One thing I love about Georgia!

One of the things I LOVE about Georgia is the weather.  One week until Christmas and we are in the mid 70's.  I hung Christmas lights this year in shorts and flip flops, have the house windows open for a nice breeze, and last but not least, went to the ocean!  I love this weather!  We went to Tybee Island and had a fantastic time playing in the sand, watching the kids play, and letting Stuart ride his bike on the beach.  We are definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto. :)

Stuart riding his bike on the beach.  Look at the cargo ship in the background; so cool to see!

Daddy and precious Anne.  If Anne would stop eating the sand, we would let her crawl around in it. :)

I love this picture and how the sun is setting behind us in the background.  A great day!

My sweet John!  He prefers playing with the seashells rather than in the cold water.  Smart guy!

"Mommy, I found a seashell!"

Stuart running from the waves.  Fearless little boy!

Genesis 1:10
God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

The things kids say.....

I love when your child randomly says something to you that makes your heart smile a mile wide.  That happened to me today with Stuart.  We were sitting on the couch together watching a movie when he looks up at me with tears in his eyes. 

Me: "Stuart, what's wrong honey?"
Stuart: "I'm crying because I'm happy Momma."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Stuart: "I'm happy because I get to be with you!"

Awwwww!!  My precious baby boy made my heart melt.  Again I am reminded of what a precious blessing he is in my blessed life.  I love you Stuart!

Making Ornaments!

It's been a tradition at our house to buy the kids an ornament every year, but this year I wanted to do something a little different.  I wanted to make the kids an ornament.  I found this great idea on the internet and decided that I HAD to do this with them.  The kids had such a great time and we made some great memories too!

What you will need: shatterproof ornaments (I bought a 12 pack at Wal Mart for $6), sponge paintbrush, white acrylic craft paint, muffin tin, black sharpie, and orange sharpie.  Total cost for 12 ornaments was $15.  Pretty cheap! :)  Great to give to grandparents too!

1. Paint your child's palm white, including the fingers. (I was afraid Anne would stick her hand in her mouth, so we used her foot instead.  Worked great!)
2. Place the ornament in the palm of their hand and then tell them to wrap their fingers around the ornament.
3. Place wet ornaments in muffin tin to dry.
4. After 1 hour, use black sharpie to add eyes and a hat to the tip of the fingers.  
5. Use orange sharpie to add a carrot nose.
6. Write the name of the child/year on the bottom of the ornament.
7. Last but not least, hang on the tree!

Happy Ornament Making!!  

Bah Humbug!

What is a better way of getting ready for the holidays than decorating the outside of your house with Christmas lights?  Well, I can now think of a MILLION other things that I would rather do than this frustrating activity after my day today.  Hanging up the lights was something I always did with my Dad and I absolutely loved every minute of it.  We would spend the entire day up on the roof hanging lights, talking, and if it was snowy, playing in it.  So I thought this would be a great opportunity to make memories with my kids.  WRONG!  Here is how it went down at my house.....................

Aaron spent two days hanging 2 strands of lights (that's an engineer for you).  Ha!  He measured every clip to make sure they were all straight and even.  Here's my proof that he is an engineer at heart.

I thought it would be a wonderful surprise for Aaron if I hung up the other 7 boxes of lights that we bought.  I put Anne in her pack and play, gave the boys toys to play with in the yard, pulled out the ladder and I was ready to go.  Well................. 2 1/2 hours later, Anne is crying, the boys have both stepped in dog poop (no, we don't own a dog), I nearly crashed the ladder through the window, dropped my entire bag of clips on the ground (scattered everywhere), John is now crying because he fell in dog poop, and Stuart keeps climbing the ladder asking me if we are done yet.  My holiday spirit started taking a turn for the worse when I look up and I notice that I only have about 2 feet left on the roof and then I am DONE!  HOORAY!  

Then the unimaginable, horrible, unexplainable thing happens........................I place the light strand on top of the roof so I can move my ladder over to finish this last bit of lights and I see the light strand start falling off the roof.  Within a matter of 5 seconds, all my hard work (7 strands of lights) came off the roof like watching dominoes fall over.  I watched in horror as all the lights fell off their clips and onto the yard below. 

Stuart ran around the house following the lights falling of the roof with the look of shock written across his face.  He puts his hands on his cheeks (about to cry) and shouts, "Momma, what did you do?????????". 

I started laughing so hard that I nearly peed my pants, then the laughing almost turned into sobbing, then I sat down in the grass and pouted.  SERIOUSLY???  DID THAT JUST HAPPEN??

So much for stringing up the lights!  The lights ended up in the bushes and that's where they are going to stay this year.  :)

Bah Humbug!