A Crazy Busy Week and a Cute Little Ornament ~

For the past several weeks the kids have been working super hard getting ready for UIL contest. This whole UIL thing was new to me when 6 years ago R tried out and made the Story Telling Team. In 3rd grade he made the Music Memory team. This was our first experience with Music Memory and definitely his first time listening to and having to memorize classical pieces; all this at the ripe old age of 8. Pretty awesome. What is even more awesome is that he won that event two years in a row. This year he competed in Music Memory and Listening Skills. He didn't place in Music Memory, but I told him someday he's going to be able to impress a girl with his knowledge of classical music. This is where I got the eye roll and the "Whatever Mom,"  :) He placed 3rd in listening skills which makes me very happy to know he CAN hear.

K placed 6th in Music Memory and competed in Oral Reading for the third time in four years. She won her kinder year with "Our Mother's At A Meeting," a wonderful poem by Kenn Nesbitt. It was a really long poem for a 5 year old and she did a great job with it. Last year she got 2nd place with "Lemonade Stand" by Dave Crawley and on Thursday she won 1st place with "Princess Polly and the Pea" by Laurie Young. She read the poem in a British accent with several different voices throughout. It amazes me that she can stand in front of judges and do this; not only judges but the entire elementary school. The oral readers have been practicing in front of all the different classes for the last few weeks; needless to say she's sick of this poem. All the grandparents want to hear her read it...I'm thinking there's going to have to be money involved to get her to do it again. :)

So yesterday I attended a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting. Several weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I might be interested in being a mentor mom at their MOPS group. I was very honored to be asked and only for a second allowed this to make me feel old. I remember what it's like to have preschool age children. I remember thinking K would never start school now all of a sudden she's a 3rd grader. It's so hard to realize it when you're in the middle of messes and diapers and nap time, but time does fly by. I hope I can be there for a tired mommy, if just to listen and then pray.

We made a super cute craft yesterday. I'm sure this is one that has been floating around Pinterest for a while but it was totally new to me.

  

The mom in charge of getting all the supplies together for this precious ornament created the buttons, coal eyes and carrot noses out of Sculpey clay ahead of time. How cute is that teeny little carrot nose? You can't see it but the buttons actually have tiny little button holes. So cute! The snow is salt with a little sprinkle of glitter to add just the right amount of sparkle. The scarf is a little strip of felt. I love this and can't wait to get my tree up so I can place this little melted snowman in just the right spot. 

A little funny ~ the night before this meeting K touched my stomach and asked me if I could still have a baby if I wanted to. I told her I guess I could. She said she wanted me to have a baby (this is a recurring conversation btw) and then told me I could still have one because she was only 8 and she was still young enough to have a baby brother or sister. The next morning as I sat across the table from a mommy with a precious 7 week old baby boy. I felt that familiar tug at my heart. If you're a mom you know. That feeling of knowing what it is to hold a new life and also realizing that your turn is over and for a split second wondering if maybe, just maybe it isn't too late...

A Little Christmas Concert ~

Our school had it's annual Christmas concert tonight and R had his first. I was a "band nerd" back in the day and it was pretty neat to see him up there on stage with his baritone...brought back a few memories. I hope both my kids like band. There's something cool about a group of kids coming together and working towards a common goal. It's alot of hard work, but it's all worth it when you walk on the field at the State Marching Contest or earn top honors at Concert Contest.

At this point I don't know if band is "his thing" but I do know band is required through 8th grade, so we at least have a few more years of these concerts to enjoy. :)

Little Red ~

Day 2 of my month long photo project ~ the subject...our Elf on a Shelf; Little Red. I swore when I first found out about this idea of an elf coming in from the North Pole to spy on my children and then report back to Santa, I would not fall prey to another marketing ploy to get me to go out and spend money. Fast forward about 5 years and what did the brilliant marketing people do? That's right. They made a movie about this cute little elf. We watched the movie and then the next day (and I'm not kidding, it was the very next day) I found myself shelling out the dough for this little guy.

I will admit it's been fun. Little Red has been a very simple addition to our family traditions. He's a low key elf and pretty much just relocates himself every night without much fanfare. He doesn't get into mischief and could care less about making flour angels or spelling out names with Cheerios like I've seen some of his fellow elf friends doing online. He simply does his job. And by doing his job I mean just his presence in the house has worked wonders in getting K out of bed every morning. There have been a few times he has forgotten to find a new hiding spot, but somehow manages to move before the kids wake up. It really is amazing. ;)

Days of December

This is day 1 of my "Days of December" photo project I've decided to do this year. Every day I will take an Instagram pic and post it to my blog; at the end of the month I will have a pretty cool photo journal of all the highlights of the month. This seems like something I can keep up with during the busy days of the last month of the year.

This is a photo of our church. Today I participated in our monthly prayer vigil, had choir practice and a Christmas fellowship with the choir. My name was even drawn out of the basket for a door prize. I chose this really neat little wreath made out of a wire hanger with Tootsie Rolls tied all over it. By the looks of the wreath it took the crafter nearly forever to make it. :)

Oh and I have to say how happy I am that my kiddos talked me in to getting all the Christmas decorations out the day before Thanksgiving. This is something I've never done before, but something I will for sure do again in the future. I love that our home is ready for Christmas and I can focus on what really matters...making memories with my family.

Here's to a holly jolly Christmas...it really is the best time of the year!

A Tornado Hit our Barn ~

~ our gingerbread barn that is. Some of you may remember our cute little gingerbread houses the kids and I made last year. You can read all about how I had to let go of my OCD tendencies and let the kids have fun in this blog post from last year. Well, old habits die hard and this year was no different than last. I always go into a project with visions of perfection...

So far so good right? Wrong.

The gingerbread pieces were too soft and kept cracking. We tried to "glue" them together with the icing, but there was no saving the barn.

Once the roof collapsed, we decided there was no turning back...we had to just go with it.

Isn't this just pitiful?

This picture makes me wonder about what could have been...

All I know is we had alot of fun with this mess. The kids were laughing and eating the candy (2 things they're really good at) and I was snapping pictures (one of my favorite things.) I'm pretty sure we will always remember the gingerbread barn the tornado hit...

Christmas Teacher Gifts ~

One day last week my friend Audrey and I got together to make teacher gifts for our kiddo's teachers. Several weeks ago we met at one of the local antique stores and came home with lots of fun stuff. I found the cutest antique saucers...I'm sure they have a name, but I don't know what it is. :) I knew as soon as I laid eyes on them that they would be the inspiration for my teacher gifts this year.

Audrey came across a recipe for chewy gingersnaps that sounded yummy. Not only are they very yummy, they remind me of Snicker doodles ~ my favorite cookie! You can find the recipe here.

Yes, they taste as good as they look.

Every year since R was in Kinder, my mom has made crocheted pot holders for the teachers for Christmas. I thought it would be really pretty to place a saucer on one of the handmade pot holders. Along with the cookies, I added a couple of Teeccino herbal coffee bags (my favorite is the hazelnut flavor ~ it's heavenly,) a cute little tin of cocoa and last but not least...a Starbucks card. I mean what gift would be complete without a Starbucks card? That's my opinion anyway.

I wrapped it all up in cellophane and tied it with a pretty ribbon. I created the recipe card using Photoshop and a free digi kit I found here.

All the teachers loved their gifts. R's homeroom teacher let out a holler when she discovered the Starbucks card...she's my kinda gal. :)

While My Heart Listens ~

Every year for Christmas my Mom gets me and my sister a little Christmas book. Some are books of poetry, some may have Christmas short stories and others are cute recipe books. I love to cuddle up on the couch with these books; every year they seem new to me. The other day, while waiting for the kids to get out of school, I realized K had several of these books in the car. Thankfully, I found them before they were destroyed by little feet with muddy shoes. While sitting at school I came across this precious little poem that describes the desires of my heart at Christmastime. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do ~

While My Heart Listens

by: Mary C. Adams

My eyes delight in every dear familiar touch

Of Christmas in the house ~ the pine, the silver bells,

And all the rest. But let them not rejoice in these too much

Lest they miss seeing angels in their chorus swells

In adoration of the Child whose house was bare

Except that love beyond all other love was there.

Let me not fret for baubles lacking for the tree,

At cookies to be baked and bundles left untied;

Nor mind the cluttered rooms, but sweep my spirit free

Of any pettiness, so He may come inside.

Let me forget all small and unimportant things

While my heart listens for the sound of angel wings.

A cute little gift ~

My friend Audrey and I decided we would get together and make these cute little Christmas gifts as a "Thank you" to all the teachers at our kids' schools. My mom is an avid collector of "things" because "you never know when you might need them." I'm so glad she decided to start collecting these cute little Starbucks jars. I've been on a recycling kick lately which drives my husband crazy, but it makes my heart sing to re-purpose what might end up in the land fill or at the bottom of our incinerator.

Can you imagine throwing all these cute little bottles in the trash? I can't!

Thanks Mom for saving these for us!

I'm sure there are recipes for Spiced Tea floating around all over the place,

but here's the recipe that's written down in my Gooseberry Patch "My Favorite Recipes" book:

2 Cups Tang

1 Cup Instant Tea

1 Cup Powdered Lemonade

1 1/2 Cup Sugar

1 tsp Ground Cloves

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

I'm telling you, if you haven't ever mixed up four batches of spiced tea, you should try it sometime. Everything in my kitchen was covered in a fine layer of spiced tea dust. The room smelled wonderful ~ that might have been the dust up my nose, but whatever, it sure smelled yummy and oh so Christmas~y. :)

Oh, and on a side note ~ I called Audrey to tell her it was going to cost a small fortune to fill all these jars and I didn't think I had bought enough ingredients to make all I needed and I wanted to make sure she had enough made up to fill all her jars. The first batch had only filled four jars; at this rate I would have to make about 8 batches just for my jars. So, we start comparing our recipes and half-way down the ingredient list I gasp...and she says, "You didn't put the sugar in did you." She knows me well ~ and let me tell you 1 1/2 cups of sugar makes a big difference in this recipe. I'm so glad we discovered my mess-up. How embarrassing would that have been!

Dun Da Da....and here's the finished product. I think they turned out really cute! It was totally a team effort and we had so much fun visiting and crafting. We put alot of love (and sugar) in these little jars ~ I hope the teachers know how much we appreciate all they do!

Gingerbread House Perfection

2005 Gingerbread House

I've never been one to believe in evolution, but when thinking back on the past 5 years there has definitely been a process of evolution when it comes to our gingerbread house creations. The first gingerbread house we created R was three and I was determined the house was going to look exactly like the one on the box. This resulted in mommy doing all the work and my pre-schooler watching the self-proclaimed master gingerbread house decorator at work. Over the last several years I've tried my best to let the kids take on that roll, but all of you type A personalities out there know how hard that is. Well, I was determined that this would be the "year of the perfect gingerbread house" and when I announced to the kiddos that they would be doing it all from assembly to decoration they jumped up and down as if I had just announced a trip to Disney Land.

Precious little hands at work


A few hours later the kids (with a little help from their wanna-be cake decorator mom) had created a very lovely little village. The pictures I captured tell a story of evolution ~ evolution of a mom who realized that the real beauty is in watching little hands create the

~ Perfect Gingerbread House ~

Merry Christmas!