Hand-Me-Downs

I've always loved hand-me-downs. I loved being the recipient as a child. I love swapping maternity clothes and kids clothes with my sister. My mom and Joy always pass me "mint-condition" clothes. Having 4 kids, its nostalgic, seeing a little one in clothes that I saw a few years earlier.

Toys are another animal. Toys will take over your LIFE if you let them! But when we lived overseas, I started putting up some toys and changing them out every few months or so. It was like NEW toys!

A few years ago I got this rocking horse for Hattie. She played with it a little, but it took up space and wasn't really played with, so since we've lived here, its been up in the attic.

But what do you get a 2yr old for her birthday? They don't need anything. They don't even really know its their birthday day, or at least what that means. I can't STAND spending money on something that I know won't be used, that I'm just buying to buy. But taking a rocking horse down from the attic and re-gifting it??? I'm not beneath that!

So, this is what Millie received for her birthday and she LOVED it!! Everyone's love for this horsey has been rekindled. Its pretty funny. Call me cheap...I call it thrifty!


(pardon the blurriness, I could not get her to stop rocking!)

This Little Girl

this little girl....

lights up our world!


She's fun.

She's funny.

She's full of life!

She loves to
color
sing
tell everyone what to do
pray
greet people
{whether at the store, at the college,
at church, or as people come into our house}

She does NOT like
to be told NO
to be separated from her siblings
people leaving her presence
watching TV
sweet tea



What a blessing she has been these 2 years to our family!
We love you Millie Grace!!!

Questions and thoughts

....are we really due for another bout with the stomach bug?

...I LOVE Trader Joe's, wish it were a little bit closer!

...why are the terrible 2's (aka sinful behavior + newly discovered vocabulary + independence) starting before the actual birthday?

...I'm afraid Christmas commercials are going to start BEFORE Halloween next year. I mean, really? Already?

...my Grama "B" is the oldest person I know. She's going to 97 tomorrow!

...how can I instill more gratefulness and generosity in my children during this upcoming season?

...I have so much to be thankful for!

Halloween 2010

This year I tried something new. I attempted a more homemade halloween (with the help of some of my sweet college girls). My kids LOVE dressing up, all year long. They always have. We have 2 bins full of choices! But this year, here is what we did:

Millie is in Hattie's Old Navy chicken costume from 2006. It brought back some cold memories of our first Halloween in North Dakota!

Luke has been introduced to Johnny Appleseed in K4 this year. He fell in love. So with a foam/cardboard pot for a hat and a burlap sack over his shoulder, he was so proud to portray his new hero!

Hattie would love to have blond hair, so we decided to attempt to make a wig so she could be Rapunzel. We followed a pattern from Family Fun's October issue. Its yarn sewn in small bunches onto a panty hose cap. She is wearing a nightgown that was mine, made by my grandmother, when I was a little girl!

Silas wanted to be Abraham Lincoln. He loved feeling tall in the top hat. He was sure that he looked so much like Lincoln that no one would recognize his as Silas! He loved knowing how much Abraham Lincoln loved reading just like him.

We had a great time going around to the girls dorms and also at our churches Harvest Festival. What a fun weekend!