Hope and Prayer

I just dropped my kids off at school. I hugged and kissed them and I was okay. Until I started to drive away. I cried.

After reading about the shootings that happened in the elementary school in Connecticut on Friday I cried. I think that any parent who read about that incident cried and were horrified and sickened at the horrendous acts that occurred.

But I thought I was going to be okay today. In fact, I didn't even think about it until my children left my sight and I was no longer in control. And thats when I cried.

I hope that I have taught them well enough. I hope I have portrayed and instilled in them a faith in Jesus Christ. I hope that it has been driven home that should they ever be afraid or sad, they can pray and receive comfort. I hope I have raised them so that should a tragedy or disaster occur, they will be able, through Christ, to be a beacon of light, a proclaimer of hope, and a giver of peace to others around them.

I have an opinion on gun control. But this tragedy did not make me turn to that, or want to push an agenda. It showed me just how important teaching my children true principals are. It made me see how urgently I should help them to learn all they can of Christ and his gospel. Because when it comes right down to it, guns or no guns, things are going to happen. People are going to get hurt or die through natural disasters, human error, and human stupidity or wickedness.

How important is it to teach my kids to be more. To be above that. To know there is a God, and through his son all man kind can be saved. That they can know how to receive comfort when comfort is required, and that they can walk uprightly before him. That is my hope and prayer. That I have and can continue to teach them of Christ.

So will I pull my kids from school and homeschool? No. I have thought of homeschooling before and may consider it in the future. But if I homeschool it will not be out of fear. Fear has no grounds when faced with the light of Christ.

I'm that weird granola lady...

Like you all didn't know that already. There are very few times when people figure out that I've had all three of my kids at home that I don't get a "Really?!" (said like, "Are you freaking crazy!") So I guess it's no new news. But unfortunately I'm just getting more crazy. ;)

In early September I decided to make my own laundry soap. Emma's always had adverse reactions to most laundry soaps, and smells, and dyes. Her skin seems to be doing better now, but I wanted to try a homemade kind and see how I liked it. I used this recipe  and I have to admit, I LOVE it!! I made about a 1/3 of a batch the beginning of September and I have still have enough to make it until January. So a full batch should last you a whole year, and it cost around $40 to make (depending on the scent things you get), and it doesn't have all the harsh chemicals. Its awesome! I love the smell, the way it cleans, and how it leaves my clothes.

Next in my weird granola lady stuff....

See this

 This is my forehead and the lumps and bumps that have been on it for the past year (sorry about the bad picture. They're there, I promise). They are mostly around my hair line and they will not go away. They are not pimples or boils, I really have no idea what they are. And all I can figure is they must be a reaction from chemicals in my shampoo. So the other day I came across this site. That's right, I'm going to no shampoo. It sounds crazy (it may very well be crazy), but I'm hoping by getting rid of chemicals and using natural things that these stinking bumps will go away. Also it's suppose to make your hair super awesome (after about 3 weeks), and that would be nice too, since my hair naturally dried is psycho.
Here it is today-

(hello white face)

Not too bad right? That's because its not dried naturally, its was dried in two french braids. I really need to get a picture of it air dried right out of the shower. It's horrible. So there you go. Tony told me that he's okay with me going on this "no shampoo" adventure, as long as he gets to have the veto, and as soon as I start to stink or something he's calling it. :) I was good with that. I don't want to stink.

Last granola thing--
Fox is suffering from some type of yeast infection. Wahoo? So for the past 2 weeks we have become a no sugar no white flour family. Let me tell you it is NO FUN! We enjoy making delicious foods and stuff, and no sugar or white flour kills a lot of what you want to eat. However we have found some pretty cool recipes like hot chocolate made with agave, whole wheat pizza dough (I used all wheat and honey instead of sugar), and we switched out wheat flour for white flour in a lot of our other recipes. It's been working out pretty well, but still hard when I want those cookies or cakes (of course I still eat some of those when the kids go to bed, wahahaha!)

My favorite part though, was today Fox was in the bath and making me pretend food to eat. When I would ask him for cookies, candies, cakes or ice cream he would deny me those foods because "dey will make your bottom hurt"and "dey have sugar in them." I have trained him well...we've got to get him over this junk ;)

Sassy

I had three incidences with the kids today which showed their incredibly sassy side, but still made me giggle.

#1-
I made toast for breakfast, but evidently it wasn't enough. So while I was running around getting things ready, I gave Emma permission to make more. I had taken the bread out of the freezer just a few minutes before so it was still very frozen, and I'm pretty sure the temperature or time gage was very low. Being a good and helpful girl she took two pieces of bread and toasted them in the toaster. When they popped up I noticed that they didn't seem very browned but she buttered them and then happily gave one to Fox and started eating the other.

 Fox looked at his barely warmed toasted and replied, "But Emma! You have-a cooked it first!!"

But then, in true Fox fashion, happily ate the toast.../bread.

#2-
Emma is really into dancing and singing right now. Tonight she came in a said, "I love to sing, Mom!" (After listening to her make up nonsense/slightly-annoying words and strange noises/singing for the past two days I was a little afraid of what was coming.)
I then had a short conversation with her about singing, and she sang me a song (in the same fashion that Buddy the elf sings on "Elf" to his dad when they first meet) that went something like this:

I love my Mom!
My Mom is great!
My Dad is great too!
And I love my Dad!
My Mom and Dad are the greatest Mom and Dad that we have in our family!!

Which was so sweet but made me giggle a little. But I laughed even more when Liam snottily yelled from the other room, "Mom and Dad are the only Mom and Dad we have in our family!" Laughed and then scolded the boy for pointing out something that could have made his sister feel bad. It didn't. She just giggled to herself and then when about her business.

#3-
Right before bed Tony turned on some music for Emma to bust-a-move to. She showed us her dancing skills, including a new dance style she made up called "karate dancing." It may be the new rage. Hi-Ya!

As all kids do, she kept saying, "Mom! Mom! Watch me!" and then would dance some more. Being late (okay only 7:45ish, but I was tired!!), I laid my head on Tony's shoulder and watched him messing with his phone while it was blasting out the music Emma was dancing to. My eyes had been off Emma for .2 seconds when she said, "MooOooM! Watch me! I'm the one dancing not the music!!"

Sassy kids!! But so silly.

In another unrelated--well slightly related...but mostly unrelated--story, Fox is growing up and it's killing me. But before he loses his toddler sayings I figured I had better write them down. Or at least the one I remember. Fox use to (rarely any more :(   ) use the phrase "yes-a-do" constantly.

If you were telling him, "You can't have an apple because we don't have any." He's reply would be "yes-a-do!"

"Fox, I don't want a stuffed animal on my head."
"Yes-a-do!"

"I don't think we can go to the park today."
"Yes-a-do!"

It was my favorite. But it's slowly being replaced with actual words. Ridiculous. He needs to stop growing up. :)

And you thought I was joking

Nope. Remember that post that I ended by saying that I had better go because Tony just told the kids it was time to go chop our pumpkins with the machete and they all cheered? Here's proof. That's what really happened. Really. And the kids were ecstatic. 

Don't worry after the first two or three swings, and us realizing that Fox may cut his own ear off, we intervened and helped him out. And now I have a small pumpkin graveyard buried out in my flower garden. It's actually quite disturbing with little hunks of pumpkin still peeking out of the dirt...

A few days later we decided to take a walk and explore one of the many parks we had yet to visit. This park was pretty cool and had a great path for the kids to ride their bikes on while Tony, Fox in the stroller, and I tried to keep up. A little ways in Emma decided she was tired so we stopped and Tony found some plant that he turned into a dart gun.  

 They actually worked quite well and we had a mini dart gun battle. In which I won, because I always win. Not really. I just said that to make me feel better. No, Tony won, as always. ;)

And to leave you off with a little joy here's a picture of Fox, fully clothed, in a cooler of water, in the bathtub.

We brined our Thanksgiving turkey in the cooler. So to wash it out I left it in the bathtub to soak. Bad idea when you have a three year old who loves to take baths. 

Tony and Kira's Christmas lists

Tony's list

axe or hatchet
chainsaw
windstopper gloves
Hoodie (size L)
Resident Evil 6
Playstation network gift card
Fleece jacket (size L)
beanie hat
scarf



Kira's list

elf on the shelf
clothes (size med mostly, unless it runs small then a large, size 6/8 bottoms)
light box
bike
Material for sewing and such
Other sewing/crafty things (buttons, elastic, velcro, ect.)
hoodie
dates with Tony (aka gift cards to go out to eat, or to do stuff like the movies)
shoes, cute ones (size 8ish)
Pyrex dishes with lids

Christmas lists

Okay really this post is really about Christmas lists and I will get to them I promise (they are on the bottom), but first I had to share with you these little gems. 

I went to Liam and Emmas parent teacher conferences on Monday. They went really well. Emma is practically perfect in every way. ;) As I was waiting for my turn with Emma's teacher they had some of the work they had done as a class out in the hall. Two large sheets of paper caught my attention. They where list of what every child's parent does for work. It had things like "Jessica's mom works at Hobby Lobby." "Ben's dad works at ISU as a professor." And other such ones followed by a dollar sign. I had to find Emmas. Flipping past the first page I finally found Emmas and laughed out loud when I read it. "Emma's dad works at helping older people." But I didn't have a dollar sign after it. When I came home I was telling Tony about it and Emma (who over heard me) came in and asked, "Yeah, but Dad, do you make money where you work?" Hehehe, that's why there was no dollar sign. 

Liam is doing well also. Except, his teacher told me, he is just a little too talkative in class discussions. "Really?!" I asked just a little too excitedly. Seriously, the boy has been so shy the last couple of years, I'm thrilled he's being a little too talkative. Although I did talk to him when he got home and told him he had to listen to his teacher and only talk when he was suppose to. :) His teacher also gave me this-

(translation: If I were President I would make old people that can't work, they can call and get food! For Free! In Iowa!!)

My kids and old people. hehehe.

Alright now for Christmas lists, for real--

 Emma's List

 (Translation: Jump rope, Hoola hoop, D.S., Puppy, Ball, Lego, Doll House, Bike, Legos, Stuffed Animal, Silly string, Reindeer, Pajamas, Teddybear)
Santa is taking care of the jump rope and pajamas, and hopefully legos :)

Liam's list

(translation: Racecar, chalk board or white board, Drawing book, how-to draw books, legos, D.S., Wii, K'nex, bike, sword, orange, silly string spiderman hand, dog, pants, math book. By the way, that is all! Merry Christmas)

Santa is taking care of the drawing book, orange, and hopefully legos :)

Fox's list

(translation: Thomas and Percy (trains), car, pj's, sword, ball, teddy bear, batman cape and eyes hat*, hot chocolate, dog, bicycle, reindeer, snake, santa clause, candy)

Santa is taking car of pj's, hot chocolate, bicycle, and candy. :)

*When I was helping Fox write his list I let him write anything he wanted (ei. Santa Clause?). But I was super confused when Fox told me, "A batman flag!" It took me a few minutes to realize he meant a batman cape, but after I did he added, "and batman eyes hat." So there you have it. I should have made these kids write out their list a while ago, because I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a batman costume for pretty dang cheap after Halloween. Dang it. 

So there you go. I realize that each child wrote some type of dog/puppy on their list. If anyone sends me a dog I will beat you. That is all. Merry Christmas. 

Today's post...for real

Honestly. I just did 7 blog posts. 8 counting this one. And I'm tired of sitting at the computer. Buuuut-I do believe I am all caught up! Including pictures off of phones! Which let's admit it, lately 90% of my pictures have been on my phone. That may have something to do with the fact that I can't find my camera battery charger (hmmm, where is that?), and the fact that our camera is old and has been dropped enough that it's on the fritz. Tony's phone takes better pictures than the camera anyways. Now if I can just talk Tony into switching me phones... Any who, if you want to see what our last 3 months where like in a mostly picture montage than scroll down. If you don't and you don't care about what's going on with us, then stop reading...right now. :)

I think my kids are a little too excited for Christmas. They have spent all day today (they don't have school today) making each other presents, or getting something they already own and wrapping them for someone else. I keep trying to tell them that Christmas is still a ways away but I guess my previous comments of "Christmas isn't too far away"/"Christmas is coming soon" has cancelled that out. Oops. So now I have a pile of crudely (but so dang cute) wrapped presents sitting on our printer with no Christmas tree to put them under yet. 

Fox got into the nutella: "I a chocolate ghost. OOOooooOOOoo!" Luckily I was in a good mood that morning, so I grabbed the camera and not...well something else.

Tony has been running like crazy lately. Last month he got a job as a CNA at "Bickford Assisted Living." We are very excited, but between work and school and homework and craziness, he is constantly going. But I guess we should have expected that.

I am doing...okay. I hate moving. I hate making new friends (haha, that sounds horrible, right?). I hate taking 9 months to a year to feel like you fit in. And I hate the depletion of money that moving takes. We really live in a very nice place, with fantastic people! And I love the friends that we have made. But I'm more home sick than I think I have been yet with living in Iowa. I'm even home sick for Davenport. But it'll get better. I know it will. And the kids love it here. I just need to buck up, I guess. So that's what I'm going to do. Let's start over-

 I'm doing great! The move has been hard, but we live in an excellent town with fantastic people! We have made great friends and although money is tight we are finding fun things to do!   

Sorry for that drama. I don't know where that came from. Oh, well. Looks like my blogging time is over. I just heard Tony say (to the kids), "We need to go and get our machete and chop our pumpkins." To which they all cheered. That's a normal occurrence/saying in every household, right? And hooray for being caught up on blogging. Maybe now you'll get posts that are not 3 months behind. Maybe.

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween!

From a witch, ninja, spiderman, and spooky empty toilet paper roll. (before trunk or treat)

 On Halloween night we gathered the kids up and went trick or treating with some friends. We only hit a few houses but after trunk or treat it was fantastic. One of the houses had built a whole pirate ship in their front yard! It was pretty sweet.

Fall and pumpkin carving

It's fall time! One Monday we decided to try and rake up the massive amount of leaves that were in our front yard. The result- a massive pile of leaves. And then the next day the wind blew and knocked the rest of the leaves of the tree so it looked like we hadn't touched it. Oh well.

 A few days before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins.

 (yes that is permanent marker between his eyebrows)

 scariest faces picture

 Tony's puking pumpkin

 Top: mine, Tonys    Middle step: Emma's, Fox's     Bottom: Liams

Sushi night and butterflies

I think these next pictures are on Tony's birthday...or at least close to Tony's birthday. So happy birthday Tony...

Any who- we went climbing for Tony's birthday. This is me and Sierra. I'm the one that looks much more athletic and awesome. Sierra is the one standing up. ;) (and yes, the ground is about 3 inches under us...but at least we look good) 

 We went to Remein Gardens also and Sierra has a butterfly on her head.

 Then we had a sushi night! Wahoo!! 

Nauvoo with Grandparents and Sierra! (October)

This October we were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa and Sierra come and visit us! While they were here we went to Nauvoo!! It was a blast!

 Carthage