The Stars are Brightly Shining

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I saw this on Giving Up On Perfect and had to share. I cried like a baby, especially around 4:40. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like freaking out the kids by doing the ugly cry on Christmas morning! Don't worry Riley and Brenna, mommy's already started the fund for all the therapy you'll need later. :)




May your Christmas be filled with love, joy, laughter and all things that don't traumatize the kids!

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• Raid the kids stockings for candy after they go to bed.
• Be excited for Christmas, but a little ready for it to be over.
• Sit and stare at the Christmas tree. It makes me feel all warm, cozy and Christmasy. I normally take it down Christmas evening, but I may just leave it up a little while longer this year.
• Coupon to help others. Because of couponing, I was able to donate three bags of things to Riley's school can drive - including ten bottles of shampoo, 14 packages of soap, 20 single load packets of Tide and 13 tubes of toothpaste. None of it cost me a dime.
• Be a few days late with my "It's Okay" list.
• Pray for Gracie. She goes in for a CT scan and neurosurgeon appointment this morning. It's a routine check-up, but they adjusted her shunt a few weeks ago and she's been acting a little off. She also just had her shots and is getting teeth, so it's hard to tell if a combination of those things or if it's an issue with her shunt. I'm not sure a Christmas in the hospital would be very festive, so I'm praying for a clear check-up!

(Check out Airing My Dirty Laundry for more It's Okay lists!)

Scout the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf has been a huge hit. I've only forgotten to move him once (I told the kids that he was so comfortable he fell asleep - they bought it!) Here are a few places we've found him:

On top of our TV, where he made his first appearance.

Playing a computer game.

He left Christmas socks in Riley and Brenna's shoes, then fell in Riley's boots!

Playing with cars.

Playing with one of Gracie's toys.

On a date with Barbie! Little scamp!

Aargh! Pirate Elf! (the patch is felt I taped to his head). There were chocolate gold coins in the "treasure chest".

Clipping my coupons for me.

Taking a nap in the Kleenex box.

Brushing his teeth!

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to:

Because sometimes sweatpants just aren't frumpy enough...

• Wish I had fleece one-piece outfits like Grace. They are so cozy! (Mom, this does not mean I want the Forever Lazy for Christmas...)
• Give my husband coupons to use when he goes Christmas shopping for me this weekend.
• Buy stuff for your own stocking.
• Purchase pajamas instead of sew them. The intentions were there, the time is not. Hello K-Mart 50% off sale!
• Not mind watching the Elf on the Shelf movie over and over. It's cute.
• Think it's sad that Michelle Duggar had a miscarriage. It's a shame people are saying she deserved it and that it's God's way of saying she shouldn't have anymore kids. No one deserves that heartbreak.
  (I stole this one directly from Airing My Dirty Laundry - where I link up this list. Check out her site!!)
  
  
  I've been taking pictures of our elf Scout's adventures and hope to show you later this week!

GGOOOOAAAAALLLLL(S)!

I've been at this stay-at-home mom gig for almost three years and I have a confession to make...I'm not very good at it.
 Before staying home, I had visions of a clean house, wonderful home cooked meals, and educational activities with the kids daily. I knew it would take some time to adjust and get the routines down, but we're heading into year four and my house is still a mess and some days the most education my kids get at home is learning the new catchy tune from Sponge Bob. I do have the home cooked meal thing down somewhat - mainly because our pared down budget requires it. Otherwise we'd become very close friends with Papa John. I'm beginning to realize that this home management thing is something I'm not naturally good at. But I want to be. So with help from Money Saving Mom and Nony the Slob, I'm taking some steps to get this life under control.

Crystal at Money Saving Mom writes a list of 10 goals each week and posts them on her blog. I loved the idea of having specific goals in the different areas of my life (Household, Mothering, etc.) and I hope the accountability of posting it online would help me keep on track.

Picture Source

I also am stealing borrowing the daily checklist from Nony the Slob. I've modified it a bit to fit our needs, but it's the same basic idea.

Hopefully I'll start to become a little less "chicken with her head cut off" and a little more "this chick's got it together".

By the way, here are my goals for this week:

Mothering/Family

• Read the Christmas books we got from the library.
• Make snow globes.

Personal Goals

• Be in bed by 10:30 or before.
• Finish reading "The County Fair"
• Read a chapter in the Bible each night.

Home Management

• Finish cloth doll diapers (Christmas gift for Brenna)
• Sew pants for Brooke (also a Christmas gift!)
• Move craft drawers into the family room
• Find 3 recipes for freezer cooking

Blog

• Blog 3 times this week. I've listed topics I want to cover, but I don't want to spoil the surprise :)

So do you think I can do it? Do you have goals for this week? What do you do to stay on track? Or do you feel as aimless as I do most days?

Turtle Love

Before Riley started Kindergarten I was determined to find a method for organizing my paper clutter. When he would bring things home from preschool, I kept ALL of them, shoving them in the top of my hutch in the dining room. I saw this little tip on Pinterest and decided to give it a whirl.



Picture from iloveorganizing.com

I bought a black crate from Walmart when they were supercheap during back to school shopping. We had several file folders already so I just popped them in, but would like to get many more in the future. My crate is not NEAR as pretty as the one above, but it works. Every day I sort through the 400,000 papers he brings home, find the ones with cute pictures, funny writing, or something that just makes me proud, put them in the folder and recycle the rest.

Today he brought home a prime example of the papers I must keep:

 A wonderful drawing of several turtles. He did his best to sound out "turtle" and in the end named one of them "Riley Turde". HA!

I'm so proud of my sweet little Turd. :)