Out With the Old & In With Some New.....

We have been busy replacing things the last few months. Some of our stuff is wearing out and others we just felt the need to go on to newer things. One of the biggest changes has been to take John out of bunkbeds and put him in an "official big boy bed"! It's a full size. He got so stinkin tall that he couldn't stretch out in the bunkbeds anymore. Dad made the headboard and side rails. We want to build drawers to go under it so John can hide his stuff better but that is a project for another time. He is loving the extra room. I still have some things to do in his room like paint his nightstand and do a little rearranging and rehang some things on his wall but for now he's pretty content with his big boy bed!

$20 worth of Treasures!

Look what you can buy at Cracker Barrel on a Saturday morning for $20!! Dad and I went to Easton's favorite place for breakfast this morning--I've been craving those luscious pancakes ever since Easton shared one with me in Georgia at Christmas. Anyway, after breakfast I looked around the store for a minute and found all this stuff in the Clearance Bin! It was all discounted at 80%!! You know that I just LOVE a good deal and this definetely falls into that category. I was soooooooo excited -- until Dad said, "You don't even put up a Christmas tree. What do you need all this for?" Silly man! I might just put one up this next Christmas so I can use my cute new decorations. He stole my thunder so thought I would show you girls what treasures I found. I know you all will appreciate my find!! Here are the details of my purchase so you can know what a REALLY great buy this was: 1 felt tree topper, 2 felt "JOY" ornaments, 4 felt snowflake ornaments, 10 crocheted balls, 8 wooden ornaments (4 red and 4 green). The most expensive item was $2.60 and the least expensive was $0.60!!! Can you believe it?! And yes, I bought ALL they had in this line of ornaments. I'm not stupid!

Yummy Munchies

This is the BEST snack I have had in awhile. It seriously is a slice of heaven with the sweet of the chocolate, the crunch of the popcorn and corn chips and the cereal, and then the salt from the popcorn and the corn chips. Try it and see if you agree! It's our new favorite snack! Here's the recipe: 1 bag microwave popcorn, popped; 4 cups Corn Pops Cereal; 4 cups Fritos corn chips; 1 bag white chocolate chips. Remove the unpopped kernels from the popcorn. Stir together popcorn, Corn Pops, and Fritos in a large bowl. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave at half power. Stir it every 30-45 seconds to make sure it doesn't burn. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn mixture and stir to to coat. Let sit for a few minutes till the chocolate hardens. That's it!

Remodel Project--Georgia Style

While we were in Georgia, Amber had Dad remodel the kids bathroom tub surrround. It was a VERY messy project. It started with demolition, mess, dust, and several days without the shower. There ended up being a layer of white dust (from the sheetrock and old tile) EVERYWHERE in the house. On walls, floors, furniture, countertops, ceiling fans,........ He even recruited some Really unusual helpers! It was a messy project but a nice one when it was all said and done. Amber was left to repaint around the new tub surround! We love her--just not enough to do the painting for her!!! Ummm, hello!, we haven't finished MY painting projects -- which consists of most of my ENTIRE house! Sorry Amber. It does look nice, don't ya think?

Arrrrrgh! Ahoy Ye Mateys!

While in Georgia we went to dinner at the "Pirates House". What a fun place this was. It was a real historic place from the 1750's. No joke. The inside was really awesome with original ceiling beams and doorways. It reminded me of the belly of a ship with all the wood and the furnishings. They even had the most awesome old stove that I am still swooning over! I'd love to have one in my kitchen. When they took us to our table, they had lil' hats and all the trimmings for the kiddos to wear. Notice that even the biggest kiddos got in on the goods! They also had a male and a female pirate that wandered around during dinner. They kept harassing the kids. Paisley was not amused! She would rather be surrounded by a princess or two (who can blame the girl?!) but this was truly a piece of heaven for Easton and John. The pirates did magic tricks for us and gave the kids some gold coins (not the chocolate kind!). After a VERY delicious dinner, we went on a tour of the house guided by the female pirate. She did a really good job--although the kids didn't get most of her jokes--I thought she was hysterical. It was a really fun night. Glad they didn't hoodwink us to the kitchen for cleanup or make us mop the deck and most definetely glad we didn't have to walk the plank! If you're ever in Savannah, the Pirates House is a MUST see place to eat some REALLY great food and entertain the kiddos for a couple of hours. Just ask Easton and John--and try to hire a sitter for Paisley!

Santa Needed a Helper

Shortly (like several hours!) after arriving in Georgia, Amber told Dad that Santa needed some help delivering some Christmas gifts to a multi-generational family in their area. She asked if he was up to the task and he said he was. She took us to a friends house that had all the gifts wrapped and ready to go in cute large bags that had been decorated. This friend, Valerie, also had a spare Santa suit that Dad proceeded to put on. He had lots of help! There were no Santa black boots so Terry improvised with what he had--brown cowboy boots! We then drove over to where these people lived and waited in cars while Terry went with the bags (yes, there were several very large bags) and proceeded to knock and do his "HoHoHo"s. He was admitted in by a man that answered the door and I have to tell ya that I panicked just a little! This was not a family or an area known to us! Try that on and see if your reaction is just a little like mine. Anyway, I was in the car with Easton and Paisley and they had lots of questions about the events of the evening. It was fun teaching them about loving others and giving to those that aren't as fortunate as we are. I love the holidays for this reason. Mankind is always at its finest during this time of year. We put our needs and wants away and think of others and find ways to serve more humbly and lots more diligently. I'm grateful that Amber and her friends were inspired to serve this family and also grateful that we got to participate in the joy of the season in a small but satisfying way. After Christmas, we actually got to see the family and see them wearing and enjoying some of the gifts that had been given to them. It didn't take the man who had answered the door very long to fill in the blanks on who had played Santa that night but he had to ask LOTS of people and shake TONS of hands until he introduced himself to Terry....the rest just fell into place in this mans mind and he just kept shaking Terry's hand and thanking him for the gifts of Christmas for his family. True humility at it's best!

Dad's Christmas Present

For Christmas this year I decided to honor Dad's 20 years in the Air Force with a shadow box of the medals that he earned while serving on active duty. My motives were twofold: one, to honor his accomplishments and two, to get the large (but VERY nice) shadowbox that was given to him at his retirement ceremony OUT of the bedroom and above his desk. In the process I learned how very little I knew about military medals and how wonderfully impressive his accomplishments truly are. I spent many hours fussing over how to place things in the shadowbox and made numerous trips to the military clothing sales store (where you go to purchase medals and devices and all things foreign to retired military spouses!) to glean some new info or have old info repeated back to me so I could run home and once again get the medals in their correct order of importance and get the medal devices correct with the right colors. I also went into this thinking that it would take a small amount of time to put it all together and not a significant amount of money to finish it. Neither proved to be true but I REALLY enjoyed this project as it helped me to recall many opportunities, experiences, places, and people that were apart of our military lives. It was a difficult 20 years of sacrifice but it was well worth the rewards and blessings that were piled upon us. I loved learning more about the medals and awards that were presented to him along his military path. I always knew he was an outstanding guy and above average in the things that he did and does today but....Wow! this man ROCKS!! Give him an "atta boy" for all that he accomplished in his 20 years--he certainly deserves at least a billion. Can I hear a "Whoop! Whoop!" Way to go, hon.