SNOW DAY!

I'm trying to not be all "Houston-like" and get all excited about the snow, (because I lived in Ann Arbor for 2 winters, and I saw plenty of it), but there is just something about that little white stuff falling from the sky that makes me happy.  Eric had planned to work region band tonight and tomorrow, and my mom was going to watch the kids so I could get a long time tomorrow to sew and finish up many Christmas gifts.  However, we were getting worried about the weather and driving in it (well, someone was....not necessarily me) and so I took the kids earlier today to meet her friend who is going to watch them until she is early released from school in about 45 minutes!  I feel a little guilty and sad that I won't see them in the snow!!  How wrong is that?  I mean, I truly believe every mom should have some mini-personal retreats.  Time to be alone, dive into God's word, do some relaxing or enjoyable things (scrapbooking/sewing for me), and be childless for a few hours.  I don't feel like I demand that or even ask for it very often, and this is the last weekend it could happen until after the holidays, because we are so busy.  But, I still feel this pain that I won't get to play with my kids in the snow!!  Aynslee is still here for another hour or so, and she is getting excited about it, but it's not the same.  Eric gets to come home early, so maybe we'll pretend we're back around Christmas 2002 when we moved to Michigan and I was in snow for the first time.  It's really coming down now, and I'm 'hunkering down' to enjoy staying in! 

Praying for safety for all who are traveling, and hoping my kids enjoy this time with their Yaya!

Had to add some more pictures with even more snow...

In The Hands of a Child - Christmas Cheer Review

With all the snow yesterday, and dropping children off, I had auto-posted this review for Friday, but it didn't post!!  So here is the original review:

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by Hands of a Child for this review. I was not compensated for this review - just asked to give an honest account of my experience with this product.

I was very excited to get this pdf file and get Cara and Aynslee excited about doing some holiday crafts.  And, being the organized goofball that I am, I was even more excited that it was downloadable and I can save it and use the reproducibles in the future with my younger child (children??) :).  The Christmas Cheer Project Pack is a 50 page downloadable e-book that includes 15 activities. This e-book is designed for Pre-K to 1st graders, but the spokesperson I emailed about this review said it would be perfect for two 3 1/2 year olds, and she was RIGHT!  The girls (as I'm sure most preschool girls do) LOVED playing with glue, paint, colors.  My daughter has proven time and time again her most favorite thing in the world to do is trace her hand, why is that?  So making the hand-traced and cut wreath was by far her favorite. 

The activities were really nice to have on hand, as most of them called for normal household supplies.  I also loved that I could pick and choose which activities we did.  It is a 5 day lesson plan that focuses on snow, decorations, reindeers, Santa, and baking.  If you know what we do for Christmas, you know that we don't participate in Santa, but we do not ban his name from our home!  Cara knows he is pretend and Jesus is the reason we celebrate the season of Christmas, so though we did not do all of the Santa activities, I did print out the large Santa and let the girls color and glue the cotton balls on for his beard.  They enjoyed any and everything they got to do that involved GLUE! :).  And since Aynslee does celebrate Santa (and he's not around our house much), she really like it! 

As a mom, I really enjoyed the more 'learning' type activities.  Cara loves candy canes (and all things peppermint), so we played the candy cane matching game a lot.  First, she traced the letters for the pockets (they have 8 pockets that say circle, star, rectangle, heart, etc) and then she'd pick up a candy cane and tell me which shape was on it.  Since she can't read yet, I'd ask her what letter she thought the shape started with, and she could usually pick out which pocket the candy cane was supposed to go into just based on looking at all the letters!  And of course, a peppermint as a reward helped :).

As a reviewer, I'd definitely recommend this product.  I think it has great activities to do with even young school age children if they are home for Christmas break from school.  You don't have to be a 'homeschooler' to enjoy and plan great activities with your children!  Hands of a Child has numerous other downloadable e-books, as well as CDs and printed books, including more Christmas ideas!  This particular e-book retails for $12. 

Nap Time

I saw the mess these two little girls had made today.  I shut the door and asked them to clean up before nap time.  When it was quiet for a few minutes and I knew they weren't cleaning, I went in and this is what I found: 

Good thing Daddy made those shelves sturdy!!  :)

Back in the Saddle

We just got back from a fun week with my mom's family in Georgetown and Salado.  We celebrated upcoming babies being added (3 within 5 months in 2010), Thanksgiving, remembered my sweet Mawmaw, and got to hang out and eat and watch some good sports. My sister, 4 cousins, a friend and I went and saw New Moon last night and it was good!  I read the books so fast, I couldn't remember when it ended and the next began.  When it was over, I was like, that's it??? I didn't feel like 2 hours at all.  I think Breaking Dawn should be a 5 hour movie personally :).

I hope to get back in the saddle.  I have knit 3 really cute (in my opinion) baby hats in about 4 days of travel and car-riding and I'm proud of my first attempts.  I'm almost done with my knitting Christmas gifts, and have a few more sewing Christmas gifts to finish up, and I'm done! :)  I can't wait to attempt some new sewing projects for my etsy shop!  And, I need to start and finish my new advent calendar I'm making for our family!  :)  Gotta get on that and finish it by the 1st!! 
I hope that our family gets back in the swing of things.  That we finish this holiday season off well and back in a good routine.  Doing quiet times and family devotions, spending time together and just relaxing and enjoying every moment we're given--and we hope you do the same!  

10 years baby!

Today is always bittersweet.  It is 10 years since Miranda's funeral.  I cannot believe how long it's been.  It's also 10 years since Eric and I started officially 'dating.'  He came to the funeral with me (which was the day before Thanksgiving), and then went to his house, while I went to Georgetown with my family for Thanksgiving. 

Later that night, I was on IM with him and finally asked him if we were ever going to 'date'.  Most of you know his sweet answer ;) "Yeah, I guess we can be boyfriend/girlfriend, but I don't think it'll last long."  He still says 'it's not long yet', haha.  Anyways, Eric, thank you for the past 10 years.  You've stayed by my side through all the 'hard stuff' and continually cause me to grow and change.  You are an awesome family leader and companion.  I love you more today than 10 years ago! 

Good Word

My friend Meredith always says that, when she thinks I say something useful :), which probably isn't often, ha!  Anyways, we're accountability partners, and for going so strong a few months ago, I just have let up in my digging into God's word.  Sleep has gotten the better of me, and when I should be reading and meditating on God's word, I end up sewing, or knitting or cleaning.  Not bad things, unless I am not focused on my priorities.  Anyways, I've been reading through a few Psalms lately to get back in the swing of things, and wanted to say how blessed I've been.  I read Psalms 18 last Monday as I was preparing for a hard week.  My best friend died 10 years ago in the A&M bonfire tragedy, and we were heading to remember her with her family and friend up in College Station on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Sunday I got the call that her mom's brother, her Uncle Alan, had passed away from a heart attack.  My heart was so sad for this family, and the timing of these events!  But, Monday morning as I was reading through Psalm 18, I was reminded how the

"Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

He is always there when we need Him, even if we can't feel him comforting us.  And I bet you can guess one of the passages of scripture that was read at the funeral on Thursday.  I love it when God reminds me over and over how aware He is of ME and my life.

This morning I was reading through Psalm 19 and two things spoke to me (don't get me wrong, the whole chapter is good!):

Verse 1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Verse 14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

The first helps to remind me that God is in every thing he made, how beautiful our world is!! 

Now confession time, I prayed verse 14 over my day today.  I have lots to do before we go out of town on Wednesday, but I wanted today to be a day of prayer and  living well!  Well, before the kids even woke up, I called the post office to find out where a package I mailed 6 days ago could possibly be.  After finding out what I feared, that it had been handled wrong, I took my frustration out of the lady on the phone and hung up.  UGH.  How can I pray one minute and act like that the next.  I have been practicing patience and getting much better at it, but in that moment, I just did what I wanted, didn't even stop to think.  And even worse, she doesn't know me, she was just answering the phones.  She didn't take part in my mistake.  So today, I will continue to pray that prayer, as well as confess my falling short!  God, be near me today and let me be a ray of light in this dark world, not a frustrated mom taking her feelings out of anyone!

The Ultimate Cloth!!

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by the makers of the Ultimate Cloth for this review. I was not compensated for this review - just asked to give an honest account of my experience with this product.

I'm so lucky I got to try one of these cloths for free over the past few weeks!  Here is what the company says about their product:

What is the Ultimate Cloth?


The Ultimate Cloth is eco-friendly solution for homes as well as a money and time saver. The Ultimate Cloth is a brand new technology – in fact, it is the only cloth to receive a new patent in the last 25 years. The Ultimate Cloth is a simple, green and effective one-step cleaning process. The Ultimate Cloth cleans any hard surface – glass, wood, granite, stainless steel and many more – with just water! No longer do you have to use harsh chemicals in your home, nor do you need spend hundreds of dollars per year buying them. The Ultimate Cloth has been lab tested to remove 96% of bacteria, without the use of chemicals. And, can cut 50% off your cleaning time. The Ultimate Cloth is truly the ultimate in green cleaning.
 
Sounds a little too good to be true, huh?  I really put my cloth to the test, the first thing I did was sweep my ceramic tile in my breakfast nook, which does not get mopped near enough, WHATSOEVER!!  But this is not a post about how bad a housekeeper I am....
 
So anyways, I got down on my hands and knees and went tile by tile cleaning all the built up GUNK on my floor.  It had been too long.  And all I did was wet this little cloth that almost felt like paper, wring it out and got to work.  I only rinsed it twice doing the whole breakfast nook, and it just kept on cleaning.  You could tell how much dirt and grime it picked up, here's an after picture (it was a white cloth when I got a hold of it). 
 

I felt like it was too disgusting to clean anything else with after that, so I through it in the wash with my whites and then hung it out on the clothes line to dry. 
 
A couple of days later I used it to clean my granite countertops in my kitchen, then my glass breakfast table, then some spots on our bathroom counter....it worked on everything!! And it's only $6!  No more nasty chemicals. I will say there were a few tough spots that I just had to use some handy elbow grease ;) to get up, but I didn't have any problems (besides my previous lack of cleaning) :).  Right now they are giving away one FREE, just follow them on twitter or become a fan on facebook.  I was supremely surprised in my pack when it said it should last for 5 years!!  I hope it's right, because so far I'm hooked!

Misty's Blessings Blog!

I wasn't sure if I've mentioned it here before or not....but I have a blog for my etsy store, which can be found here.  If you'd like to follow it, so you can see my very random and not frequent updates....be sure to do so...I have a giveaway up my sleeve as soon as my followers reach 10 on the etsy blog!! :)

Teeth!

Before I forget....man is Micah ever following Cara almost identically in the teeth department.  He got his first 2 at 8 months ( she got them at 7), the two bottom teeth, and now, at almost 13 months (When did THAT happen!), he broke through with one more bottom and his first top on Sunday and another top yesterday!  And the rest of his top and bottom are almost all swollen.  She broke through with 2, then 6, then another 6!!  So, we will wait and see....and stock up on teething tablets and motrin :)

Little to update!

For once I am not blogging because there is truly little update :).  I've been reading the twilight series. Thoroughly enjoying them, wretchedly disliked the movie.  UGH, totally didn't follow the book. Eric was VERY tired of hearing that as I yelled at the TV on Sunday evening.

We had a great trip to Georgetown this weekend.  My mom had a half day, so she came by to pick us up and after an hour of loading her car, taking off, having it shake like crazy on the highway, come back, get my van, reloading it, switching over carseats (thank goodness I had went ahead and already purchased a new battery after lunch with Eric, just in case he didn't have time this weekend), and hitting the road again, we arrive safely.  We had car drama on Friday, Eric also had a flat tire and ended up having to get 2 new tires! 

I have not been good at keeping up with my giving as well as I should, since I haven't been blogging every day.  I have made some more meals and breakfasts and took some to my grandpa.  I've been in prayer for friends and family.  I've been working on being more gracious with C & A.  They have been soooo sweet at times, and yet so hard too.  I've been trying to spend as much cuddle time with little man as for some reason I feel that is drawing to a close.  I've been trying to focus my energy on my marriage and how I can continually improve on that.  I've gotten back into cooking (though my husband did request something BESIDES chicken for once).  I can't help it if it is SOOO easy! :).  I have truly enjoyed making the things by hand I have been working on for Christmas.  If you know me well, you know that I'm a planner and have to get things done early, you also know I'm HORRIBLE at having a gift ready and not being able to give it.  I'm having to hide them away in a back closet so that I'm not tempted to pull them out! :)

Well, that's all for now.  Off to sew!