ornament tradition

We started the tradition in 2000.

In Mexico,
actually.

In June or July, no less.

The whole family had gone to Juarez

with the youth group from church to build a house.

When we found ornaments

with a house painted on them,

it was kind of a no-brainer.

We haggled over the price a bit

and bought four.

The next year,

liking the idea of a 'significant' ornament,

we chose an ornament for each kid based on their likes.

(for example, Tony loved to watch birds, 

so he got a birdbath ornament)

I just wrote on the bottom of the box

'because you like ___________'

The ornament tradition has evolved over the years

and what we now do is:

Tyler and I go on a date 

and we make a list

for each kid of things they've done / like,

areas they've grown in, etc. in the past year

(this could be improved on, by making notes throughout the year)

(Oh. wait. I sorta do that on the ol' blog. Whatdoyaknow?!)

One of the nice side-benefits of this list

is it helps us to look past what we're dealing with 

right now

with a child

and reminds us of the 'whole' child.

(For example - Lily has been a whiny crabby pill for several weeks

and when we first started her list

it was sparse;

but as we looked back further over the year

we remembered how amazing she is!)

remember when Lex' hated homeschooling
and was a beastie??

Then

armed with our lists

we start shopping for ornaments.

We often find things to add to the lists.

(the girls love having tea parties, 

but we hadn't thought to write that on the list

until we saw a teacup ornament...)

After choosing an ornament for each unmarried child,
(or deciding we'll need to make one)

we buy boxes for them.

(plastic food storage containers are great)

Then

- and here's the most important part -

we write a note for each child to include in the box,

using those lists we made earlier.

Little things that would otherwise be forgotten

(like that Lexi used to call Tony 'Hony')

are also lovingly written.

Every year,

once the lights (at least 600, preferably more) are strung,

and the garland is wrapped around the it,

the kids fill up the tree with ornaments,

one memory at a time.

And when they marry - they'll take it all with them.

As Tony was hanging his ornaments Sunday evening

(and complaining about the brevity of the early notes)

Tyler asked, "What if Tony's wife doesn't like his ornaments?"

(though, I am careful to choose ornaments with spouses in mind)

"How could she not like my ornaments?!"

he asked.

"They are me."

candlelight by K'nex

I'm not the only one who's been creatin' lately...

you is beautiful

I was having a boo-rattly day

and I'm pretty sure I know why.

I found out yesterday that my grandma

- the one who doesn't care much for me -

visited NWA, and nobody bothered to let me know.

Of course, 

I wouldn't have wanted to go visit.

But Tyler would have insisted that it was the right thing to do.

And I would have agreed with him. grudgingly.

So there's that.

But, also

any mention of Grandma GeeGee

takes me back to awkward adolescence

when she painted my 12 year-old face with her old lady make-up

complete with too-pink rouge and non-sparkly blue eyeshadow

then paraded me in front of my dad

and she told him,

"She's homely. She needs to wear make-up."

He must've agreed

because I was allowed to wear makeup from that day forward.

It was another year before I'd realized 

that she meant homegirl was so ugly I shouldn't be out in public.

I thought 'homely' meant somebody who likes to be home.

Not somebody who needs to stay home.

~

I decided today

that 31 years was plenty long enough to be ugly.

(technically, only 30 years- since it took me a year to realize

that I'd been pronounced ugly. Which I suppose means

I was also stupid. But that just now dawned on me,

so I didn't suffer any ill affects from it.)

So,

inspired by a pillow I'd seen on Pinterest

which was inspired by the movie The Help,

I created a reminder.

In the movie, when Abileen tells Mae,

"You is kind. You is Smart. You is important."

I leaned over to Tyler and whispered, 

"She should have told her she was beautiful, too."

Because everybody should be told that.

Consider yourself told.

shoe shinin'

Well,

the cat's sorta out of the bag.

When Tyler was in the Army and up for guard duty,

if he looked snazzy enough, he could get out of it.

So he'd spend an hour spit-shining his boots,

and I'd spend an hour starching his uniform

'til it could stand on its own.

At least half of the time, our work was rewarded 

with Tyler getting the night off :-)

~

A few weeks ago,

it was time for Tyler to teach Ton'

elite shoe-shining.

cuz 'you ain't fine 'til you got a shine'

And Ton' needed to be fine

for his internship interview with ABF.

Just like the secret to a glass-like shine,

we had to keep it all hush-hush

since Tony hadn't told his boss at MarketPlace

that he might be leaving....

He still hasn't gotten the job yet,

but he's talking to Wes right now...

I'm telling you - ABF takes hiring interns veeery seriously;

Tony has already interviewed with five people!

But if his shoes have any say in the matter - he got the job!

a novel approach to reading

I finished another book last night.

Fiction, again.

I was sad to reach the end,

to never get to 'interact' with Juliet, Dawsey, Isola

Elizabeth, and all the rest of the Guernsey folks any more.

I've met so many interesting, inspiring people

on the pages of books.

I think I've had it all wrong,

those years I went without reading fiction.

Most 'self-help' books, parenting books,

how-to-be-a-better-wife books, etc

leave me feeling more frustrated than inspired.

More 'I've done so many things wrong, how can I ever get it right?'.
And I've certainly not been sad to reach the end of the book.

A recent read, These is my Words, left me

appreciating my husband more,

thankful for modern conveniences,

and wanting to be a harder worker.

And a better shot. 

(Dang! That Sarah could shoot!)

Not too shabby for one book.

And a novel, at that.

Fortunately,

that book has a sequel.

~
So.
What should I read next?

pathetic!

I am so out of shape; it's pathetic.

I irritated a muscle in my upper arm last night

playing air hockey.

In my defense, though,

I played like a dozen games.

(and lost just about as many)

iPads ought to come with warning labels.

boys

I'm not exactly sure what this is,

but it's obviously the work 

of

boys

 Not long after I spotted the above contraption,

Jeremiah came running in the house,

"You gotta come see this!"

 mmhmm.

They were so excited with their amazing find,

they went to search for more.

 Boys.

You just gotta love 'em!

Lily 'reads' The Gingerbread Cowboy

7 quick takes ~ or maybe just 4

1.

I can hardly believe it,

but Marcos is finally going home!

It has been a very long 8 days short of 10 months.

2.

They have to leave for the airport (1 1/2 hrs away)

at 3 am.

I'm staying up so I can be sure everyone gets up on time;

This is not a flight that can be missed!!

I'm hoping the book I checked out is riveting;

I've got an hour and a half to go

and I'm a wee bit sleepy.

3.

I spent so many stinkin' hours on the phone this week

trying to get everything lined up for him to leave.

(lots of last minute drama!)

Have I ever mentioned I'm not a big phone gal?

I'm not.

4.

We aren't exactly sure what the new 'normal' is going to look like

but we're all looking forward to figuring it out!

blasted chicken

It's what's for dinner.

sorta gives new meaning to 'Blasted Chicken'...

 Or rather

it's what was supposed to be for dinner.

note to self:

do not preheat the oven for Blasted Chicken

if you are using glass pans.

little miss observant

I was getting dressed

so I could leave the house at 8am

(without any little girls)

when Lexi woke up.

Through slits in her eyelids, 

she noticed.

"Why are you putting on those pants?" she asked.

Pretending as if the emphasis had not been on 'those',

I answered, "Oh, I'm just getting dressed for the day."

"But those are jeans!" 

my ever observant-even-in-a-sleepy-state girl noted.

Crap!

"Oh. Yes, they sure are." I replied 

and repeated cheerfully, "I'm just getting dressed for the day."

"Where are you going?

Those are going pants!"

I think that's what they call irony

So.

I'm on hold with the USPS

waiting for them to tell me

why

a package that I paid $18.30 for overnight delivery for

won't be delivered 'til the 10th

when it was mailed on the 7th

and I hear

"For delivery you can rely on, 

choose the United States Postal service."

Mhmm.

the stain ninja

The series of texts between my girl and me began with

"Who is the laundry queen??

Oh yes - that would be ME!!"

I'm such a humble soul ;-)

It all started when, 

through a series of unfortunate events,

I ended up ruining one of Luke's dress shirts.

I felt horrible 

but Lana wasn't overly bummed,

since they'd bought it for half off at Savers

and he'd gotten some use out of it already....

I told her I'd hang onto it and see what I could do.

I get mighty perturbed when laundry dares to defy me. 

After several soakings and washings,

I had it wearable, though not perfect,

and washed it one more time.

Apparently

with somebody's new something or other 

that bled in the wash.

Sheesh.

Got that out

after another washing

but there was still that one pesky grease spot.

And I was starting to take this personally.

I could have returned the shirt

and he could've worn it,

but golly

I hate letting the laundry win!

(Lana suggested that I may be competitive)

The shirt sat in my basket for a few more weeks.

Taunting me.

I finally bought some more oxiclean

(can't imagine why I'd run out)

and went after it one more time,

putting dish soap directly on the spot

and soaking it in a scoop of oxi in very hot water.

Again.

HA!

My persistence paid off.

The shirt looks good-as-new.
I

am the stain ninja!

I will not be defeated.

(Never mind that I could have probably bought another shirt

with all the water, soaps, and soaks I used....)

I do enjoy a good challenge.

happy day

The kids and I are heading to the dairy in just a bit.

Tony got ice for us early this morning.

(thanks, Bud!!)

We'll stop at Squash Blossom to buy honey

and maybe a tub of macaroons.

We'll go to the park in Pryor

and have lunch at Pizza Hut.

(did you know their lunch buffet is free for kids under 10?

That means the six of us can eat lunch for $11.75 plus tip.

That, my friends is cheaper than McD's)

It's gonna be a happy day.

the retreat

I know.

Ya'll are just dying to hear me eat my words.

As I said earlier,

I'm glad I was forced to go went.

Bev Bradley is a great speaker.

She's funny,

she looks fabulous,

she loves Jesus,

knows her Bible,

and was pretty transparent.

Two things she said that I really need to remember are

"Conviction comes from God, and points me to Him;

condemnation comes from Satan, and points me towards myself."

and

"When we obey Jesus, people will be blessed.

When we are overextended

[taking on work that He doesn't have for us to do]

people around us will suffer."

I'd have to say that the biggest thing I went home with though,

was not something that Bev said,

but rather something I wrote down 

while we were just having a few minutes of silent prayer

after the last session Friday evening.

As a family,

for years we have prayed that we would 'grow in love'

or that we'd 'be more loving'.

What I wrote was

"We pray that God would help us to grow in love.

I think, what we need instead - what I need instead,

is to grow in the knowledge of His love."

I think Tyler tried to tell me this once,

but I didn't get it.

I suppose I was still trying to do things in my own power..

Until I really grasp

how wide and long and high and deep 

Christ's love is for me,

I can't really grow in love.

About a year or so ago,

I sorta quit believing that God loved me.

Me.

Yes, I still believed He was my Savior,

that He loved 'the world' and all,

but I was really struggling with the idea of Him loving 

me, personally.

I figured there must be a loophole somewhere.

(Being sick can do strange things to you - I see that now)

Sometimes in church

I couldn't even sing some of the songs;

they just felt like lies.

Two weeks ago on Sunday,

 we sang the song How He Loves Us

and I couldn't sing it.

Not because I didn't believe it,

but because I did.

Finally.

I usually read the Bible to see what I need to do,

how I need to live.

But I think that,

for awhile anyways,

I'm going to try to read with the mindset of 

increasing my knowledge of God - and His love for me

which, 

I think will naturally result in an increasing love for him

and others.

Bev says 1 Corinthians 13 is not an assignment;

it's an invitation.

So, yeah.

I'm kinda glad I went to the retreat.

the sad tale of a toothbrush

Around here

we usually get new toothbrushes twice a year,

Easters and Christmas.

I honestly can't remember Easter this year,

but judging from most of the brushes,

new ones weren't received.

I would have made everyone wait til Christmas

(sad, but true)

but Tyler was one of the ones with bad bristles,

so he picked up a 4 pack on Thursday.

Or maybe it was Wednesday. 

anyways.

We divvied up the toothbrushes based on need

and picked colors oldest to youngest.

(it's almost always youngest to oldest - so we swapped)

Tyler picked one with red on the handle.

I asked him why he picked the pink one.

He said, "It's red."

okay.

When I was packing Friday,

I grabbed my (not new) pink on the handle toothbrush

and tossed it in my makeup bag

along with the almost empty tube of toothpaste

(I all but cut them open to get out the last smidge.

Why shouldn't I? I paid for it!)

When I brushed my teeth hours later, 

I discovered

 that I'd actually grabbed Tyler's toothbrush,

not mine.

oops.

(I told you it looked pink!)

Sunday afternoon,

I overheard him saying he couldn't find his toothbrush.

I jumped up to get it out of my bag for him

and told him I'd accidentally taken it,

it being pink and all.

Only,

it wasn't in my bag.

I'd left it.

And that is the sad tale of Tyler's pink new toothbrush.

I swear I didn't leave it on purpose,

but I'm buying a different color this time.

doin' the happy dance

I just got a call from the Embassy of Belize in DC;

The Belizian government has confirmed

that Marcos 

is

a citizen of Belize

and we should have his travel papers next week.

He's goin' home

!!!!!!!

home

I half circled the big oak tree

and parked the car.

As I reached over 

and grabbed my bag, purse and notebook 

from the passenger seat,

I pushed the driver's door open with my foot

then climbed out. 

I caught a glimpse of Tyler and a couple of kids

down on the hill.

They hadn't heard me drive up.

I walked past the sourpuss on the front porch clipping his toenails

and stepped through the front door.

And I was home.

I hadn't really even missed anybody;

I was barely gone 22 hours, 

after all,

so the feeling caught me by surprise.

Home.

With the people I love so very much.

what I'm listening to today

over and over

and 

over

admission

Okay.

I can admit it.

I'm glad they made me go to the retreat.

The speaker (Bev Bradley) was super

and spending time with Eva was a treat!

I'll share more when I've had some sleep.

7 quick takes real quick

Let's see how quickly I can do this;

it's 2:31.

go

1.

I don't really  have time to post,

but I'm laying girls down and only one is asleep so far.

2.

I'm heading out to a momma retreat in just a few hours

and I still have a ton of stuff to do.

3.

I'm really not excited about going.

I'm not dreading it like I do family reunions, though.

I guess that's good.

4.

Why am I going, then?

Eva and Tyler said it'd be good for me.

I said, "ok".

5.

Josiah and Brandon were in need of pants

so I took them shopping real quick yesterday.

For the first time in years,

Brandon let me buy him 3 pairs of jeans.

Usually he insists 2 is plenty.

6.

Speaking of 2 pairs,

Marcos has been wearing shorts when it's been chilly lately

in an (unsuccessful) attempt to convince us he needs more pants.

He told me he was 'living with only 2 pair'

but I happen to know he has 9 pairs

and am extending no sympathy.

7.

Last week,

we didn't have waffles for breakfast

because of the run,

so I made them for dinner.

Jeremiah asked if I was serious about waffles for dinner.

He thought that was just so weird.

This morning, 

Josiah asked if we could have waffles for breakfast tomorrow

instead of having to wait for dinner.

So I'm going to make them before I go,

and they can just warm them up in the toaster tomorrow.

2:43

Lily joined her sister in sleep,

and I'm gonna go cook those waffles now.

for more quick takes - visit Jen.

orderliness

When I had my weekend away,

I started a list of habits / qualities that we need to work on.

First on the list was obedience

followed immediately by orderliness.

I take full responsibility 

for the lack of both of these qualities

in our home;

When one has to force herself out of bed,

child-training takes a back seat.

At least that was the case in our house.

We operated in survival mode.

Frankly,

I'm tired of merely surviving.

Anyways.

We have worked through the chapter on 'obedience'

in our character training book

and are making some progress in making obedience a habit.

We are continuing to review the verses that we've memorized

and have moved on to 'orderliness'.

We tweaked their definition a bit to define orderliness for us as:

organizing our possessions and time

so that we can use both efficiently.

We've discussed  why this is important

and what it should look like in our home.

But.

To be perfectly frank,

the scriptures used for promoting orderliness suck.

Not the scriptures - the application.

I just don't think you can look at God's instructions for the building and arranging of the tabernacle and say, "See, God wants us to be orderly with our things." Or turn to 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 to read about order in the Church and translate that into 'God wants us to have a tidy house". Maybe I'm just missing it. 

But I don't 'own' it.

So I can't sell it to my kids.

The truth is,

I am more at peace in a tidy house.

I feel better when there are places to 'rest my eyes',

and yes, when my floors look nice ;-)

There is less work to be done,

leaving more time for other pursuits

and acts of service,

when we take good care of our belongings,

and we don't have to hunt for things, 

because they are in their proper place.

And when we don't throw clean (folded!) clothes in the laundry.

And yes, those scriptures do (sorta) show

that one of the characteristics of God is orderliness.

But to extrapolate from that 

that we should pick up our shoes?

I just don't see it.

Feel free to try to change my mind :-)

(really! I'd love to be wrong about this!)

prayers of a child

Lexi loves to pray.

Sometimes, I think it is a power thing,

but really ~ do I dare tell my child she can't pray??

One of the things I love about her prayers,

is that she words her requests as thank-yous.

Instead of, "Please help Mommy be more patient."

she says, "Thank-you that Mommy will be more patient"

"Thank-you that we will be obedient"

"Thank-you that Daddy and Tony will come home safely"...

Today, at church, they showed a video for

Operation Christmas Child.

(Tyler loved the video - I wasn't crazy about it - but that's beside the point)

When Lexi prayed this evening at dinner

(sing-prayed.   thank you oo oo....)

one of the things she said sang was,

"Thank you that we can go to the sto oh ore

to buy presents"

And I'm thinking - wow! I guess that video was pretty good

after all - I mean, she's only 2 and she got it.

Then she added, 

"for us 

for us for us for us"

blond twist to an old game

You know the 'taste test' game?

Where you close your eyes,

someone feeds you something,

and you have to guess what it is?

Lily plays that game.

By herself.

Thankfully, she gets it right every time.

in which I make a fool of myself

again.

There is a house on Kibler,

a little further down the road than us,

that just screams 'perfection'.

Every time we pass it,

I tell Tyler I want to look inside.

I'm just sure we'll find something we should copy!

The house has been for sale for ages,

(and we've assumed no one is living there - there's no sign of life)

but it wouldn't be right to waste a Realtor's time,

just because I wanted to take a peek.

We kept an eye out for an Open House,

but never saw one.

Driving past it today,

I was just sure I saw a Realtor there.

There was a car in the driveway

and a man - with what looked like one of those Realtor folders

in his left hand.

Tyler said, "There's no sign."

"Well," I so smartly replied, "that's because they switched realties;

I bet that guy is the new agent."

He turned the car around.

Sure enough, there was a lockbox on the door.

But he didn't stop....

After running our errand, 

I convinced him that the agent 

(you know - the new listing agent - the one I saw...)

would just be tickled

to let us take a peek at the house,

since he was there anyways, doing the walk-thru.

(I'm thinking now, that perhaps, I hadn't convinced him;

he was simply humoring me." hmm...)

So.

While I bemoaned the fact that we were in the stupid Previa

instead of the much classier Excursion, he pulled in to the circle drive

(not to be confused with the by-the-garage drive, 

where the Realtor was parked.)

 and told me to wave him in

if we got the go-ahead.

I walk up to the door, preparing my spiel, and knocked.

To my surprise,

the Realtor did not answer the door.

A woman did.

The woman who lives in the house.

The woman who got tired of her house not selling 

and took it off the market in February

and is still waiting for the realty to come pick up their lockbox...

I bet she calls them on Monday.

the first 5K

So.

Today was the big day!

I forgot my camera, so I just have a couple of phone photos.

(you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge it)

starting out

 The girls made posters while we waited for the runners.

The first one came through the gate in like 16 minutes!

We went up to the corner

so we could cheer the runners on that last little bit.

 Brandon came in 10th in his age group and 79th overall.

His goal was 30 minutes and he ran it in 29:10

  Daddy followed a couple of minutes behind,

the 104st person to cross the finish line,

 What about Tony, you ask?

Well, Ton' had an ambitious goal of 24 min

and he finished in 23:34
coming in 20 overall

and won a silver medal for his age group!

His friend, Jamie, won a Silver in the 10K in her group, too

 He's got good genes and all

but his leg-warmers probably helped a bit, too...

this was just seconds after he finished.

I'm so proud of my guys!

And all my friends who worked hard and finished well.

And all our little spectators - they were super, too!

Since we parked at the library,
we stopped in there
(forked over the $40 bucks to renew our out-of-city cards!)
and got some books.
I got an assortment of fiction / education for myself.
I'm with Susan,
the exercising is a lot more tolerable with a book.
And maybe,
next year when the Survivors' Challenge rolls around,
I'll be running, too.
It could happen.

7 quick takes

1.

Well.

The 5K is this Saturday.

We're down to only 3 runners.

Since I am not going to be participating,

we decided to not have any of the little ones, either.

2.

I have been using my bike.

Which has a really uncomfortable seat!

Do you call it 'riding' when it's a stationary bike?

3.

I've banned all children shorter than me

from said bike.

Although, if the ones taller than me

don't lower the seat when they're finished,

I may just ban them, too.

Tyler,

I don't have to worry about.

Because of the whole uncomfortable seat thing.

4.

I angry-ate yesterday.

I am not usually an emotional eater,

but a certain someone (who is not family) living in this house

had me awfully riled up.

And I angry-ate.

I'm not sure that flaming hot cheetos is the best food for that.

5.

It got cold!

It's so hard for me to get up when it's cold.

I keep telling Tyler I want to move
to where it's 70 ish degrees year round.
with maybe a few 85 - 90 degree days sprinkled in for swimming....

6.

oh!

I finally found a 'nature table' for the LEM.

I've been keeping my eye out for one since January

and actively looking regularly

since April.

I almost feel a little lost.

I have yet to decide what color to paint it.

If it weren't laminate

(on top of solid wood - no less)

I might actually leave it un-painted,

stain just seems more appropriate for a nature table.

But it is laminate - and ugly laminate at that, so it needs paint.

7.

I need a little help.

It's almost embarrassing.

I tossed around the idea of getting  a french press

for a couple of years;

supposedly, they make the best coffee.

And I really sorta wanted to be drinking the best coffee...

Plus, I sorta think that, maybe,

if the coffee was amazing, I might could drink it black??

As you can see, I am now the owner of a gorgeous french press

(thanks, T and Ton'!!) 

but the problem is - so far,

all I've done with it 

is waste coffee beans.

As in

dump the 'coffee' down the drain

'cause there is no sense drinking it.

Best coffee, my eye!

I really want to love my press

and - more importantly - the coffee it makes.

Currently, though, my press is mocking me.

Any suggestions?

visit Jen for more quick takes

sisters

I love how much these girls love each other.

(and I just choose to ignore how much they also bicker and scream...)

Today,

Lily was playing while I worked and Lexi napped.

She thought she heard Brandon talking to Lex'

and figured she must be awake

so she jumped up and took off running towards the bedroom
shouting, "Sister! I been waiting for you!"

Poor girl - Lexi was still sound asleep.

~

completely unrelated - except it kinda goes with the picture:

I drew a stick person the other day of Lexi with pony tails

and she took one look at it and said, 

"My ears don't look like that!"

squishing it in

Every once in  awhile,

I'll look on Craigslist at exercise equipment.

I haven't walked (for exercise) since Dollar General opened

the Sunday after Brandon's birthday.

My blasted heel is just not healing very quickly

and every time I think it feels okay for me to 'push it' a bit

I seem to overdo.

I came to the un-appealing conclusion

that the best thing to do, would be to get an exercise bike.

That way, I could get my heart-rate up,

without aggravating my heel.

But there's that whole tiny house thing going on.

I came to the even more unappealing conclusion

that the only spot for this seat of torture

would be where my chair sits next to the bed.

Now,

I've been looking to replace that chair for quite awhile;

the cushions are shot.

But I had hoped to replace it 

with something more comfortable. not less.

After overhearing a discussion about me,

I was especially thrilled to find an older, knock-off airdyne

for $75.

Only problem was - it came with 3 other big exercise things, too.

But the guy ended up selling everything separately,

and all he had left when I called on it,

was the bike.

for $20!

SOLD.

And it turned out,

that I didn't have to give up my rocking chair after all;

we managed to fit the beast 

in between the cabinets in the dining room

conveniently right in front of the air conditioner.

And it's got wheels, so we can easily roll it into our bedroom

when guests are coming.

I think I got it just in time - what I'd overheard earlier,

was Josiah whispering to the boys,

"The reason we couldn't buy that house

(we periodically look at houses, 

on the off chance that we'll find something perfect for us,

without having to build it ourselves.... We'd looked at one Sunday.)

is because Mom is too fat

to fit in the storm shelter."