Thursday Thirteen: Christmas

This seems like a good time for a Thursday Thirteen!

13 Things We Do During the Christmas Holiday
1. Decorate inside and out
2. Shop for and wrap presents
3. Prepare an advent calendar for our son
4. Watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music
5. Make and send cards
6. Purchase gifts for several charities *
7. Make our annual candy
8. Give goodies and sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas to the neighbors on our cul-de-sac
9. Usually add a new holiday themed children’s book to my collection
10. Sometimes see The Nutcracker ballet live (pic below)
11. Celebrate with family and friends
12. Hear the story of Jesus’ birth read from the bible
13. Marvel at the love and mercy of our wonderful God!


This was Kylen's first year to attend a real ballet. He was definitely too young! Bored out of his mind! (I had a great time!) But we ALL enjoyed eating at an upscale Chinese restaurant beforehand. Don't worry! He had help with dessert!

*See previous post for ideas. :-)

Thankful Thursday Thirteen

I haven't participated in a meme for ages! How about two in one? Thursday Thirteen and Thankful Thursday:

1. Life. Another week of borrowed time. Every second, every day a gift from God.
2. Love. Hubby cooked dinner the past few nights, and Sonshine has been saying how thankful he is to have me for a mom. I am so blessed!
3. Liberty. In the greatest nation on Earth, where I have the privilege to vote. I have am grateful McCain chose a conservative VP and that there has been no repeat of the September 11th terrorist attack that stunned our country.
4. Nice weather. Especially today. Look outside. Isn’t it lovely? I think so.
5. The Spokane Fair. It will run through Sunday. For me, nostalgia at its best.
6. Bloggers who love Jesus. You know who you are! Thank you for posting words of wisdom and encouragement recently!
7. My happy, comfy home. Thank you, Lord, for the butterfly magnet from the Christian store. I love it!
8. My bible. Profound words read a few days ago: Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. 10:8b I want to give more: more love, more money and time, more of myself to others. He gave everything for me. Can I do that? Lord, let me hold back nothing.
9. Fudgees. If you haven’t tried ‘em and like chocolate, then you need to get to the store pronto! I might be addicted.
10. The joy I get from art. Thank you, Jesus, for this gift. Lately, I've been itching for a creative project and finding renewed delight in the handiwork of others.
11. The internet and e-mail. Not sure how anyone functions without them. I had fun e-mailing my sweet cousin this week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELODY!!!!
12. This beautiful world. We went for a drive Sunday and saw a couple of parks I’d never visited. We really need to do that more often!
13. Music. I am listening to Christian radio on the net as I type this. It’s a great way to get around static and bad reception.

For more Thankful Thursday posts, please visit Sting My Heart.

Thursday 13: Fav Children's Books

The only thing I really collect is children's picture books. Where else can you find so much talent, creativity, and quality artwork in such a small and affordable package? I buy books because I like their illustrations and/or stories not because they are hot on collector’s lists. Most of them I have purchased new from Barnes and Noble. These are in no particular order. I just pulled some top favorites off the shelf!

13 Children's Books I Love -- Edition #1

1. The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (His books are creative marvels!)
2. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett (fun book)
3. The Napping House by Audrey Wood (very, very cute)
4. The Library by Sarah Stewart (Ever read this one, Karla?)
5. The Giant Surprise: A Narnia Story by Hiawyn Oram (great story and pictures)
6. The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood (cute story)
7. Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens (fun story)
8. There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss (What a classic!)
9. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff (first in a great series)
10. Sophie's Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli (Always makes me cry)
11. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (The one that started it all)
12. The Quiltmakers Gift by Jeff Brumbeau (Fantastic artwork, fantastic story)
13. Toot & Puddle by Holly Hobbie (LOVE her whimsical illustrations)

Thursday Thirteen: Hauling in a Geo

You can’t really appreciate this list unless you’ve survived several years with a compact car. We loved our wonderful, reliable, little Geo, but it wasn’t designed for hauling large items!

13 Things We Carried In Our Compact Geo Prizm

1. kid’s basketball hoop (in the backseat for 1800 miles),
2. full-size basketball hoop (pictured above)
3. full-size desk
4. full-size entertainment center
5. two 6-foot bookshelves
6. items from many Costco trips
7. one little kid squished between to large adults in the backseat
8. moving boxes stacked to the roof, bulging from the trunk and overflowing into the front
9. one plastic toddler fire engine bed
10. Hubby’s long legs cramped by the steering wheel
11. approximately 12 helium filled balloons for a graduation party – all in the main compartment as we couldn’t get them to fit in the trunk
12. assorted building materials, including lumber
13. a trunk full of large, flat rocks for a path

You’re wondering how we did all of this? For the furniture, separate trips, unassembled in it’s box. Even then, we were making good use of bungee cords and stuff was extending way out the back!

Thursday 13: Painting Positive

Painting Kylen's room has turned into a WAY bigger job than we ever could have imagined. We had scarcely begun applying primer before I thought of The Glad Game in Pollyanna. We were in desperate need of a little entertainment and humor. This did the trick . . . for about five minutes.

13 Reasons To Be Glad While Painting

1. We will never need to paint this room again (hopefully).
2. We could be using a toothbrush instead of a paintbrush.
3. We could be doing this for a living.
4. We’re saving lots of money by doing it ourselves.
5. Painting 300 square feet is better than painting 301 square feet.
6. At least there aren’t borders all the way around every single edge.
7. Kylen has video games to keep him entertained.
8. I have blogging to keep me entertained.
9. Greg has the paint and paintbrush to keep him entertained.
10. All the ugly marks on the white walls are getting covered up.
11. We are spending quality time together during hours of mundane work.
12. It’s exciting waiting to find out whether or not our tape leaked.
13. When we’re finished, it’s going to look awesome!

Thursday 13: Rubber Band Uses

Greg uses rubber bands like other men use duct tape.

13 Uses Hubby Has Found For Rubber Bands

1. To attach a super hero to the wall
2. To fix broken super heroes
3. As ammunition for a rubber band gun
4. As ammunition for shooting directly at others
5. To hold small hand towels on our ladder so it won't scratch the house
6. To make a toy grappling hook
7. To hold his pony tail back in his college days
8. To bind rolls of wrapping paper
9. As a drive belt on Lego contraptions
10. For his braces in childhood
11. Around Kylen’s ankles to shorten his pants
12. To hold stacks of game cards together
13. To tie grocery bags shut thereby making a balloon

Thursday Thirteen: Fav Car Songs

These are great in the car! Click on each song to read its lyrics.

Note: There are many versions of #11 (none of which are exactly what I learned), so I have made each part of the title a link to a different version. Ours is a bit more...wholesome.

13 Fun Songs We Sing

1. This Old Man
2. The Wheels On The Bus (We mix up the verses!)
3. She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain
4. Green Grass Grows All Around (Sweet spring song)
5. Mary Had A Little Lamb
6. Down By The Bay (We make up our own rhymes.)
7. Three Blind Mice (Sing fast after “they run” part.)
8. Old McDonald
9. Bingo
10. Five Little Ducks
11. The Quartermaster's Store (We make up our own rhymes.)
12. The Cookie Jar Song
13. Five Little Speckled Frogs

Thursday 13: Valentine's Day

13 Things We Do For Valentine’s Day

1. Thank and praise God for our happy, loving family.
2. Exchange nice cards, just us three.
3. Prepare small cards/gifts/candy for friends and family.
4. Have a treasure hunt for Kylen.
5. Read a new children’s book together.
6. Enjoy a special homemade dessert.
7. Eat out.
8. Take pictures to add to a special Valentine album.
9. Decorate inside and out.
10. Wear holiday colors – red, pink, and white.
11. Have a Valentine Theme Day for school the previous day (new this year!).
12. Make a themed post on this blog. (New this year!)
13. Wish each other a…

Thursday Thirteen: Fav Cold Cereals

I have decided to participate in another meme called Thursday 13. Every Thursday I will list 13 things somehow related to me. This week's theme is...

13 Cold Cereals I Have Obsessed Over

1. Banana Nut Crunch by itself and with a variety of additions
2. Cinnamon Toast Crunch sometimes for dessert
3. Lucky Charms when I was very little
4. Rice Krispies always with white sugar added
5. Honey Nut Cheerios especially with banana slices
6. Low Fat Granola gives the jaw a workout
7. Cap’n Crunch sometimes for dessert
8. Raisin Bran best with leftover homemade apple or huckleberry pie
9. Oh’s not to be found on this long list
10. Reeces Puffs sometimes for dessert
11. Cocoa Puffs sometimes for dessert
12. Cracklin’ Oat Bran reminds me of Grandma’s house
13. Raisin Mini-Wheats also like the strawberry flavor

While searching the web for the correct spelling on some of these cereal names, I stumbled across some interesting links! A unit study on cold cereal for grades 2-4, a blog for cold cereal addicts, and an all-cereal cafe! Here's an interesting article published when it first opened. If I actually took time to really research this topic, who knows what fascinating discoveries I would make! Wow!