Give in to Greed

Holiday excess? Let it go, let it go, let it go.

The last couple of nights my telivision has been displaying the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas which Raistlyn so kindly Tivo'd for us. It's very nostalgic for me. Even more meaningful for me now that I am a parent. In the Who fashion it states: "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more! This year we are attempting to make Christmas all the more about charitable and spritual values and it will be much easier since we are going to Utah for most of the Holiday Season. Christmas is still a time of excess for our family. We are greatly blessed with an abundance of toys & food and decorations that have been collected over the years. I want my children to have a hightened sense of excitement this time of year so they will create memories that they will always cherish.

I remember all the effort my mother put into obtaining that perfect toy for us each year. Cabbage Patch Dolls, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Strawberry Shortcake and the year I got the elephant that I wanted, albeit it wasn't pink like I had requested. I cherish the pictures of me on Christmas morning where I am gleefully posing in front of all my loot!
We always had a HUGE spread of food for Christmas Eve and tons of family members over to celebrate. Dad would read from the Bible and we would sing carols. Fa, la, la.

I get such great joy now in surprising my children & spouse with the most lavish gifts they could truly imagine and I can afford. Adam....maybe you'll be getting your wish after all. This year, I have Melissa to thank for the gift I gave myself...the digital SLR I have been dreaming of for years! Last year Caiden's favorite gift was the sack of potatoes that he crawled over and pulled out of the pantry. This year he'll love the colored Scotch tape I found for him to peel and stick EVERYWHERE! Raistlyn is a little harder....because she almost has just about EVERYTHING. She'll be a little disappointed when Santa doesn't leave a real horse under the Christmas tree.

I hope to alter the sense of materialism by adding in MANY stories of the true reason for celebration...the birth of Jesus Christ. But Christmas is the time for YES. It's the one time of year I want my kids to get what they are wishing for.

This Christmas....Let's eat too much, get too much, and especially give too much (except that's not really possible).
MERRY CHRISTMAS.

a Ter 'Ruff' ic Party

Raistlyn turned 7 on November 18th

We had the most amazing

PUPPY PARTY

The Pinata was a big hit - it was a bull that sort of looked like a dog - thanks Annette for the last minute help getting it.

The kids got to decorate collars for the puppies they adopted.

They picked cute names for their puppies and got an adoption certificate to take home.












They played Red Rover












got their faces painted












made Kibbles n' Bits that looked just like dog food












ate hot dogs & chips























and of course birthday cake.
























Each friend sat with Raistlyn while she opened the present they gave her.

Can you believe all this loot? Her friends sure know what she likes !

Raistlyn wrote in her journal about how wonderful her birthday was. She told me this was the 1st year she really liked the theme I picked. Thank you all SO much! More to come......

A Season of Thanks

Time to Pay it Forward....

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people that post a comment to my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange.


All you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

You must have a blog to participate.

(Do you need a better excuse to start journaling?)

To join just cut a paste this to your blog and comment away.

Let's kick the Holiday Season off with some

thanks and gift giving!

You know how crafty I am....you're sure to get something good.

Know me

(Melissa - thanks for tagging me. I'm going to pass this fun stuff on for sure.)
The lists aren't in any particular order just jotting them down as they come to me.

5 things I'm passionate about:
- My family
- My job - I love the DDS that I work for - she actually makes work enjoyable
- Dressing my children up in cute clothes
- Taking pictures and scrapbooking
- Bargain shopping

5 things I want to do before I die:
- Have grandchildren
- Own my own Event Planning/Party business
- Go to Italy
- Visit every state in the US
- Become a millionaire

5 things I say often:
- "Stop it!" (I have a 21 month old boy)
- "Hey Budda" or "Hello Tiny Girl" (to Rowan)
- "Can you do me a favor?" (mostly to Adam)
- "I Love You, kiss, kiss" (to Raistlyn at bedtime)
- "Dr. Porter's office, this is Jennie"

5 books I've recently read:
I wish I could say that I have time to read books!
I'm lucky if I can get all the way through a magazine
Currently I am purusing the Toys R Us toy booklet,
WonderTime magazine and Better Homes & Gardens in
my so called "spare time"

5 things I could listen to over and over:
- My children's laughter
- Popcorn popping - we use an air popper
(it's fun to wait for the surprise last kernals to pop)
- Caiden's - "guldy, guldy, guldy" sound
(you have to hear it)
- Christmas music
( just some of it and NOT UNTIL AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!!)
- Jewel

5 things that attract me to my best freinds:
- they appreciate my talents
- being able to re-hash and laugh about our youthful experiences
- I love their kids
- they are the same even when we don't talk for months
- they help with whatever, whenever I need them

5 things I've learned this past year:
- having a 3rd child is a little harder than I thought it would be
- I CAN have a baby without an epidural!
- It would suck to not have health insurance
- That I love TIVO
- If you have 3 kids you need wood floors!

I tag Stephanie!

Trick -or- Treat

Yeah, ok so I know I am a week late....
Here's pictures of our Halloween night.

We hit the Trunk or Treat at our church, then the carnival at the HUGE church off 820 - boy they sure do it up right. Carnival games, bounce houses and an indoor petting zoo - SO FUN!
















Caiden finally got the hang of it this year. He'd just stand there with his bag and wait patiently for that little sweet treat! He is such a candy fiend. He calls it just one syllable: "Dee."
We know what he's talking about.
He knows where we keep it.
Gummy bears in the cabinet with the bowls and plates. Chocolates in the cookie jar on the counter. Gum in mom's purse and dum dum pops from Aunt Jolene. He even knows Grandma Patterson has a stash of Chocolates under the cabinet sometimes.


















Raistlyn was the cutest cowgirl ever. She likes for me to put makeup on her and get all glammed up. She made the treat rounds with her church friends then caught up with us later with a bag SO FULL of candy we had to empty and reload.















Raistlyn's friend Savannah and her parents went to the carnival with us. They are such a sweet family! Don't these girls look so cute?

Rowan fell asleep amongst all the noise - she looked darn cute doing it - though one guy did ask if she was dressed as a rubber chicken. She was Woodstock to go with Caide's Charlie Brown - DUH!

This is the one night of the year that I just let the kids go crazy and eat WHATEVER they want.















No, that's not my hair sticking up in the air. I had on a funny headband that was orange and black. What a night!

A Bad Case of the Uglies

I thought it was my hair. No, it's still pretty cute and flippy.

Maybe the color...New highlights.? Nah, hair has great natural highlights and I don't have to worry about it growing out and looking funny.

Maybe it's the skin - it is starting to look dull and tired. And those pesky little lines are creeping in as the years go by. So, I booked a facial with my lovely sister Jolene at the Aveda Spa. What a lovely experience, she is VERY good with her hands. She poked, prodded, massaged and stripped away a bunch of yucky stuff. It was relaxing, though excruciating at times (warning: don't ever try to dye your eyelashes!) Three hours later...did I emerged a new woman? Not exactly, though my skin did feel revived and refreshed. The product junkie in me was excited to try out my new Aveda makeup and hair products the next day- I love that Aveda Brilliant smell! YUMMMMY!

But Still Ugly. So, in an effort to not have to wear Maternity clothes any longer I buy a few shirts. That works...until I put on my PANTS! It's not a good sign when you have to either lay down to zip them up, do 100 squats to stretch out the butt, or compromise and leave them down a few inches because you can't get them past your bulging belly. And I won't even talk about the muffin top I was able to produce. Now that I have a very honest view of how I look after baby number 3, I'm feeling discouraged.

Isn't nursing a bambino supposed to melt the pounds away?

I'm not that lucky.

The bright side - at least the Maternity pants are too baggy.

Eight more months -

I hate the Uglies.

All In a Day's Work...

As the working wife of a stay-at-home dad, I've heard my fair share of "When is he going to get a real job?" "He needs to contribute some income to the family, too." "What does he do all day?"
Over the years, I've learned to quietly smile when confronted with these kinds of comments and simply reply, "Our kids love having a stay-at-home dad. This arrangement works for us. And he does do some house work, cooking and errand running." (so there!)

As I get older and more comfortable in my "working wife of SAHD" shoes, I care less and less about taking the time or energy to defend our lifestyle. I care less and less about what other people think of SAHD-ness. And I feel more passionate about how SAHD-ness is instilling our kids with healthy values and good morals, not to mention boatloads of laughter from having the opportunity to spend their days rough-housing with a dad who loves and cherishes them SOOOOOO much. I feel truly blessed.

Granted, it's not always easy being the working wife, but it's no piece of cake being the SAHD, either. Both jobs require dedication, effort and (ideally) at least seven hours of sleep each night. Even then, there are no guarantees especially with a newborn that likes to stay up LATE most nights. I think we have the best of both worlds for now as we both manage to somewhat keep our sanity with the current routine. The SAHD does have a goal of entering the workforce and actually leaving the house everyday - it will take about another year. It's a struggle on one income that we make work. It's a work in progress. A Family. A Team.