Fire at Christine's property

We sang Christmas songs as James drove out to Christine's property. James enjoyed playing with the fire. I know he misses our fire pit in VA. We had an Advent meditation. Cookies were passed out. We came home and the girls took long baths. Time for bed - school starts tomorrow. Vacation went by fast.

Baking Day

One of the ladies in our Sunday School class reserved the church kitchen for baking on Saturday. Jamie and the lady's granddaughter Tricia worked on making ornaments and pumpkin muffins while I made cookies. Marilyn made fudge, wedding cookies, poor man's turtles, and some other chocolate treat. She was still going strong when we left. Another mother/daughter team make sugar cookies and gingerbread men. We were there for about 3 hours. Then we came home and took a long nap.

Zach's smile

I had fun taking pictures of Zach. He poses so well and has a great smile. He is walking really well now and loved getting into everything. Time goes by so fast.

Zach and the kitchen

Zach really liked Anne's kitchen. He was busy cooking.

Cousins and the train

The boys came over for a visit on Friday and loved playing with the train. We also had a Winnie the Pooh Christmas and New Year movie on.

Makeup Lesson

Michelle brought Christmas presents and we let the girls open them. Jamie got some pretty colorful headbands, body mists, and some gold eyeshadow. Michelle showed her how to apply it and put some on me too. Jamie is supposed to wear makeup for her dance next week. She is growing up so fast.

Our Turkey Day

Michelle asked if she could make Thanksgiving dinner with us this year. She brought her friend Andre. We sang together and played games. She enjoyed making the sweet potato casserole - her favorite dish. She made a double batch so she could take some home. She did a great job on the deviled eggs too. We enjoyed being together. We hugged each other all day. We took a plate full of food to Sha as well at the movie theater. We went to see Tangled (a new story about Rapunzel). It went by too fast and now the kids are asleep.

Happy Thanksgiving

A lady at church in Anne's Sunday School class makes us lovely cards every week. This one is my favorite so far with Anne's picture. She loves to cook and help.

3D classroom design

I had a lot of help with this classroom design for school. Yeah! Most of my homework is now done so I can "rest" some this weekend - after all the cooking, baking and wrapping of course.

Walk

On Monday Anne went for a long walk / hike with her dad and Uncle Charles as well as the cousins and grandparents at Lake Georgetown.

Christmas preparations

Anne loves the train and the remote control this year. James put up my blue lights on the house. I got the music boxes out. Christmas music is playing on the CD player and pumpkin pie is in the oven. Smells and sounds like Christmas! Yeah! Looking forward to a long weekend off with the kids.

Operation Christmas Child

Grace Covenant Church had the annual shoebox packing party last night. They had enough supplies to pack 1,100 boxes. Jamie and I packed 2 at a time and did 26 in an hour. And we prayed over each one. It was a great experience. We really enjoy doing it.

Designs

Jamie did a playground design for school. I have to make a 3D classroom design for my night school by Dec 8th the last day of class. Gathering ideas and materials now.

Health updates

Anne has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics. Jamie has walking pneumonia and possible whooping cough. She sounds horrible. We haven't slept much.

Sweet Dream Cookies

We made some sweet dream cookies this morning. Maddy is coming over to have some fun writing stories with Jamie instead of always doing projects.

Pink Dolphin

The girls played around with the pink dolphin this morning.

MMS Fall Festival

I picked up Cousin Lucas and we stopped by Wendy's for a quick bite to save a few tickets. Then we met up with Maddy and Aidan. The kids played a couple of games - candy wheel and cake spin! Tickets sure go fast. Then Jamie and Aidan went on the giant slide. Each of them picked a special toy from the gift shop. Jamie got a pink dolphin and Lucas got a tetrus cube. We only stayed about an hour. There were a lot of kids.

Twitter

The first session I attended at the GEN Austin conference was led by a woman named Maura Thomas who talked to us about Social Media. (She has a website called RegainYourTime.com turning chaos into control.) She also talked to us about a Time magazine article about Generation "M" for Multitasking. I just read the whole article linked here and on her Twitter account http://bit.ly/ddWV2P. She told us that in her opinion and research - Twitter is much better than Facebook - especially for 30-45 year olds. I just barely figured out Facebook but signed up to follow her on Twitter for now. Everything takes time. Who else is on Twitter and what do you follow? I think I heard that KLove our favorite Christian radio station is on Twitter too.

Orange experiment by Renee Trudeau

From http://www.mothersguide.blogspot.com/
I am using Renee's words to describe what happened during our last session:

I attended a GenAustin’s statewide We Are Girls Conference at the Ann Richards School for Girls all day Saturday. It was an emotionally intense weekend and one of the experiences I can’t shake was during a self-care workshop for high school girls and mothers Saturday afternoon.

At the end of our interactive workshop session where we explored the concept of self-care and what our portals are for self-nurturing and nourishment, she gave each woman a juicy Clementine orange.

She invited us to close our eyes and “fill” the orange with whatever it is they most need right now –support, the ability to say no, peace/well-being, self-acceptance, courage,etc. After this reflective meditation, she asked them to slowly smell, peel and then very mindfully, eat their imbued orange—symbolizing the act of fully “receiving” the qualities they had just bestowed upon themselves.

All of the moms in the room—except for one—were single, working women juggling a thousand daily obligations. (I was the only one who was not a single mom - but I feel like it and live like it - complete exhaustion for years - no real support - no close girlfriends here to connect with - everyone is too busy including me.)

After the exercise, they shared how difficult it was to slow down and become that present (I could relate—I had a hard time eating just one section of the orange at a time!). I think most of us resist being present much of the time. It's hard.

But I also know from personal experience, that it’s one of the secrets to experiencing more peace, well-being and harmony in our day-to-day lives. Lord help me!

Haircuts

Michelle was transferred up north to 2 TGF stores. One right down the street from us on Parmer Lane - between Metric and Scofield lights - she will be there on Sundays and Mondays. We went to see her tonight. Anne's bangs were trimmed and the guys hair cuts done to support her. Hope others will make time to go see her too now that she is closer.

Balloon Toss

Anne had a lot of fun tossing around the balloon with friends before the party. It was fun to hear her laugh!

Gifts

Anne was showered with gifts. She was wrapped up in Aunt Christine's afghan. She loved her learning kitchen and fun food basket and books and gift cards and lovely birthday cards.

Ice Cream Sundaes and cupcakes

I made 48 cupcakes - 24 vanilla and 24 chocolate with sprinkles. We also made awesome ice cream sundaes on the 2nd night with the cousins with lots of whipped cream and sprinkles on top. YUM! We love sugar!