Happy Birthday Natania!!

Happy 12th Birthday!! Boy the years are flying by and with you it is sometimes harder believe you are getting older because she are so small. Just think in the fall you will be in Jr. High even your sister was shocked by that thought. Today we will have lots of fun shopping for your party. I'm praying everything goes okay for you and that the bad weather coming doesn't interfere with your friends arriving.

Before and After

Before last weekend I was busy packing up for a scrapbook retreat. I've never done this before and I've never gone overnight without the kids. I was a little nervous that they wouldn't be able to handle it (the two youngest kids) but it was just the right amout of time for them, not for me. I was gone about 2 days so I only went to half of the retreat. Next year I'm hoping to go for the whole thing. It was fun and I got almost 40 pages done. Annaliese wouldn't let go of me when I got home for quite a long time. And Micah kept wanting to call me but daddy kept encouraging him to hold off on not calling too often which was good.

Now that I'm home (the after part) I'm busy with trying to get the laundry done. I made the mistake of not leaving instructions to keep up with the wash for me. I still need to put away all of my supplies. You wouldn't believe how much stuff other ladies brought. I thought I was going overboard.

I'm also busy getting ready for my daughter's birthday party. She's planning a sleepover with some friends from Eau Claire. She's pretty excited. I'm taking her Wed. (on her birthday) to get some supplies and out to diner since her party has to be a few days after. I'm looking forward to spending some time with just her. With five kids in the house it can sometimes be hard to find that one on one time that they need.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to find time to get my blog backgrounds changed before Christmas of 2010 rolls around. I've also started back on weight watchers. Today was the first offical day. I'm not doing meetings because I can't afford the weekly fee but I have my books and am keeping track of my food/points by writing everything down.

Welcoming in 2010!

So let's talk New Year's Resolutions. I have a few but like everyone else the newness wears off and we seem to fall right back into old patterns, old routines. The really important resolution to me this year is to try very hard to lose some weight again. I know same thing from year to year. I did well last spring and had lost 25lbs now I'm almost back to where I started. Now tell me about your New Year's resolutions? And best wishes on accomplishing them.

I also have a blog giveaway going on over at my 2nd blog which is www.primroseparlor.blogspot.com check it out and be sure to enter.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all of you out there. We had a wonderful evening (last night) opening gifts. I got some great pictures and the kids got some really nice gifts. They did a really good job with finding things for mom this year and my hubby went a little overboard. One of the things he bought me was some body wash from bath n body two different scents. The first is Twilight Woods from my older two girls because they love the Twilight movies. Then he took the 3 from the PS I love collection and wrapped them in a box all by themselves from him - that was kinda sweet. Then he went to a local prim shop and picked out a new shelf for me all on his own. The owner Kathy is going to paint it red for me and then I can go pick it up when it's ready. I'll try to remember to post a pic when I get it hung up.

This morning was kinda poor attendance at church but the weather has been rather frightful out here. Snow, sleet, rain then more snow then more sleet. You get the picture. We had planned to go see a movie today - the new Alvin and the Chipmunks but decided to put it off until the roads were better. I think our new truck would've done fine but then again ice can be so unpredictable.

David has a funeral to do tomorrow at one of the vacancy congregations so we may have to wait until Sunday for the movie.

Some of the family's favorite gifts:
Gabrielle - new clothes, books and music
Arianna - books, a new camera, some clothes we need to exchange for the right size
Natania - some american girl stuff, clothes and fashionable boots
Annaliese - also some american girl stuff, clothes and fashionable boots
Micah - a new sled, xmas boxers (he sleeps in these. He does not consider them underwear and gets very upset when they are referred to as that) and some legos
Dad - movies, books and a fun thing from Micah to Dad was xmas boxers also - ones that say "naughty or nice", stripes and I forget the other print. We had a fun laugh at that one.

Well those were some of our favorites among all the gifts. I don't usually buy so many things for the kids but each year they need new PJ's. And then they have some fun things they usually want so it's hard to buy just clothes or essential things. I try to make a good mix of things. And when you have a mom who just absolutely loves to Christmas shop - crowds and all. Well sometimes you get caught up in the fun of finding that right gift for your child. I say every year I'm going to cut back but . . . well one can always hope to accomplish that some day.

I hope you enjoyed your day with family and friends. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Let the Merry Making Begin

It's Christmas Eve and at our house that is when a lot of the celebration begins. We prepare the rest of the food which this year we bought too much so we will have to finish some of it tomorrow while eating left overs. Micah woke everyone up early to open stockings. I manage to put him off until about 10:30am so we could get a few things started.


On the menu this year is ribs (for later or tomorrow), chicken wings, cranberry chicken wings, lots of dips, hummis and few other things. I'm hoping to make tomorrow or the day after a gingerbread cake. So that will be a nice treat.







It looks like we will be snowed in from the storm that is going on outside today and tomorrow. They are predicting 15-20inches for us. I guess this will be a real "white Christmas". One of the girls is a little disappointed about getting snowed in - she was hoping to go to a movie on Christmas day like we did last year. We don't normally do that but with all our family too far away to travel to we decided to try that. I was actually very surprised at how crowded the theater was last year.

Merry Christmas to all of you. Enjoy your time with family and friends celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world.

Lil' Christmas Eve

Today our family celebrates "Lil' Christmas Eve". We adopted the tradition from our pastor back home in New England. His family has Norweigan background and my husband's side has Sweedish. So the day before Christmas, we start baking and doing those fun little things around the house as we get ready to celebrate the birth of Christ. We listen to carols while cooking and maybe a little bit of cleaning gets done. We finish up the wrapping and put the final touches on our decorations. We baked 3 different cookies today. We usually do much more but the time this year seemed to just get away from me and my little guy started to seem like he was getting a sick stomach. I'm praying not, since it will be no fun to have a sick child on Christmas, especially at his age. He's been waiting and waiting with very little patience, but then I don't blame him for that everyone loves presents.

Children's Christmas Program

Tonight was our church's Christmas program. We had a really good turn out for attendance and some family visitors coming to see the grandkids, neice or nephew of their relative. My daughter Natania had a two verse solo in one of the songs. I'm very proud of her. I think she is a little disappointed in how it went. She got kinda nervous on the 2nd verse, so I think she feels she could've done better. But I'm so glad she even tried. Bev, the lady who handles this each year kept asking for more volunteers and no one was willing to take on a solo verse or two. I know Natania can sing really, really well when no one is looking at her. So this is good practice for getting over those nerves. The hymn had about 10 verses, maybe more I lost track and it isn't the easiest song to sing even the congregation had trouble with their verses. We can't take photos during service so I'm posting a couple from the kids Christmas concert with our homeschool choir. The first is a picture of Natania with her friend Mackenzie. Natania is the blond on the right.

This one is from our concert. She really loves to sing so we are encouraging anything musical for her. She is part of the choir, takes voice lessons twice a month and piano.

We Should be Doing School

We should be doing school but my little guy just loves the snow. It's a good thing we don't live in the south (LOL) at least from his perspective. He then begs his sisters to come out too. Who could resist the begging of this face?


Here's a cute pic of all three of them together



Between the two storms I think we now have 10inches so I think we have the "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" covered.

Decking the Halls

I finally had a few moments to take some pictures of this years decorations. I'm not completely done. I'm still hoping to work on the kitchen a little bit more but that room is always full of school books or dirty dishes.

This year I did a little bit of outdoor decorating with the sled and the box of greenery under the window. I've wanted one of those sleds for a while now and found one at a reasonable price at the antique store down the street.




Onto the livingroom/dining room area.














After getting the tree up and decorated we lost some lights. I hate when that happens. A few years back we had the same problem just on a different tree and in a different house. We were living in Indiana then.




We have another tree in the dining room. It's a collection of victorian ornaments that we've bought over the years. We've come a long way since the first few years of marriage when we didn't have alot in the way of decorations.


Let's not forget among the fun of decorations and gift giving the real meaning of Christmas.


Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luke 2: 7, 11, 14

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

Join us at the 2009 Holiday Home Tours over at the Nesting Place

Glory in the Highest

Last night our family went to the Chris Tomlin concert his Christmas tour "Glory in the Highest". If by any chance you don't know who he is, he is a Christian contemporary music artist. If you ever get the chance to see him in concert I'd highly encourage you to do so. It was an absolute fabulous concert. It was my kids first concert so that was kinda fun too. It was a little pricey for our family to go but well worth the money.

He always takes along a guy named Louie, I'm thinking he might be his manager or something like that. But he gave a message during the middle part of the concert that was just really, really good. He started out by talking about Christmas and how chaotic it can be this time of year for everyone rushing around, buying gifts, decorating, etc...and sometimes you just feel like it's chaotic. Or someone's life could be filled with chaos right now, filled with lots of problems. Then he related that to how Mary and Joseph must have felt on that first Christmas. And how people must have really thought she was crazy telling people she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and to put it in todays words that she was the gossip of the neighborhood. He continued to talk about how they must have been scared and tired, the long ride on a donkey is so similar to when women walk the mall to get the birthing process started. He imagines that Mary must have been praying for rest but not in the inside of cave, not in a stable. She must have been pleading please don't let the baby be born here. How they both must have felt the choas of that night and the chaos in their lives. But then God broke through the choas with the simple cry of a baby. He sent Jesus to break the chaos in our lives, to give us peace. This simple cry would be heard around the world. The same baby would have a triumphant cry. Triumphant over death, he would be the long expected Savior - the Messiah that we had been waiting for.

So if you ever get the chance to attend one of his concerts, you won't be disappointed.

A Funny Little Story

Yesterday I sent my hubby, my son and two older girls shopping at Sam's Club while I took the younger two girls with me to Kohl's to shop for Christmas dresses. They finished at Sam's club before we were done but my cell phone wasn't ringing when they tried to call. My husband decided to send Micah my 7 year old and Arianna into Kohl's to find us. The funny part of the story is Micah's conversation with Arianna. He said to her "Mommy's lost that's why mommy shouldn't go out alone". Arianna said I wasn't lost but then Micah said "If Mommy doesn't come home she's grounded".

He says the funniest things.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you enjoy your day and your tummy's get plenty of turkey and trimmings. I'm planning to hit the shopping tomorrow more for the fun of it than for any "Black Friday" sales. It just seems to be one of those traditions that I have. A day away, by myself, enjoying the sites and sounds of Christmas, getting a jump on my own shopping but I definately do not go at 4am. I enjoy my sleep. We will also with sticking with traditions and starting our Christmas decorating while our bird is cookin'

Christmas Fun

Here are some pics of the things I've been working on for a few weeks now. They were from some free patterns of various places, one item was from a pattern by Sweet Pea Primitives and another from Moonchild Prims. I've really enjoyed working on so many different things. My 7 year old son tells me that we have to keep some of them for ourselves. I'm thinking he might be right.

These candy canes were quick and fun. I baked them in the oven and scented them with coffee, vanilla and a little cinnamon.






These little guys look so great in my wooden bowl with some primitive greens.


These prim snowmen were fun but I'm not completely sure if I liked how they turned out. I didn't coffee stain the pure and natural batting, I only tea stained it. I think they should maybe be a little bit darker.






I made two of these one in green and one in red.

These were also baked in the oven. I left them a little crinkled. I didn't iron them I just smoothed out a little bit and then stuffed them. I think the crinkled look helps them look a little old. I love the graphic that is pinned with rusty pins.





I made 3 of the following little ornaments. I think they came out really nice. It was my first attempt at sculpted noses.


These little tea light holders were really fun to make. The brim is sprinkled with german glass glitter. I'm pretty pleased with these.


I made three of these also. I finished them up last night.
Now I'm finished for a few weeks and have boxed up my supplies. It's hard to find the space in a small house to keep the projects I'm working on out until they are completed. It's been awhile since I did so much crafting but these are for a good cause. Our church is doing a fundraiser on 12/5 a cookie and craft sale. I don't really think they will get what they are "worth" the way you would at a craft fair or a prim shop. I think whatever is left over I will try to sell here, on ebay or maybe even open an etsy shop of my own. When my oldest girls were little I had a very successful crafting business doing fairs and renting booth space in craft malls. That was a long time ago or at least it seems that way so it's been fun working on crafty things again.

I'm thinking too that I might do a Christmas giveaway. I've been enjoying reading other blogs and seeing what they have to offer this time of year. So check back around December 7th or so I might have it together by them. I certainly need more blogging friends/followers - it's lonely out here in a small town. I'm not a small town girl, somethings just won't change, no matter how much one tries.

Simple Woman's Daybook November 23

Outside my window...gray, kind of a misty rain

I am thinking... of how many of the kids will be able to get in to see a doctor before the holiday

I am thankful for... that our doctor is just down the street. I like him alot and we see things the same way.

I am wearing... my red bathrobe still.

I am going... to be cleaning up the house today in the event that everyone feels well enough for Turkey on Thursday.

I am reading . . . email and blogs, haven't had much time for anything else the past two weeks with sickness.

I am hoping... that everyone gets better soon

On my mind... the lack of sleep has caused nothing to be on my mind right now

From the learning rooms... oh my gosh, last week was a complete bust. That's when all the sickness started. So I guess our learning will have to wait. And we were on such a good roll with our writing program and history.

Noticing that...life can be very lonely in a small town where you are not originally from plus the homeschooling. We live so far away from our homeschool support group that it is hard to make friendships easily and then friends that you can connect with often.

Pondering these words . . . God works all things for our good. I've had some doubts some days

From the kitchen... nothing

Around the house... lots of cleaning up and piles of craft things that are waiting for the churches craft and cookie sale on 12/5 - it should be fun.

One of my favorite things . . . is the crowded stores at Christmas time. I just love the listening to carols over the intercoms and the decorations.

From my picture journal...these two just had birthdays this past weekend

Stop by Peggy'sto read other daybooks. Have fun!!