Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad!!!
You love your country....

You love your wife....

You love your children....You love your grandchildren....You love your great grandchildren....But most of all YOU ARE LOVED!!!

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My Friday in Pictures

Home Management

There are only 3 more weeks until Christmas!! Yikes! I have alot to do. Really I only have 8 or 9 days to finish the gifts that have to be mailed out. I am behind, but I do work well under pressure. I also want to get something made for the Whirl Into Winter giveaway coming up. You can click on the little snowflake on my sidebar to get the details. How are your Christmas preparations coming? I have got some shopping done. This will be much simpler this year and that is fine. I have not hit the stores, but Rachel has called me with some deals and grabbed them for me and I have done some Amazon shopping. If you are going to shop Amazon, go through the link on Copperswife's sidebar. It costs you NOTHING and she will get a percentage toward her heritage library. Amazon does not tell her who you are or any information about you.

Well we got another 4 inches dumped on us yesterday! It looked like a snow globe out there for most of the afternoon.Our new schedule seems to be working out ok. Mr. Zachary may need to do his math before chores, but all in all he is doing well.

I got out my Home Management Binder. I had been doing my housework "by heart" and not really looking at the focus lists. Things were not getting done as they should.This weeks focus is the front rooms of the house. The living room, dining room, and entryway. I had done a really nice deep clean of the dining room before Thanksgiving, so I was ahead of the game. The kids took some jobs....wiping switch plates clean, dusting legs of tables and chairs, straightening the coat closet, and organizing the DVD's that are stored in the cabinet in the entryway.Since I had a head start on the dining room, I worked a little on the laundry room. Next week is the focus week for this room, and it will get some deep attention, but it needed a little TLC now. This is what happens when you do your housework "by heart"....there will be a day when I have no children at home that "by heart" will be good enough. That is not now.Just a little time and a garbage bag, and Voila!!!! Not deep cleaned, but well organized and ready for next weeks meeting with the cleaning rag! I always keep a laundry basket in here for kitchen towels and cloth napkins. All my laundry is back on schedule. I am terrible with laundry! I washed my rug by the back door and was shocked to find it had totally fell apart. I should not have been surprised. The rug by the back door is always an older rug from another area in the house that has been replaced for a fresher rug. Kinda like the kid who always gets the hand me downs. I decided to get a new rug for this area. Basically, there were no rugs to hand down this time!Dark rugs by a heavily used door are great! They hide the dirt well.
Tuesday we worked in the bedrooms. All the linens get changed here on Tuesdays. I put these pillow cases on my pillows and am trying to remember who made them. I think it was my mom. Still not certain. Maybe my Grandma made them and my Aunt Pete gave them to me...I am sure they will know. Speaking of Aunt Pete....she sent the kids a wonderful package in the mail. She is always great about sending holiday cards to the kids. They all love getting mail. In the package was a box of 6 different card games. It has been very quiet here in the afternoons as they play their new games. They thank you Aunt Pete, but I really thank you!!!!! I have been faithful to my commitment in Eating 2 Live. The scale is not moving as fast as I would like it to, but the inches are coming off. Sweetheart can see the loss, which is good. My sister and mom both mentioned it. It is hard to tell when you still have so far to go. My clothes really tell it. They are very loose and I am almost ready to go down a size. It is all worth it! It is not about being thin, it is about being fit and healthy.Ooooo....I almost forgot. I ordered my "after Christmas" book. Every year I kick back and read a good book after the holidays. This year I hope to read two. This is one of them. If she can handle 18, I should be able to do fine with 3 at home, right???

Wash Me White As Snow

"......sin had left a crimson stain, You washed me white as snow." That hymn went through my head several times yesterday. It started when I looked outside. We had several inches of snow on the ground. It is still there and I have a feeling we will be seeing alot of it this year. Sweetheart and his handy dandy snow blower will take care of us though!

I put up the tree and decorated a bit for the season. Not as much as I usually do.

"Our First Christmas Together

1979"

I did not get a good pic of the tree...I will try again. Emerson just LOVES LOVES LOVES Grandma's Christmas tree. She ooooh's and ahhhhh's to it like it is a friend! Zachary really enjoys Emerson's chatter and that she likes to "play" with toys.She makes this little shape with her mouth when she is talking....She was in such a wonderful mood yesterday! I enjoyed her greatly. Her mom and Charlotte went out grocery shopping while Emerson and I kept an eye on those boys. TJ ran everytime I got the camera out. He enjoyed the tree too!! Christmas with a 3 year old is about the best there is!

We did some rearranging of our school day schedule. It seemed to work very well and maybe we will keep it. I am testing it for a week. I always felt getting school done first thing was best, but we are scattering it out and got much more accomplished both in school and around the house. We are studying the Underground Railroad and enjoyed these books yesterday. "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt" and the sequel, "Under the Quilt of Night" Both excellent books.Very well written and the illustrations are incredible.

I attended my Ladies Bible Study last night. We had our Christmas party. It was so much fun. We sang Christmas Carols and exchanged ornaments.(Annette, Holly and Ethan)

We had some deep conversations, and some not so deep conversations....

(Candy, Mechelle, and Cheryl)

(Angela and Hailey)

Lots of wonderful food...including chocolate cheesecake...I ate my Maker's Diet before I went. They all understand I am on a program and will not cheat. I was told to come anyway and I am glad I did. It was not at all about the food.

I have been working a little in the sewing room. I have several more gifts to create so I better get on it!! These rows still need to be sewn together..... I love red and white.

After my last post, my mom called me and was almost frantic. "What am I going to do with that bedroom?!" I giggled because I know there is nothing she can do without 10 strong men to help. That mattress alone weighs 100+ pounds. The furniture is very heavy. I can not budge it. I think she is ok now...yeesh. Never use your mother as an example of what NOT to do!! I should know that as I am a mother!! I did get my fountains going. It is nice to have them out again.It's all about that thing we seek out in our lives. We know it can only truly come from one place...Him.