Thanksgiving weekend....

As you can tell, we had a "break" from the traditional Thanksgiving weekend. Thursday we had the traditional dinner and all the trimmings(just so aggravated at myself for forgetting to take any pictures...aaagh...too busy enjoying the food!) Friday morning dawned bright and early for Chris and I. He headed out to Best Buy at 3 AM and I followed to Target and the mall at 6AM) Found a few good bargains....but mostly just stood in line of course! We did get to see some snow though. When I headed out for shopping at 6AM, snow was falling pretty hard. It made my Christmas shopping a bit more fun!
Friday evening Chris and my Dad went and got the moving truck and the real fun began...for Chris...not me!





I mostly just tried to keep Caleb from the doorway....it was FREEZING cold.
My parents are moving from Newton Falls OH (where I spent most of my growing up years...yes...that's what's wrong with me) to McDonald PA where they have started pastoring, for the 2nd time, the Bible Methodist church there. I'm really not at all that sentimental about the move, however. There's better shopping in Pittsburgh...namely IKEA. LOL!
Saturday, while Chris and my Dad slaved away, I decided to get the kids out of the house and take them to visit Kraynaks. This was somewhat of a holiday tradition growing up. Kraynaks is a HUGE Lawn and Garden/Toy store all in one. I always remembered their Christmas tree walk through as so much fun. Driving over I wondered if it really was a big deal, or did it just seem that way to me as a kid?? When we arrived, around 1 on Saturday, I pretty much decided it was a big deal after all!




My Mom and Lauren did most of the waiting in line outside....I didn't want Caleb out in the cold for that length of time. Once inside though, we still had another 20 minutes or so to wait.





The line snakes past oodles of toys...very smart on the store's part! Michael LOVED seeing all the John Deere toys they had...






The walk through is one scene after another full of trees , ornaments, and yard decorations. The store carries all the items you see in case you should want to recreate one of these trees for yourself.





Lauren loved the "MY Little Pony" scene.





Caleb was crazy about these "bow-wows" They move their heads, tails etc.





The upside down Christmas tree.





I fell in LOVE with these little snow men lights. I inquired about them after the walk through and I was told they were "long gone"! I guess they sold really fast. The walk through opens on Labor Day, so things tend to sell out quick. I thought they were just SO CUTE!





Sunday they had a "Singspiration" at my parent's church in the afternoon. My mom and I played a piano duet and Lauren turned the pages.






Lauren and Michael sang a couple songs as well. Poor Michael...it seems he is doomed to have "stage fright" like his Mama. Chis and I tried over and over (unsuccessfully) to bribe him to sing. Lauren was the one that finally got him up there. Her secret?? All her left over Halloween candy. :)

Where Chris was last night........

Chris and Dr. Farmer were able to attend an event for Mike Huckabee in Mason last night. Chris thought to buy a couple books at Joseph Beth on the way, so now he and Dr. Farmer each have a nice autographed copy. I stayed home with the the kiddos....I wasn't sure how interesting it would be for them. I was glad he got to go.

From "Happy Fall Days".....

to Merry Christmas!!!




The kids and I put the tree together Monday evening, and I FINALLY got it finished this afternoon. I haven't spent all that time on it....I've just been searching for some lights that work. There are a couple things that I wish someone could explain to me.
1. If you put Christmas lights away after Christmas, and they're working, then....
WHY do they not work when you take them out of the box the following year???aaaagh!!!
2. And when you buy new lights at Target and get them home, WHY do they not work??? Yes. $10 a string lights. aaagh!
Those are just a couple of the reasons why it took me a whole week to get my tree done. Once, when I got the tree all covered in lights, 1 string went out. So, it was easier to just take it all off and start over again rather than try to replace just one string.
Anyway, I'm very happy with my tree this year. I might actually be able to sit and enjoy it. I love decorating the tree and although the kids want to help, I explain this is "MY" tree and then I send them off with their own trees and boxes of ornaments. Maybe I'm a scrooge, but for me to be able to enjoy my tree, it has to be just like I envision it. (I know, I'm weird) I'll have to post their trees later. They are really cute.



I also decorated the home school room. Most people will probably be bored by these pics, but my family wanted to see the decorations. The kids get so excited when I decorate and change things in the school room, so it's always worth my effort!

Our fall tree and village.
My aunts, who have taught for years, have given me lots of classroom decorations. We are so grateful. Thanks!



This tree was decorated by the kids last night. I used a pre-lit tree I had in the basement and spent $2.50 on ornaments at the Dollar Tree, and made a "happy" little tree....at least that's what the kids and I call it. It's simple, but they're happy! They decorated it while Caleb was playing in the bathtub last night. As soon as he got out, we took him into see it and he started screaming and dancing around and clapping his hands! It was SO fun. That's what I LOVE best about Christmas......seeing your kids have fun! It makes Christmas SO much fun!
Well, after a hard day of decorating, I'm off to find a cup of hot chocolate! See ya!

Happy Fall Days!

Happy Fall! Yes. I'm way behind in blogging again I know. We've just been busy with the usual things...school, outings, housework(ugh) and unfortunately, blogging just doesn't rank very high on my list of priorities. Rather, it seems to be falling lower and lower.....but I'll try to do better :) maybe!



One of our last nice evenings outdoors, Chris asked Caleb to "jump" off the wall into his outstretched arms.

Ready to jump!

One of our play days with some good friends. (Brianna, Warren. Daniel and Bethany)They used to work here at GBS, but recently moved. We became good friends and the children have spent MANY happy summer days together. Since we home school, I try extra hard to make sure I schedule fun days with other home schoolers such as this to break up the monotony a little. I'm always happy to get together with friends and chat as well!


Last Tuesday, I took the kids down to the gym and "taught" them about the voting process.
I tried to let them help me as much as possible.









Dressed up after church.





Today as we were walking to the park, I decided to take advantage of the neighbors beautiful yard full of leaves. This should bring back memories for some bloggers in SC. :)













Headed down the path into the woods...I am one blessed Mom! I am so grateful for our three healthy, growing, learning children!






The Farmer's beautiful tree.



After walking home from the park, we noticed that our neighbors had their puppies out....all 17 of them! The kids had a blast. It was really fun for them....and my two older ones used to be scared of dogs. But I think today changed that! BTW, our neighbors buy these pups to resale at a profit, so we are enjoying them while they have them. They are some kind of Terrier....not sure of the name.