Getting Ready for Christmas

I can't believe it is almost Christmas! I love this time of year; although, I usually end up really stressed out because there is so much to do. The tree is up, and we even put up a few lights outside this year. I am really going to try to do a little more posting for the holidays, and I still need to put up Avery's birthday post. Between work, home duties, and Girl Scouts, I've been worn out! I did get my cards ordered though! Really excited about them. I ordered them from shutterfly.com, and they were designed by Stacy Claire Boyd. When I worked for IGS in Alabama, we sold Stacy Claire Boyd some printing equipment and serviced it on occasion!

Vintage Provence Holiday 2011 Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

So, Merry Christmas- a little early!

Long Time, No Post

It has been so long since I have blogged. I bet y'all thought the men with white coats had finally come to take me away. Well, not yet!

When I lost my job in June, I prayed and prayed for a job that I would enjoy and would help pay the bills and provide health insurance for our family. Well, I was finally blessed with a job. This is my fourth week. It is helping with the bills, and I will be eligible for insurance in November. As far as the enjoyment, well... That is yet to be seen. I am pretty miserable, but I know God has a purpose for me being there- and His purpose is way better than anything I might desire. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. Anyway, by the time I get off at 5:30, pick up the girls, and drive home, It's a little after 6. I have to immediately feed Avery (She's mean when she's hungry.), and start supper for the rest of us. Then it's bath time, homework checking time, study time, and AR book reading. Not to mention the diaper changing and disaster interference I'm running with Avery in the middle of all that. There's not much time left for blogging!

Sydney is still going to school against her will. Second grade math is not her friend. She says she just wants to do the "other subjects." She announced recently at a Girl Scout meeting that her favorite subject was lunch. Who would have guessed! LOL! You never know what she might say- or do. We recently found a dead lizard in her room- laying neatly by her bed- dead. She was just "saving" him because he was cute. I was scared to ask how long she'd been keeping him in there, but I did anyway. Not very long. Just a couple of weeks. Eww.

Stephen is still working, working, working. We get to meet for lunch every once in a while since I'm working in town now. That's about the only time we get to actually enjoy eating together without little fingers in our plates.

And who do those little fingers belong to? That would be little Miss Avery! I can't believe she will be ONE in less than two weeks!!!

She weighs 16 pounds- still a runt. She wears 6-9 month clothes, mostly. She wears some 12 month sleepers. She just started wearing size 3 diapers. She is staying in a home based daycare during the day, and Miss Heather says she eats more than the older kids. She just doesn't know why she's so little. We don't either. She eats her food and then always wants to share ours. I wish I had that metabolism!

She says "ma ma," "da da," and "na na no"! And just one time, when I was calling the dog to come inside, she said, "mon da-dee" (C'mon, Daisy), but I can't get her to repeat it. When she's getting into something that she shouldn't be, she'll turn around and shake her finger at you. B.A.D.!!! Her favorite place to be is the bath tub. She refuses to walk, but she still climbs the stairs every chance she gets.

We are gearing up for Avery's party and Halloween. I decided to go with brightly colored party supplies rather than pastels. They have a cute cupcake motif. I have a cake design in mind and have purchased the pan. I'll start getting all that done this coming weekend. Sydney is going to be a vampiress for Halloween, and Avery is going to be a butterfly.

Well, that's what we've been into! I hope you enjoyed this post. I'm not sure when I'll get around to another one! Hopefully I'll at least get a birthday and Halloween post in before the month is over!

Hanging Out

Other than learning how to sit up, crawl, pull up, and get into everything this summer, Avery has just been hanging out.

With stickers on her head...

In the pool...

In the tub...

In empty diaper boxes...

On the stairs...

And with her sister!

Baking on Tree Farm Road

I picked a bunch of blueberries from the bushes in the yard a few weeks ago. I wanted to bake something with them, so I found a recipe online for blueberry buckle. I had never had it before, but it sounded great!

It was similar to coffee cake and had a cinnamon butter crumble topping. Doesn't it look good!

It tasted good, too!

The Canning Experience

The pears have started to fall off the trees at the house. They make such a mess, and if you leave them on the ground, you end up with a rotten stinking mess and a yard full of yellow jackets! So, I decided that I would try my hand at canning and make a batch of pear butter. If you asked me five years ago if I ever wanted to try canning, I would have laughed. It's just something that I never thought I would do. It was a lot of hard work, but I actually really enjoyed it. And, as a bonus, the pear butter is delicious!

I had to buy a little canning kit and some jars. The canning kit was inexpensive, about $7. I bought pint jars so I could just use my large boiler for the water bath and not have to purchase a canner (extremely large pot that I have no place to store).

While Sydney was still asleep Saturday morning, Avery and I picked a laundry basket full of pears. Well, I picked. She watched and squealed because she loves being outside.

Then, I had to peel all those pears and cut them up into chunks. I don't think my hands have ever been that tired. Feet either, for that matter. I stood up the whole time, and I really wanted a stool. When I got finished, I was left with a sink full of mess to clean up and...

Two big pots of pear chunks!

I cooked the pears until they were soft and squishy.

Then, I drained the excess liquid and pureed them in the blender.

That made one LARGE bowl of pearsauce!

After I added the spices and other ingredients (allspice, ground cloves, nutmeg, orange zest, orange juice, and sugar), I put it back on the stove to cook down. As it cooks, the liquid evaporates, and it gets thicker.

I didn't know how much of a mess this was going to make, but it smelled so good. The whole house smelled like Christmas!

While the pear butter was cooking, I boiled the lids for the jars. I had already washed the jars earlier in the day.

After it had cooked down to the consistency I wanted, I used my nifty little canning utensil set to fill the jars. I am so glad I had that funnel! I wiped off the rims of the jars and put the lids and rings on.

Then, it was time for the water bath. The boiling water and pot full of glass jars scared me a little!

After 10 minutes in the canning hot tub, I removed the jars and put them on a towel to cool. I was so afraid that the jars wouldn't seal after all of my hard work. I just can't explain the joy I felt when I heard those lids start popping as they sealed!

And here is the finished product... 12 pints of delicious pear butter... canned, sealed, and cooled!

Yay me! I had some in my oatmeal this morning, and it was really good.

What an experience!

Holes

One child has two new holes in her head, and we're trying to prevent the other one from getting holes in her head... or breaking any bones!

Sydney got her ears pierced on Monday. She ran down the stairs at 11:15PM Sunday night. I thought something was wrong. She asked me if I'd take her to get her ears pierced in the morning. I couldn't believe it. She has always been too scared to do it. So, I took her the next day, and she went through with it. She picked the white gold & CZ earrings (of course, because they were the "sparkliest"). She is so excited about them!

Our littlest chickadee has learned how to climb the stairs. This child is everywhere! She learned to crawl a few weeks ago, and she was pulling up three days later. Now, two weeks later, she is climbing the stairs! The gate is getting installed tonight because I am tired of chasing her. But she is very proud of her accomplishment.

Hello Strangers!

Well, it has been a while since my last post. I made the last one a few days before I was laid off from my job. It has been quite a difficult time for me. With the lay off, we not only lost the income, but insurance benefits for the entire family. With two children, that is a big deal, but God is in control and has blessed us with our health. I am looking for a job, but the job market here is about the same as everywhere else- not much available! I did get a call today about some openings at a surgery center, so pray with me about that!




I have been enjoying extra time with the kids since I haven't been working. I'm pretty good at this stay at home mom thing. I get to spend time with the kids, keep the house in pretty decent order, and get supper cooked at a reasonable time. I need to hurry up and find a job because I could really get used to this!





So, I know you've all been on the edge of your seats wondering what we've all been up to, so here are some updates on everyone:

STEPHEN

• Still working all the time


• Got a toilet seat for Father's Day in retaliation for the phone charger I got for Mother's Day. (He also got a portrait of the girls in Alabama Crimson Tide dresses, a shirt, pajamas with handprints and footprints from the girls, and a book.)
  
• Has been mowing the huge yard with the push mower because the riding mower (that belongs to our landlords and they so graciously have let us borrow) bit the dust.

VICTORIA

• Celebrated my 8 year wedding anniversary with Stephen on June 15th. We got take out from Olive Garden, sat Avery in the middle of the table with a breadstick, and "enjoyed" a meal together before we retired to the living room and fell asleep. It was just perfect!


• Still haven't lost any of the baby weight.


• Still not getting much sleep!


• In amazement that I will soon have a second grader and that Avery will be a year old in 4 short months. I've already started looking at cakes!

SYDNEY

• Got out of school on June 8th. She finished 1st grade with all A's and "S" in everything except "Controls Verbal Expression." She cannot keep her mouth shut. I was able to attend her end of the year music program. They did Bambi as a musical.
• Has enjoyed staying up late and sleeping in since school has been out.
• Beat all the monsters on her Scooby Doo Wii game. (Thank goodness. I am tired of that thing.)
• Has been practicing her skate boarding skills. LOL!
• Gives free concerts and acrobatic shows during the commercials when we watch America's Got Talent.

AVERY

• Has finally learned to sit up well.
• Is still rolling all over the place instead of crawling, but she does at least get up on all fours.
• Is currently taking her diaper off while I am trying to write this blog entry.
• Says "ma ma" but does it with her tongue out, so I'm sure it's not really mama, but I pretend that it is!
• Still loves food and eats all the time but is still tiny. She still hasn't made it to 13 pounds. Soon though, soon.

Maybe I can get some pictures in the next post. Right now, I've got to go cover up a naked baby behind!