The fire stacker...

R's mama-made gift in all it's finished glory!

Notes for next Christmas...

For next year:
NOT AS MANY GIFTS for the KIDS! Seriously, one big gift and one small gift from Santa and a couple homemade gifts from me is ENOUGH! 

Make more cloth gift bags... start in July.

Have the kids help out/make more gifts.  R loved making and doing.   On the day of Christmas have him be the "elf" and hand out gifts.   He loved it and did a fabulous job.

Buy the one small gift from Santa on Black Friday.  It really had the best deals.   Buy all other purchased gifts at this time too.

Don't get the big gift until the last minute.   R will change his mind a billion times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Hem adult Christmas jammies. Two years in a row of tripping over our pant legs sucks. 

Merry, Merry Day!

I hope you are feeling as merry and bright as we are.  A lovely day was had by all and it was so nice to spend it with Nonna and Papa B. 

Gifts for the children

I adore making gifts for my children.  It fufills both a desire to provide for my children and a creative need to work with my hands.

So, here are a few more goodies for the babes for Christmas...

Wooden tree for R and a Cell phone for S.

S's cell phone is made from an old sweater and various buttons from my stash. 
Nothing purchased for this project!

A Life Update

Well, we are mostly settled in.  The Kansas weather has been good so far!

I am enrolled in 6 hours (2 classes) for next semester.  Just today I accepted a graduate assistantship in the College of Technology (Ha! Not as much as a Luddite as I thought).  And I'm very excited to start in January. 

N is starting a new job on Monday.  This is the third job he's taken since our arrival in the Sunflower State.  He'll be part-time Monday-Thursday mornings at the local book store.  That will leave him free in afternoons and evenings to watch the children while I work and go to school.  Since we can't live on that alone, he'll still be doing handy-man jobs too. 

R will be going to the preschool at the University.  He'll be just two doors down from my old office.  I think he's excited.  I wish the opening would have been in the morning class instead of the afternoon class.  On the rare occasion he might need a nap.  That and I'll need to re-arrange S's naps to make drop off work. 

In happiest news, S is completely potty trained.  At the ripe old age of 22 months!  She's so very smart.  I know most of this is all based on the child, but you have to wonder if what they say about cloth diapered kids training early is true.  Lord knows, mine were "early" and "easy" both!  And I LOVE not having to wash diapers two days a week!

Proud mama moment!

Tulsa Birthday Party