So Many Moms

Shopping Mom:
WeeklyAd and I spent the evening at Old Navy and Target. We had a really good time together strolling through the stores and looking at all of the sales. I had to laugh (or cry) when she tried on a pair of jeans and disgustedly whispered in my ear "they are showing half my tooshie!" Yea, we quickly put those back on the shelf and grabbed some super cute and cozy bunny slippers instead.

Festive Mom:
I can't tell you how much I love Christmastime. I love the lights, the music, the smells, the time with family, the movies on tv, and the classic movies from the past. I love it all.

Worshipful Mom:
But of course the thing that I love most is taking time daily to worship our Savior. It's because of Him that we can celebrate Christmas and HOPE and LOVE and GIFTS and LIFE.

Proud Mom:
I told HomeAudio that I thought his sister was a little jealous of him and LittleMiss. He then took it upon himself to be extra sensitive to his sister. He's offered to color with her, read books with her, and has been very reassuring of his love for her. The extra time that he is spending with her has really helped reduced her emotional meltdowns. I am extremely thankful for that!!

TV Mom:
The countdown has begun!
January 21st!!
LOST!

Deckin' The Halls

We had a joyful time putting up our Christmas decorations yesterday and today. We are finally finished inside and outside. Whew!

The kids were very excited and dug right in...



For the first time, they actually put the tree together pretty much by themselves. It was like a giant puzzle that they worked on and conquered together.



Here's HomeAudio whistling while he works.



We have a tradition of purchasing a new ornament every year that represents each child's interest throughout that year. The kid's had a great time pulling out the ornaments and remembering the things that they loved. They were so cute as they reflected on the memories. Then with great delicacy they hung each one on the tree.



We had some great conversations and lots of giggles and oohs and aaahs! When I suggested that we leave some of the older, store bought ornaments off of the tree this year, I was met with the response "no mom! Every ornament gets hung this year." And so, every ornament found a home somewhere on the tree.

When we were finally finished, HomeAudio had the honors of putting up the star this year. He had waited all day for this special moment and took the job very very seriously! Good thing daddy was there to help!



We cherish these memories EVERY YEAR!!

Favorite Foto Friday

This week's Favorite Foto Friday theme is THANKFUL.

Words can not express how thankful I am this year!
I'm so thankful for...

MY HUSBAND:
he does such a great job being a dad. He truly adores his kids and loves to have fun with them. I'm thankful for his relationships with them and that he does such a great job balancing fun, discipline, and mentoring.



MY SON:
he is very creative, a hard worker, a very loving and compassionate big brother, and is very good with babies and toddlers. I'm thankful for his passion and determination.



MY DAUGHTER:
I'm thankful that she is able to dance and loves doing so. I'm thankful that she is expressive and entertaining but humble and naive and very sweet too. I'm also tremendously thankful for her help around the house and her love of cleaning.



OUR FAMILIES:
I'm thankful for their love for us and I'm thankful that we can have FUN together! I'm thankful that they live close enough to see several times a year(or a week)and that the cousins are good friends and share life together.





MY FRIENDS:
I wish I had a picture of each and every one of you to place on here. I have been blessed with wonderful and meaningful friendships and I don't take it for granted at all. I cherish my friends and have great appreciation and love for them. Here is a dear friend that I have known for 21 years! I can't believe it!



And to quote KissTheFrog....
"I am grateful for us coming together each Friday to share our families and lives with one another. This has truly been fun over the past year and I look forward to it continuing for as long as we all want to keep pulling together!"

I am thankful for BLOGGING!! I'm thankful for being able to stay in contact with friends far away, friends who are so busy, friends who are homebound, friends who are older, friends who are younger, "friends" that I don't know in person, friends that I met years ago, and friends that I have yet to find.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:1-5
"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations"

Last year we were in Florida for Thanksgiving. It was just the 4 of us and after spending the day in the pool, we ate dinner at The Cracker Barrel. This year we spent the day surrounded by friends and family. Though it is cold outside, we had a warm home, an extremely Delicious meal, and great fellowship. I am so thankful for my friends and my family.

But what I'm most thankful for is my God. The living God. The living God who is always at work...who created me and who knows me and loves me...and goes before me and with me whether I'm in Florida or here at home. He is a personal Savior who loves His people and is so good! His love endures forever and His faithfulness continues through all generations! Oh how I love Him so much! And oh how I want my kids to know Him deeply and love Him immeasurably and trust in His goodness and faithfulness. They are His. The sheep of His pasture. I want to worship Him together with gladness and with song and with everything that is in us. We are so thankful!

Tea Party

Management was on a Sleeping Beauty cell phone while WeeklyAd sat in the other room on a Belle cell phone. I overheard this conversation....

M: "Hello"
WA: "Hi, would you like to come to a tea party?"
M: "I would love to. Should I bring anything?"
WA: "Yes, bring a teapot and some napkins and some paper plates and..."
M: "wait honey, if you are hosting the party then you need to supply the teapot and plates and napkins"
WA: "oh, okay"
M: "where is your party and what time should I come?"
WA: "my room at 7:00"
M: "perfect. see you then"
WA: "goodbye"

And so the tea party was planned and daddy and daughter had a delightful time together!

Thanksgiving Breakfast

I spent the afternoon getting ready for the Thanksgiving Breakfast tomorrow at school. Kindergarten through 3rd grade get to eat delicious eggs (cheesy eggs too), bacon, fresh fruit, muffins, and bagels while dressed up as Pilgrims or Indians. It is a highlight of the year for everyone involved.

After the breakfast, there is a special Thanksgiving Chapel where the kids (and parents) can praise the Lord together and express our thanks to God. The school also participates in Operation Christmas Child (packing shoeboxes for children in other countries) and at the Thanksgiving Chapel they play a video showing the students dropping off the boxes they packed and stacking them against a wall. It ALWAYS makes me cry! We have been to three Thanksgiving Chapels so far and I have cried at all three of them.

After school today, we took some time to decorate our placemats for Thanksgiving Dinner. We colored them and then we are going to laminate them for our dinner. We are very excited for Thanksgiving this year!!

Blog List

I know many of you have blogs here on Blogspot and I want to list you under my Blog List. I also know many of your blogs are private and you probably don't want links on here that expose your private blogs. Far be it from me to be an exposer. Ever. Well, except for the times that I change WeeklyAd in the car between dance class and church. There might be a little exposure there. But we try. We try not to ever expose. Ever.

So if you would like to give me permission to link/list your blog then please leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks!

Not Me Monday

I've officially joined blogspot and so I will go ahead and officially join the "Not Me!" Monday. Of course, I could only join if I had some crazy or embarrassing things to share (or not share). Things such as catching LittleMiss licking a stick of deodorant. Whew! Good thing that didn't happen to me. Not me!

I also did not throw a poopy diaper in the kitchen garbage this morning. The same morning that Management's Boss was coming over to the house. Ew! I would never let my whole house smell like a poopy diaper when company comes over. Now that would be embarrassing.

I certainly, most definitely did not leave the wipes for LittleMiss out in the car and then use freezing cold wipes on her sweet little poopy bottom. No way!! She would hate that!

Good thing I didn't do any of these. I most certainly do not need the therapy of confessing these things that I didn't even do. Maybe I don't need to join "Not Me!" Monday afterall.

Targetshopper

I don't think that I've ever fully explained how I came to be known as Targetshopper. Of course it has something to do with shopping. In college, I loved to shop. Loved to buy clothes after clothes after clothes and Target was affordable and worked well for a "clothes addict on a college budget." I also loved to buy gifts and almost 100% of the time when people would aske where I got a certain outfit or where I found their special gift, the answer was Target. It was well known among many that Target was my favorite store and I was quickly labeled Targetshopper.

But as mentioned in the about me section, it has become more than just a place to shop. My baby's first outing was to Target. After my children were born, my loving husband would care for them as I went out to run errands, to get a little break, or have a nice uninterrupted phone conversation. Undoubtedly, I would end up at Target. It was open later than most stores in our area, it was clean, it was quiet, and I could stroll the aisles in peace. My cell phone actually received a signal in every part of the store and I had many long, important conversations while strolling through Target. It was a place to connect. It was a place to browse. It was a place to think. It was a place to relax and regroup.

And that is why I am Targetshopper. It's not just about the merchandise, it's also about the experience and the memories.