Feeling Pintersty?

For the last couple of years, I have waited until the January clearance sale and purchased year-in-review ornaments from Personalization Mall.  This year, inspired by a gift I received from student last year, I made the ornament above.  It took about 10 minutes and cost less than a dollar.

How to:

1. Purchase clear ornaments from the craft store.
2. Type or write your memories on strips of paper and slide them into the ornament.  I curled mine first but would not do that again.  I think it makes them hard to read. Replace the top of the ornament.
3. Decorate the outside with glitter glue pens.  I put the year on this one, and in the future, I will use a paint pen instead of a glitter glue pen for that.
4. I hung it from a handle on a kitchen cabinet to dry overnight.

So many ideas for these...

I am purchasing two copies of A Christmas Carol and will cut out quotes from them to make ornaments for the teacher librarians who work with us daily at school.

I suggested doing one for a gift exchange for Julia's cheer team.  We could use the cheers they chant for the strips of paper and even note their third place finish in their only competition.  We could decorate with school colors on the outside - also a great idea for a coach.

I could do these for each child counting blessings or noting what was important to them this year.

Happy Thanksgiving

We enjoyed celebrating this year with both sides of the family.  Andy's mom drove in and joined us on Thursday, and my family came over.

I was overwhelmed with the idea of preparing for so many people, but once I offered to host, everyone else offered to bring the majority of the food.  I contributed mashed potatoes that were too runny because I cooked them too long and green beans.  Savannah made green bean casserole because she insisted we must have it and the really yummy apple pie pictured below.

When Jonathan and Danielle arrived with the turkey, they asked for a platter.  I have no idea where my turkey platter is, so I offered my biggest plate and then laughed and laughed over it.

We traveled to visit Andy's side of the family on Saturday and really enjoyed our gathering with them.  It's really the only time of the year we get to see them all together.  This year we have two new additions: Andy's sister Dianna is engaged, so we met her fiancé, and our niece Page has a boyfriend of a few years, so we got to meet him too - both great guys as far as we can tell.

We enjoyed the day, and I was reminded of Psalm 136.  Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His love endures forever.

P.S. I earned my meals (okay, not quite), but I did six Jazzercise classes including one on Thanksgiving day.  I even squeezed one in before we left town on Saturday.  

Picture Update- Kinsley's birthday

We raced to Tessa's place to celebrate Kinsley's 2nd birthday.  It was one of those days where we were running ragged, but I was able to snap a few shots.

She thinks she's a movie star - loves her sunglasses.

Kinsley loves her new doll stroller. For a little girl into dolls, a stroller is a must.  That's how I used to get Savannah to walk through the zoo.  If she could push her doll in as stroller, she never asked to be carried.

Even though our time was short, we were so glad to see Kinsley enjoy a little of her birthday.

National Adoption Month

On Orphan Sunday Love Without Boundaries posted this quote on social media:

"I always questioned if I was ready to adopt and then realized no child was ready to be an orphan."

It took me back to a conversation I once had with a relative.  After bringing Julia home, my strong desire was to return to China for a child with a heart condition.  A relative asked, "why would you even consider that? Don't you realize that child could die?"  At the time my thinking was that I would be pursuing a child with a minor heart condition and that we have great pediatric heart specialists in the area.  None of my children came with a guarantee. None of us is promised tomorrow.

My thoughts are different now.  Of course losing a child would be something from which my family would never recover, but there is something that bothers me more than that possibility.  I am more bothered by the fact that a child would not survive childhood and would die without ever knowing the love of a family, without having a champion for him or her.

Over the years my desire for another child has waned.  We brought Wyatt home, and the future needs he faces terrify me.  They are not life-threatening, but our insurance covers so little, and he faces lots and lots of surgery and specialized orthodontics. I think I know we would have returned for another child if our financial circumstances had been different.  While I still hold on to a small piece of that desire, I am content with where we are and certainly getting too old to hang on to that old dream.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Homecoming 2015

Homecoming festivities took place this weekend. It was a busy and fun weekend.

The senior class opted for a Grease themed float for Thursday's parade.  The girls dressed as the Pink Ladies.  The homecoming dance theme was Forever Fifties.  When the kids realized that Grease was set in 1961, they had to back up the years a bit, so they settled on Rydell High 1957.

I just love these girls, such great friends!

As a middle school cheerleader, Julia got to participate in the parade as well.  I could never get a good picture of the girls in her jeep as the sun was in the way, so I am thankful for a parent who shared these.

After the parade, we went for a quick dinner and then ran back to the school for the Powder Puff games.  Savannah was a great bench warmer.

This is the Mom is a dork picture.  I could not figure out why the kids posed like this when I went to take their picture.  Somebody was behind them getting the backs of their jerseys because they have their names on the back. I confess that I am a dork.

much better

The team won their game solidly on Friday night.

The kids enjoyed their 50s style dance on Saturday.  I was am mad at Savannah. I made her take a camera to get pictures, and she did not. We agreed that she would not take it in the dance where we feared it might get damaged or stolen, but I regret that decision.  They had such a cute 50's diner set up, and the senior banquet beforehand complete with root beer floats was super cute.  I did not crash the party for pictures because I trusted my daughter.  If not for her friends, we would not even have the following pictures.  GRR!

my favs

Happy Birthday Zach!

We survived the teen years with one child.  Zach wanted a pirate themed party and was disappointed that we did not have the entire extended family over to celebrate.

My friend Carolyn made his cake.  She does some amazing work, and you can't go wrong on taste with her cakes.

It was a simple celebration, but he appreciated it.  I am not this old, am I?

1st World Mom Problems

Is it too much to ask to get four kids who are all at least a decade old to allow their mom to get a decent picture?  I would love a special, hang on the wall, love it, treasure of the four of them.  However, our only opportunity to take pictures is on Sunday afternoon - the only time the four of them are all free at once which is why I did not hire a pro.  I don't want to take a Sunday away from anyone.

I warned them a week in advance.  We face a deadline on Savannah's senior ad soon, and I want one good picture of the four of them for the ad. I searched through our pictures and found some oldies but goodies.  However, I really want this particular picture to look like they do now - Julia minus the glasses especially.  So, I coordinated clothes for them that weren't too matchy matchy.  A great coupon, a little borrowing amongst the family, and we got that together.  I hurried them along, and off we started on a journey to some great shots, at least I hoped and prayed.

1st problem: a bike race - I failed to check the course of this big event in town, and yeah, our first choice photo location was off limits.  Not only that I had to drive miles and miles out of my way to choose a different path - ugh.

2nd problem: a meltdown - tired from a sleepover, one child complained of illness - there were tears and some sleeping during the drive - oh great, can we say red eyes?

3rd problem - a nose bleed from one child as we journeyed on - really?  

4th problem - 2nd choice location was windy, so we had to adjust and re-adjust

My goal - classy, candid, pictures to capture the personality of the family and each individual kid.

Did I succeed?  These will suffice.  I still wish I could have a pro get a good group shot.

What I love - I felt like this is the best I've done with coordinating the clothes- simple without making them look like I am trying to turn them into quadruplets.  The colors are rich.

What I don't love - the lighting.  Some are too dark. Zach's need of a haircut.  He will only let my sister cut his hair, so I am out of luck on keeping that neat and trim.

Why did I choose to share these?  I will share in the notes after each picture.

They look like they like each other, and nobody has a grimace.

I love Wyatt's smile in this one, and everybody else looks pretty good.

rich color, interesting lighting

nice expressions, cool lighting

nicely posed, close together

I love pictures of people laughing! - love them!  By Savannah's choice this is the one going in her ad. I am a little concerned that Julia looks like her nose is missing, but Savannah insists that nobody will notice.

I love how everyone looks in this photo.  I just wish Savannah was looking up. This is my first choice for the ad because I love all of their expressions.  I know Savannah is looking down, but the page is full of beautiful photographs taken of her over the years, and I think this captures their personalities both as individuals and in relation to each other.

I love that Savannah and Wyatt are holding hands.

candid

more laughter

maybe the best shot all day

I have already forgotten what made them laugh. I think I might still want a pro to capture them together and get individual pictures of Wyatt and Julia.

Remember that clicking on the pictures allows you to see them bigger.