Our Week

John has been off of work this whole week which has been very nice for this busy week of birthday, anniversary and Thanksgiving. For John's birthday, Monday, we took the kids to see Bolt and to lunch at Red Robin for lunch. I can highly recommend Bolt. It is a cute movie (not in 3D like advertised which was disappointing, I guess in some theaters but not ours), I didn't notice the Lord's name taken in vain, any swearing or partial swearing which has become so popular, no suggestive comments. I might have missed something along the way but I was all around very pleased with this movie.

Tuesday was our anniversary, 13 years. I'm not sure when we passed the "lets go somewhere by ourselves" anniversary but this year we took the kids to OMSI. Not the typical anniversary date but it was still really nice because we spent the day together as a family. Not much to say about the day except that it was fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Emma's favorite part was the spelling bee and building the bridge. I don't remember Riah's favorite part but I know she enjoyed the swings and building the bridge with Daddy.

Emma is playing the spelling bee game


The girls were just building some random shapes out of tetris type pieces


They both love snakes so this was a highlight


They had a whole huge room dedicated to the babies, I took Sarah there for a while to let her play

Emma is trying to figure out how to make a building to withstand an earthquake


Wednesday was busy for myself but everyone else just seemed to have a quite day at home. I spent the day getting ready for the big day, Thanksgiving. I started all the cooking and got out all the china and crystal, set the table, etc. I cooked everything on Wednesday, except the turkey. It made Thursday so much more enjoyable and I could focus on making the house look nice on Thursday.

Thursday was of course Thanksgiving. It was a nice day, lots of family and friends came over. The food was great and it was actually somewhat hot this time (I put it all in the oven for about 1/2 hour right before we ate). I was able to start our tradition of the tablecloth this year. I also started a new tradition, we are writing down what we are thankful for on 3x5 cards and saving them through the years.

Friday was the day that I wait for all year, BLACK FRIDAY. I know it's a nightmare for some but a fun experience for others. I am part of the others. I love this day, it's so much fun to get out there and see what kind of deals and treasures you can find for such a good price. This year I stayed out all day, started at 4AM and didn't get home until 6PM. I came home for an hour in the middle to take a shower (just felt to gross to go to Salem). It was a good day spent with my mom.

Saturday was Civil War................................ Well what can I say, the day started out just getting the house ready for company and preparing more food (well not much preparing, just thinking about what we were going to have, sandwiches, easy!). The day ended in dissappointment. Our Beavs were supposed to win this game and then be headed to the Rose Bowl but no, their defense just stayed home and lost the game. To be completely fair, Oregon just played a really good game, they looked like a ranked team this year, we did not but the officials didn't help either. So it was disspointing to us but it's not everything. Now we just have to cheer for UCLA this week to beat USC and then we can still have a Rose Bowl dream. We'll see what happens next Saturday.

And now we are at Sunday. Today we did nothing, finally! We stayed home from church, had home church instead, I played games with the girls and did a few dishes but the laundry.......well it's still sitting here and I'm not doing it today!!!!! John is taking tomorrow and Tuesday off too so I'm not sure when we'll get back to school. I'm thinking we might just start again tomorrow but on modified easy school schedule. I really hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week and we can all remember all year long what we have to be thankful for.

Busy Busy Dreadfully Busy (VeggieTales)

Sorry Peeps, no, I'm not ignoring my blog! We have been busy busy busy around here with John's birthday, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, black friday and Civil War, and all the kids are sick to boot. Wow, that's alot to do in 5 days, no wonder I haven't blogged. In a few days, after I catch my breath, I will update everything that we have done in the last week. Right now, I feel like I'm going to collapse from exhaustion. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Just a glimpse of what we've been doing.

UPDATE TO SISTERS

UPDATE AT THE END

It has always been my prayer that my kids would be best friends. I would imagine that one day they would live near each other and get together all the time because they are best friends, their kids would all love being together and holidays would always be spent together. Well today.......I saw a glimpse of what I have always prayed for.

Our friends the Reeves' are coming over today. Emma & Nickelle have always been buds and, of course like every other family of siblings, they want to play together and not include the other siblings. Well as Emma & Riah were sitting down for breakfast this morning, Emma said "When I play with Nickelle, I don't care if Riah plays with us now because I love Riah." and gave her a big hug. Melt my heart!!!! My prayers are being answered.

Now I know that I have to be realistic and Emma will probably have a change of heart in about uh,........ 2 minutes but I know that the closeness is there. Got any tips seasonsed parents????

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UPDATE:

I am updating my post today to add a little something from MckMama at My Charming Kids. She is giving away some fun photography and blogging freebies. Her give aways are all things I have been wanting to add to my camera inventory and blog. Jump on over to her site, she has an amazing story about her son Stellan and she is an incredible photographer (you know that gets me anyday). Her contest is Small Fryday Contest, yes, spelled incorrectly on purpose. All her kids nicknames are plays off of that McChain we all know and love to hate. Anyways, jump on over, you won't be sorry.

Handipoints

I wanted to post today about a daily tool we use around here. It's called Handipoints chore charts. I have always looked for different tools to use for keeping track of chores. We seem to be in a pretty good routine of when they get done (after lunch, before quiet time) but I always have tried so many different things of how to keep track of who is doing what and always keeping it fair. The other thing to keep track of is rewards. I don't want my kids to get money or rewards just for the sake of having an allowance. So I found this site online, it's called Handipoints. It's 100% free (well except the rewards you choose which I'll get to in a minute) and it's very user friendly. My kids think it's a pretty neat thing since it's on the computer and it's esthetically pleasing. You can put on your child's "ToDo" list anything and I mean anything..... They have the simplest things on there, for instance, wear socks. I think those easy ones are really good for those problem areas within our lives. You can make items a one time chore or an everyday chore or any combination in between. As your kids do their chores they earn points. The cool thing is that it keeps track of their points and keeps track of how close they are to earning your desired reward. Emma just earned her first American Girl book and Riah earned having a friend over.

I would highly recommend this chore program. It is so friendly to use and the kids really enjoy using it, (they do all the tracking, I check it but they go to everyday on their own). Oh and I didn't mention about Handiland. They also earn points to use in Handiland to dress up their "kitty" and decorate their home. Just a fun added bonus that again, doesn't cost anything.

Sometimes we play silly games while we do chores. Here is Emma pretending to be a snake while putting her sister's clothes away.
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I wasn't paid for this referral, I just genuinely really like this website.

The Star of Bethlehem

My Man!

I have to tell you about my man. He is awesome! His name is honey, daddy, baldy....or whatever else we feel like calling him for the day. Our 13th anniversary and his 39th birthday are both coming up soon and it makes me think of him more and what I can do to bless him.

I love it when.....

he is fresh out of the shower with a freshly shaved head and face
he comes up behind me and hugs me
I hear him singing with the kids
he is quite about something that maybe I should have done differently
he snuggles up to me just before bed
he shows his integrity of being an honest man
he is slow to speak and slow to get angry
he does his big surprises (i.e. Mother's day)
he holds my hand
he says "I love you more!"
he reads his Bible
he serves
we pray together
he puts my rest time as a priority
he mops the floor when I never expected it
unloads the dishwasher while I'm still sleeping
he writes notes to me on our bathroom mirror
(did you know dry erase marker comes off glass)
he tries to put us first before work
he has a strong opinion about something
he spends time just playing with the kids
he gives me the freedom that I need
he blogs
he reads my blog
he takes the kids out to give me some much needed rest
(there are others but it wouldn't be appropriate to share them ;) )

John is one of the gentlest people I know. He doesn't let his emotions take him too far and watches what he says to me. He is wise and would never say anything on purpose to hurt me. He loves his children so much and loves to take them to the store or work with him. He takes every opportunity he can to involve his kids in anything he does. He really is a great man and I can't wait to spend 50 more years with him!

Here they are!

I am so excited. I had such a good time today taking photos of the Reeves' today at Bryant Park. I have been doing all kinds of editing. Tell me what you think and what I should do differently for next time. I want to do this more often. Let me know if you want someone to experiment on your family.
So without further ado...........................

Look at those eyes!