2009 Goals & Challenge

I did a post over on my other blog this morning listing my 2009 goals for the year.



I plan to work on one set of goals a month, since some will take all year and others just a month.



Go here to see my list. I'm sure that as the year progresses I will find new goals, or encounter challenges...so I will be updating all year.



I want to see what other goals people have..so please fill me in! :)

Update

Do you remember this post about the young woman I wanted you to pray for? I came across a web site that her family set up to keep everyone updated about her treatments and such. Her story is far more amazing than I ever knew.



I can't even begin to tell it all here. I asked her father for permission to post a link to her website, to which he agreed. If you have a chance, go visit it, and make your way around it. It tells about their journey, the rareness of her disease and all the treatments she is going through. Their faith just exudes through their words.


Here it is.

Oh no you didn't!

Earlier this week we had chilli for lunch, and after I prepared the big kids's bowls complete with sour cream and cheese, I went in the laundry room to flip the laundry before I sat down for lunch. Noah was occupied in his bedroom, so I just dished his out to cool off.



Right in the middle of me flipping the laundry, I heard both of the big kids frantically yelling "Noah, no. Noah! Noah!"



I knew exactly what it was...Noah had the jalapenos!



When I came into the kitchen Noah turned around and smiled. "I got free (three) wapapeno's mommy!"



Oh no you didn't!



Sure enough in his bowl were 3 jalapenos right on top. These are not your normal jalapenos! They are hotter than fire, let me tell you. They lit my mouth up like nothing I've ever seen. Thankfully they were right on top, so I just picked them off. I stirred in extra cheese and sour cream for good measure.



Noah was not happy about all this so I explained to him that those little bad boys "would burn his lips off!" Gotta scare him, right?



So, we proceed to eat lunch and he begins to fake frantic cry. When I asked him what was wrong he informed me that the wapapenos burnt his lips off.



That was until I reminded him that I already removed those pesky wapapenos.



"Oh."

I know that this isn't the best picture in the world (thanks, trees!), but I had to show you the wonderful colors of the sunrise earlier this week.



I was messing around on the computer, and looked out the window and this is what I seen. It was beyond beautiful! It was also insanely freezing outside, so I just walked on my front porch and snapped the picture. Which is exactly why it isn't the best.

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Gotta Love 'em

If you didn't already know that I am crazy, I'm telling you now. I've been known to be rather nuts and silly and times. Gotta have fun, right?



In addition to being slightly crazy, I love me some music. And, if I'm on my game, a phrase will make me bust out into song, and well, sometimes dance.



So, the point to me telling you all this is that the other night Nicholas kept saying "I wish, this" and "I wish that". Well, that sparked the whole song from way back when (I cannot even remember who sung it) "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl and if I did I would call her, I wish I had a rabbit in a hat and a bat".....



So, I'm singing and dancing, and Nik said "Whoa, whoa, whoa, What?! You wish you cried a lot?"



That was the end of the song and dance, I was laughing to hard to sing!

Look what I can do....

Isn't she beautiful?! Her hair is a diaster mess, she just got out of the shower.

Don't look too close, you might notice that one sleeve is shorter than the other. Which is odd because I made FOR sure that they were not this way when I finished it. I measured, I folded, I inspected. Everything was A-OK. She wore it, twice, no problems. I washed it....one shrunk. I don't get it! :)

I finished it last week, and she loves it! I say finished lightly, because I haven't added the buttons yet. Did you know that in order to add buttons to something, you must first buy buttons. I keep forgetting to pick them up, but she likes it nonetheless.



I learned something (well lots of things) during this process.... I DON'T LIKE ARMS!!!! I think if/when I make something else, it will either be arm-less, or I will make it that way!!



My original plan was to make the boys a set just like this one....I think I'll just make the pants! I thought about going ahead and making them the shirt, just chop off the arms....I don't think they would appreciate that...



I think I'll opt for white t-shirts. Whaddya think?

Just Ramblings

Well, Thanksgiving is over. I really cannot believe that it is DECEMBER!! Where in the world did the entire year go? I really hope that 2009 doesn't go by this fast...my babies are growing up!



This year was the first year in quite sometime that we decided to stay "home" for Thanksgiving. We usually go up to Iowa to see my moms side of the family. This year snuck up on us, and no matter how hard we tried, there was just no way we could do it this year. Between the kids' school things, church things, life and finances, things have been insane! I can't believe it, but I'm praying for tons of snow so that things will slow down long enough for me to catch my breath.



We spent Thanksgiving with Willie's family, and then I went shopping Black Friday with a good friend from high school. I've not spent a whole lot of time actually in my hometown since we moved...so this felt a bit strange. While we go up, there quite frequently, it is usually to one of our parents houses, sometimes our friends, and if we are actually out and about..it doesn't last long. I must admit...I really don't miss that town a bit! :) Just some of the people in it.



I'm just about done Christmas shopping, which is such a relief! I've got to get Noah his big item, and then just fill in some small blanks here and there. I think this is the earliest I've ever been done.



In all of the chaos the past few weeks, I've managed to snap a few pictures (not as much as I would have liked)...and I'll stop the rambling long enough to show them off....

Our trip to KC to see TobyMac!

Nicholas's oh so cool ship that he made in gifted out of popscicle sticks.

And well, this is what happens when your husband decides to give haircuts, and see how many people he can get wound up in the process! I walked in the bathroom Thanksgiving morning and this is what I saw! Nicholas, of course thought it was the coolest thing ever! We left it for Thanksgiving, and the next morning while I was gone shopping Willie shaved it off. Thankfully! :)

Whew!

Life has been so insanely busy this week. I cannot seem to get caught up on housework, or coupon clipping! That's bad!



The big kids had Parent's Night at school last night. Oh man was that a mess! For one reason or another they had the 1st and 2nd grade parent night the same night....one on one side of the building, one on the other. They each had about 4 activities each, and it only lasted an hour! Needless to say, we didn't get much done.



But, I finally made the Rotisserie Style Chicken in the crockpot...and it was amazing. I was really beginning to wonder if we were meant to eat it. I actually put it in the crockpot Wednesday about 10. I had it all seasoned and ready to go. Noah and I left the house around 11 or so to go drop off the Operation Christmas Child boxes. I really should have known that something was not right when I walked in the house and didn't smell the wonderful smell of dinner cooking. I kept telling myself to go peek at it, but I would get busy and forget.



Willie came home just before 4, and I wanted to show off my awesome chicken. Did you ever notice that chickens aren't really all that awesome looking when they are uncooked?



Apparently, right before Noah and I left, he turned the crockpot off. I do remember him saying something to the effect of wanting to eat chicken for lunch, and that it was done cooking. Little did I know that he would turn it off!!!



So, I turned it on at 4 (which obviously wouldn't be done by dinner) and whipped up some breakfast for dinner. We just decided to have the chicken last night for dinner.



You would have thought that Wednesday night's catastrophe would have served as a reminder. WRONG!



I put the container in the crock and turned it on low since it was pretty much cooked all the way. Thankfully my nose was working and some time later I realized that I wasn't smelling the wonderful aroma of my chicken.



Did you know that in order for a crockpot to work, you must plug the bad boy in? Lesson learned.

So, I got the show on the road, again! And Noah would turn it off. I lost count how many times he tried to turn it off. After Wednesday, and the start of this go around...I watched that baby like a hawk!



But....it was one of the best chickens I've ever eaten. Hubby liked it so so much that he wants me to make a soup out of it tonight (the juice the thing made was AWESOME) instead of the Bierocks I had already planned.



Needless to say...the menu plan I made...yeah it doesn't exist this week!

Oh yeah...and we are going to Kansas City this weekend to see TobyMac!!! Oh yeah...

Does the running ever stop?!

The big kids didn't have school today due to some form of meeting. I was messing with them Friday before they left for school and told them that if they were good at school, then I would let them stay home Monday, and we would have a fun day.

Nicholas told me that he would just be bad then, because he wanted to go to school Monday because of gifted. Hrm. I had forgotten all about that...so I had to rebound quickly witht something.

I fessed up that they actually did not have school on Monday, and that instead we could come up with something so we could have gifted at home.

Okay, yeah, I was CLUELESS!

Kaitlyn wanted to build something, and Nicholas wanted to do science.

Ah ha! A baking soda/vinegar volcano! My mom did something similar with me and my brother when we were younger. We actually made an entire paper mache village...it was too cool! I would have loved to do this, but since we were gone all day Saturday, and Sunday is always busy...we just ran out of time.

But, after a rough start this morning..we constructed a volcano, and the eruption began!

*please ignore all my sewing gunk all over the dining room table...it's been temporarily converted!*

Nicholas is mixing up the volcano goop.

Sculpting the volcano around the water bottle.

Highly distressed that the volcano was not shaped like a mountain!

She's a bit blurry...but she's pouring in the vinegar.

Watching the eruption. Nicholas is not so secretly wishing that it was an EXPLOSION and not an eruption! Is this a boy thing?!

Now, off to build a house out of popsicle sticks!

Can you do me a Favor?

We made a trip back to our hometown this weekend to take advantage of a free Christian concert being put on by a local ministry. This would make the 3rd one that they've done (since summertime)....and they're awesome!

The first one was Natalie Grant. I've seen her before through Women of Faith...but this was much better. We had floor seats, and were in like the 5th row.



Then, there was Building 429, Addison Road, and After Edmund.


This one, I brought Nicholas, Kaitlyn, and my neice Emma, and nephew Avery. They had a blast! We were within 6 inches (uh, huh you read that right..inches) of the stage. At one point they let the kids get up on stage with them. Too cool! :) It was a fantastic show, for sure.

But, hands down the best show was the one we went to Saturday. Jason Gray, Rush of Fools, and Big Daddy Weave. The music was phenominal and the worship was fantastical.



But, there was something else that will forever be etched in my mind.



A friend of mine has a young family member who just got a not so great report from the doctor. She had a tumor removed on her brain, and come to find out, she has cancer through out her body. I can not even fathom what this family is going through.



Bid Daddy Weave dedicated a song to her, and after they said a little prayer and began to play the song....her family and friends surrounded her and began to pray. They were sitting in front of us....and to see the love, the pain, the support...it was just overwhelming.



I felt I was being led to the family...to pray to with them and lend whatever support I could offer. It took me a bit to join them, but, I took my friend's hand and prayed with her.



I have not been able to get this family out of my mind. When you think of it today, and throughout the next few weeks...can you say a little prayer for this family. That God would work a little miracle for this family. That somehow this young woman could overcome this vicious disease and be new again.

He's Sick

A few nights ago, I told Noah to go clean up his room. It is such a disaster mess that you cannot even walk in there...it's bad beyond belief. He just wouldn't do it. Period. My guess is partly because he was tired, and in all honestly...it was probably a bit overwhelming.



Anyway..he wouldn't. So, Willie told Noah to go in the corner. He goes...but begins to cry, a lot. Willie asked him what was wrong. I guess he thought this was his cue to come out of the corner, because he came and sat on the coffee table in front of Willie, and said....I'm sick.

What do you mean, "You're sick."

Standing in the corner, makes me sick. Cleaning my room makes me sick. Getting in trouble makes me sick.

He said this with such seriousness, and huge crocodile tears....it took everything we had to keep a straight face.

Okay..so we didn't keep a straight face at all. We busted up.



Willie said, Noah, I think you're full of it.

Oh man did he cry. Daddy, that's not nice..I not full of it..I sick!

Willie finally got Noah to clean his room, by promising to read him some books. Noah loves his books. Noah went in his room, and shoved everything in the floor into his toy closet and came prancing out of his room gleaming!

As soon as Willie was done with the book...Noah snuggled up with the ever so famous "ello blankie" and he was out!

Books make for good medicine!

Well...where to start?!

I have another blog over at Cents to Get Debt Free, which is my main blog. It covers our getting out of debt journey...my deals and such. Although getting out of debt is a huge part of our life, there is another part that is more important.



Our family!



Housewife Happenings is basically for our friends and family to stay in touch with our happenings! Our life never contains a dull moment, our children make sure of that!



Enjoy!