12 days of elves

One of these days I'm gonna rise above feeling like I have to include disclaimers in my posts, but until then........Here's another:

We do not teach our children about Santa Clause. They know he's pretend just like the tooth fairy. 

So a few years ago when the elf on a shelf got popular they were loving it and wanted an elf at their house. 

Maynard came home with 3 elves, Snap, Crackle, and Pop. The famous Rice Krispie elves. 

We decided to have some fun with it. 

I believe the whole point of the elf is to report to Santa every night whether the child has been naughty or nice. My kids completely don't get that part because they know Santa isn't real, but I wished it worked. 

Basically, we have 3 elves that wreck havoc in our house right before Christmas. My kids love everything about it. Sometimes they get really mad and upset at what the elves do to them, but yet they can't wait for the next to day to see what happens. They wake up as early as possible and run through the house to see what happened during the night. 

This year the elves showed up 12 days before Christmas. Last year they were here a whole month and it exhausted me. I was so glad they didn't arrive until later this year. 

These are not in order by day that they actually happened, but I'll explain each day in case you can't tell what's going on. 

1) snowmen with toilet paper and cotton balls

2) they caught the stomach virus from the kids

3) brought kids a treat on their 1st day there

4) took the last of the cinnamon rolls

5) used the rest of their salt dough and made a pizza out of it (Amelia was not happy) 

6) acted like shepherd boys in the nativity scene

7) wrote Merry Christmas with their candy from their treat bags from church 

8) put kids underwear in the freezer

9) played video games all night

10) wrapped kid's backpacks up for their last day of school (Titus was not happy)

11) made a chairlift using yarn and candy canes

12) caraousel using toilet paper rolls and scarves

Basically having the elves is just me playing with the kids, but it's fun. Josiah is not into it as much as he used to be. I may draft him into helping next year. I think he would enjoy that. 

This should sum up all my Christmas posts. I don't have big New Years plans so I probably won't post anything for that. So I will go ahead and wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!!!

Glory to God in the Highest Christmas play

My children participated in a Christmas play this year at church  and they were extremely excited. Josiah had a big speaking part as a narrator. The night before the play Josiah started throwing up. Again. My kids all caught the stomach virus that was being shared at school. Josiah had went home sick from school 3 days before so I figured he was on the mend. I heard him coughing and went to check on him. He was puking in his sleep. I never seen anything like it in my life. He wouldn't wake up and I was scared he was gonna die in his sleep. I pulled him up and me and Maynard both started beating on his back to get him to wake up and take a breath. He finally woke up and he and Titus were so confused. Titus was covered in puke and had no idea what was going on. It's kind of comical now, but it wasn't at the time. I started washing their bedding and put them in the shower. I had to throw wet blankets out the front door because I had no where else to store them. 

I had no idea if Josiah was going to be able to participate in the play the next morning or not. 

We finally all went back to sleep and got some rest. 

In the morning Josiah was up rooting threw the cabinets searching for something to eat for breakfast. He said he felt just fine. I suggested him eating toast to see how that set with him. 

I decided he seemed okay so we all got dressed and headed to church for Christmas Sunday service. 

Josiah was the narrator and had a small solo. He done a great job!!!  I loved his bow tie he wore. I mean shouldn't a narrator wear a suit and bow tie?!?!?

Titus was Joseph. You can see how he felt about being that close to a girl in front of a lot of people. Ha ha

However, he did perk up when he seemed to think the wiseman were bowing down to him. 

I had to remind him later they were bowing before baby Jesus, not him. 

Amelia's little class sang a song and each of them was an animal and had to make an animal sound when it was their turn. 

Amelia was a sheep and did her part perfectly. Amelia is a giant compared to her other classmates. 

After their program the kiddos had a pizza party and had a "candy bar". 

I believe Amelia has made up for that whole year she went without candy during this Christmas season. 

I, however, was completely stunned that Josiah had eaten pizza for lunch after being so sick the night before. 

We hate to see the Holidays go, but were very glad to see the stomach virus leave town!!!

I am thankful my kids were able to participate in the Christmas festivities at FPC. 

I'll be home for Christmas.

Our Christmas this year reminded me of the story called "The best/worst Christmas Pagent ever". It's where these unruly kids decide they want to be in the annual church Christmas Pageant. Everyone just knows they are gonna ruin the play and it's gonna be a disaster. However, it turns out awesome and ends up being the best Christmas pageant they ever had. 

Well that's exactly how our Christmas turned out. I had the hardest time getting in the "Christmas spirit" so to speak. It's has been a rough year financially due to the passing of my mother-n-law this past spring. We depleted our savings during her passing and just lived from paycheck to paycheck ever since. The Lord has always provided and we never went without. The bills have always been paid. We just didn't have a whole lot extra. With that being said, Christmas time was going to be tough this year. Sometimes I would get anxious and start to worry about my kids not having a good Christmas, but then I could feel such a peace come over me at other times. I can't say I didn't fret and worry because I did, but The Lord really helped me trust in Him. 

About a month before Christmas Maynard came upon a good investment deal. It was too good to pass up and he could possibly make an awesome profit. We had a few possible buyers, but nothing had sold yet. 3 weeks before Christmas we had our buyer. Problem was he asked for 2 weeks to get the money, but he definetly was going to buy the equipment. We were a little nervous, but didn't have any other options so we thought we would wait it out. 

1 week passed and I tried to avoid the "Have you got your Christmas shopping done yet" questions.  I hadn't bought the first thing yet. 

2 weeks had finally passed. Now we needed to collect our money and start shopping. 

The problem was our buyer hadn't contacted us or returned phone calls.  

So this was it. 6 days before Christmas and we didn't get that Christmas money we desperately needed. Then the buyer called late one evening and told us he had problems getting the money, but could offer us half the money as a down payment and would get the rest to us in 2 more weeks. It wasn't what we had hoped for, but it sure would help. 

Then that turned into a disaster because he was a no show once again. 

Our last option was hoping for a Christmas bonus from Maynard's work.  Which the bonus came, but not in a here's your money kind of way. It's a long story, but in other words we got a bonus, but couldn't spend it. 

 

Maynard and I left the kids with Tara one evening and we set off to do some meager shopping with a little bit of money we had left over from the bills. 

 

We had enough money to buy the kids a few gifts a peice. It wasn't going to be a grand extravagant Christmas, but we got them a few things they had asked for and we were thankful to be able to get those for them. We never go all out at Christmas anyway, but this was really cutting it down a few notches. My kids would be getting a few gifts here and there from other family members so it would be more than enough. I mean I just cleaned their room and it took me 3 hours so it wasn't like they needed more toys anyway. Ha ha

Also, the past couple years my kids have been begging to stay at home on Christmas morning. Tradition was that we always went to my Mom and Dad's for Christmas and I had a hard time letting go of that tradition. It was a little easier this year because everyone agreed to meet at Mom and Dad's at 5pm on Christmas evening to give everyone more time at home or with their inlaws. So we decided this year to just stay home for Christmas and drive down to my parents that evening. 

We loved it!!  Something about being at your own house for Christmas just made it so much more special. 

Christmas Eve was spent finishing up last minute things that needed done including making a few treats. The kids always make a gingerbread man during Christmas and they all had had the stomach virus and no one thought a gingerbread man even sounded good. Now that it was Christmas Eve and everyone felt better we decided to go ahead and make one after I got caught up in the kitchen. 

The finished project!!

Maynard got off work early and we ate lunch at Shilohs and then got ready to head over to the Parker's Christmas party. For some reason I didn't take any pictures while we were there. 

Here they are getting ready to open their gifts from Tara on Christmas Eve because she had to work on Christmas Day. 

I locked myself in my room to start wrapping gifts. I came out a little later and seen this:

My kids know Santa isn't real, but it's still fun to play along anyway. 

I went to check on Amelia. 

I seriously can't even handle the sweetness here. Amelia was asleep with her new princess Barbies. 

I finished wrapping gifts and cleaned my house again for the 50th time that day. I layed my head down in the bed at 2:30am. Maynard was tossing and turning during the night and he said, "I can't sleep for still delivering packages."  I said: "Well, you're delivering, but I'm wrapping them."  Apparently we both were having a hard time resting. 

Before I knew it Titus and Josiah was in my face telling me it was Christmas morning and time to wake up. I tried to convince them that Christmas started at 8:00 and not 6:15. It didn't work because come to find out Maynard was the one that had woke them up in the first place. He wasn't brave enough to wake me up and sent the boys instead. Ha ha

We were all up and ready to start our own new Christmas traditions. 

Maynard read the Christmas story and then we all prayed before tearing into the gifts. 

Presents under the tree!!!

First gifts to open. 

Josiah asked for a tool set. He was so proud of his tools. He had to take them to show Papaw later on that evening. 

Amelia asked for a Princess Belle doll. She was so happy when she opened it. 

Titus was a little harder to buy for. He only wanted sports stuff. Of course he already has most stuff so I had a harder time buying for him. 

This picture really makes me proud. Here I had fretted about my kids not getting very many gifts and afraid they wouldn't like what they got. I was so wrong. They were more than thankful. This picture proves it. 

Since last summer Titus has been begging for "Beef Turkey" that they sell at the fruit stands or the flea-market. We bought him a huge bag of it and I put it in an old iron box. 

When Titus unwrapped his gift all he seen was the box with an iron on it. We told him that I was gonna teach him how to iron and that was going to be his new job so we got him his own iron to use. He smiled and was like "ok cool."  He even posed for this picture and was still smiling. Finally we told him to open it and this was his reaction:

Yep!!  Passed out in the floor. Lol

All the gifts and stockings were opened. The kids were playing with their toys and games. 

I fixed breakfast and even used my Gingerbread man China plates. The kids thought that was extra special too so that is a tradition I hope to continue. 

I made breakfast quesadillas, breakfast casserole, hashbrowns and breakfast burritos.  It was delicious. I had done most of the work the day before so it didn't take long at all. 

After we ate we played with the kids for awhile. 

 Amelia is undefeated at Candy Land. This game made her feel so grown up because she understood how to play all on her own. That doesn't mean she won't try to cheat either. Just saying.....

Daddy and his boys playing a good game of Sorry. 

All too soon it was time to get dressed and head to my parent's house. We had a great time there as well and had some yummy food and treats. Maynard had to work the next day so we had to drive back home again that night, but it wasn't too bad. Somehow I managed to drive all the way home so he could rest. 

Our kids never mentioned only having a few gifts to open. They were so thankful for what they got. I can't tell you how many times they hugged me and Maynard and told us Thank you and ...... 

Wait for it.............

they even said......

"This was our best Christmas ever!!" 

 I am crying as I write this because all I had to do was trust in God. I just knew my kids were going to have a disappointing Christmas. I hated it, but yet God had given me peace about it already and now I know why. I wanted God to help us get that money so we could have a bigger Christmas. Yet God wanted us to not get that money and to trust Him and we would still have a good Christmas. I debated on writing about this, but hated not too. I won't mention any names though. The night Maynard and I had shopped for the boys we got back home fairly late. There was a Christmas card in the mail with $100 inside. It was from someone who felt like they needed to send us some money. We were so happy because that money would help out so much. We could buy more gifts, we hadn't bought stocking stuffers yet, it could pay for food for our Christmas breakfast and so on. Well, that was on a Saturday. The next morning we had church. Would you believe God nudged me to put that $100 bill in the offering?? Oh no!!!  I needed that and I needed it bad. I whispered it to Maynard hoping he would talk me out of it. He handed me a tithing envelope. Ha ha. Not what I was hoping here. Lol. So I put the money in the offering plate and just trusted in The Lord!!!  The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away. Ha ha ha!!!  

So here it is 2 days after Christmas and I checked the mailbox like always. There was a money order for $200 inside. It just said "Merry Christmas". I was beyond myself with excitement. Maynard said, "Aren't you glad you obeyed God and gave him the $100 so He could turn around and double it for you?"  

So why didn't He work it out so I could have money before Christmas?

Because!!!!  Because he wanted to prove His love and test my faith. 

We had a Great Christmas. What was supposed to be the worst Christmas ever turned out to be the BEST!!

I hope everyone of y'all had the best Christmas ever!!  Whether you had 1 gift to open or 100. I can truly say I am happy for you!!!!

School Christmas traditions.

Christmas time is always fun. Especially at school. It's fun to take a break in routine and make crafts and have parties. 

This year I offered to come and make salt dough ornaments with Josiah and Titus' class. It ended up being a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it so much. 

I went to school on Friday morning and   worked with Kindergarten through 2nd grade. 

We worked on making the dough and cutting out ornaments the first part of the morning. 

Then they took a break for lunch and did some work while I baked the ornaments in the oven. 

Soon it was time to paint. Who doesn't love painting?

I came back on Monday to help with 3rd and 4th grade to make ornaments. 

The boys had flour all over them. 

They also got to make gingerbread houses this year. They always look forward to that. 

I usually go to school to help with this, but Amelia was really sick and she couldn't go. She was upset, but I promised her she could make her own at home when she felt better. 

Friday was their class Christmas party and they had a blast. 

This is another reason why I am so thankful my kids were blessed to attend school this year. They look forward to these traditions every year and I'm glad they didn't have to miss out. 

Christmas celebrations begin

The day after Thanksgiving means only one thing to the Parker children.  No, it's not Mommy goes shopping. 

It means it's time to decorate!!!!!

I am so bummed every year because I envision how the Christmas decorating will be. In my head it goes something like this:

*Christmas music is playing and we all are singing joyfully as we decorate the tree. 

*The children are being very careful not to break ornaments or step on and bust Christmas lights. 

*The Christmas lights are easy to unwind with no tangles and they all light up after they're plugged in. 

*We laugh and giggle as the kids each hand me a decoration to place on the piano. 

*Each child waits patiently for me to go in their room and help them decorate their own tree. 

*We order pizza because that's tradition and then we have Christmas cookies for dessert. 

*Everyone pitches in and the mess is cleaned up super fast and the house looks beautiful. 

*We all sit together and enjoy the beautiful sights of Christmas while listening to the carolers singing outside the window while snowflakes begin to fall. 

**REALITY**

The kids grouch and beg as soon as Maynard walks through the front door for us to start decorating. Maynard wants to sit awhile and recoop and maybe have a little supper before the chaos begins. So talking about supper brings me to the fact that for some crazy reason I already had leftovers warmed up and ready to eat. Somehow I failed to realize that pizza was always our day after Thanksgiving tradition meal. I was reminded by Josiah as he sneered his nose when I plopped more turkey on his plate. 

As I began to clean the kitchen you can hear Maynard bellow out, "Ok, ok. I'll start dragging it all out. Just stay out of the way."

The kitchen is cleaned and now the living room is destroyed. The kids were throwing tote lids around and gingerbread decor was going every which way. I got so overwhelmed that I just had to sit down and watch the chaos unfold. 

Somewhere in the mix Chritmas music began to play. 

Maynard started setting up the tree. He would call out which color he needed and the kids would hand them over. Usually all they had to do was just lift up their foot and pull one out from underneath. 

The fussing and feuding was increasing and I may have wondered aloud, "Why does it have to be this way every year?  This is why I always dread decorating for Christmas."  I began to fluff and spread out the tree branches to fill in the gaps. Maynard actually got me on video singing my own version of words to the current Christmas song playing in the background. I'll be honest, it wasn't a very festive tune. Ha 

The lights were put up on the tree and the kids began to decorate like crazy. I just sat and watched and refereed as needed. Amelia worked tirelessly. Titus worked pretty hard, but soon lost interest. Josiah was only concerned with his tree in his bedroom. I had asked him to wait patiently and I would help him decorate it once we finished the living room. Unfortunately, he couldn't wait and kept coming back and forth whining about his lights or ornaments. Then he was upset because his tree looked dumb and on and on. 

Then Amelia started in on wanting her tree done, but it was getting late and I had to send them all to bed and promised we would finish decorating their trees in the morning. 

Everyone went to bed and I put the house back together. I straightened up the tree, but really didn't have to do too much. The kids didn't do that bad of a job. I mainly just had to spread the candy canes around and add the ribbon and tree topper. 

There were exactly 9 candy canes on one branch. 

All the earlier chaos seemed to make up for the serenity that now filled the house. It's nothing extravagant or elegant, but it was a family effort and so that makes it even more beautiful to me. 

Oh how I long for a mantle to decorate, but until then the piano will do. 

The next day I helped Amelia decorate her tree and I decorated my own little primitive tree for my bedroom. 

Josiah decided he liked his tree after all so I didn't worry with his. 

Since I was feeling festive on Saturday, I decided to follow a recipe and bake cookies from scratch. I was so pleased with how they turned out. It made the kiddos happy. It's almost magical to eat cookies while staring at Christmas lights.  

Miss Priss posing in front of the tree on Sunday morning. 

A tradition I didn't forget his year was the chocolate advent calendars. 

I realize this is a horrible picture. Titus wouldn't act right and Amelia was very sick that morning. Nonetheless, they were very excited to have their advent calendars. 

We've also attended a few Christmas plays. We like to attend as many of those as possible.   

The first one we went to was actually before Thanksgiving. It was called "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

It was a short, but cute play. I was surrounded by the red hat society. If I only knew ahead of time then I could have dressed appropriately. Ha ha

The second play was held at our library on a Thursday night. I picked the kids up from school and we went straight to Frisches for supper. I had free kids meals to redeem. 

 After supper we went straight to the library. 

 Before the play started they were serving hot chocolate and cookies while a band played Christmas carols. Titus sat right down in from of the drummer and stared him down the whole time. 

At the beginning of the program the actors played a game with the audience. Titus was asked to volunteer to help. 

It was a really cute play with a modern day twist on the Classic Christmas Carol. 

Maynard was working late and we missed him, but we had a really good time enjoying the holiday festivities. 

Then a few days later we attended a Widows Banquet held by First Pentecostal. It was so special and sweet to the widows. They had a dinner and then the widows each got gifts and had a chance to testify. I could tell that it meant the world to these widows. We sat around and sang Christmas carols. It was just a special evening and I am so glad we went and look forward to going again next year. 

I guess that's it for now. We still have lots planned and things are starting to get crazy and hectic. I will update as often as possible. 

Enjoy your Christmas and don't forget to make new memories this year even if they don't turn out exactly as you had envisioned!!

When things get so bad that you laugh hysterically.

I could get really depressed right now if I dwelled about things. I choose not too though. I don't like being unhappy so I just keep trucking on and take it one day at a time. 

Have you ever experienced a day that was so bad that instead of crying you just started laughing?!?!?

Let me tell you about our Wednesday evening. 

Maynard has just made it home from work and we were all getting ready for church. The phone rang and it was my neice, Tara. She has been driving Maynard's car for several months until she can save up to buy her own vehicle. She called to let us know that the car had broke down on the side of the road. Maynard told us to go on to church and he would go help Tara. So me and the kids went on to church.  The kids went to their classes and I went and sat down in the sanctuary. Church was getting ready to start when my phone started ringing. 

It was Maynard. 

"Amy, I got Tara with me. I just came from buying the part for Tara's car, but my tire just went flat on my truck. Can you come in case I need you?"

So I left church to go bail Maynard out who was bailing Tara out. 

My job was to shine my headlights so Maynard  could see good enough to put on the spare. 

It took a little maneuvering, but he finally got the tire changed. 

We were ready to go. I needed to go back to get my kids at church and he still needed to look at Tara's car and get it home somehow. 

I went to turn the key and my van made a "click click click" sound. Yes, folks. My battery was DEAD!!!

Maynard looked at me and his eyes got big as saucers. 

That's when it bubbled out uncontrollably. 

I.could.not.stop.laughing!!!!!

In less than 1 hr all 3 of our vehicles was broke down on the side of the road. 

Luckily, Maynard had cables with him and was able to give me a boost. 

Then he shut the hood of the van and a plastic piece below the headlight popped out and fell on the ground. 

That sent me in another fit of giggles. 

Maynard told me not to turn my engine off until I got back home and I still needed to pick my kids up, but they were still in class. So I drove around and got gas and even got me a hot white chocolate. All while the van was running of course. 

So I picked up the kids and we all made it home safe and sound. 

Tara's  car is currently in the garage and I have been taking her to work at 4 a.m. In the morning. Can you say Yucko??  I am not a morning person and will be tickled to death when her car is fixed as I'm sure she will be as well. 

Anyway things could have been a lot worse and I am so thankful that we were all safe and it was just minor things wrong with all 3 vehicles. 

I just had to share that with y'all because that is a day in the life of Amy!!