect work hat for Aaron. :) The next one will be perfect! The fun thing about crocheting a hat is the that you see your progress much faster than when you are making an extremely humongous blanket. I am finally going to get the Christmas cards out tomorrow. I never even started last year so I am way ahead of the game. :) I am also going to send out a package to my sister and her family that will take about 3 weeks to get to them (they live in the Ukraine) so they won't get it too late...It will be perfect timing for the festivities to die down and then SURPRISE more gifts! It really is all part of my plan to make a big impact. :) A few more days of modge-podge, paint, and...lots of other stuff and I will officially be ready for the gift giving part of Christmas!

On a totally unrelated subject: Friday we went to our first homeschool group party and I wish I had done it months ago. It was very laid back (but well organized) and we got to meet a ton of great people. When we first got there the kids were playing on the playground (it was at a local church) and the mom's were setting up and talking. Long story short I think we have found the right group for us. They meet every month or 2 and have social events (and they administer a group standardized test which makes it much cheaper then if we had to do it on our own.) A lot of the other groups in our area get together to have lessons...We don't need lessons we need playing. :) It is a great way to get the support we need and socialize with people that have the same schedules and values we do. Jake immediately clicked with 2 boys-one in particular and we exchanged phone numbers to have some play dates after the holidays wrap up. I was THRILLED to find out that the standardized tests that homeschoolers have to take are no big deal. I was talking to one mom and telling her how we are basically doing the public school curriculum at home and that is NOT the way I wanted to do it, but I got so stressed over the test that I did a 180 on our original plans. She said she went through the same thing there first year homeschooling (nice to know it is not just me). It turns out that the state of NC doesn't care what your child gets on the standardized test-just that they take it...Sounds about right doesn't it? I am not worried that Jake won't do well. He is a smart kiddo. I just stress about tests and it is hard to break free from the conveyor belt education. I am back to the original plan: to raise a child who loves learning and learns how to be a good leader. I don't really care about comparing and contrasting our educational system with those in the rest of North America (yes that is one of the things 5th graders are supposed to learn in NC) and neither does Jake-but we had fun reading about the diverse cultures in North America...We are more excited to study the upcoming election and how the electoral college really works-so we are going to! We are going to stick with the basics and add on the things that really interest Jake and we will more then cover all the bases. And I am not going to stress about the test any more! Which means Jake won't have to ask me every day why I am so grumpy...Well...he may but not for that reason! Jake is also excited that b-ball season has started up and he is almost done with his...10 yr old scout badge...What is it called again? I don't know I need to go to sleep...

My rambling is even starting to bore me (I have to document it all or I will forget...) so I will wrap it up. Back to the original topic: We are all decorated for Christmas (my mom has a TON of decorations and we got them all out...minus some creepy looking doll carolers that I just couldn't handle...sorry mom)-except the tree. We are saving that to decorate with Nee. She gets back from the Ukraine tomorrow!!! We waited to decorate the tree and to start "A Christ Centered Christmas" Celebration with her (click on the link you will see where you can buy the book I am talking about...I promise it isn't $200 like it says it is...It is a great book but that is kind of steep!). The picture on the front is my FAVORITE picture ever of the Nativity-well at least of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. You will love it too. So even if you don't click the link to see the book itself-click it to see the picture. You will be glad you did. Hopefully Nee won't be too tired from jet lag to start! I have got to take pictures of all the Christmas going on around here. Jake decided the sun room is the "Narnia Room" because of all the trees...I will take a pic so you can see why (it involves the lamp post that goes with the creepy carolers. It made the cut but they didn't...). I love that my child looks at decorations and thinks of C.S. Lewis books...We must be doing something right because that man was a genius...Which reminds me I really want to read some of his books other than the Chronicles of Narnia...(yes that was random: I need to sleep). I took a picture of the "during" the decorating and it isn't pretty. The fun wore off quickly and there may or may not have been a few not so nice words muttered (it involved poor Papa and a whole big Rubbermaid container of lights for the tree and SEVERAL hours of finding some that actually worked....Poor guy. He was a trooper. I would have chucked the whole thing and gone to Walmart and spent $5 on new ones.) Any whoooo! ENOUGH rambling about nothing! I am off to bed. Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite! (We say that every night :) )

Story of my life...

2011-12-07T14:30:00.001-05:00

I am finally motivated to address the Christmas cards...but I can't find them. I found some really cute and cheap ones at Target (my sanctuary...J/K...kind of) and I seem to have lost them. There are only so many places they can be and I have looked in all...but one of them!!! See blogging is amazing!!! I am not even kidding-just typing this out so that all you other busy people can waste your precious time reading it made me remember where they are!!! Remember this post from the end of October when we went to cheer up Jake's friend who had broken his arm? They are still in the huge bag of stuff we brought to his house to do the science experiments! Yep, a little over a month later and they are still in that bag (a big Sam's Club reusable one. I am not sure why they are in that bag to begin with but that is a whole other story...)...that until last week was still in the trunk of the car and is now in Jake's room...since the majority of it is homeschool related and we just started to move all the homeschool stuff into his room. I have a few too many projects going on and I am getting ready to start another one: the found Christmas cards!!! Did I mention that I worked last night (10pm to 7am. My one day a month "hold my job shift in case I really need to come back and work more hours" shift. My manager is really nice and it doesn't hurt that I am a good worker. :) Yes I did just pat myself on the back.) and my brain isn't really functioning a full capacity? Not sure how Aaron does this 5 nights a week and manages to get good grades as a MATH MAJOR WHO GRADUATES IN 10 DAYS!!!!! I am more excited than he is...But any way. I know some of your are thinking it: No Jake wasn't at home alone-I would NEVER do that. My dad was here. Thanks Dad!)

Thanks for reading (if you are...) my ramble that lead to me finding the Christmas cards (yes they were in the Sam's club bag). I am sure my family thanks you also otherwise they would have had to listen to this whole thing and I am sure they are glad they didn't have too. I am glad that I didn't have to write the post I was going to write: venting about my lack of organization, brain cells, and...I almost forgot but then I remembered: MEMORY. I seriously couldn't think of it...)I am going to go and get some sleep. I think Jake likes it when I work because he has 2 abbreviated school days in a row: one for me to take a nap to prepare for being up all night and the other to recover...Okay now I am really starting to brain declutter and if I do that I don't know what will happen because there isn't much in there to begin with today....bye. :)

P.S.-don't know why I wrote P.S...but I changed my mind...The cards can wait: I am going to take a nap!

This is what a decade looks like...

2011-12-02T21:29:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has been a decade already...Yes, Jake turned 10 three months ago and we just got around to his annual photo shoot (don't look back for last years because it didn't happen for the first time in his whole life...I am okay with it though. It seemed fitting in our crazy life to let it go...since I take tons of other pic's any way.). I have realized that the more important events (Jake's b-day, my parents getting home from their mission, our month long vacation in VT...for a few examples) are the ones I don't post about. Probably because I am the busiest around those times. Whatever the reason, this year is almost over and I have a whole lost of stuff to post about before 2012...I will start with a celebration (3 months late) of our baby turning one decade old. Where has the time gone?

I am not a photographer but I pretend to be. Here are some of my favorites. Some are goofy. Some are just for fun. Some are moments when Jake is SO ready to be done (it's not hard to figure out which ones those are.) Some are so Jake and those are my favorite. I am going to number them so tell me which ones you like the best (Nana, Nee, Aunts, relatives, friends: Christmas cards are going to be going out soon....)

In no specific order...#1-I keep seeing the whole frame thing and I like it so I thought we would try it. Turns out is was too heavy to hold out at arms length long enough to get the perfect shot...So, we tried it sitting down. Don't you love the hat. What a stylish dude.

#2-Just getting warmed up...What should I do with my arms?

#3-Jumping for joy? No were are not even close to done dude...

#4-Love this goofy kid...

#5-I am going to play around with this one and get his face to not be quit so pale looking, but I had to post it because I love it.

#6-Love...

#7-I love this one...I caught him giggling. Not the best but I just love it because it is so Jake.

#8-Aaron says this looks like an album cover. We were walking back to the car...or so Jake thought...We weren't done yet but I didn't tell him that...

#9-Jake wanted to do this one. The first try he threw it so high it wasn't even in the picture! This was try number 2. :)

#10-Jake was done at this point and was trying to ignore me...The attitude actually helped because the rest are some of my fav's

#11-This was him pretending to smile when he was being grumpy...

#12-But then it turned into this...I now the weed is kind of weird, but it was there and I kind of like it...

#13-a little closer up...He is so dang adorable...

#14-Same one just a more...zoomed out?...I told you I am not a pro...You know what I mean right?...

#15-LOVE. This. One.

#16-and this one....

#17-and this one....

#18-Okay so my compliments must have started to be reruns at this point because he wasn't buying it anymore...

#19-He's back for a couple of more SO Jake pic's...

#20-Ahhhh...This is really the last one I took. In his eyes I see...sweet relief.

All the pain and agony was so worth it. I love my decade year old little man. He is funny, mature-but not (totally a kid) at the same time, kind, friendly, talkative (to ANYONE that will listen-customer service people thanks for your patience. I know you have to act interested when a random kid tells you about the cool...whatever he thinks you will want to hear all about! :) ), smart, witty, goofy, on occasion he has a bit (understatement) of an attitude (it isn't fun when you see yourself in your child and it is in a bad moment not a good one...), amazing, loving, cuddly, sensitive, compassionate, and just plan wonderful. Wonder how tall he will be in another decade...I wonder if his mission companion will be a good photographer to take his b-day picture for me....

Redneck Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T11:47:00.000-05:00

I am running behind on posting (I know you are shocked!) so here is the quick version of our Thanksgiving. We spent it in Spartanburg with the Harmon's and did it up right-Redneck style! Here are 36 of the 88 pictures I took...I know that is a lot-cutting it down to 36 was hard...

Jake sitting on Papa's new toy: A four wheeler...

Riannon and Jake...

The big boys playing with the toys...

Doing nail swirly style....

The nail polish in the water. Pretty don't you think?

Of course we shot guns. Here are my 2 guys with a very LOUD one....

Here are the dogs in "jail". Look at Sadie (on the far left)-she is rolling her eyes that I am taking their picture. Aaron and Jake your PTPP attitude is even wearing off on Sadie. :)

Papa Harmon and Aaron frying the turkey. Aaron decided for every picture I took on Thanksgiving he was going to stick out his tongue...At least he was letting me take pictures of him!

Can you say delicious?...

I had to take a picture of my beloved bread maker. It may have done it's last batch of rolls...It has been dying for a while (we got it as a wedding gift and we have been married for 14 years so it is old.) but the batch of rolls we made Thanksgiving morning in it, had it screeching like it wasn't going to make it. Seriously it was making screeching noise.

"Two Papa's!" a quote from Jake when he was around 2 or 3, when both Papa Harmon and Papa G. were at the same place. It was like it clicked in his little head for the first time that he had 2 Papa's. :)

The kids were the first to dig in to the feast...Wait a minute! I think Nana beat them to it! Check her out in the background sneaking a taste of something from the dessert table. Caught you Nana! :)

Ranee, Aaron (and his tongue), and Jeremy...

Piling the feast on the giant plates. They really are giant. You don't have to go back for seconds when you use serving platters...You think I am kidding? That really is what they are... :)

Jake made a snow man out of his mashed potatoes and ham. We are so proud of his creativity. :) Crazy kid!...

The senior table...

The cool table (I was sitting at this one too just so you know). Aaron keeping up with the tradition of the day. We decided Riannon could join us this time instead of sitting with the kiddos. See how cool we are?..

The kiddos and Leah in the back ground-the rest of her table never did come back for a picture. She could have been part of the cool table if Riannon hadn't been there, but Riannon is pretty cool so we couldn't kick her out. :)

The cousins that were able to make it. We missed you Sara, Kayla, and Megan!!!...

And of course a silly one...

Jeremy and his Charlies Angel pose...

Ranee is practicing for the concealed weapons course...

Jake took some time to sit at Emily's (our black lab that we had to put to sleep because she had cancer) grave.

Me and my favorite 10 year old...

Aaron forgot to stick out his tongue in this one. :)

Della found a new cool use for a neck pillow. :)

Black Friday started at 10pm on Thursday night so we made our way to Walmart...

Riannon had proof on her boot that people were a little pushy...

The fruits of our labor: DVD's for $1.96. I got a couple for $5 too. Shhhh! These are Christmas gifts...

In case you are wondering this is what it looked like at 10pm...I can only imagine what it looked like at midnight when the big stuff went on sale! We called it a night and skipped Target opening at midnight like we planned. The only thing on our list was $5 flannel Lego Star Wars PJ pants for Jake-not worth the chaos...

The rest of the weekend looked like this...

Riannon had a zit on her nose-one of those painful ones that is under the skin. I told her about the toothpaste trick to pull it to the surface. She was kind enough to let me take her picture with it on her nose. :)

We split some wood and stacked it at the Martin's and then at the Harmon's. We were trying to work off some calories we took in.

Nana asked me to paint her mailbox. Della was my assistant and it turned out she was good enough to help me finish quicker! Thanks Della. Oh yeah-like my layers? (I hadn't done anything to my hair...) Ranee gave me a hair cut. I can always talk her into it. No she isn't a hairdresser-she is just my hairdresser. I don't believe in paying to get my hair cut. Why would I when I have a sister-in-law that will do it for free! Thanks Ranee! :)

We also looked at a house that has been on the market off and on for the past 7 years-for the fun of it. I love it! We are hoping Aaron will get a teaching position here for the next school year and crossing our fingers that it will still be on the market. It is perfect for us! It is three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 2 car garage, fenced in back yard that backs up to the woods, living and family rooms...I love it...Not sure why it hasn't sold-except they had it priced too high for some of those years. Now they just want to sell it and are willing to negotiate-big time! It is smaller than other houses in the neighborhood. Ranee and Jeremy looked at it a couple of years ago (when they were buying a home) and really liked it except that the bedrooms were a little too small to put two kiddos in. It would fit us perfectly! You can see the corner of it in the background of the picture of me and Della painting. Two doors down from Nana and Papa Harmon and right up the road (with in walking/biking distance in a neighborhood that allows children to do those things safely!) from the Martin's (COUSINS!!!). Keep your fingers crossed...This is the second home in the neighborhood that I have owned in my dreams... :)

This is Jake and Sadie on the way home from Spartanburg. How cute are they?

And that is the quick version of an awesome weekend in South Carolina. Hope you were able to spend your Thanksgiving with the ones you love too!

It's beginning to look (not feel) a lot like Thanksgiving!...

2011-11-23T11:08:00.001-05:00

Picture me singing that to the tune of "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". Although it still doesn't feel like it...I have been loading up the car (with our short sleeves...) to head to Spartanburg for the weekend, [****NOTE TO WOULD BE BURGLARS: Our house will not be empty this weekend. Aaron is only going to be gone with us tonight and my Dad will be here at the house...So, just in case you think you know where I live and want to steal our valuables (we don't really have any by the way), some one will be here with a fire arm to stop you. (Call me paranoid-I don't mind)****] in short sleeves, shorts and bare feet. It is 65 degrees and I am sure there are people that don't think that is warm enough for summer attire, but I am actually in my pj's because my clothes and flip flops (I don't wear shoes until I absolutely have to) are being held hostage in our bedroom (Aaron is taking a nap-he worked last night...all night). But I am running around doing dishes (nope I didn't unload the dishwasher last night at midnight after I stopped blogging and reading your blogs), I went to sleep! Smart of me don't you think? I had to take a few pictures of why it is looking like fall...That is the whole point to this post...not all the rambling I just did.

I refer to this as "The big tree", very clever right? The big tree is the reason for it looking a lot like fall in our yard.

This is what the brick walk way and drive way look like this morning:

The Fall Fairy's are singing and shining praises on our lovely fall display...Okay, the sun was right behind the house and I was in a rush. I took these pictures while packing the car so I didn't have time to take another one.

This is the pile of leaves that we are waiting for that "city" to come and suck up with their cool leaf vacuum truck. I wonder just how high the pile will be after we add our lovely big tree leaves to it....

And one pretty yellow leaf among the brown and my Barney Rubble feet (even when I was stick skinny my feet looked like this. It is a real bummer when it comes to cute shoes...), just to prove I am barefoot and to show you what a lovely job Jake did painting my toes for me yesterday on our day off. He even volunteered to do it! I told him it was good practice for when he is married because his wife will really appreciate him if he paints her toes for her. Hint, hint Aaron... :)

The Fall Fairy's even made a beautiful fall arrangement in the otherwise empty...what do you call that again? Window flower holder...thingy. That will work for now. You know what I mean right?

I am so excited it is Thanksgiving! It is official the holiday season is upon us. We can listen to Christmas music and start pulling out the decorations-which I am actually excited to do this year. Funny since I am tired of looking at all the stuff around here and now I am going to add to it...I don't add too much though and this is temporary stuff, so I am excited. Last year I was not excited about putting out more stuff. I was a little bah humbug last year for some reason. But this year we are really focusing on the Savior's birth, so I know it will be worth the extra stuff. :)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It really is amazing...

2011-11-23T00:12:00.001-05:00

...how taking the day off can make your house look like a small tornado went through it. The sad part is Jake and I were the only ones home today! We had a LAZY day. Today we started our Thanksgiving break! I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday in my favorite season...{sigh}...If only the weather would cooperate and let it feel like fall....Any way back to the house being a wreck. It will really only take a little while to get in order. Not perfect...it has never been perfect. There is something in side of me that will not let every area of my house be perfect. Think of Monica on Friends and her perfectly in order house with one extremely cluttered closet...Then picture a not as perfect house with a pile on the kitchen counter, a basket of "stuff" in our room and Jake's that doesn't have a home...You get the picture right? I am a less neurotic version of her. There have been phases in my life that I have done a great job of hiding it. I am not there right now. I organized a room...all except that pile of papers (usually having some connection to homeschooling or couponing), I will deal with later and I will just stuff this "stuff" in my desk drawers. There now it looks neat and organized and I feel slightly better than before! I would feel great if it was really all done completely but I can"t bring myself to do it. Am I the only one that does this? I will spend the day, for example last Tuesday, switching bedrooms and organize everything...except that one basket of "stuff" and that reusable grocery bag of "more stuff that really doesn't have a home and probably never will" that I can just stick in the back corner of the other wise organized closet. And then it spreads to the top of my dresser. The cute little basket that is there to hold the things I need to put away is now over flowing. Why do I do that? I remember our house in Fletcher, It was the perfect size and sometimes I thought I was pretty organized. Everything had a place (in theory). I didn't have to move the furniture around because it was perfect the way it was. I really loved my little house, the colors I painted it, the layout, everything...But...You were waiting for that right? The closet (if not the room itself) in the spare bedroom was always stuffed to the max. I would put the stuff in plastic bins to make it look organized and then I would just end up stuffing more stuff in the cracks as I found the need. I guess what I am trying to say is. I hate stuff. And yet I still have it. EVERYWHERE. Why is that? I feel like I have probably posted about this before...or at least I have in my head. The voice inside my head is pretty much just a brain blog, so sometimes I can't remember if it blogged about it in my head or here. But even if I did blog about it here, I feel like it is worth being said again because I haven't changed the way I deal with stuff. I try to hide it to make myself feel better. Why can I not finish the job? Most of the time half of the stuff we actually need (and just need to find it a home or put it in it's home) and the other half we don't and never did. I didn't plan on typing all this when I sat down. I was just going to vent about why being lazy as a mom doesn't work. The sink has rinsed dishes in it just waiting for the dishwasher to be emptied. There is all sorts of stuff on the cocoa table-papers, the cover to the Kirby Returns to Dreamland Wii game we rented today (that is really fun and so cute by the way), and other...stuff. I don't make resolutions because for me that is just a sure way not to accomplish whatever it is I want to do. I am going to make 2012 the year of SIMPLIFYING (I did everything I could to the word so it would stand out so I won't forget.) I am going to get rid of our stuff and really be organized. I need to make a plan to accomplish this task...I will add it to the list of things I need to do...Now where is that list? Probably stuffed in my desk drawer. :) Just kidding I am not that unorganized, it's in my planner. What is in my desk drawers you ask? No idea. Right now I am not going to worry about that. I am going to go de-tornado-ize the house. I will start by unloading the dishwasher, emptying the sink, and then I will make a plan for getting organized and Simplifying (I now that doesn't have to be capitalized I just think it should be because it is just that important). No,actually I will leave the planning for tomorrow. I need to go to bed...This post is yet another random mess. Just clearing out the noggin again. If you have any ideas for Simplifying and decluttering (and yes I know that isn't right either, but if you know me, you know that is just one of my words!) let me know...I will take anyone's suggestions since I have seemed to be in an organizing funk. :)

Last week I learned...

2011-11-21T15:35:00.001-05:00

*I take too many pictures...But I already knew that. I can't help it. I have a horrible memory and taking pictures helps. If I see the picture it jogs that memory back into place so that I remember it. That makes sense right? And it sound like as good as an excuse as any that I can think of as to why I am addicted to documenting the tiny little moments in life with a photo of it. Needless to say this is an intro into yet another post filled with pictures that you will probably look at and wonder why in the world did I bother post it. I did it for me. To remind myself that I accomplished something, I taught/learned something, I...did something. Last Tuesday I decided we should switch

rooms with Jake. We sleep in our room. Jake plays with his toys, hangs out and sleeps in his room. We had a big room and he had a little one. Of course he does sleep on a queen size bed so that takes up a lot of the little space he had. We spent the day, with Papa G.'s help (glad he didn't have big plans that day!) moving furniture. I haven't taken a picture of the after of our new room yet. I did Jake's because we of course finished his first. He has even more posters and posters on the wall since I took these pictures. And we have organized his shelving a little more since this picture was taken-we still have some major work to do on that project. Jake is thrilled that

he know has a table in his room that he can use to homeschool..which hasn't happened yet since it has been covered with Lego's since we brought it in his room. He has room for his desk (there are actually 2 desks in his room right now.) He is so lucky he even has a TV in his room. He can't watch TV on it because it isn't hooked up, but there is a DVD player. The only reason he has a TV in his room is because our massive TV armour (that I LOVE and Aaron finished it) has no other place to go. He can only watch a DVD when he is given permission to do so. I didn't include the picture taken from that angle

because I figured 2 was enough. We popped pop corn and he watched (I watched some of it but had
to put all our clothes in our dressers and closet so I could sleep on our bed that night.) the first Harry Potter movie to celebrate his new room.

*I also learned that Science and Social Studies are included on the EOG's in the 5th grade...Good to know. I had a moment of anxiety when I found that out and realized that we haven't really covered anything they want us to cover in S.S. yet and only one topic in Science. But then I reviewed the list of

what he needs to know, remembered that he is a smart kid, took a deep breath, and got to work. I mapped out what he needs to learn for S.S. and we are going to be able to finish it by the middle of April
with out any problem..and that is taking more time than we really need to cover it all. I am going to work on our Science plan tomorrow. Any homeschooling Mom's out there that use a lesson plan book that they really like? If so please share your knowledge with me!!! I am using a planned that is kind of working... Also: What is your schedule like? We have tried about 1 million so far (that may be a conservative number...) and we are still not feeling it...help please. :)

*I learned or should I say was reminded that running and jumping in leaf piles is one of the best things in the world to do and that Jake is adorable. Fall is my very favorite season...

*I learned that Jack Prelutsky is a genius, has a very cool website, wrote an awesome book called: Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to write a poem , and is one of my favorite poets. He is hysterical. Am I the only person in the world who hadn't heard of him? Where have I been?!?! We have been taking notes on his awesome poem writing tips and writing our own poems. I also learned that I can write a pretty good funny poem...Serious ones? Not so much but crazy silly ones? I just may publish a book and dedicate it to good old Jack. :) Jake also told me writing is "my thing". How sweet is that? Jake is working hard on his poems right now as we speak. We were supposed to have this whole week off but we had to make up for the moving furniture day in which only a little bit was accomplished school wise.

This is a picture of Jake working hard on a poem last week. See our leaves in the background by our pens and pencil holder? We got those and were going to identify all the different kind of trees on our street...We still have to do that...And yes Jake STILL needs a hair cut...

*I learned that you really can make anything out of duct tape. Jake and Papa made a barometer last week and used some of our neon green duct tape to hold it together. The air pressure (isn't that what a barometer measures? I haven't been listening in on their science lessons on weather as you can tell) either

hasn't changed much around here in the past week...or it doesn't really work.

*I learned that I REALLY needed the Relief Society (this will explain to you what R.S. is if you scroll down the page a little) activity we had on Saturday at church. We had a lesson on candy making (got some great tips and ideas), how to have a more Christ centered Christmas (this lesson was based on the same book that we are using for our FHE for the next 7 weeks before Christmas...Yep it is only 7 weeks away...Scary right?), and we did a fun craft
that I can't post a picture of because it may or may not be a gift I will be giving out this year for Christmas...It was all so great! But the best part was being able to sit and talk to my friends. Did I mention that I got released from the Primary Presidency last Sunday? I love primary! But it is so time for me to be with adults again. :)

*I also learned that I could have 3 dogs. Two big dogs and one little one would be perfect. Or maybe small, medium, and large. We dog sat for Nana again and we really miss Pooha and Penny since we brought them back. Especially Sadie-she had a ball with Penny. Pooha and Penny slept in Jake's room and Sadie didn't even care that there wasn't room for another big dog on Jake's bed. She was out cold (every night after playing all day), on her bed in the sun room not even aware of what anyone (dog or human was doing) The first picture (all the way back at the top) is a picture of Penny..Pooha is in it too but she is too little to see-she was laying behind Penny. Sadie and Pooha shared a nap one day...Usually Pooha didn't want to have a whole lot to do with our silly puppy. Seriously how cute are these two together? Dogs are the best. Sadie will be excited to see Penny and the other Harmon family dogs for Thanksgiving. It is hard to believe it is Thanksgiving when it is 76 degrees out today. Really 76? I am soooo ready for chilly weather. We had a couple of days of chilly and it was such a tease! Funny how in July and August I would be dying for 76 degrees...

My apologies to you my old friends...And message to my new friend "Ignorant Anonymous"

2011-11-21T09:06:00.001-05:00

I am doing a quick (my version of quick at least) to let you know I am now monitoring my comments. I try not to use the word hate very much, but I am going to use it right now. I HATE IGNORANCE. I had a comment (that I erased so I don't ever have to see it again) that was really ignorant, malicious, and in very poor taste. It seems that their is someone who isn't even brave enough to stand up for what they "believe", who left a very vulgar comment (anonymously). I am sorry for those of you who may have read it-as you know from visiting this blog in the past: this isn't that kind of blog...AT ALL. I do not say the words that were in it (think of the worst cuss words you can-they were in it). It talked about Mitt Romney in a very negative light. Although I am a Republican (a conservative one) and happen to be a member of the same church he is, I have not come out to support him-or any of the other candidates for that matter. I wouldn't support a candidate just because they were Mormon. You will know at some point who I support because I am pretty vocal (if asked or provoked) about where I stand politically. Actually I can be pretty vocal about where I stand on just about anything. I was shocked when I read the comment and for about 1/2 a second I was livid. And then a peace came over me. Heavenly Father must have known I REALLY needed to see the positive in this. Guess what? I found it. If "ignorant anonymous" (my little nickname for the person who has WAY too much time on their hands) found my teeny, tiny, little blog and felt they needed to lash out at me because I am a Mormon, then I must being doing a pretty good job letting the blog world know what I believe and how I live.

And just in case you ever come back to my blog, here is a note to you ignorant anonymous:

Dear ignorant anonymous,

I want to thank you for you message. All though it was in very poor taste and shows just how ignorant you are, it actually made me feel pretty good about myself. You knew I was a Mormon. A compliment that no vulgar or cruel words can take away. I know that my Heavenly Father and His son (my brother and yours too by the way) Jesus Christ love me. Your words don't change that. It just makes me cling to what I know to be true even more. Your words just reinforced the path I am on in this life. I have bad days were I doubt myself but I am loved and life is good! I hate ignorance. I don't hate you because you are a human being that our Heavenly Father created, and though ill informed-you are still a child of God. Based on the message you left I can only assume some where along the way you have had contact with a member of our church who was not living what they professed to believe. I am really sorry for that-where there is good there is always evil. I hope that at some point in your life you will take the time to understand what we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really believe. I am not sure where I would be with out it. Maybe I would be where you are-in a place in my life that the only thing I can do is try to bring other people down and not even be courageous enough to stand behind the words I have written. I could go on and on but I won't. If you do happen to be reading this don't bother come back to my blog to put hateful words on it. Comment moderation is a good thing. :) Have a great day because I know I will!

If you are my nieces or nephews avert your eyes...

2011-11-17T22:32:00.001-05:00

...unless you want to ruin your Christmas surprise!

Did you like my little rhyming one liner poem? I didn't even plan it. All this poetry we have been studying is filling my brain with grand ideas for poems. I think I am a born poet and I didn't even know it. :) But anyway that is a whole other post!
Christmas is just over a month away?!?! When did that happen? I saw this amazing idea on Pinterest and remembered I bought a ton of boys t-shirts for $1 on sale at Walmart. It is a home made Christmas around here and I am LOVING IT!!! Now that Jake knows (because we told him) that ****WARNING DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN"T COME CLEAN YET**** Santa isn't real, I kind of feel a weight off my shoulders.

I feel like I can give Jake more meaningful gifts because the gifts are from us not Santa. I am thrilled and have big plans to have the kind of Christmas we should have been having the whole time! More on that later too...Any who! Grab an old or cheap t-shirt, a bleach pen, and some wax paper and get ready to create! Jake and I had an art filled day last Friday and it was soooo fun. We woke up extra early for some reason...I guess because it was my first good nights sleep with no steroids and I woke up-with help from Jake like usual-at 5 something. I usually hate 5 something but not that morning. We headed to Walmart (which I usually hate and avoid like the plague also) to see if we could find some cheap shirts for all the girl cousins. We did and headed home to create. This shirt is actually the first one I did the night before to test the process out and see if it really works. It did and I was so excited. I just kind of doodled on this swirly pattern (after putting the wax paper in between-2 layers to be safe) and waited...It took about 10 or 15 minutes. They were really long minutes because I

couldn't wait to see if it really would work and be as cool as it seemed. When it was ready I just stuck it in the kitchen sink and rinsed and scrubbed it off with dish soap and my cleaning brush. Then you pop it in the washer and dryer and wa-la! Awesome, homemade, personalized tee's! I won't show all of them because I don't want to spoil it in case they sneak on here to see. I am going to make a couple more for people who remain nameless...It is so much fun-you should try it!!! It is kid friendly-but it will of course ruin any fabric it touches, so wear old clothes and clean up thoroughly. Jake loved doing it and made a very cool shirt of his own. With out giving too much away his shirt is a nickname my sister gave him (you will see it further along in this post...) and other peoples may...or may not have their nick names on it. :) (Have you ever seen the movie Brother Bear? If you have then you probably remember the song in it called "I'm on my way". Well, long story short when Jake was little he had a raspy little voice and he was singing that song over and over again. Tina thought he was singing some rock song because of the way he was singing it.

She was pretty surprised when she heard the original. :) ) Don't you love the way the shirt came out??? I am so excited to give everyone their gifts. I hope they like them as much as I do. If you are a family member of mine and don't like the gifts I give you this year just pretend you do, okay? :)

See these cute little animal prints? A friend of mine moved and gave these to me. I have big plans for them-not as they are-but...well I can't say too much because the people that will be getting the final product do in fact read my blog. I will post the after of what they become when the recipients open them. :) I am getting so excited for Christmas!!!!

Maybe the weather will get colder so it will feel like it is that time of year. Jake had on shorts and a t-shirt yesterday. It started cooling down this evening so I am HAPPY! I am so ready for colder weather. I am ready to wear my sweaters and drink hot chocolate. And Jake will be too when I give him this blanket (that is becoming very huge) that I am crocheting him. I crocheted a baby blanket for a baby shower and he asked when I was going to make him one. Making it right now dude. :) Aaron told me that the colors are pretty close to the Carolina Panthers colors...which I totally planned!. Don't tell Jake I am making it-he doesn't read my blog so he will never know unless you do! I also saw a very cool necklace

that someone made on Pinterest and decided to try it. All I had was a paper clip and ribbon but I think it is still pretty cute. In case you can't tell it is a bird. Jake thought it was awesome and he tells me the truth about stuff like this, so I am giving it away for Christmas. It was so fun to make that I got some wire at a craft store to try to create other fun little things...Turns out paper clips are easier to use. I will keep trying with the real stuff and see what happens. Okay, so I have rambled on enough. If you are pulling your hair out wondering what you are going to do for Christmas you should really try the bleach pen t-shirts. I am officially addicted and am thinking about buying stock in bleach pens because it is such
a cool idea I know you are all going to run out and

buy some to make your own. :) I have other projects I am working on that I will of course post about later. A majority of my ideas have some from...can you guess where? PINTEREST. I love Pinterest...As Jake was telling me "whoever thought of Pinterest must be rich." I hope they are because they so deserve to be. :)

Oh and Aaron-if you are reading this: ~~YOU MUST~~ I want you and Jake to make me a bleach pen t-shirt for Christmas...okay? I even have an old t-shirt that you can use. I have 3 you can choose from and I won't know what you guys are putting on it, so it will still be a surprise. :)

Sometimes when I do sleep...

2011-11-13T08:13:00.001-05:00

I have better perspective on life's challenges. :) It took a while but after venting out my whoa's I went back to sleep. I woke up and was ready for the day...Sleepy, but ready. I cleaned, I did laundry, I played Leggo Harry Potter Years 5-7 (it came out on Friday and we rented it as soon as Family Video opened that morning.), I grocery shopped (and was excited when I found out I got 10% off still even though I work at the most 8 hours a month), I built with Lego's (and me a Jake laughed our heads off. He told me he loved hanging out with me...and all was well in my little universe...), I even cooked beef stew...I did a lot and I felt better. Just having let it out and moved on I felt better. I also felt better when Aaron got home from work that morning, hugged me, and told me I needed to not let stuff bother me so much. He then told me that Jake asked him if he loved Nee that same day he asked me if I loved Nana. I guess Jake was just trying to figure out if it was even possible to love someone else's mom when he has such a great one like me. :) That is what I get for worrying and assuming the worst about myself. Thanks Belle for your insight. You are so right about reading a scripture out loud-it is almost like it becomes part of the air around you to protect you. It reminds me of this quote:

I need to memorize a few that will fit perfectly when those feelings of uncertainty and self doubt creep in.
Have I ever told you about my blog friend Belle? She is amazing, funny, and just plain wonderful in general. You should go read her blog because every time I do I leave a better person. Belle is one of those rare "real" people that no matter what she is discussing it means something different (in a good way) to you after having learned from her. She is one of my life mentors on how to make the world a better place-seriously. She is high up on the list of people that I wish were my neighbors. Read her blog-I know you will love it. I do. I am going to check out the song that Anika likes mom. I have heard other songs by Cherie Call and I love them.

I am too hard on myself. I think it may be a woman thing. Ladies why are we like that? Why do we have to be super woman all the time? I guess that is exactly what Satan wants. For mothers to feel insecure so that we can pass that on to our children and they will be lead astray more easily...Curse you Satan..You got me again. But I am ready for you this time. I am going to just be me and leave the whole Super Woman thing to some one else who is a whole lot better at it.

I slept great last night. I accomplished a ton yesterday and today I am feeling so much better. What a difference a day can make! Have a great Sunday. I am off church and then I am going to come home and memorize some scriptures so that I can be ready next time those over whelming feelings come.

Sometimes I can't sleep....

2011-11-12T01:54:00.000-05:00

I was sleeping, but now I can't. I worry and it makes it hard to sleep. I went to bed early-ish tonight and then just woke up. You know when you wake up and your brain won't stop? One thing after another keeps popping into your head and no matter what, you aren't going to be able to go back to sleep unless you just let all the thoughts..be thought. I won't go into all the worries I worry...but I know if I don't declutter some of the nonsense in my head I will be up all night long.

Some people wake up with inspiration! I wake up with overwhelming feelings of...well worry...Why do I do this? I am blessed beyond what I deserve. I know I am...But the worries always seem to bubble up....I keep back spacing!!! Why am I doing that?!? This is my blog I can be pitiful and depressing if it makes me momentarily feel better. So, if you don't want to hear my random worries and stresses, this may be a post you just want to skip. In the grand scheme of life and eternity, none of these things matter. But it is 1:20 am they will not leave my mind and I really want to sleep so I am going to just type and set them all free into the blog world and not worry about people shaking their heads and saying: "What is her problem? There are starving children in Africa and she is complaining about (fill in the blank from the list I will provide below)?!", and yes that is a run on sentence...and I don't really care. Judge me if you will. This is my blog and I really want to sleep so tomorrow I won't feel even worse about myself because I am too tired to accomplish anything.

*I worry about a question Jake asked me the other day. He asked me: "Do you love Nana?" OF COURSE I LOVE NANA! I was shocked. I told him I did and asked why he asked me that. His answer? "I don't know." Ummm...That is it? More information is needed please. So, I asked him if he loved Nana. To which he said: "Mommy OF COURSE I LOVE NANA!" I know he does-she is amazing. Then I worried...A LOT. Why does he not know that I love Nana? Am I a horrible person or what? I have not showed my son that I love the mother of my amazing husband. The women who raised 4 amazing human beings and adores her 7 1/2 grand children (we are going to have a new nephew in the the Spring!). What kind of monster am I that Jake does not know automatically that I love Nana. It makes me want to puck just thinking about it. Nana just in case you don't know: I LOVE YOU!!!!!

*I worry about the fact that Aaron works 3rd shift 40 hours a week, goes to school full time during the day, sleeps a few hours, gets up and runs 3 miles, does homework...and then has to search through the laundry to find socks because I haven't made time in my being home ALL DAY LONG to put them a way...or to even have washed them in the first place.

*I worry that I stink at homeschooling. It is especially depressing when I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing and it seems like I...can't. Does one good day in 5 constitute an education? I have blogged about the happy moments and fun ideas we have enjoyed. I think this week I will do a post about one of the really bad days. I hope Jake will hold still and let me take a picture of him when I am threatening to send him back to public school if he doesn't JUST DO...what ever it is he is supposed to be doing at the moment....It isn't like if he went back to public school the world would come to an end and a certain death would fall upon us all...But he may think that since I use it as a threat...See, I am just not very good at this whole thing.

*I worry that I maybe crazier than I think I am. I think poor Aaron has glimpses that make him worry about leaving me unattended...I don't think that actually: I know that since he told me that in a moment of a nervous breakdown I had when I was feeling all depressed about being sick and not being able to breath, function, or accomplish any task placed before me..Yep. I like to add stress to my poor husband who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I really am crazy. But don't worry Aaron: I am not as crazy as you think. The house will still be standing when you get off work in the morning at 6am.

*I worry about the fact that Jake asked me: "What makes you an aunt or uncle again, I forgot?" To this I said: "when your siblings have children you become their uncle." I was saying it in a general term: "you" meaning everybody. I didn't think anything of it until he said: "Oh, so I won't ever be an uncle then." I had an inward moment of depression. I didn't take the time to think about the fact that he will be an uncle to his wives siblings children. I just shut down. Aaron said something to him...Maybe said his cousins would let their children call him uncle. I just died a little inside and went along and tried not to think about it again....Until now. And it makes me really sad.

*I worry about the fact that none of these things should worry me...but they do. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I know that my little stresses are nothing compared to the chaos and inhumanity that so many people live in. I am sheltered. I am provided for. I yet I wake up at night worried. The only reason I have to worry is that I am not doing all I can to be better and do better. I guess that really comes down to it. I know I am not doing all I can. I know I need to be better, and do better. I will try again tomorrow to not be so pitiful. I have a quote hanging above the computer that I need to remember....

"Latter Day Saint women who recognize that their strength comes from the Lord's Atonement do not give up during difficult and discouraging times." -Julie B. Beck.

I think I need to recognize that a little more....

What we are up to....

2011-11-08T11:21:00.005-05:00

Broken record time...Homeschooling is hard. :) It is a good hard though, because we can see what doesn't really work and change it. Or vice versa. We decided in our scheduling of the school year that we are taking the week of Thanksgiving off and we have a plan to follow until then. Back to the basics is the plan. Read. Write. Math. Throw in a little science (weather experiments) with Papa and we are calling it good.

I am still on steroids for my breathing so we are taking it easy and that has gone right along with our plan. We made up some writing notebooks (I am slightly addicted to composition notebooks...) that ALL of our writing will go into. If we are reading a book and don't know what a word means we write it down in our book and define it. If Jake is reading his Black Beard book (he is doing a project on Blackbeard that he has until 12/16-the last day before Christmas break starts) he jots down his notes in the writing journal. No more wondering what happened to that piece of paper....

Our first writing exercise to get our brains working in our writing journal was pretty fun. I found this cool head on Pinterest and printed it off. The assignment was easy: finish this picture of yourself (funny neither of us included our glasses...I just noticed that. :) ) and fill in any words that come to mind about yourself. What do you like to do? Eat? Family

members...Anything. Just write what makes you tick. It was fun and they came out pretty cute. AND it did the trick our brains were ready to WRITE! We also printed off lots of other fun writing tips I found on Pinterest that you can find here. We taped them in our journals if we ever needed inspiration. Next we piled up a load of poetry books and our writing journals and got all propped up on pillows on Jake's bed and got to our poetry. I found this amazing book at our local library and we love it. It tells you about different styles of poems, how you write them, and then you push play on the CD player and listen as a poem written in that style is read out loud. Then we wrote our own poem. Some of them we hadn't heard of so we took notes. Others we knew all about so we didn't need to. After we listened we wrote our own poem in that style. One time we gave our selves 5 minutes to write a certain style and we realized we are pretty good poets! It was so fun and we are excited to do it again. We are going to pick up in that book where left off and see what we can come up with. On Wednesday we are going to enjoy a day of Shel Silverstein. We found a CD of "Where that Sidewalk Ends at the library and are going to read, listen, and write.

This may be boring for you so I don't mind if you stop reading. I decided that my blog would be a good place to remind myself what we have done, what we need to do more of, and what we can just call it good and move on with as far as homeschooling goes. Days cuddled in bed reading and writing is definitely a keeper. Khan Academy is also a keeper. I am not a math champion, but I am learning to like it through this website. The other day as Jake was working independently I was on it for over an hour. That is big for me. Jake is loving it too. So, until Thanksgiving we are going to close up our math book and see just how far Khan Academy can take us.

I just had to stick this picture in of this sweet puppy...Sadie is going to be 1 year old the end of December. I pick on her a lot about being goofy but she really is an amazing dog. I just loved this picture and decided to stick it in here...I could put it in a less random spot in this post but this works too.

(The picture below popped up in the wrong place and I am being lazy and not moving it...Sadie and Pooha enjoying the dog beds in the sun room together...)

Papa G. took Jake to an airshow on Saturday (where he got this cool face painting) and they had a great time. So good that Jake was still tired Monday morning and wanted to take the day off. (He stays up until Aaron goes to work on the weekends to so that made him even more tired.) He said it was for me to relax since taking steroids make sleeping next to impossible...but really he needed a break.

It turns out we worked harder than we thought we would by taking the day off. We moved some furniture. We dirtied some rags (Jake gets $0.50 for every rag he dirties by cleaning with it. I had to tell him to switch rags yesterday his was getting so dirty!), doesn't that sound more fun than cleaning baseboards? We used some of our fancy chore magnets today and it was AWESOME! I owe Jake $3 and it is WELL worth it. He is thrilled. I am thrilled. The dust bunnies are cleared out in 2 rooms and there is room to breath in the two living spaces in a home that is serving 2 families. Here are a couple pictures for you to check out Mom. After moving the couch from the Sun Room to the Living Room the question of the Christmas tree was raised...We will figure out a place for it. It feels like an awesome hang out space with room for everyone in the living room now. The Sun room still has piles of things to put away (as you can see from picture) and the dog beds aren't staying where they are (we are dog sitting for Nana so we have to make our doggie guests Penny and Pooha feel extra special by having a grand view of the backyard from the dog beds. :) ), but I wanted to get a shot of it for you to see.

The sun room is kind of the study/dinning room now. We may have to rearrange later but we figured this will work to get us through Aaron's graduation and what will happen then. We were pretty excited to have created a little reading area in the Sun Room too. Jake was very excited about the furniture moving since it was all his idea. Aaron was not so thrilled to see that we did it with out him, since I should not be moving furniture...Darn medicine that fools you into thinking you are all better. It was so worth it for the breathing space though. :) And Jake will be happy to know I am not counting it as a day off. Education isn't just books-it is labor and service too. Hard work can teach you more about yourself than just about anything! Jake was so proud of himself for all that he accomplished. And so was I! He came up with the idea to pull the couch on a slippery blanket so we weren't breaking the rules of taking it easy and we were keeping the floors scratch free at the same time. Now we just have to hit all of the little piles that we didn't get too in the Sun Room and our task will be complete. I may go bankrupt and wish we just gave Jake an allowance at this rate. :)

Jake's favorite books at the moment are a series called Far World and he has been telling me to read it for ever. (I usually read what ever he is reading to make sure it is okay-unless it is a book that a trusted friend suggests...or in this case is by an LDS author and I got the book at Deseret Books). So, I put Tom Sawyer on hold and started reading the first book in the series and I LOVE IT! It is seriously good. Jake has been making little Lego people and scenes that go along with the 2nd book he is reading and has decided to make a movie with them. He is a pretty creative dude so I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Life is good, this year is flying by, and I need to get off the computer and do something!!! This counts as my homeschooling though right? :)

Remember two things...

2011-11-04T16:02:00.000-04:00

That is a little Dave Matthews reference for any other fans out there. Did anyone catch it? I will be really impressed if you did. Really it is just a catchy title to say I have 2 things I want to say and to remember. Because sometimes I forget...

*We have old cars. I am glad because when you have an amazing husband like I do, you don't have to pay tons of money to repair said cars. New cars require being hooked up to a computer so it's microchips (or whatever) can tell the mechanic what it wrong with it. Our cars are too old to be so fancy. Aaron saved us $400 (which may as well been a million since we are poor college students) by being manly enough to fix the alternator on the Jeep. He is pretty darn awesome...And cute too if I do say so myself.

*I went to the doctor today for my follow up on the whole not being able to breath thing. (Asthma does that to you sometimes.) She said I sound much better (and I feel much better) and was pleased. I admitted that I dusted, vacuumed, did laundry, took Jake to his book club, and then his b-ball evaluation for Upward...and that I felt it's effects last night with a long coughing attack. My inhaler did work to stop it and I could breath again. To this she said: "I am glad your inhaler worked but you must take it easy." Oh right I forgot...So, I learned for the 2nd time this week that I need to let my lungs recover. I just couldn't stop myself. I had to vacuum Jake's room because he has allergies (and he is a sad vacuumer-he gets that from his dad.)...and after that I just couldn't stop! Why do we do this as women? Any way-I am officially resting until my 10 days of steroids are done...I hope I don't go insane by then. I am on day 4 of 10...One major bummer of the steroids...guess what one of the side effects is? Not being able to sleep!!! I didn't read the little sheet that tells you what the side effects are but I asked my doc today and she said "oh yeah, I meant to warn you about that." I didn't go to sleep until 3 am last night...The other nights I only slept slightly better. What a bummer that I am supposed to be relaxing and taking it easy and I can't even sleep!!!! It is going to be a long 6 more days...

A Reluctant Pumpkin on Halloween?

2011-11-02T20:11:00.005-04:00

True story...This is our attempt to put Sadie in a Halloween costume my sister made for Daisy (our 1st dog-a sweet and crazy basset hound...That I miss dearly...). After bribing her with what to be half a box of treats and struggling to get her in it, this is the best shot I got of her...Stinker. Sadie is definitely a reluctant pumpkin. Daisy LOVED her costume. She would get excited when we got out the Halloween rubber maid box and pulled it out! This is the best picture I could find of her in it-I guess we hadn't put the hat on yet. I went back as far as I could on my computer digitally. I actually have years I didn't take a picture of her in it!!!! What was I thinking? Don't let her pitiful Basset Hound face fool you-she was having a ball! The only time she got more excited was Christmas. You think I am joking? She knew which stocking was hers (and she didn't even begrudge Emily too much when she had to share it with her. Emily was our second sweet dog, a black lab who was arguably the most obedient dog to walk the earth, we had to put to sleep at the age of 5 1/2 because she had cancer.) Dogs are so much smarter than people give them credit...Or at least that is what I thought until we got Sadie...JUST KIDDING! sort of...She is only 10 months old so she has time to grow up and make us proud.

Here we are dressed up for our Halloween Family Home Evening Party. Jake didn't want to wear his Renaissance costume so he dug in the Halloween box and wore his Harry Potter robe backwards with my old "Spider Queen" cape (every year I say I am not dressing up and at the last minute Jake talks me into it. I found the cape for $3 at Walmart on year and we have used it over and over again!) and large spider he put on his walking stick. He was a Spider Wizard or something like that. Aaron took the picture because his "costume" was too warm so he had to change out of it.

He had on one (yes he has more than one...WAY more than one) Star Wars t-shirts on and his flannel Star Wars PJ pants (that wast he part that was too warm). He was "dressed up" as a Star Wars fan. And he didn't want to let down his title of our resident PTPP, so he wouldn't pose for any pictures. He claimed he did this so that I could be in the pictures since I never am. I am the official picture taker-he should know this by now...
Dad dressed up as a Pilot. He had on his old flight suit and Jacket from when he did airshows in his Pitts Special plane. You didn't know my dad was a famous stunt pilot on the side of being a corporate pilot did you? I will save that for another post and sadly it was well before the days of You Tube so you can't go look him up or anything. I will fill you all in later, I promise....Along with the post about what I carry in my big purses that I carry that Melissa asked me to blog about over a year ago...I will add it to the list...I am a slacker I know.

I kind of love this picture. I stole that camera from Aaron because he just wasn't getting the shots I was looking for...I am picky about my memories, so sue me! I was doing the classic one handed shot of Jake and I when Aaron crept up behind us to recreate one of our all time favorite pictures....That I will have to add to my list of posts to do in the future because I cant' find the picture at the moment. I have too many pictures to figure out where it could possibly be. I will have to hunt for it because it cracks me up!!!
Since we missed the Ward Trunk-or-Treat and even though our lights were out the doorbell was still ringing (it wasn't quit dark enough for lights out to ward people off yet) we went out side to unload some of our candy before it got dark and so Jake could run across the street and next door to our neighbors that would miss him if he didn't stop by. He was happy with the ring pop and chocolate and we headed inside for our party.
Aaron frosted the cupcakes so I knew he couldn't protest or put his hand up to stop me. Have you ever heard of the new Betty Crocker cupcake mix called "Fun-da-middles"? They were on sale and I had a coupon that doubled so I got the box for around $0.50. We decided that Halloween was a good excuse to try them, especially since this was our first year without a big bag of candy to dig through.
I admit that carving a pumpkin on Halloween may be a little late but come on it is still fun, right? None of the party poopers in my house wanted to do it so the tradition is now 2 years in the past...We have decorated cupcakes the past 2 years so I guess that is our new tradition...I really wanted to carve this pumpkin and I even go the pumpkins to do it. I think I will just do this instead. And then make some of this. I am not going to tell you what it is because I have already told you about my friends awesome new blog and I want you to go check it out...If you are interested enough to see what I am going to do you will have to go see her blog. :) Aren't I tricky? You will love the idea I promise! It will be worth your 5 minutes to check it out!!! Don't you love the spider cape? Jake was working hard on his pumpkin cupcake in this picture. :) (I am a chronic "linker"...I know it's sad...)

The Fun-da-middles got a thumbs up from all of us. I am sure you could easily make this with a regular cake mix and pudding but you couldn't have gotten both of those for $0.50! I love a good deal. I am not a huge chocolate fan but I liked them. We all so go the vanilla cream filled ones. We will have to try to those next because those would be right up my alley!

Papa decided to decorate his to give to Jake. Jake didnt' mind that at all!
After that we played a fun game. We all wrote down what we thought would be a good Halloween costume. Then you stick a paper on your forehead without being able to see who you are. You then ask yes or no questions to figure out who you are. I probably didn't have to go through that whole explanation because you have probably heard about it before...At least in 20 years we will be able to remember what the heck we were doing. :)

Aaron was thrilled to play this game you can tell. :) Poor guy. We are all counting down the days until working 3rd shift is OVER!!!! He is such a good sport to play a silly game when all he really wanted to do was relax and go to bed early on one of his 2 nights at home. You rock Aaron! Even with puffy, tired eyes you are adorable.

I know I could have retaken this so his eyes would have been open but I kind of love this picture. Jake was so excited to play this game and see who he was. It took him a long time to figure out he was himself. Gotta love the leftover cupcake on this face.

Jake and I had the same idea as you can see. Only I didn't spell Vader right...Not sure what I was thinking. I guess I am just not
the Star Wars fan that the guys in my house are.
***Temporary subject change: Can I just tell you after starting to blog in 2008 (...I know that doesn't show up on my blog anymore...Long story...) and I just now figured out how to get the pictures and words to go together and not take up so much space. I am computer illiterate. I'm okay with that. The real problem is that it is probably a fluke that I will never be able to accomplish again...I will keep my fingers crossed.***

Jake did my good idea for a costume tag. I finally figured it out when he told me that I had been it before...Since it is a made up character it was very helpful to get that information. :)

All in all our first Halloween without trick-or-treating was pretty darn fun! I did realize as we were playing our game and laughing...that I was really getting tired of having to take my inhaler after just laughing. I have been having to take it 3 to 5 times a day for the past few weeks even though I am taking the miracle drug for asthmatics: Advair. I bit the bullet and headed to the doctor the next day and had my first breathing treatment (double dose...) in something like 17 years. It turns out that although the antibiotics did get rid of my walking pneumonia, I didn't do what my doctor said and take it easy...I ended up weakening my lungs and my fall allergies kicked in before my lungs were ready for it. I am on some heavy duty steroids (not that muscle building illegal ones don't worry. :) ) and I have to go back to see her on Friday. I can't tell you how awesome it is to be able to breath again. I am taking it easy this time because I don't want to get permanent damage and I was threatened that I must do so all the way from the Ukraine, by my mom...so I am being good. Papa has been a life saver with Aaron's crazy schedule and took Jake to the Kid's Advisory Board he is apart of at the Library and to cub scouts tonight. Thanks Dad!

I take it all back about figuring out how to line the picture and text up to take up less space. It worked for the first half...not so much for the second half. I jinxed myself yet again. Maybe next time!

Putting Pinterest ideas to the test and cheering up a friend.

2011-10-30T22:48:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am addicted to Pinterest. In order to make my self feel less guilty about it I have been putting some of the amazing ideas to the test. I will admit that I did pick some pretty easy ones, but you have to start some where right? I already did the chore magnets and cute laminated room cleaning check lists, so I figured one more easy one would seal the deal. Introducing the $0.96 (there really should be a cent symbol on the computer...) soap holder turned card holder:

Smart, easy, and cheap. That is right up my alley.
The next thing I tested out was this:

Yes, the concept worked, but I am adding a step so I don't have to rub my skin raw trying to get off all the extra nail polish. I put Aquaphor (you could use Vasaline) all around my finger (except the nail itself) so when the nail polish dries I could just wipe it and the extra nail polish off. It took some time but what else am I supposed to do on a night Aaron works and I can't sleep. There isn't anything good on TV at 1:00am so I swirled my nails. :)

We also put a couple of "recipes" to the test when we went to visit Jake's buddy Corey for a "field trip". Corey had to have surgery on Wednesday to take car of an awful broken arm (Corey on a bike vs. hill...The hill won, poor kid) and needed some cheering up, so we packed up some fun one handed science experiment and headed out. We decided if we did science experiments we could still say we homeschooled.

Okay, so how cute is Jake? I love that he loves to read so much that he does it in the car even though we have a portable DVD player. :) He was finishing Seekers #1-The Quest Begins. He started reading it a while ago but got interested in about a dozen other books. He finally came back to it and really loved it. He wanted to finish it so that he could loan it to Corey to read.

We made a "lava lamp"-there is no lamp just lava, but it turned out very cool!

I love this picture of Jake and his lava bottle. That makes more sense than lamp, don't you think?

We even brought a festive $0.99 (see I needed the cent symbol again!), Halloween tablecloth. Just in case of spillage or worst case scenario: an explosion. You never no with science experiments. I guess you can really only call them science experiments if you include an explanation of why it works...That will be a follow up lesson-they were way to distracted. :)

We also made slime. Don't worry they played for hours before we "forced" them to sit and do "science experiments". :)

Turns out you do need two hands to mix it. Corey's didn't really turn out so great because of the whole "one hand" thing, so Carrie (Corey's mom. Yep spelled the same name as me and everything. Do you know how weird it is leaving a voice mail and saying: "Hey Carrie! It's...Carrie...".) stepped in and tried to salvage the goop!

It didn't work so, we ended up adding all sorts of stuff to it just for the fun of it. More glue, more borax,...and more food coloring...It looked like bleeding intestines to me...That probably really isn't what intestines would look like but with it being Halloween weekend that is what came to mind. :)

Jake decided to add some more food coloring to his too and here is another Halloween"ish" photo for your viewing pleasure.

Yes, even though he has showered and washed his hands a bagillion times he went to church today with tinted fingernail beds. A crazy angle for a cray slime picture. We were going for mad scientist creepy...

And just because I miss my Basset Hound (and first baby) named Daisy, I had to take a shot of their sweet doggie. This sweet face belongs to Billy. How cute are Basset Hounds?

We had a ton of fun hanging with Corey-so much so that we were tired pooped to go to trunk-or-treat that night...That was Jake's decision and we didn't mind at all. :) We are skipping the whole trick-or-treat thing tomorrow and opting for a family Halloween party for FHE. Then on Tuesday morning we are hitting the stores and getting 70% off Halloween candy (an idea that I would like to carry through to Christmas, but no one else is buying into the idea...)! Why spend $50 to hand out candy and go to peoples houses we don't know, to get candy we may not like? We are turning off the outside lights, carving our pumpkin (no we still haven't done that...) and planning on what candy we really want to buy for cheap the next day. We are kind of party poopers when it comes to Halloween I guess. The past couple of years of Aaron in school have made us home bodies and I don't mind that at all. When we are all home (and awake) we want to be together. What can I say? We like each other. :)

Wow...Was that brave or stupid?

2011-10-26T11:50:00.005-04:00

What would you do if you pinned an amazing quote, by an amazing man, onto your Pinterest "I am a Mormon" board, and came back later to have 28 comments about it? Not good comments...except a couple (thank you!). I was SHOCKED!!!! What else could I do but comment in a non-offensive way and defend my beliefs? I hope it wasn't offensive...If you have time go here and read the madness that occurred. You just have to scroll down after the quote. Then read my comment and let me know if I made it worse or better...Part of me is hoping that no one who made these comments will even go back and look again. There were a few other members (that I don't know) of the church that defended it in a not so nice way. They got their feelings hurt and got sucked into the argument. I felt the need to end the discussion since it is my pin board!!!! By the way here is the quote that had people up in arms:

I think that a women could feel guilty if they read this quote is if you choose to work. A lot of women have to work in this economy. If you choose to work for an ego boost or for all the extras in life(not the necessities-I am talking the things you don't need but just want) and make your family 2nd priority, than maybe this would make you feel guilty and even offended...I don't get it...But then again I know President Hinckley was NOT a sexist. He had an amazing love and respect for women. I also know my divine nature and what I am here in this life to do. President Hinckley knew (knows...) that there is NO ONE more capable of nurturing a child than that child's mother. Notice I said nurturing-I believe 100% it takes a mother and father to RAISE a child. Okay...I am just rambling now but I can't believe people got so worked up about a quote I like and they don't even have to read if they don't want to! Crazy...

Here is the catch. Right after reading and responding I decided to check out my friend Melissa's blog since I haven't read it in a while...This is what her latest post was about. Not the same scenario, but it made me think I should have "LET IT GO". Should I have read this post before I responded on Pinterest?...

I am pretty sure that what I did was stupid but I felt brave doing it. Have you done anything in your life that made you feel brave...or you had to be brave to do it? If so what's your story? Check out what other people had to say about being brave over at Cocoa's Wordfull Wednesday.

A Book Review and a good lesson for me...

2011-10-24T08:57:00.004-04:00

What can I say I got this book for free so I read it? Our library is taking part in "The Big Read". Apparently people don't read anymore so the National Endowment for the Arts (does that mean taxpayers are paying for this? I really hope not. I need to look into that. I may give my copy back to the library...AHHHH! I just looked it up. The NEA "budget" for 2011 was $154...I am taking this book back to the library and telling them to keep it TODAY.) give people a book for free and the library has book clubs, art exhibits, movie viewing (the Sci-Fi channel made this book into a mini series-which the author had no part in and didn't like at all how they changed her characters and basically took out the important parts and just added violence...Why would I watch that?) and even dance/singing recitals to get people to read again. I kind of wish I looked into a little more ahead of time ("the big read" and Ursula K. Le Guin) because if I had, I probably wouldn't have bothered to read it. The book is...okay? I am not a Science Fiction fan (yes I loved Harry Potter and Twilight, but I honestly don't think they truly fit into that category...at all) but the word FREE is hard for me to pass up. I have come into the habit of reading for too long at night on the nights Aaron is at work and I actually only had around 10 pages left in the book last night and at 10pm (that isn't a late night reading by any stretch of the imagination...) I was literally falling asleep so I had to stop reading. I finished it this morning. It wasn't a boring or bad book, it just isn't my kind of book. It is about a wizard named Ged and his journey to becoming a true wizard and defeating a dark shadow he released as a boy because of his pride...yada yada yada (I LOVE that this came up to spell check and gave "Yoda" as a choice to correct it!)...That is all I can muster to explain what it was about. I didn't dislike A Wizard of Earthsea, but I didn't really like it either. That is the best I can do. In the beginning I thought I would like it. At times I even really enjoyed it. But then I just read it to see what would happen. I read a little about Le Guin and decided I wouldn't bother with any more of her books because she is a liberal, feminist (in the worldly "burn your bra" kind of way. I believe in feminism in a very less worldly way-read this if you want to know what I mean.) that writes about gender neutrality, anarchist, and other things I just think are kind of stupid. None of these themes were in this book and it is a safe read-other than the creepy "dark shadow" he had to destroy...take back...I am not even sure what really happened because it went from describing the encounter with the shadow that Ged was having, to what his friend that accompanied him on the last leg of quest who thought was a battle but couldn't really see what was happening...Blah, blah, blah...I am getting sick of talking about it. If you are a huge science fiction/Le Guin fan and you happen to stumble upon this post through the world wide web-don't take offense. I am more of a classics kind of girl. Anne of Green Gables, Sense and Sensibility, and Little Women are all in my top 10 favorite books. If you are a sci-fi fan you will probably love this book. Me not so much-though at times I did get sucked in. So, I guess that means it is good if a non-sci-fi fan liked some parts of it enough to think in the end this may be a favorable review. Now I really am going to go back to my lists of classics. I said I was going to do that after finishing the Help (which I liked 95% of and the other parts were too much for this sheltered, conservative). This time I mean it. I am thinking some Mark Twain (never read anything but quotes by him...sad I know) is sounding good right about now...

***Update*** When we homeschool we start with our "morning routine" (pledge, morning prayer, scripture study...). In the Thomas Jefferson Education book I read, it says right after this (but before you get into studying secular things) you should take the time to teach something "that is your own". Something I have learned in my studies that I can teach him. They called it "kid school", but we are calling it "Mommy school" because it makes more sense to us...and yes Jake does still call me Mommy and I am soooo glad. I decided to start doing Mommy School today so I could teach him the lesson I learned just this morning. Jake and I had a great discussion today about the fact that we need to learn about our government. We can't complain about the way things are run if we aren't willing to study it and take part in changing what it wrong. So, we decided we are going to start studying, more in depth, the branches of the government and their responsibilities. We discussed why we monitor what he reads, plays on the Wii, and watches on TV. I told him about the things I learned about the author of this book (how she writes in later books in this series about gender neutrality, feminism, and anarchy...) I just finished reading and what other books in her series start to talk about-things that we don't believe in. I told him about the National Endowment of the Arts and the founding for the "Big Read". Long story...shorter...we had a discussion about researching before jumping in to something. We talked about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and how we know that our gender is an essential characteristic that we were given by Heavenly Father (when I was explaining why I wouldn't read any more of her books). We talked about our roles as women and men-fathers and mothers. I told him that there may come a time that he does like the fact that we won't let him read certain books or watch certain shows but that I hoped he would always remember why we did it. We talked about so much and it was so AWESOME! When we were done I told him that was what I wanted to talk to him about for "Mommy School" (I am not sure that is the name we will stick with...) today. To this he said: "That was Mommy School? I thought we were just talking!" We were. And that is why, even though it is Hard (notice the capitol H), we homeschool.

Project Granola Mom

2011-10-21T22:14:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine is on a mission. Her mission? To spread her knowledge and she has a ton of it trust me! (When we both lived in Asheville she started up an exercise class at Church and she is a step aerobics queen!) She is the go to person on nutrition, exercise, and being an in shape Mommy. You HAVE to check out her blog. I am a huge fan and she has only just begun! Check it out-I know you will love Project Granola Mom.

Della's Visit

2011-10-21T20:24:00.003-04:00

I would like you to meet Della (this is when she figured out the "bird"-we use that term loosely because it really doesn't look much like a bird-Tangram):

If you have followed my blog for a while than you know she is my niece. Or if you read my last post you will see her in all the fair pictures! :) Della is Aaron's older sister, Ranee's 2nd daughter. Did you follow that? She is just over a year older than Jake (Jake was 10 the end of Aug. & Della was 11 the beginning of July.) and I have the cutest picture of her holding him when he was 4 days old.
Any way! Jake and Della are good buddies and she happened to have a teachers workday today so she came to spend a couple of nights with us. We did a very light day of homeschooling today so they would have time to have all kinds of fun. We just did Family Math and Art. Cocoa over at Chocolate on my Cranium did this post on 3D drawing and I have been waiting for the perfect chance to do it.

We like to sharpen both ends of our colored pencils so they are always ready to use. I love this shot of Jake. His pencil was moving so fast it is blurry!.

I think I had the most fun doing it...They didn't finish theirs. This is in the process...

.....Then we took a break and went to the park.

Sadie couldn't resist the kiddos playing with out her so she learned how through the tube...

...and down the slide. I don't know if she really liked it but she did it a couple of times to make everyone happy.

When we got back to the house they played the Wii, while I finished my 3D hand-that I love so much I laminated it. Seriously, I really did laminate it...and I put it on the fridge because it has been a really long time since I had a picture on the fridge. I wish I took a picture of Della and Jake looking at my picture on the fridge and saying it looked so professional. (That made me happy). I think they are just jealous that they didn't finish theirs yet and get it put up on the fridge. :)

I also made some very cool chore magnets, (I made mine a little different but it is the same idea). I got the idea on Pinterest. Jake is saving up his money to buy a riffle (guess who gave him that idea? Daddy) and he doesn't get paid an allowance (we have done it in the past but not so much lately. There are things you just have to do to live in our house and there isn't always time to do more than that to earn money...because lets face it there are much more fun things to do than more work. :) ), so the money doesn't add up very quickly. I decided to make the magnets so Jake can look on the fridge and decide to do an "extra chore" for cash. You know all the ones I don't want to do. :) I have things like "27 Fling Boogie"-have you heard of that? (Check out this awesome decluttering and house cleaning website. I ~~used to do this~~ tried to do it once but fizzled out...Some day I will be that organized) You go in a room (Jake would only be allowed to do this in his room because I don't want him tossing my stuff!) and find 27 things to throw away to clear out the clutter. If he does that he gets $1.00! He gets 50cents if he "dirties a rag". That means he has to get a white cleaning rag and clean stuff until the rag is dirty! Depending on what room he goes in, it may not take that long... :) I love this idea and Jake is pretty psyched about it too. There is one that says "Mom's choice" and one that says "Dad's choice". He gets $1 for each-but he doesn't get to know what it is ahead of time and he has to do it. I hope he picks this one first because I HATE this chore:

We just got done eating calzones and watching the cutest movie, that if you can find, you should totally watch. It is by Disney and is called "The Secret of the Magic Gourd" (or as Jake kept calling it "gorge"...). We saw it at our local video store and it looked and sounded so good. We had never heard of it and found out why once it started playing.

See how cute Baily and the frog are!

It must have been made in Japan and then they dubbed the English over it-which was pretty funny at first but it was sooo good. You will laugh out loud (at a little frog running on it's back legs like a human) and has a great message. I am assuming in Japan they have a legend of the Magic Gourd. Whoever finds it can make all the wishes it wants. The boy in it, Raymond (who is probably in the 6th grade or so-I am guessing), finds it while fishing and can't believe his luck. Raymond wishes for all sorts of things like getting good grades, but the Gourd uses his magic to take all the writing off a smart girls paper in the class-including her name. Raymond gets accused of cheating-which he did. He says he loves all the toys at the toy store so they all end up in his bedroom. He gets on the swim team but Bailey (the Gourd) helps him swim super fast. Finally the boy realizes that even with the help of a magic gourd you can't accomplish anything with out hard work. I won't tell you the ending because you have got to watch it. I did snap a couple of pictures just because we couldn't get over how cute the darn Gourd and Frog were. Yes, I know I take too many picture, but I know it sounds like a crazy movie! We figured if you see the Raymond, you will fall in love with his cuteness and want to go rent it! I hope you can find it because it is so worth it. :)

The past week and a half in one post...I am warning you I didn't even edit it this one...

2011-10-20T11:59:00.001-04:00

Am I the only one that never seems to be caught up on what I call my scrapbook posts? The reason I started blogging in the first place: to document our lives...Here are a few of the things we did last week-not in any order at all...

Jake and Corey, after what seemed like hours of playing the Wii, decided to take a break and put their imaginations to work (and I didn't even tell them it was time to turn it off. That makes me happy.). They made up a super hero they wanted to be and drew it. Then they explained to each other what they could do and what their powers were. Boys are pretty cool when they aren't being gross and crazy. :)

This is Jake smiling after we did math. That is right he was smiling. Even though he loves math he doesn't usually smile after it because there are so much better things you can be doing when you are at home. That is one of the things that makes homeschooling tough-you are home...where all your toys live. But after this fun math lesson we are hooked on a book I heard about on Latter Day Homeschooling (which is on of the websites you could sit and read for hours). It is called Family Math and we are doing it on Fridays to take a break from the norm. We learned about tangrams and made up puzzles for one another to solve.
AND my genius husband found the most amazing website called Khan Academy. You have got to check it out. This very cool guy had made awesome videos that explain math in a way that even I may learn to like. Have you ever heard of lattice multiplication? You probably have because you aren't as dumb as me in math. It is pretty cool. I want whatever this guy is using to make these videos. I have no need for it, but I want it.

We had a 3 in 1: play, school, chore the other day and it wasn't planned. Those are some of the best teaching moments. We decided to play with action figures in the sink and pretend they were discovering a sea that no one had ever swam in with creatures that were never seen before (Ben 10 aliens and GI Joe action figures + Jake's imagination is always interesting.). When we were just about done we made whirl pools to see if it would drag the action figures around. It did-which was pretty cool. We also watched as funnels (I can't think what they are called right now so I am just going with funnel....you know when it looks like a tornado in the water?) were made as we drained the water from the sink. I took pictures of the funnels but uploaded the wrong one so the picture below is Jake making the whirl pool with his action figure in his hand when we dropped it in after it zoomed around the sink with the current.

Then we shined the sink with some comet (I prefer Bar Keepers Friend-have you ever used that? It is awesome for shining sinks and cleaning glass stove tops. Try it you will love it!) Jake was surprised how shiny the sink was after. We were multitasking and we didn't even plan it. :)

I no longer feel guilty about sitting for long periods of time on Pinterest. I have done a couple of the ideas I thought were cool so it is worth the time I ~~waste~~ spend on it! I made these cute little lists of the basic chores we have to do to pick up each room in the house. I liked the idea even though Aaron said: "Don't you just know what you have to do by now?" Yes dear husband I do, but it is fun to look at these cute little laminated (I love to laminate) lists (I love lists) and check off what I have done. Not to mention it reminds we to smile while doing it. See how the little 1950's housewife is smiling while she cleans? Plus I can give one to Jake and tell him to go forth and clean the living room while I clean the kitchen and he won't have any excuse about not knowing what to do. It is actually much more fun to guess how long it will take to clean a room and see who was closer after we clean it together. :)

We also did this cool idea to the left. You use a ketchup bottle to have pancake mix on hand and ready to use anytime. Jake has been really into making breakfast for the past couple of weeks and today (yes I these pictures are actually from today) he made a special heart shaped pancake for Nee. She is going to spend a little over a month with Tina (my sis) and her family in the Ukraine, so Jake wanted her to have a special breakfast.

This is Jake's pancake. It was extra large with chocolate and peanut butter chips in it. Doesn't really sound like breakfast...more like dessert!

On Tuesday we went to our local library for "Ghosts Galore!" An author from the Carolina's named Terrrance Zepke was there to share some ghost stories from her lasted book called Ghosts of the Carolinas for Kids that we got. She autographed it and wrote "Jake read with all the lights on!". (Later we talked about how when ever someone asked her if ghosts were real she laughed and kind of talked about something else. She did a great job of telling the stories in a way that wasn't scary and let you know that although she thinks ghosts are an interesting idea she may not actually believe in them. :) She travels the two states and gathers research on "hauntings" that people claim to have happened and shares them with us! She was really funny and not only does she love ghost stories but she loves PIRATES. We have been searching for some books about Black Beard (he was a real pirate that I am sure you have heard of that terrorized the Carolina coast and his ship sunk and he was killed in NC) because Jake really wants to do a project about him. Ms. Zepke also wrote a book called Pirates of the Carolinas that we got that not only is full of Black Beard facts, but also 3 other pirates of the Carolinas.

Since Nee is going to be gone for Thanksgiving we decided to celebrate it with her before she left. it was a "quick" Thanksgiving dinner as far as preparations. We used Stove Top stuffing, potato pearls, and Jiffy corn bread mix. It wasn't the full blown meal but it worked! Papa isn't going this time because he is going to go in March when Saku turns 8 and gets baptized.

We couldn't resist letting Sadie have her first Thanksgiving meal with us. She got the left over potato pearls and the turkey skin and fat. I have never seen her eat so fast!

We were domestic last week too: My mom and I canned meat! Sounds gross and I have to say it looks gross but it tastes great. Aaron just walked in eating the homemade cookies I promised I would make him 2 weeks ago and finally did. He looked at the picture to the left and said: "Oh look a picture of a jar of raw meat." He doesn't understand the hard work that goes into canning, the mess it makes in the kitchen, the danger of exploding canners. He doesn't understand that I have to document this so that

our posterity will now I am not a complete slacker. Women in 2011 do can! Not as much as women of the past did-they had to. We do it for our family...And so we can brag and feel like we are awesome when it comes to being prepared...even if it is just every now and then. Mom posed for a picture. She was humoring me, isn't that nice of her?

It was still boiling after we took it out of the canner for at least an hour. We remembered (it has been a LONG time since we have canned meat) that you need to kind of stuff it in a little so it will be more full. Next time... I know it looks gross but seriously pour this in a pot with the juices, add a little flour to thicken it, along with potatoes, carrots, and an onion and you have the best beef stew EVER! Canned red potatoes are amazing too....

On Saturday we went to Spartanburg for the county fair. Nana works at it every year and got us tickets to get in and a wrist bracelet for Jake to go on all the rides as much as he wanted-all for free! Thanks Nana!!!! We had a blast. Jake and Della must have ridden a million rides and I of course have the pictures to prove it.

I just realized I didn't warn you ahead of time this was going to be a long post with lots of pictures...Sorry. This is your official warning. Matt (Aaron's little bro), Jeremy (bro-in-law), and Aaron are the guys leaning against fence. See the empty swing? Della is right behind it and Jake is behind her.

I also just realized I don't really have to tell you about every picture of the fair...You are on your own from here on out. Jake, Della, and sometimes Matt are in the picture of the rides somewhere. You can think of this kind of like a where's waldo.

Except this one on the left! Matt and Erin are having a baby!!! They told us while we were eating lunch. Erin said: "We brought dessert!" and put the cake down on the table. How cute it that? Congrats guys. I am calling a girl and it isn't just because we have the only boy grandson so far either. :)

Papa Harmon's hand carved goat won a second place ribbon.

We finished off the evening at Nana and Papa's with a fire and roasting marsh mellows.

Last Tuesday we went to the Rain-aissance Festival...I mean Renaissance Festival. We had about 2 hours with misty rain and the rest with full on getting drenched rain...It was still fun and spent the week before studying the Renaissance and even making our costumes to wear. It was pretty fun and educational. We even had a girl stop Jake and I to take our picture. We must have looked pretty authentic. :) It is usually only open on the weekends, except a couple of school days during the week. You could tell who the homeschoolers were because we were in costume.

Random picture upload in the wrong spot! Jake lost another tooth last week while eating his lunch. The tooth fairy still has not brought him his money for it yet...He keeps reminding me but I keep forgetting. :)

I have to brag just a little...When the King and Queen went by with their royal court everyone was supposed to bow in the Renaissance fashion. Those of us who did our research (they had a packet of info. that you could down load to learn all about the Renaissance. We had fun reading it and learning how they spoke, dressed, and lived.) knew that we needed to bow or curtsy. Well any way, the Queen saw me curtsy and she said: "Very well done", as she bowed her head back at me. It is amazing what being in costume and playing the part can do-it makes you feel like you are there living in that time period. I am sure any Renaissance maiden would have been very excited if the Queen spoke to them personally. :)

The joust was very cool, even though we were sitting in the pouring rain. Our knight to cheer on was "Sir Max A Million" and though he was not the "good knight" he was much more fun to watch and seemed to be very "knightly". Is that a word? The other knight was a skinny guy that didn't really look very tough. Our knight really looked like a knight. It didn't hurt that he was very handsome either. :)

That is a rain drop going by Jake's nose-not snot. I promise. We couldn't resist the cool Jester hat. It was only $6 and it kept his head dry...kind of...Can you tell the fun was wearing off.

This is the view of the mass exodus at about 1:00 from the safety of my umbrella. A lot of people gave up and called it quits about the same time we did.

As we were leaving I took a shot of the people biding us farewell. You can really see how bad it was raining in this shot. The guy was saying to me: "Madam do not point that cannon at us!..." He said something else but I was too busy laughing. They are in character at all times and do not reference things from our time out right. He meant cannon as in a weapon...but also a hint to the camera brand Canon. I know it was too far away for him to see, but my camera really is a Canon. :)

Something I want to remember so I have to write it down....

2011-10-13T22:28:00.000-04:00

I am going to try and make this quick (that is hard for me...) because I need to head to bed, but I knew if I didn't write it down now I would forget. So, here it is:

Jake got in trouble today because he made a bad choice (he stuck up for his best friend when someone hit him on the hand with a broom by kicking the "bully"...longer story than that but that is the gist of it) and I was ~~yelling at him~~ telling him how I felt about that bad choice. He was upset (and let me add tired...not an excuse just a fact) so he cried and felt horrible. I wanted him to feel horrible because he shouldn't have done it...Just not that horrible...Okay back to making this short. When he was getting into bed, we talked and said individual prayers about what happened and cuddled. While I was praying, I asked Heavenly Father to let Jake know that no matter what he does we (myself and Heavenly Father...lots of other people too-and we talked about that also-but at the moment it was just us) will always be there for him. That he can always talk to us. I felt the Spirit come into my heart and after we were both done praying I told Jake what I prayed about and how I felt. He started crying and said that praying about it made him feel a little better and that he felt the Spirit too. Then he said, while hugging me around my neck and breaking my heart wide open: "I could never live with out you." I said I felt the same way. Then he said: "But some day I will have to." (I paused because he is right, he will have to live without me some day...Scary thought, for selfish reasons-I want to be here for everything in his whole life! Every second. Wow how does Heavenly Father let us do this whole mortality thing?!) To which I said: "But we will be together again and no matter how hard life can be you can always talk to Heavenly Father." I may have said more but my mind was still stuck on not wanting to miss any second of his life...Then he said (*tear*): "You always comfort me." If I was smart I would have said something like so can the Holy Ghost and used it as a teaching moment. Instead I just hugged him back and told him I loved him. All the eye rolling, the "do we have to do ____ (insert whatever topic we are about to move onto next while homeschooling...) now?", and sighing (all of which he gets from me...) went right out the window. It doesn't matter (it does but not as much) how good I am at teaching him math. It matters how I teach him to follow the Spirit. To pray for forgiveness, and turn to the Lord for peace. To feel remorse when you make a wrong choice and to know there will always be someone to help make it better. And that someone won't always be me...even though I really want it to be...Heavenly Father will always be there for Jake, even when I can't be....

Isn't it amazing that when you are taking a moment to teach your child what is really important, you realize you are the one that needed the lesson?

Want to feel like you have accomplished something when you really haven't?

2011-10-12T17:01:00.000-04:00

Go to Pinterest...It is addictive. I have gathered ideas on how to organize, decorate, homeschool, etc...When I really should have been doing all these things. And yet I don't feel like I have wasted time because I am "planning" to do these things even better than I was doing them before. It is like a little vacation for your brain while gathering things you love into one pretty, and somewhat organized place that you don't even have to dust. Does it get any better than that? Maybe being the person that came up with all these brilliant ideas...I will have to work on a board for that next...."My Brilliant Ideas!"-it may be blank for a while. :)