The Day After

Pin It Now! This is NOT how I wanted to spend the day after Christmas---in bed with a horrific cold. Finally after 2 weeks of nursing sick kiddos back to health, I have succumbed. I was actually sick yesterday, too, but woke up feeling much worse today.

Thank goodness my boys are old enough now to fix their own breakfast, go to the bathroom all by themselves, and best of all entertain themselves--basically they can leave me be so I can try to recuperate. But then there's that sweet little princess who still needs lots of Mama help. She did do something really amazing this morning, though. She slept until 8:30 am. Never happened before and probably never will again. I took complete advantage of the situation and began the doctoring ritual in peace.

My kids just don't know how good they have it. When they are sick, I wait on them, give lavender baths, make soup...the list goes on and on. But when I am sick, I have to wait on myself as I am sure most Mamas do. I am fortunate to have a very helpful hubby in my times of need, but from dawn till dusk I am on my own.

In between bouts of rest on the couch, I've been loading myself up with grapefruit seed extract, rubbing my swollen glands with Lympha Rub,and sipping hot peppermint tea, wassil and chicken noodle soup. I have also tried hanging my head over a bowl of boiling water with a few drops of eucalyptus oil a couple of times. I have even resorted to sniffing warm salt water up my nose just to be able to breathe. I hate breathing out of my mouth!!!

After having to sleep all night with my mouth in that uncomfortable position, my jaw and fake teeth hurt. And my head feels like it is going to explode out my ears. Ugh. My eyes are puffy and watery. I look and sound like a scary monster!!!

I should be getting ready to attend my brother in law's surprise 30th b-day party but am stuck here feeling quite miserable. I am hoping there is still a chance that I may be well enough to go shopping with my mom tomorrow. I hate missing shopping days with mom!:(

Well, I better go and herb myself up some more...

Christmas in Memphis--Sort Of

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Technology really is amazing. We were able to "attend" Christmas dinner at Pa and Cece's via the web cam. We did so last year as well, but with a few kinks worked out it was even better this year.

The boys couldn't wait to open these odd shaped presents. Poor Lincoln thought they were Lincoln Logs all day long. He did NOT want Lincoln Logs this year. Boy, were they surprised!!!!!

Identical Clone Trooper Voice Changers and Clone Trooper Blasters.

Shiloh's turn--she got a baby doll crib that required assembly. She was so upset Daddy didn't have it finished by her bed time!!!


We had Mark's family projected onto our TV. The kids thought it was so cool! It was nice being able to see everyone.

One helmet ready to go--these also required parental assembly. And of course that always means Daddy!!

Shiloh loves her new 25 year anniversary Cabbage Patch Kid from Pawpaw and Grandma. Her name is Eliza Lucille. She fits perfectly in the new baby crib!



It was great seeing all you TN people!!!! We love and miss you guys!! The kids had fun today playing with their new toys.

Starbucks Giveaway!!!

Pin It Now! Feather K is having a giveaway to celebrate her 100th post!!! Enter to win a $25.00 gift card over at her blog.

Homemade Nativity Set

Pin It Now! A few years ago my kids' great grandma (Hubby's grandma) sent them a manger play set.
What makes it so special is that she made it. And they can actually play with it!!!

There are so many "no touch" Christmas decorations, so it is nice for them to be able to touch and set up this Nativity scene over and over again. In fact, I have an entire basket filled with touchable Christmas toys right behind Shiloh in this picture. Stuffed snowmen, Santa hats, an old-timey looking Santa, Rudolph and his gang finger puppets, just to name a few of the items in the basket.

And last but not least Shiloh finally places baby Jesus in the feeding trough.

Thank you, Grandma, for the manger set, and thank you all who have contributed to our special Christmas toy basket!!!

Christmas Past

Pin It Now! 2003-- We always go light looking on Christmas Eve. We found the coolest house in Cordova that year. The owners of the house had this area specifically set up so people could have their photos taken. The boys loved it!!

2004-- Lincoln and Mullin dressing up at The Alpine Village at their Pa's church.

2005-- We were incredibly blessed to be able to add a beautiful Christmas princess to our family!!

2006-- First Christmas in AZ--living at my mom's house. A very sad and happy time all mixed together.


2007-- Last year, we were so glad to be able to set up our tree in our very own home again!!

It is fun reliving Christmas memories. I hope someday we can purchase a scanner. Then I will be able to go way back--much further than 2003. Oh, how I wish I could post cute baby pics of my boys at Christmas time!!

Comfort Zone Issues

Pin It Now! I have many comfort zones, but recently I have been forced to step out of one of them-- My Fry's Comfort Zone.

Fry's is my local grocery store (otherwise known as Kroger) conveniently located 2 minutes from my house. Even though it is rather new, I can navigate this enormous store like a pro, mostly due to the fact that I rarely peruse the inner isles. I spend an ample amount of time in the produce section carefully selecting a rainbow of beautifully colored fruits and veggies loaded with natural goodness. Then, I usually camp out in the healthy/organic section for a while loading up my cart. I do appreciate the modern convenience of prepackaged foods, but I want them to be as healthy as possible--no artificial colors, preservatives, additives, hydrogenated oils etc... Anyway, my point is that I am not as familiar with the rest of the store. All that has had to change as of October 29th.

Last week I had the privilege of joining the WIC club, which was a whole other Comfort Zone Issue, but anyway, I got the brilliant idea that I would take my kids to the store with me to purchase the items on my WIC voucher. While I am thankful for the extra help during this difficult time, the foods listed on the WIC voucher are government approved not ME approved. It is no secret that the government and I sing to a different tune when it comes to health. Okay so, the cereals listed on my voucher are not the ones I typically buy, in fact, I don't even go down the major cereal isle at our store--man, is it huge!! Took me a minute to even find the cereals I could purchase. In this isle, I keep telling myself that a bowl of Cornflakes is better than a bowl of nothing. And as for juice, we normally just have not-from-concentrate oj for breakfast. My kids drink water the rest of the day, but WIC says I can buy 3 containers of Juicy Juice. It's free, so it goes into the cart. Oh yeah, the kids are excited about it. I think the milk that I had to buy was by far the most difficult for me to put in the cart. My only choice, according to WIC, was 1% inorganic milk. I won't even go into my views on milk here, but I definitely don't buy 1%, and I don't buy anything but organic. Even further, I rarely even buy milk from the store at all. I buy it organic and RAW from a real dairy farm!!!!!!

After I have found all of my WIC items--it was sort of like a treasure hunt, only not as fun--I decided to cave in and buy some Kraft macaroni and cheese b/c it was on sale for $.50 a box. When your food budget has been cut by more than half, you just do what you have to do, so there I was in search of this product. I couldn't find it, and all the while my kiddos are trying to keep up, son #1 keeps accidentally bumping into son #2 who is on foot b/c his sister won't let him get into the cart shaped like a motor vehicle. Kids are fidgety, mom's about to snap, and the grocery shopping experience turns sour all b/c I wasn't able to stay in my cozy little corner of the store!!!!!!

Lessons learned: Stop breaking my vow of only shopping ALONE and starvation is just as unhealthy as eating Cornflakes and Kraft mac & cheese. Okay, okay starvation is much worse than what I just wrote.

I am determined to be thankful for the food that is in my pantry and that my kids are not going hungry even if I have very strong opinions regarding the health of that food.

Christmas Hot Cocoa

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Every December my kids look forward to this festive treat!! Really it's just hot chocolate with Christmas flair.

In December it is finally cool enough to actually enjoy a hot drink here in the desert. Notice I didn't say cold enough, though!!

Okay, so here's what I do to make it extra special during the holiday season:

• First, I just make the hot cocoa, homemade is best!
• Next, top with fluffy whipped cream.
•  Sprinkle red and green sugar crystals on top of whipped cream.
•  Last, I adorn the side of the Christmas mug with a small red and white candy cane. This not only adds a beautiful touch but a hint of minty taste as well.

 Oh, so festive and yummy!

Of course everyone has to have a Christmasy mug, and Tamra just so you know, I still use that elegant Christmas mug from Starbucks you gave me a few Christmases ago. I absolutely love it to pieces, and I use it on a regular basis in the month of December. In fact, it is sitting here on my night stand, empty of course!! Yes, I sneaked myself some Christmas cocoa during the kids' rest time!!!

Christmas cheers to everyone!
 

Works For Me Wednesday: Couscous

Pin It Now! I am always looking for new, healthy lunches to feed my kids. Taste is usually a huge priority for the kiddos, so the task can be challenging, especially since peanut butter can NEVER be on our menu!!

It is nice to have a change from Annie's macaroni and cheese, so a few months ago I decided to give Bob's Red Mill Couscous a try. Let's just say it was a hit with all 3 kids!! Gotta love that.

I found the bag of Couscous in the organic/healthy section of the grocery store. Looks sort of like yellow sand. It is loaded with protein and it is ready in a flash! All I have to do is boil 1 and 1/4 cups water, add 1 cup couscous and 2 TBS. butter, cover pan and take it off the burner, and then let it stand for 5 minutes. That's it. Well, I do like to add a little sea salt and restaurant style pepper before serving.

I have also seen a box of wheat couscous by a different brand name, but I couldn't buy it b/c of the allergy warning: made on the same equipment as peanuts. Sigh.

Couscous works for me!!!

**If anyone else out there eats couscous, let me know how you like to prepare it!

For more works for me tips, visit this blog.

December Harvest

Pin It Now! We picked our very first orange today! The citrus smell was so intense!!

Here is another one that is almost ready.

We only have about 20 oranges as this is our first year to actually have a crop. It's so fun having fruit trees--one thing I love about living here!

Works For Me Wednesday: Snapfish

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I love Snapfish, the on-line photo service, that lets you upload, store, and purchase your own snapshots without ever having to leave the house!!

Snapfish is so much more than just a place to upload and order prints, though.

I have been using Snapfish's services for many years, now. I love their prices and their service. I think $.09 for a 4x6 is a great price, especially since I don't have to go to the store and stand in any lines!! Just recently I ordered a 5x7 shot of my daughter, and the corner was a little bent. They immediately gave me a credit so I could order another one at no charge.

I do a lot of scrap booking so I am always ordering the regular 4x6 prints for personal use. And almost every year I use Snapfish to order our Christmas cards. I have also ordered photo calendars as gifts, which turned out so cute!! They offer many other personalized gifts/products as well.

I was especially thrilled when I received an email from them last month for an amazing Christmas card offer, which was--order the first 20 cards for 1 cent each!!!! This offer came at the perfect time in our lives. My husband had just lost his job and I didn't think we were going to be able to order any Christmas cards this year to send to family and friends. I usually order twice that many, but I thought 20 was better than zero! So we were able to order 20 cards for 20 cents!!! Now, the hard part will be cutting our Christmas card list in half!

If I had more time, I could go on and on about Snapfish, but if you don't have a free account already, head on over right now and check them out!!!

Many thanks to Shannon for hosting this great series!!

Thanksgiving Memories

Pin It Now! Dinner at my dad's--- The Union Center in my dad's neighborhood was pretty dark, and for some reason my flash didn't do a great job lighting up my subjects. Therefore, not many pictures turned out very well. Oh well, here's a sampling of what went on...

The place was huge, so all 10 kids had a blast running around.

The kids watched Polar Express while they ate.

More running and going berserk!

Yum, yum, the food was delicious!

Thursday dinner at my mom's--- Lincoln and I were the only ones from our family who could attend. Shiloh came home with a fever Wednesday night, and Mullin woke up in the middle of the night feeling terrible. Pretty sure he had strep. Shiloh never complained of a sore throat, thank goodness!
Anyway, poor Mark stayed home, but I am sure the Cowboys kept him company. (I promise I won't go off on a tangent about how I HATE sports on holidays!)

My brother and his adorable twins.

Sis helping mom put the finishing touches on the meal!!

The kids love Grandma and Grandpa's playroom.

Uncle Matthew brought presents for all the kids-- he gave Easton a Cowboys dinosaur that could sing and dance. Poor Kenny was terrified of it!!

At least Easton liked it!!

Holiday Weekend Shopping Experience

Pin It Now! Had my bank account been full, I still wouldn't have braved the 5 am crowds (mobs) for the sake of a "good" deal on Black Friday. It would probably be safer for me to stroll the streets of south Phoenix in the middle of the night than to fight my way through that sea of selfish, childish creatures who call themselves civilized adults. I mean, how can people stuff their faces 'til their bellies are full, give thanks for all their blessings then get up the next day and stampede another human being to death all because of a SALE!! That's just crazy. And very, very sad.

Okay, okay, I know not everyone who shops the day after Thanksgiving falls into that category. Even I have done it once, and it's actually a nice memory. It was way back in November of '98. Mark went camping, I think, and since I do not do that sort of thing I stayed home. He was so sweet and gave me a certain amount of money to go shopping for "themed" Christmas tree decorations. So yes, the day after Thanksgiving I went to Hobby Lobby and filled a cart to the brim with beautiful gold and garnet ornaments and such. The really exciting part is that everything I bought was 50% off! And I can honestly say, I didn't knock down any old ladies or crafty moms to get what I wanted.

This year I had the pleasant experience of accompanying my mom on Saturday while she shopped for Christmas presents. One of the reasons I do love living in the hotter than hot desert is because of all the time I get to spend with my mom. We always have a great time together. She even bought me a Green Tea Frappuchino for which I was ever so thankful. I think I was beginning to have GTF withdrawal. It was a little difficult for me when we went to Target and ended up in the candy isle, but I am proud of myself for resisting all of those tantalizing, Christmas colored treats that I really can't afford.

Oh my goodness, there are these limited edition Christmasy flavored Junior Mints that were calling my name, and I hope no one noticed me foaming at the mouth over the red and white striped bags of Ghirardelli chocolate peppermint bark! I am a little kid in a candy store when it comes to beautifully wrapped chocolate, and the wrappers in shiny reds, greens and golds were almost too much to bear. I usually love to have Christmas candy on display (and some hidden away), but this year that just isn't going to happen. Not that I need it anyway.

The real test will be in just a few minutes. I have to go to Fry's to do some regular food shopping to get us by for the rest of this week, and I just don't know if I will be able to resist 2 days in a row. Not when I have been thinking about it all night and all morning! I know what will happen at the store. I will justify the bag of M&Ms or whatever by telling myself I just won't eat real food for lunch or something.... Anyway, we shall see.

Works for Me Wednesday--Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

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I love plain old, homemade pumpkin pie, but one year for Thanksgiving, I decided to whip up something a little different. It's been requested ever since!




Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

* 1 6 oz. graham cracker crust

* 4 oz. of cream cheese, softened

* 1 TBSP milk

* 1 TBSP sugar

* 1 1/2 cups thawed cool whip

* 1 cup cold milk

* 2 small packages instant vanilla pudding

* 1 16 oz. can pumpkin

* 1 tsp. cinnamon

* 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

* 1 tsp. ground cloves


** Beat cream cheese, milk, and sugar with wire whisk until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cool whip. Spread on crust.

Beat remaining ingredients with wire whisk. Mix well--mixture will be thick. Spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with extra cool whip if desired.


Click on over to Rocks in my Dryer for more great tips!

Happy Thanksgiving!