All posts in Bits Of My Personality

Try To Take A Picture!

This was the best we could do.

My man thought these where so funny he wanted me to blog them. I just wanted to get a nice picture of the two of us dressed up for Christmas day!!

First try, the flash is obviously WAY TO MUCH!
My honey is still trying to recover from the flash:)

He thinks we should just give up at this point… I am not convinced…

Smarty pants took a pic while we where distracted by our son…
I wasn’t as angry as I look… think I just said ‘not yet’ and trigger happy man thinks it is cute when I am angry.
As you can see the relationship survived the photo shoot…
Being able to laugh in a relationship is essential!Wowza!

TTFN

The Christmas-y View From Here

I have to say, I am tickled that we finally got some real snow!Last night I was out VERY late at a ladies study (which was a real blessing) and as I drove home on Circle Drive I was pretty much alone on the roads. It was very snowy, big fluffy slow snowflakes where falling. The sky was an amazingly warm red color in the middle of the night. The city seemed SO QUIET and STILL… it was so lovely to be embraced by such a dense quiet.

This morning I woke up before the kids! With a yawn I wrapped my favorite wrap around my shoulders and pulled open the curtains to see a beautifully Christmas-y world blanketed in thick snow! The frost on my window was a piece of art and the quiet I had enjoyed the night before had carried over to the morning. I sat alone and just listened to and breathed in the silence…
After a bit I turned on the Christmas lights, for the house stays dark till almost noon lately! I got wiggly and ended up rushing around fussing with my house, for it feels like Christmas is really coming after all!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

With my last blog I totally missed the special 100th post and the 200th and so on and so forth, but this time I have been watching the number count up to 100 and I want to celebrate cuz I like celebrations so I shall do a give away as many others have.

I noticed blog surfing is down this time of year so your odds of winning might be pretty high. I have a little something Christmas-y in honor of the time of year this 100th post arrived and if you comment on this post I will draw from those names and send it on to the winner.

TTFN

A Jolly Jealousy

The sun was very warm this winter day.
The snow was coming down slowly in stuffed size snowflakes.
There was no wind and the air was crisp.
We all went outside while Dad pushed the slight snow fall from the drive way. His job more of an excuse to get out and get some fresh air then an actual necessity.
Big Girl and Big Boy spent an hour pulling one another around on the sled, up and down our front lawn’s almost imaginary hill.
Little Woman had found a toddler’s chair and moved it about on the lawn, trying to find the best spot. Once the best spot was found she sat for only a moment and then followed her Daddy around, like a shadow, throwing snow at him while he pushes the drive way.

Once in side with Baby Boy I warmed up in no time. I watched the rest of my little family trudge off to the park to see if the tobogganing hill might have just have enough snow to sled on. As they marched down the back alley, in an adorable straight line, Little Woman sitting upon one of the sleds, pulled by her beloved Daddy, I felt a pinch of jealousy… if Baby Boy wasn’t so sleepy, and so pron to lung issues, I would have been out there in a split second… instead I watched from the window and waved with a very cheerful Baby Boy… he was completely unaware of my jealousy… ‘Bye Bye’ he chirped and smiled over and over…

I sought to take in the romantic scene before me. My oldest three and my wonderful husband walking down a breathtakingly quiet and still back alley, trees covered in thick horror frost, white fences covered in the same stuffed sized snowflakes that cover the ground and the hats and shoulders of my parting loved ones… it was a warm and chilly moment all in one. It was a beautiful and disappointing moment (only for me) all in one.

I realized how wonderful it is that I could be so in love with this family of mine that I would be like an ill child stuck inside on a snow day, terribly jealous and filled with longing to be out and about on this snowy day with my persons!

I sat down on the floor and Baby Boy walked over to me with a swagger in his step and a grin on his face. He took the ball from my hand, that I had picked up pretty much unaware due to a head full of thoughts. ‘DAT’ he blurted out in a big jolly voice, threw the ball across the room and pointed with an eager ‘fetch mama’ kinda look on his face… I grinned in return… as much as I was wishing to be at the toboggan hill I was also thankful I just took part in a teeny tiny moment with my baby!TTFN

Little Women!

A collection of fine lady friends of mine went out to a musical theatrical production of LITTLE WOMEN! We brought our little women along (those 5 and older) who could sit still!

Getting ready was a bit tricky. My daughter is a newly declared tomboy so at first she could only worry and go on about what her buddy Max would think about her dressed up. I convinced her to glam up by letting her borrow a pair of my grandmothers earrings… this was the first time I have let her wear earrings in public so she was convinced! I wasn’t at all surprised that she loved JO in the play. “She is rough and fun Mama.” she explained on our way home.

I caught up with two lady friends and their girls at a little restaurant for dinner first! My girl was thrilled to try her first ‘Shirley Temple’. The little girls spent as much time dancing around the table as eating. It was lovely to see my girl with old pals from our home town.

The production was so well written and fun that it was positively captivating! The time flew for me! Plenty of tears came when Beth died… mostly the mom’s where crying… and when it was over… well my friend said it best when she expressed the desire to break out in song at the right moments in life after watching such a well done musical!

I was thrilled to see my eldest daughter’s eyes where glued to the stage the whole time. When it ended she couldn’t stop talking about how much fun it must be to be the actors and we had to go have a closer look at the stage and set. What a wonderful Christmas event! I hope to do this again with my daughter and eventually with my younger daughter as well!

TTFN

Noth’n Says Christmas Like…

Like a knock at the door just after breakfast,
and a friend standing there in -35 weather to bring you a treat!
I didn’t exactly know what to say when I saw Kim on my step in a beautiful red coat.
She had brought some of her home made Pepernoten cookies (a Mennonite tradition)!
I was humbled because I had made a little comment on a photo of hers about childhood memories wrapped around these treats.
I really do cherish such kindness and thoughtfulness.

As a little girl I used to attend a little Mennonite Chapel.
Each Christmas they would have bake sales and for 50cents I would buy a pretty big tub of peppernuts from the older ladies.
I would then rush home and devour them all alone in my room.
I looked forward to them every year.
They really are a perfect winter treat!

Little Woman, Baby Boy and I ate them with some very warm tea in between naps all afternoon…
no reason to leave the house when you have cookies, tea and babies to snuggle!
Thanks so much Kim:)

Merry Christmas!

TTFN

Craft Day!

I am not a craft person. Not enough patience or good ideas and I am overwhelmed when ever I try to find all the stuff needed to do crafts, BUT once a year I find I end up having a good time doing them with the kids. We always seem to make something around Christmas. The ideas we come up with are pretty humble but we all have a good time. Last year we made angels out of yarn, for the tree, and a silver angel, out of a cereal box and some wrapping paper, for the top of the tree… This year we have three plans and they have kept us busy most of the day.
Garlands of snowmen, gingerbread people and snowflakes for the kitchen (CHECK)
Wreath out of some of the many pine cones collected off of our drive way (COMING SOON)
Decorate all the brown wrapped gifts ( COMING SOON)
The house is a disaster on craft day. All the chores get forgotten as we become wrapped up in our creations (another reason I don’t do this a lot). But today the paper clippings can keep building up on the floor and the dishes can wait for we are having a family adventure!

(Here we all are, still in our pj’s… breakfast clutter not yet removed from the table, we where all so eager to get started!)

TTFN

Decoration Day!

And then we decorated the house!This is our second year with a tree and we all agreed we really like our iddy bitty tree a lot. The kids and I worked hard at decorating it and Little Woman put the star on top. I am particularly proud of our star. Our tartan star gets my Scottish pride worked right up, he he he…
Big Girl was amazed at all the Christmas STUFF we had when I started unpacking it. Big Boy was very impressed when he saw decorations he had made through the years and very happy with me when we put them on the tree.

We started the evening with a lovely supper, Christmas music playing in the background, watched Elf while we decorated the house and even managed to get our family photo taken for our Christmas card… to be sent out soon! There wasn’t to much crying and screaming… who am I kidding, I think there was more then last year!

Once the kids where in bed my man and I had a more relaxing time. We had tea and bree cheese with dried cranberries, bananas and spicy almonds. Ahhhh it still sounds good this morning!
As usually my mind is full of little romantic moments I want to have with my family this Christmas season! I hope to find the time to capture some fuzzy Christmas memories, fuzzy moments in time, and put them in a bottle for the cold months of winter that follow the holidays!

TTFN

Baby Stumble Baby Step

I have been so thankful to have less fatigue this week that I might have gotten a bit carried away. Filled my days pretty full and went pretty hard for the first part of the week… needless to say I was breathless at the end of the week. I found myself jittery and kinda worn out.

I realized my prayer time had suffered, I stumbled into cookie cutter prayers again. I was doing the same old ‘be with me Lord, be with me Lord… oh gotta run, hope your coming too!’ pray…

The other night I gave into the gnawing need to quiet myself and have some focused prayer time.
I had barely closed my eyes when ‘be with me Lord’ escaped my lips…
I froze as soon as I said it…
His Spirit called to me to come.
I winced and was stilled as my heart felt the prick…
He was still softly asking me to come…
and it hit me like a ton of bricks…
I was again running ahead…

In that quiet moment, in the whispered conversation between my savior and I…

My ‘please be with me Lord’ was instantly traded in for ‘I come to you Lord’…

So again I took his hand…

I traded in my reckless headstrong racing ahead for trust, obedience and a willingness to be lead by my Lord.

TTFN

Christmas Cheer On Sale!


Christmas and sales make me feel cheery:)

The kids and I set up the step today, to go with our ‘fairy lights’ (called that in England according to E-Mom). The ribbons where a dollar each (at the dollar store), garland was on sale for 4.00$ at Zellers and the little sign was only.47 cents (also found at a Zellers sale). We got the Christmas look for a deal!

I am tickled!

TTFN

Don’t

Don’t!
pack up the babies once the big kids are off to school and stop at Home Depot for stuff for your man…
and then pack them into the van and out again just across the street and down a bit to hit a clothing store to get same man’s favorite laces…
and then pack them up and out again to hit costco, and push a cart with both kids, that is too heavy for you and keeps getting the tire stuck…
then pack them up again and head home for a quick lunch and nap… then skip nap while they are sleeping so you can clean up the house…
then pick up the other two kids and hit the grocery store just before supper…
then bag your supper so you can go to a ladies evening…
then let your man talk you into staying up till one…

Do!
put a limit on how much you will do in one day…

WHY?
Cuz the next day will be a waste due to you and the babies needing to recuperate and your back will be killing you all day!

Just some wisdom I thought I should pass on… not that I practice what I preach in this regard, ha ha ha!

TTFN