Sesame Street Live

We spent the past Thanksgiving weekend being very busy. That is pretty typical, isn't it? We had 3 Thanksgiving meals, Black Friday Shopping, putting up our Christmas decor, and Sesame Street Live. Paw Paw got us the tickets for the show and it was very cute. Chloe was at the perfect age to really enjoy it the most, because she thinks they are all "real" and to her, she is seeing "stars". The others enjoyed it as well, but you just lose part of the magic when you realize that it is simply people dressed up as your favorite character and they aren't really alive.

The show was very well done and moved quickly with a lot of action to keep the little ones interested. I'm glad that they got to go though and these are things they'll remember always. Who knows, Micah may be participating in something like this one day since he has the acting bug.

I am embarrassed to have 4 kids and admit that I had no clue who that girl character was with the glasses and backpack though. Where did she come from? We don't really watch that much TV anymore, so I guess I'm losing touch.

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

This year we have so much to be thankful to God for! He has been there for us when it literally seemed that the entire world was against us. He has been a friend to us, a provider, a shoulder to cry on, and so much more! We have been blessed beyond measure...more than any of us ever deserve.

• We are now home owners to a real brick house for the first time ever! This was a nice little surprise in God's plans.
  
• We are homeschooling and loving it! I never thought I'd be doing this, but I'm so thankful God called us to do this. It is an amazing journey! I'm just sorry I didn't discover it sooner, but at least I can appreciate it more having been on the other side.
  
• We found a church home that is unlike any other we've ever been a part of, but completely perfect for us! I can't wait to see what God has up his sleeve for the future of this newer church.
• Jamie has a new job. It is a ministry that is different than he has had in the past. It is a shift in our lives that we weren't expecting, but a very sweet change.
  
• Jamie began graduate school. It is trying, but I am thankful. God gave him a job at the university, so now his education is FREE! Professor Hughes....sort of has a ring to it, don't you think;-)
• My children are oh so special in my life. My life would not be complete without them. They can always seem to brighten a down day.
  
• My husband is the love of my life this side of heaven. We have shared tears and laughter this year (sometimes at the same time), and I wouldn't want to go through this life with anybody else by my side.
  
• I'm forever thankful for Jesus dying for my sins. Without him life would be pretty bleak and hopeless.
  

I could go on an on. I think one reason God allows the disappointments, hurts, and hard times in life is so that we can fully appreciate his love, provision, and blessings. 2010 has been a series of mountains and valleys, but God has been there by our sides the whole time.

Last night we had a turkey dinner a couple of days early in the Hughes house;-)

It is a turkey made of fruit and cheese and a cornucopia of veggies. The kids loved it and I love that we could do a craft that I didn't have to store or feel guilty for throwing away. They gobbled them up!

Kids are Thankful!

Abbi and Hannah are in this cute video from our church. It is so precious to see the things that children are thankful for. Lately in our mission stories, we've been learning how Americans are very blessed to have freedom of worship and to be able to own Bibles. Just a little disclaimer so you know where Abbi's comment was coming from:-)

Our First Santa Sighting of the Season

I always shop in the Murray Wal-Mart on Thursday afternoon. It is just the girls and me since Micah is in drama class. Well, last week, we saw a gentleman that was a little chubby, had a white beard, glasses, red shirt, and boots. Well, you can imagine Chloe's delight at seeing "Santa" in the store. I just played along and told her that he must be scoping thing out and making sure all the kids were being good. That was that...

Until today! Same time, same place, and there he was again. Again, he had on red. I saw him from afar, but didn't mention it, because Chloe has embarrassed me 1 too many times by blurting out whatever is in her brain. You never know how one will take to being compared to Santa.

Well, there we stood in the yogurt aisle and I hear her exclaim, "SANTA!" and he was literally within feet of me. He was standing right behind me. I'm thinking, "Great, how am I going to explain my way out of this one." Much to my delight he turned around and said, "Have you been good this year?" Chloe nodded with her mouth gapping open as if she had just had a celebrity sighting. He said, "Be sure to be good to your sisters too". Again, she nodded. He went on about his business and we went on about ours.

She has chattered about seeing "Santa" all evening. It was such a sweet innocent moment and it made Chloe's evening! I love this time of year with my kids. It is so magical! Sometime along the way, I think teens/adults lose that magical feeling. When you have kids, you get to live vicariously through them and the way they view the world. Christmas is full of magic, wonder, and amazement. Today in Wal-Mart I got to have a little bit of what it would be like to be 4 again.

I love being a mommy!

A Very Productive Weekend

Saturday we went to Lowes "Build and Grow" workshop for the first time. I've seen the sign a million times, but it always slipped my mind until I saw the sign again. But, we finally remembered. Or rather, the kids remembered! It was a lot of fun though and I think we'll return. I love to find good quality FREE things for the kids to participate in.


We came home from Lowes and I unboxed books all afternoon into the newly completed school room. I thought I was finished once only to discover 2 more huge boxes! So, I think by the time my children are grown, we'll have ourselves a little library. They have had a ball, because they have not seen many of their books since April. They have played in our new room all weekend. My girls love to play school anyway, so it is now the new favorite spot in the house!

Here is a new school area. I'm so thrilled! God gave us just enough house for our needs and this ended up just being a bonus.

Before:

After:

The ottoman that is sitting there doesn't match. I need to get something to throw over it or make a cover. It works for now. I do need some bulletin boards and a calendar and those kinds of things too. The walls are a khaki/grey color, and that is hard to tell in a picture.



I also painted my front door during this process. It went from white to red. Abbi took this picture for me just now. It has a bit of a glare on it and I hadn't the heart to tell her, so I'll post her photography anyways:-)

God must be teaching us patience!

I think that 2010 could be the year of "patience" for us. I'm not sure we've always done so great at it. I've been a frazzled mess at times, I'll admit. There are moments where I just wonder what in the world, but then later it doesn't seem so bad after all.

You see, we had plan of what needed to be done in this house in a particular order. The order was intended to get us set up in an organized manner again and make life as normal as possible as quickly as possible. It was a no brainer to do the bedrooms first. We needed our areas to put our clothes and belongings and a comfortable place to sleep. Then we had bathroom #1 incident where Chloe got the carpet wet and it had to be removed a little sooner than expected. It was only a small bump and didn't really take that much time to throw together in the grand scheme of things.

Well, we are working on the school room and the next thing on the agenda was suppose to be the living area/kitchen. I knew it was going to be a big project, but figured it would be great to get it out of the way for the holidays and then worry about the utility room/bathroom #2 area after things had settled after Christmas.

Well, we got another unexpected change of plans when the toilet overflowed and the flooring had to be removed. Jamie worked most of the day in the bathroom chipping away old floor and getting the area prepped while I layed the floors in the school room.

So, now, the bathroom got bumped up to the top of the list and we are back to living in the brown cave for a bit longer. I'm NOT starting another project during the holidays (it is too busy and too fun of a month to miss out on ), so the area I'm most excited about getting complete will (once again) be put off to Lord only knows when. I say that because...hello!?! I can't ventilate this flooring in the winter. It isn't like heat doesn't cost enough already for it to fly out the window (literally).

So, I guess I'll be stripping wallpaper by week's end for the last time. Seems like they did not paint or prime the walls before they put the wallpaper on, so it'll be another "fun" job, but at least there isn't as much since it is only half a wall. My goal is 2-3 weeks again and then I'm setting my paintbrush down to enjoy December and what it means to our family.

I was so mad about this the other day. MY plans had been rearranged. MY comforts had been put off. MY schedule had been all messed up. Now that I've had a couple of days to mull it over in my mind, I don't really care so much. Who really cares in the grand scheme of life. None of this really makes a difference. Sure I was disappointed, but it'll get done. It just won't be when we WANT it done. I'm going to use the "off" time to get the garage arranged and organized. I still have boxes out there, but many are filled with books which will go in the school room.

Our patience has been tested once again. Sometimes I don't feel like I have very much patience, but with God's help and persistence, I'm getting there one step at a time.

And to add insult to injury, I just spilled half of the stain I had left. I barely thought I had enough anyways. I thought it would never come off my skin! So, off to the store I go...AGAIN! Patience, patience, patience!

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Life just has a way of throwing you some curve balls, doesn't it? Jamie is with MCU tonight at a concert. It was one of his job "perks" and I'm glad he got to go. I had a busy day, but was planning on starting on the floor in the room we painted (which looks fabulous by the way).

We had a toilet issue today. I don't think it is anything major, but it was wanting to back up a bit and I thought I had fixed it. Well, apparently not! I hear the scream of death from the bathroom and Micah had overflowed the toilet. Well, this is the bathroom that still has carpet and is little, so it was basically a swimming pool in there (thankfully no #2!). So, I call Jamie all in a panic, and started ripping carpet out (WAY earlier than I wanted to), and cut myself somewhere along the way and blood was dripping everywhere, which made me even more mad.

So, I'm sitting in a messy wet bathroom floor with a bleeding finger and crying my eyes out. I just felt so frustrated and alone at that moment.

Which brings me to my next frustrating point. I was not planning on doing that bathroom until after the holidays. We are anxious to get our living area done, but we decided to do the other rooms to get our lives in some kind organized sense. I wanted to get the living area done, then put a tree up and chill out for a month or 2 and enjoy life and my home. I guess that won't be happening!! I suppose the next 2-3 weeks will be sucked up with me doing the bathroom and by then I won't have time to mess with the main area. That makes me want to cry some more. I suppose I'm not in any kind of race, but still!

Mommy Brag Time!!!

I just have to brag a little bit. Chloe is reading! She is 4 and she is reading! I don't know why that amazes me, but it sort of does. Now, of course, it is the controlled beginning level reading, but that is the first step. I wasn't even going to start this until next school year, but when she started writing words on her own, I figured she was ready and she obviously was. We'll go at the speed she needs, but so far she is picking things up and doing very well.

We are 1/3 of the way through the school year, and this homeschooling thing has just been such an amazing blessing in our lives. I cannot even begin to describe, honestly. I really wish I had "discovered" it sooner, but we live and learn in this life, I suppose. My kids are learning so much and the best thing (to me) is that they still get to play and be kids during the day! They play outside daily and that was something that they honestly didn't get when they were in regular school. Their self esteem is soaring, because they see where they are successful and if they don't "get" something right away, we work through them together until they do rather than moving on and them being left in the dust.

I know that people don't understand homeschooling as a whole, and I have to say that I was one of those people not long ago. It was scary to take the leap last March, but once I did, God has really cleared the path and shown me many things. It has become a passion of mine and something that will continue on in the Hughes house. You know you are hooked when you are only 1/3 of the way through the school year and already looking how at you'll tweak things for next year:-)

My little ghosts and goblins

Halloween 2010 was really fun. We able to go around to the family and the kids got loaded down with the good candy (lots of chocolate). We did miss one house, but their vehicle was gone and lights were off. So, if you didn't see us that doesn't mean we didn't try:-)

It was such a nice day to just spend with the kids though. Micah even commented about how fun it was this year getting to go around to people that we know, which we had missed the 2 previous years. The also took their India mission collection box and got some more donations, so I think that we'll have a nice donation to send in at the end of the week. Yay!

Hannah the Witch:

Micah the Vampire:

Abbi the "Spa Girl":

Chloe as Minnie Mouse:

Here are a couple of pictures from Abbi's birthday that I am belated in posting. She got her first locket, which she has worn every day, I believe and a Zooble. If you don't know what that is, you probably will. Apparently the makers of Bakugan have come out with a girl version. I have to admit, they are pretty cute little creatures. Jamie is wanting to "gamble" and load up on them in hopes that they will be the "hot item" for Christmas.



On the home front, we finally got the wallpaper removed and the carpet went out last night. I'm hoping to get the trim painted tonight, but we'll see. At least we are on our way and we should be moved in there in 2 weeks. I'm so excited!

On another note, what is with people going door to door trying to sell me stuff, convince me that their way to heaven is "better", and trying to get me to vote for their candidate. I feel like putting a sign on the door that quotes Jack Nicholson from the movie, As Good As It Gets. He said, "Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here." It is worse than it was in Owensboro and it was BAD there! I love my neighborhood, but darn solicitors....leave me alone!