The Advent Season

There is much excitement in the Chintzibob household. It is that marvelous time of year when thoughts of sugarplums dance in all of our heads. A few years ago Splitcat and I decided to start a tradition for our family in this season to make it a memorable one for all, as well as to teach the children why we celebrate Christmas. I did not really know what Advent was all about, but I was willing to give it a go. It has become a favorite tradition of all. For the first year, P. was the recipient of the Lego Advent Calendar. This is the first year that has not been part of our evening.

We try to keep it very simple, most nights the kids get a small piece of candy or toy. I knew it was an important part of my children's lives when P. told me he was making an advent list. He wanted some new Heroscape figures. That is exactly what he has been getting. The girl is a little more difficult to buy for. She loses small things or they end up in the babies mouths. She got a golden dollar last night and a Indiana Jones Lego mini-fig tonight(the one that is a girl). The twins just get a piece of candy. It has been really nice to spend a few minutes all together every night thinking of the birth of our Savior. P. seems to understand a lot more this year, even in the excitement of getting a present every night.



On Sunday night we had a tree decorating party and a pre-Advent reading to prepare us for the first night. I was touched by the reading and prayer that splitcat gave. Then I found out he wrote it, so I received permission to post it here. I hope you like it.



Bible Reading: John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginnning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.


Most Gracious Father and Bringer of Peace, we ask for humble spirits as we prepare for this season of remembrance of your gift to us, Your only Son.
We pray that we will not be distracted by earthly gifts, but will continually give "glory to God in the highest" for the Saviour who was born for us on Christmas Day.

We ask that this Christmas tree will be a reminder of your unbounding love for us and that
-the green of the limbs will be a reminder of the evergreen life that you bring into our watered hearts.
-the beautiful ornaments will remind us of the daily wonders and blessings that you grant us everyday.
-the angel at the top of the tree will serve to remind us that you forever watch over us.
-the wood of the trunk will remind us of the wood of the manger in which the baby Jesus lay and the wood of the cross on which He hung for us.
--the lights will remind us that in Christ is life and that life is the light of man, your light shines in the darkness, and that it was the Word of God that spoke the light itself into the world: "Let there be light." (Oldest child lit the Christmas tree at these words).

Sorry for the long delay in posting. We ended up going through three or four rounds of Lice. It wasn't pretty. Then life just happened. So here I am again.

I just discovered something sort of fun. Last week when I was looking at my flickr stats, I found that someone had used one of my embroidery pics as a sample on their website. Since the pic linked directly to my flickr account, I did not mind. I thought it kind of cool. That was one of my favorite designs from my summer tea towel swap.

Tonight I was looking at the blog for the Embroidery pool I belong to and found myself quoted Here. I thought that was kind of fun.

My embroidery skills have vastly improved. Did I ever show you my new shoe? I've only finished one so far.


In other news. Splitcat and I took a very needed weekend away to Highlands, NC.
We saw lots of waterfalls. It was really beautiful.



I am busy getting rid of stuff. I have 4 bags waiting to go to the thrift store. I have already dropped off two garbage bags full and a box. I gave away 2 full bags to different people. And that is just in a few days worth of cleaning out. I have 3 big totes to go to my parents for storage. And I have swapped out summer clothes for fall/winter. And caught up on the laundry. Now the trick will be to stay caught up.

Apologies

I apologize for not finishing up my twins birthday post. I got sick. P and E got Lice. The twins never stop moving. So there are some excuses if you feel like you need them.

Mostly, I realized there are almost no year two photos on our flickr accounts and didn't want to bother with uploading them.

So let's forge ahead to year 3. Very recently, in fact.

Twins Turn Three

Well, here we are, three years later. I cannot believe it. Where have the past three years gone? I don't really remember much. So here is a photo retrospective of the twins first 3 yrs. done in three parts. Here is year One.

32 Weeks---Can you believe I went 5 weeks past this. Man, I was huge!


Mom and Baby A


Boys in hospital


Crying


So small


A bit bigger


First Christmas


First Christmas


6 months


The Beach--right around their first birthday


First Birthday



So there is year one in a nutshell. Tomorrow, Year 2.

The Pox-redux

The eldest child has the chicken poxes. poor kid is missing the first week of school.

For the two people who read my blog who aren't my friends on Facebook, I'm bored, not sleepy, and can't think of anything better to do, so I am posting some of the pics I took to show everyone my hair. So, yeah. Here.







I asked him to cut the back a little too short so it would take longer to grow in. It will be exactly how I like it in about a week.

So. Anyway. How's it going out there? I wish I had something more entertaining to blog about than my hair. I could start one of those blogs where you put a picture of your daily outfits. Because I dress so well.

I could blog about potty training, but then I'd have to think about potty training. Which I am not a big fan of.

The twins will be 3 soon. That will be a good thing to post about in a couple of weeks when it is actually their birthday.

I could blog about how I am now obsessively hoarding coupons and scouring sales ads for deals since I now have to actually follow a budget. Doing good so far. Saving money. Lost a few pounds from not eating out every day. So that's good. I got free toothpaste the other day. It was on sale for $1 and I had a $.50 coupon that was doubled. Free is always good.

That pretty much uses up all my ideas. so. bye.

Singing Saturday

I know. I remembered two weeks in a row. How amazing is that. This week's video doesn't have pictures, just the lyrics. This is Daniel Bashta, who happens to be the worship leader at my church. I love this song. This is what our worship service is like. I love it.

ALICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAACK

Here's the trailer for the New Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton

Thanks Hanna for the link.

I have to say I don't care if he mucked about with the story. It's Tim Burton. And Johnny Depp(though I don't really expect anything new from him). And Helena Bonham Carter. And spats. Alice is wearing spats. I have been planning on making some, now I must before everyone else. Totally geeking out.

Singing Saturday

It's been a while since I did a singing Saturday. Here, for your enjoyment is Regina Spektor. The first song is from an older album The second is from her new album(which is lovely)

P goes wild

He gets his moves from his dad. And I was afraid he'd just stand there doing nothing. This was taken with a camera, not a video camera, but I think you'll be able to see which one is mine.

Birthday

Today was my birthday. I am now 34. woohoo?

The kids are at VBS all week, so I had a nice quiet morning to myself. I got to take a shower and no one knocked on the door or walked in. then I had a lovely nap.

My children wanted to give me a party so splitcat grilled me some steak and potatoes, I embroidered, and the kids played in the sprinkler. (see splitcat's flickr for photos. I'm too lazy and tired to upload them right now.) Then we had cake. The babies love cake now. So it was a good day.

Miscellaneous Miscellany

Had a busy weekend last weekend.

Friday night I attended The Fray concert at chastain. I had a lovely time. The opening band was called Jack's mannequin, they were also quite good. The only downside to the show was that it poured. Like, at some points it was raining so hard I couldn't keep my eyes open. My wallet, which was inside a bag, wrapped in a towel, was still wet on the inside on Sunday. It took until tuesday for my shoes to dry out. There was also a beautiful lightning show. Sure, sitting in a big stadium in a thunderstorm is not the brightest of ideas, but I didn't want to go home. I'm glad I stayed.

Saturday I got to go to the birthday bash at my local Bare escentuals store. I've been wearing their basic makeup for a couple of years, so I wanted to expand. I had my makeup done and got some free samples. It was fun. Then saturday night we went to my niece's birthday party. The babies behaved tolerably well.

Sunday was my day in the nursery at the church where I work. I am working every other Sunday for a while. I get paid. After last sunday I am not sure I get paid enough. There were 4 workers and 10 babies and we had to have help. They all screamed and cried the whole 2nd service. I think we ended up calling 5 moms to get their babies. We never do that. It was bad. Sunday night we had cake and ice cream for my sister's birthday.

Isn't my life exciting?

Also, an update on the ants in my car. They apparently loved my car. Even after I cleaned it out somewhat. Last week I went to get my diaper bag out of the car and it was full of ants. Then when I went to get M out of his carseat I glanced down and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of ants. They had laid eggs in my van. It was so gross. So I spent two hours in the heat and humidity vaccuuming my car. Thankfully all of the rear seats come out.

The humidity has struck. I hate humidity. The only good thing is that some of our drought restrictions have been lifted, so my kids can play in the sprinkler 3 days a week.

I guess that is all for now. I need to go finish my next embroidery for my craftster swap.

Summertime

Even though it's not officially summer by the calendar, summer is nonetheless here. Everyone is out of school, but I start back at the mmo tomorrow. After a week home with everyone, I am glad I have a job. I love my children immensely. But.... When a simple trip to the post office that is only about 3 miles away takes way longer than it should, the mere thought of taking them all to the park or somewhere, anywhere, is not so fun.

I can't totally blame them for the Post Office Fiasco.
I am doing a swap on craftster that requires me to mail out something approximately once a week. I didn't make it the day I was supposed to go because there was a thunderstorm. So I decided we'd best go after breakfast the next day. It wasn't raining, snowing, sleeting, or anything. I tell the older kids first thing that we have to go to the post office sometime after breakfast. This is not met with much applause since it would cause P to miss some of his precious videogaming time. So as it rolls around to 9 I tell everyone to go get in the car.

Here's where it gets ugly.

There were (gasp, shriek, scream) ANTS in the car. This happens every spring after it rains for several days. We live on what is probably the largest anthill in the world. But they are not fire ants. They are just those little teeny tiny ants that like to eat sugar(there is plenty for them to eat in my van). This is not the first time my children have seen ants, and really, there weren't that many. But for some reason, P is "really creeped out" by bugs lately. So it's 9 in the morning and my oldest child is standing in the middle of the yard shrieking while I get the babies buckled in. After some time I convince him to get in the car. He's not happy about it, but he does it. Now it's the girls turn. But instead of shrieking in the yard she stands in the middle of the van sobbing. Which freaks Baby M out, so he starts crying. P, who has seen the light by this point helps me convince her to sit down so we can get there instead of having to sit in the antridden car while she cries. No one's happy, but at least we are finally driving down the road--I'm laughing hysterically, because otherwise I'd be crying. In the back of the van I can hear them talking about the general unpleasantness of the situation. Then in a very matter of fact tone, P says "This is why I don't travel."

Meanwhile, my entire extended family is on vacation, in Orlando(they are going to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens). I am wondering if I will get a vacation this year. splitcat is taking the student govt kids on a retreat to Blue Ridge where they will go rafting down the Ocoee. It's not exactly a vacation. but it's mountains, and i am not chaperoning. i need more mountains in my life.

The twins will be 3 in August. I will be 34 soon. very soon. How can they be 3 already?

okay, enough with my rambling. I'm going to bed.

Mother's Day-updated

My husband is outdoing himself this year in the present department. First, diamonds for christmas, now, the only other thing I wanted--A new Serger!! Here it is. It has lots of positive reviews at Amazon and other places. I've got to go, but wanted to spread the good news :)

Okay, so I actually had a fun-filled weekend of festivities.

On Saturday, I went to Mittie's Tea Room with my mother, grandmother, my sister and her 2 girls, and my girl(plus 3 American Girl Dolls). We didn't actually have "tea," but Mittie's makes some of the best chicken salad ever. We had a lovely time. Since my mom called ahead to let them know we were coming, we had a little sun porch all to ourselves. It was very nice.

All Dressed up and Someplace to Go



Saturday night we dropped the kids of at a Parent's night out at the church where I work. The high school kids were trying to raise money for camp. So splitcat and I went to Five Guys where I had a hot dog and fries. We sat outside and enjoyed the cool spring breeze and the 80's music coming in over the radio. Then we went to Brandsmart and wandered around. We picked the kids up early because it was already way past their bedtime. Thankfully they had a great time.

Sunday, I took the kids to church while splitcat went on a run with his brother. Then home to try to nap. Then to the in-laws for more Mother's day celebrating. A good time was had by all.

So it was a very busy weekend. I also have a busy week ahead with projects due for P and a costume to make for E. I'll be glad when school is over.

Since my life is pretty boring here are some pictures to keep you entertained








Yes, I am a mean mom. Actually, they found some of the girls ponytail holders and asked me to put them in their hair. They have one at the back, too.



Here is the hailstorm we had a couple of weeks ago. I was picking up the girl at ballet when it started. This was the worst hail we have ever had. There ended up being a little more than this.


That is all.

A new way to sleep and other miscellany

When I went to get the babies up from their nap on Easter Sunday this is what I found.






I ran downstairs and told splitcat to get his camera. We all trooped in and out and they just kept sleeping. When we finally woke them up M's first words were "knees hurt." It's probably a good thing I went in there. His knees were completely locked.

We had a lovely Easter weekend. Two family get togethers with lots of egg finding fun.

Today I went to the Big Shanty Festival in downtown Kennesaw. They had a civil war renactment going on, so there were random cannon shots. Cannons are loud. It reminded me of when I lived in New Jersey and the National Guard would have a tank in the 4th of July parade that would shoot blanks. Anyway. I was interested in seeing what people were selling in the arts/crafts part of the festival. Lots of dog leashes, handmade baby things, semi-precious wire-wrapped jewelry, pottery, and a little bit of actual art. I bought a print for P. with a space theme which was met with not much enthusiasm, but it is a signed and numbered print, so maybe one day he will appreciate it. The girl went with me(and her grandma J met us) and she got to have her face painted and hair done(I'll try to remember to put up a pic when it gets loaded on the pc). I found something cool for my mom for mother's day. But I'll probably give it to her on Monday because I can't wait. My m-i-l bought me a really pretty pottery bowl(but I won't get it til Mother's day because, unlike me, she can wait to give people their presents). It was not very expensive because it was a student piece from the parks and recreation class.

On Wednesday of this week, my brakes went out. Thankfully, I was in my neighborhood, driving very slowly because something didn't seem right when I backed out of my driveway. It is a strange thing to have no brakes.

Splitcat has taken up running. Today he ran in his second 5k. He improved his race time by 2 minutes.

My boss decided to have an 8 week summer session at the mmo. The mothers were practically giddy with glee. I think I will be working. Most of my babies are planning on coming. I am getting a new baby on Monday who is only 8 weeks old. It will be nice to have a newborn again.

Did I ever mention that we rearranged all the kids bedrooms over spring break? P and E now have their own rooms and the twins are in the bigger bedroom. They have much more room to play. I removed the sides from their cribs(as you can see in the above pics). I think they are finally actually sleeping in their beds, or at least W does. The first couple of weeks they would sleep on the floor. M liked to sleep behind the door. It reminded me of how P used to sleep behind the door when he was little. We finally settled into a night time routine with the twins, and that has helped them at bedtime. It was pretty awful there for a while. But now we have a very involved routine that requires hugs from each member of the family, two stories-each has to be read by both parents, being rocked and sung to, then hugs, then crying and wanting more hugs. M is the best at attempting new delaying tactics. I keep waiting for him to ask for a glass of water.

Bubbles

My friend Dana sent me this video on Facebook, and I had to share. If you don't have chik-fil-a where you live, this song sums up how many of us feel about it. I can't tell you how many times I've craved it on a Sunday(it is closed so the workers can go to church).

Singing Saturday on a Monday

I heard this song for the first time this weekend at the retreat I was serving on. It sort of became an unofficial theme song for some. It was written and sung originally by John Mark McMillan. Watch here for the story behind the song. Here is a link to the lyrics. (I've been listening to more of his music and I really like it)

Truly there is nothing greater than the Revelation of His passion and love for us. His love is devastating, and like she says at the end, If you have encountered the Father's love, you will never be the same.

Last week

This is what I saw when I went to get the twins up. I knew Baby W(the curly one) had gotten out of his bed because I heard him at the door. I thought they were fighting through the crib bars. But no, he had climbed in his brother's crib to try and take his toy(a little toy electric piano).

After I took the last picture I saw something strange in the viewfinder. What's that on the wall? Why, it's red crayon. And yellow crayon. Little stinker W had put crayons in his pockets. And decorated his wall. He can't help himself. When he gets any sort of writing utensil he must write on the wall.

Fun times

WooHoo

Guess What?!?

My Converse made it to Craftster's Top Picks of 2008 in the Shoe category!!!!!!

Some small changes

I just wanted to alert everyone to the changes on my sidebar. You can now easily access my other blogs..and see if it's been updated since the last time you checked it. Also, the blogs I read links are updated as people post. I like this new feature on blogger.

Here's a view of the sky when I went to the bus stop today. I am going to try to take the camera(not splitcat's new one, the old one) with me when I walk to the bus and see what I can see.



It's been a very weird weather day here. It would pour rain for about 30 minutes, then the sun would shine very brightly, then rain, the rain and sunshine at the same time. It was almost 70 degrees yesterday, today the wind is howling around my house and it feels in the 40's-50's, it may be warmer without the wind. These clouds were going by really fast.

One Resolution Down

Well, I've fulfilled one of my resolutions. Unfortunately it's not the clean house or the dishes. However, I have learned something new. Inspired by this post at Hanna's Life is Cool, I went armed with coupon to Hobby Lobby and spent my Christmas money on a quilling kit. I have always wanted to try quilling, just never have gotten around to it. So here's what I've done so far:

These cards are all from the starter kit
















This is my first attempt at design. It's supposed to be an "H" It's not glued down, so it's a little wonky. Plus, Baby M destroyed the right half of it after I finished this photo. The colors are all off, too. It is off-white, pink, a melony pink, and red. Quilling is very difficult to photograph in my dungeon, um, I mean living room(It's in the basement with very poor lighting)



This is supposed to be an "O," but it looks more like a backwards "Q." The scale is also wrong to go with the H(my goal is to spell HOPE), but I like the overall look of it. It's actually orange and yellow.


An attempt at quilled jewelry. This is actually black and white.


So, I've accomplished one thing on my list.