What I'm Reading

This week, I finished up organizing my library.  Oh, my poor library!  I am so thankful that years ago I took the time to make a master list of my books because over and over I've used it to organize my books when I've had to move them . .  and move them again . . .and again!   My book shelves had become a disorganize mess and I've been working, 15 minutes at a time, to reorganize them and make them easily assessable (not easy when I need about 6 shelves and only have 2!)  In doing so, I not only cleaned out quite a few books - mostly non-fiction items that were more resources and now, we use the Internet for that - but I found books that I haven't read yet.  Both fiction and non-fiction; a nice bonus I think!  I took all of those books and stacked them on one shelf so I can grab them easily.  With that in mind . . .this is what I read this week!

and



Finding Anna and The Longing Season by Christine Schaub.  (Music of the Heart Series)  Both of these books are very well written and tell the tale of two great hymns - It is Well with my Soul and Amazing Grace.  Finding Anna tells the story of the challenges face by the Spafford family - beginning with the Chicago Fire, tracing through their family live and then, walking them through the great tragedy that brought forth the words of that famous song, It is Well with my Soul.   The Longing Season tells the story of John Newton.  Personally, I didn't realize the life he lived as a slaver nor did I realize that it was love that brought him back from a life of sin.  It was a fantastic story surrounding the truth behind Amazing Grace.  If you are looking for some great stories - these are books for you.  The books, despite being a "series", do not lean on each other at all so you could read either or just one. 

That's all this week.  I just picked up a new book yesterday and will share about that next week :-)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving . . . sweet tea.  Yep.  You read that right :-)  For Josh's birthday party I pulled out my sweet tea recipe and since then, I make it several times a week - as soon as there is only a small amount left in the jug, I'm making a new batch.  It is my new go to drink!

I'm loving . . . .that it is November.  I will admit that it kinda caught me off guard today as I realized the date.  It seemed that June-August dragged (probably because of the horrible heat!) and then September was normal . . October?  Did we have October?  And now we are entering the official "Holiday Season".  Wow. 

I'm loving . . . that my basement is slowly getting organized again.  I still haven't posted about our little nightmare (I will soon - it is on the list) but, the fact that things are getting put back together again is a good feeling. 

I'm loving . . .  that my kids love "poptorn" HA  Nothing better then a snack of popcorn - I have to vacuum every day after snack time but it is well worth it!

I'm loving . . . watching the boys pick out a "trick or treat" from their Halloween bags.  Nope, I'm not one of those moms that hid their kids candy; isn't that the fun of Halloween?  Picking candy? 

I'm loving . . .  that Josh calls Popsicles - "Popoopoos" hahahahaha

I'm loving . . .  watching the boys play together!  It is just so much fun :-)



Holiday Control Journal

Guess what time of year it is?  It is time to talk about the Holiday Journal.  You may remember that I posted about this last year and, if you click the link you can read all of those posts! 

This year, I thought I would walk through it again, not so in depth, but with my changes.  One of the things I noticed last year was that because I was so organized, I decorated too early and, since it only took a few hours (if that) to do each room, I could really do multiple rooms in a week.  Last year, I tried to follow the Flylady zones and decorated one area a week while also doing some deep cleaning.  This year, I'm saving the decorating until closer to, and after Thanksgiving.  Another change I didn't anticipate happening is that we have to change our Christmas Tree tradition - we have always gotten our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving but, due to my husbands job, he will have to work Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week.  We are getting our tree the first Saturday in December instead which also means I have an "extra" week to decorate.

As a reminder, the very first thing to do to have a stress free holiday is to decide how many weeks you need to get ready . My goal is to have everything done for the holiday by the time we hit that "Tree Weekend" in December.  That way, we can focus on traditions, family, and fun! 

Personally, I will be starting my plan on November 7th with . .. planning Nate's birthday party.  I know that seems odd but his birthday is December 22nd.  We will have his party on the 17th - I need to have that party planned and things ordered so it doesn't get lost in the Christmas planning.  This is a big change from last year - I put this off and ended up almost forgetting to get invitations!  I would like to have everything done from the grocery list to the gifts purchased and wrapped.  

I actually wrote this years plan as soon as Christmas was done last year while everything was fresh in my mind.  My list included ideas I wanted to do this year in decorations and traditions so I wouldn't forget!  That's my next piece of advice - dont' try to make a ton of changes right now.  Instead, use this year to go through your decor and only put up what you love.  If you have tons of stuff, either clean it out and give it away or sort things by color/theme and rotate your theme every other year.  No one can enjoy anything if it is too cluttered!  Then, make lists of ideas for next year and give yourself time to create those ideas without adding to the stress of this year!

In future weeks, I'll share some photos of how we decorate for Christmas :-)  Yes, I love this time of year (in case you were wondering).  I love the lights, colors, music - everything. 

Enjoy and . . .lets celebrate Christmas stress free!

Weekly Pinterest Challenge # 4

With a birthday party and Halloween upon us, I decided to switch to a food item from my "Recipe Board".  It's football season (which we love) so an appetizer type recipe seemed perfect.  Taste of Home shares a quick recipe for Mozzarella Sticks that is different!  Here is the inspiration photo:

Don't those just look yummy?  There were a few comments that said you could bake them to be healthy but sometimes, a deep fried treat tastes so good so I stuck with the original recipe and did just that.  This is how mine turned out:

These were FANTASTIC!!!  So super easy too!!!  The recipe calls from egg roll wrappers and string cheese.  I had won ton wrappers on hand so I cut each piece of string cheese in half. 

The Recipe:
Egg Roll or Won Ton Wrappers
String Cheese
Oil for Frying

Lay the string cheese on the corner of the wrapper and roll half way, fold in the sides of the wrapper, use water on the edges and finishing rolling; seal. 

Place in hot oil, heated to 375 (I heated mine only to 350 and they didn't brown as much as we would have liked) and fry for 30 -60 seconds.  Dip in your favorite marinara sauce :-)

Too Cute Not to Toot!

One thing I love to find is ideas for home made gifts for showers (even though I seldom make them yet!) and this idea from The Seasoned Homemaker is just too cute to pass up.  I have a friend due in the spring so maybe, just maybe I'll get this idea made :-)

My boys need hats for the winter (I do have one saved on Etsy that I love!) so when I saw this tutorial over at Moth and Sparrow I had to save it for later.  They are just super cute!

I realize that this is one day late for October/Halloween but I love this candy corn topiary from Deep in the Heart of . . . Arkansas - it is just so adorable!

This is another idea for next year, but my kids would have loved it this year - they are SOOO into "Pukin Pach" (Pumpkin Patch).  This idea for a Pumpkin Tree from Love & Sugar Kisses is super adorable!

I'm looking for ideas to fill up my October Family Fun Binder with and this is perfect - a Roll a Pumpkin Game Printable from Happy Home Fairy.

I will be adding this list also from Happy Home Fairy to that same binder; it has tons of ideas that will help with planning next October :-)

Ok, don't hate for me for posting this next idea but, it is after Halloween so it might be ok :-)  Craftomaniac shares a really cute idea to do with twine - a super adorable Christmas Card.

This pumpkin idea from i gotta create was too cute not to share this week.  This would look super cute on a Thanksgiving table.  If you planned ahead you could probably find stuff at good will or even the dollar store to use :-)

I have a thought that over the next couple of weeks we will see tons of great Christmas ideas.  It is hard to believe that it is already November - where did the year go?

Enjoy!

3 Ways Words Speak to your Child

One of the blogs I enjoy reading, http://www.thebettermom.com/, shares great encouragement for moms and I wanted to share just a couple of posts with you today that I've found encouraging and convicting.  Please take time to click on the links provided and read the simple truths!

First, back in August (I know, hard to believe it is already November . .almost!), one of the writes of the website, wrote a great article on 3 Ways Words Speak to Your Child.  (It actually links back to the authors own blog).  We all know the simple words to the children's rhyme "Sticks and Stones May Break my Bones but words will never hurt me" and we all know that is not true!  This post gives some great truths on how to use words to help your children become stronger people.  As moms, we have the power of words to use every day - but how do we use them?  I re-read this article periodically as a reminder to use my words wisely.

Second, just today, Janelle from Comfy in the Kitchen posted A Child's 10 Commandments.  Wow, take time to read that and then, put it into action this week - I plan on printing this information and posting it near my desk to help me remember some simple truths about my children! 

Finally, there is another blog that I have started to read entitled An Inch of Gray.  This family recently lost their son in a freak accident during all of that flooding that occurred early this fall out East.  She posted this post on her blog thanking her son for all that he taught them.  As I read it, it reminded me of the things I should be looking for in my kids as well as modeling for them so they can learn.  I don't think when she wrote those simple truths that she thought they would be used to teach other parents how to be better - yet that is what it has done. 

I believe that if you take time to read through these posts, you will learn lessons just as I did and also, your heart will be touched. 

Enjoy!

Halloween!!!

I will admit, I love Halloween.  I don't get into all of the scary, gruesome stuff but I don't have any issue with enjoy the spirit of fun.  I love decorating with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, black cats, and other fun stuff.  Picking out costumes for my kids, getting candy, and planning fun little things to do is just, well, fun.  It is one of my favorite holidays, behind Christmas and birthdays :-)  This year was more fun then normal because my kids are starting to "get" the "triceeting" (Trick-or-Treating).   It was funny, on Friday night we put the boys to bed and my oldest said "Josh go night-night, get up, get in truck, and go triceeting" ha!!  We had to do a lot of searching this year though, because, due to my husbands work schedule, he won't be around Monday evening and he didn't want to miss Trick-or-Treating. 

First up in our Trick-or-Treating fun was a trip to the annual Autumn Fest which is held in our downtown.  The businesses all hand out candy plus the businesses from outside of the downtown set up "trunk or treat".  It did not take long for my little Engineer and Scarecrow to figure out how to get candy! 

 Waiting for candy at the first store - they were still a bit overwhelmed at this point - with the people, the noise and the crazy costumes.  (Well, we think they were costumes - in our town you never know HA!)

 The weather was perfect - notice that there are no coats over the costumes?  The last two years it was so cold that we almost froze to death.  This year was so much fun because the boys could run around and actually be part of the whole evening.

There were a few raindrops as we came to the end but the boys just stood under an awning while I got the balloons :-)  Such a fun night!  Both boys slept very late the next morning :-)

Our next trick-or-treat adventure took us to a church that did indoor Trunk-or-Treating on Saturday night.  We really didn't know what to expect but it was great.  They actually just had people set up every few feet, handing out candy.  Some were dressed up but the main focus was candy :-)  Josh and Nate loved getting to pick out what they wanted (and yes, they already know what they love!).  The cutest thing is when we got to the end, they had Cider and Donuts, Josh held up his bag for his "treat" HA!  I got him a donut hole and he put it in his treat bag :-)

We sat and enjoyed some of the treats while watching Charlie Brown before heading home. 

Finally, because no matter how hard I try, getting a really good photo of my little cuties is hard.  Thankfully, we have a photographer who does a free Halloween Shoot every year and she got awesome shots!

Aren't they just adorable?  I love picking out their costumes every year! 

I'm still debating whether or not to take them to our Church Trunk-or-Treat on Monday evening; that is a decision that wait until the last moment :-) HA!

Happy Halloween!!!!