Deadline for Christmas Trees

If you want to take advantage of the great prices for a Noble Fir Christmas tree, all the paperwork must be in by November 15, that's this weekend.
The trees will be delivered December 5th.

The post below has a link at the bottom to click on and get an order form. You can fill it out and give it to me to deliver or drop it off at any of the Flowing Wells schools. The closest one to us is on Camino de la Tierra just south of Ina.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

GREAT GONGA DEAL!

A couple years ago, after some serious begging, I was able to talk Stephen into getting a Noble Fir tree for Christmas. This kind of tree is expensive which is why it's so short. I'm NOT any kind of decorator and will never claim to be, but I liked how this one turned out. I LOVE Noble Firs; their branches are stiff so lights and ornaments don't make them droop (even on the kid decorated branches with 12 ornaments on the same branch), as they dry out the needles stay right where they ought to be...on the branches, they smell divine, and are BEAUTIFUL!

I just learned that Gabriel's school district is selling Organic Noble Fir trees to raise money for the district family resource center. The prices are FANTASIC! They range from, Up to 6' for $33.00 to 9' and over for $40.00. We've never been able to get a tree for as little as 40 bucks that was as tall or taller than us. Last year we ended up with a HUGE, non-Noble, tree (that was still about 100 bucks after negotiating down) because we didn't have the mula for one till very late in the season. By then all the Nobles, or any small trees, anywhere near our price range were long gone. The drooping branches made me crazy.

If you want in on this great deal there is a link at the bottom you can click on for the order form. Stephen put it on so I know it'll work. :-D The money you spend is TAX DEDUCTIBLE (just include a note with the form requesting a receipt) and will be a great help to a small district that has a big need to help those that live in it. I chose this district for Gabriel because I've seen the inner and outer workings of it; they are so family oriented and foster such a strong sense of community and looking out for each other. I know whatever is collected from the sale of these trees will be used wisely and to benefit those that are truly in need. Not to mention...what an awesome price!

Next week is the deadline for ordering, so you'll have to get them in fast.

Click here to download the order form (works best in Internet Explorer).

Sick or Treat

I had lots of big, fun plans for this Halloween. We were able to still do some of them, but had to start cutting back the closer we got to Halloween because the big boys decided to get sick. Long week short...(When I can get the pictures together I'll add those)

Gabriel ran a fever for over a week, kept complaining that he broke a bone in his ear, missed several days of school including his first school Halloween party, and a few other fun activities. He was very concerned about missing his school party and other fun stuff. Being the empathetic mom that I am, every time he'd say he broke the bone in his ear I'd dismiss it. Lately anytime he "can't" do something it's because he has a broken bone; "I can't clean my room I broke my leg bone", "I can't eat I broke my hand bone" you get the idea. Not to mention, do you know how hard it would be to actually break those tiny bones in your ear?? DUH, I'm an idiot! He has a history of ear problems and doesn't have the language to explain it to me. Sunday, after baths, I was cleaning his ears and surprise there was bloody discharge. Soooo, he missed school for a very non-contagious ear infection. I hope no permanent damage was done. He's well now and back to school. He wanted to be a giraffe again this year. Last year's costume still fit perfectly, so getting him ready was easy.

Garrett started running a fever a few days after Gabriel did. He missed his pre-school Halloween party and several activities too. Fortunately, we were able to do some fun things before he got sick so he doesn't realize what all he missed. He ended up seeing the Pediatrician for a fever that kept hitting 103. It's just a virus, not the flu, that needs to run its course. He just missed another day of pre-school. He'll be back on Wednesday because the fever is gone now and he's wild again. He wanted to be a T-Rex. We really tried to find a costume for him. We ordered 2 online that were too small, checked all the stores on our side of town, and finally gave up and broke the news to him that he'd have to be a monkey again...same as last year. He took it pretty well.

Lincoln is illness free. However, still not a fan of food; although, he's slowly coming to terms with the inevitability of the whole eating thing. He still sees no reason to sleep through the night, but I'm getting good at sleeping through him waking up. He normal crawls now, but it's looks very mechanical. You can see him thinking...right...left...right...left. He was our hand-me-down "lil punkin" till my mom found a cute alien/monster/critter costume for a gonga $1.99.

They were ALL so cute! It's pretty much always a zoo around here so I thought their costumes were pretty fitting. ;+D I'm glad there was still so much fun to be had with Ava (they LOVED their caramel apples!) and trick or treating with Jens. If you ask them how there Halloween was, they answer "FUN!" That's the important part.

Stephen and I came down with some kind of stuffy nose kind of thing. We don't feel sick, just stuffed up. We bought a bunch of expectorant and Sudafed and life goes on.

Sooo, our Halloween weekend can all be summed with Sick or Treat. Stay tuned for our annual trip to the Urgent Care EVERY Christmas Eve.

Almost a First....

Sunday afternoon we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting minding our own business...ok I lied...we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting trying to not be the noisiest family there. I've decided that as long as there is one other family noisier than us the day is a success. Just Kidding, we really are trying to teach them to be reverent...often it's just flat out a losing battle...

Anyway, we were sitting there and the whole Young Women presidency and most of the advisers were released. I kinda took note of that, as we were still trying to get the critters settled. The next thing I hear is Sister "Human" (Gabriel's new teacher of less than 3 months) get called to the Young Women. First I thought, "No Way! Seriously??" The look I shot to Stephen and his reply confirmed I'd heard right. Then I hear, "any opposed?"

I honestly started to raise my hand, in the split second before it went up I caught it....barely. The idea of doing that has never even crossed my mind before. I really really wanted to raise it and shout, "NO WAY, YOU STINKY OL' TEENAGERS CAN'T HAVE SISTER "HUMAN", SHE'S TAKEN, AND LOVED BY LITTLE ONES THAT NEED HER MORE!!" Selfish? YES!

Gabriel's class is BIG.....and uh....WILD. Some Sundays there are other kids his age being naughtier than him. It's evil, but I'm relieved on those days that it's not always my kid in trouble. Several months ago they split his class into two classes, fantastic idea. Nearly 10 wild 5 year year olds will take even the toughest teacher out. For another couple months he had a sub every week while they waited to get a permanent teacher called. I apologize to all the subs, these kids didn't make it easy. One of the subs told me later that she won't sub in the 5 year old class anymore....not that I blame her. Finally, Sister "Human" (Gabriel's mispronunciation of her last name, and such a cute mispronunciation) was called as the permanent teacher. I was SO excited! I knew she'd be able to love those wild kids into behaving and reverent-ish-ly learning important lessons each Sunday. It's been less than 3 months and the change in that class has been amazing. They don't even look like the same class anymore. Gabriel and his wild little buddy are quieter, even if they're moving, it's quiet moving. When they come back during the last 15 minutes of Primary they walk in instead of pushing and running to be the first to sit down. The best part is I can see Gabriel get corrected when he's making bad choices and usually take it pretty well; such an important skill to have for life. He loved to sit on Sister "Human's" lap, making bad choices often got him on her lap, but I could see him physically relax and calm down once he was in her arms. She sent a really cute picture to the kids one week with their picture and "Jesus Loves Me" under it. It's proudly displayed on his wall now. He had such a happy smile....I love it.

I believe when asked to take a calling the answer should be yes, I guess that means when asked to support a change in callings my answer should still be yes....even if I want to say No Way Jose. Oh, how I hope and pray the Lord has someone in mind that can love these wild yahoos as much as their parents, and He does.

You will be hugely missed Sister "Human"!

~Side note Garrett's class has 13, yes you read right, 13 Sunbeams coming up in January. I am going to have SO many years of apologizing to teachers for the insanity they have to endure on behalf of serving my kiddos.~

B O O !

*~* BOO!! *~*

Ha, Ha, I scared ya!

I just thought this was a cute picture. Gabriel's school had a fundraiser at Burger King; the restaurant was passing out crowns for all the kids. We had to catch a picture before he realized it was on his head and started eating it.

National SIDS/ Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day

Yesterday was the National SIDS/ Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day. I saw a post on a friend's blog that talked about lighting candles for all the Angels that are no longer with us, so I did. The big candle is for my 6 brothers and sisters we're still waiting to meet. It's humbling to know that you're related to so many that were so righteous they only needed a body for such a short time. It's a good tool for keeping pride in check...I'm here with a body still being tested. All the other candles have names. The Mommies and Daddies of these other candles come to my mind daily; I hope they can feel the hug and love that I send them everyday when I think about them.

It's Here!!

Bountiful Baskets finally has a site set up on the Northwest side. The first distribution day will be this Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. I know it's EARLY, but don't worry we all look like we rolled out of bed and came down....except for those people that always look good and make the rest of us envious. I will need help with the actual passing out of the produce, sooo, if you have nothing else to do 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning come on down and help.

The deadline to contribute online is TONIGHT by 10:00p.m.

The website is www.bountifulbaskets.org (Stephen isn't home so I'm not able to post the link, sorry) You can contribute there at the website. The site is not that clear or user friendly, so sign up for the email for the next round in two weeks. That way you don't have to try to figure out the site each cycle, just wait for the email and click on the link in that email when it's time to order again.