A Gift To Myself

After Church the Sunday before Christmas I had to pick up a few things.  The kids were on their way to napping so my  husband dropped me off at the mall doors and I ran in for what I needed. 

One of them was coffee.
There is a Starbucks in this mall.

Oh yes I did.....

$15.00 later I did feel slightly guilty that I purchased such expensive coffee right before Christmas. But then I got it home and made a pot.  I cannot tell you how wonderful this coffee tastes.  I do not frequent Starbucks very often, I usually support the local coffee houses in town especially the one with the drive thru window.  But I think I'm hooked.  Next time I going to try the Italian Roast, heard it is a yummy dark roast/espresso tasting blend too.

So in the end I felt less guilty because it's my birthday in a couple weeks.  Might as well get myself something I like...teehee.

Wordless Wednesday

{Yes I did forget to get my Halloween Decoration out of the pot and it is now frozen.  It gives people something to talk about!}

For more Wordless Wednesday Particpants visit 5 minutes for Mom or

my friend over at Crazyland {and this week I hope she puts up a WW}

Tackle It Tuesday

Where shall I begin?

I purposefully did not post any Tackle It Tuesday's before Christmas because we are busy enough and I did not want extra stuff to do.

Okay I was just being lazy.

But now Christmas is over and I have the itch to start organizing and with that comes LOADS of paper to toss.

I worked for an hour or so the other morning (when I woke up at 4 am) and got this done.

Though there are no before pictures but let me assure you that I had no idea how much countertop was acutally there until now.  The funny thing was it was all paper, catalogs and magazines.  If I can keep up with throwing those things away when they need to be tossed this area in my kitchen should stay clean.

Anyone know  a pretty way to file?  I was thinking a nice wicker basket, cloth lined and some file folders that were not just your basic colors...or I could cover then in scrapbook paper.  If any of you have ideas please let me know.

After another cup of coffee and three out of four children rising I tackled the most hateful drawer in the house....the container drawer.

After tossing useless containers without lids and vice versa I feel like I do not have any containers left!

Just above the container drawer is our third junk drawer.  It is filled with papers, toy instructions, misc parts and coloring/activitty books.  I threw away most of it.  Do we really need to keep a filled dot to dot book?

It felt good to haul the big bag of garbage out the door.

Now wait till I get my  hands on the toy room!

What are you tackling today?

Head on over to 5 minutes for Mom and get inspired.

Quotable Mondays

Any idiot can face a crisis -

it's day to day living that wears you out.

-Anton Chekhov

Until Next Year

I can't sleep.

It frustrates me when I wake very early and cannot go back to the sweet slumber I was in.

Usually it is because my mind starts churning.

Christmas was good this year.  As my children get older it is nice to enjoy certain things a bit more.  The understanding of giving, what is happening in Mass, the joy in receiving....it all seems different this year with a now 7 year old.  It was nice not to have all four children to contend with in behaviour, but only three instead!

But there is always that underlying tension that I think any family has when you MUST spend time together just because it is a holiday.

I will admit this year it was less tense but the fact that someone truly doesn't like you is always in your face.  The fact that these people just do not like the person you are hurts, but I guess it goes both ways.  I will never change for another with the exception of my husband or children.  When I say change I mean in the way of who I really am, what my heart holds, my beliefs, and my values. 

Will I ever feel that I am good enough to "join" the group?  Will I ever stop feeling so inadequate?

Does it even matter?

It matters to me, but in the end I just keep reminding myself that I do not have to "win" over anyone's love.  I know what and Who is important.  I just wish I knew that 10 years or so ago.

It's Here!!!

Christmas Eve is here.  I officially made it through the pre holiday season without any huge stress.

Yes, not as many people received Christmas Cards this year.

Yes, I only made a few goodies and bought pumpkin pies for dessert.

Yes, my house is not clean seriously not clean and I don't care because we are not celebrating with anyone in our home except our children.

So it feels good to have let some things go.

This year my family is adding one thing onto the list but it is in a good way.

My husband will be doing the welcoming and intercessions at Mass.  The kids are all in the children's pagent and I will be narrating the story of Jesus's birth.

I'm PUMPED!

Only baby Gage will remain seated (lol) as we participate in Christmas Mass as a family for the first time ever. 

I can't wait to see everyone's post Christmas pictures and to post some of our own.

Until the Christmas dinners are over and all the presents are openend....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS

Wordless Wednesday

Have you stopped and thought about what Christmas really means?

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

For more WW visit 5 minutes for Mom

or

my friend at Crazyland

(I love saying that, it makes me giggle!)

Quotable Mondays

The best way to live

 is to appreciate each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.

Work at your work and play at your play.

Don't try to borrow from your future.

Accept that now is the best time of your life.

-Unknown

My Week In Pictures

MONDAY

Decorating for the Mom's Morning Out Christmas Potluck.

TUESDAY

Enjoying the potluck brunch.

WEDNESDAY

Preschool Christmas Party

THURSDAY

Oldest son's school Christmas concert.

They sang Peuple Fidele (there should be a symbol on that e but I can`t figure my keyboard out)

O Come All Ye Faithful

FRIDAY

I love me some lego.

SATURDAY

Crafts can be stressful with my household but we did it!

Phew, a busy week but most productive.

I wish you all a less hectic, less stressed week before Christmas than you might expect.

You're Gonna Miss This-Boys Will Be Boys

Hooking up with Pam again over at Your Gonna Miss This.

I am sure going to miss 7 year old birthday parties.

This year we decided to rent a gym and let the boys play floor hockey, scooters, basketball, anything they really wanted.

I did not organize any games and was worried about how that would turn out.

I did not need to stress about it because apparently 7 yr old boys need no instruction nor direction when hockey sticks and scooters are available.

The birthday boy LOVES his hockey as do many kids in his class.  It was a hockey themed party and everyone was asked to wear a Jersey...I laughed when everyone had a jersey..afterall we do live in Canada.

My girl enjoyed having me hauling her around on the scooter.

The plan is to rent the same facility for the twins party.  It was to just too easy.

This Morning

This morning I am prying my eyes open with toothpicks because they just will not do it on their own.

This morning I am tired after waking up for the following:

2x with the dog (and once I saw he had ripped apart my son's diaper that I forgot on the floor by the fireplace but when I saw it the second time I realized I did not even remember letting him out the first time...the diaper triggered the memory)

1x with Gage but it was for an hour and half

1x with Sasha who said she wet her bed but she was dry and hopped in with us.

1x with Sam who did wet his bed and his pj's (they both wear pullups!!)

Sam also did not go back to bed because he is Sam.  So he has been awake since 5:30 am.

I am determined not to be cranky.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

The title of this post my friends was a sigh of contentment.

con⋅tent⋅ment - noun

1. the state of being contented; satisfaction; ease of mind.
2. Archaic. the act of making contentedly satisfied.

Why am I so content?

Well, it's December 17th and  I officially have not stressed once about anything Chrismas related.  I took it all in stride and dealt with what needed dealing with.

It's December 17th and as of tonight we are offically finished attending Christmas parties, Christmas concerts, and one birthday party for our child this month.

The calendar is CLEAR!!!!!!

School ends next Tuesday, preschool on Monday, Christmas Eve on Thursday, Christmas Day on Friday.

I am officially on Christmas Vacation.

How about you?

Wordless Wednesday (well sort of)

8 years ago I wondered if I'd ever get the chance to hold a baby of my own.

7 years ago my dream came true.

I look forward to the many years I can celebrate the fact that I was blessed with such a wonderful, caring, lovable, huggable, curious, big hearted little boy.

Happy Birthday!!!

For more WW participants visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Multitude Monday

21.  Answered prayers

22.  Unanswered prayers

23.  Large rubbermaid plastic containers.

24.  Seeing Joy through Chaos.

25. Memories that warm your heart of those that have passed on.

26.  Education at our fingertips.

27. Peaceful moments.

28. Children that love to be outside.

29.  The season of Advent

30. Confidence because of God's love.

Want to become Thankful.....

Join us at Holy Experience.

Quotable Monday's

If a problem has no solution,

it may not be a problem,

but a fact - not to be solved,

but to be coped with over time.

Shimon Peres (1923 - )

You're Gonna Miss This

It's the weekend and I see my friend Pam must be busy shopping, baking and wrapping presents or maybe she is on a week long holiday by herself to some Carribean island soaking up the sun and playing in the sand....who knows but let's participate anyway and give Pam a break.

I have to admit I do not think I am going to miss this moment in my life.  Trimming the tree with two very hyper 3 year olds and a 12 month old.  Just spell it like this C-H-A-O-S!!!!  That being said who knows when my kids are grown I'll look back at these pics and not remember how stressful it was.

Seriously people it was easier last year with 2 year olds!

What is it with the age of 3?  They are like a whirlwind of energy and stubborness!

It got done...that's all that matters.  I did not rearrange a thing.  I don't care about perfection.  I love how they did it themselves (with the exception of the rushing and fighting).  No ornaments were broken and that is a good thing despite the RUSH to grab one from out of the strorage box.

And what was the 12 month old doing in all of this....have a look for yourself....

You can go visit my friend Carrie & Mimi and read all about what they are missing this week.