A Little Lovely

Some of you may be expecting to see a few more pictures from our Christmas activities, but today I couldn’t resist the urge to move forward.  I always find myself feeling a little blue after the rush of excitement of the holidays.  The best way I’ve know to cheer my spirits is to focus my attention on what lies ahead.  Several things come to mind as I think about what’s next… a brand new year with new resolutions, a new semester in our homeschool, projects that beg to be started, upcoming events like basketball games, dance recitals, and road trips, and new holidays approaching on the calendar.

It’s funny, but when I was a kid I never wanted my mom to take down our Christmas tree and decorations.  But now that I’m in charge, I can’t wait to get all of that stuff boxed up again.  I want it all gone, and I want to move on.  How I wish I could snap my fingers or wriggle my nose and every ornament would be neatly packed away!  Every garland, rolled and returned to the attic.  It seems that each year I find myself putting out fewer and fewer Christmas decorations, because I know that in only a few short weeks I will have to turn right around and lug them all back to the attic again. (I’m sounding very Scrooge-ish aren’t I?)

Anyway, once the decorations are all neatly stowed away, I love how big and roomy our home feels.  I find it very refreshing.  Even so, I find that I’m just itching for another excuse to do some decorating.  I wish I was as creative as some of the other fabulous ladies I’ve seen in blog-world, who can stick a few bare branches in a vase, throw a couple of pinecones in a bowl, and voila, have a fabulous winter vignette. No, I’m just not there yet, but I’m working on it.  So far all I’ve managed was a simple dish of soap rose petals.  They aren’t much, but I love the pop of color and the gentle, rose fragrance they add to the corner of our breakfast room.

I do hope these little lovelies have brightened your day!

Lindsey

A Merry Little Christmas

Once again it’s been way too long since I last blogged.  All of the holiday hooplah just doesn’t leave much extra time.  Thank goodness for a two week Christmas break from school, otherwise I’d be a crazy woman!  Anyway, I’m popping in today to give you a quick update on our Christmas activities.

First on the list is Christmas morning.

I’m pretty sure that my two monkeys were the only children in America the world that slept late on Christmas morning.  The Tool Man and I actually had to wake them up around 8:00.  Even then they just drug themselves downstairs and went straight to the couch.  We had to encourage them to open their presents.  Weirdos.

The presents before the pandemonium…

Let the ripping and tearing begin!

One of the main things Ty asked for this Christmas was a slingshot.  I sure hope he doesn’t “shoot his eye out.”

Miss Lucy’s Christmas list was topped with a pink Barbie and a puppy…a pretend puppy.

I love my babies’ faces on Christmas morning.  Swollen eyes and puffy cheeks.  So sweet!

Ty was just a little excited about these Trash Packs. Love the expression!

Lucy got some paper doll books, nail polish, socks, apples, oranges, peppermint sticks, press-on nails, and stick-on earrings in her stocking.

Both monkeys got a Dream Lite for their rooms.  I’m pretty sure these little lights kept the monkeys up an extra 2 hours the first night they used them.  We may have to “lose” the batteries for these things.

By far the greatest hit, as far as Christmas gifts went this year, was a Mario costume for Ty.  I’m pretty sure Santa picked this little gem up at Wal-Mart for a mere $2 on the Halloween clearance aisle. Without a doubt, the best $2 Santa has ever spent!  But don’t take my word for it.  Take a look for yourself.

What a nut!  Just like his Dad.  Ty wore this suit half the day.  Thankfully it looks like he will outgrow it by February.  Ha ha!

Well, that takes care of all the Santa fun.  After the monkeys opened their gifts, my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law came over for our annual Christmas morning breakfast.  Yummy to my tummy!  Waffles, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, eggs, and polenta (our fancy name for grits).  We really should do breakfast like this more than once a year.  It’s my favorite meal of the day.

More Christmas pictures to come….at least that’s the plan anyway!

Lindsey

A Hidden Gem

Recently the Tool Man has had to assume an extra role at work.  He’s no longer responsible for just his office management work, but now he’s also out in the field managing a project. It’s no fun having him working so much, but we are thankful for the work.  While he’s away, the Lord has blessed him with a quiet, little gem of a place to stay.  It’s a small state park, not 5 miles from his jobsite. And it’s the perfect place for me and the monkeys to hang out when we tag along with Dad sometimes!

The park is built around a manmade lake.  There’s a small, sandy beach with a swimming area, picnic tables, gazebos, and a playground.  Wide, concrete walkways and a huge, covered pavilion provide the perfect place for the monkeys to ride bikes and scooters.

So far, we’ve joined the Tool Man on a couple of trips, and we’ve stayed in one of the park’s fully furnished cabins.  Tiny, but sufficient, the two-room cabin is the just the place for us to do our school work while dad’s at work.

I’m not gonna lie, though.  That cozy, two-room cabin tends to get smaller and smaller as the day goes on.  Usually by the time the Tool Man gets home from work in the evening, I am more than ready for Dad to take over the parental duties. 

Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago as we explored the park’s amenities.

Down by the water I got some cute shots of my sweet girl.

While Lucy was posing, Ty was playing.  He and his dad had a blast on the playground equipment.  Their favorite was the spring-loaded see-saws.

They pretended they were bull riding and couldn’t use their hands.

And you know the monkeys had to climb the monkey bars!

Look, Lucy! A grasshopper.

Daddy wouldn’t let Lucy ride hands-free on the “bull”, so she found this springy chair instead.

After the kids worked off some energy, we made the trek back up the hill to our little cabin in the woods.

Ty was eager to run all the way up the stairs…

…but Lucy decided she needed a lift.

I’ll leave y’all with my favorite picture – my monkeys spending some quality time with their daddy.

(Apparently Ty did not want to get his shorts wet.  Lol.)

Lindsey

Down on the Farm

Wow!  It’s been quite a while since I last posted something here - a blogging break that I never intended to take.  It seems like I’ve hardly had time to breathe over the past several months.  I blame most of that on cakes! You see, I used to do things like rest and blog on the weekends, but that happens to be the time when most cakes are due.  So now most of my Fridays and Saturdays are spent decorating and delivering cakes instead of blogging. (Sad face.)

Ah well, more about that another day.  Today I come to share photos from Lucy’s recent trip to the pumpkin patch/Christmas tree farm.  Her preschool took a little field trip last week, and Ty and I were able to join the fun.

What a gorgeous day for a field trip – simply the perfect fall weather!  Everyone enjoyed a brief hayride around the farm, a stroll through the corn maze, and an opportunity to pick a few pumpkins.  Then the kids got some free time to play around on the many activities provided by the farm – rope swings, corn piles, haystacks, slides, petting zoo, tractor tires, and a water pump game to name a few.

By far, my kids’ favorite activity was this horse swing.  I got dizzy just watching them twist and spin round and round and round!

Two cute little blondies in a school bus.  I don’t know what was so interesting about the ground, but these two did not want to look up for a picture.

Who knew pumping water could be so much fun!

Ok. So I really hope it’s not another 3 months before y’all hear from me again.  Hopefully with the holidays coming up there will be plenty of photo opportunities and lots of fun stuff for me to share with you over the next few weeks.  Can y’all believe it?  Christmas is almost here!  I can hardly wait!

Lindsey

First Day of Pre-K

This year the Tool Man and I made the decision to send Lucy to pre-school.  She started this past Wednesday and will be going five days a week for three hours each day.  Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to warm her up to the idea of going to school.  And for the longest time, it wasn’t working.  Whenever we talked about it, she always asked me if I was going to go to school with her. 

Thankfully, Lucy had a change of attitude about two days before school started.  I don’t know what happened to change her mind, but I’m glad it did!  The night before school started, there was a meet and greet gathering for the new students to meet their teacher and get familiar with the new environment.  Lucy was awfully shy going into the classroom, but I took her over to her chair, and when she saw a new can of play-dough at her seat, she brightened up.

Before going to bed that night, I helped Lucy color a self-portrait that her teacher had sent home with her.  Lucy had the best time coloring this simple little picture.  We even drew Lucy’s new school dress on the picture.   Lucy insisted on adding earrings to her portrait too.

Once she finished her picture, Lucy kept telling us that her teacher was going to love it…  I’m sure she did!

Lucy had to get up bright and early for her first day of school.  She’s used to sleeping ‘til 9:00 every morning, so 7:30 is way early for her.  Thankfully, she was a good sport about it.  I think she was just too excited about school to be grumpy this morning.

This is a simple pillowcase dress I whipped up for Lucy’s first day of school.  I finally carved out a few minutes to get some sewing done.

Big brother is not used to getting up so early either.  Ahhh…the joys of homeschool!

Lucy walked right into her classroom just as pretty as you please.  I helped Lucy find her chair again, and once she spotted the play-dough she immediately got to work.  It sure made things a whole lot easier on me knowing that she wasn’t upset about going to school.

When I picked her up at lunch, Lucy was full of information.  She didn’t talk much about what she did or learned during school.  She mostly talked about the red and green apples - green being the good apple, and red being the bad one.  Lucy was more than eager to tell me that she stayed on green, and she was even more eager to tell me who got on red!  (That’s right, I know who all the bad kids are!  Ha ha!)  Then she proceeded to tell me that all of the boys had to go to time out! Lucy is all about staying on that green apple!  I hope she keeps that attitude up.  I may even have to hang an apple or two on the wall at home!

Lindsey