Balancing Bliss

yes i am that person........this year..........

 i am ready to immerse myself in holiday bliss.

although i am not huge into the material part of christmas....i LOVE to go shopping day after thanksgiving. megan picked me up at 3:45am with coffee in hand. we are always amazed how many crazies are out there and then we realize we are part of the crazies!

 in our family we draw names between the 5 of us and Santa brings a gift. part of the reasoning of drawing names is to learn empathy and giving. it's fun to see the kids pick out gifts for the other person. last year eli blu tried to get brian a 'boob thing' (bra) and a belt buckle that opened beer bottles?! um yes he did.there is always room for learning improvement.  there are always stocking stuffers too. got those today minus some candy or a gift card.

 and then i came home all high on shopping and donuts.......and asked for this;

we got our tree!

that was gavens attempt to make luci smile. the boys and i thought it was funny however she did not and let the entire parking lot know. nice. my next attempt is to get a christmas picture with all three smiling.........unlike last year.

we have all the christmas boxes down out of storage ( if our tiny little place lacks anything it is NOT storage.....we have closets everywhere). i want to give the house one more big clean before we start decorating. looking forward to more nights like;

balancing bliss

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

sick day.......

eli blu and i have been quite sick with a raw sore throat and we get exhausted from all of our coughing. i kept him home monday. i am the most grateful to be able to stay at home with my kids when they need to stay home sick. it was so hard to go to work when i knew gav needed me. now i give in so quickly and keep them home......why not? i can.

so mr. blu and luci kept each other busy most of the day. 6 straight hours without 1argument. they are like that though, best of friends. he coughed and i blew his nose and off they went...pirates...

they made treasure maps and made their beds into ships. they played puzzles. they picked out a movie together and cuddled. they chatted through lunch. they drew pictures. they they they....

little did they know i had the treasure........ them.

i guess......

i will have to resort to asking questions to a bloggers audience and start forkin out give aways for a comment on here.

hehehehehehehehehheeeeeeee

the unloved dress.....

 

after having this since day after easter (i'm a clearance shopper) ,she finally wore the dress. i did get it on her once but not one cute pic.....she folded her arms and pouted. at least 1x a month i would get it out sunday morning and she would burst into tears and tell me how 'itchy' it was. i got it out sunday along with some dresses that didn't fit any longer to give to my friend linda.....that was all it took...well that and a white tshirt underneath. she loves the dress.......

it's so pretty, pink, tulle, girly, swirly, classic and finally loved.

something is wrong with our photo program and it won't let us turn any photos but i will post them anyways. she actually looks like mary poppins in one of them.....check out her feet.

then there are the boys.....

eli blu is pretty good getting ready for church and very good at church. well besides the time when he was 2ish and he ran out of the chapel, out the church doors and down the sidewalk! i asked 'what do you think you are doing?' and he replied 'getting a taxi and getting out of here'   not kidding that kid.

creative too.....who would have thought a plastic sword and a guitar would make such a good violin?

then there is gav on the sabbath morning.....

yep that is what you get. he doesn't want to get up, he doesn't want to get dressed up, he doesn't want to sit through class, he IS happy to sit at home in jammies watching our sunday tradition of a knights tale. hhhhmmmmmmm......where does he get it?

weekends come and go....

 but real friendships do not.

 this weekend my friend kristi came up from eugene to see us. we met 10yrs ago and when i became a single momma she was there for me. she was one of my only true friends who really stepped up and she was only 18 at the time. i'm sure there were times she could have been out with friends but walked at night with me 8mo pregnant in the dark because i couldn't stand being outside in the daily heat in july. she was like 'my baby daddy' after i had gav. she was one of the first at the hospital, she drove us to our first dr. appt, she held him so i could shower, she she she.  SHE will never know how much that meant to me.  love that girl. who happens to be the most positive, happy people i know on this earth and even more so now that she has embrace Christ in her life. so proud of her and all that she went on to do.

 we went out for salads and conversation. love catching up with a friend you haven't seen in a year but can pick right up since the last time you met. i must have scared her with the idea of going 'antiquing' because later she admitted loathing it when she HAD to do it with her mom. little did she know that we had so much fun. it's not like we went out to get some old farm decor, we looked over vintage treasures and got a good laugh at some creepy things. seriously, there are some creepy ass stuff that make you feel like they are staring at you! she got a kettle for her wood stove and i got these;

i love looking at these old golden books that i had when i was a kid. my grandma recently pointed out to me that although i wasn't taken to a library, she and my gramps ALWAYS bought me a golden book for every holiday, event, or just because. i know this to be true because i went on ebay to look for vintage golden books and memories came swirling back. thanks gram.

also picked up those old christmas cookie cutters....i had those when i was a kid too. i doubt there will be much christmas cookie happenings in the ww sade house this year but i am sure i will find something cute to do with them.

i also got these....

vintage embroidery iron on transfers! love them and am looking forward to a cold january day to sit down to them and a warm blanket. *sigh*

and i got this for gav and i to do together;

then kristi remembered she can't stand this little town and got the eebie jeebies and drove 70mph out of here! i kick myself for not getting a pic of her! she is always so happy and fun. the kids love her. she is going to make the best momma one day.

later that evening my friend linda who now lives in vancouver stopped by. funny story how we met... i was backing down my driveway to take gav to preschool and we have a tall fence that you can not see around until you back onto the sidewalk, well here came this chick with 2 little girls in a stroller and walking another. i pressed on the brakes, she looked at me like don't run over my kids woman and i looked at her like i'm not running over your kids so go already.......i refrained from flipping her off or making any other hand gestures since there were children....funny thing......a couple of days later i get a knock on my door from my new visiting teachers (we had just moved into the ward) and there was the mom i almost ran over. so the lesson is....don't flip anyone off, they might just knock on your door as your visiting teacher! love her. we became quick friends. our husbands were both in college and we counted down the days until we had 'real' lives, houses, more babies, and more $. her husband graduated almost 3years ago so she got her house and her baby......little did we know we would still be broke and laughing about it every time we talk. miss her. miss her girls. miss having such a real friend like her close by. and do you think i got a pic of her?!

a good pj day through a lens......

 it started out rather random for me.......

 i ALWAYS make my bed..i must have really needed this

 girly time....

 

i even did mine too because i have plans for a girls day with an old friend who is passing through.. why i did mine i have no idea because i am just going to cover them up with these...

 i got a new pair of merrils....i know why would i be buying a pair of $100 pair of shoes when we are boke, the economy is shit and we have a little girls bday and christmas around the corner? i didn't, my daddy did and i found them at ROSS for $30. nice.

then we got a little crafty....these are  the christmas gifts i will be handing out to all of my family and friends that are reading....

i want to get the christmas ones out this week so that you can use them FOR the holidays and try to get some everyday cuteness ones done too. be patient. hehehe.

i set up this little spot for me in the living room. the best part is that our huge pub table is directly behind me to cut all my fabric. what would i do with a big ol' house anyways? 

all that crafty got us hungry. so we made these.......

they are pumpkin cookies. and you only need two ingredients! one can pumpkin and any cake mix you like. i picked spice to make it like a pumpkin pie. that may be the closest i get to pie this holiday season. who am i kidding. i don't deprive myself of much. that may be why i didn't lose anything at WW this week. i didn't gain but i didn't lose. gotta change it up a little or i will never earn that haircut. these cookies are supposed to be 1pt each.....however that is if you make 60 of them. i made 13 cookies and 9 2scoop muffins...you do the math.....not 1pt!

finished the day with such a nice wifey thing to do.........

then when brian walked in......i was asleep on the couch in his old thermal shirt. so sexy. looked like i sat around all day but little did he know.....luckily i have my camera to prove otherwise.

ups and downs of a week.....

busy......good busy- volunteering at the both schools, shopping at the mall with my girl, ww, work out, and normal every day stuff for a family of 5.

down....exhausted, broke, college loans coming in, health scare, breaking up fights between the littles and normal every day stuff for a family of 5.

i have come to realize it's how i handle it that counts, then find what i need to learn from it, be grateful and move on.

so what i have to be grateful for..........

groceries; full cupboards, ability to cook for my family

home; no matter it's size, safe, warm, clean

job; my husband is a hard worker and is able to provide for us

health;eye opener this week, my family's world is good and safe and healthy

teachers; oh how i love them, i go crazy with 3kids....they have 30! so much admiration for them. for 7hrs they hear their own voice telling everyone what to do or not to do, constant crazy, and then go home and take care of their own families! not to mention they can't even beat our kids    wink

my dad; who would do anything for us, who has put my 3 kids through preschool, who fills my gas tank every couple of weeks, who is loud and swears tooo much but we love him so much it doesn't matter

my friends; that are a constant in my life

my family; and reason to find joy in every day

above all else GOD who made it possible to have joy and pain

luci girl is turning 5.......

 

the other day luci and i took our time walking through what we call the mall. i let her take her time and play hopscotch store to store on the big tiles. she went into the stores she wanted and gave me lots of birthday and christmas ideas. ideas were the point of this trip, we only took $2 which she took to the candy store and bought mints with.

 so this is what i found out...........she LOVES claires. we go to target quite a bit but rarely step foot into the "mall". every time we do........she says "can i get my ears pierced?" there are SOOOO many little things that she can buy there and shop for herself. there are hair 'pretties', earrings, bracelets, lip gloss, rings, purses, this and that and everything else that could win a little girls heart.

 we enjoyed our day so very much. one of those special mom/daughter days that i always wanted growing up and look forward to making more of them.

 so to our friends and family who always ask " what does she like? what is she in to?"  there you go.... easy gift certificate to claires would make her whole little 5yr old world!

girly girl almost 2yrs ago and still going strong...........don't get me wrong....she knows her star wars lingo, her pokemon, and can hold her own wrestling boys but she does it looking good

no pictures to prove it....

we had quite the productive yet relaxing weekend.

 it was too nice to stay inside on saturday so i got all my fall yard work done. oh how i want my own home to plant spring bulbs. brian unpacked the garage last weekend...it's so easy to ignore a garage. we took a hutch from the kids room that we no longer had room for and made it a small gardening center for me. loving it. so i raked leaves, tore out tomato plants, brought all my potted plants up onto the steps of the back patio to shelter them from all the winter snow we get here in the valley (hehe), got the winter bird feed out, and basically exhausted myself before i knew it.

 2 blazer games on. close games. good games. looking forward to the season. still can't believe this little hippie girl has fallen for the NBA. who knew? i actually watched 2 other games...anytime i can see the Lakers go down.....is a good day!

 sunday i went crafting with my scrapbooking crew, however i brought no paper.......i brought my new love .... fabric. i am catching on how to use that sewing machine i bought 10yrs ago. working on some christmas somethings......that i plan on giving to many of my friends who read this so hence why i don't have pictures. i got a groove going finally so hopefully i can just keep it going and master this little something i am working on. might have to go see shana our favorite fabric girl and get a few lessons while the kids play.

well i got a puker home today and so much to get done. have a beautiful fall day.........