All I Want for Christmas...

We were out late last night at Confession. Then we had ice cream to celebrate, of course. Went to bed late because of the schedule change and all the sugar. Trudged out of bed this morning to get everyone moving. I'm running through the list of things to get done today and I'm wishing I had a magical fairy to help me out. Or maybe a button to stop time so I can take care of some things. I need to be in two or three places at once today and I don't see how that's gonna happen.

Henry and Frances are playing violin at a company Christmas party tonight. Then Frances wants to meet up with her boyfriend to walk in the Christmas parade and I have to get Henry to Benjamin's after school program so we can all walk the parade together. This involves costume changes and dinner on the run. I'm not even sure where we're all meeting up at the end of the night, so I am once again glad that Frances has a cell phone.

I told the bigs they could bring Christmas boxes up from the basement if they wanted to look for Santa hats to wear tonight. We also need to get our tree up and the house decorated. I'm about halfway through the Christmas shopping I need to do, but the kids want to do their own shopping and I'm not sure when we'll accomplish that.

Plus, we're supposed to be Advent-ing. Slowing down in expectation for Jesus' birth. I'm trying to fit in extra prayer and reflection time. I want to prepare my heart and not just my house. But that's hard when the secular and sacred collide every year. There's so much going on and it's all important. I am saying "no" to things. I'm not over-scheduling on purpose, this just seems to be the way the holiday season goes.

I want to enjoy this time more than I do. I love Christmas. I just wish there were more time to do all the Christmas things. It doesn't help that it gets dark at noon!

My perfect Christmas holiday would be more time. More time to spend with people. More time to do all the things we love doing, without them conflicting with each other. More time to sit in the quiet and reflect on the wonder of the season. And maybe time to take a little nap too.



Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 8 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado
The Bergham Chronicles
The Blogging 911
Cognitive Script
Never Ever Give Up Hope
Climaxed
Part-Time Working Hockey Mom

My subject is "What is your idea of the perfect Christmas holiday? Why?"
It was submitted by: https://batteredhope.blogspot.com

Hillsong Kids cd, Can You Believe It?

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Hillsong has a brand new album aimed towards helping your kids love God more.

Can You Believe It? is both a question and a challenge. Your kids will enjoy listening to and watching these fun music videos featuring lots of kids just like them! This collection, featuring both new and familiar songs is sure to delight kids of all ages...and their parents!

You can buy a copy here or try winning a copy below!
Hillsong Kids cd, Can You Believe It?

"Mommy, do you believe in aliens?"

He gave her that alarming smile, extended his hand said...

"Mommy, do you believe in aliens?"

"What? Go back to bed!" I said, slightly exasperated. Why must we go through this every night? Pondering the existence of aliens, remembering that one thing he meant to do earlier, inquiring about detailed plans for he next day; this boy does not like settling down and going to sleep!

Some day I know that I will miss these late night visits. I regret that he doesn't come into my room to ask inane questions. His questions are always accompanied by one last hug and snuggle. That's the part I'll really miss.

Watching your kids grow up is hard! There are moments that you can't wait to get through, and there are moments when you see glimpses of the adults they will be when they leave you. One day you're tearing your hair out over things; and the next you're fondly remembering combing hair and wiping faces.

We're at a good stage with the kids right now. They've been getting along and playing well together. It's a welcome change from the difficulties we had the past two years. I"m enjoying parenting right now. It's not all sunshine and flowers. I don't think it's ever all sunshine and flowers, but we are definitely breathing easier right now.

In this stage, the kids are all reading interesting books that I can read along with them and discuss. They are learning fun stuff in school and able to explain it in complex ways. They are going out with friends and participating in interesting activities. It's a fun stage!

We are also dealing with the entrance to middle school and the entrance to high school. That obviously causes some strife because those are all new things to get used to, but the kids seem to be mostly handling it well. Miraculously, so am I!

There's lots of change at our house with new schools, new activities, and new maturity. There's also lots of settling down. That's how life seems to be: a bit of both all the time.


Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 9 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado 
The Bergham Chronicles
The Blogging 911
Cognitive Script
Never Ever Give Up Hope
Part Time Working Hockey Mom
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo
Climaxed

My subject is “He gave her that alarming smile, extended his hand said... ”. It was submitted by https://cognitivescript.blogspot.com/.

Paint Pour Pumpkin

I love watching paint pouring videos. The process is mesmerizing and the results always turn out so cool! I've wanted to do one for a while, but I was a bit nervous because I had seen a few fails that made me wonder how difficult they actually were.

It turns out they are pretty simple, as long as you follow the directions.

First you'll need your supplies:

• acrylic paint in the colors of your choice
• something to paint (in this case, fake pumpkins from the craft store)
• pouring medium (found with the acrylic paint at the craft store)
• cups and stir sticks
• a place you can get messy or a tarp or box to get messy on

We had a bunch of random acrylic paint lying around, so that's what we used. I added the pouring medium directly to the bottles, since they were less than half full already. You'll want the mixture to be 50/50 paint and pouring medium. Tip it around after mixing. Does it flow easily? Then it's good. If not, add some more pouring medium. We shook them up good and then squirted them into a cup. We did all this outside so the mess wouldn't be too bad, but we kept things inside a box lid as an additional precaution.

Once Henry had added the colors the way he wanted, he simply poured it over the top of our pumpkin. Watching and listening to his delight was honestly the best part of the whole project for me. He was absolutely delighted with how it turned out!

We left the pumpkin on the porch for a day or so to dry. Now it's sitting on the steps with my mums for a bit of decoration!

Our Blog With Friends theme for October is Spooky and Fun. Check out these other projects!

Karen of Baking in a Tornado has a Spider in his Spider Web Cake Project

Lydia of Cluttered Genius has a DIY Canvas Art {frighteningly easy!}

Dawn from Spatulas On Parade made a Cat PoopProject