Pierced Ears: A Rite of Passage?

Lexi has been asking to get her ears pierced for what seems like forever.  Finally we said we would do it for her birthday. 

We forgot.  (One of my many episodes of being an awesome mom?) :)

So this morning Lexi and I went to and got it done.

   

She must have really wanted it done as not a single tear from a melodramatic child!

Isn’t she cute! 

and yes, they are fancy!

Thanksgiving Dinner, a tradition.

  

Lots of food.  Lots of people.  Lots of noise.  Lots of Love.

Virtual Garage Sale!

It's that time of year when I start feeling hemmed in because of our volume of JUNK!  And it's really not bad stuff, we just have toooooooooooooo much of it.

So, this year, I am going to have a virtual garage sale to start off my cleaning.

Check out my Virtual Garage Sale page as I'll be updating it regularly. 

For starters...

On the craft aisle: I put about 20 CTMH stamps on it this morning.  Some really good deals there.  Next up stamp pads....

From the kids closet: Clothes and shoes.  I'm tired of holding onto things thinking that a younger child is going to wear it... Sometimes it happens, but really, my 1 year old is not going to wear my 10 year olds clothes.. so why hold on to everything?????  And yes, Lexi's in the middle, but she's the same size as last year and a girl truly only NEEDS so much pink and purple!

From Doug's closet..... well we'll see.... but if you need a suit, let me know :)

From my closet.... shoes, purses and lots of clothes. 

From the kitchen.. how 'bout some Mikasa Empire Gold, never used China?  I have 12 place settings plus the hostess set.  I'll make you a deal!

And more is on the way!!

Let me know if you are in the market for something!  I'm in the dealing mood :)

Birthdays, Deadlines and Sick Kids

Life here seems to be running faster each day.  This last week has been more crazy than our normal nuts.

I thought about giving you a recap, but really, you didn't click to this site to see the daily drama of my life!

However, Lexi's 6th birthday was Monday and Doug's more than 6th birthday was Wednesday.  We had a house full of girls Saturday afternoon for a Princess and the Frog party.  It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work.

Maddie was out of school sick all week.  Sinus infection and crud. 

I took Lexi to the urgent care clinic today.  She's got something too. 

Antibiotics for Doug's crud too make it 3/5 so far for meds this week.

In the meantime, I am crafting at school like a crazy woman.  December 1st-18th my kids have a Starving Artist showcase at our local fine arts council and I am killing myself trying to get all of our projects, holiday crafts and stuff ready.

The deadline for the kids stuff is Tuesday when we get out for Thanksgiving, so the end is in site.  Oh how I need a few days rest. Oh, yeah.... my kids will be home too... no rest for me :)

I do have to say, I'm a little concerned about myself though.  By 8pm I am so tired I'm ready to drop.  I keep saying that it's just the craziness of getting the show ready, but really, I'm always running from one project to the next.  I think my iron must be low.  I'm always anemic. Sometimes I make it up to borderline anemic, but most of the time I sit quite nicely in the low but okay category.  I'm thinking that it must be lower right now.  I thinking I should also maybe take a vitamin.  Maybe my thinking will translate into action soon. 

Thanks for letting me ramble.  I can't wait to show off my student's cool creations and pictures from Lexi's party!

Operation Christmas Child

Once again it's time for Operation Christmas Child, run by Samaritan's Purse.

Every year we fill a box with toiletries, stationary and fun odds and ends, decorate it and send it off with lots of others collected in the community for OCC.  This year Maddie is filling a box and taking it to school.  I am so proud of her Social Studies teacher for participating in this wonderful program.

This year filling the box means a little more to Maddie since her aunt Libby (below) helped deliver boxes to children in Haiti last year.  In fact, Libby delivered the boxes from this area!

So if you are looking for a way to make a small difference in the life of a child, please consider filling a box for Operation Christmas Child.  It's an easy and quick way to give a little to someone who doesn't have anything.

This is the National Collection Week, so DON'T DELAY!!!!! 

Go check out the website Today!!!

A Virtual Classroom

So... since I don't seem to have anything else important to do these days... 

I'm going to make a virtual classroom so that my lesson plans and such are not on my family blog. 

Makes sense, right?

Now, let's see if I can follow through with it.

It's http://mrsmclemore.wordpress.com/

Give me a little time and then go check it out!

Childproofed…. really?

I walked into the kitchen and saw the plastic bowls and plates on the floor.  Great!!  That goes wonderfully with the plastic cups all over the house.  But wait! I know Kylie can get into the plastic cup drawer.  I gave into that a while back.  She NEEDS to be able to destroy something in the kitchen.  But now plates too??? 
I was hoping the cabinet had been left open.  It wasn’t.  Here is why I have plates and bowls all over the floor.  

I guess you could say bicycle straps are no longer an effective childproofing tool.

Under Construction.. Again

My blog is under construction. Again.  You see, I decided that it would be fun to be more organized in my approach.  So, I'm going to give it a try. 

We'll see how it goes.

Be patient. please :)

First Haircut Traditions

Kylie had her first haircut last weekend.  We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids.  It’s a tradition.

At first, she thought it was okay.  Then the tears started.  She was still, but she cried and whimpered the whole time.  A sucker didn’t even stop all of the tears!   All done!

And, just for kicks… here are the pictures of the other girls having their first haircuts too!

What is your 100%?

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about how crazy life is.  While we were commiserating at how busy we are and how some people just don’t get it, my friend made the comment that everyone’s 100% is different. 

For some odd reason this has really stayed with me.  My 100% these days is a lot.  You don’t need my laundry list to know that I’m exhausted.  If you see me, you can see it.  If you know me and my lack of crafting, you can sense it.  And if you see how little I am blogging, you might can tell it there.

I truly don’t want to be a martyr and I really don’t want to be that person that is always tired cause she is always “so” busy. Therefore, I am taking an inventory of my life and deciding what is my 100%.  Then I’m going to stop. (well, hopefully…)

So I am wondering, what is your 100%?  How did you decide or figure out what that was?  Are you still struggling to find it and if so, how are you staying on top of it?

If you have any ideas, please send them my way!

And since I can’t just end a post without a picture, here are a few pictures we took at Fort Worth’s Botanical Gardens last Sunday.  It was a beautiful day.  In fact, it was hot!

Wickedly Cute

Halloween has come and gone and I have lots and lots of pictures to share!

We began our Halloween on Friday with a “Safe” trip around downtown with hundreds of children.  It was nuts and after just going around half the square we bailed out and went and ate dinner!  Thankfully the kids were hungry and considered this to be a good thing!!  

After a yummy meal we ventured to the pasture of some friends and took a few more pictures!  How could we resist?

On Saturday we continued the fun with a Fall Festival downtown, volleyball games and the girls played with my parents.

Then, since we hadn’t had quite enough excitement, we took the girls for haircuts, went to the Botanic Gardens and finished the day at my sister’s house for a neighborhood Halloween party. 

All of those pictures will be posted after the Rangers game!