Randomness

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, because well I really haven't.

It's been a crazy few weeks here on the home front.  We all came down with some kind of cold and mine is still lingering on.  I just can't shake this sinus stuff. Problem is when I have all this pressure in my head I just can't make myself work out.  It's been THREE weeks since I've been to the gym and the more the time passes the more I begin to stress and stress that I haven't been going.

I've GOT to get back into it next week.

Last week also why we were all sick, my oldest played Little Red Riding Hood in her school musical "Into The Woods."  SUPER proud of that girl.  She is such a sweetheart and has so much talent, and she is absolutely gorgeous.  Her inside matches her outside though, she is wonderful through and through.

One of my dear friends asked me if I was wearing flannel pajamas.  NOPE just my big long thick jacket. (though as sick as I was and as cold as it was in there that may have been a better solution.  I think if you look close I have icicles hanging from my nose.)

Last week I also ordered my girls bunk bed.  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of it.  If you missed my post I rationalized not building a bunk bed because we are just SO busy right now.

It's probably a good thing.  Remember my entryway bench?  Yup, still working on that.  I have ONE more coat of paint then poly to put on it and I'm done.  This project has been slow going for me but really I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

Back onto bunk beds.  Yesterday I went out to buy the girls comforters and everything is CRAZY expensive for the cute stuff.  I found one at Kohls 65% off.  It's SUPER cute but has not ONE bit of purple in it, but the colors seem to blend.  My girls walls are a purple/lavender color.  I went ahead and bought them but I'm freaking out that they won't look well in the room.

It seems like it may blend ok.  I don't think Lucy is gonna let me take them back.  She seems to REALLY love her new comforter.

Also I've been in the middle of a pretty great parenting bible study by Andy Stanley.

It never ceases to amaze me that God puts me exactly where he wants me.  This is SO completely relevant to areas of our parenting life right now it is great.  It's so simple, yet so wonderful.  I'm learning SO much about the importance of relationships in my kids lives.  It talks a LOT about how this generation tends to be experience rich but relationally poor, and how to fine tune/dial in and out certain relationships in the kids lives.  I'm loving it.

The ONLY hiccups is the memory verse memorization that comes along with the bible study.  Arrgh that has me sweating bullets come Monday morning group time ;)

As if we were not busy enough last week my husband had drill (for those of you who don't know he is in the National Guard) AND we had our cub scouts blue and gold banquet.  Blue and Gold is like our BIG event of the year, and I was the chairman in charge of getting the banquet put together.

Thankfully it went off pretty well.  I'm so proud of my son he earned his Webelos badge!

My husband pinning on his badge

Sorry for the blurry photo, that's the best I got.  (as you can see my husband was still in uniform...came straight from drill to the banquet).

Isn't he just the most handsome boy scout ever?

Ok, him and Bear Grylls.  Behr Grylls may be the most handsome boy scout ever, but my son is right up there ;)

img from the scouting pages.com

I kid, I kid.  (My husband can't get jealous because I'm pretty certain he has a man crush on Bear Grylls).

Also we have been strongly thinking about cutting the cord on our cable.  I'm still in the research phase to see if I can actually do this, but it's looking promising!  The only hiccup right now is the stupid data caps that Cox has placed on their internet service.  I could write a whole blog post rant on that but I'll spare you the agony of me on my soapbox.

So, needless to say we have been pretty busy.  I don't ever see it slowing down anytime soon, but hopefully I'll start feeling better and get my train back on the track.

Why I'm NOT making a bunk bed

So, if you've been around our family or this blog for any amount of time,  you know we like to be frugal around here.  We also like to make things ourselves.  We kinda pride ourselves in it, being able to create and take something for little and make it into something kinda awesome.

That is why it pains me a bit to be PURCHASING bunk beds.

I had all intentions to make this bed:

img from Ana White.com courtesy of Ever Heard of Eueless

This is Ana's bunk bed plan, made by Ever Heard of Eueless.  Beautiful.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  Problem is when I started pricing out the cost of the materials, plus mattresses, plus paint, plus my time, I was only saving about $50 bucks.  $100 if I was lucky.  Let's be honest people.  I'd pay someone $50-$100 bucks to sand for me.  As much as I love to build, can you imagine all the SANDING on this bed.  (no sanding makes me happy).

There are times in your life when time is more precious than money.  This is one of those moments.

Right now our family is smack dab in the middle of military stuff, boy scout banquets, a lead role in a school musical, workout and weight loss plans, tumbling practice and training for 10K's.

Oh also my youngest has learned to climb in and out of her crib, so a new bed is really needed ASAP.

Taking 2-3 weekend to build a bed, actually just FINDING two to three free weekends to build a bed is just not feasible right now.

So, I bite the bullet, throw in the towel.  I'm buying the bed.  I'm sure someday sometime down the road I may regret this decision.  (trust me I've gone back and forth over this for the past several weeks), but for now its the best decision to be made.

A Work In Progress

Ok.  Take a step back.  Breathe.

Something is terribly wrong in this home, and I'm pretty sure that it's me.

The more I try to let things go, to let go of perfection, to care less about what people think the more it eats at me.

The more that God tries to work on this area of my life, the more it hurts.  The harder it gets.

People will be coming into my home in the next few hours and I'm freaking out over the crayon on the walls, the dog hair on my sofa and the clutter in my home.

So I get up and I start cleaning.  As I start to clean I notice a pair of my husbands shorts next to the bed on the floor.  I pick those up.  After I pick those up I realize laundry needs done.  I start collecting a mess of dirty clothes that was strewn about my house.

I come downstairs to load the laundry and notice about a dozen pair of shoes in my basket by the door.  I throw those on the stairs and start making a "go upstairs pile".  I notice pieces of paper that my daughter has thrown all over the floor.  I pick up all the little pieces of paper and I can feel myself getting more frustrated.

Every room I go into has a mess to clean up.  Once I get a room clean, and move onto the next, by the time I go BACK into the first room, there is a NEW mess, a new blanket fort, something else to pick up.

I'm truly chasing a tornado.  My effort is all in vain.

So what do I do rather than give up on perfection?  I cry.  I yell.  I get angry.  I give into my sin and disgusting behavior rather than pray, work on it and do what I need to do.  I take my frustration out on those closest to me, my kids, my husband, my WONDERFUL family.  Those who it will effect the most.  Those who are watching me and learning what it is to be like Christ. 

Then I hate myself.  So I cry more, I feel shame. My sin disgusts me.  It makes me physically ill.  I feel pain in my body, I feel an ache in the pit of my stomach when I allow it to take control.  It hurts.

Then it hits me.  A song I haven't heard in about 25 years.  A song I sung in Sunday School as a kid.  A sweet little tune.

He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.

There really ought to be a sign upon the heart,
Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part.
But I'll be perfect just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master's loving hands.

In the mirror of His Word reflections that I see
Make me wonder why He never gave up on me.
He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray
Remember He's the Potter, I'm the clay.

I'm currently taking a parenting class at church.  The other night they used an example of a blacksmith forming a horse shoe.  Sometimes the blacksmith has to bang on it gently to get it the shape that it needs.  Other times he has to apply heat, put it in the fire, to really shape it to where it needs to be.

Right now, I think that God is putting me under the fire.  It burns.  It hurts.  But he is shaping me.  He is making me the wife, the mother the woman I am supposed to be.

Rather than worrying about the way my home looks, I need to worry about my homes atmosphere.  I want people to feel the love of Christ as they walk through my door.  I want them to feel joy.  The wonderful joy that comes from my amazing kids.  I want them to roar with laughter like we do at times.  I want them to experience the feeling of family.

I can't do it on my own.  I need Christ every day to give me strength, and patience.   I need him to make me less selfish.  Because on my own I will only fail.

Most of all I need to realize that He's still working on me.

 ¹ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{[a] 2} For the law of the Spirit of life has set you^[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
 ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 

 -Romans 8:1-11

 

2011 In Review

My first initial reaction was to say that I hope that 2012 is better than 2011. However when I really stop to look back 2011 was not bad at all, it was just full of busyness, which in turn makes things seem more stressful than what they really are. I think my biggest problem is that I need to chill. Relax. Stop and enjoy the small moments more, because when I truly look back and reflect on 2011 it was a pretty awesome year.

In January I started out really trying to organize my life and my heart. Traci from Beneath My Heart started posts about "Organizing My Heart and Home". It was something I could totally get on board with, so not only did I start working on my heart spiritually, but I started out by decrapifying (word stolen from TDC) my life. It started with my laundry closet project.

Next I moved on to my medicine cabinet:

Then my girls room:

 

After that I took a break on organization and went on a blogging hiatus.  I was busy doing some pretty cool things!  I went down to Austin, TX for spring break for SXSW, and got to spend some time with these lovely ladies:

I got REALLY sunburnt waiting in line for a band we never got to see, which was a bummer.  But I couldn't think of two better ladies to stand in line with.

I came home, and celebrated SIX years with this wonderful guy:

I went back home to Phoenix for a trip in April.  It was amazing.  I got to spend REALLY wonderful quality time with my sister in law, and of course dinner with my besties.  Miss these gals SO much.  It was a great night, full of fun, laughter and of course Sangria.

 

We traveled to Missouri to see my brother in law graduate from basic training.  So proud of that guy!  My husband decided to go back into the military and joined the National Guard.  Can't tell you how honored I am to be a soldiers wife, and how proud I am of the soldiers in our family!

We had all the cousins here at the same time!  It was great spending time with those kiddos!

Sometime in July, just like Forrest Gump I started running.  I really focused most of my summer on my fitness, working on me for a bit.  I spent time running, in boot camp, in Zumba.  My husband (who does Crossfit) convinced me to do a hero WOD with him, and in September we did 31 Heroes to help raise money for families the 31 Navy Seals that died in Afghanistan. 

Our WONDERFUL team.  Couldn't do it without them.

Then some other great stuff happened, my daughter started pre-k, my oldest made the cheer squad and my son graduated to Webelos.  So proud of my kids! 

Then the weather started cooling down and I got back into the spirit of all things DIY.  I started fall out by renovating my downstairs half bath.

Then I tagged along with my husband to Orlando for an IT conference.  Who knew how FUN some IT nerds could be?  We seriously had a BLAST dancing the night away!

Once I start a project it usually begins a whirlwind of other projects, and this was no exception.  Right after the bathroom I moved onto what is my favorite project of the year, painting my den bookcases white.

I'm so thrilled with this project I just linked it to Thrifty Decor Chicks Before and After Party.  So if you have a before and after you are pretty proud of, go on over there, visit her and link on up!

Then, just when I thought I was done for the year, the week before Thanksgiving I decided to renovate my dining room.  Crazy I know!

I started showing off my projects on Pinterest and other blogs and this little blog of mine started to take off a little.  I got featured on Ana White's blog in December and also on Knock off Decor, and got some great Christmas gifts from my husband!

Right before Thanksgiving, during the middle of my dining room renovation, I got a terrible phone call.  Dad had been taken to the hospital with chest pains.  Come to find out he had a mild heart attack, and a REALLY massive blockage that caused it.  We are all so fortunate that God had his hand on him and he made it through.  He was better and able to visit for Christmas.  I got to go see the OKC Thunder play with him on Christmas day.  I hadn't been to a game with my dad since back in the 90's when the we had season tickets to the Phoenix Suns.  I'm so glad I have this memory with my father, and SO thankful that he is here with me today.  I praise God for his recovery.  My dad is one amazing guy.

Looking back 2011 has been an amazing year, full of great things, some ups, some downs, but mainly ups.  I don't know WHY on earth I get so cynical at times.  Life truly is wonderful.  I have a great family and my life is full of so much joy.  So in 2012 I want to spend more time filling my heart full of joy and letting go of stress and strife.

Home Made Harry Potter Broom

So my son has been wanting a Quiddich broom from Harry Potter to play around in, but I wasn't too into all the cheap looking plastic ones, and the more realistic ones came with a pretty hefty price tag. My husband and I decided that we could make one ourselves and so we got to it.

The first thing my husband did was go out and find a large branch that was about the right size and shape of a broom. Silly me forgot to take a photo of the branch, but that would have been nice, wouldn't it? (I'm still getting used to doing these DIY tutorials so please forgive me).

Sorry.

Anyhow my husband started stripping away with his knife to get all the bark off of the tree branch and get it to some sort of shape. Once he did that he sanded it like CRAZY and got it silk smooth and to the right shape.

We were not trying to go for a prop replica.  Our son is only TEN and he will probably wear this thing out playing with it, we just wanted something similar for him to goof around with! I found  GREAT tutorial online here at Instructables, but it was WAY after we had all ready been building ours.  Anyhow, it's a great post so I recommend you check it out!

We stained it first with a dark walnut stain, then went over it with some Java gel stain.

I then went to Hobby Lobby and found some Prairie Grass for $9.99 (minus 40% off coupon) that I thought would work for the bristles of the broom.

I grabbed an old towel and curtain that I was no longer in need of to wrap it as padding and give it the shape underneath that it needed.  You could also use foam or styrofoam.  I just went for what I had on hand.

 

 

After I got the general shape of it my husband and I added the prairie grass to it and taped it.  There MAY or MAY not have been a slight argument about how to get it to stay on there properly.  I really need to stop questioning his judgment.  The man is always right.  (Please don't tell him I said that though.)

We taped it on there as a temporary hold then went and got pipe clamps to clamp the top and the bottom and screw it on tight.  My husband then COATED the thing in spray adhesive to get it to stick, cut off the top and bottom of the bristles to make it even, then wrapped it in twine.  If I had to do anything over again, it would be that I would have taken the time like the guy on Instructables did to painstakingly put on the bristles, but we were running out of time nearing Christmas eve, so we went for a quick fix.  Also, this is a kids TOY and I'm certain one day we will be replacing the bristles on it.  When we do that I may change some things up.

Next I went and added "Nimbus 2000" in gold paint on the handle.

Then last added a coat of polyurethane to the handle and it was complete!  Someday we may go back and add the footrests, but for now, he is perfectly happy with it how it is, and the total project cost us less than $10.00 to complete for a pretty awesome gift!

I think he was pretty thrilled with his gift!

Santa Photos 2011

Last night we took the four kids up to the mall to get their photos with Santa. We tried this last Sunday, but their whole system crashed and we got turned away, thankfully last night they got us in and we didn't have to wait too long.

And yes, that is my middle daughter wearing red Jesse boots from Toy Story.  I've given up.  I just let her wear what she wants, and capture these moments in time forever.  Yes, her shirt had pizza on it and I didn't realize this until we were in line to see Santa.  It's all good.

My oldest two know the whole jig with Santa.  We told my boy this year who Santa really was and IS.  He was let down, but he was ok with it.  My oldest didn't want to be in the photo but I made her do it.   We have always told them "we know all Santa's secrets."  When we sat our boy down and told him that daddy was Santa, at first he thought like he was REALLY THE Santa.  Like the Santa Clause Santa or something.  We had to explain that NO, mom and dad are Santa and that's ok.  We told him about St. Nicholas and how he loved Jesus and cared for the poor.  We also told him that he will still get presents from Santa under the tree every year. 

Anyhow.  I digress.

For weeks now the two little girls have been asking for Doodle Bears. It's the only thing they want from "Santa". The only reason Goose wants one is because her big sister wants one too. Evie understands that she won't be getting presents until Christmas day from Santa, but Lucy doesn't quite get that concept.

It became even more obvious after her visit with Santa. The kids sat on his lap, chatted with him and smiled for the photo. Then they were all handed coloring books.

We went and stood in line and waited for our photo to print. Lucy had her brow furrowed and a pretty ticked off/confused look on her face. Looked at the coloring book in her hand and looked at us and said "Doodle Bear?"

Obviously she felt pretty upset with Santa. She was fully expecting her Doodle bear right then and there. I really wish I had snapped a photo or video to capture her expression. It was priceless.

Just so you know, we DO have the Doodle Bear. Its safe and sound hidden away in mommy and daddy's closet, ready to appear Christmas morning. I'm sure Goose will be pleased to see it then.

Christmas Traditions

In our house we have a LOT of Christmas traditions, some conventional, some unconventional and some are just plain fun.

I'm REALLY learning and trying as I get older to make Christmas more about Christs birth, spending time with our family and the spirit of giving more than about the gifts. It's difficult, but we are trying.

Our traditions though we remember year to year.  Our traditions keep us more focused on spending time as a family and the fun of Christmas rather than the gifts, our traditions are important.

One of my favorite traditions/useful Holiday tips that I thought I'd pass along is an idea my husband gave me that his Aunt Kathryn  used to do with her kids and I thought it was just such a brilliant idea.

She would get each of her kids a different wrapping paper and wrap all the gifts in them, and wouldn't tell her girls who's was who's until Christmas morning.

Can you guess who's is who's?

It's a lot of fun to watch my kids try and guess who's is who's (usually wrong because I'm sneaky like that).  It also keeps them from digging under the tree shaking gifts trying to figure out what their gifts are.  I love it and look forward to it every year.

No peeking until Christmas!

My mother in law's birthday is Dec 15, so we always go over to her house on or right near her birthday and get her a real tree (I do an artificial one here at home).  She always makes a big crock pot full of apple cider and has Christmas music on while we all decorate her tree.  I tend to get a bit nutty watching my kids cluster too many ornaments next to each other (my OCD kicks into overdrive), but she is so relaxed and chill she just let's the kids have fun with it.  I need to learn to be more like her on things.  She is one amazing lady.

Kids hanging the lights

the little ones with grandma

 Another fun Christmas tradition that we have is my baking during the week before Christmas (usually Christmas Eve and the day before).  I make white chocolate pretzels, rice crispy treats, fudge, sugar cookies, gingerbread men and sometimes other things, but those are my staples.

My kiddos in the kitchen making sugar cookies

The best part (other than eating them) is decorating them!

My gingerbread men

I think I almost enjoy Christmas eve more than Christmas day.  There is just something magical about that night.  We start out the evening by eating pizza.  Yes, I said pizza.  It's something that my family did when we were kids, and my husband and I carried the tradition on.  We even carried on the tradition in blizzards.

My husband, nephew, and brother in law's going to get pizza in the blizzard of 2009

Yes, we were all trapped in my mother in law's house in the OKC blizzard of 2009 and the men in my family walked about a mile in the snow to Target to get frozen pizzas to carry out our tradition.  You can read all about that Christmas here. It was one of the craziest and best Christmases ever!

After pizza we settle down and get the kids and read about Christ's birth out of Luke.  While we are reading we let the kids take the nativity pieces and move them around to the story.

Each Christmas the kids look forward to this

After we read the Christmas story from the bible, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

My MIL makes a cake each year

After they do that we let the kids open one present each.  If we were at my MIL's house, we do this when we get home and my husband puts a big fire in the fireplace.

Waiting to open his one present

It's ALWAYS been PJ's

Every year I get the kids new Christmas jammies.  My son still doesn't remember that each year he gets new pajamas.  Every year he thinks it's a toy.  I think this may be the first year he actually remembers. 

After the kiddos go to bed my husband and I bring down all the "Santa" gifts.  The Santa paper I try and find always has an image of Santa on it and is the traditional red color.  I love waking up Christmas morning and seeing the kids faces.  Every year my husband and I are so excited we usually have to wake the kids up!

We take our time opening presents, mixed in with Christmas music, and have pigs in a blanket for breakfast.  For lunch I usually make a ham and we spend the rest of the day enjoying our time together as a family.

This year we have added Advent to our list of traditions we will be doing.  I look forward each Sunday night to our family bible study together when we do Advent.  (Advent is not biblical, it's just tradition to help remember and anticipate the coming of Christmas and to help us keep focused on Christ during this season).

Our first Advent wreath

When it comes down to it, it's not the presents we remember but the traditions and time spent with our kids and family that sticks in our memory year after year.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?  I'd LOVE to hear about them in my comments! No matter how your celebrate Christmas this year, I hope you and your family have a wonderful, awesome VERY Merry Christmas.  God Bless.