(almost) Wordless Wednesday

The Boss made a new friend this summer.....

and with this new friendship.....

also discovered the joy of girl talk!!!!

Christmas in July continued **see post below!

See???

Here is Santa at our church game/picnic night in June!

Santa is a Presbyterian!!!!

Christmas in July

Here in TN it gets hot. It gets really hot. However, in the 6 years since moving here from MS it has never, ever, ever gotten this hot.

By THIS HOT, I mean south MS/LA oppressive humidity and a head index of 110 kind of hot. Any of you folks out there that have been to south MS or south LA before know what I’m talking about, right?

For some reason, TN has decided to have heat advisory after heat advisory the entire summer long. I think TN may be jealous of MS or something. It’s the only reason that seems possible to me. The unfortunate thing is, that of all the many, many reasons that TN has to be jealous of MS, it would choose the ridiculous heat with which to compete.

At any rate, all of this heat had me thinking about cooler days.

Like this past winter when we had over 13 inches of snow.

Enough snow for the children to build a pretty impressive and huge snowman who, due to the negative wind chill factor and layers of ice beneath the snow, graced our front yard for over a week before he finally melted.

It is IMpossible for Grandma Sandy to think about winter and snow without my mind jumping immediately to Christmas. Therefore, I decided, on this last day of July, to have a Christmas in July post!!

Grandma Sandy is a Christmas nut. I totally love anything and everything to do with Christmas. My family doesn’t call me Crazy Christmas Tree Lady for nothing. I literally have a tree in nearly every room in the house.

Rather than tell you, I’ll just show you. After all, Christmas is less than 5 months away and its almost time to break out the Christmas tunes.

I’mnotevenkidding.

We converted this fireplace to a wood-burning one. Our other fireplace is gas logs and I’m about ready to convert it as well. Nothing makes me happier on a cold day than the smell, sound, and heat from a good fire.

Especially if there are sparkly lights, Santas, and stockings nearby.

Our 7 stockings take up the entire mantel, so for obvious reasons, we move a few while a fire is burning!

Our main tree is downstairs, where Santa makes his appearance and where we open our gifts on Christmas Day.

Our dining room was ready for the Christmas Eve meal.

If you didn’t believe me when I said I have a lot of Christmas trees, you’re probably getting the picture by now.

Here are my girls dressed for church. Dogos was clearly not happy with my insistence upon taking their picture, but I was not to be deterred. This is the only picture I got in which she is not screaming at the top of her lungs while lunging on top of her sister’s head.

Ah, the Christmas spirit!!

While we all know that Santa lives at the North Pole, I bet you didn’t know that he attends our church.

Yes, yes, it’s true.

SEE?

Told ya!!

I was just reminded that I have further photographic evidence that Santa truly does attend our church which I will post immediately after I publish this post!

I can hardly believe I was lucky enough to check downstairs RIGHT AFTER Santa must’ve come! That’s never happened before!

It didn’t take us long to mess up the order and care with which Santa so lovingly displayed our gifts.

Dogos was in love with a very special pillow she received.

Can you tell?

The Boss and Dogos tested out Dogos’ new ride.

Tents are always a big hit. Especially if it’s a Dora one!

For goodness’ sake, please don’t tell any of Middle Man’s friends that he also enjoyed the tent. He’d never live it down.

One of the best gifts this Christmas was a surprise sleepover with Peanut’s bff who moved to Kansas nearly 3 years ago!

Of course, the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the Grandma Sandy household is the birth of Jesus Christ. No greater gift was ever given to mankind.

The lights, ornaments, ribbons, toys, and wreaths are all just fluff that mean nothing. It will all remain and be left behind, just as everything else in this world, when we each meet our earthly end. Only our souls will stretch into eternity, worthy only through the blood and redemption of Lord Jesus Christ.

...for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

the Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down,

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.

such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

Palm 139:1-6

The love and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is from everlasting to everlasting.

Merry Christmas!!

Making progress

Making progress......

I finally committed last week to regular exercise. The treadmill was in storage until two weeks ago. When last Monday rolled around, I knew I had no excuse but to just DO IT and to KEEP doing it.

I exercised Mon-Fri last week, took Sat and Sun off because we were out of town, but got back on it today.

I always take a long time stretching, warming up, and cooling down. I strained my hip last fall which is the point at which I quit exercising and got ridiculously fat. I’m doing a combination of walking/running (more walking at this point). I know not to expect to be able to do 6 miles each day once school starts this Thursday. I’m pushing myself pretty hard right now, but its with the understanding that in a few days, my time will become severely limited, as well as my energy. My five kiddoes need their mama once I get home each day from school, but I hope to be able to get in a few miles each day.

For now, I’m gonna go find something soft to sit on.

My behind hurts.

Kitchen time

Speaking of chefs in the kitchen, I thought I’d show what two of my girls really have been up to in the real kitchen lately.

The Chef does a lot of things well, but one of the things I love most is the time he takes with each of his children in the kitchen. One night recently, it was The Boss and Peanut’s turn. On the menu? Beef enchilada casserole.

There’s not a recipe. It’s a dish that The Chef invented several years ago and it’s a family favorite.

The Chef started Peanut off chopping an onion. Her very first onion to chop!

She was a little reluctant at first but she did a great job.

The Boss did a great job pouring.

The Chef showed them how to build the casserole and then let them have at it. He seriously showed them what to do, sat down to watch the news, and said, “Let’s hope for the best!"

The finished product just before putting it in the oven.

The meal was delicious! I’m proud that my girls (and sons, as well) are learning cooking skills and are gaining confidence in the kitchen throughout the process. I’m also grateful for a husband with the patience for the hands—on teaching approach. Children learn best by “doing "and applying the skills they learn.

Whenever I get all mushy-feeling that my husband and children spend this kind of time together, The Chef always stops me by reminding me of his ulterior motive when he says,

“Honey, don’t start singing my praises. You know the main reason I do this is because I’m bound and determined that with 5 kids, one of ‘em will turn out to be a cook that will feed me when I’m old."

Well, he does have a point......

Creativity and Imagination

Apparently, The Chef is not the only creative cook in our household.

Lately, my 4 yr old daughter, The Boss, has taken a liking to making food creations out of Play-doh.

It started out as a “restaurant” imaginary play game with her older sister, Peanut.

Behold one of their first creations:

Peanut says it is called “Firework Surprise.” She says its a vanilla ice cream dessert in a bowl with strips of chocolate over the top.

Ok, I can see that, can’t you?

This morning, The Boss decided to try her hand at Play-doh food cooking all on her own.

She said she would make me blueberry pancakes and bacon.

Behold the blueberry pancakes:

I can see that, can’t you? She even has the blueberries as well as a few sprinkles, she says.

And now behold the bacon:

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really seeing it. I mean I’m seeing IT but what I see does not look like bacon at all.

IT definitely looks like something. Something I learned about in maybe 8th grade Biology.

But definitely not anything to do with bacon!

Ah yes, creativity and imagination knows no bounds in the Grandma Sandy household.

stuff

Hopefully I’ll be able to sit down and write a real post soon, instead of these quick updates. This week, my parents have been here for a visit while The Chef was out of town. They were only here for a few short days, but we managed to squeeze in some shopping, haircuts, and visits with The Pastor and The Gentleman.

I’m still putting the house back together. I had to take a few days off because after a while you just need a break. This is a big house with a lot of stuff so I’m not gonna kill myself trying to figure out where pictures, lamps, etc should go. It wouldn’t be that big of a challenge except I completely rearranged the furniture downstairs and switched the living room/dining room upstairs. The dining room was really tiny. As in, when we were all at the table, no one could get past anyone else. We were all squished in. The upstairs living room is a pretty good size. It’s where the kids play their video games and the little girls keep all their toys. The size of the room only served to provide more floor space for the little ones to leave all their toys, so I decided to switch the two rooms and the result is great! I really love it. Except that I have to figure out where to hang pictures and place “dust catchers” all over again. It’s kind of like just moving into a new house.

Today I have a new challenge ahead of me. I will officially make my first trip to my school to meet the new principal and attempt to work in my classroom. I say attempt because I’m taking 4/5 of my children with me so its doubtful that I’ll get much done. If I can at least get furniture placed, then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it!