A favorite Holiday recipe

Our holiday menu for Thanksgiving or Christmas generally goes like this..

We feel its best to stick with tradition and have turkey for Thanksgiving but we usually buy a ham too.. For Christmas we may just decide with ham. We don't get too adventurous with the turkey the prepped half cooked turkey's from the grocery store deli work fine for us. I have made a turkey the old fashioned way a few times but this works just as good and it is still a whole turkey...

We have canned green beans... James prefers them over fresh or frozen.

I am not a fancy stuffing type of girl I love me some Stove Top :)

The only kind of sweet potatoes I will eat are Senator Russell's recipe *You can find many of these recipes here on this link*

Rick prefers white potatoes so he will make mashed potatoes for himself. +Michelle Jorden  has got us loving the garlic mashed potatoes.

Rolls, Biscuits, Banana bread or Zucchini bread.

Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

and of course at least for Christmas Jesus and St Nick need birthday cake so I make my cinnamon tea cakes to celebrate their birthday.. 

and Krumkake

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, or Merry Chrismukkah.

All I have ever known is the traditional Christian and commercialized versions of Christmas. I have always wanted to learn about how to do Hanukkah since I have connected to Judaism for some time. My sister converted to Judaism when she was in the military and I went to temple with her while I visited. I like the beliefs and doctrine. So I am totally down with the Chrismukkah if I ever can...
I don't want to be insulting or wrong in my teachings toward my children. Skylar learned about dreidels in Kindergarten and both kids enjoy their dreidels. We respect most other religions and I have always been fascinated and eager to learn about them for sure! What do you celebrate in your house this time of year?

The weird thing about freckles

When my nephew Matthew was a toddler when I would assist him washing his hands he always had this birth mark its either a large freckle or mole on the side of his hand and it would drive me nuts I always thought I was missing dirt. As Skylar grew I notice she has a similar one in a similar place she hates it. I have a tiny one on my hand and so does William. It's weird how genetics can even span cousins to have the same freckle pattern. I think it's something unique that links us together.

Monday November 24, 2014: We know. Everything.

We are mothers we know everything yet nothing. My daughter has never been a fan of academics. Yet she gets A's, B's, and C's and has been a decent student at school. First grade she would melt down over spelling words even though the teachers for several grades used a format called Spelling Tic Tac Toe to make it fun and easy.. Hours of torture would ensue.. she would pitch awful fits even though that wasn't her typically just her when it came to homework. The 1st first grade teacher failed her not for her own lack of academics but because in my belief the teacher didn't give her the building blocks she needed for second grade. This has been the constant subject of contention with the principal with the school now that Skylar is in the 5th grade and still struggling according to Skylar. She was tested and diagnosed with a learning disorder and was assigned a teacher called an inclusion teacher which is like an in- class tutor. After a few years she was tested out of the program and no longer had scores low enough to say she had that comprehension learning disability. There would be incidents with homework like trying to teach her how to count money... she would be like that's not how so and so does it (her teacher)! I was so frustrated because I would explain this to the teacher yet Miss stubborn princess would not budge.. 5 grade now she is still getting C's or above and she is just being stubborn. Crying about how hard and stressful school is. Oh dear lord please save me I have 7 more years of this just from her! Her assignment was this weekend was trying to learn all 44 presidents in order. I am assuming she has had over a week notice that she needs to know this. The teacher told my husband that she was even put into small groups to figure out a way to learn them. The teacher sent an email with a helpful link. When asked today if Skylar studied she said she did. She said she watched youtube videos that would help her but she still didn't know them. *insert tears and whines out of her* Rick checked her history on her computer and there was nothing... So now I am frustrated thinking she is getting mouthy and lying to me. Lying isn't something normally coming out of her either. So I did some Googling and gave her some references and told her she had a choice on what to study or what tools to study with. After pouting and pitching a silent fit she gave in and decided to do it her way. I bet she still doesn't know but she is so mouthy! My thing is she has an acronym for division and the school has been teaching them acronyms for almost anything she needs to learn. Its either that or there is a youtube video with a catchy song. Her acronym is something like Daddy (Divide) Mother (multiply) Sister (Subtract) Brother (Bring down) something like that... She can rattle that off her in her sleep so I found several youtube videos that give you a little song to remember the presidents.. There is a story about an alien named Waj (Washington Adams Jefferson) and his favorite candy is M n' M's (Madison and Monroe) and so on... She of course is just like I watched that once it doesn't help. Oh child does taking medicine once do you think it works? Listening to a song once do you know the lyrics? *insert mouthy tween here* *insert tears* Ohmigoodness.
I do more digging on Google. They haven't nicknamed me the Google queen for nothing...
Then there is a song called Washy Ad Jeffy.. 
This is why I can't home school this child I have tried twice

I am usually a pretty cool mom but when it comes to sassy mouthed lying stubborn tweens I loose my patience. Now I am going to have to look through Net Nanny's to see which one will work best for us.. *sigh*

Tonka Truck

Did you ever have those metal Tonka trucks you would play with? I remember them being outside and playing with them in the sandbox and they would rust but still be very usable. The thing never seemed to break..

Well I call William my Tonka Truck. He's also been nicknamed Bubby, Destroyer of Worlds (and eyeballs), ER baby-- you know how many times do we rush to the ER for this kid? Actually we've only made it to the ER twice. Once when his fever was high but got to the parking lot and the pediatrician told me to go home- after all what can they do for a fever? I never liked that answer but that's what she said. The other time when he was in his space saver high chair and he would put his feet up on the table and tipped himself back while buckled in and some how his head hit the hard wood floor. He nearly had a concussion.. Got him home and then he started showing more symptoms of a concussion so yeah for sure he probably had one.

had his feet kicked back like Obama on the edge of the table.

The school nurse called me today. My phone didn't ring for whatever reason. So I get a notification that I have a voice mail. The voice mail says they have William in the clinic to give her a call back hmm. I am trying to listen to my voice mail and Stephanie my friend beeped in to ask me a question. I guess she heard the disconnect in my voice and I told her Mill Creek called and I was trying to listen to the voice mail. I call Rick and they hadn't called him either. So I called the nurse back and she said William was told twice during in class recess not to run in the building on the 3rd warning he bumped into a little boy holding a stick. I said okay. She said it barely scraped his eye but it was very close. He acted like it didn't really bother him so she packed it with ice and sent him back to class she would call me in half an hour when she went to retrieve the ice pack if anything changed. Well I had to check the kids out an hour after this so when I got there Skylar told me she saw William with an ice pack. I explained what happened and I said I don't want to know why there was a "stick" in the classroom LOL. The lady at the front desk so oh is he yours? I said yes. She said I was wondering about the stick too come to find out its not a stick its a plastic piece like for those builder things. I was like OOOH makes sense now...  Him and Skylar both have scrapes near their eye now. Skylar woke up with her's this morning. I am wondering if she had a run in with Tinker Bell in her sleep? LOL

If William is really not getting over a boo boo I know its serious. He usually cries enough to get a little comfort and then his world is too busy to dwell on it and he acts fine. He is a tough cookie! 

Not Me Monday

The blog meme was made by www.mycharmingkids.net but she no longer hosts the meme but I liked it :)

The week before last my children's school gave me awful anxiety. I am not an anxious person but I have some triggers that if you push those buttons awful things happen. Last week was one of those weeks. It is a rare happening but nonetheless I am a normal parent okay semi normal. Haha.

Last week I had an abscess tooth and was in pain most of the week or just not feeling good from the medicines I was on. Rick is really good about helping in the mornings matter of fact I am not afraid to say it he does 75% of the morning prep. I do my part too but I am a sleeper. I get up about 6 am. Get completely dressed, pick out the kids clothes and I usually help where he needs it like getting my Sleeping Beauty out of her bed. Well being out of it the past two weeks we discovered no one washed William's nap mat (good thing I have a spare)... No one has checked William's notebook. Oops he had homework. Kindergarten homework. Something my kids have done every year for years... we get a worksheet of a turkey and we are assigned to disguise it. On Facebook last night my friend had showed off her daughters disguised turkey- they live in another city far away haha. As I am looking at this Turkey- already late I said what to do with this turkey... In years past we have had a turkey under leaves, a turkey in clothes, even a Dr Seuss Turkey I believe one year. I remember my friends daughters turkey. I grab the crayons and begin coloring. Some tail feathers blue and orange on one side and black and red on the other side and then school logo's on every other tail feather and on the turkey's belly. Its a house divided SEC football turkey. Yes I colored most of it until William woke up and wanted to help then I let him take over. Shameful mama! At least he didn't eat Twinkies for breakfast.. Hubby baked blueberry muffins.... What did you or your kids "not" do lately? Anything your almost ashamed to admit? 

Monday November 17, 2014: They'll be waiting for us...

I usually will find any excuse to shop. I try to dress my kids up for any ole holiday.. Why not? Buy presents just because. oh the treasures you will find at Dirt Cheap, Marshall's, Ross, TJ Maxx and thrifting! I adore yard sales as long as my co-pilot isn't grumpy. In less than two weeks begins the biggest shopping season of the year- Christmas! Black Friday is coming and the retailers are waiting for us. We are getting armed with our leaked ads, our coupons, saving our discount cash for that one particular store only to find out it expires Wednesday before Black Friday. Yes I am the one person that tries not to shop without RetailMeNot dot com. I do shop around my husband will try to blame me for spending too much on my shopping addiction and our dolls. Its really him you can't take into certain stores without breaking the stereotypical you have to spend $100 just to leave the store. I can go into Walmart and pick up what I need. I despise Walmart first of all but its the only place that carries the type of Febreeze I use and the Ecos laundry detergent. But I can usually brave it enough to go in there once or twice a month and just get the laundry detergent and not go much further. It is hard to go Christmas shopping though and keep it reeled in. I have been working harder and focusing on things that would be better for the kids and not just a bunch of toys that sit around. Especially as money has been tighter..Sticking to a list and checking it twice. Shopping around regardless of Black Friday getting the most bang for my buck. After peaking at the Toys R Us Black Friday ad I was disappointed that not much of what was on the kids lists weren't in there. So it just means I will be double checking the list and being grateful for being able to give whatever I can give.
What kind of shopper are you? Do you shop for Christmas year round? Do you go out Black Friday or even Thanksgiving now that it is a thing? Do you oppose shopping on Thanksgiving? Or are you one of those people who waits till the last minute? Do you buy gifts for extended family, the mail man, the neighbor, and all the teachers?

Whatever type of shopper you are there are people out there that over shadow the goodness in the world. There are 3/1 angels walking amongst us but the squeaky wheel gets the attention so the bad guys always get the most attention. There are retailers out there not to be friendly. Small Business's that don't deserve our business although I am a huge advocate for Small Business shopping. There are dangerous people at the ready to steal our credit card information, our identities or break into our homes to rob us of Christmas. The Grinch these days is a lot more mean! Be mindful this holiday season posting information on social media or talking in groups. They are at the ready and they will be waiting for us

Then there are the people that are just greedy and grouchy. I have a few Scrooges in my life too. I just let my light shine and don't leave it vulnerable to those who are in a hurry to snuff it out. Misery loves company but just try to extend the warmth out but don't invite it in. Rick and I recently watched a movie called the The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry  and its a movie about forgiveness and parables in the Bible. I just think its also just something like Timmy showed the Scrooge, or Cindy Loo and the Grinch, no matter how much someone is grouchy showing them your heart might change them. Don't expect change but I still think we should show everyone our heart just not necessarily leave it vulnerable which is so easy to do during the Holiday season.

Anyways do your shopping with the best heart possible and remember those who don't have anything under their "tree". Teach your children the true meaning of giving and Christmas. I love me some Santa but its really St Nicholas's spirit isn't it? They will be waiting on us...

Monday Blog Prompts

Blog prompts for Thursday

Blog prompts from Paper Coterie http://www.papercoterie.com. Get a $38.00 credit by using the code BeAThankful

Day Four Blog Prompt

What are your favorite things to do in your free time these days? Or more realistically, what favorite things would you do if you managed to find some free time today? Make a mental list, take a picture of one of your favorites and write it down!

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Conversation Starters, Blog Prompts, Writing Prompts

http://creativewritingprompts.com/

"If I were a superhero, I would be..."

What song best describes your current situation?

 Something I always like seeing posted is a favorite family recipe, with pictures. If you don't have pictures, I'm less likely to check it out!

If you could choose any time period to live in, what would it be?

Top 10 websites you use.

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Blog Meme's, Carnivals and Hops for Mondays and beyond

Happy Homemaker Monday

Pray for Me Monday here or here

Military Monday

Not Me Monday

Friend Making Monday

Monday Morning Meme

Meal Plan Mondays

No Mom Talk Monday

Mondays in Motion

Moody Monday

Proud Mommy Monday

Question of the Week

Punny Monday

Music Memoirs

Curious as a Cat

Best Shot Monday

Monday Meme

I heart Faces

Monday Movie Meme

Mamalicious Monday

Give Me Five Monday Meme