Flashback to November - Lemonade Stand for Autism

Alison has been saving money for over a year from her allowance in a little heart shaped box that is labeled "Help those with Autism/mission travel for autism" She has sent out flyers to some of our neighbors to do chores around their house for pennies on the dollar but nobody hired her. She has thought of numerous ways to try and come up with more money for the cause but nothing has panned out UNTIL.... she thought of having a lemonade stand and all the proceeds to go towards her autism box. At the beginning of November our community held its annual garage sale. There is usually a huge turnout and trying to leave your house and/or the neighborhood is difficult from all the traffic. My parents gave the kids an actual lemonade stand a few years back and sadly I think I have only let them do it once and Austin and Mattie don't even remember that. So, Ali recruited Mattie and Austin (who really wasn't that much help) and invited her friend Lauren to help her with crowd control and maintenance. They did the works.. donuts and coffee for the morning (they sold 6 dozen donuts). Chips, hot dogs, soft drinks, and water for lunch. Jon lost count at over 80 hot dogs, we ran out of 10 cases of soft drinks and 3 cases of water. They were busier than my garage sale. They made over $250 for Autism and that is after they paid me back for all the supplies. These girls didn't even ask to keep a penny so I gave them some money from the garage sale to reward them for their time and efforts. They were very excited. I had posted it on our neighborhood community board and another family in our neighborhood has a son that is non-verbal autistic and a 6 year old daughter. I can't even imagine what they go through this disease is terrible but at least I have a child that is verbal and it is hard enough. It breaks my heart to see what these families and kids go through on a daily basis. Anyway, they brought their entire family over for lunch and their daughter helped the girls for a bit. It was awesome to meet them and so inspiring for all of us. Kudos, girls! I am so proud of you.

Flashback to November - Cub Scout Cake Bake

I don't think I ever posted about the cake bake. Austin was very excited to plan, bake, and decorate a cake with a theme of "Liberty" for cub scouts this year. He decided to make a cake about the troops - Our Heroes! Below are some pictures of the process and his cake. Also, a picture of his good friend James and his awesome cake.

Austin won 2nd place out of all 27 tiger scout cakes for SCOUT FAVORITE!! He was sooo beyond excited and loves his ribbon.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve being way too busy. Waiting on the in-laws to arrive that were supposed to be here on Tuesday but their flight was delayed 5 hours then cancelled around midnight. We baked some pies, I went to physical therapy, Jon & Mattie went to the airport about 1ish and returned home with 15 minutes to get ready and get to church. We were chosen to light the candle and read the scripture at the 3 pm family service. Austin did a really good job and didn't catch anything on fire and Ali was wonderful in reading the scripture. The girls sang in the choir and then Mattie skipped out on the last song so she could go to the Birthday Party for Jesus. After church, we went to Starbucks, came back home and wrapped some presents, baked some more and then at 6 p.m. we headed over to the Peiffer's house for dinner with their family and the DeBruin's. It was a really nice night although short for me. Austin had been complaining all day he was sick and he did lay around alot. But we drug him along anyway, no fever then no sympathy (sorry buddy). So this morning we were awakened at 610 a.m. by Alison exclaiming that Austin was throwing up all over his bed. I went in with a towel in my hand. He hadn't even bothered to sit up. So with ickies coming out of his mouth and all over he was so very excited and said "Mom, I threw up and I am now HEALED so I can open my presents!" Oh boy, as I gagged with him. Thank God for Jon who can clean that up. UGH! We went to take a shower and see what Santa brought. All the kids were excited (at least Austin and Ali) Mattie didn't get up until a reasonable 7 a.m. So now I have baked another pie some cream cheese cinnamon bars for breakfast, boiled some eggs for Ali to make deviled eggs with and am ready to go back to bed.... Ahhh but we have to open presents...

It is official... I have lost my mind!

Well, I am up again in the middle of the night. I was sleeping peacefully thanks to this awesome bubble bath (that is called something SLEEP) that Courtney gave me. She is trying to help me sleep these days. :-) Anyway, been sleeping okay lately but tonight Jon woke me while he was flopping around (yes I am a very light sleeper). I was going back to sleep and then it hit me.... Not only cannot I not find the digital picture frame I bought for my in-laws for Christmas but the beautiful calendar I made hasn't arrived from being bound and printed yet either. YIKES! So, now I had to get up and check on the shipment and of course it just says shipped and no tracking,date, or otherwise any information. AGH!

Well, here are a couple of pages as proof that I did do the calendar.

So, while I was up I started wandering the house and thinking I really should go back to bed but something led me to turn on the kitchen lights and that led me to think wow I really like our new kitchen table which led me to think... I should take a picture. So here it is. It is counter height and my kids have not fallen off. I can even sit up to 8 people. YEAH!

Well, this picture led me to think... hmmm I love these new little decorations that I found this year for Christmas and they were only .99 cents each so maybe I needed a picture of them too. They are these little red and white balls on sticks...and because I know that you want a closer look.... HA!

This led me to think... hmmm I never have taken pictures of my Christmas Decorations and I do LOVE LOVE LOVE to decorate for Christmas. So here I am in the dark at 3 a.m. taking pictures of decorations all over the house.

Some more fun with the balls on sticks... (okay that is bad perhaps when I wake up and realize what I just wrote I will change the post or perhaps I will leave it for giggles or perhaps I really have lost my mind since all of this is going through my head)

The mantle....


My favorite Southern Living purchase this year... a new metal church and the red dishes too. :-)


Blogger really needs to get an easier system for posting these. Perhaps letting me post more than one picture at a time or perhaps at the very least placing the picture where I place it in the post and not having to drag it down each time to the correct placement or even let it drag and scroll at the same time so I don't have to stop every few seconds. URGH!

Shall we go on..!?!??!

The gingerbread house the kids made at the Dalton's Annual Gingerbread Making Party last week. Decided I really didn't have a place for it so it should sit in between one of my nativity sets and maybe be the barn or something...yes I am getting worse by the minute.. Come on I know you are thinking it.


This area just makes me smile but in this picture it looks like a jungled mess.



Well then I decided that the snowman nightlight deserved some picture time which led me to....



Hmmm, I never took pictures of my new bathroom I just updated... Isn't it pretty?

I was very proud of the mirror as I got it (well in honesty I didn't even go pick it up my wonderful friend Rebecca called me from Ikea and asked if I needed anything... uh YEAH! a desk and a mirror -- I felt bad but she actually purchased both and dropped off (for FREE) on my front door step -- oh wait she did one better and brought it into the house too) LOVE HER! Anyway the mirror was only 19.99 awesome.. considering all the other ones were over 90 this is a bargain!


Oh, I didn't take a picture of the desk... oh well I'll do that later. Now back to Christmas decorations.. This is the box of bulbs and ribbon that have not been put on the tree upstairs. One could assume that mom is boycotting it as a protest that nobody, not one single person, child or husband helps me decorate for Christmas (Jon does get the stuff out of the attic and puts it up so he says that qualifies for helping -- pooey). My kids don't even like to decorate the tree so I just never finished and stopped when they did.



Here is the tree... but look I did really good this year and stuck to my 3 presents for each child. They are going to think that something weird is going on because I generally over compensate for my lack of things as a child and buy way too much. Nope not this year I think I finally got it right. :-)


A random decoration...




Another favorite find this year...




Now this makes me think what I should be doing is addressing, stuffing, and mailing out Christmas cards. I have purchased them for the past five years straight and that was the year Mattie was born 2003.. and not a single one has been mailed out since. So, my plan is to stuff all 5 years worth into one envelope and send them out. However, I am a little worried that I will look 1) nuts 2) insane 3) weird 4)oh who knows... but hey the other side of my head says that people might get a laugh out of it, a smile on their face, and then can see the age progression of the kids and for those long lost friends we never see they might know that our third child does exist. ( I never mailed her birth announcements either but that is another story).

Here is my favorite tree of all time and it is in my bedroom. Mostly because I love to look at it and I spent most of my time in there (unfortunately, not sleeping) but because I need the ornaments to have a soft landing. This is the tree that did not get put up until last year for the first time because I didn't trust my kids to not mess with and/or break the ornaments (still don't, really). Every ornament on this tree has a special significance to me or our family. I buy the kids ornaments each year based on their likes and activities. This year I added a picture frame ornament for each child, for each year of their life... yes that was 21 frames and I LOVE THEM!

Sorry honey if the flash woke you up at 3:15 a.m. when I took the picture. (actually, I don't think he even moved).

Better try to go to bed now that it is 3:59 a.m. ... but I am having thoughts that maybe if I scan all of my Christmas cards for the past 5 years and post them on my blog it would be the same as mailing them... ha ha ha I need to go to bed before I embarrass myself further and you all wonder about my sanity.

I woke up to....

someone yelling this morning. I thought it was Mattie yelling for her dad. She was in the bathroom so I figured she was out of toilet paper. Just my initial thoughts after the groans. I trudged in reluctantly to find Mattie... sitting on the potty with a cross in her hand (it sits in there for decoration) and raised up as high as she can, she is very exhuberant and is yelling "Praise God" while she looks up to the cross and the ceiling. I didn't know whether to laugh or just Praise God!

On the Second Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me... Two trips to the Casa de Misericordia (House of Mercy) Orphanage in Piedras Negras, Mexico. First I went with the Foundry Methodist Church on a Women's Mission Trip this past September. It was just a weekend but a live-changing weekend. One that I will treasure forever. I had the best time with these children and learned a lot about life, love, hope, and family. We are lucky enough to get to go back and this time I am taking the entire family. All 3 kids and Jon are going as well. We are teaming up with our good friends, the Suddaths (Courtney, Jay and their kids Macy and Jackson) and are providing each child with a Christmas Gift and a little birthday party for Jesus. We are still working on the financial part of this but we both understand that God will provide us with what is needed. We are going in two weeks and I can't wait for my kids and Jon to have this experience with me.

On the First Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me.... The Texans First Monday Night Football game. Yes, they are terrible but come on... it is Monday Night Football. Tailgating begins for us around 3 pm, the game at 7:30, Go TEXANS give us a big surprise win tonight. Best part is we found a sitter to come and get the kids off the bus and stay with them until after bedtime. :-)

Longhorn Love, NOT!

Well, by now everyone should be well aware of my lack of love for the Texas Longhorns. Bluck, Yuck, Ick! Soooo, today is a WONDERFULLY good day for us Sooner fans as we ousted the Longhorns in the BCS to move forward to the Big 12 Championship and with a win there to the Ultimate Showdown of the National Championship. Woohoo!! Gotta love that!!!

Conversation With Austin

Austin has a bad cough that is allergy related but might be turning into a sinus infection. This is how the conversation this morning went...

Austin: Mom, when I was coughing a lot last night I threw up
Mom: You did!?!?! Where!?!?! (thinking all over the carpet)
Austin: in my mouth and I swallowed it
Mom: Oh (RELIEVED), okay
Austin: Yes, I am really good at not getting sick am I? If I swallow it that means I am not sick.
Mom: Oh (SHOCKED and Amused)

Soooo......

America wanted change !!!

I think that ole saying applies here, "be careful what you ask for, you might get it."