starting to look a lot like christmas..

Well, it's starting to look a lot like Christmas around our house. My two fireflies & my little ladybug "helped" put our tree up & get the lights on it afterschool yesterday. After wrestling with the lights and repeating "please move back so Mommy can put the pretty lights on" about 10 trillion times.. I was done in for the day. So, this evening we've been decorating the tree with ornaments, a process that is going fairly smoothly considering the ages of my helpers. ;)

Last night was Bunco for me(YEAH!!), so I made sure that my husband and kiddos had what they needed for their turkey burgers & I headed out to meet some of the Bunco girls & carpool to our friend's house that is about a 1/2 hour drive for most of us. As always, it was a refreshing evening of adult conversation.. although almost all of us have at least one kiddo & we end up talking about mommy stuff. It was especially neat last night because my friend Carrie brought her 2 month old daughter with her & my friend Melissa brought her 2 week old son with her. Oh, how precious they are... how quickly they all grow up, too! Kristi, our host, made the most wonderful sandwiches & potato soup for our dinner. Yummy! :) She is going to email all of us the soup recipe.. I can't wait!

Tonight was supposed to be a potluck at our PTO meeting at school.. I hope that it will be successful, but I just couldn't do it tonight. It's been a longish day, it's cold outside & well, I needed/wanted to just be at home & spend time doing Christmas stuff with my kiddos. I want to have lots of wonderful holiday memories with my kiddos.. and I don't want their only memories to be of us always rushing about. The fireflies & my ladybug all enjoy helping make and decorate cookies(& especially eating the cookies!). I look forward to doing things like that with them that I hope will become cherished childhood memories for them in the future.

Well.. the kiddos are beckoning to finish the tree decorations, so I better close this & make sure nothing gets inadvertantly broken. Currently, my younger firefly and my ladybug are totally fascinated with their stockings & are busy jabbering about them. Until... they managed to knock down one of the stocking holders & it cracked my poor little ladybug in the face! :( I am praying(as she holds "get better bear" fresh from the freezer, on her face) that she won't get a big black eye to go along with the scratch that the stocking holder made under her eye on it's way to the floor! There truly is never a dull moment in our household! ;)

P.S. I'll let you know how her little eye looks in the morning!

i'm still here...

Wow! I knew that I had been in a non-blogging slump for quite awhile.. I just realized that it's been almost 2 months since my last entry! Geez! I didn't realize that I'd been hiding out for that long.

I have been in a funk for a long time & just haven't really felt like posting anything. Health issues with my mother-in-law in October & just other "life" stuff have been holding me down on many levels and I haven't felt like posting anything that anyone would really want to read(not that more than say 3 or 4 people even look at this).

Now.. that Christmas season is upon us again. The fireflies & my ladybug are all getting very excited & can hardly wait to help me put the tree up & decorate it after they get home from school today. Traditionally, I put the tree & decorations up the day after Thanksgiving, but this year it's not happening until several days after. That is because the room that our tree goes in has been the playroom(otherwise known as "the pit of despair") and I have spent 3 days(working off & on) picking up 400 trillion Lego & bionicle pieces and chucking tons of broken &/or cheesy kid's meal toys. Yesterday afternoon I got it all done!! :) I also swept & swiffered the entire room in prep for putting up all the decorations & the tree this afternoon.

My Mom & I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving & got some great deals on stuff for most of the folks who are on our list this year. My youngest firefly's birthday is a week from today.. hard to believe he is already going to be 5 years old! Where does the time go?! I was able to get the radio controlled 4 wheeler toy that he wants for his birthday at 50% off, too! :)

I have lots to do to get ready for the big birthday & Christmas, so I better close my comeback post. My goal is to get back in the swing of things and write more on my blog in the days & weeks to come. :)

another long week

This week has been very long... it started with my "over-doing" last weekend when I got busy cleaning out a ton of brush & trimming bushes in our yard & working on digging all kinds of junk out of our basement, too. From time to time our basement gets wet & unfortunately so did a great deal of stuff in the basement.. digging out wet, moldy stuff is always lots of fun. ;) The job is by no means "done".. but certainly is a lot better than it had been & fortunately the garbage men took all the bags & assorted other crap that I piled at the curb this past week.

My "reward" for being so.. industrious last weekend was to feel crumby all week long. The right side of the back of my head & neck have been killing me for the better part of the week.. downing the maximum amount of ibuprofen that is recommended on the bottle has been the rule of thumb for me. Today finally brought relief.. although I am not sure what made today the magic day! I have a sneaking suspicion that my headaches & neck pain have not been entirely related to my over-doing things... I think that it started as that in the beginning, but also had a great deal of help with the stress level I've been feeling lately.

Yesterday & today, I had another garage sale with my brother & sister-in-law.. beautiful weather both days & I did make some money off of it--not as much as the last one, but it's extra & will absolutely help out.

Monday is Columbus Day & both my fireflies have the day off from school & preschool. They are going to have a surprise sleepover at my Aunt's house tomorrow evening after we go to church & then at least a partial "play day" at her house on Monday. It will be a short week for both of them because my oldest has an in-service day on Friday & subsequently another day off from school. We have also decided to keep the younger firefly home from preschool that day since his brother will be home, his Daddy is taking the day off & his Grandpa will be in town from Mesa, Arizona!! :) We're all very excited about Grandpa's visit.. as I mentioned in my last post, he has not ever met our ladybug in person & she just turned 17 months this week!

As I type this tonight, my fireflies & ladybug are all snug as bugs in their beds upstairs and my husband is watching a movie based on a book he read... not my cup of tea, but I am sorta keeping him company. Although.. my pillows sure all calling my name! :)

long time.. no post

Wow! It's been a very long time since my last post. Life has, as usual, been busy with all sorts of things--big & small.

Heritage Days was wonderful this year. Everyone enjoyed the new location on the Lewis & Clark campus' front lawn. The shade and the smaller area made it really feel like a vibrant little village this year. I have heard tons of great feedback about how things went that weekend. :)

Things are starting to get busier with my fireflies at their respective schools now that fall is officially upon us. Our preschool firefly got to go on a field trip to the apple orchard with his Daddy last week & we have a family campfire evening at the Nature Institute, as well as a field trip to the pumpkin patch scheduled with his preschool buddies for October.

Fundraiser pick-up night is this Thursday at our older firefly's school, PTO meeting tomorrow evening & next week is our Fall Festival--my husband & I are running the duck pond station for the evening.

Our ladybug keeps us on our toes.. she is very busy all the time! ;) We're all excited & can't wait for October 16th to arrive... my husband's Dad is coming up from Mesa, AZ for a brief visit. Grandpa hasn't gotten to meet our ladybug in person yet.. just lots of pictures emailed (& snail-mailed) to him. Ladybug will be 17 months old on October 8th.. time sure flies!

Well.. it feels as though this post rambles a bit, but there.. I've posted something in October & hope to get back in the swing of things on a more regular basis! :) Gotta get busy and make apple dumplings to take to Bunco tonight!

Happy Fall Y'all!

So.. today is the first official day of fall. The weather here is just about perfect today--low humidity & a high around 80.. beautiful sunny skies, too! :)

I've been busy this past week helping my Aunt get ready for Heritage Days on the Goshen Trail.. it's the 29th year for the event this year. She has been on the board for several years now and my fireflies & now my ladybug, too, help her distribute information about the event each year. If you're interested in checking it all out.. I am including a link to the website with lots of information. If you're in the greater St. Louis area & are looking for a great family friendly(& educational!!)event.. please join us on either Saturday or Sunday. www.altonheritagedays.org

Our garage sale went well a couple of weekends ago & we made some extra $$$, always a good thing! :) Planning on having another small sale with my brother & sister-in-law in a couple of weeks at their house. Hopefully we'll do well again.

Well.. laundry & dinner prep are calling my name(yet again).. so I will close out this post. I pray that everyone will have an amazing week!

Happy 40th Birthday, Sweetheart!

Happy 40th Birthday to my Sweetheart!! :)

I've been teasing him a bit about how "old" he's getting.. sitting here at the ripe ole age of 33, I can afford to tease for a few more years! ;) hee hee!

I hope that you've had a wonderful day & that the next 40 plus years will be even better than the first 40 have been. Once you reach a certain age it seems like it's really just another day.. but, then again.. even if that has become your mindset.. it makes you feel special to be remembered, too.

it's been far too long

It's been far too long since my last post. Life has been busy with both of my fireflies in school now(well, the younger of the two just started his 2nd year of preschool).

I have been trying to focus on getting the house dug out & re-organized again. We are having a big garage sale this coming weekend with my folks & my "little" brother's family. I have tons(& I do literally mean tons!) of baby and kid clothes to sell, some toys & assorted other stuff. My last garage sale netted us $350, so I am hopeful that we will do just as well(if not better) this time around.

My husband is busy mowing yards this afternoon.. I decided to take a much needed break from laundry & cleaning to sit down and finally type a post. Of course.. now that I am sitting here, all that I can do is yawn and try to keep my eyes open.. much less write anything exciting.