Quick 5

Let the 2015 Holiday Season commence.

1. The winter princess has arrived! (Or the hobo princess. It appears they are interchangeable.)

 2. Joya received some money for her birthday, so naturally for the past three weeks I've heard about it no less than 28 times a day. She wanted to take her $5.00 to Kohl's to buy one of those Kohl's Cares stuffed animals that they sell at the registers. I was hoping to wait for a few weeks for them to change them out, since Alaina got her one for her birthday. But alas, we could wait no longer. So Joya got to experience paying for something with her own money for the very first time. Meet Fiella, the giraffe.

3. We are already knee deep in third grade math for my second grader. She's humming along just fine in it. But I didn't realize that it would force ME to take third grade math all over again. I have to check her homework each night, which means when she does 100 math problems, I have to know those 100 answers by memory too. People who don't have kids really miss out on the elementary school review that comes with the territory.

4. This week I was burned by Once Upon A Child once again. I really need to buy used clothes, but that store is about to make me lose my ever-lovin' mind. I bought snow boots for Alaina from there this year. But she wore them on Tuesday, our snowy day this week, and came home with the interior of her boots completely saturated. Upon further examination, there were tiny holes in the bottoms of the boots. Which means the water got in. A few weeks ago she showed me a hole in the "brand-new" shirt from there too. What really chaps my hide about it is the fact that I've tried to sell my clothes there many times, and they often reject half of them claiming "slight staining" or "slight wear, " when in fact I know that they were only worn once or not at all. And then they have the gall to sell me DAMAGED CLOTHES. My hide is thoroughly chapped. I had to go buy boots from Walmart. I'm sure they'll last three weeks.

5. Apparently I accidentally started a business. Last month we had a lady come to MOPS to talk about nutrition. I always hate those talks, because I come away from them feeling hopeless. Of course nutrition is important and you need to eat more fruits and vegetables than anything, but I just couldn't do it. We don't like vegetables that much, and I can't bring myself to buy mostly things that we don't like and won't eat and will just have to throw away. But this lady introduced Juice Plus, which is simply concentrated fruits and vegetables in capsule or gummy form. I know that so many health problems can be solved or prevented with the correct amount of fruits and veggies, and Juice Plus is a giant leap toward getting the 7-13 servings you need each day. I signed up as a rep because it gave us a significant discount on the products, but apparently it means I can help other people get it too. We've been taking it for two weeks, and I'm also concentrating on making sure we actually eat more fruits and veggies too. But now I don't feel like I can't catch up anymore. So if you're ever interested, let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Quick 5

Houston, we have snow on the ground.

1. When Daddy is gone for a week, the leaves really pile up. Well, I mean a ton of them scatter all over the yard. His tool of choice these days is the leaf blower, blowing them into a pile. The girls LOVE that.

2. Life is busy these days. On Tuesday nights Alaina and I go to church for Christmas play practice. Most of the time we go by ourselves, but sometimes Lee has worship practice too, so we all have to go. Wednesday nights are AWANA nights. Having a steady commitment two nights a week makes our life feel so full. How on earth do people who have kids in sports do it?

3. Alaina had her Run for Funds event this week. She ran 43 laps. Last year she ran 33. She might be getting faster, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the track is actually getting smaller, since they really push for the kids to get pledges per lap. I don't exactly have proof, since I've never been actually able to go watch her run. But oh well. She ran 43 laps and had fun doing it. She loves to run fast.

4. Lee created a new game for the girls last week called Talent Show. Basically someone gets to stand up and do a talent, and everyone else has to sit on the couch and clap when they're done. All talents are welcome: musical, speeches, feats of strength or physical prowess, dancing, etc. Apparently Bria is willing but gets shy if you look at her in the eyes. She often does her songs while running around the house, down the hall, through our bedroom, through the kitchen and back down the hall. Joya likes to do puppet shows, but we're probably going to have to impose a time limit on those. Alaina has done 12 somersaults in a row. It's great fun.

5. My costume girls:

Yes, Joya's hair is always in her face. No, she does not let me put it up anymore.

Quick 5

The fastest, longest week ever.

1. Lee went on a missions trip with a group from church to Oklahoma this week. He left early Sunday and gets back tonight. So it's just been me and the girls. And it's been mostly fine, I guess. The best part of him being gone was that I got to make broccoli cheese soup. It was amazing, and he doesn't like food with broccoli cooked in it. But that was it. The rest was fine, but life is better when he's here.

2. As a result of Daddy being gone, Bria has had shortened naps (by 50 minutes) every day, and two late nights, due to church activities. She actually handled that much better than I ever thought she would. But then again, she is getting close to age three. Naps are becoming more and more just a good thing and not a vital thing.

3. The only incident to report was the fact that Bria got a bloody lip from knocking her head against another girl's in the nursery on Wednesday night. It really was relatively minor. I wasn't too concerned, but the sweet nursery ladies were. They even texted to check on her the next day. Bria is just fine.

4.  Last week, Alaina was nominated for a Core Value award at school. Each grade level nominates a student for whatever core value they are focused on for the week, and Alaina got the award for Integrity. It comes with a very nice certificate and a coupon for a free kids meal at Applebee's. It's terribly exciting.

5. That's all she wrote. Tonight we're having a Friday Fiesta in honor of Daddy coming home.

And life marches on.