Pyles of Clutter

SPT--Ornaments

I had to do this SPT, even if I am several days late. 

We started the tradition of buying ornaments for each of the kids every year, so that when they moved out of the house they would have ornaments to put on their own tree.  Problem one:  Tyson is out of the house, but does not have a tree, so his ornaments are still here.  Problem two:  when you are buying six ornaments every year, you rapidly run out of room.  I always wanted two trees; a family tree, that looks exactly like what ours looks like, a mismatch, hodge-podge of ornaments and family memories, and a more formal tree that is all perfectly matching, and truly elegant.  But, there is no room in our house for two trees and I'm not very elegant anyway, so only one tree.  Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

One year, I attempted to make ornaments, and while they turned out pretty good, it was just too much work for this busy time of year, and I am just not organized enough to get it done early. 

This is one of my favorite ornaments that I got for the girls.  I love the elegance of the tea cup on the saucer.  (My dream tree.)

When something happens during the year, I try to get a special ornament to commemorate that occasion.  We got house ornaments for the year we moved into our new house, and...

dog ornaments for the year we had to put our dog Fanny to sleep.  She was a great dog and we had had her for nine years. 

Tyson sent home these ornaments from Venezuela when he was there on his mission.  They are miniature hammocks that the women weave and then sell at the market place.  We had them in all different colors.  Each child got to pick their own colors.  This one is AJ's. 

But this is my favorite ornament so far.  I found these little nativities carved from olive wood.  I love, love, love them and wished that I would have bought one for myself as well as for each of the kids.  I will be sad when the kids are all gone, and the ornament is gone with them.  I also wish I could have got one for Tess, but she wasn't born yet.  Bummer.

And after all that reading, here is my spt, holding that favored ornament.  I love this tradition for the kids, even if it is getting harder and harder to come up with ideas.

This one's for Sunny

Sunny thinks I need to update my blog.  Excuse me, I've been a little busy. 

I've been busy doing this:

It is winter sports season!  I don't even have a player, but since I have to pick up the money from the concession stand, as my job as the booster club treasurer, I figure I might as well go see the game.  The boys are doing well, but not as well as our girls!  We have two sisters on our team that are over six feet tall.  Over six feet!!  Isn't that crazy?  In addition to the twin towers, we have a phenom freshman point guard and she is a lot of fun to watch.  In all I have been in the gym watching basketball about three days of the week.  Along with the basketball, I get to see this:

   

The drill team has been performing.  The short one on the end, that one's mine.  There has also been this:

It's the tribe!  Some of the students at our school dress up in maroon and gold, and frankly, heckle the players of the other team.  The tribe has been steadily growing in numbers and this year, Lilly has joined the ranks, along with a few of her friends.

If you look at the basketball picture, in the background, you can see the tribe all decked out in maroon and gold.  I can not tell you how much marron and gold clothing we have.  It's getting a little annoying, and I have lots of children to go still.  Ugh.

I've been busy doing this:

Megan had her swim banquet.  I was really proud of her, she earned her varsity letter as a freshman.  I'm hoping she'll keep the motivation all year and keep working hard for next year.

I found out that my camera will take black and white pictures, sepia pictures, and something else, all while the coach was talking, and talking, and talking.  I have lots of pictures like this, and some self portraits.  Funny.  Good job, Megan!  I think your awesome!

I've been busy doing this:

It's the lunch crowd!!  This is a few more than normal because it was KYLIE'S BIRTHDAY!!  We had cake and taco soup.  I know, what a combo.  I'm not sure why but when I say picture time, it becomes some kind of Tyra Banks pose everytime.  Funny kids.

I have been busy doing this:

Can you tell me what is wrong with this picture?  Let me just tell you, there are leaves all over the ground.  Leaves.  In December.  Still.  I spent the better part of the week, when it was warmer, raking leaves, and raking more leaves, and raking even more leaves.  I have eight bags of leaves sitting out in the driveway, waiting to go to the dump.  The truth about Sycamore trees is that they shed their leaves all winter long.  They don't dump all of them at once.  We still have brown, dead leaves until spring.  But come the spring, and then the summer, the tree is absolutely beautiful with big green leaves.  It is a huge tree, forty years old.  I love the tree, but I so, so, so hate the winter leaves.  And when the snow melts, I will be out raking leaves again.  Yuck.

I have been busy doing this:

This is the bags of advent candy for the boys. One of the big bags is Tyson's, and one is AJ's.  I usually do this:

Each of the stockings are filled with some weird kind of candy.  This year, Tyson won't be home until just a few days before Christmas, and so I sent his candy to him, as well as AJ who is on his mission, in Nevada.  (He flew there on Tuesday.)  I really don't trust the boys to take care of their stockings and give them back to me, so I sent them their candies in little baggies, with a little thought about each boy on the tags.  I wrote some things like "I love that you laugh out loud when you watch "Josh and Drake" or "I still think you look like Mowgli".  And then some things like "I love that you love the scriptures" and "I love that you love your Heavenly Father".  I hope the boys love to read them, as much as I loved to thinkng them up. 

I've been busy doing this:

Lilly has a bunch of her friends come over every Thursday to watch "The Office", but as we are in rerun mode, this week they made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers instead.  Everyone brought some candy and I supplied frosting and graham crackers.  The problem came in that I made regular frosting, being the lazy person that I am, and it wasn't really strong enough.  So the house that started like this, (see above), ended up looking like this:

Whoops.  Next time, I'll make the stronger frosting, even if we are only making houses with graham crackers.  Lilly's did hold up though, hers looked like this:

Not a great picture, but you get the gist of it.  It was fun, and they cleaned up the mess, so it was all good.

And I've been busy doing this:

Christmas!  I have been really busy doing all the stuff that comes with Christmas.  I got my Pink Christmas done and sent off (whew, that's a lot of pressure), we got our Christmas tree up and decorated, the lights are on the house, and soon to be in our windows (that happens today), presents sent off to AJ, and we went to Portland to do all of our Christmas shopping.  Terry and I take two days and do all of our shopping in one huge swoop.  It can be a little daunting to do in that amount of time, but it is really nice to get away for us and truly, I'm glad to just get it done.  Still to come, Christmas cards (today), Livingston family party (tomorrow), presents for friends and teachers (Monday).  Hopefully by Wednesday, I will have it ALL done and can relax and enjoy the few days before Christmas.  Can you believe, only 10 more days until Christmas?!  That is crazy!! 

See you tomorrow Sunny!  Love, Aunt Susan

Thankful ABC's

Yes, I know that I'm several weeks late, but it took me awhile to figure these all out, and then there is the fact that I'm several weeks behind in my posts anyway.  So here we are, with my Alphabet Thanksgiving.  Late.  Ugh. 

I am thankful for:

A: Acts of Service.  As you know, we are currently unemployed, and while we are hanging in there, Christmas will be a little tight this year.  I have to say though that someone, anonymously, sent us $100 for a little extra Christmas cheer, and I want to thank that person, in anyway possible, for thinking of us, first of all, and second, for acting on impulses that could easily have been ignored.  And while I feel like we are undeserving in many ways, we are after all, hanging in there, I'm thankful that they are a service minded people.  Thank you, for setting a great example.

B: Beat, as in music, and dance.  I love music, but not the normal kind of music.  I love instrumentals, Christmas music, classical, the oldies.  And I love to watch dance.  It gives me goosebumps, and I've watched a lot of dance with a daughter who has danced for 13 years.  I love, love, love it.  And as a side note, I would give money to be a ballroom dancer.  I think it is so glamorous.

C: Cocoa.  I am a hot chocolate connoisseur.  I have several different kinds that I like, and several different places that I like to get hot chocolate from; White Hot Chocolate at Griffin's Bakery, Peppermint Hot Chocolate at Starbucks.  Can not get enough of it.

D:  Decorating Pages.  I love to scrapbook.  I just wish I had more time to do more of it!

E:  Effective energy.  When I can get things done in an effective, efficient way, it just bolsters my day!  Oh how I love those days and am very thankful when I have them.  It makes me feel that I have hope for other days when I'm just not as effective.

F:  Family.  Of course, I'm thankful for my family. 

G:  Gospel.  I would have nothing, and be nothing without the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

H:  And I would have nothing with out the love and Grace of our Heavenly Father.  Without his love, I am nothing.

I:   Ice.  Oh, I am addicted to water with Ice.  All day long.  Water with Ice.

J:  Jesus Christ.  Of course.

K:  Kitchen.  Well, really, I'm thankful for baking, but my "b" was taken.  I love to bake.  I love to make cookies, cakes, brownies, pies.  I should have been a pastry chef.  Except I would have been 400 pounds then.

L:  Lilacs.  My favorite flower

M:  Movies.  As you all know, I love a good movie.  My few of my favorites, A&E Pride and Prejudice, You've Got Mail, White Christmas, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Love Movies.

N:  Nativities.  I have several nativities that I have bought, but my favorite is one I bought in Chile, a small egg shaped one with the scene carved into the middle.  It is beautiful in it's simplicity.

O:  Others in our community.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world. 

P:  Parents, who raised me right

Q:  Quilts, that keep you warm, brighten a room, tell a story.

R:  Reading.  My favorite place to read a good book, in a bubbly bath.

S:  Sunshine.  I NEED sunshine.  It is essential to my well being.

T:  Terry.  My love.

U:  Uplifting Messages like "LIFE IS GOOD"

V:  Very Good Friends.  You know who you are.

W:  Wind.  Okay, not hurricane winds, or tornado winds.  But whispering winds, in the trees, at dusk. 

X:  eXpressions of self.  I love to write.  I have several journals, all with a different purpose, that I write in.  I need it, to clean out my brain.

Y:  Yellow.  I wouldn't say it was my favorite color, but I have it in every room in my house, either as the main color, or as an accent. 

Z:  ZZZ's.  Is there anything better than a good night's rest, or a great nap?

And that is my list.  Would some of these things make it on your list too?  I hope you enjoyed it.  Love, me

Sadie's

Sadie Hawkins dance is always a lot of fun here.  Like most other schools, the girls ask the boys and then they wear matching shirts to the dance.  Lilly decided to ask Nick, who I adore.  He is so funny, and really a great young man, for all that he has been through.  You'll just have to trust me on that. 

Lilly asked me and my Very Good Friend Cindy to take pictures of the group, and normally this isn't a real problem.  But for Sadie's, it is a problem because we don't have a place to take them, such as a studio, and it is just too cold to be outside.  We had thought it might be a lot of fun to take them at the batting cages, but when we went there to take them, the place was packed!!  No taking them there.  So we had to go the outside route.  We went to the park downtown and did our best there.  This is how it turned out:

Lilly and her date, who both share the opinion that they are "something else".

The Group, freezing their buns off in the 23* weather, with snow coming down!  Those little white dots, snow flakes.  Brrrr.

After the dance, the group came over to our house for chocolate fountain.  It's funny how chocolate fountain goes in spurts; the kids will love it for a while, and then they are tired of it, and it doesn't come out of the box forever. 

Playing a little "Scene It Disney" after chocolate fountain.  You could definite tell who had younger siblings that watched tv.  Lilly dominated!

All good times!

Scrapbook retreat

Yes, I realize that scrapbook retreat was *almost* a month ago, but I still need to recap.  I have pictures to illustrate, so bear with me. 

I love scrapbook retreat.  The June retreat is fun because it is a little more intimate, with fewer people, and it is in the city with the potential of field trips to the scrapbook store.  But I love the November retreat, when everyone comes, and in the most beautiful setting.  Deb and Jane have scouted out a beautiful Lodge in the mountains of Washington.  It is truly beautiful.  Here are some of the things I love about this lodge:

A great first impression.  Doesn't it just look majestic?  You should see it covered in snow.  It's wonderful!

This is the inset in the door.  The craftmanship of this scene of the mountains is truly beautiful and my picture does not do it justice.

The door handles.  SO awesome.

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These are just some small touches that I absolutely love about this place:

But my very favorite thing about the lodge is this:

A hot chocolte dispenser.  Oh, I want one of these.  It is so yummy, and makes getting up in the morning better, staying up through tired afternoons, or burning the midnight oil much, much better.

This is what our scrapbook room looks like.  This is only one side.  Imagine that you are seeing another side that looks just like this, with  more stuff.  The other side had the serious scrappers on it. 

We had a "secret scrapper" gift exchange where you were randomly given a name to give a gift to.  I was the luckiest one to have Donna from the west side as the one who had my name.  She gave me this beautiful basket, with an absolutely gorgeous scrapbook album in it to use for Thanksgiving.  It said "grateful" on the outside and then a place for a picture and a space to write what you were grateful for.  It had just enough pages for each of my family to write in it.  It will be a treasured memory forever.  She also put in this beautiful little wall hanging and some yummy treats.   Thank you so much Donna, I loved everything about it!!

She told me under no uncertain terms to put her picture on my blog, but really, can you tell who this is with me, taking a picture of our reflection?  It's Darla, and I love spending time with her. 

I hope you enjoyed this little pictorial into scrapbook retreat.  I love going to them and thank Deb and Jane profusely for taking the time to put them on.  If you are anywhere near us, you should come too.  You won't regret it!!

Birthday all day.

Hello world!

I'm still here.  I'm still doing a chicken, running with my head cut off.  This is what we have been doing.

Tess turned five a couple of weeks ago.  We struggled to decided what kind of party to have, going through several kinds, but finally Tess and I decided to have a "Red and Purple Party".  She decided that those two colors were her favorites and we wanted to see what we could do for it. 

Are these not the cutest invitations that you have ever seen?  My wonderful sister in law, made these at our scrapbook retreat for me.  She did them on her Cricut machine, and then I added just a few jewels for a little bling.  So easy!! 

I made these cupcakes for Tess' preschool treat, our high school lunch party and for her friend party.  You can't tell to well from these pictures, but I colored a white cake mix with red food coloring, and then made purple frosting.  The squares are suppose to be presents with little bows on top made with frosting.  They were cute, and pretty dang easy.

The lunch crew with their birthday glasses.  Very stylin'!

One of the traditions we have is the "Bag of Stuff."   We get a birthday bag full of just any old thing, like silly string, bubbles, card games, anything small that will fit in the bag.  The older kids get things like jewelry, candy, cd's, etc.  This is rapidly becoming the funnest part of Tessa's birthday.

The whole gang of friends, all decked out in there red and purple clothes.

We played "Duck, duck, goose".  Only we said, purple, purple, red.  That was a good game.  Fun times.

Even I had on my purple and red clothes.

This is favorite present.  The dog eats these "biscuits", that then comes out the other end as little doggy do-dos.  Oh, I'm so glad I didn't by that for her.

I really love this tag for the goodie bag.  My aforementioned wonderful sister in law also made these for me.  Everything in the bag was red and purple.  Red nailpolish, purple pen, red notebook, purple lipgloss, red M&M container.  I love this.  I love the color scheme and the ease of this party.

After the party we had Tess' birthday dinner after which it was time for cake.  Except we didn't have a cake.  I had forgot to make one in all my rush of preschool, high school and friend parties.  So.  We bought some doughnuts and they became birthday doughnuts.  Thank goodness she was only five years old.  It would have been really hard to do ten candles.

She thought we were singing really loud.  I love this picture!  After this long day of partying, Tess fell into bed, practically asleep when she hit the pillow.