Floam

Does anyone know what Floam is? If you don't, try and keep it that way.

Silas has begged for floam for a long time. Its like 9 bucks, and I always refuse to buy it. But a few months back, I saw some for like $4, so I bought it as a stocking stuffer. He was SO excited about it.

What a mistake. He ended up hating it too.

Its this nasty, sticky/slimy stuff with little Styrofoam balls in it. Its so sticky, you cant get it off your hands. You are supposed to form it into something or on something. Of course I ended up doing it, because Silas couldn't get it to go from his hands to the object we were sticking it on.

I HATE when I buy something that ends up being a complete waste, don't you? Ugh.

Biggest Loser

I didn't watch the entire Biggest Loser season. But I do just love the premise of the show. I love to see people's lives change. I think the next season with couples will be pretty good too.

I watch these pe0ple lose all this weight. They are so much healthier. I know they are proud of themselves and what they accomplished. Its AMAZING!

Its really just like when Jesus changes someones life. Its more dramatic. Its a change that is real and lasting, whereas 90% of the people who lose all that weight gain it back.

I love to see, on the Biggest Loser, the before and after shots. I love to see and hear about before and afters of people who are transformed because of what Jesus has done in them even more.

Happy Meals = Happy Kids

I don't give my kids fast food very often. Here are my reasons:

1. Cost
2. The unhealthiness of it
3. They don't eat the food, they just want the toy

Now, I will say that if we had a Chick-Fil-A, it would be a totally different story. But when my choices are McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's, we just don't go much. WHen my mom was visiting in early October, she bought Happy Meals for the kids, but that was the last time the kids had fast food. (Am I mean or just crazy?)

Until today...

We went with Stacy and Emma to deliver Meals on Wheels and Stacy treated the kids to Happy Meals. The kids were so good. They ate their food, they were very content while we drove around town delivering meals.

Its was great. Thanks Stacy.

Runaway Child

We had a good lesson learned today.

I was paying my membership at the Y. (A WHOLE other story on how my membership expired, I never got mail about it, I left several messages trying to pursue this...I finally got it settled today). I told the kids to stay near me.

Luke plucked a glass ball off the tree and shattered it on the floor. Silas pushed Hattie AND Luke down at separate times. I was sweating, as I had to RE-FILL OUT my membership form. Then, it went something like this:

Silas: Mom, Can I go get Hattie?

Me: Silas, don't bother me, I'm almost done.

Silas: I just want to go get her.

Me: Where is she?

Silas: She went outside.

Me: Stay here with Luke.

I go running outside just in time to see the top of Hattie's head go down the steps to the parking lot. I called her back.

At this point, I was just upset. Not mad, but frustrated. My kids weren't listening to me, I was having a time settling the Y business and my daughter just walked out of the building.

Well, Silas and Hattie sat still while I finished the application stuff. When we got in the car, I gave the lecture of their short little lives. I was very calm and I didn't yell. But I told them about the importance of obedience. I told them that there are bad people that will take children away from their parents. That is why you should always stay near mommy or daddy. I also told them acting the right way in public (not breaking things, not pushing, etc) is important so that they will turn into people that other want to be around. Oh if you could have just heard me.

I think I got my point across. I hope so. When I was done, Hattie said, I will change mama, don't worry.

Sqeuaky and Polar Bear

Well, we adopted Squeaky and Polar Bear last night. They are very nice guinea pigs. They enjoy being held and they love to eat. The kids fell in love. They are bigger than I thought, but that's good because they won't be as fragile as Snowcat.

Today Stacy and I baked all day. It was great. I'm so tired, but I am so excited about all the goodies we have to share (and EAT). Buckeye balls, pretzel kisses, Santa Surprises, Party Mix, and several other things. I put a batch of gumdrops together. Raspberry and Mint. They take a while to set, so we haven't sampled them yet. That should be interesting.

Thanks for all the love in regards to Snowcat. Silas says he doesn't want to talk about it anymore, I can only blog about him. Ha!

Tragedy

Well, yesterday, while Silas was playing with Snowcat (our gerbil), there was a terrible accident. Somehow Snowcat's claws got caught on the chair and when Silas tried to get him, he broke the gerbil's leg. Silas was crying, I was crying, Hattie was crying. Jody took the gerbil and put it in the cage. We looked up broken legs on a gerbil on the internet and basically it said that in 2 days, if its just a broken leg, the gerbil should be up an around.

All day we checked on him. Snowcat was still gnawing on cardboard. I saw his foot was bleeding and I think he was gnawing on it too, because he WASN'T bleeding at the original injury. On and off, Silas cried and prayed for his gerbil. When we went to bed, I checked on Snowcat and the kids. Everyone was breathing.

This morning, Snowcat was dead. He just looked asleep. Silas picked him up and started crying again. It was awful. I was so sad too. Hattie reminded Silas a few times today that "our gerbil is dead".

We are going to bury him in an empty toilet paper tube.

Jody found 2 guinea pigs for give away on Bisman Online and currently he is with Silas and Hattie. They were doing a little shopping and were going to "look at" the free guinea pigs.

Warm up

Last night I watched the weather before going to bed. The weatherman said, "we are expecting much warmer weather tomorrow, with the high being around 35. So, all you'll need tomorrow is a light jacket."

I laughed outloud. It made me think of my dad. I don't know how many times I've heard him say," if you don't wear your coat today, you might as well just throw it away" and I know it probably wasn't even as low as 35.

The weatherman also said we are most likely going to have a "warm" Christmas. Ok. I'll let you know how warm it is.

Ironic

This morning while I was taking Silas to school, I saw at a bank that it was 18 degrees. Then I saw at gas station that they were selling cold beer.

I don't know, it made me laugh.

Kirby Vacuum Salesman

Jody usually takes Friday's off, and today was one of those days. As we were cleaning up after lunch, a Kirby vacuum salesman came to the door.

It started off great. The kids were enthralled. Steve (that was the salesmans' name) was very patient with the kids. He let them try out this attachment and that. He vacuumed my stairs (which I hate), he vacuumed on top of my coat closet, vacuumed my eating area, dusted all my lamps and my living room blinds, and the best part what when he got these 2 stains out of the living room carpet and shampooed it and vacuumed it. He actually got a lot of my chores done.

HOWEVER....

He stayed at our house for 4 HOURS. I just couldn't believe it. What was even more unbelievable was the price. He wanted us to sell the us that vacuum for a little over $2000. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. We about choked when he told us that. Steve's upline came to try and convince us how much we needed the Kirby. How we should just build it into our mortgage. Jody was really holding out, and eventually the offer went down to a $1096.

The vacuum was phenomenal. But we could not rationalize that type of purchase. I was proud that Jody stood his ground. He did apologize for all the time the guy spent with us and that we didn't buy the vacuum from him. I don't think Steve and his upline guy bought our story. I'm sure they were disappointed. I'm sure they bad-mouthed us when they got into their van.

Oh well. We saved a bunch of money by not buying that great vacuum.

One great week

I am having such a nice week...I hope you are too.

Our church decided to bless us this week and make it Pastor Appreciation Week. We have had meals and treats delivered to our house. We have a gift card to go out on a date tomorrow and a babysitter. Then we have a Starbuck's card for Saturday. I have had VERY little dishes this week.

Yesterday my friend Stacy came over and we did some holiday baking. It was so fun. She did a few of her recipes and I did a couple of mine. We shared the booty and I now have SO many goodies now. But I am not complaining. We don't diet here at our house (I'm not saying I never will, I just haven't had to yet).

I just about have my packages ready to be sent off to Georgia, S Carolina and N Carolina. I wrapped some gifts this afternoon.

Its VERY cold outside. Jody has shoveled snow 3 times this week already. Silas enjoys helping and it is very sweet the way he wants to help. Even though its freezing outside, Hattie wore a ballerina tootoo one piece thing all day. Luke has become very interested in socks. He wore a pair of Jody's socks all day yesterday and today he has worn Silas's soccer socks (on his hands).

One verse I've been trying to live out this weeks is: Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ICor I3:5. Isn't that a good one? Good as in VERY hard to do as a stay-at-home-mom. I'm pretty easily angered a lot of times.

Hope you all are having a great week too.

The Count Down has begun

Silas has this incredible memory. Its kind of annoying. He has been HOUNDING me about the count down chain. At first I didn't even know what he was talking about. I had pretty much forgot about the chain I made last year.

He reminded me that I made a paper chain, red and green, last year. Every morning we'd rip one off and be one day closer to Christmas.

So today finally cut out my little strips. I wrote something on the inside of each one that we will do that day special, like read an extra book at bed time or have a hot chocolate treat...stuff like that. Silas helped me staple them together. He noticed 2 things right away. I didn't use paper. ( I didn't have any red and green paper this year) I used that foamy stuff. The second thing was that I added white this year. (I didn't have enough red and green). And he kept saying, I wonder what that one says.

The chain is part of the tree garland. And as Silas went to bed tonight he said, "We get to take the first chain off in the morning, right mom?" Oh the excitement.

First of all, just so you know, Jody did cut all that meat off the bone. It is currently in the freezer. And we made some delicious jerky.

I took Luke to the dr today for his 15month checkup and shots. The Dr saw immediately that he has an ear infection in EACH ear.

You know, when that happens, your heart just sinks. I can't believe I totally missed that. Poor baby. The only sign he gave me was that he was being pretty fussy the last couple of days. But no fever or loss of sleep. Isn't that pitiful.

Last night when I went to check on Hattie before I went to bed I had to leave the room quickly so I wouldn't wake her up with my laughing. She was laying on her back, arms spread out in a "T" shape. She had her blue hat and matching mittens on. It was SO funny.

Silas is really improving at hockey. He's enjoying it a lot. I think its more of a social thing to him. Several of his preschool friends are there. Its really a neat program. Its free and you can go Monday, Tuesday, and/or Wednesday.

Tomorrow we are expecting sleet or freezing rain. I'd rather have snow!