Christmas Meme

Finding Normal posted this fun thing this morning, and I thought I'd participate!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper (except, of course, in obvious exceptions)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Fake (Thank goodness for Yankee Candles that smell like evergreen!)

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? The day after New Year's -- Jan. 2.

5. Do you like eggnog? Hmmm...because I was pregnant so often at the holidays (I'm ALWAYS pregnant at the holidays) I keep forgetting that I can drink it on the years I've NOT been pregnant. So...maybe next year I'll have an answer because I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT IT TASTES LIKE!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My great-aunt gave me a beautiful hard-cover copy of "Little Women". I took such care of that book, and now I still have it! I know there are other gifts I've loved, but this one sticks out.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My sons....think TRACTORS and you're all set! And Samantha is easy, too -- she pretty much tells you all year long what she wants (which is everything she sees, unfortunately -- her brothers even see things and say, "Can you put that on Samantha's list?", even when she's not there!)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes--it was my mom's. It's ceramic and small and sits on our bookshelf. We also have several nativity statues. One of these years I'm going to get the Little People Nativity so my kids can be hands on with the Christmas story!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? C'mon people. I'm a "paper-crafter". Mail. (Although, sometimes, I have to confess, I HAVE sent email cards.)

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? There is no such thing.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas (the old one with Bing Crosby....I LOVE it!)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Oh wait, we're supposed to have started by now! Just kidding -- we have been buying things off and of since the beginning of November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses, Bavarian Mints, any cookies my mom and mom-in-law make, oh the list goes on and on!!!

16. Lights on the tree? That's not the question -- the REAL question is white lights or multicolor! (It's a debate at our house this year, so we have blinking white lights.)

17. Favorite Christmas song? I ALWAYS tear up at Silent Night, but I'm a big fan of Oh, Holy Night, and classics like The Christmas Song.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. (We've done the travel thing....glad we're not doing it anymore.)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and RUDOLPH. (Did I do it?)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We used to have an angel, but our poor tree no longer supports it. So we have a simply star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We get to do both. But our presents to our immediate family are opened on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? That it starts at before Halloween now!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Our tree is covered with ornaments given to us by other people -- so each one of them is special to us. If I were to have a themed tree, it would either be red and gold in color, or blue and silver. Someday!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Smoked salmon. Yum.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A waffle iron. :O)

Your turn! Leave me a comment so I can come read your answers!

My Newest Nephew

On Friday, November 14, my sister gave birth to another beautiful (ooops...handsome) and strong healthy baby boy. This marks her 3rd son, the 5th grandson for my parents, and my 5th nephew!

Please help me to welcome the adorable Devin Jackson to the world. He weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz, and was 22 inches long. He joins big brothers Drew and Dawson. And we are SO thrilled to be close enough watch him grow up. Here's the proud new aunt (well, one of us, at least) with her newest nephew....

It seems that November is a very popular month for babies to be born to people I know! On Tuesday, November 18, two friends also welcomed their sons. On of my best friends from high school welcomed their son, Ryan Patrick, who weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 2 oz, and was also 22 inches long. And 12 hours away, a college friend and former coworker welcomed her son, Tyler Scott. Congrats to you both! Enjoy your sons -- they might be rough and tumble, but they are also cuddly and lovable and just plain wonderful! Blessings to you all, and to all the new babies born and to be born in the coming months.

Now we're sitting back and waiting for the birth of our newest addition in 20 weeks! Could it be the blessing of another boy? Or will Samantha be blessed with a sister? One thing is for sure...a baby will join us this spring, and we can't wait for him or her to meet the world!

Two Farmers & A Fairy Ballerina Princess

Our kids are still young enough that they don't mind mom's homemade costumes, saving us money (although I'm certain time is not saved! but worth it all the same) and giving us flexibility with their costumes. Do you know how hard it is to find a John Deere Tractor costume? Let me tell you, it's far from easy!

This year, Samantha wanted to be a fairy ballerina princess (her words). So she's kind of like Tinkerbell, she said, but a different kind of Tinkerbell. I think her costume was $10 or $15 to make -- and pretty easy! I just took a piece of elastic, sewed the ends together at the measurement appropriate for her waist, and then used 4 yards of tulle (2 yards each of 2 different colors) cut into 4 to 6 inch strips and slip-knotted them around the elastic. She wore a purple leotard that was a Christmas present two years ago (thankfully it still fit...barely, but it fit!). And then I took 1/2 yard of tulle gathered it in the middle to make fluttery wings that we pinned to her leotard. Oh yes -- to be a princess, she had to have her crown (Tinkerbell in this case.) Since it was 70 degrees here that day, she didn't freeze and we didn't have to add anything to it!

Now the boys wanted to go as John Deere tractors. Hard to imagine if you know my boys at all! Hudson went as this last year, and I learned a LOT about how to construct a tractor costume. This year I learned even more! We took cardboard boxes, painted them green (do this in a well-ventilated area, especially if you're pregnant, otherwise, well, you might end up with a migraine. It's the last thing you need the night before Halloween !) Then we used duct tape to make straps to keep them on, and added wood shims to the inside of the box for a little stability and to weight the back evenly with the front. The wheels are just paper plates. They were fun to make! And the boys were happy little farmers (hence the overalls).

All 3 kids LOVED their costumes, and that's all a mother can ask for....happy kids all sugared up on Halloween. And we survived the "week after"...but barely. That's for another day. :)

So tell me -- are any of you crazy enough to make your kids' Halloween costumes? Next year, with 4, I'm thinking Dorothy with the Tinman, Scarecrow, and the Lion. I better get to work now. :)

SITS Giveaway

So there's this website called "The Secret is in the Sauce", and it is a group of women who are all about commenting (nice things) on other people's blogs. And they do awesome giveaways. Like the Photoshop giveaway they're doing right now. Click here to win Photoshop! WOWSA!

And if you need a new vacuum, click here to win a new Bissell vacuum! Seriously!

Enjoy -- and Happy Monday! (And now I must get back to finishing the john deere tractor costumes I promised my boys.....what was I thinking?)

Save the Ta-Ta's!

October is a special month in our family! We celebrate lots of birthday (happy wishes to my Dad on the 2nd, my brother on the 5th, and my brother-in-law on the 7th). Today, October 6th, my husband I are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary! I couldn't ask to be married to a better man, and tomorrow I'll post something special about him, but today I'm going to talk about something different.

In the midst of all of these special days and lives that we celebrate, we also celebrate the lives of three women in my family who are survivors. When I was pregnant with my oldest child, my grandmother (mom's mom) was diagnosed with breast cancer. They caught it early, and fortunately she did not have to undergo radiation or chemotherapy. They were able to treat it with a mastectomy and prescription medication! But immediately we knew our lives had changed dramatically. Grandma is still alive and kicking!

In August of 2005, when my second child was 4 months old, my mother was diagnosed breast cancer. She was also lucky enough to have caught it very early. A mammogram truly saved her life. Because she'd fought lumps (called fibroid cysts) for years which put her at a higher risk to begin with of developing breast cancer, she and her doctor (along with the support of my dad and my siblings) decided that it was best to undergo a radical mastectomy. 5 months later, she underwent reconstructive surgery and looks better than ever. We are so lucky they caught it early. Mom required no chemo, radiation, or other form of medication. We praise the Lord everyday for her survival. But don't assume she had the easy way out -- a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery is no easy path. I saw first hand while caring for my mom that it is painful and crippling, and it takes away your independence for a while. She is now, 3 years later, starting to get back to "normal".

Less than one year later, my dad's sister, my Aunt Barb, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. This was a whopper. She had it in her breast and also in her uterus. She chose to have a partial mastectomy and underwent chemo and slight radiation (if I remember correctly). It was not an easy fight, but she, too, is still alive and fighting -- now cancer free! We found out that her grandmother (my great-grandmother) had died of breast cancer years earlier.

The family implications of breast cancer in my life are obvious. The chances of me or my sister developing breast cancer, or my daughter, are drastically higher than for other women we know. It will always be a part of our lives, and we will do what we can to find a cure, to catch it early, to make sure women know that they are in charge of their health and their bodies and they don't have to die as a result of this horrible disease! It's no longer a death sentence.

Yesterday, two of my kids walked with my mom, dad, and I in the Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure to raise money for research. This month is breast cancer awareness month. In all three of my family members, a mammogram caught their breast cancer and saved their lives. So I'm asking ALL of you to click on the title above (Save the Ta-Ta's) or here to go to The Breast Cancer Site. Every click provides sponsorship money to give mammograms to women who can't afford them. I click every day because I know how important this is in my life and the lives of other women!

And don't forget to do those self-breast exams, ladies! If you're not sure how, go to www.breastcancer.org for the correct steps!

Here's to you, Mom, Grandma Jackey, and Aunt Barb, along with countless others!

A special invitation

My husband's grandmother is celebrating her 75th birthday tomorrow! Never before have you met such a feisty energetic woman! We are thrilled to celebrate her birthday with the entire family in Kansas in a few weeks -- it will be a great way to end the summer just before school starts!

I was asked to make the invitations for her big party, and wanted to do them in a way that honored her. Her daughter really wanted me to use a picture of her (I believe from high school) on the front of the card with the phrase "Look who's turning 75". So I pulled out my Nestabilities and went to town. Grandma Bennett's favorite colors are green and yellow, and I thought that Close to My Heart's Boom-di-Ada creative basics paper set would be perfect. When I look at this card, it reminds me of Grandma Bennett, and she loves them, so that is all that matters! (please forgive the poor picture quality -- i was having bad luck that day!)

Happy Saturday!

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

My baby is 2! And to top all of that off, he no longer sleeps in a crib! And he's asking to go on the big boy potty! Can someone PLEASE slow this train down? This child entered our life two years ago on July 13 on the first day of a major heat wave. To say we were surprised to find he would be joining our family would be an understatement -- his big brother (a very strong-willed and loud baby) was only 8 months old when I found I was pregnant for the 3rd time. I confess to spending a fair amount of time crying in the bathroom before I shared the surprise with my husband.

But God knew what He was doing, in His Infinite Wisdom. 8 months after the shock of my life, we welcomed into the world the most delightful, content, happily laid back child I have ever seen. My 2nd son was exactly what God knew I needed. He should have been called the Hudson Whisperer (think Horse Whisperer), because as a baby, his mere presence calmed his 17 month-old brother who rarely sat still and never did so quietly or without a fight. His smile and sweet personality soften the angriest of moods. Even now, in the midst of the terrible two's (and yes, we are going through them), he manages to be sweet and agreeable. He is still my cuddle-bug. He might be getting louder, and he's learning how to fight back (necessary for survival in our house!), and who's now driving tractors like his big brother and playing the piano next to his big sister. But at the end of the day, he's still the one who wakes up smiling and singing and patiently waiting for us to greet him for the day.

I have no idea where the last two years have gone. But I do know that I have cherished every single minute I've had with our surprise blessing. God sent Hunter to us exactly when we needed him, to remind us how to smile and laugh and love life no matter what. He brings out the best in us and his brother and sister. And I can't wait to see the tender, caring, funny man he will grow to be. But in the meantime, I think I'll just savor ever minute with my baby...my little boy.

And in true household fashion, he deserved a special cake. He asked over and over for tractor cake, so we came up with this excavator. Super simple, inspired by Family Fun Magazine, and loved by the guy that mattered -- Hunter! Anytime someone would mention his birthday or how old he is now, he'd respond with "I had a John Deere Tractor Cake"....okay, so it doesn't really say John Deere anywhere, but our boys live and breath John Deere, so if he thinks this looks like John Deere, well, I will take that as a compliment! Enjoy! (Sorry for the poor picture quality, and for the poor frosting on the cake....I'm not a professional...just doin' it for my kiddos!)