Teacher gift ideas

For all of you out there who will be shopping for teachers this Christmas, Money-Saving Mom has a great forum of inexpensive gift ideas submitted by her readers, many of them teachers.  Check it out:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/11/ask-the-readers-unique-and-inexpensive-teacher-gifts.html

Christmas Fever

It's official.  I've caught it.  It happened sometime this weekend with Daddy taking Friday off and getting to spend lots of good family time together, going to the mall with the kids, and listening to Christmas music on the way home.  So earlier I loaded the kids in the car, and we drove around looking for Christmas lights.  Mind you, the sun had barely set, but we set out in search of them anyway.  By the time we made it home, it was nice and dark, and the kids were almost hoarse from screaming.  It's hilarious how even a rinky-dink light setup at the entrance to a neighborhood gives them such joy.  Emerson spots a house all lit up and yells, "Yook, Baby Jax!  Yook at the yights over dare!"

I love the magic this time of year brings.  I love experiencing it with a pre-schooler and a toddler.  I love the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time station in the car.  I love finishing my Christmas shopping early (only a few more gifts to go!) and counting down the days.  I also love finishing my Christmas photo card order before December (yes, I did) and getting 75 cards for $35 (oh yes, I did).  I love one or two decaf peppermint mochas from Starbucks.  I have yet to partake in that deliciousness as of yet, but I can hear one calling my name.  I love decorating for Christmas, although this year will be a non-decorating kind of year, as I'll be packing boxes for the move.  Uncle Trav is letting us borrow a little bitty Christmas tree for the kids to enjoy, so that's gonne be the extent of our decor.  Well, that and the new Uppercase Living nativity scene I bought last month.  Can't wait to get it out and put it on the wall for the kids to play with.  I'll take a picture of it when I do. 

Happy almost December!  Now we just need a little snow!

Thankful

I am thankful... (click on 'captions' to find out)

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Em's Christmas Dance Performance

Last Friday night Emerson's dance studio put on their annual Christmas Extravaganza at the Riverwalk, and can I just say that Sister Sue was a little bit excited?!  First of all, I promised I would put a little makeup on her, but I made the mistake of telling her about it too early.  For about a week, daily she would ask, "Mommy, do I get to wear a yiddle makeup today?" 

It was a chilly night, but she warmed right up onstage.  The first thing she did after her teacher put her in her place was scream.  Not from fear or fright, just pure elation and joy from being on stage and having an audience at her disposal.  Here are a few pictures and a video that Daddy took.  The crying child in the background is none other than Jax who cried the minute I got out of the car with Emerson and cried again the minute I walked with her to the stage.  I promise I'm not trying to make him a Momma's boy.  He just loves me a lot.

Car Wreck & House Pics

So I was leaving my monthly check-up with my midwife on Tuesday and heading to the inspections on the new house.  A car two cars in front of me was stopped to make a left-hand turn, so there was a line of about 6 cars total (4 behind me) stopped.  All of sudden, I hear screeching brakes, then BAM...BAM...BAM (each successive BAM getting closer to me, and I'm thinking, OH CRAP).  My car gets hit from behind and knocks me forward just a few feet.  Luckily the guy turning left had already gone, so the car directly in front of me had started accelerating, and I didn't hit it.  I got out to survey the damage and was shocked to see the car who caused the accident was in the ditch.  A witness who stopped to help said the female teenage driver was going too fast to stop in time, slammed into the car in front of her, bounced off that car, and catapulted into the ditch.  Thank the good Lord no one was injured.  The EMTs and firefighters on the scene were concerned because I was pregnant, but I wasn't hit hard enough to cause any problems.  And my vehicle suffered only a dent in the back door and scratches on the bumper.  More than anything I was annoyed to be late to the inspections. 

Everything was good with the house... some repairs need to happen, but nothing major structurally.  Here are a few pictures... we're planning on having the hardwoods redone in a darker stain and extending them into the office and dining room, painting and probably texturing the walls, painting the kitchen cabinets (redoing the whole kitchen at some point) and having all of the built-ins painted and stained.  A lot to be done before we move in! 

Front of the house

Our house in BA had a Japanese maple and I miss it... so glad to have one again!

Entryway view... at some point we'll be updating the staircase railing. 

Looking back toward the front door.  Don't you LOVE the light fixture?!  You may come get it if so.  :)   

 

Formal dining

Office (fireplace will be redone)

Downstairs family room

Backyard

The bedrooms are enormous... this will eventually be the girls' room (just Emerson's for now)

Upstairs game room (built-ins to be repainted and glazed)

Play area outside gameroom (taking out the desk and utilizing the built-ins for toy storage... I'm getting some fun ideas for what to do in this space but very afraid that I won't be able to make it actually happen).  

 

My least favorite thing in the house... the kitchen.  I don't think even a pretty cream, glazed cabinet is going to make me like it.  I'm gonna have to really practice self-control and patience in this room because we aren't planning the reno anytime soon. 

So that's our new nest... we're looking at moving after the first of the year at this point.  I'm starting to get both excited and overwhelmed and already starting to pray that all of this doesn't send me into early labor. 

Closet Talk

A few days ago, I walked into my closet to find Jax playing in my shoes.  I caught him off guard and said, "Jax?"

"Yeth, Mommy?"

"How are ya, big boy?"

"Awe-thum." 

Funny stuff.

Tomorrow is inspection on the new house... keeping my fingers crossed that we have no major issues to deal with.  It's only a 10-yr-old home, but you never know.  Daddy told Emerson the Princess that we just bought a new castle, so she's been super excited and has already requested that we paint it pink.  I can't wait to show it to her for the first time. 

Here are pictures of Miss Sadie, our friends Rabu & Kyna's newest addition we met at the hospital on Thursday.  She is such a doll and joins two older sisters, Lexi and Paisley. 

Rain & Rocks

It's been raining most of the day today.  And I've been very happy.  I don't know that I can explain it adequately, but there's something about a steady rain that makes me joyous.  Today I cleaned up the house quickly as soon as I woke up (only because an agent from the property leasing company we are going to use to find renters for this house was on his way over), so the rest of the day I enjoyed a picked-up, cozy house.  That combined with a rainy day is just about as perfect a setting as I can imagine.  Emerson was also at preschool, so the noise level was reduced significantly.  Just Jax and Mommy at home, watching the rain fall outside. 

On the way home from picking Em up from preschool, I found myself looking for ditches on the side of the road.  Why, you ask?  Well, when I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do on a rainy day was put my rain gear on, have my sister do the same, and we would walk down the dirt road by our house.  Along the way we would carefully watch the ditches and clear away any large rocks that were impeding the flow of the water.  Looking back on it, I think it was all my strange idea and she just went along with it.  There was something cleansing and right to me about moving the rocks to make a better path.  I think I was as natural-born cleaner even back then.  I'm sure there's something much deeper and spiritually representative I should be taking from this memory, but to me on the drive home, I just enjoyed remembering the rainy days from my childhood and moving the rocks with my sister. 

Jax the talker

Jax is 19 months now and has developed quite a little vocabulary.  Nowhere near what Emerson had at this age, but everyone is saying it's early for a boy.  For instance, this morning Emerson got out of bed an hour early again... dang you, Daylight Savings Time... she got in bed with us, and we listened to Jax in the monitor.  The following came out of his mouth in one fell swoop:  "Momma??? Da-Da??? Sissy?  Football?  Bah-ket-ball?  Bat?  Baseball?  Ehh-pain (airplane)? Ooooooh.... U!"  He then proceeded to count to 10 in his funny little way.  It was as if he was pulling out all the stops to get someone, anyone, to come get him out of his crib. 

Thankfully he's picking up on his manners, saying 'peeth' and 'gink-you' along with 'aow-bee' when I make him repeat 'obey.'  His two-word combos are slowly making their way out, my favorite being 'gink-you, Momma' when I hand him something important like his sippy cup.  Alas, the 'NO!' while shaking his head violently side to side is also here to stay, I'm afraid.  I'm holding out hope that Hayden won't be strong-willed because frankly I'm exhausted trying to 'gently bend and mold' the wills of my first two.  Okay, some days it's closer to 'breaking and overpowering,' but I'm trying to find balance between the two.  I just refuse to let them win a battle.  And that's hard work.  Especially when all I feel like doing nowadays is finding the nearest bed or couch, taking the pressure off my sciatic nerve, and closing my eyes for just a little snooze.  Never seems to happen! 

On another note, our friends Lauren and Mark in California had their 2nd baby, a little boy named Judah Ryan.  He's just about the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on.  Now they just need to move their butts back to Oklahoma so our kids can play together.  Here's the handsome little guy:

Big News

So we bought a house today. 

We looked at four last Tuesday night with our friend and realtor Deana, and the last one we saw was the one we wanted.  To our advantage it was bank-owned, so our low offer didn't offend some sweet little couple!  After only a couple of counter offers, they accepted our final offer today!  I'm still kind of reeling and trying to process everything.  We have inspections to fall into place, of course, so I'm cautiously optimistic.  Looks like if all goes well we'll be moving right after Christmas.  Maybe my large pregnant belly will get me out of packing boxes.  Hardy-har. 

Beautiful Turnbulls!

I just have to share these pictures.  My brother & sis-in-law, Jace & Liz, and their kiddos Parker, Addison & Vance, just had a fantastic photo shoot done.  Makes me miss them so stinkin' much I can't stand it.

Videos

This first video is about a month old, and it's crazy how much Jax has changed.  He loves hiding in Daddy's shirts. 



Emerson playing her harmonica we brought back from Branson, also about a month ago.  Love her wild post-nap hair. 



Also, you've gotta read BooMama's post today... so good.  http://boomama.net/2010/11/02/let-sleeping-southern-belles-lie/

Fun Christmas download

The Money-Saving Queen has a link on her blog today for a free Veggie Tales Christmas CD download through Amazon. Here it is:

http://www.moneysavingqueen.com/2010/11/free-veggietales-download-on-amazon-com.html


I just saved it to a CD and am looking forward to rockin' out in the car with the kids. After Thanksgiving, of course. I'm not THAT eager for Christmas music.

Had lunch today with my dear friend Kyna who is having her 3rd baby and girl next Tuesday. We've been pregnant with all 3 of our babies together, and I cannot WAIT to meet this new one next week. Lexi and Paisley are two of the cutest girls on the planet, and I have no doubt baby sister will fit right in.