Woah!

H1 and I had this 22 inch tv.  Yes, small, but it fit our house just fine.  Yes, it worked.  In fact, it was new a year ago and I've really enjoyed it in comparison to our old tv (which was a rather clunky 20 inch thing that came to us from a restaurant that closed down). Yes, I was perfectly fine with it.  H1 has dreamed of a larger tv, but frankly they are all pretty much out of our price range.  We don't have a "tv" budget.  He would still walk around the electronics section and dream though.  No more dreaming now!  A friend shocked us tonight. While I was out grocery shopping with the kiddos, a friend visited H1 and surprised him as he brought in a brand new Samsung 39 inch LED tv.  He said it was just because, or an early "Merry Christmas".  Saying "thank you" seems so insufficient to such a gift!  I'm still in shock as I stare at it across my living room.  Thank you, dear friend.  I really enjoyed seeing that huge smile on my husband's face!

~H2

Thanksgiving round 1

Before I get started, I mentioned a while back that we purchased a purple Christmas tree for H3.  Here it is, in all its purple-ness!

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with H1's family in NY.  H1 got a half-day on Wednesday and so we drove late into the night to arrive in time. Thanksgiving day itself was spent at an aunt's house (Aunt Ruth) with lots of family.  It was so good to see everyone!  I had very inconveniently forgotten to pull out my camera, so I'm waiting for pictures to be shared with me from that day. H3 has a little girl cousin who is a year older and the two of them went around everywhere together. They had a blast!  I had forgotten just how much fun it is to be around H1's family. They are very welcoming and are more than just family in name.  I treasure my family!

During our time there, we spent lots of time walking around Hancock, H1's hometown.  Below is H3 in full giggle as she's waiting for Pop-pop to be ready for a stroll.

Pop-pop

The Hancock House hotel

Hancock Central School, where H1 attended middle and high school

The telephone company. I wasn't so interested in the building as I am enjoying the mountain view

Waiting for breakfast

Singing with Pop-pop

On Friday we drove north a bit to visit Uncle Keith and Aunt Grace, who is Pop-pop's sister. Uncle Keith had a surprise for H3-a pony ride!

Their lovely historic home

Such a beautiful table setting. Aunt Grace served a delicious corn chowder and salad.  Yum!

She plays the harp!

Playing Amazing Grace together....I can't say that H3's piano attempts were lovely, but she was certainly singing her heart out!

She's really excited about what's behind that door....

The ballroom behind the door above!  Such a cool house...or inn, rather, as it was in its former glory.

Uncle Keith and Aunt Grace

This year I have been overwhelmed with what God has given us.  My family is so wonderful--my extended family with H1, my parents, and my own little family.  God has given me two precious girls who challenge and delight me, and a lovely new home.  This grateful heart is overflowing!

~H2

Grammar Post

I've seen a few pins on Pinterest as well as a few items in catalogs that talk about the importance of grammar, and the problems that arise with the lack thereof.  For example: "Let's eat, Grandma," versus "Let's eat Grandma."  There's a big difference!  Tonight, we had a prime example with H3.  H1 was holding her upside down and tickling her.  She was giggling so hard that her words ran together.  She was trying to say "Don't!  Stop tickling me!"  What came out was "Don't stop tickling me!"  Really, there is a difference, even in speech!  It provided some humor for my evening.

~H2

Playtime, Crafts, and Food

Last Friday night while H1 had an away game, the girls and I took dinner over for another couple in our church. Marie had surgery on her foot a few weeks ago, following an open fracture caused by a 6 foot fall from her back deck. She is still unable to walk. We spent an hour munching on Cannellini Bean stew and homemade rolls, and then H3 played Candyland with Doug.  She had a wonderful time, as did H4 with Marie.

Later that night my college roommate came over to spend the night with us. We had a fun girls night followed by a lazy Saturday morning. Here they are, piled on the couch, watching Angelina Ballerina.

We've been having chilly temperatures here for the last few weeks, but all of a sudden, we had a couple days in the mid 70s.  There's no way we can stay inside with such a treat!  We hit up the park on Sunday after church.

I bought a dress for H3 last year after Christmas for her to use this coming holiday season. She picked out a beautiful dark purple.  To coordinate, I bought H4 a gold dress.  Of course, I couldn't find a bow that would tie in the dresses.  At Amber's suggestion, I looked up a tutorial on how to make one, and here is the result!

H4's bow is on the left, H3's on the right.

Here's an example of the bow in H3's hair.

This morning we played a Thanksgiving Bingo game from Making Friends, and made a cornucopia, template from allkidsnetwork.  H3 loved them. I have to confess that I was in the mood for chocolate, so we played the bingo game with M&Ms.  Yum!

Amidst all the baking I've done this week, I decided to try a healthy cookie recipe I found on Pinterest.  No, I don't get all my recipes from that place, but I'm starting to use it quite a bit for food and craft ideas!  Here's a picture of the result - just before I ate it, mind you. I really liked the cookie and H1 enjoyed them as well. H3 hates bananas in any form, so no verdict there.  

Here's the recipe:

• 3 ripe mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup applesauce (I used our homemade cinnamon applesauce, so I omitted the cinnamon below)
• 2 cups oats
• 1/4 cup milk (the original calls for almond milk, which I did not have)
• 1/2 cup raisins (I added a few extra cuz I love raisins!)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Bake at 350 for 15 -  20 minutes.  Yummy!  I ate a couple for breakfast the next day!

I'm so thankful for our few days of warm weather and thankful for all we've been able to accomplish this week. I'm also incredibly thankful that football season is over!  Hurrah!  And now onto basketball....

Blessings,

~H2

A Four-Year-Old Perspective of Trouble

I made a mistake tonight.  I was giving H3 a bath and left the bathroom for a moment to check on the baby, check on the pasta boiling on the stove, and take the sheets from the dryer to my bedroom. All of this can be done within a 15 foot radius of the main bathroom and it took me less than 3 minutes.  I came back to water covering my bathroom floor and H3 in the process of pouring more out of her bath!  "Why on earth?" I asked her in a rather agitated voice.  "I wanted to make a lake!"  REALLY?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?  A lake.  Yes, that's what my four-year-old was dreaming of. Shame on me for turning my back, but seriously, she does know better.  I have a rather amusing video of her response on my phone, complete with tears after realizing that I wasn't happy with her lake, but for whatever reason the sound doesn't transfer from my phone.  I just felt I needed to share my delightful evening. Hope yours is splendid!

~H2

So Far This Week....

 We're had a lot of fun so far this week, and it's been a packed one!

We've smiled for the camera....a lot!

Ok, so H4 wasn't smiling in those first couple pictures, but here she goes!

We voted.

We went to dance class.

We made a leafy hedgehog based on a little craft I saw on Pinterest.

We've worked on letters "X, Y, and Z"

We did crafts with our library group.

And worked on the letter "A"

Then H3 randomly decided she wanted to paint the letter too...she painted 3 full pages of "A's"!

Also this week: H3 switched to a Monday evening swimming lesson, H1 has closed off the second entrance to our closet with drywall and spackle, and H3 went to her first Awana meeting.  I've been wanting to get her involved at a large church just north of us. They have a huge children's ministry and an Awana group that meets on Wednesday evenings, so we went last night.  She had a great time and even though the lessons started back in September (which I didn't know of at the time), she was already caught up by the end of the evening.

We had a large closet in our bedroom that was shared by the other bedroom downstairs.  That room does not have its own closet.  I asked H1 about building a closet in that room, and in response, he has taken out the door on the 2nd bedroom side and now there is a wall there. He is preparing to finish sanding and painting before building out the inside of the new master bedroom closet. Sometime this winter he'll build a closet in the other bedroom.  I love our home, but there is a serious lack of closet and storage space!  Neither of the upstairs bedrooms have closets!  I purchased little wardrobes from Ikea for the girls.  I'm so thankful that my hubby is a handyman!  He saves us so much money by doing all these projects himself!

If you add in several batches of cookies along with dinners (ribs, homemade pizza, and a zucchini/black bean/rice skillet) I believe that sums up our week until now!  We've got the next couple days packed as well, and I'm hoping to fit in a trip to the park since it's supposed to be in the mid 60's.

Blessings!

~H2

Sucker

I'm such a sucker. I bought a purple Christmas tree for H3's room. No, I'm not kidding.  I really did. I can't believe it. I'm not sure if I'm embarrassed or just in shock that I did such a thing.  She loves all the season decorations and really had her heart set on having a purple Christmas tree this year. Sigh, and I'll have pics of it once it's decorated, but in the meantime, if you're feeling inclined to purchase a randomly colored tinsel tree, they are sold for $8 at Target.

~H2

Detergent, Picnics, Baking, and Pop-pop

Last week was really busy and a lot of fun!  We had our last Wednesday swimming lesson (they are switching to Mondays now) and a Friday night football away game, in addition to our library story time on Thursdays, our Friday morning ladies' Bible study, and of course, school and our other usual activities.

Homemade laundry detergent

practicing letters

backyard picnic

Mom, I'm not sure about this jumper thing....

I made some sugar cookies and iced them, and then set aside a few for H3 to decorate on her own.

She went a bit overboard on the sprinkles!

This exersaucer has survived 4 kids so far! (My 2, plus the original owner and another friend)

 During Hurricane Sandy, we didn't lose power. We were expecting to, so it was a pleasant surprise.  I decided to do some baking!

Pumpkin pie - the first of the season!

Potato-bacon soup with biscuits

Blue-barb pie

 My father-in-law was here with us, and the girls loved having him here.  He played lots of games with H3 and sangs songs to H4.  I know they will miss him now that he's gone home.

My backyard is still quite a swamp. We're back to taking our daily walks now though.  With the storm came colder weather. It's quite chilly out, so I have to bundle the girls during our strolls. I suppose I should say relatively chilly. We live in the South, so chilly is anything less than 60 degrees!

~H2