Shopping Done!

I feel renewed and refreshed! Yesterday my sweet friend, Audra and her husband offered to watch our kids while we go get some Christmas shopping done. As you know from the previous post I have been quite worried about not having any gifts squared away. I did not want to wait until the last minute to do all of the gifts at once, so we ended up doing it all at once early! Yikes! Les and I had so much fun picking up the toys on our list at the crowded toy stores. I don't think we have ever Christmas shopped for the kids together. I usually get them while I am out and then we shop for other family together. So this year was fun! We ate at Cheddars and got Starbucks later in the evening. We got almost everything for the kids! Woohoo. Now I have got to check the bank! Audra said the night went well, but the kids woke up at 6:00 this morning. Oooops, I forgot to mention how Nolan wakes up at sunrise and then gets excited easily when friends are around. Sorry Audra, I owe you BIG time!

My Christmas Gift Dilemma - HELP!

WARNING THIS IS A LONG POST, BUT PLEASE HELP!

By this time of the year I usually already have over half of my Christmas gift buying done. This year for some odd reason, I have yet to buy one gift! Yikes. My heart is pounding and I am getting nervous just typing about it. I do not like to wait until the last minute because then I am totally stressed and end up buying whatever is leftover on the shelves at the store. I like to have the shopping pretty much done by Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holidays and not stress over what to buy and dealing with crowds. This year I want my gifts family members to mean something, be personal, and not be in a garage sale in the spring! Each year "Santa" brings gifts for my kids that he could have done without! The kids did not even play with them for thirty minutes. What a Waste! I do not want to waste any money this year, so I am doing some research before I buy. I am really making sure that the kids' lists for Santa are things they really want and not something they just saw on TV or in a magazine. I suppose this is why I have not bought anything yet. I try to persuade the kids the toys that I think they would like, but there are always a few things they want that is just down right ridiculous. As most of you know, I was a teacher for two years, but it always runs in my blood. I love love love educational toys. For example, my kids really want the game Hungry Hungry Hippos, but I refuse to buy that game for two reasons: 1. The billions of little balls that come with it and 2. there are no learning values to that game! Sad, I know. Kids all over love that game, but I would rather spend money on games that teach or make the kids think. Do you see where I am having trouble? I wish I was the type of person that could just buy whatever my kids want, but unfortunately I am not. Number one I do not have that kind of cash and number two the cash I do have I want to go as far as possible. I do not want to buy toys this year that are just junk! I love toys that have won awards like the Oppenheim Toy award, or Parents Choice Awards. Granted some of those I do not like either. I really do not want to sound like a pessimist because I love buying kids toys, I just don't want to waste my money. I have found a great website about toy testing and the Oppenheim awards. I have placed it in my blog watch for you all to look at as well. Does anyone else have this problem? I look for moms to blog about their gift giving ideas for their kids, but I have not found any. Please blog about this topic or leave a comment on some ideas of what I can get or just what works for your kids. Maybe it will spark some ideas. I am listing some of my kids' favorite toys that might be helpful for you as well.

Here is a little background on Nolan and Leslie's playtime that might be helpful in giving suggestions on toys. Nolan does not play with toys much, actually. However, he will clean to his heart's desire, but this makes it hard at Christmas. You know that commercial for a vacuum cleaner where the kid opens up a new one for Christmas and is so excited! Well that would be Nolan. Lucky, I know. He will sweep, dust, clean windows, and rake leaves. He is actually now capable of mowing the yard too! Nolan will play board games or the XBox 360, but that is the main thing he will do inside. The boy is always outside tinkering, riding bikes, or throwing around a ball. In the winter, he gets cabin fever real easily because he cannot go out to "him-haw" around. So I would like to purchase some more games and indoor things to play.

Leslie is actually pretty easy to buy for, but like I said, I don't want to buy her junk toys. She plays really well alone with her dollies and Barbies. All in all, Leslie will play with ANYTHING!

This is what is on our lists thus far for Leslie and Nolan. Most of these toys do not have educational value like I want, but it is what the kids are asking for. Do you know anything about these toys?

Huffy Green Machine
Barbi Stylin' Head
Ponyville Sweet Sundae Park
PollyPocket Cruise Ship
PollyPocket Race to the Mall
FurrReal Panda Baby
Barbi Sing along CD player
Moon Shoes
Nerf Tag

Things I Would Like to Purchase:
Acoustic Guitars for both
American Girl Doll Accessories like the scooter and pony
Sorry Sliders Board Game
Cat in the Hat I can Do That Board Game
Cadoo by Cranium
Hullaballo by Cranium
Any of your suggestions.............

Les wants to buy Nolan a junior bow and arrow and BB rifle Yikes!

Toys the kids have received in the past that have held up well and liked well:
Dora Magical House
American Girl Doll
Barbi Sing along Radio
Tea Party Sets
Barbi Horse
Dress up Clothes

Lincoln Logs
Any cars
Mini Ranch toys, like cowboys, hunters, fisherman, cattle
Plug N Play Shooting games
Nerf Gun
Art sets

Okay there you have it. Please blog or leave a comment on what you would suggest or just what you are planning on buying. Thank you so much!

Free and Clear

Well we should be in the free and clear from the strep throat infection, unless I just now jinxed myself! Nolan was the only one that was infected, Leslie never got it. I say we should be in the free and clear because apparently it takes 3 to 5 days for incubation period and it has been 5 days. Woo hoo. Nolan is totally sold on taking shots now. Seriously, he only had the strep for a matter of hours before the doctor gave him a high potent penicillin shot and by that evening he was much much better. So, the other day Nolan was scratching his eczema and asked, "Mommy, do they have a shot for the 'itchies' too?" I laughed. Normally I am not a type of mom to give my children medicine for every little scratch and runny nose, but when Nolan gets sick (not very often) it really puts him down. The shot was great!

Okay on another note, a funny story:

Leslie was playing "big girl" and was writing in a little colorful notebook. She was making tickets and writing every one's name, or at least she thought she was. I said, "Leslie what are you writing that is so important?" She replied, "Oh, Mommy, this is a very special book. It is my diarrhea!" I laughed aloud for just a moment until I saw the frustrated look on her face. "Mommy don't laugh" she yelled. So I straightened myself up and explained that she was writing in her DIARY and diarrhea is when you have the squirts on the toilet. She started laughing and understood why I was laughing. You just got to love kids and their way of understanding things.

Bum Days

Nolan and I are sitting at home staring at each other wishing we were on our way to Dallas for Leah's birthday. We had big plans to do some Christmas shopping and eat at the Magic Time Machine for my brother's daughter's eighth birthday, but sickness has struck! We spent the night at my mom's house last night so we could get up and leave bright and early Saturday morning. Plans changed when Nolan came to my bed in the middle of the night and whimpered the words, "Mommy, my throat hurts." Yep there have it, Nolan was diagnosed with Strep throat. On a good note, this is the very first time we have ever had it in our household. Not bad since Nolan is already 6 1/2 years old. He got a high potent penicillin shot, so he should feel better by Monday. Sadly, though, we are sitting here at home instead of shopping and having fun. Oh, I forgot to mention that we currently do not have a TV because some strong winds LAST WEEK moved the satellite dish! My brother in law was going to come over and fix it, but I told him not to bother that we will be out of town the ENTIRE weekend. Urgh!

I Have Hope!

I am sorry if I offended anyone with my previous post. I tried not to bad mouth either political party but to just have faith in our God. I was not able to sleep much last night as I wandered exactly where Obama stood in his religion. So I have done a little research myself and I found this website that has his Keynote Address in written format that explains his views on politics mixed with religion. Of course he is very general in all of his statements, and it is really quite hard to figure where he fits in. However I do feel better knowing that he does believe in God and does realize that our nation's founders were Christians. I also feel better just knowing that he does pray to God. That alone comforts me in a sense that he does have somewhat of a relationship with the Lord. As an American I can do nothing but HOPE that he will change our nation for the GOOD. Hope that he will live up to all of his promises. Hope that he will keep God in his heart.

Hope.

A Test for All Christians

Warning: If you are considerably sensitive to the election then you might not want to read this. I am a Christian American and I have a right to my opinion.

With that said....

I am typing this with a tear in my eye and so very thankful for my Christian background and home that I have today. Thanks to my Jesus loving mother and father, I have an unbelievable relationship with my Lord. My heart is heavy tonight as I watch the election results and think how the Christian faith is going to be tested. People are wanting a change (so I hear on the news on the reasons they voted) and boy are we Christian Americans are going to be in for a change. It is now that we are going to have to be more faithful than ever and continue to build our home and families on our dear God and His word. Things are more than likely going to swing against our beliefs and we are going to have to stand strong on our faithfulness and trust in God that we make the right decisions. I will continue to think back on the most meaningful yet disturbing sermon I ever heard from our past preacher, whom I loved to hear teach the Word of God. He stated how the "law" has taken or tried to take our God from different things, like prayer in schools and God in the Pledge but are we Christians going against the grain and keeping our beliefs and faith anyways. Are we still teaching our children to pray before school and to keep God in our hearts no matter what is being said and done. This really hit home for me.........especially now. Things are going to change that we do not agree with, but are we going to do it anyways or do it the way God wants us to live. I am going to build my relationship with my Lord even stronger because He is the One we live for. He is the only One that matters. He is the only One we will have to answer to. He is the reason we are all here! If this means no more news watching or even television, then be it. I am promising my Lord that I will be the best possible Christian and Christian mother that I can be. I will teach my children by reading the Bible (I already do, but even more now) and expressing His love more each day to them. I promise to live the way God wants us to live. Now is the time for us all Christians to stand up for what we believe and TEACH IT! I thought we lived in a Christian based country, but sadly tonight I have realized that, indeed, we do not. However, I do have trust in the Lord that there is a reason for the results tonight, and that he will take care of us. I place my worries in His hands. Please pray and keep your faith!

Witchy Woman

We had a wonderful time last night. The kids were enjoyable to be around (after having an already long day) and super excited about Grandma's birthday and trick-or-treating. Leslie and I were in the bathroom putting on her glitter make-up when all of a sudden we heard, "There is one of my little munchkins!" Leslie's eyes grew big and yelled, "Grandma!" while running into the living room. Nolan was staring at the woman dressed in a black dress with a huge hat and purple socks on her feet. She had glitter coming from her eyes with a jeweled wort on her nose. She kind of looked like Grandma and kind of smelled like Grandma, but did not act like Grandma. Her true colors really came out! SHE HAD FINALLY TURNED INTO A WITCH on her 60 "something" birthday! The children, not just mine, were mesmerized by her. Oh, I forgot to mention she had a big necklace with different charms hanging that she claimed would cast special spells through the night. Nolan and Leslie loved to ask what each charm does special. Once the newness of the witch Grandma was somewhat over, the kids were ready to get dressed for the trick-or-treating event downtown. Leslie of course wanted glitter all over her like her Grandma, and...........Nolan too. They all giggled the entire night. We all headed downtown to collect some candy and the Witch stayed right with the Carmen Miranda and Darth Vader. She had just as much fun going booth to booth as the kids. Later we drove to a Mexican restaurant to have dinner and then hit up a haunted house and a neighborhood for some good old fashioned trick-or-treating. When we finally made it back home we surprised Grandma with a homemade (well a box) chocolate cake and presents. What a fun Halloween night!

Leslie at her preschool party yesterday morning

Nolan did not have a party.........

Yep, you do see fish net hose and purple socks!