Best Birthday Party Idea Ever!

The girls were invited to a birthday party for today.  I wanted to mention it so I won't forget this marvelous idea.  It was a Service Party, where the kids all volunteered at the local animal shelter.  The invitation had lots of specific instructions, which was nice.

The kids showed up at the Shelter at 8am this morning and had donuts, fruit, and juice for breakfast.  Then they went into the shelter and cleaned kennels and litter pans and stuff.  They got to "socialize" with the animals as well.  Callie and Marian were in heaven.  I arrived at 11 to pick them up and they were having so much fun holding and playing with kittens.  They LOVED the party, even though there was no cake or goodie bags.  On the way out, they had granola bars, pop tarts and drinks before we left.

Also, in lieu of presents, the birthday girl asked for donations for the shelter and listed all the stuff they needed.  Marian and Callie really enjoyed filling up a cart with pet supplies and I spent more than I would have on a regular gift, but felt so much better about it!

Callie thinks this was the best birthday party ever and wants to do it for her next birthday.  How awesome is that?  Cheap for me, awesome for the kids and useful for the shelter.  Win on all accounts!  I love it!

New Year, New Goals

Okay, I have decided I need to streamline my life a bit.  I have been trying to digitally scrapbook life for the last few years.  I did very well for a while, but sadly, I got bogged down in the vast number of photos taken in 2011 and haven't progressed passed April's pictures. This does not bode well for getting 2012's pictures done either.  I realized that I may be overlapping in some things.  I write a weekly journal/letter, I blog, and I am (theoretically) making a scrapbook of each year's photos.  I am going to try to follow in the footsteps of my esteemed sister in law and make a blog book at the end of the year and eliminate the need for the letter and scrapbooks.

What does this mean for you, you ask?  How will this change your life?!  Fear not! It will change your life very little. As for me, it may make life easier.  It means there will probably be more stuff you don't care about on here, and possibly more pictures.  I'm going to start putting a weekly letter here on Sunday and add whatever else tickles my fancy during the week.  We shall see how it goes and see if it works.  To kick it off, here is this past week's letter!

Sunday Jan 6, 2013

Happy 2013.  This week has not been all I hoped it would be.  I was sick for most of it.  It started out mildly- a little runny nose and sore throat.  I thought it was probably allergies, since I am allergic to Arkansas and that's where we were.  I'm pretty sure it was the allergies that tipped me into being sick.  It didn't occur to me till too late that I am allergic to pretty much every tree in the world, and sitting by the wood burning stove, inhaling the very thing I am allergic to, might be a bad idea.  Or at least I should have been taking my allergy meds.

So I ended up sick and miserable.  It clogged my ears and gave me a massive ear ache and dreadful sore throat and I finally went to the ER at 2am Wednesday morning.  They gave me a Zpak of antibiotics and a rather large number of tylenol with codeine.  I discovered I am not a fan of the codeine.  It didn't seem to do much.  But the antibiotics kicked in and stopped the pain that went from my ear, down my jaw and neck.

Before I felt too horrid, there was some fun stuff happening!  The kids had some cousin time before they all left and it was great to see them together.

Marian had a good time playing fooseball with Isabelle. 

The kids LOVED the bonfires and I was so sad I didn't feel well enough to make s'mores with them.  I only made it out to the fires once and not for long.

Delaney and Camden ran out of enthusiasm for the bonfire before I did and it was beyond adorable to see Delaney walking a teary Camden to the house.

The girls did a bit of "art" and when they got along, it was wonderful.  I love having girls who help and take care of each other.  Sadly, that doesn't seem to last very long before the fighting begins, so I'm glad I caught one sweet moment!

Because I am a good friend, I did make time to see my friends in Arkansas! Wendy came over with her 4 children and my kids were so happy.  They had been asking all week when they'd get to see their friends.

How many kids can fit in Grandma's linen closet?!  Quite a few.  Plus a dog!

My friend Beth came over to visit as well.  I wish I had been feeling better.  I also wish the weather had been more cooperative.  It was cold.  And drizzly a lot.

You can't tell, but it is probably 28 degrees outside right here.  Marian doesn't wear long pants and given the option, doesn't wear shoes.  She took the dog out for a bit and just ran around, but she was chilly when she came in!  

I had promised the kids we could go bowling.  I wasn't feeling well, but with the yucky weather, they REALLY needed to get out.  So off we went to the bowling alley.

The kids had a pretty good time.  I really need to remember that next time, I should not let each kid play one game.  I should set them up for 3 games, and make them share.  Each of the 6 kids (Nephew Aaron was with us), had their own game of 10 frames.  They were not that interested and we could have saved time and money.  Oh well.  They got out and ran around somewhere other than the house!

We headed back home to Louisiana starting on Thursday.  It might have been wiser to have waited a day or two till I was feeling healthier, but I wanted to be home with a day or so to get back to routine and get my refrigerator loaded up.  So Thursday we did the 8 hours to Andy's house where we reunited Aaron with his family.  I have to say, Aaron was a seamless addition to our brood and he was great.  

We stayed the night and I was so tired.  I woke up fever- free and that was good.  We stayed till mid afternoon so the kids could play with their cousins, and then we hopped back into the car and finished the drive home.

Crossing the spillway.  Yep, this is when Delaney pipes up, "I have to go to the bathroom!"  To bad, there is nowhere to stop! 

We made it home by 6:30 and it was lovely to be together as a family again.  Dan secured his position as favorite dad by producing popsicles for dessert and he re-won my heart by taking over scripture reading and herding them all to bed.  I went to bed early and slept in till 9.  It was the best sleep I'd had since leaving home.

I did not even think about putting on my running shoes.  I did go out on some errands and I discovered, to my great delight, that the Exchange had their Christmas stuff at 75% off and they had (gasp!!) the very tree I have been coveting for years, but couldn't make myself pay full price for.  Nor could I ever find it on clearance after Christmas.  Yet, there it was!  So I paid the grand sum of $62.50 for a 7.5' pre lit tree with multi colored lights, and my heart sang all the way home. 

Today I was really happy that I had asked someone else to teach my Sunday School Lesson.  I had somehow thought we'd be gone for 2 Sundays, and had asked for a sub 3 weeks ago.  It sure made my weekend easier to not have to stress about a lesson!  So today was great and I got a lovely nap after church.    It is good to be home, and I think I am ready for life to begin again tomorrow as the kids go back to school.

Life is good!

Hello 2103, now Go Away!

I had such high hopes for this little vacation to see the family.  And it did start off nicely.  Apparently once everyone else left, things just went downhill.  Sigh. It was down to just us and the folks by New Year's evening.  And it was a dismally drizzly day, as most of them have been, yet it has stayed just enough above freezing to give no snow. 

So far this New Year, I have had: cranky kids, a bit of a head cold, weather too yucky to go out and run in, no time or energy or inclination to get out to do what I wanted, and an acute earache, which has resulted in much agony, zero sleep, and a 2 am visit to the ER to make it stop.

Sigh.  I need a do-over.

Looking for a White Christmas

I know that very few people care about the Christmas pictures, so these are for the Grandparents. You can skip to the end for the winter wonderland photos!

 Christmas did come to our tiny house, even with no chimney.  These are our stockings, set on the couch with care.

Here are 5 happy children ready for loot!  Note the shorts.  It was a balmy 75 degrees on Christmas in Louisiana!

Yes, this is a totally staged picture, but Callie was so cute and asked me to take it.

We had a plan to drive to Arkansas the day after Christmas to hang out with family there.  Then we heard there was going to be a white Christmas up there and were concerned about the driving conditions.  So we drove 4 hours out on Christmas evening and finished the other 8 hours the next day.  It worked out well, since there was a foot of snow in Little Rock!

Driving up from Pine bluff to Little Rock.  The kids were SO excited to see snow and slush.  

I just love the frosted trees.  You might want to make this picture bigger to appreciate how pretty it was!

It was a lovely scene, and I was really glad the temp was just above freezing so the roads were not icy.

Sadly, with all the snow, there were lots of places with no power and very little was opened.  Even worse, it was lunchtime and some of us really, really needed to find a bathroom.  No one but me thought it would be fun to make yellow snow, and no one but the dog even attempted it.  Here we are at Sonic.  We FINALLY found something open, after searching for an hour. I think it was the only thing open for miles and miles. This is me, waiting for the kids to use the facility first.  And then we waited for 45 minutes for food. 

 The kids were all awesome for the drive.  I was really happy with them.  Callie is huddled for warmth.  We did not dress properly for snow, and she got wet feet and pants while running to the bathroom.

Isn't Delaney adorable?!

Levi was a good doggie for the trip.  Here he is with my nephew Aaron.  We had an extra seat, so we brought along an extra kid.

We drive some pretty windy roads to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house and they were clear to varying degrees.  This is what part of the drive was like.  Believe me, I did not go the usual 50 mph, slinging around corners.  We stayed at a sedate 30, and surprise, none of the kids felt carsick.

My goal was to reach my folk's place before dark- before the wet roads froze.  And this is the sunset, 5 miles from our destination!  We made it!

7 adults, 13 children, 2 dogs, all under one roof!  Here's some of us, gathered together for Movie Night.  Let the fun begin!

When Wrapping goes Awry