Menu Monday {kids edition}

how do you make your menu?
same thing every week...think of it while your shopping?...poll the family before you go shopping?...do the kids and husband make the menu?..open the cupboard and fridge and throw stuff together?...

I seriously don't like making a menu
very much dislike grocery shopping
but HATE life in my house at 4:55 pm when I have NOT made a menu and grocery shopped off that menu!!!


so I did something slightly crazy for my menu this time...

I handed the ipad over to the kids,
pulled up the pintrest app, had them look thru my Yum- dinner & yum-crockpot boards
& they made the menu....this will get us thru the next 2 weeks...and depending on how well it works we may or may not have the kids make the menu again!

 Baked Panko Chicken Tenders {both kids}

Olive Garden Alfredo {girl child}

The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake {girl child}

Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken {girl child}

Italian Sloppy Joes with Ranch Style Beans {both kids}

Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls {both kids}

Vegetarian Chili with cornbread {boy child}

Pretzel Dogs {boy child}

Homemade pizza {boy child}

Not Soggy Nachos {boy child}

Bread Bowls with Chicken Chowder {boy child}

what's your menu making style...?

Tour of Nativities

My Tour of Nativities continues with one of our first nativities.  

I bought this the year Beau and I were married (it's our 15th Christmas)...

It's nothing special, I'm sure I picked it up at WalMart or Target...

it's ceramic but durable.

I've always let my kids play with my Nativities...with supervision of course.

I have these mini suitcases in our living room, I use them for decor all year round, and I usually set up one of my nativities on/with the suitcases...I think it's fitting, with all the traveling this little family did!

I've always liked this baby Jesus...so sweet...When Madison was little she would always want to nap with baby Him!

Here is the far away look...it's sharing a table with our fish tank...Jesus can hang with the fish, wasn't he a fisher of men?!?

 

do you have a special way of displaying your nativities?

November 29

1}  Thankful for central heat on this wintry,  blustery, stormy day!  I grew up with a wood stove as our main heat source and more recently we moved out of our money pit that had no central heat {a monitor heater in one corner on the first floor a a 2 1/2 story house...not great heat}...love being able to program the heat for 70 and know that my house will be cozy warm.

2} Thankful also for cozy blankets and robes so I can program our 'heat' for 60 at night and we're not freezing...

3}  Thankful that my kids love Carnation Instant Breakfast!

November 28

1}  I'm thankful for minimum days...both of my kids have minimum days on Wednesdays...Wednesdays are a busy, late days...having the kids get out an hour earlier each Wednesday makes our Wednesdays less chaotic and hectic...

2}  I'm thankful for completion...specifically completed puzzles.  

Thanksgiving Family Puzzle 2012...with a missing piece

an unnamed child of the male persuasion
found the missing piece in his coat pocket....hmmmm

completion...1000 piece TAKE that!

3}  I'm thankful that my husband doesn't have to travel for work.  A few times a year he may have to go to a conference or something but I'm thankful that he's not traveling weekly or even monthly.  I like having him around.

November 20

1}  I'm thankful  for lists...I just finished making my Thanksgiving grocery list...and when the kids wake up off we will go to get all or our Thanksgiving food.

2}  Thankful for leftover cookies that my kids will eat for breakfast!

YEP...I'm gonna let me kids eat a cookie for breakfast and then take them grocery shopping 2 days before Thanksgiving when the store is likely to be horribly crowded!
And ... there is a large possibility that they will end the shopping experience with a large donut...
{because I believe cavities and obesity will give my children character}
AND....I feel strongly in the fact that we all have jobs in life,
     and we do those jobs better if we get a paycheck when our job is completed...
my children have a job today...
    They will be expected to act like normal civilized humans
     {even though their only breakfast was a large cookie}
while I drag them through a crowed, unfriendly grocery store...
      when & if they complete this job, their paycheck will be a donut at the end!

3}  Thankful for the men and women working at the grocery store...such an unappreciated job!
People treat grocers horrible.
Yes, I know you hate shopping...
     Yes, I know it's crowded...
Yes, I can see that your child is throwing a fit and just broke a jar of pickles...
remind me why that is the grocers fault and you need to be rude to them?
Yes, I know the lines are longer then you were expecting...
Yes, I can tell you fed your children cookies for breakfast...
Yes, I know that you wish you were ANYWHERE other than grocery shopping....
Yes, I know that this normal 1 hour trip has taken you 2 and you're still not done...
remind me how being rude to the grocer is going to help this situation!
I have a small task for you and your family!
If you have yet to finish your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, or end up back at the store because someone forgot butter or pepper...
First...be thankful that you have the option of shopping at a grocery store,
Second...be thankful that there are people that work in this thankless industry and THANK THEM...
Give them a smile...maybe a kiss {Hershey that is}...
and bonus...if you head into the grocery store with a good attitude and your goal is NOT to get out of there as fast as possible...
     but rather to make the day of those that are serving inside the store...
your trip will be that much more pleasant! {you can even make it a game with your kids}...
extra points in the game...help a young mom or elderly couple that look like they might need help with their list or bagging their groceries...
double bonus...your kids will learn amazing kindness, grace, and character from this simple trip to the store.

November 17

1}  Thankful for friends... I could write a whole post just on friends...but I'll just say, I'm thankful for my friends...{old & new}...I'm thankful for the friends that Beau has...and I'm thankful for the friends our kids have.

in that same theme
2}  I'm thankful for sleepovers...and yes, I'm crazy...our kids had some friends over last night and I love that they are spread all over the house and that the kids had a blast with each other.

3}  Thankful for grocery stores...getting ready to go do some shopping and I'm thankful that we have the luxury of grocery stores!

November 13

1}  Thankful for nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, and all the specialized people that work in hospitals!  And those that work with kids are even more amazing.

2}  Thankful for children's hospitals.

3}  Thankful for kids spending the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Please continue to pray for our friends daughter.  She was in so much pain today, one of the hardest things I've had to see.  {Kids should not have to ever be in that level of pain...seriously she will laugh her way through labor after the pain she is experiencing today and for the next few days!}.   Her surgery was to straighten out her scoliosis, her pre-op prep took almost 2 hours, and then her actual surgery was about 7 hours, and then another 1 1/2 hours before her parents could go see her, I think they saw her around 9:30 last night.

Brad & Kim putting on their brave faces...
this was yesterday morning before Kenna had gone "into" surgery put was in pre-op

Pray for our friends.  Watching your child in pain SUCKS!  And getting to sleep on fold out chairs...they WILL have short fuses...pray that they can be a comfort to each other and be each others soft place to land.

in a waiting room about hour 5 (of surgery, not counting pre-op!)

Pray for all the other families at that hospital.  We were at a huge children's hospital and walking the halls, seeing all the sick kids, all the parents in pain watching their babies hurting.  Not having answers to help their kids....I'm so thankful for hospitals geared just for these kids, people who devote their lives to helping these children.  I felt like I was praying the entire time I was there {not a bad thing}, every child I saw that was sick, every family waiting for news or talking with a doctor, nurse, social worker, etc...I just saw pain everywhere and I couldn't stop pleading with God to help these kids and families.

Hold your babies tight tonight when you tuck them in.

Thank you God for my healthy kids!  Be with every parent tonight who has a hurting child!

November 12

Beau and I are on a little trip...not a romantic get away, not a for fun get away, not a business get away...
a family friends needs us to walk beside them while their almost 10 year old daughter is having major surgery....
pray for our friends today...
pray for their brave daughter as she goes in this morning for a life changing surgery.
pray for her parents, that wish with all their hearts that it was them and not their baby.
pray for the doctors.
pray for us as we comfort and pray with them today.

1}  Thankful for healthy kids.
2}  Thankful for doctors.
3}  Thankful that my God is the great physician!

November 7th

1}  I'm thankful for my Jesus being the same yesterday, today and forever. {Hebrews 13:8}

That verse was on the wall of our polling place, that happened to be a church, the boy child pointed it out when we got to the car...wish I would have seen it and taken a picture...
he said, "did you see what was painted on the wall in there?  It said Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever Hebrews something!"....
it's such a reassuring thing to know!  No matter who and what you voted for yesterday, {or even if you didn't vote}...no matter who won or didn't win, no matter what props passed or didn't pass.  Our Jesus Christ is never changing!  Amen...thanks boy child for being observant of the things around you!

2}  I'm thankful that we live in a country that says my children, and every child, have the right to learn!  My lower middle class children, boy & girl...both deserve an education!  I don't think I thought much about my right to learn as a child or even until I had my our children.  But it is such a blessing that not only do they offer an education to my children, it's the law that they MUST learn!  If I choose to not send them to a public or private school, I need to prove to the government that I would be teaching them in my home!  That's crazy awesome!

3}  I'm thankful for my job.  I have a job I never dreamed I'd have.  I never once thought, "hey when I grown I want to work with kids!"...yep, not even once.  God did place it on my heart in high school and college that I might be in the ministry somehow, someway.  And now, not only am I as 'pastor's wife,' I also am the Early Childhood Director {in charge of birth-kindergarten} at our church.  It's such a great working environment...my boss is pretty HOT...and my boss's boss is a great man to work for.  The office staff are all amazing women.  And I have a job that works around my life.  I work while my kids are in school...I'm home when they're home, I can take days off for field trips, I volunteer in my son's class once a week, I can take them to piano lessons & volleyball games.  Sick kids, no problem...I get to be mom and take care of my kids.  And on the work side...I seriously love working with babies-kindergartners...they are great!  I love watching the things their little brains process through.  I love hearing their hearts when we talk about God!  I thankful that I get to play a part in them learning the language of God!

payday

what happened to this world...

yesterday was our payday...which in our home = allowance day for our kids...

I was thinking this morning as I packed the kids' lunch...

I remember there used to be a time...

...blog note...not in my time...

but at one time...in the not-so-long-ago history of this nation...

that parents didn't pay their kids for being kids...

rather, the kids paid their parents...

kids went out and got jobs and a portion, if not all, of their paycheck went into the family bank to just help the family meet their needs...

then the government went and got involved 

....and made laws against frowned upon kids with jobs...

I'm thinking of starting up a petition 

....maybe not kids working 

{child labor laws might be hard to reverse}

but for the kids to pay the parents rather than the parents paying the kids....

[editor's note: I can be paid in Jelly Beans.  Beau]

who's with me on this...

just sign your name below!

it's the little things :: quite time & my kids

it's the little things...

this is my week and the little things {clockwise}

{my garden...I spend quite time almost every morning weeding and watering my little plots of dirt..

{quite time with God... "He is my Rock; his work is perfect.
                                         Everything he does is just and fair.
                                   He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
                                          how just and upright He is!"
                                                 Deuteronomy 32:4   

{my kids...
        *they shared a room for almost 6 years and still want to be together...they get to sleep together one night a week during the summer...I cherish this because I'm pretty sure this won't last much longer!

       *7-11 day and free 7.11 oz slurpees...talk about little things

       *my posers...I heart these two!

pretzel memories

I did something last week that I've been wanting to do for a long time...
I made soft pretzels with the kids...

Yep...I'm Martha...
totally 100% Martha...
...
only that's a lie...
I'm not...
...we just have to remember the cake pop incident of '12 to know I'm not Martha!

the reason I have never made them before is because I was scared...
it's bread...which equals yeast...and that's always a little iffy...
it's rolling and shaping of the dough...with children involved...
you have to boil them in a brine...
yes...a brine...
....that's freaky!
and then the egg wash
and all with kids...

yep...no, thanks I'll pass...

but I really wanted to...

I kept pinning soft pretzel recipes...
I would read them and re-read them...
even though they look scary with the whole brine thingy...
they also looked very easy....
but then I would remember the cake pop incident of '12 and then remind myself that just because the other bloggers think it's easy doesn't mean it is easy!

Well I did it...
I took the leap and made pretzels with the kids...
I followed this recipe from Alton Brown/Food Network
(my slightly altered recipe posted below)
it was great...
the dough...super simple...

the creating pretzel shapes with the kids...fun..not super easy...but fun
AND the dough is very forgiving, and even though the boy child played created with his dough for a LONG time it wasn't any worse for the wear, I couldn't even tell which 2 were his over-loved creations when they came out of the oven.

the scary brine...easy peasy!

egg wash...no biggie...just a small simple step
and the kids...
they LOVED it...loved it so much we did it three days in a row!

yes...THREE days in a row...
day one...loved them but only had table salt and that was too much salt..
day 2...I got the right salt...but Beau made the dough and I didn't tell him the right amount of butter (Alton's recipes is in oz not tablespoons)...so it was a bit too rubbery of dough for the knots so we opted for bites instead-AMAZING...
day 3...cinnamon pretzels for breakfast-yes please!

Homemade Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 package active dry yeast)
4 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Pam (the baking spray...not the lady) for spraying
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Pretzel salt or Cinnamon & Sugar

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined.
side note...I was summoned to the back yard at this point to see the snake that the boy child had found...and I left the mixer going...I have no idea how long I was gone... I came back and the dough was smooth and pulling away from the side of the bowl...so I never upped it to medium speed...
Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then spray with Pam (the spray...not the lady). Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam...the spray not the lady!

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface (I just sprayed the counter and let the kids go to town) and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel...or skip the knot and make pretzel bites by cutting them into 1-2 inch squares (we did bites the 2nd time we made these...just as yummy!).  Place onto the parchment-lined pan...(or spray the bee-jeezus out of the pan...DO NOT opt for wax paper...just sayin')

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 or 2 at a time (for bites I would say between 10-15), for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to cookie sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture, if topping with Pretzel Salt (Course Sea Salt...not table salt, if you don't have pretzel salt skip the salt...and take my word for it that table salt was TOO much!) sprinkle it now. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at about 5 minutes.

For Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzels:  Wait 2-5 minutes for pretzels to not be too hot, brush the tops of warm pretzels with melted butter and turn upside down/butter side down into a bowl with bowls with cinnamon & sugar

Devour Eat pretzels while still warm...and enjoy with the family!

this is the pictures you get when you ask your husband nicely
 to snap a picture of the kids enjoying their pretzels!

Sorry for the lack of pictures of all the steps...I was enjoying the pretzel moment with my kids and didn't stop and take pictures along the way!

Have you ever made homemade soft pretzels?
How about bagels...I think bagels are next on my list!...

veggies for lunch

yep...I did that yesterday...
...maybe I was feeling a little vegetarian...
just a little...

so I just decided to have some carrots...
and that was my lunch...carrots....

carrots wrapped up in some cake and frosting!

This was a leftover slice of one of our Easter desserts...
gotta have a carrot cake for Easter...
am I right?

how we do Easter

many of you may know that my husband is a Children's Pastor & that I'm the Early Childhood Director at our church...
so with that knowledge many people ask...
Do we 'do' the Easter Bunny?

(and for that matter Santa, the Tooth Fairy, lepercauns, etc)

Yes...we 'do' the Easter Bunny...and all those others too...

how does that look?
how do we celebrate one of the most sacred (if not the most sacred) holiday on the Christian calendar yet allow a bunny to be part of it?

The same way we let the Big Jolly Elf be part of Christmas.
We don't let either the bunny or the big guy the center attraction on these special Christian days, but they are there...

Crafty Shower

Okay so I blogged last week about my friend, Rayna's baby shower...

and how, per Rayna's request, we play zero games!
I was okay with that
     (even though I love a good game)

together we talked about what to do instead of games
you do have to do SOMETHING
this would not be good...
Hello, welcome to the baby shower...
put your presents there...
okay now were're opening presents
okay, thanks, that was nice, good bye!
well, maybe you could, I think it's a little rude...um...odd...

So for the shower activity we decided to make oneies for the coming baby...

some onesies created by guests at the shower...
(btw 3 of these were created by kids the dino top middle made by  my boy child,
animals top right, my girl child, whale bottom left by a friends 11 yr old drama queen)

This is what you'll need...

surviving

here are some tips I  have for
...surviving the Horrible Nasty....

and by Horrible Nasty I mean the plague that my family had this week...

I remember a veteran mom at MOPS passing on some sick tips when the girl child was about a year old.
I had no idea how helpful one of those tips would be...
I'm sure I gleaned more than one piece of wisdom from her,
but there is one thing that I always hear in my head when the girl child gets sick
*Ponytail!
yep, that's been huge, if you  have a girl with hair that might fall in her face when she's throwing up, put her hair in a ponytail!

and now here are some tips that I have picked up over the years in the trenches!
      really, my kids are vomiters 
     (not a word, but I'm thinking it should be!), 
     I've served a few tours in the nasty trenches of bile 
     (yep, I just said that!)


1.  Ponytail or bobby-pins (I've used the bobby-pins for the boy child and his thick locks);  really one of the worst things is getting vomit in your hair.

oh designer Christmas tree

oh Christmas tree...
how I love your branches...
your branches filled with memories and fun...
branches filled with perfectly-imperfect creations and ornaments created and chosen by our children

Norman, our Christmas tree this year

Christmas is about family
about children
and memories
and warm fuzzy feelings
and joy, love, peace...
and a perfect babe born in a stable...

my biggest Christmas pet peeve is the need to have the perfect Christmas
the perfect house lights
     don't get me wrong...I LOVE house lights
the perfect door wreath
     I love me a pretty wreath...but it doesn't have to be $75
the perfect plate of goodies to deliver to the neighbor
     let the kids help with the goodies, 
the perfect family Christmas photo/card
     I love a great Christmas card, but does it represent YOUR family
and the worst of all...
the designer Christmas tree...
you know the one...
the house...
the family...
that has the designer tree...
the tree that is Perfect...
not an ornament out of place,
not a light or twinkle not where it's supposed to be...
and not one perfectly imperfect handmade kids ornament on it...

boy child's penguin-circa 2009

the families with these perfect trees talk about how 'special' the kids are because they get their own tree...
in their room...
with THEIR ornaments on it...

girl child's kindergarten present to us, 2006

I've never talked to any of these kids,
     not sure how they turn out as adults,
but I can't imagine growing up in a house where the macaroni wreath with my toothless 1st grade smile ornament wasn't 'allowed' to hang on my mom's perfect tree...where the special weird snowman ornament 'Uncle Randy' gave me had to hang on a different tree out of sight from the perfect tree in the living room....

How has the beauty of Christmas gone from the perfection of a babe born in a barn to a what-ever-the-color/theme-of-the-season-is-perfect-kid-free Christmas tree?

I find it ironic and sad that our Savior was also not good enough to be the main attraction on the first Christmas...that he wasn't born in the 5 star inn with the newest nursery theme decorating his nursery...

boy child's ornament 2010-so.very.random!

I think our Christmas trees should be filled with kids...
with their uniquely handcrafted works of art
their hand selected ornaments
their love
these all point to the perfectly imperfectness of the first Christmas.
Christmas was never meant to be 'perfect'
we can't be perfect...
perfect was born for us on the first Christmas morning,
born to free us from the burden of being perfect

lollipop-boy child 2008
 Popsicle nativity-girl child 2006

and that is my little Christmas soap box...let your kids hang their uniquely crafted artwork on your Christmas tree...show them that they are good enough for your tree, they don't need to be perfect to fit into your Christmas memories!

Seriously, what is more important, your designer Christmas tree or the heart of your child that feels loved year after year when they get to hang their hand crafted, uniquely picked out, cherished ornaments on the family tree!

boy child 2008

wasn't the meaning of that first Christmas so obvious?
that Christmas is for all children
for the imperfect of us all
for family
for love, peace, joy

both girl child's all pink heart painted at 7,
'Jesus loves me' given to us by a church that was
praying for her when she was in the NICU

I mourn the day when our grown children claim all their weird/unique/precious ornaments that they have created and collected over the years leaving our tree free from their memories, from their perfectly-imperfectness.

Merry Christmas

What a Joy!

our sweet precious baby girl is 11 years old today...
I'm thinking that might officially be a 'tween'...
eek....
and she doesn't know it but we are surprising her with 
yikes...
a.party.at.the.mall...
yes I know...I might be crazy...
but it will be 100% chaperoned by ME 
(yeah, I know, not cool mom!  I know)
and there is only be 5 tween girls
and they will have a 'plan'...
it's going to be a scavenger hunt at the mall...
so no free roaming tweens on my watch!

here is my prayer for our baby girl today....
adapted from Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched her and known her.You know when she sits down and when she wakes up; you discern her thoughts from far away.  You search out her path and her lying down, and You know all her ways. Even before a word is on her tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You protect her, You are  behind and before her, and your hand is upon her.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.  Where can she go from your spirit? Or where can she flee from your presence?  If she ascends to heaven, you are there; if she makes her bed, you are there.  If she takes the winds of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead her, and your right hand shall hold her fast.  If she says, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,"  even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. It was You who formed her inward parts; you knit her together in my  womb.  I praise you, for she is fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  Her frame was not hidden from you, when she was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld her unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for her, when none of them as yet existed.... Search her, O God, and know her heart; test her and know her thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in her, and lead her in the way everlasting.

Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us! What joy!' 
Psalm 126:3...Madison's Miracle Verse...
What a Joy is right...you are a sweet treasure from God and he has wonderful plans for your life!

Dirty Santa...

they are in awe of how big dirty santa is

that's our new tradition...

since target went and closed their garden section...

taking our Christmas tradition and spitting on it!

girl child trying to pop off boy child's head

we were forced last year to find a new Christmas tree getting tradition...

getting our tree at the 'dirty santa' tree lot

their faces were over the top cheese in this pic...
just give me a nice simply smile...please

just to clarify...

we've named him dirty santa...

that's not the actual name of the place....

santa just looks like he could use some oxi clean...

a good long soak in the stuff...

but I get it...

year after year of being out in the nasty elements 

and your whites aren't looking so white anymore!

i will love him and squeeze him and call him george

the kids could hardly contain themselves...
we never get a tree this early...
we always wait until after the girl child's birthday...(Dec 2nd)
I never wanted Christmas to crowd her birthday,
making her birthday not as special or something like that...
last year she wanted to know why we waited until after her birthday to get a tree
I explained my reasons...
she disagreed...
having a tree up for her birthday would make it seem more special...
only Dec babies get the opportunity for a Christmas tree up on their birthdays...
well played girl child...
so this year...
lights up...tree up
house decorated for Christmas...
all before December even starts...
I think I'm going to like this new tradition...

this is how I wanted them to pose in front of dirty santa...
but they just couldn't get their acts together and contain themselves for one nice dirty santa shot

dirty santa is a nice tree lot...
mr. tree man...
who thought I was weird when I asked if I could take a picture...
or maybe he just wasn't 'speaking the same english as us'
(boy child's suggestion....
he did seem more native to south of the border...)
anyways...

mr. tree man was very nice and friendly...
talked to me about his grandkids...
how he likes to sell trees because it makes kids and families happy...

he told me how nice and behaved boy and girl child were...
guess he wasn't hearing me yell at remind them to stop being crazy

 and extra bonus...our tree came with a name...
a name at no extra cost...
in fact I think the name made it cheaper!...

boy child wanted to sit next to Norman on the way home...keep him safe...

Beau liked the price so much that he was okay with us keeping Norman's name tag on him....

what's your Christmas tree getting tradition?

did she really just say that

okay, so we have a girl child.
I've mentioned her a few times...
she's an amazing girl...
     loving, compassionate, funny, joyful, quirky...
she's just amazing...

trying to get a picture of Halloween hair and makeup-take 1

and
she's also the opposite of me at 10 (almost 11)...
or at least the 10 (almost 11) year old me I remember myself being)...
she has some boy crushes,

take 2

    would hang a picture of her teen idol in her room if we allowed...
         her teen idol...no, not Justin Beiber or Zac Efron (sp)
.....no her teen idol is Shawn Cassidy...
          yes we know he's 50 something
...she begs us to watch The Hardy Boys on Netflix
       has a 1977 Hardy Boy/Nancy Drew book with pictures of Shawn in it that she carries in her backpack...
...and yes, she has his LP
     (that's a record for those that aren't cool retro)
....I love that her friends all think she's crazy for 'crushin' on Shawn yet she still does!

'Say Shawn Cassidy' Take 3

anyways...that was a tangent...

so two things happened this weekend to make me realize that she's almost 11...

1st ...I asked her want she wanted to do for her birthday, (4 weeks away...yikes)...
her answer, "Um, can some friends and I just hang out at the mall?"
did she really just say that?!?!?
voice inside my head..."UM NO...and again NO, NO, NO...HECK NO!"
outside voice, "oh, um, I'm pretty sure you can't do that until your like 18..."

don't smile...take 4

2nd thing...she needed a jacket...a few years ago I would have picked one up that was pink and that would have been good...last 2 years while she was with me we'd wonder thru the coat section at Target or WalMart and grab one that she liked...
this year, Friday I'm in WalMart, I take 4 pictures of coats that I think she'll like and send them home to Beau (who's home with the girl child), she chooses one, I buy it and come home...end of story...not likely...
she thinks it's too green, it's too puffy, and not enough pink (I actually mentioned the lack of pink about 5 times on the phone, "really, she's sure that's the one she likes, there is barely any pink")....
so Saturday...off we go with the too green, to puffy and not enough pink coat back to WalMart...
She tries on about 6 coats at WalMart...all too something or other...puffy, shiny, crunchy (she actually said a coat was too crunchy when she moved her arms...)...

okay no biggie, I need to go to Target anyways, we'll grab a coat there...

(did I mention that our fall was only 3 days long and now we are in freezing winter temps...freezing for Redding anyways and the girl NEEDS a coat, this isn't a want thing...)

Target...no go...all to furry, fuzzy, animally, punky, black, puffy and yada yada yada...
and we came home, she had a too small coat from last year that she could wear to church today and then we'll go out again on Sunday...we'll get a coat no biggie...

so my afternoon...
Kohl's ...too weird, too plastic, too bright pink, too furry, too puffy
Old Navy...too straight, too scratchy (the outside not inside), too furry, too puffy
JCPenny's...too shiny, too puffy, too plaid
Sears...too plastic, too puffy, NOT pink
Macy's...she wouldn't even try any of them on here,
     she walked around the racks, said, "yeah, NO."
Costco....bingo...we found it...pink, but not too pink, just the right amount of furry, and not puffy at all...
(by the way furry & puffy is a look this year)
but for REAL...8 stores...and I was out of stores...I am so thankful that I remembered Costco...
come on girl we live in Far Northern California...
these are the ONLY stores we have, I have NO other options...

and bingo...the girl is almost 11....
and 100% all pre teen girl!

take 5....love this girl!