Bright Partying!

I had a little party for my art students, for the big V-Day.

I'll tell you, I ached to do the swirly bright cakes, and the rice krispie marshmallow treats that look like paintbrushes (check pinterest), and all that creative sugary awesomeness ...

BUT my family has issues with that much sugar,

plus we had gluten-free attendees and also vegetarian attendees.

Sooo....

we stuck with turkey and cheese mini sandwiches on wheat,

some veggie-"meat" sandwiches, lots of fruit, nuts, olives, and so on.

The kids didn't miss the sugar a bit!
Love these two little ones, stuffing their faces with healthy goodness!

The thing is, my boys are super-hyper. I know most boys are movers, tumblers, wall-climbers....

but two of mine almost seem to {{vibrate}} when they get too much sugar!

*And then there's Fred. {sigh} That's a whole 'nother post!*

Everything in moderation, yes, but I know we still need to make some changes.

No more dyes, please! It's in everything from medicine to pickles to olives to jello.

I wonder how much dye we consume a year! I might have bright insides by now!

We also recently went with a dear friend and her kids, to Crazy Sock Jump Zone day (discounts!!)

I've known this sweet girl since she was born.
 

We managed to wrangle some of the kids into a photo.

Two of my boys are in red, my niece and nephew are the other blondies,

and the dark hair kiddos belong to October.

Love all these little munchkins!

Bright, Happy Party Central!

Elementary VDay Par-tay!

One of my favorite things about being the elementary coordinator is party-planning!

We had our Valentine's Party at the  local bowling alley again this year.

We had roughly 65 bowlers + parents and babies. Nice fun crowd!

As always, it's open to everyone, but geared to elementary kids (what with the exchange boxes and stuff, although some adults *ahem* still enjoy this part, too!)

My lovely girl, although a middle-schooler now, still regularly participates in our parties.

Love this kid.

 We encourage everyone to get creative and make their own containers to bring.

This year I helped my Littlest Guy create his "face to eat candy," below.

 Turned out fairly well, I think. One box + one oatmeal container, an 8x10 print (and a 4x6 print for extra skin to lengthen the jaw) and some clothes. He added the fedora, which was a nice touch!

 Love this adorable light saber valentine! We're big Star Wars fans over here.

 Hope your V-Day was as fun as ours,

filled with love from family and friends,

and creative delights.

~One of my favorite holidays!~

My favorite moments

Our house, on Christmas morning. While My Middle Boy was unloading his own stocking, he was excitedly distracted by his brothers opening theirs. Sweetness.

(you'll notice, we're not big on candy here. We like it, yes.

Love chocolate.

But we've chosen, for the most part, not to give food as gifts/rewards/incentives. Soooo, we do art supplies, little toys, bubbles, measuring tape, stickers...) 

A bonding moment shared over action figures, below, between Fred and the Oldest Boy.

 My sweet niece, so excited, at my Dad's house. Love this girl.

Love them all, with their excitement and drama, the noise and activity.

It was such a good day!!

 My Girl, the geography buff, opening all kinds of geography games from her Poppy.

 Last, but not least, my Man with his glow-in-the-dark toilet paper and little book of secrets. Because my sister is awesome enough to find these kinds of gifts for a very funny man! Don't you love his fuzzy ninja turtle pajama pants, that he wore to the family Christmas? Love love love my family!

I wish I'd captured a moment of my Dad reading the Christmas story, as he does every year. It's what the season is all about-- Thanking God for His amazing Gift for us.

We had wonderful family celebrations, and I'm so thankful that we were able to go to all of them before our family got sick. Today is another day of aching, sore throat, coughing miserableness in bed. I'm blogging from the comfort of a mattress on the floor in the living room, smelling like cough drops and Vicks. The only one who has escaped the sickness is My Girl, who has been helping take care of the rest of us.

I know the flu has hit soo-oo many families this year, and hope that my friends are all recovering now. Maybe we'll all get it out of the way before the weather warms up enough again for hiking!

Have a wonderful time enjoying the Christmas season, and your families!

Colors of our Christmas

Yesterday we had the big hoopla Christmas celebration with Fred's dad and stepmom, and both sides of their families.

So many sweet people, smiling faces...

 Lovin' his plaid on plaid! :)

Ah, and this redheaded baby cousin in stripes. Too cute!!

 After the big meal, a group started playing basketball.

Me? I was so stuffed I could barely move around with the camera!

Too.Much.Pie.

 Love these girls. My sweet pink plaid niece Caitlin and my yellow striped daughter.

They were born just 3 months apart.

 Then Fred's sisters and their families headed back to our polka dotted, bright home to open gifts with us.

Happy Time, y'all!!

I get to see these wonderful people fairly often, but it's still always a treat!

Glimpses of the season

Evolving Family

These holidays have been different. Good, but very different.

We celebrated with my "sister" October, the day before Thanksgiving. She came, and spent the day with our family, eating and playing games. I've known October and her twin sister November for nearly as long as I've been married. Tob has no family in the area, and my family has adopted her in. :)

We took turns having kids for several years (until my husband finally said, "now one of you has to stop it!") so there's a whole gaggle of stair-step munchkins.

Our neighbor girls decided to join the fun, too.

Whenever we start up a fire in the backyard, kids appear from nowhere!

These two were so sweet, with their artwork, and team-game-playin'.

 It was relaxed, sweet, just like having my sister and her kids over.

On Thanksgiving, we went to my Dad's house.

This was our first Thanksgiving to celebrate separately with my parents, which was strange.

It was good. Just different.

My Mom left right after Thanksgiving last year, and the divorce was finalized a few months later.

 The family evolves. Things change.

We had a wonderful time, eating and playing games, and generally just having a goofy good time!

(My Dad with his three daughters, two sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren)

 The next day, we were off to Fred's dad and stepmom's house.

Yes, divorce always changes things. His parents divorced when he was 13, and it was a real mess. Very rough on him, and still seems to cause more pain than my parents' recent divorce.

Sometimes divorce makes things better (yes, I believe this)

and sometimes it simply makes them harder.  

We celebrated with his Dad (right), two of his sisters, cousins & aunt and uncles, nieces and nephews, and even a random guy I didn't know (center.) It was relaxing, delicious, less dramatic than it's been in the past.

All good things.

Fred and I spent some time winding down in the guest/playroom with the little ones.

 I love this Spanish alphabet puzzle!

They've had it for years...I think she said they got it from a yard sale?

Such a neat treasure!

 We saw Fred's Mom the following day, but I was too distracted to take pictures. My bad.

(...but she doesn't like having her picture taken, so it's probably for the best!)

On Sunday (yes, we were going 5 for 5!!) we drove to my Mom's house, about an hour away. I've only been there twice, and actually had to mapquest the address.

It's a beautiful home, and she's done so much with it.

There were new traditions, to establish the new family situation.

My Mom served pork rather than turkey. She's always been a fan of bucking custom. ;)

We played cards rather than board games.

Relaxed, drank wine, watched movies, played outside.

 Me, my Mom, sister Julie, sister Amy

Celebrating with four sets of parents isn't easy.

We tried to plan as early as possible to avoid overlaps. 

We made a schedule and let everyone know what we would be doing. Every home had a day.

We made it a holiday weekend, rather than one insane day to zip around celebrating.

 We tried to see everyone, but it's simply not always possible.

Fred isn't close to his stepbrothers and sisters, and they don't live around us,

so we rarely see them, even around the holidays.

We made it a priority to see parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers.

We made time for fun and relaxing.

 Isn't my niece gorgeous? She's like a little fairy child!

 And this precious little nephew of mine is so happy, so hilarious!

Ahh, and here's my girl. My teenager.

The amazing kid who studied geography when she was finished with her meal!

It's different now, but good. We saw this coming. We knew it was over.

And, honestly, I'm thankful.

It was less stressful this year than it's been in the past.

Both of my parents are happy.

Sometimes things fall apart so they can be put back together differently...better... healthier.

And I'm thankful for that. For the lives they have now, apart.

I'm thankful that Thanksgiving was truly full of thanks, on all sides. 

I'm thankful that no one pulled us around; everyone was flexible.

I'm thankful that my children saw smiling, truly joyful grandparents, not underlying stress and drama.

I'm also thankful for all of my childhood memories of Thanksgiving, which were full of happiness.  

Yes, this was a busy, very different Thanksgiving for us, but good. 



Nearly Turkey Day!

 What do you do the week of Thanksgiving? Turkey crafts, of course!

And lots of talking of thankfulness, while crafting. :)

You have your pinecone & leaf crafts.

 Then there's the family handprint turkey craft....

 I didn't realize just how huge my Man's hands are until we did this.

And My Girl's hand is now about the size of mine. {sigh}

The days may pass slow, but the years pass so fast.

  (Cutting is such a great fine motor skill activity for the kindergartner, too!)

Next you have your pinecone and scrapbook paper craft...

 Hard-working little guy,

cutting, pasting, choosing colors...

 Coming along quite nicely. Good thing I have a crazy amount of googly eyes in my stash!

Someday I'll have a resource room {dreamysigh} and a big 'ol drawer will be dedicated to googly eyes!

 Bright, happy, dotty turkeys!!

Enjoy your Turkey Day,

and remember all you have to be thankful for!