Tessa's Wonderland

While Tessa was gone to a friend's house today, Jeremy and I seized the opportunity to decorate her room for Christmas. I had been hoping to do it while she was at school or something so we could surprise her. And we did! It doesn't take much to shock and awe a 4 year old...just some unexpected Christmas lights and cotton snow.

I also wanted to do this since we don't do the whole Santa coming down the chimney thing. Just because we don't do Santa, doesn't mean Christmas isn't magical and special for our kids. To the contrary!

It's kind of nice that she has a built in mantle to hang stockings and lights from.

Look! It snowed on the dollhouse. I think this was their favorite part.

I had ordered this snowflake afghan on Etsy. It's hard to see in the pic but the edges are all crocheted.

About this time, Charley woke up from his nap and helped me finish. If you're concerned about Charley and his room, don't be. He got colored lights around his window which he thinks is pretty awesome. We might decorate more in there later on.

The garland hanging from the door was the greatest idea. Lasted about 5 minutes before it got torn apart though. Note to self...if you cut garland, it WILL unravel.

Tessa came home and was super surprised.

Good night, Supergirl Polly Pocket.

The one thing we're still missing is some paper stars that are on their way in the mail, and hopefully a white poinsettia for her dresser when they come into stores. Imagine those there as well. Perfection!

Arise and Walk!

Yesterday I had my 8 week post-op appointment with the Ortho. I'll admit I was nervous he was going to tell me I wasn't healed enough to walk yet, and that I might flip out and throw something across the room.

Luckily he said my xray looked 'perfect' and that I could ditch the scooter and start walking. Slowly at first of course. And then in a month from now he wants to see me again, with a SHOE on. This was another surprise because he had previously given me sort of a worst case scenario where I kept the boot on until February.

I walked around the rest of the day and it really did wear me out. Today my legs and back are aching big time. Slow and steady!

I have a long to-do list as well as Christmas activities I want to do, but I realize I need to pace myself. Our first big Christmas thing is that Jeremy and I are taking Tessa to see The Nutcracker in a couple of weeks. She's been watching a recording of it on Netflix to prepare her for what it will be like and she totally eats it up. She can recite the whole story now.

I'm sure she'll be excited when we get there to where the 'real ballerinas' are. If she goes running inside in her fancy dress, Mommy will be hobbling far behind in her supportive boot. But we'll have a great time, none the less.

God is good. All the time.

Lucky at the Library

Today was my first full day alone with the kids. Jeremy left at 4:30 to join Andy and some hunters on farm. It's opening season for deer in IN...look out Bambi! Or preferably, Bambi's Dad.

I'm really really sick of the inside of our house and I think the kids are too. So, we headed to the library for some free entertainment. And also to square up on the $11 I owed them from when Jeremy forgot to return two movies right after I had surgery. Delinquent.

I'm still on the scooter for a few more days so if you're wondering how I am able to load it in and out of the car by myself, I would just say....carefully. But I'm off of pain meds altogether so I can DRIVE!

I seriously considered driving down to North Vernon to visit the hunters, simply for the thrill of the open road. But given that Mom and Mamaw were both gone on an antique expedition, leaving no one at the house to help me up the step....I decided against it.

At the library I expected regular scenes like this....

But we were majorly suprised by the 'big truck show' that happened at 11am...dump trucks, garbage trucks, cement mixers, tow trucks and firetrucks.

Charley was in heaven. I 'm thankful that the truck drivers were nice enough to lift the kids up into the cab, after getting a glimpse of their gimpy mother. I simply couldn't have done that.

Charley went bananas for the pink dump truck. Yes, Charley. Tessa was mostly ambivalent about the whole thing. I think the horns were too loud and the cabs too high for her taste.

Tessa snatched the camera for a while. I guess I didn't look that bad. Sadly my teal hair has faded to a lovely pea soup green. Since it's only been lasting about a week on average, I ordered some 'manic panic' in hopes of doing it myself and saving salon costs. I hope my hairdresser doesn't kill me.

I just like this picture of Charley's skinny tooshie. Still barely fitting into 2T...only 2T with an adjustable waistband tightened all the way. Still weighing about what he did at his 12 month appointment. My peanut.

Our Poor Pot

You remember our new addition, the La Creuset cookware set?

Well, this happened last night...

I know...how could we allow this to happen to our precious baby? Well see, we had the Pioneer Woman's Dr. Pepper pork roast in the oven for most of the day. And then Jeremy suddenly remembered at 4:30 that he had made chiropractor appointments for both of us 5:15. We rushed out of the house and forgot to peek in on the pork. Apparently it was already done. Really done.

Factor in an hour or more to get across town and have two adjustments and we came back to this.

The pork was actually still really good. Just a little dry and well...cajun style. I was super worried for the dutch oven. Yes I said dutch oven. That's what it's called, people. That term doesn't isn't always related to a fart related incident.

I soaked it an hour, scrubbed and scraped, then soaked it again overnight then scrubbed it this morning (with a non-scratchy sponge of course), and check it out......

It lived! Another amazing product promotion for La Creuset. I wish everything in our house was coated in enameled cast iron...counters, sinks, my clothes. This place would be spotless.

Gospel Bracelets Times 2

I don't know if these are called gospel bracelets or Jesus bracelets....okay the all knowing internet says 'salvation bracelets'.

I just think it's funny that Tessa got one on Sunday at church AND today at preschool. And we've gone over the colors enough times that she can even tell you what it means.



But in case you don't know, these bracelets are a simple way for kids (or not so theologically savvy adults like me) to tell the story of Jesus and the gospel.

It goes like this...
Yellow- for the streets of heaven that are paved with gold
Black- for the sin in our hearts
Red- for Jesus' blood shed on the cross
White- for our sins washed white as snow (when we choose to believe in Jesus)
Green- for our everlasting life in him

Ta-da!

I should note that approximately 2 hours after I took this picture Tessa lost the beaded one, I think at the chiropractor's office. This is why you can't have super nice things for a 4 year old...they get lost or broken or caked with food. Such is life. Jesus would understand.

Operation Christmas Child

We love this charity, Samaritans Purse and their yearly Operation Christmas Child boxes. I've been doing it for a few years with my MOPs group, but this is the first year that Tessa really understands and was a part of it.

One reason I love it is because it's a simple way to bless a child in a third world country, and give them what will probably be their only Christmas gift. In addition they share the gospel with these kids and sometimes give them bibles as well.

And it's so freakin' EASY.

Get a shoebox or a plastic rubbermaid shoe box size storage thingy....pick what age you prefer, and fill it with toys, school supplies, hygeine items, hard candy and stuff, and then drop it at a drop off center. Then it gets shipped to a third world country, and you can even track it's travels online.

Think you might not have a drop off location near you? Wrong! Even good ol' North Vernon has one. Click here to find your drop off.

This year I'm not a part of MOPs, but our small group committed to doing four boxes for various ages.

Check it out! Our boxes after our small group meeting on Monday. Looking good and full!

Tessa (in her fabulous hat) helped me put the finishing touches on the boxes.

I was going to wrap them but learned that they have to be able to open the lids, so I would have to wrap these Rubbermaid guys very carefully. So, well....I didn't. Wrapping is optional, so someone somewhere will wrap them. Don't give me a hard time...my foot hurts.

Our boxes ready to go!

And here's the shed at our church!....okay just kidding. This is from Samaritan's Purse's website. It's a picture of one of their processing places.

I was trying to find a statistic for how many they send every year and couldn't find one. Let's just say 10's of thousands. Collection week starts on this Sunday so to you I say...go pack a box!

Doll Beds

Tessa has been begging me all week to help make more beds for her dollhouse, so we finally got to it. She has about 15 dolls occupying the place and only one double bed. I guess she finally figured out the math.

So now she have a bonafied sorority house.

We used our newly dedicated art table and put it to work.

I fashioned very crude mattresses out of cardboard and the kids painted.

And we played with pipe cleaners a bit.


I sewed those rosettes while I was still laid up. My intention was to put them on headbands. Maybe I still will. I have lots more fabric to rosette with. They make nice doll pillows though.


I know our bedding doesn't exactly match but it's what we had. Old napkins.


Cinderella approves.

Supers About Town

Of course these costumes are good for Trick or Treating, but we've gotten alot of mileage out of them around town!

Sadly, I accidentally deleted the pictures from their preschool fall party day. Well just imagine these cute kids in a preschool classroom.

They are good for riding super dogs....

Dancing in hair curlers....

Watching movies.....

Joining the staff in dancing at Joe's Crab Shack.....

Riding super bikes.....

Posing for pictures.....

Saving the neighborhood....

Saving wiener dogs....

And sliding.

More power to you, Charley!