I Blame the Kids!

I'm so glad my 4 year old and 2 year old helped me bake these from scratch chocolate chip cookies because I can totally blame them for the result:

Yeah, not sure what happened there?!!! It was like one big, flat cookie mess! Burned on the edges, raw in the middle!! I was getting them out of the oven while my husband bathed the kids, and as I began to spatula them up I immediately realized, "There is no salvaging these cookies!" It was cookie goo I was dealing with!

I had 2 problems. Problem 1: They (along with apple slices) were supposed to be snack for my daughter's preschool class the very next day, now what am I going to take for snack? Problem 2: My daughter is going to be very upset when she sees the result of the cookies she worked so hard to help me make!

It took me about 7 seconds to think of the solution to both problems.

I sent my husband to the store for the break-and-bake chocolate chip cookies!

Ahhhh, that's better!

For all my wanting to get away from prepackaged, processed foods, I think my exception may be the break-and-bake cookies! They come out perfect every time!

Find more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart, Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary.

Clearly Container Crazy!

Over the past year of trying to get better organized, I have become a complete fanatic for the containers. Give me an empty plastic bucket, basket, shoe box, or even an empty yogurt tub and I'm a happy girl!

Here I wrote how after reading hundreds of times about using containers for organizing I finally discovered, "Hey, containers really do work for making things more organized!" And since then nearly every area of my home has been invaded with a container. Even the fridge was not immune to a little white plastic bin addition!

So all this explanation is meant to help you understand the depth of my excitement at discovering these in the Target Dollar Section, FOR ONE DOLLAR each!!!

Now that my mom can't drive she's doing all her errands with me, and I think I seriously scared her with my level of excitement and discussion over the bins FOR A DOLLAR! And then I had to start it all up again with the poor checker as she scanned each beautiful, bright, empty bucket that just screamed with organizational promise! "At the Container Store each one of those would be eight dollars!" I told her as she pretended not to be thinking, "Okay, let's settle down, Lady, they are only buckets!"

So how many did I buy?

15

Across two separate Target trips.

Yes, after the 1st trip I came home and found so many uses for the buckets that I had to go back the next day and buy some more!!! It is a sickness, y'all!

But I'm so glad I went back quickly because the very next day, they were almost all gone. Clearly many people see the great deal of those buckets!

I will openly admit to being a Target stalker. There was even a time 5 years ago as I decorated a big boy room for my 1st son, that I had a Target Odyssey that consisted of no less than FIVE Target stores. But as a result of that odyssey I managed to score their super cute construction themed comforter times 2 (because he had bunk beds), pillow shams for both beds, sheets, decorative pillows, rug, and matching nightlight on sale because they were discontinuing the collection!

Thankfully I live in a big city where 7 Target stores are within a 10 mile radius of my house!!

So while you ponder the extent of my patheticness at even knowing that statistic, let me share with you that I have put 13 of the 15 buckets to good use! Here's how:

• 3 in a storage closet are containing the dollar store items I've collected for the kids Christmas stockings (1 bucket per child)

• 2 in the storage closet are holding other small gifts I've bought for Christmas

• 1 in my daughter's closet for her dress-up crowns, necklaces, rings, etc.

• 1 in my daughter's closet for small bags and purses

• 2 to contain random small toys in the playroom

• 1 to further organize the puzzle cabinet

• 1 to contain "guys" in my boys' room

• 2 organized the nightstand in my boys' room

The nightstand before picture:

And after:
Just ignore the fact that the shelf is badly in need of a paint-job. I guess 5 years of little boy wear and tear will do that to a shelf that was painted with craft paint rather than real wood paint because it is what I had on hand at the time!!

If your local Target is sold out of these babies, I'm very sorry, I may have beat you there!!!

***Please know all the raving on and on about the buckets and Target all stems from my own internal crazy and not because I have been compensated at all by Target to say it!***

Find more Thankful Thursday, Thursday Thirteen, and Thousand Words Thursday at Cheaper Than Therapy

The Fate of a Little Boy with a Big Sister

As a little boy with a big sister there is a high likelihood you'll someday be dressed in a pink tutu. And when that day comes and you twirl and giggle in a pink sparkly skirt, just make sure you have your pirate sword firmly in hand because that will be the shred of masculinity you can cling to if/when the picture comes back to haunt you 12 years later!

Find more Wordless or Wordful Wednesday.

Display those Christmas Cards!

I love displaying the Christmas cards that we get, especially since so many of our friends have little kids and send cards with pictures. It is really fun to have all the cards up in the house, marvel at how much all the kids have grown and changed, and just enjoy all the cute little faces!

But until last year I didn't have a system I really liked for displaying the cards. But then I figured out this system to hang the cards onto 2 doors we have between our living room and breakfast room that we leave open all the time. I bought cheap over-the-door plastic hooks, tied thick ribbon I had on hand around the hook, made a bow and left a long tail hanging down. Then as I got cards in the mail I simply stapled them down the length of the ribbons.


It was so easy to put up initially, easy to add to as more cards came in, not to mention cheap! And we enjoyed looking at it so much it was the last Christmas decoration to come down (possibly even waiting until early February)!

Find more Works for Me Wednesday tips here.

The Colossal Christmas Conspiracy

Have you heard of the Advent Conspiracy?

In the video on the main page of their website (find it by clicking here), they give the statistic that Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas every year. More people die from lack of clean drinking water every day that anything else. It would cost 10 billion dollars to make clean water available to everyone.

I don't know about you, but I find those numbers staggering! Each year we in America, a country where 76% of the people identify themselves as Christians, choose to celebrate Christ's birth by spending $450 billion on stuff at the expense of lives, people created in the image of the very God we claim to love and serve!

I am ashamed for the part I have played in this! We as a family give money and toys and food and our time at Christmas, but we could do more. We are guilty of spending too much on things that won't matter to anyone in the long run. This year we are changing that. We will spend less (our specific goal is 50% less) and give more to people in true need -- the least, the last, the lost. I am grateful for a 2nd chance!

In Matt. 25:35-40, Jesus says,

'For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick or in prison, and come to You? ' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

What do you think Jesus wants for His birthday?


This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

Check out Gratituesday and Tuesdays Unwrapped.

Time Marches On

You may remember this picture from my sidebar and my profile:


Well, that was actually 2 years ago! Yes, my internet friends, when I say I'm behind on pictures, I mean I'm behind on pictures!

So, my blog family photo (much like the family photos that hang in my home) actually depicted my family as we were 2 years ago.

And this is now. . .


So, now 2 years later, is it any easier taking family photos with 3 kids?

No, not really.

But, I can say now during the hour with the photographer I am much less stressed.

The mom in the 1st photo was only 6 months into life with 3 kids. She was still trying to hold it all together, control the situation, worrying that the kids might not cooperate, fretting over wrinkled clothes, and concerned that the "perfect" picture be captured.

And in the 2nd photo the mom has learned that with 3 kids, there may be tears and runny noses and untied shoes and drool and tongues sticking out, but that in the unpredictable, the messy, there is life.

Beautiful, unscripted, REAL life!

And speaking of TIME and real life,

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to change the clocks twice a year obviously did not have young children.

My letter:

Dear Mr. or Ms. I-Invented-Daylight-Savings-Time,

Please come over to my house and explain the concept of "Fall Back" to my 2 year old. His biological clock says, "6:53 AM, time to wake-up". The clock on my nightstand says, "5:53 AM, definitely NOT time to wake-up!!"

Sincerely,
A mom who is wondering where her extra hour is!

Two of the best sentences my ears will ever hear!

2 Sentences, 8 words

Dot has a dog. Dog has a hat.

Doesn't seem like much when you read it.

But when you hear your 4 year old daughter read it all by herself?

Utterly awesome, amazing and exciting!!!!!

I posted last Friday about kid milestones rarely mentioned. The 1st sentence they read out loud to you without any help, has got to be one of my absolute favorite milestones!!

I am especially excited for my daughter because she really and truly loves books and this big step into reading will unlock a huge world of knowledge and entertainment available to her for the rest of her life!

Find more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart, Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary.