Christmas Preview

I've been busy with my Christmas projects, advent projects, etc...

Here's a peek:
It is not easy to get both of your children to smile at the same time- especially when one is 4months old, and the other is rather obstinate :)

Oh, and aren't these adorable shoes? $1, yes just $1. If anyone needs a personal shopper, I'll send you my portfolio :)

Announcement and Thanksgiving Weekend in Pictures

For those of you who haven't heard, we are having another baby! He/she/they are due around the end of June/ first of July. We are very excited!

This is pretty much why it has been a while since I updated our blog. Usually, when Luke naps, I have a little time to do things. Usually, after he goes to sleep for the evening, I also have some time. Right now, most of my extra time is going to sleeping or just laying down. Morning sickness hit with a vengeance at week 6, but has been improving a little each week since then.

I am very grateful that this time I am at home. With Luke I was working 10-12 hour days for much of the pregnancy. Now, I get to control my day a bit more.

So, now onto Thanksgiving. We went to Nathan's sister's house and had a few other families Join us for a lovely meal. The turkey was smoked again this year and was quite tasty:


I brought this (the toasted almond, cranberry, citrus spinach salad and the fall M&M's):

And this:

Nothing that required too much cooking this year. :) Finally, my rolls turned out well. I nixed the use of whole wheat this year. No more dense rolls. My favorite was definitely the mashed potatoes. They were fluffy and buttery.

The kids all enjoyed playing with one another inside and outside and all around. Luke definitely loved spending soo much time with his cousin! This year, Luke was able to say Happy Thanksgiving in a way that we could understand.

On Friday, Bethany and I took baby Jane shopping (briefly and later in the day), while Nathan and Evan took the older kids to lunch and to play in the back yard. We all had a great time and pretty much finished up Christmas shopping.

Last night, Nathan, Luke and I all helped putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it. I wanted to wait a while, because we are really in the Advent season, but since we are leaving for CA in less than 2 weeks, I thought it would be ok this year. We do have our advent wreath out too. We turned on some beautiful Christmas music and got to work. Luke ran around saying "Christmas tree! Christmas tree!" and tried to pull all of the bells off of the tree. I was afraid that he was going to pull the tree down on himself- he doesn't know his own strength!

Luke has also been saying "Baby Jesus is born!" It is really a gift to watch him this year. He doesn't know anything about all the presents and hype of the Christmas season yet. he loves the simple things, the manger, the tree with lights, listening to Christmas songs with mommy and daddy. I want to preserve this as much as we can. Being a grown-up, I know how hard it is to keep the real meaning of Christmas alive when the world at large pushes glitz and gifts.

An add for a local store came in this week with an ad that said, "Bring the Joy home!" How about that? For just $19.99 plus tax you can bring joy to your own house. Not that giving gifts is bad. Really, it is one way that I can tell people that I love then the best. But the love that comes with the gift is the real gift, just as God's great gift to us was given in love.

Enough of my soap box. As I end this post, I will give you a glimpse of this year's photo Christmas card. This was one of the photos in the running, and is not cropped (note the boxes on the shelf in the background):

Spring Pictures and Red Hot Deals

Since it has been awhile, I have a lot of pictures to help everyone catch up. First, we had a lovely Pascha. Here is my first attempt at a Pascha basket:There is the traditional sweet bread, cheese, butter and red (ish) eggs. I threw in some yummy chocolates just for fun.

We just spent the past two weeks with Grammy and Papa Jones; this week, we are lucky to have my dad with us. Luke is LOVING all the attention and I am beginning to fret what he will be like when the parade of grandmas and grandpas comes to an end Tuesday.

Houston has never been more beautiful and we have certainly enjoyed our share of the outdoors. Luke frequently begs to go "ou'side!" When the weather heats up and the mosquitos become too thick, I am going to have to get creative to help him get that precious outside time.

My favorite outing, which we have made twice in two weeks, has been a trip to Hermann Park. It is a great big park (acres and acres) in the center of town. (Oh LA, you wish your downtown had a nice, friendly park like this one. You are mostly stinky and congested.)

Here is Grammy with the kiddos- they loved to stick together:

Hermann park is the perfect place for Luke because it has all of his favorite things- water features (he still shouts "Juice!" at any sight of a liquid substance), birds ("tweeeet, tweeets), turtles, koi fish, boats, planes flying overhead, and best of all....... a train that runs around the whole park. Luke got red in the face several times as he used all of his breath to shout, "Chooooo chooooo!" every time the train went by. We also rode the glorious "Chooooo chooooo!" and very much enjoyed the ride.

Grammy and Papa with Luke watching the train:

The park also has some Japanese Gardens. Here are Clara and Luke in the flowers:
Wendesday of last week, we had a baby shower for Bethany and new baby Getz. With help from Nathan's mom and a friend, here is the table that we created:
These past few days have been filled with lots of deal seeking and finding. Now I am trying to sort through it all. My best deal was a heap full of designer clothes (some new with the tags on!) for $15. Seriously, I just got a new wardrobe filled with Banana Republic, Gap, etc..., clothes for family and friends, and plenty of items to fuel my eBay sales for the next few months.

Housekeeping and Diapers

Well, the cleaning has been going well... though not according to the Simple Mom schedule. I decided to tackle the kitchen first- mainly because that was where Luke wanted to be. I let him play with some measuring spoons and a tiny bit of water in the sink. It kept him busy for a WHOLE HOUR! In that time, I was able to organize the countertops, clean the counters and the sink with bleach, clean my stovetop and oven front, and wipe down the fronts of most of my cabinets (eww-there were still some stains from the previous owners!) At nap time, I sweeped and mopped the floors. Whew! I felt SO accomplished- like a cleaning high!

Today was a busier day due to more errands and library hour, but I still manage to get a few things done. Tomorrow the living room and dining room are going down!

Also, for all of those moms who need diapers, check this out! I got $50 of diapers for $25 and had it delivered to my home for free in 2 days!!!

A Family Car

Well, off and on for the past few years (yes, years), we have been trying to sell our truck and buy a second sedan. Various things happened along the way. Some of you might remember that we bought a very used BMW, but that did not truly fit the bill. The truck never sold because the gas prices kept rising and people did not want a truck that got 18-20 mpg. They offered us really low (really low!), and we decided against selling it. Also we were both so busy with work, that we just decided it wasn't worth the hassle of selling.

Later, after having Luke and discovering that his car seat barely fits in my car, we thought of buying something from a dealer and just trading the truck in. When we saw new car prices, we thought the better of this idea, and resolved to just keep the truck and the carolla.

So now to today, or rather, Monday. I saw an ad for a 2002 Toyota Avalon XLS at a very reasonable price. We drove out and test drove it, and loved it. It is the top of the line for the Toyota brand- complete with leather seats, power everything, a back seat that could fit 3 adults or three car seats, 20-27 mpg, and a trunk that you could fit a small family (or Luke's large stroller) in. It has also been impecably maintained.

So, we bought it, and are picking it up tomorrow night. Here are the pictures:

Also, if anyone is interested in a well-maintained 2004 Ford Ranger Edge with a cap on the truck bed and only 40K miles, let me know. We are willing to deal!

Frugal Friday Find- Azure Farms

I thought it might be fun to write about some of the deals that I have found.

Today's find is Azure Farms. They are an Oregon based company that sells all sorts of grocery items (fresh, frozen, non-perishable) grown on their own farm and items from natural food companies. They carry Pacific Foods, Garden of Eatin', Amy's, Barbara's, and other organic food companies for very reasonable prices.There is a catalog online, or you can request a free one in print. You order the items online or by mail, and then they are shipped down (for free) to a local designated drop point. I drove to Irvine to pick up my order. Their web address is www.azurestandard.com. To see the pricing, you have to give them an email address and sign in.

Some examples of deals I got this month:
Jonagold Apples- $.50 a lb
Organic onions- $.50 a lb
Blackberries 10lbs for $14
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup (32oz) for $2.25
Garden of Eatin' Organic Whole Wheat Tortilla's $1.10 for 10

Really, there are some amazing deals on high quality food. Right now, I am smelling a whole wheat bread loaf in the bread machine with the mix from their website.

Thanks to Bethany Jean and Kathy for alerting me to this great company.