I'm Stacy - a disciple of Christ, an Army wife, and a homeschooling mom to our 7 year old daughter. I spend my days doing fun science projects, going on field trips, cooking gluten-free meals, taking photos, reading, blogging & managing the home. I'm constantly behind on scrapbooking and want to learn how to crochet more than scarves, but there are only so many hours in the day.
I believe that shoes should always be optional, life is better at the beach, and chocolate is a necessary food group!
More details about me & my family
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* Celebrated the 4th of July with fun Red, White & Blue popsicles!!
* Ate lots and lots and lots of WATERMELON!
AUGUST
* Celebrated Hubby’s birthday with a family dinner at home. His mom made YUMMY chicken fried steak, and Lovebug had a lemonade stand right in our kitchen!
* We said goodbye to Daddy as he left to begin his Army training!
SEPTEMBER
* Visited Hubby for the first time on post. It’s official – he’s in uniform, and I’m an Army wife!
* Went to the Texas State Fair!
* Went to Hubby’s graduation and said goodbye as he left Oklahoma & headed to Missouri
* Found a new favorite park!
* Got Lovebug’s DADDY DOLL!! Can’t replace the real thing, but this sure helps a lot!
* Celebrated Fall & Halloween with lots of fun activities! Lovebug was our own little Soldier for Halloween!
NOVEMBER
* Lovebug lost her first tooth!
* We visited Hubby in Missouri at his new training station!
* We said goodbye to our foster son, as he was moved to a new home. Definitely the saddest time of the year! We so hoped he would be a forever part of our family.
* Enjoyed Thanksgiving with the whole family – Hubby even got to come home for a couple days!!
* Decorated for Christmas!
* Enjoyed more sleepovers with Granny!
DECEMBER
* Lovebug and I enjoyed lots of fun Christmas activities including parades, snow slides, & baking! Our December activities would take several posts, so I’ll just share a couple of my favorite pictures!
* We celebrated Christmas with Hubby at home for a few days!
* Took down our Christmas decorations, and started taking apart furniture to prepare for the move! Less than a month to go!
* Tonight, Lovebug and I celebrated New Year’s Eve pretty simply. We spent a couple hours getting new books from the library, watched “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” while enjoying an ice cream cone, then went to bed at a normal time. Looking forward to enjoying our New Year’s Day tradition of ice cream sundaes and lots of playing time at home!
We’ve definitely had our ups and downs this year, but God is great and has taken care of us every step of the way. We started the year unemployed and in total we were out of work for 8 months. We never needed for anything. The Lord provided for us everything we needed. Now, we are starting on this amazing adventure together as a family as we enter Army life! I can’t wait to see what the next year holds!
At the end of every year, I like to sit and reflect on the previous year’s events. I like to think about the upcoming year, the plans we have, the goals we set. The time goes by so very fast and if I don’t take time to purposefully sit and reflect on it, it all blurs together.
I’ll talk soon about the goals I have for this year and things that are coming up, but first I want to look back at last year. We have had some great times, some hard times, and some life changing ones too. Let’s review!
JANUARY
* My grandmother passed away and went on to be with the Lord
* I served with good friends at an overnight retreat for homeless and impoverished women, and came away blessed beyond measure!
* Hubby signed the paperwork to re-join the Army.
FEBRUARY
* Hubby & Lovebug went to their first Daddy-Daughter dance
* We had record-setting amounts of SNOW in Texas! Hubby made the coolest snow fort with slide ever! Lovebug and her friend next door played on it ALL day!
* We brought home a 7 day old baby boy to be our foster son for what turned out to be 9 months. His mom was a woman I met the month before at the overnight retreat.
MARCH
* We missed out on a lot of sleep with a new baby, but we had a great time!
* Had a fun St. Patrick’s day with green food, clover-shaped pizza, and Irish bread!
* We celebrated Lovebug’s 100th day of Kindergarten by taking her bowling (10 pins x 10 frames = 100) for the first time! She came in 2nd place out of the 3 of us. I’ll admit, I lost big time!
* MORE SNOW!
* Lovebug and I went to the Dallas Blooms festival at the Arboretum with friends and enjoyed the beautiful flowers!
* Had a super fun Easter Egg Hunt at our church
APRIL
* Celebrated our Risen Savior on Easter! We made “Empty Tomb Rolls”, and spent the day with family.
* Lovebug got to ride a CAMEL!
* Lovebug took a HOCKEY class, and overcame lots of personal obstacles to do a rocking job!
MAY
* Celebrated Mother’s Day with the world’s largest card, my awesome daughter, my mom, & Hubby’s Granny!
* I turned 36!
JUNE
* Lovebug was BAPTIZED!! Highlight of the year!!
* My baby turned 6 years old and celebrated in style at the RODEO – Mutton Bustin’ and all!
Ok, that’s half of the year! Next half in the next post!
We did a great job at keeping it simple for Lovebug this year, and she ended up with some great things!
We filled her stocking with sensory appropriate goodies, and she loved them all! Dye-Free bubble bath, stickers, chew toys (oral needs), a new vibrating toothbrush, some organic yogurt covered raisins, and an apple.
Other than the stocking, she received ONE gift from us. Just one. It only cost $10 too It was the one thing she told me over and over that she wanted.
This LEGO set:
I don’t know what about it she found so interesting, but she had been talking about it for weeks! I was going to order it online, but it was backordered, so I took a chance and went to the LEGO store at a local mall. I got the last one!!! Praise the Lord! I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t find it. It was the one thing she was fixated on.
Needless to say, she was THRILLED Christmas morning.
From the grandparents, the LEGOs kept coming, and she couldn’t have been happier! She is so excited about her new obsession and I’m just starting to think about how we are going to store all of these.
My parents got her a set of minifigures. She loves the Lego people, and she almost drooled when she saw this set in the store. I promptly told her to save up her money because I wasn’t buying it (I’m a mean, cheap Mommy!). She was happily surprised when she opened this!
Hubby’s mom got the Star Wars LEGOS for our whole family, and I wish I had a picture of her excited face when she opened this. She hasn’t seen the movie yet, but she’s fascinated with Star Wars because she has all of Daddy’s action figures from when he was a kid. She has a ball playing with them. We will have so much fun working on these together, especially Daddy & Daughter!! I love them too, but it’s precious to see them working together on them. Daddy knows all the characters and Lovebug just eats it up listening to him explaining which ones are the good guys and which ones are the bad guys.
Other than that, she got BOOKS from both grandparents. She also got spending money from Granny, which she spent today at Half Price Books. She made some great choices, and got the best bang for her buck I think! She loves to read, so she’s just loving it!
Nice and simple. Legos and books. It was so nice to see her get things she liked, but also to keep it simple enough that she had lots of time to play with her new toys without being overwhelmed with too many. She’s already logged hours reading books and playing with Legos, and we will enjoy these things for years to come!
Hubby and I didn’t give each other anything this year. We were being frugal, and we ended up doing a lot of charity giving instead. We both decided that while we definitely plan on continuing the charitable giving each year, it’s also fun to pick out a small gift for each other, and to work with Lovebug to make the other parent something like we did last year. So, we’ll probably bring that back. Even with a $10 limit or so, it’s fun to give the other person something to open too. There can be a happy balance.
I’ve been spending the last few days enjoying having my husband home, and I’ll be spending the next couple of days hanging out with dear friends, so it looks like the big blog updates are going to wait until next weekend!
For now, I’ll leave you with some previews of our Christmas time as a family!
We spent Christmas Eve at church, with Hubby’s mom & grandmother
We spent Christmas morning at home, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and ate our traditional French Toast Casserole. We spent the afternoon at my parents’ house eating way too much great food, then burning a little of it off playing the Wii! Hubby’s family joined us there, and we all had a great time! We had birthday brownies for Jesus, but somehow I didn’t get a single picture of them. We were too busy eating them all!
Hubby, his mom, and Lovebug
Hubby’s grandmother (“Granny”) & Lovebug
Here is Lovebug with my parents…..the rest of us didn’t get the wardrobe memo!
The day after Christmas was spent going to church, hanging out with the family at our place for a little Wii competition, & enjoying Lovebug’s new stash of LEGOS!
Monday morning, Lovebug helped Daddy make his famous pancakes! She says “Daddy makes the BEST pancakes!”, and I have to agree!
That afternoon, we enjoyed a little outside time…
…then we started taking apart furniture in preparation for our upcoming move.
We’ve read countless Christmas books, played games as a family, and have had way too much sugar. But most of all, we had lots of fun together and enjoyed celebrating Jesus’ birthday!
We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
As our cross country move is approaching, I’m finding myself overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that we have. I’ve already made several trips to the Salvation Army to purge some of it. We don’t have any LARGE things to get rid of, and I don’t want to take the time for a yard sale so donating it seems to be the way to go. I just don’t want to take it all with us. There are so many things in this house that we haven’t touched in the 4 years we’ve been here. I seriously doubt we will suddenly need them once we move.
Stuff takes up time and energy when you have to clean it, put it away, then find it again when you want it. It can also be visually overwhelming as you look around and everything is crowded. Like walking through the mall on Christmas Eve.
Our income is already less as an Army family, and we already know that our new home will be smaller than this one. Thankfully, we are in a very modest home now at 1500 square feet, but we will likely be living in something around 900-1000 square feet. We’ve done quite a bit of research and have a very specific budget that we plan to stay in as we do not want to exceed our BAH (Basic Housing Allowance) that the Army gives us. Therefore, we will live in a smaller place.
We only have the 3 of us, plus a cat, so it’s totally doable. I do really hope we are able to find a 3 bedroom house to live in, rather than just 2 so that we can become foster parents in our new state. We need that 3rd bedroom for that. I’m leaving that up to God though. If He is ready for us to continue on our foster parenting journey, then I know He will provide just the house we need.
As I prepare for the movers that will come in a month, I’m planning to follow the advice I’ve received and place like things together around the house (photo frames in one place, linens in another, books all together, etc) so that the movers will pack like things together. As I’m working on this, I’m having the urge to just get rid of anything that we don’t use regularly. I don’t need more stuff to keep up with, clean, unpack, and find a home for. Clutter gives me stress, and a lot of it. I like things to have a “home”. The less room we have, the less places we will have to put things. If the stuff doesn’t have a home, that means it becomes clutter.
Some things take up a lot of room, but are worth it – like our homeschooling supplies. Craft supplies, the laminator, books, workbooks, crayons – it all gets used daily, so it stays. Things like winter jackets and extra blankets take up room but have a purpose. Even those, I’ve gone through and got down to the basics.
Other things can go! The glass decanter on top of the cabinets that has never had liquid inside it. The snowman dishes that my mom bought me a few years ago because I thought they were cute. They are twice the size of a normal dinner plate, don’t fit in the dishwasher, and are hardly used. I’m sure they would make someone else very happy.
My cookbooks are another area I could purge again. There are a couple sentimental ones in there from my husband’s childhood, but I’m sure most of them could go. Otherwise, I get most of my recipes online now.
My other books…that full bookshelf in our bedroom…it hurts to let them go, but I need to. It’s not like I read the same books over and over. I just keep them “in case”. We are regular visitors at the library (as in so regular, I’m surprised they don’t have an air mattress for me to just sleep there!) – so I can usually find what I need there anyway.
Lovebug has been awesome about purging her toys! We are trying to simplify there too. She has very specific things that she plays with over and over. The rest – not so much. We keep one box out in the shed of toys to rotate in and out with the things she has in her room. Honestly, so much of it is “out of sight, out of mind” that she never even asks for it. We recently gave away several toys that she wasn’t playing with and donated them to a small church that was building up their children’s area.
All in all, I’m looking forward to it! I’m excited about having less stuff to manage, and more time to just spend with my family and building relationships.
This next year is going to be a challenge for me as I attempt to manage our household a lot more simply. To live on a much smaller budget while still feeding our family natural, organic, healthy foods. To homeschool our daughter using supplies on hand, or things we can get cheaply to supplement the curriculum we already have. To entertain our family on outings and adventures by finding the frugal or free things to do in the new city. To keep our house organized and tidy, and to have dinner prepared most nights in time for us to all sit down together as a family.
This morning we were rushing out the door to the grocery store because I overestimated how much toilet paper we had left when I went to the store a couple days ago (to avoid the crowds).
I told Lovebug to grab a friend (one of her many stuffed animals) to bring with her, and she came running back with her parrot/macaw saying, “I got my BEST BUDDY!”.
Me: “BEST buddy? Wow! Even more than Peanut?”. Peanut is her elephant that has been her best friend since Christmas 2007.
Lovebug: “No, (with the DUH tone) Peanut is my best FRIEND. Macaw is my best BUDDY”
Huh?
Me: “What’s the difference?”
LB (said in her best annoyed teenager voice): “Friend starts with an F, and Buddy starts with a B. Friend ends in D, and Buddy ends in Y.”
Oh yea, silly me. How in the world did I not know the difference between those two words?
I love my little literal girl!! She makes me smile. Every single day.
This past weekend, Lovebug and I went to a local city’s Christmas on the Square! It was so much fun! The entire street was decorated with beautiful lights, programmed to the music (click here for video).
They had bounce houses, a balloon artist, and a SNOW SLIDE! First we watched Santa parachute in, which was fun. Lovebug kept talking about how she got to watch Daddy skydive like that – she was so proud! Then, we headed over to the Snow Slide to get in line early. What fun! We would have done it over and over if the line hadn’t been so long.
Here is a video I took of her going down. I was going down right beside and behind her. Can you tell she loved it?
We wandered around the square for a while, browsed in a couple shops, and watched the hot air Balloon Glow. Those balloons were so pretty at night, and we were able to walk right up to the baskets and chat with the people. I’ve never touched the basket of a hot air balloon before, so that was fun. I would LOVE to go for a ride in one, but you know those things cost around $250 per person for a ride? OUCH!
We attempted to go for a carriage ride, but after waiting in line for 45 min or so, Lovebug desperately had to go to the bathroom! I felt so bad for her. She just couldn’t wait, and the bathroom was far enough away, I didn’t feel right asking them to hold our place in line. So, we bailed on the line, went to the bathroom and decided to jump in line for another Snow Slide instead! This time we went down holding hands – me facing backward and her forward.
What a great night!
Fun with Frosty!! It still amazes me that she is either completely terrified of these dress up characters, or runs up to hug them. It’s one extreme or the other, and I never know which way it will go.
Rumor has it, when I was a child I often said “I do it myself!”. I was, and still am, pretty “in-de-pen-dent”. Just like the misfit dentist on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” movie.
I also grew up hearing “You only fail, if you fail to try”. Well, the reality is that sometimes you fail even if you try.
Today I failed.
I failed to change my own flat tire.
I sure tried though! I went out to head to the grocery store this morning while Granny was here watching Lovebug. I told her if she’d stay here and let me go alone, I’d get her Christmas groceries for her while I was there. Deal!
Then I pulled out of the driveway and heard it. Thump. Thump. Thump.
That didn’t sound right. I got out and checked and sure enough, my front-right tire was flat. Seriously FLAT, not just low. So I backed the van back into the driveway and weighed my options.
I could ask our helpful next door neighbor to do it. Nope, his truck isn’t there.
I could call USAA. Hmmm, we DO pay for the service after all.
Or I could do it myself. I never have changed a tire ALL by myself. Might be empowering.
Or it might just be amusing.
I went inside to change shirts as I prepared to get messy and win this battle. Hear me roar!
Or maybe it was a meow.
I had to check the manual to figure out how to get to the jack and to get the spare out from under the vehicle. Ok, not so bad. I managed to lower the spare under the car.
The next step was to loosen the lug nuts on the tire before jacking up the vehicle.
Loosen them with WHAT? There wasn’t a tool for that with the jack. I cheated and sent a txt message to my husband, and when he realized what I was attempting he promptly called me to remind me that I could just call USAA and they would do this for me.
But I wanted to be in-de-pen-dent. At least, after he told me where to find the tool I needed.
I hung up with him and got back to work. Now, to loosen those lug nuts.
Grunt! Groan! Push! Pull! Kick! Stomp!
Did they put these things on with SUPER GLUE?
I tried and tried and managed to get ONE of them loose. ONE! That wasn’t going to do it.
If it had just been my arms, I would have keep trying. I really would have. But I started to feel it in my back, and I was not about to risk throwing out my back 3 days before I get to see my husband for the first time in a month. Capiche?
So I marched inside waving my white flag and took Granny’s car to the store. I called USAA when I got back and a nice gentleman came to change my tire. He looked normal, but he must have really been a body builder or on steroids because he got those lug nuts off like he was opening a pop-top!
So much for in-de-pen-dent!
Maybe getting help isn’t so bad. At least we are getting our money’s worth from the Roadside Assistance.
Let me preface this by saying that I don’t have a problem with kids believing in Santa. I think it’s fun, sweet, innocent, and embraces the spirit of giving. So, I’m not saying you should give that up at all. I would, however, like you to consider HOW you use Santa in your home.
Imagine this…
You are a young child and you work hard to please your parents & your teachers. All year long you hear “You better be good, or else Santa won’t bring you any toys”. So you do your best, but you make mistakes. Just like we all do. You have good days, and bad days. You have days that are harder to obey than others. But you try, you really do.
You’ve learned that your parents love you no matter what. Even on the days you get in trouble, you have no doubt they love you.
As it gets closer to Christmas time, you hear it more often…I’ve heard it so many times in the last week that I’ve lost count.
”You better be good, or Santa won’t bring you any presents!”
“You be good or you’ll get nothing for Christmas!”
So you try. You really do. You feel awful when you make mistakes because you really really want to get that new toy, and you are scared, worried and anxious. What if you get nothing?
Then, Christmas arrives, and you receive whatever your parents could afford to get you. A new soccer ball, a Barbie, some new clothes, a Lego set…whatever it may be. You are excited! Maybe Santa didn’t get everything on your list, or maybe it wasn’t exactly what you had chosen, but it was for you and that made you happy.
Until you talked to your friends or the other kids at school.
Why did Betsy-the Bully get more presents than you did from Santa? Why did she get the whole dream house while you got just one doll? Why did that mean ol’ Bobby get a fancy battery powered ride-in car, and you got Hot Wheels?
There is only one explanation if you believe in Santa.
You just weren’t good enough.
Your best wasn’t good enough. Not only are you not good enough, you are WORSE than that bully.
Now, how do you feel?
No one ever explains to this children that we all come from different income levels. A fancy toy in one house, might be nothing in another.
Parents do this to children every single year, and it breaks my heart!
I just really have a problem with the “Be good or you’ll get nothing!” threats. My issue with it is this, either you are 1) setting your child up to be seriously disappointed & to feel worthless when this Santa they believe in doesn’t bring them any toys, or 2) You are throwing out an empty threat you have no intention of following through on.
Now, that said, I have no problem with a child who has been having discipline problems being told that they would not receive certain presents if certain behaviors didn’t change. But those presents should be the ones given by the PARENTS – not Santa!
I thought about this and wondered how this would affect the children we’ve had from foster care. I actually think this would be harder on the kids who are used to someone loving them. Kids who come from tough family situations are so used to not feeling worthy, that Santa wouldn’t be any different. They are used to having nothing, so to them *anything* is amazing.
But for a child who is growing up and still learning, still exploring, making mistakes and learning from them…why in the world would we want then to base their self-worth on what some mythical person thinks? Yes, St. Nick was a real person, but today’s “Santa Claus” isn’t. St. Nick never based his gifts on how good or bad the person was anyway. He gave because he loved and wanted to help.
This is real, people. I’ve actually talked to several people recently who went through this as a child. Believing that they were never good enough for Santa because their parents couldn’t afford to buy fancy toys. They were told their behavior dictated their presents. Then they got the best their parents had to offer, but it didn’t even compare with the gifts the other kids at school got. So, they thought it was because they weren’t good enough. They don’t even think about their parents’ income having anything to do with it…after all, this was from Santa, not Mom & Dad, right?
Parents, please just think about it. Think about the message you are giving your children. Let them believe in Santa, fine, but get rid of the “good or bad” stuff. Peer pressure and comparing ourselves to others is hard enough. Let them know that we give gifts at Christmas because we love. Tell them Santa brought them exactly what he thought would be perfect for them.
If you are a Christian, then go a step further. We give, because Christ gave to us. He gave to us not based on our behavior, but based on his love for us.
While we’re at it, let me jump on one more soapbox! I’ve also heard this a few times lately and it makes me cringe. Please don’t threaten your kids with “I’ll call the cops if you don’t behave!” or anything along those lines. The Police are our friends and they are here to help. Please don’t make your children afraid to approach a Police Officer should they ever actually be in need of one.
My daughter came to me a few days ago and said she wanted me to paint her fingernails. Actually she said, “Will you paint my nails for me pleeeeeeease?”
*cringe*
Did she not remember the last time?
Sure, she looks super cute with her colored nails, but it’s quite the process getting there.
She can’t sit still. It’s hard to paint a moving target.
She doesn’t like light touches (like the brush in the fingernail paint).
She can’t stand for me to groom her nails in any form.
But, she wanted them painted.
Not just painted, because that would be too simple. My little Aspie had RULES for me. She had it all planned out.
No surprise.
She wanted her thumbs painted white, then the fingers alternating red, green, red, green on one hand and green, red, green, red on the other hand.
Then she wanted her toes to be the exact opposite of her hands. On each side.
I’m glad she thought this through.
I really wanted to do this for her, so I prepared myself. She wanted it, so I wanted it for her. I also wanted to enjoy it with her. We picked a time when I knew I would not be rushed. She got out the paint, with explicit directions from me not to open it! Then, we laid down a towel for her to put her feet on while I painted them.
I kept the paint out of her reach to avoid any accidental kicking over of bright RED or GREEN polish.
As I’m preparing to start, she reminds me of the plan. “Remember, I want this toe green, this one red, this one green, and this one red.”
I got it!
I touched her first toe with the brush. She jumped.
Paint got on her toe, and I went to wipe it off. She jumped again.
I explained (again) nicely that she has to sit still if I am to do this. It’s like telling a cat to stay still as you throw it into the bathtub.
I continued painting, and she was actually shivering. Not from cold, but just from trying to keep herself still. She had her arms wrapped around herself in a hug, and was physically shaking. My poor baby, I felt for her!
I’ve heard of the price of beauty, but this is crazy. But, she wanted it. So I wanted to do it for her.
I had her sit on an air cushion which helped because she could at least wiggle her bottom a little.
Ok, feet done. Now the hard part (or is that another hard part?) – keeping her feet still so she doesn’t just rub the paint right off onto her leg, the floor, or me.
We took a little break, and I had her wiggle her top half while keeping the feet still.
Then we attempted the hands. Again I touched her nail with the brush. Again she jumped. I wiped. She jumped.
Eventually, we got all 20 digits painted, and the lids closed on the jars of nail polish.
Now just to get through the drying cycle.
I had her stand on the trampoline and bounce, while still being careful of the toes, and I turned on a cartoon for her to focus on.
It worked!
While she was drying, I painted my toenails all green – I was done with the alternating! Then, I put her through one more painstaking process of being still as we sat on top of her play table to take this picture! Festive, don’t you think?
She loves it and has pulled off her shoes in public to show many people.
It was the one thing she told me over and over that she wanted.
