Wednesday 30 November 2011

Wordy Wednesday

I haven't really blogged much because I've been busy getting "my craft on" for Christmas! All I can say is the internet is an AMAZING, crafty place and I'm really excited about a couple gifts I've made this year (in fact I REALLY want to keep them for myself). This must also be the year of the coupon cause everywhere I go I keep getting more and more (can you say marketing ploy?), I think I have like 5 for Bath and Body Works alone! Which FYI they have been running some amazing online deals lately!

Last week we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time ever! It was fun and not really stressful at all...I guess that's what happens when you have an enormous family who all get together a lot, the crowd really isn't that big of a deal. I also turned 31 *gasp!* last week, and had a lovely birthday that started with very excited children and ice cream cake and ended with Christmas shopping and a date night! Whoohoo! Now we're counting down until my oldest turns 10, (7 days *wah!!*) and finishing off the leftovers (split pea soup tonight!).

Our dog has been down right terrible lately, and he really has no excuse because he's not a puppy (in fact he's down right middle-aged). Unfortunately I'm thinking he's going to have to reacquaint himself to his crate. Ah, pet ownership!

I received 2 Bath and Body Works candles for my birthday and I've got to say LOVE them! They are so strong their scent will fill my whole downstairs! 

Shoey had her 15 months check up. She's 24lbs (50-75%), 33 inches (95%), and healthy! Yay! She was not too fond of the shots or having her ears checked. But other than that it was uneventful.

And that's our life in a nutshell....a very large and lengthy nutshell! :-) 

P.S. We've been having an unseasonably warm, and wonderful fall with no snow in sight (other than that little bit I showed you a few weeks ago)! It's awesome! 

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Be Thankful Come on Everyone, be thankful from the bottom of your heart...


As I've mentioned before we were working on a thankful project as a family, it started out great but then life got really busy and we fell behind. It seems to me that it's so easy to get busy and just forget about being thankful. It's not like we're  choosing to be ungrateful for all the little blessings we have on a day to day bases, it's more we just expect all those little things to just be there or they seem too significant to praise God for! When we lived at the Gingerbread House our laundry room was in the basement where my kids rarely would go. I would tell them that I was going down to do the laundry but I never really thought to mention what that meant. Well when we moved here we have a 1st floor laundry room and my kids for the first few weeks were so amazed to watch me fill the washing machine with water, add clothes, remove the clothes, and put them in the dryer to dry. They would ask me to explain the process to them over and over and they would peek into the top of the machines just to see what was happening. I guess before they just thought the clothes magically smelled better when I brought them up from the basement. I don't want them to be that way with all the things we have on this earth. I want them to know that things don't just magically appear and that we need to praise God for every little thing he chooses to bestow on us whether it's small, boring, or gigantic. I'm vowing to make that a priority in my child-rearing! And with the I WANT...er, I mean... Christmas season coming up I'm sure that's going to be a challenge! :-)

Friday 18 November 2011

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

We have snow! AND my kids have their, sort of, Christmas concert for the little private school they attend once a week. It's putting me in the spirit of the holiday....now I want to get our tree!

Monday 14 November 2011

The Mama Files: I sound like a broken record edition

This is probably going to end up in bullet form just because not a lot has been happening...or not really a lot of interesting stuff anyway. Isn't that always how it is as a mom, you have so much going non-stop that you forget what's exciting because even the mundane is busy?!
  • I've been wanting to get back to exercising regularly for awhile (like since we moved here), but haven't' had the motivation. Then I read an article on Michelle Duggar and she said she exercises on her elliptical machine everyday. Now that's motivation! I just figure if a mom to 19 (soon to be 20) can find time so can I! So I've started walking/running my block...which is not just a normal city block. It's 5k and it's extremely hilly (hence the name of this blog, sears house on the HILL),. My goal is to one day be able to run the whole thing. I'm not really setting a particular day to do this by, just because we're right on the cusp of getting feet upon feet of snow. So that's sure to slow the process down. But I AM GOING TO DO IT ONE DAY! :-)
  • Marc and I helped chaperon a youth event. It was fun, but man am I happy I'm not a teenager anymore, there's why too much drama for me...even when there isn't drama there's drama. But one thing definitely stands the test of time and that is this, the coolest people in the world have NO idea they are cool! I got to watch a lot of kids try WAY too hard. :-) 
  • My kids crack me up every single day! I love being their mama! 
  • The Jets lost to the Patriots last night, it was a sad.
  • I've started on one of Leia's Christmas presents and it's super cute and I can't wait to give it to her! *pics coming eventually*
  • And last but not least! I pulled out and washed all of our winter coats and now it's been consistently warm (60's). I guess I should have done that weeks ago! ;-)
And that's about it! Now to get back to this crazy life of mine!

Friday 4 November 2011

Fabulous Friday!

We've been doing a family thankfulness exercise for the month of November. 
Everyday we write on a construction paper turkey or maple leaf one thing we are thankful for, then hang it on our chalkboard as a decoration. It's been rather *insightful*! :-) 

Everyday Gaius picks a different person and writes their name on his leaf. 
Xavier's have been all grown up and thought out (big, grown up boy *blegh!*).
Sho's have been semi-made up (we just pick things we think she's thankful for).
And Leia's have been HILARIOUS! 
So far she is thankful for God, electronics, Mad Libs, and the color yellow! 
I can't wait to go to her everyday just to see what new random thing she's going to come up with!

 I love that my kids are so stinking funny! 

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Time Flies When You're Having Fun...or is it just when you have a bunch of kids?

We just had a super crazy week that turned into a hectic weekend. But it was a lot of fun. 

We hosted one of our church's missionary families. Shoshannah was in fine form, with temper tantrums and all. But in general their family fit right in with ours and things couldn't have gone smoother.
(BTW the Sear's House fit 12 people splendidly!)

Xavier learned a couple new things, like; how to kill a mouse with a broom (thank you Bryan!) and how to play Risk (thank you Josh). 
Leia learned how to respond to sarcasm and teasing, "Do you know how to spell dog? Okay spell it!": I-T :-) 
And Gaius learned how to play with a rambunctious 8-year old, and a very sweet 5 year old!  We had a blast learning new things about Mexico
 (did you know that they eat their pizza with ketchup and mustard on it?! Eeew!). 

We can't wait to host our next Missionaries!