Christmas Gifts Revealed

Here are some hair clips I made for my nieces for Christmas. I used the method where you hold the edge of the fabric over a flame. I love they way they turned out even if they were very labor-intensive! Here is a painting I did for the girl who works with Ryan. She has become part of the family so I wanted to make something special for her. I liked the tree before the leaves were added, and so did Ethan, but I finally decided it seemed a little too "Death Valley" for my taste. Hence the leaves. :)

Homemaking Standards

It's three days 'til Christmas, and I know I should be writing about something Christmas-y. But I have nothing interesting there, so you're getting this. :)

A sweet friend (who's expecting her second baby soon) recently commented, "I don't know HOW you get it all done with four kids!" I laughed and assured her that I don't get it ALL done, ever. But it got me to thinking about what a satisfying day looks like to me (by the time hubby gets home), and this is the standard I came up with:

1. Time spent in God's word and prayer
2. Three hours teaching the kiddos
3. Bottom level of the house -- vacuumed, all dishes done, all clutter picked up
4. One hour completely to myself during quiet time
5. Dinner that is at least semi-homemade

Pretty simple, right? We have three bathrooms, so three days a week I spend about half an hour scrubbing one of those bathrooms in addition to the daily stuff. I am very blessed to have a husband who is so particular about the way the laundry is done that he does it for us. (Thank you honey!) But . . .

What isn't getting done?

Well, I don't do a ton of picking up in all the bedrooms. I'll admit it. We are far from being House Beautiful upstairs. The game/linen closet is pretty much a disaster. And most days I don't look like a model. (Haha, like I ever look like a model! But you know what I mean.)

So, no, I've never been able to do it all, and it's okay. We've found a standard that works for our family and we're happy. What does a satisfying day look like at your house?

Five on Friday

1. We had Red & Green Day this week. I served these pancakes to the kids and they loved them. Stirring the dough reminded me of stirring playdough.

2. We (finally) have a crawler!!

3. Our washer broke 6 weeks ago and cost over $300 to repair. Our fridge broke this week and the entire thing has to be hauled to the appliance repair shop to be fixed. They are both barely 2 years old! Before this we always had old, used appliances and they never ONCE needed a repair.

4. I am learning suprising things about my kids all the time. Spunky, for instance, learns much better when she can be active at the same time. So when she was practicing rounding numbers recently, she did cartwheels while answering questions I called out. We had gone over the information before and it just didn't stick; now it has. :)

5. Had to make BBQ sauce this week because we ran out. I probably would have noticed we were out before dinner time except for the fact that all the fridge supplies are sitting in Tupperware containers in the backyard. But the sauce recipe was surpisingly good. Here it is if you want to try it:

2 1/2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

2-3 teaspoons liquid smoke

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Why I Love My Husband

I want to share a story that my hubby posted on his facebook page last night. Not only does this man make me laugh, but his dedication to the kids and I is incredible. Here's his story . . .

So Giggles' Zhu Zhu pet, Jilly, stopped moving a few weeks ago. No problem, I thought, I'll just replace the lower drive unit. They're all the same, so I picked up a "sacrificial" Zhu Zhu at Walmart and gutted the little sucker.

But the new drive unit still didn't work. So, I thought, I'll just remove the upper control unit and solder it into Jilly. And that worked. Almost. The operation was successful, but Jilly now sounds like the dead Zhu Zhu and she still won't move.

To make matters worse, Giggles was extremely upset to hear another hamster's voice coming out of her beloved Jilly's body. So I crept back upstairs (or into "surgery" as I told Giggles) to solder Jilly's old guts back in.

And, of course, my butane soldering iron is out of gas. Crap. Now what? I guess I buy another "Jilly" and either try to rough it up so it looks like the old one, or rip it's guts out and solder it into the real Jilly tomorrow, when I can snag more butane . . .

Scratch the "rough up the new one" idea. I just remember that Giggles memorized Jilly's "Agent Number", which is actually the manufacture date on her tag: 9-23. All Zhu Zhu pets are secret agents. Duh, dad.

Right now my biggest fear is that Giggles will stumble upon the "operating table", currently covered with the guts of her beloved Jilly mixed up with the guts of one very unfortunate little rat named Patches. The scars that scene would burn into her very fragile pysche . . .

To be continued . . .

December Happenings

Working on presents. Teaching. Shopping. Creating memories. December has been a blast, but we have been BUSY. That's my excuse for not blogging. Actually, I think we usually are busy with something but there are different kinds of busy. Lately it seems like every spare minute is spent working on crafts of some sort so the computer has hardly been touched.

Here is some of what we have done for our advent activities so far . . .

We made snowflakes. The girls drew some elaborate designs and I tried my best to cut them out. (Luckily the couldn't tell when I chose to make the cutting easier for myself.)

We had a fun trip to the library to pick out some Christmas books.

W made ornaments.

Spunky's ornament (foam ball covered with fabric scraps)

My ornament (foam ball covered with paper rosettes)


I don't think I have fingerprints anymore after two hours with the glue gun!

I love Christmas and am hoping (crossing fingers) to get everything done in time. Sixteen days to go!