... and the stockings were hung

For our first Christmas together as a couple, Joe and I made fun matching stockings. These stockings have lasted 9 great Christmases and we have loved them very much! I love knowing that Joe had a hand in making these little decorations.

last year we had Jace and wanted to make HIM a matching stocking too. We never got around to it, so the task was postponed to this year.

I was about to buy the felt to create his and remembered a tutorial I saw on how to make stockings. In the back of my mind, I have been itching to put our stockings through a fashion update and have debated on whether or not to do it. I really like our cute little stockings, but at the same time, I want my stockings to match the rest of my decor. Our tree has always been quite elegant. Simple. And I wanted more elegant stockings to match -- while maintaining the fun of them. The deciding point was that I wanted my stocking to say MOM.

I rushed to Joanns and bought 3 coordinating fabrics (that weren't even remotely by each other ... so proud!) and got to work. I also picked up 2 colors of felt that matched pretty close.

It wasn't too hard, and didn't take too much time ... and I LOVE how they turned out! Each stocking will have a different Christmas symbol on it. I figured these were the 3 basic (and easiest to do when you only have red and green to choose from ...)

The Fly

I just had a friend remind me of a funny school story that I dont' want to ever forget. Maybe as I remember my silly stories I'll just blog about them.

Last year I had a 7th grader named Roberto. One day near the end of class, I hear this strange buzzing sound. I look up to see Roberto in some sort of a dazed state ... and the kids around him just looking at him funny. Roberto was BUZZING!!

Me: Roberto what are you doing?
Roberto: buzzzzzzzz zzzz zzz zz
Me: ?
Roberto: buzzzzzzzz
...
Roberto: Oh, I was just seeing what it would be like to be a fly.

The bell then rang and out he went.

My New Job

Last January, I got a phone message from a good friend who I used to work with. She had moved to Denver with her husband while he worked on his degree. She had called to ask me a question about a math problem that she was too tired to figure out on her own, (oh gosh do I know how that goes!) Once Joe and I had completed the problem, I asked her where she is working and ... how I could be involved.

It's called Step to Success. It's an online learning program. She and I both contacted the director of the program to try to get me started! The site was still hugely in the developmental stage and I was told that they were very interested in working with me, but alas, I had to wait. From the get go, I felt awesome about this program. That this program would greatly help me in my goal to stay home with my son. I waited the summer and early fall out ... and finally I got to start at the beginning of November!

I love it! Right now, I'm tutoring reading to 2nd and 3rd graders in Denver. It's a government grant that helps these kids read. You may be thinking what I was thinking .... how do you tutor reading over the Internet? Basically, what we do is go to a meeting center where we are able to both work on my desktop. We play online games that tracks their progress. Several times throughout the 21 session program we give them assessments to see how much they have progressed. After 10 sessions, all of my students have gained at least a 1/2 grade level in their reading. Some even gained more than a full year!

Soon, I hope, I'll be able to work with more math students, but for now ... I feel like I'm helping to make a difference in some of these kid's lives. And I'm having a great time doing it. We are about 75% done with the first batch of kids, and I'm going to be sad to see them go!!

Too Smart for His Own Good

I have always known that I have a smart dog. TOO smart of a dog. When he was a puppy, he figured out how to untuck the kitchen chair so he could jump on the table to eat the food left out. He had the ability to jump high enough to get rags out of the bottom of the sink. He is a trouble maker, and we have known that for a long time.

Today proved to be no different.

I thought i would be kind and clean out the garage so Joe had a place to park his car for the winter. Jace and I were out playing and working for probably close to 45 minutes. When I came inside, I didn't notice Copper. I didn't think very much of it though and went on with my morning. About 2 to 3 hours later a man knocked on my door and there stood Copper with blood trickling down his muzzle. Last time he snuck out of the backyard (I have no idea how he does it) he scraped up his back, so I figured this was the case again. The man said that he just witnessed this dog get hit by a car and he ran straight here so perhaps this was his home.

Got hit by a car?

My dog?

With much more effort than it should have been, I shuffled several boys around and Joe and I headed to the animal hospital. In the end, if a dog is going to get hit by a car, this was best case scenario. He has several abrasions in the front of his body, and a staple in his eyebrow, but he is ok. Probably has a pretty decent headache, but he will be alright.

Here are some pics of our little monster after his $459 stay at the animal hospital:

Start Spreading the News

I'm leaving today

I want to be a part of it

New York

New York

10 is a big number, and on June 8th ... that's how long it will be for Joe and myself. Too many marriages don't make it to 10 years, and I really want to celebrate BIG. So Joe and I decided that if we can hack it, we want to visit the Big Apple.

I only have 1 slight problem. I've never planned a vacation before, let alone one of this magnitude. I don't know where to stay. I am not good at booking flights and waiting and getting that "perfect deal". I don't know where to eat in NY or what to DO in NY. How much spending money do I bring? What should I budget, because we gotta start saving soon! I need serious suggestions ... I want to have fun and see it all!

Big Hearted -- He belongs on the farm!

Back in September, our family took a trip to the state fair. We know how much Jace loves animals, and I knew that he would have a blast at the fair. I was ... mostly right.

Jace with the Big Bee.

We started with the birds and small animals. He was grinning ear to ear the entire time as we walked from one cage to the next. My little boy has such a big heart! He LOVES animals ... must be related to Great Grandpa Tom. The problem is that once we left one animal building to go the next his face would turn from this ..... to ....

This. Others around us just laughed at my poor little boy that was so sad to leave the animals behind. I think he was meant to live on a farm, really!

When we got to the goats he would watch them for a time, then steal the hay from their cages and throw it on the ground by his feet. There was little hope of getting him out of the building happy. He just wanted to play with his new friends!

Silly Boy :)

Little Sneeker

Awhile ago (I mean ... I don't really remember when because it has been so long since I've blogged ... but Jace is wearing a 18 month top and 12 month bottom, so it couldn't have been THAT long ago ... anyway, I digress ... ) Awhile ago things were nice and quiet upstairs. Apparently, Jace took his chubby little hands and got on his tippy tippy toes to pull down the raisins. He LOVES the raisins. I guess there are worse snacks to be sneaking!

Pumpkin Goop

Last night as a family we decided to carve pumpkins. Halloween was my mom's FAVORITE holiday and since being married, I just haven't really gotten into it. BUT, now that Jace is growing up, I want to be able to go big on every holiday. I want to make them fun and exciting ... and memorable, like mine were. (Quick side note ... is it just me or does my baby's hair look really red in that picture?). We haven't done a ton this year, and I don't have many decorations, Something I'd like to work on soon. One major thing we did every year with my family was carve PuMpKiNs. I remember my mom's pumpkins were always perfect and I wanted mine to turn out just like hers. She always had a fine eye for detail. Very creative ... my mom was!

We got the table ready to go and dug away. We were only able to get one photo of the actual pumpkin carving extravaganza because our battery on the camera died ... It didn't matter too much, there wasn't a whole lot to see.

Some kids love to play in the mess. Mine does not.

He wouldn't stick his hands in the

pumpkin, but was ok sticking the spoon in. Since he is a boy who likes to put things in it's spot, once it didn't surprise me that once I removed some of the seeds, he picked them up and put them back in! They don't go on the table! What a helper. Before long though, he wanted down and was playing

with his toys as Joe and I finished our pumpkins.

I did Jace's first and then

worked on mine. I'm quite proud of the finished product and they sit happily on my door step awaiting the loads of trick or treaters that we will get on Saturday night.

The Water Bottle

Today I got to take part in a focus group with Stampin' Up! (Lucky me ... right!!) I had just dropped Jace off at the baby sitter's house when I started to feel like I was hungry. Normally, I would give in to one of the 900 different golden arches that I would see on the way to the home office in Riverton. This time, however, had to be different because 1) I'm trying to kick the fast food "habit/addiction" and 2) I'm right smack dab in the middle of my money cleanse. I have tutoring after the focus group and I know I won't be home until well after 7. I think to myself that since I can't eat out, I'll have to fill my belly with water. And OH how convenient it would be if I had some! But alas, I didn't bring a water bottle and I don't have any place to get one. Slightly annoyed with my lack of planning, I pulled into the visitor's parking at Stampin' Up! and waited to be called into the room. As I walked through the massive doors to the meeting room, I noticed that each station was set up with a stamp set, name tag, and BOTTLED WATER!

I love answered prayers and small blessings!

The Money Cleanse

It is a common misconception that money = evil. In the bible, we learn that "for the love of money is the root of all evil". This scripture implies to many that money = evil. But it's not MONEY that is evil ... it's the LOVE of money that is evil. It's what you DO with it that is good or bad.

Since quitting my job, Joe and I have had to obviously take a look at our finances. In Matthew we learn that "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also". Apparently our heart is with eating out! :) It was time for us to have a reality check. Eating out, and other frivolous expenses were no longer in our budget. Quite frankly, I am now sad and ashamed that they were such a driving force in our budget. There was no reason that Joe and I were living pay check to pay check for so long. Why didn't we save for a rainy day? Heaven knows that the rain DOES come! I don't have any of the answers as to WHY we didn't do things differently in the past, but I do know that I am excited about the changes we are making to help in the future.

Recently I have been hearing the name DAVE RAMSEY. I read it in blogs, see it on billboards, and hear it on the radio. I don't know anything about Mr. Dave, except for apparently he is some sort of financial genius. I looked up his site, daveramsey.com, and started exploring. I found that there are Dave Ramsey seminars all over the valley, and what more, they are free! Joe and I signed up. I later learned that there was a small fee associated with the kit needed for the class. I started to get skeptical. I didn't want to blow $99 on some whim like I have in the past. We decided that if in fact this man knew what he was doing ... $99 would be a good investment! We are 3 weeks in, trying to incorporate what he suggests, and we already feel like we got a pay raise. More than that, however, I feel like I have a different mindset and attitude towards money.

On with the title of this post. The Money Cleanse. People sometimes cleanse their body by drinking that nasty lemonade. OR they eat only raw veggies, or perhaps wear the patches on their feet, (do those even work?). We decided to do a money cleanse. Once a month, we are going to go a whole week without spending any money. Sounds easy right? Not when you are used to going shopping for whatever you need. And we decided that this "money cleanse" wasn't going to work if we overspent the Sat. befor and over spent the Monday after it was done! Nope. Live life like normal ... just be sure there is enough gas to make it to work.

While going through this week I have been able to

1) be creative with my food storage

2) learned that if I don't have gas to get somewhere ... I walk

3) decided that even if I really REALLY want something, I don't need it unless it is a serious 911 related emergency.

4) embrace the challenge, the change, and the new life style.

My only regret is that I waited until year 29 to start. I wish I could have had the wisdom to start this 10 years ago.