Category Archives: Holidays

Mardi Gras 2019

We’ve never been in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Or in Mobile Alabama where it actually started. But our town does tons of really cool things on Mardi Gras. My friend Jess says that Mardi Gras is not even on the radar where she lives in Connecticut. I think maybe it’s a southern thing?

Friday night was the Cake Shake at the Princess Theatre. They had a Jazz band and FREE cake! Lots and lots of cake!

Saturday morning was the Children’s Parade.

 

 

Keilee changed IN the car to make it to her favorite; the DOG parade!

 

 

Then we came home for a couple of hours before the night parade!





Then Tuesday at Church we had a Children’s Mardi Gras parade, skit and pancake dinner.

 

It was a wonderful few days celebrating Mardi Gras!

Let the Good Times Roll,

Karen

Blessed…

We had a wonderful Christmas season.  I tried to say ‘Yes’ more than ‘No’ during this month.

And because of that we had the best month, one full of beautiful memories.

We went to our town’s Christmas parade which we haven’t done in a couple of years.  And ate dinner at one of our favorite sandwich shops.

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We served Christmas dinner for over 250 people at our downtown rescue mission.

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We went to church to the kid’s showing of “Polar Express” in footie pjs!

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We went to the boat Parade of Lights and then looking at Christmas lights and out to eat with our dear friend Patsy.  (who was my Mom’s best friend)Search results for icloud2

Keilee and her princess friends were in a Christmas parade in a town near us.  They rode on a float and threw candy.  Fun was had by all!

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Keilee went to eat lunch right before Christmas vacation with her favorite little girl in the world.  She surprised her and she was beyond ecstatic.

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We took selfies. 🙂

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We went to our downtown and watched this amazing 3D light show on the Old State Bank.  Then we walked through downtown and ate dinner with some of our favorite people.

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Keilee fell in love with my cousin’s new Lab while delivering a crochet order to her.

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We took photos with Keilee wrapped in lights.  Because we thought it looked cool.

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Keilee taught kid’s church every Sunday.  She taught over 100 kids per service and also led a small group of girls in 4-5th grade.  She LOVES this and even made each of her ‘girls’ a goodie bag for Christmas.

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She had a great idea of ringing the Salvation Army bell dressed as Elsa.  I took her to the main office and she met with the director and he told her she could.  She asked the girl who plays Anna and they both spent over an hour walking around the mall taking pictures with tons of kids and then ringing the bell for 2 hours.  And Keilee did it all in 6″ heels.  She’s kinda my idol.

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We had the most wonderful Christmas morning complete with great gifts for each other.  And Nomad.

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We plays tons of Board games, baked for friends and family, read Christmas picture books aloud, listened to Christmas music almost non-stop, watched tons of Hallmark Christmas movies and so much more.

So from us to you, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

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It was one of our favorite Christmases to date.

But…we are both ready to get back to ‘real life’.

Bring on 2016!!

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“At Christmas, all roads lead to home.”

Ami Mental, Baking & Ouchies…

AmiMental is a blogger that I read.† She is funny, smart, caring and she blogs EVERY SINGLE DAY!† I bow to her greatness.† She is also the sweetest person.† She is the one who sent Kei the yarn and yarn book. She read on my blog that Kei was making some clay fairies and asked if I thought Kei would like a book about making fairies.† Well duh!! Of course she would.

Fast forward to a few days ago.† A package comes in the mail, a BIG, HUGE package.† Kei opens it and can not believe her eyes, I can not believe my eyes.† It is full of Klutz books, Sculpey Clay, charms, glow in the dark stars.† It was amazing. If I had gone out and picked Kei’s favorite things I couldn’t have done better.† Kei was so excited.

Wow and Wow!!

She has been making clay bears, animals, food for hours and hours.

Honey the Bear..

Sushi, Rice w/ chopsticks, salads, bread, candy, cakes, ice cream and more!!

Cake and Candy Cane...

I emailed Ami to tell her how much she loved it and she told me she just kept finding things that Kei would like.† She also told me her son bought the clay for Kei and wouldn’t even let her reimburse him.† This is what I love about my blog, it brings together people that I would never know.† A Mom and a son in Oregon send Kei a great package full of things she loves,† a Mom in Australia posts about cute little owls that she and her girl make which inspire Kei to make felt animals.† The mom in Australia sees the pictures and calls her kids to look at Kei’s owls.† 2 Moms with girls Kei’s age; one in Connecticut and one in New Jersey;† read my blog and we comment regularly back and forth.† We share ideas, ask questions, share links.† Kei reads their daughters blogs.† Their daughters read Kei’s blog. † I consider them friends.† The world is so much smaller with the internet.† People can get close no matter how far.† I love my new friends.† I love reading about their world, their lives.† They encourage me and inspire me to be better.† I am a better Mom, a better friend, a better HS Mom because of people like them.

And thank you again Ami. You just ROCK!!

Kei and I also baked a lot this week.† We made Oreo Truffles, Mystery Bars, Banana bread and more goodies.† Kei loves to bake but I never have.†† I love to cook, but never have liked baking.† Since Kei loves it so much I have actually began to enjoy it.† The main thing I don’t like about it is you have to be so precise.† I am more of a throwitinabowlandstirit kinda girl.† This 1/2 T, 1/4 Cup stuff just doesn’t appeal to me. 🙂

Let the Baking Begin...

Oreo Truffles...

Kei Jumping for Joy!

Mystery Bars...

Now for the ouchie portion of this story.† Aforementioned Mystery Bars are made with sticky goodness.† Kei ran some goodies to the lovely ladies next door while I finished getting the bars out of the pan.† Some of them were stuck, there was a knife laying on the counter.† I picked up the knife to slide it under the stuck on portion.† The knife met resistance, the knife flew into my palm.† I felt 2 stabs.† This is a hand that has had severe nerve damage about 10 years ago, which is another story for another day.† I closed my eyes, said “No God please” and looked down.† I saw a cut on my palm, turned my hand over and saw a cut on the front of my hand.† I walked outside and yelled for Kei who came running.† I almost passed out, but I don’t really know why.† It wasn’t a lot of blood, it didn’t hurt that much and I am not a passing out kinda person.† Fast forward to the rest of the story…I stabbed a knife completely through my hand.† I have butterfly stitches, got a tetanus shot, doc put me on antibiotics and stressed over and over that I must keep it clean.† He said time and time again, “I can not believe you didn’t damage anything, not a nerve, an artery, a tendon, a bone, it is a miracle”.† I think God heard my prayer and said, “While I can’t do anything about your stupidity in picking up a knife to use as a spatula, I will make sure it does as little damage as possible”.

So here I sit, with my hand bandaged up, my arm sore from a shot, not able to do much of anything.† But I do have some amazing Mystery Bars and how many people can say they stabbed their hand completely through with a knife???

Merry Christmas Eve Eve,

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!
Francis P. Church

Crafty, Nutcracker and the Tree…

It was a busy week.† We stayed in the first of the week because it was so cold.

Kei learned about Canines, the Phoenicians, diagrammed sentences, did lots of reading, lots of writing activities, did our Jesse Tree everyday.† We found some really cool sites about genes and DNA.† Here and here.

Kei did some really cool crafts this week too.

She made a Christmas tree with yarn and a Styrofoam cone I found HERE. Kei has so much yarn from her knitting that it was a perfect craft for her.

Putting the Yarn on..

The Yarn Tree..

She also made some felt animals.† She got the idea from one of my favorite bloggers, Helena.† She has made owls, 2 mice, an elephant, and a music note.† She loves making these so I see lots of new little friends in her future.

Cutting the Felt..

We went to Livvy’s church to see her live manger scene.† Livvy was an angel.

Kei and Livvy

We went to see Nutcracker on Ice on Friday.† It was the first show we have ever seen performed on ice in person.† It was beautiful and we both really enjoyed it.† I have always hated Nutcrackers.† Their strange smiles have always freaked me out.

Nutcracker

Nutcracker 2

We had decided to get a real tree this year but last night Kei decided the little artificial one would suffice this year.† She put it up all by herself!† She did a great job.† I have so many ornaments from over the years but she only put on the ones she deemed ‘cool’.

Putting on the Ornaments...

The Angel

We had to turn off the lights, put on Christmas music and eat a chocolate truffle as we turned on the lights.† It was beautiful. 🙂

The Tree..

I can’t believe it is almost Christmas.† I finally did some online Christmas shopping for Kei last night.† We are having a very small Christmas this year.† I am laid off from the end of November to mid January.† Money is tight, but love is flowing.

Happy weekend,



The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.† ~Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur

Piercings, Picnics, and Naked Barbies…

The United States is the only country with a known birthday.† ~James G. Blaine

Happy 4th of July!† It is hard to imagine how it was for our forefathers back in 1776.† How they must have felt finally being FREE.† I am not a believer in war, however at times I suppose it is necessary to growth.

We plan on celebrating quietly.† We hung out outside in the sun and played with Nomad.† We swam and played some board games.† Tonight we are going to grill out and shoot some fireworks. Kei spent 30 minutes making this water chair.† When she finally got on it I asked her, “What is the difference in just having in on the grass”? and she showed me by falling off of it into the water.

Water Chair

Kei shot a few last night to get prepared.

Pre 4th Fireworks

Nomad has a new favorite toy.† It is an old Barbie doll of Kei’s.† He loves it and carries it everywhere.† Kei said she needed to find him a Ken doll and I told her it was probably better if he tried to chew the head off the female one…right?

Barbie Love

This is a contraption we made him for alone time play.† I think we should patent it don’t you?

More Barbie Love...

Kei has been playing with her Little Pets a lot.† She got this idea to pierce their ears.† My Momma loved jewelry and had tons of it.† Kei found earrings and went to work. I about cracked up when I saw the ‘finished’ pets.

Oh La La....

Here is Hopper with her new earring.

One earring bunny...

More HOLEY Pets…

Here they are having a race up the washing machine.

And the Winner is...

I am so glad my child is easily amused.

Kei has been getting my camera and taking pictures.† She told me she really wanted to learn more about Photography.

Here are a few of her shots.† I thought she did really well.

Feather

Beauty

Kei's Doggie

Kei and I have been having tea parties for years.† We wear flowery dresses, hats and drink from a hand painted tea set Kei made when she was about 5.† This was our 1st Tea Party in the new house.† We decided to have it in the rose garden.† I am always Miss Chamomile and Kei is Miss Sassafras.† Nomad was invited and he was Mr. Fluff.† We always speak in either British or very Southern accents. It was an interesting addition inviting Nomad.

Miss Sassafras

Mr. Fluff NOT cooperating...

Mr. Fluff drinking his tea..

Miss Sassafras and Mr. Fluff relaxing

Kei has been working on her treehouse.† It isn’t really a great tree for a treehouse. I tell her when I win the lottery I will get her a killer treehouse. Seth spent the night and he helped her work on it.† He put her in a seat.

Perched..

Lookout

We also went swimming at Cathy’s and ate lunch.† We had such a great day!

Just keep swimming...

On the way home Kei saw a turtle in the road and freaked out for me to get it.† I just knew either me, Kei or the turtle was going to end up smooshed but we all made it home safely.† Kei let the turtle out in our creek.

Sniffing it out...

The next day we went bowling shopping and some of the kids did the bungee jumpy thingy.

Boing!!

Thursday Kei and I went to see Eclipse.† We really liked it and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.† I think it was my favorite Twilight so far.† We also saw the trailer for Deathly Hallows!!!

Kei and Johnny chillaxing...

Kei is responsible for changing our fishbowl every week.† I told her only, ‘Make it beautiful”.† This is this weeks.

Art in a bowl...

I am loving our summer, our new doggie and my girl.† I am blessed.

ìDon’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.î† Winnie The Pooh

Have a wonderful week.

Twenty Ten…

Well Christmas has come and gone.† Thanks to the coolest friends in the world, we had an amazing Christmas.

We left Santa cookies and milk.

Ho Ho Ho...
Ho Ho Ho...

We then spent a very restless night.† Kei could not sleep because she was so excited.† She started at 1:00 am asking me if she could just sneak down and check and I said no.† She asked me every 30 minutes until 5:30 when I finally said yes.† I have to have a bath before I function <hey some people need coffee, I need my bath!> so we have started a tradition of her opening her stocking on the bathroom floor while I am waking up in my bath.

Kei got everything on her list!† And more!

Wonderful Christmas
Wonderful Christmas

We went to Eddie and Heather’s for Christmas breakfast.† Daddy and Marlene† came too.† We had a yummy breakfast casserole, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, orange juice and coffee.† Then we opened presents.† Good times were had by all!

Kei and I came home she played for hours while I took down the tree! I know, I know, but I was sick of that puppy.† So down it came.

Then we went to Marlene’s for Christmas dinner.† We met her son and his wife and their adorable little girl.† Everything was delicious and it was a nice night.† You know, traditions sometimes change.

Saturday we went to Laura’s for traditional Christmas dinner.† The food was excellent and the company was awesome.† I laughed so much my stomach hurt.† We love you all so much!

Suzette had everyone over to her house for our !st Annual Homeschooling Christmas dinner.† We had the best time ever!† We had fajitas and beans and rice and tons of sweets.† We also played Trivial Pursuit.† It was a great time with great friends.† Suz, you are the best.

Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit

More Trivia
More Trivia

We spent New Year’s Eve quietly at home.† I had given her an early birthday gift and she played Wii sports for hours!

kei-bday-wii

I played WoW with Carla and a friend from Canada.† We laughed so much and had so much fun.† Here is a screen shot of Carla and I waiting on Paul to figure out how to get me on a zeppelin that I was 7 levels too low to go onto.† It is a hilarious story but you have to play WOW to understand. :)† Yes we did it!

Happy 2010 on WOW!
Happy 2010 on WOW!

The 3rd was my beautiful girl’s 10th birthday and she was SO EXCITED. She is such a blessing in my life and I thank God for her every single day.

Sweet Child of Mine
Sweet Child of Mine

She told me she was going to be the Big ONE OH!

10th Birthday
10th Birthday

We went to church and then we went to IHoP.† This is the 6th year in a row we have gone to eat breakfast on her birthday.† The waitress’s all sing to her and she loves it!

Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!

Then we came home and Daddy and Marlene came over.† Marlene had made Kei a beautiful birthday cake. It was yummy too!

Yum Yum Yum
Yum Yum Yum

Then she opened my gifts.† She loved everything ….

kei-bday-giftsbut nothing as much as the Johnny Depp bag I found for her.† I took 5 pictures and they were all blurry because she kept jumping up and down!

Kei & her future husband
Kei & her future husband

Eddie, Heather and the kids† came over and brought her a Zhu Zhu complete with a house.† She loved it!† Later on that night, she was playing with it and I was on the computer.† Everything got very quiet.† I said “What’s up?” and turned to look at her.† She had her Zhu Zhu dangling from her hair!† She said, “I was laying on the floor and he just backed up and ran over my hair!”.† Only Kei.† I got one wheel out but I could not get the other one.† We called Jerri and went to her house for assistance.† Everytime you touch the dang thing the wheels would turn and it would make crazy noises.† Jerri and I were laughing so hard we were crying.† We finally got out all but about 10 hairs and we just had to cut it out.

Zhu Zhu of Death
Zhu Zhu of Death

Kei said, “Please don’t blog or Facebook this Mom”, but…it was too good to resist.

Now we are in the middle of a huge FREEZE! It is cold, I mean COLD, didimentionCOLD?† My Southern blood isn’t up to this kind of weather.† We are in the house and not going out until the temperature hits at least 40!

So, here we are….2010.† Hang on tight because the best is yet to come.

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…

I remember having a White Christmas when I was small.† Kei has wanted one for years.† At first I thought that was a possibility but now the weather has changed once again.

White Christmas or not, it is upon us.† Things are different this year.† Last year was very hard for my family because it was the 1st Christmas without my Mom.† This year my Daddy is remarried.† Things change, seasons change, traditions change.

We made Christmas candy the other day.† It was fun, especially for Kei.† She adores anything bakey.† We made Chocolate Oatmeal cookies < which we always call the unappealing name of Doo Doo Cookies>, Oreo balls, Peanut Butter Microwave Brittle, Chocolate dipped Pretzels, and Chocolate Chip cookies.

Candy Good!
Candy Good!

Messy Goodness
Messy Goodness

I still lack a few presents.† I will do that Tuesday, maybe…I hope.

Christmas Girl
Christmas Girl

At church the kids did a little program while the band sang “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls.† It is a great song for this time of year.

Faith and Better Days
Faith and Better Days

We want to go see the Christmas lights in the next couple of nights.† I hate driving though, I never can look at them very well when I have to concentrate on actually keeping the car on the road!

Happy Christmas,

K/K

It’s Beginning to Look A lot like Christmas…

christmas-magic

Christmas is upon us.

We have done some “Christmasy” things the last week or so.

We volunteered to ring a ling ding the Salvation Army Bell.† We did this with Heather and her boys and it was FREEZING!† The kids had a blast when they weren’t too frozen to speak.† Heather brought her violin which I am sure was a first for our town.

Me & My girl
Me & My girl

Frosty Kids
Frosty Kids

Maestro
Maestro

We also got some snow!† It never snows here in December.† It used to, but not so much now.

Snow in the South
Snow in the South

We decorated the tree, although in all honesty, Kei did 99% of this herself.† I can not believe she has gotten to the point that she can do our entire tree!

All By Myself...
All By Myself...

O Christmas Tree
O Christmas Tree

We went to eat with Gina and Bobby.† Gina made chili and it was so good!† We brought Brit home with us and they did their usual girl things.† Max and Rob and Johnny and Fang, oh my!

Da Girls
Da Girls

It is about 2 weeks until Christmas and no I am not ready.† But then again, I never am!

Stay warm.

The Greatest Gift…

Christmas.† I used to LOVE Christmas.† My brothers and I loved December and my Momma and Daddy made it a wonderful time for us.† Christmas meant presents and beautiful trees and huge family get-togethers and whispered prayers for snow.† Then I grew up.† In my teens, I still loved Christmas but not with the fervor of a child.† Then I got married.† I liked Christmas† and decorated every room in the house, put up a magnificent tree, bought enough presents for a small nation.

Then I became ambivalent toward Christmas.† Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.† It just was.† I put up the tree and bought presents, but the magic wasn’t there.

The last almost decade, I have loved Christmas again.† Having a child makes you enjoy Christmas differently.† I love Kei’s excitement, her giddiness at all things Christmas related, her unshaken belief in Santa.† The way she gets more excited about what she gets me than what she is getting.† How her favorite part of Christmas is listening for Santa’s reindeer hooves on the roof.† How she understands the true meaning of Christmas.

Last Christmas was hard.† The 1st Christmas without my sweet Mother.† Kei helped me so much. Her presence made it bearable to survive my 1st Christmas alone, without Momma.

This Christmas I have been so worried.† Worried about money that I didn’t have to buy gifts.† I listened to Kei tell me, “Don’t worry Mommy, I am asking Santa for the things I want.† I don’t want anything from you.”† I worried and cried to myself and prayed.

Do you know there are angels everywhere?† They walk among us and show themselves in the most wondrous ways.† I have amazing people in my life.† People who don’t love me because I share their blood and they have to love me, people who love me just because.† People who have helped me to make sure my girl has a wonderful Christmas.† People who understand the true meaning of this season.† “Thank you” doesn’t seem like a big enough thing to say.† I am blessed, truly blessed to have you in my life.† I am honored to call you “friends”.† I have so missed having this kind of friends in my life.† Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.† Bless you.

Merry Christmas all.

Is It December Already????

December 1st!† Where does time go?

I am not ready for December.† I am not ready for Christmas and presents and trees and decorations.

Kei is though.† She is more than ready for us both.

The past 2 weeks have been good.† We have done some really cool things in homeschooling.† We are still doing the American Revolution and also making a Grammar Lapbook.† It is a really fun one where you are a visitor from another planet and are trying to figure out the English language.

We have learned about the Brain and Kei made a brain hat. <this is so neat!>† She also did the Stroop test and thought it was so cool.† We determined which was her dominate side <left>.

brain-hat

The Girl with 2 Brains
The Girl with 2 Brains

We went to Heather’s for a GNO.† We ate pasta and sandwiches and desert and caramel popcorn and watched Momma Mia! on blue ray and trust me, it DOES make a difference.† Our girls were singing and dancing the entire time.† We don’t have 1 shy, introvert HSer among us! 🙂

"Momma Mia, Here I go again"
"Momma Mia, Here I go again"

MM Robot
MM Robot

Chan came and spent a few days with us.† We always love having her.† Her and Kei had so much fun.† They borrowed my camera and kept trying to get jumping shots of themselves.

girls-jumping

Yes, Kei still has her tonsils!
Yes, Kei still has her tonsils!

Thanksgiving we spent giving back to our community.† We went with our church to serve 1400 meals delivered to families and serve 400 inmates.† We love doing this each year.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.  ~Dr. Seuss
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. ~Dr. Seuss

Then we went to Gina and Bobby’s.† We had an AWESOME Chinese dinner.† The lumpia’s that Gina made were out of this world.† I am still craving them.

Thanksgiving Chinese Style
Thanksgiving Chinese Style

Kei and I had written down a thing that we were thankful for each day in November.† We made them into a chain and read each other’s Thanksgiving Day.† It was scary how similar they were.

thankful-chain

Kei and I spent the rest of the holiday weekend watching movies, playing computer games and board games† and laughing a lot.

But I am not ready for December!† EEP.

K