Changes Can Be Good!

Lucy and I started reading the American Girls Collection books this past week and started with the book "Meet Kit" about a little girl growing up in 1934 in the middle of the Great Depression.

Sounds fantastic for a nearly five year old right? 

It actually is because a lot of the character traits that I am trying to instill in Lucy are what are being developed in the lead character Kit.

Kit loves to read books, write her own newspaper, play sports and wants to build her own treehouse. 

She has a great sense of humor but more importantly has a strong sense of character and resolve within herself-especially when it has been revealed to her that she has acted rashly or her actions are selfishly motivated. 

With the setting of the book being in the Great Depression, the family is obviously going to go through hard times and that includes Kit. 

I often wonder what my own children would be like if we were living in another country or time and they were asked to do things like, I don't know-actual chores (like on a farm or village), and it has been fun to explore these topics with both Lucy and Asher through reading. 

It is one of the reasons that I love to read to is explore my own fantasies through someone else's "reality" and to see my own children do that is like a dream come true. 

In the last chapter of the book, Kit's mother says in order to overcome the Depression, "People will have to work hard. Use what they have. Face challenges. Stay hopeful...They'll have to make changes and realize that changes can be good."

This is particularly timely for us in our country as everyone needs to figure out finances, resourcefulness and figure out what is really important to them. 

Now, who wants to help me with Kickstarter account to buy Lucy an American Girl doll?

Have you seen how expensive those suckers are? 

Sheesh. 

Order a Wreath-Send a Kid to Camp!

There's No Place Like Home

Having not gone home for Christmas did cause a bit of nostalgia to rise up in me.

Nostalgia for what traditions; I am not quite sure.

We moved at minimum every four years growing up and so Christmas never looked exactly the same. We seemed to absorb whatever the "locals" did into our own family traditions so now we look like a collage of world traditions that don't seem to make much sense.

Christmas Eve in South Georgia:

"Sure, have another glass of Gluhwein, Opa!"

"Just pass it over the fried rice."

Or something exaggerated like that.

But it is home and you have to love the home that you grew up in. No matter how insane it might look to outsiders.

I saw this video last night on YouTube and it was so so sweet.

It made me want to bust out the video camera much more often around my kids.

And the real reason why I should use the video camera more often?

Right here.

Just wait until the last 15 seconds.

Disclaimer: Lucy dressed herself today.

Snowed In and Loving It

Since yesterday morning at 7am, we have now received over 9" of snow at the Sloan Homestead.

Merry Christmas to us!

We were up and at 'em this morning sledding with neighbors down a "luge run" that ended with a pretty solid jump at the end. The kids had a blast all morning and were sad when their fingers and faces were freezing off.

The only person not uncomfortable was the abominable camo man that was their dad.

About a year ago we discovered that Matt's snowbibs had disappeared and have not replaced them. So he now uses his waders. No one thinks we're rednecks AT ALL.

Lucy decided that she wanted a photoshoot all of her own on the walk back home today. I happily obliged.

We spent the rest of the day making forts, drinking hot chocolate, watching football and other boxing day tasks. It was fantastic.

Merry Christmas!

The Sloan Family is celebrating Christmas for the first time in our beloved Asheville and it has been such a sweet time for us!

I baked and baked and baked today.

So much so that I opened up every woman's dream:

A Kitchenaid stand mixer for CHRISTMAS!

I love it so much.

The kids are beside themselves to open presents in the morning.

We can't wait either.

We have never been home on Christmas before and so this is new territory for all of us.

We find ourselves marrying a little bit of our parents with the things that we have always wanted to do but never really could do to the whole traveling every year thing.

Pecan Pies.

Treasure hunts.

Christmas Cookie decorating taking the whole afternoon.

Family craft times.

Family Christmas Jammies.

Giving the kids their own Christmas ornaments that represent the year.

AND

The Sloan Family picture in front of the Christmas tree:

Lucy's face. Amazing.

Sorta cute, but forced. Also, lots of my leg in the foreground.

We had to cut loose for a minute.

Lucy isn't really sure about this whole picture thing.

Close enough! Let's wrap it up!

Nativity Story as told by adorable children

I don't go for "cutesy" YouTube videos as a rule.

I don't even like to watch them.

I sure don't post them on this blog.

So this one doesn't fit that category.

Trust me. It's a live nativity scene performed by Australian children-so dang cute and it looks like it was a lot of fun to film.

This video has swelled my soul today.

And Lucy watched it no less than 10 times too.

"He has two Daddies. God and Joseph!"

That's my favorite part.

*Thanks to Sarah Spooner for the link

Christmas Cookies

It's the week of Christmas, which means it is time to bake!
Except that in the middle of baking my last batch of cookies, I smoked out my mixer. I killed it.

Which I feel really really good about.
I mean, I put a hurting to my mixer. Who does that?
I do.
I am a baking machine is why.

But that does mean, unless I get another one in the next few days-no more cookies for Christmas.
Sad face.

So to alleviate the pain, I thought I would share my three favorite Christmas cookie recipes today.
Make these, get fat and be the most popular person amongst your friends. It's easy!

Peanut Butter Balls
2 sticks butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I only had 1 cup, so I used 1 cup more crunchy peanut butter to make up for it)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup coconut
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz. conf. sugar

Mix all above ingredients. Roll into 1" balls-put into freezer. While making dipping chocolate.
-in a double broiler, melt 12 oz bag of choc chips (I had mix of semi-sweet and peanut butter chips) and 2 tbs. shortening or paraffin.
Dip 1" balls into chocolate. Place on wax paper and let dry.

Gooey Butter Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
1-8oz package of cream cheese
1-1lb box butter recipe cake mix
powdered sugar for dipping
cooking spray

Beat butter, vanilla, and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Mix in dry cake mix. Chill for 30 mins. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly coat cookie sheet with cooking spray. Drop by teaspoonfuls into a bowl of powdered sugar; roll into balls. bake for 10-12 mins. Makes 3-4 doz.

Praline Strips
1 pack Graham Crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

line 9x13 pan with foil and cover the bottom completely with crackers. Boil butter and sugar for two minutes. Add pecans and stir to cool. Then add vanilla. Pour over the crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes cut while warm. Yield 4 dozen.

Toddlers and Tiaras

Sorry for the lack of blog posts as of late.
To be honest, I have created a home office in our house to section off "work" from just "messing around" on the computer. The fallout has been my blog.
I am trying to figure out ways to create good family time, solid work time and fantastic "me" time. Somebody has to lose and well, that has been this location.

I am going to make it up to you today however.
Buckle up.

This video is of Lucy's Preschool Christmas Program held last night.
She never told us anything that was going on with the program but apparently she was front and center and knew EVERY SINGLE WORD TO EVERY SINGLE SONG.

If the volume is terrible, I am sorry.
Just wait unti the VERY end, there a nice treat waiting for you.



We have decided that the "Christmas Program" is indeed why you enroll your child. Not to get ready for school but to see them in all their glory on a stage and to watch what will happen.
I'm so proud.

Christmas Card Time

It's that time of the year kids.

Christmas card prep.

My sister just bulldozed my day today by even mentioning working on Christmas cards and I decided to get in the hunt too.

Last year, I ordered my cards from (shhh) Walgreens. Don't hate on it.

They have an agreement with Snapfish and their print quality is pretty decent. Not great. But you have your prints in an hour AND you can get a ton of coupons online to make it really cheap.

So this year, I checked out Walgreens.com and I hated the cards. Like hated them.

Then I went to Snapfish.com.

Uploaded some pictures. I was happy. Here is a preview.

I made it ALL the way to check out.

Then I decided to check over at Shutterfly.com and see what they had.

The selection was way better. But WAY more expensive.

But instead of just printing on photo paper, I would be printing on stationary cards which is definitely a nice upgrade.

Plus, they are tied in with Boxtops for Education. So money I spend there, goes to my son's school. (for the record-I checked back in and Snapfish has a deal with boxtopsforeducation.com as well and they give MORE money per $10 spent. So now I feel like a jerk. But here we are.)

ALSO, I used these codes:

SHIP30 (free shipping on items over $30)

FATWALLET5 (25% off entire order)

the 25% off expires on Nov. 17, so if you are going to order, you should do it ASAP.

All that involved, saved about $45 but still spent more money than at Snapfish. But I am SURE that I am going to be way happier with my cards because seriously take a look at this:

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

This card is WAY better looking.

Thanks Shutterfly.com and Sharon Clark at Smitten Photography for making my family look like we belong in a magazine!

For other fun ideas, go check out these links at Shutterfly:

photo Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

· holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

calendars to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Christmas Photo Shoot

As you can tell by my new header (or not if you are using Google Reader), I took the kids out on a little adventure for a downtown Asheville photo shoot prior to Christmas.

We got all dressed up and danced around the Flat Iron for about 10 minutes in the middle of needing to do downtown Christmas shopping. The kids couldn't have been better about this and I am super SUPER grateful for these pictures. The Flat Iron is one of my favorite Asheville landmarks and the kids will probably get their picture taken in front of it for the rest of their lives if I can help it.

Click on any of the pictures to see them bigger. Oh and the dress Lucy is wearing? One of my high school girls made it. MADE IT. In school. For my Lucy. How sweet is that? Lucy LOVES wearing it.

Umm. Guess who's growing up every single second right in front of my eyes?

Just down the road...posing with iron people. They were in hilarious moods.

To be fair, Lucy did get a bit tired near the end...poor widdle baby.

Mean mommy MAKE you take pictures. Ugh.

Every House With 9 Children Should Come With One of These

Matt's parents rented a bounce house the day before Christmas Eve and are returning it tomorrow.
The rental place has been closed over Christmas, so they only had to pay for one day of rental.

My kids are EXHAUSTED at the end of each day.

Candy in excess+bounce house+Christmas=no presents necessary

Best Christmas present to us EVER.

Christmas: Brought to You by...

Thanks Paula.


Guess I shouldn't have waited until day 4 to bust out the skinny jeans?
Merry eating and drinking everyone!

Don't You Wish Your Mom Was Just Like Me?

When Asher's school handed me his wish list for Santa this Christmas season, my reaction was #1:

we already have crayons, markers and star for a tree, so check, check and check

#2:

we will maybe have turkey, so check

#3:

star wars PJ's, indians, and a Christmas cup can all be easily accomplished

#4:

I have some concern about a shiny red nose.

Does he mean, like rudolph? Or a clown nose? Does it need to glow? Or can we just buy him a rudolph stuffed animal?

Hmmm. geez.

#5:

Goldfish.

Food or animal?

Animal: Can I buy a thing that will be sure to die before we go on assignment this summer?

That was actually my thought process.

What is wrong with me?

Seriously.

If someone can tell me, then I will save the money from visiting a counselor.

And We're Back! No, not really

Well, we have internet access...so we are back in the able to receive and send emails as well as blog about all of the interesting and amazing things that we are doing! HAHA

We had a crazy Christmas at Matt's parents house. It was really fun, but I will give you the rundown:

8 kids under the age of 5

6-month old twins

4-week old newborn

6 kids on medication for their various ailments

4 kids on antibiotics

1 case of strep throat

2 hospitilizations (Matt's mom on Christmas eve and our newborn nephew Sam with RSV), both very scary...both healthy and fine now.

We didn't spend two nights in a row sleeping the same place for six straight nights.

One cancelled flight to Denver, one rescheduled flight to Denver. 24 hours of trying to rebook the flight in order to land one hour earlier in order to make it to club. 

Instead, we drove through blowing snow on the "Kenosha pass" which is one of the coldest, darkest and scariest roads in America. Especially when you are driving in a front wheel drive car with two kids and six hundred pounds of luggage in the back. 

But ahh, we made it to Young Life's Trail West. It is our first time here and I have to tell you, I love it. It is truly a GIANT lodge with so much to do and see. Plus, there is about a foot of snow on the ground, a great fire in the fireplace and all the hot chocolate that you can stomach. I can safely say, I would recommend this trip to anyone with kids. Who are over three. 

The ski slopes that are nearest by were freezing. I am not lying when I tell you it was 20 below with the windchill by the end of our time there. 

Lucy's glove would not stay on and she nearly lost her hand to frostbite by the time we got from the lodge to the car. Not really, but she acted like her hand was about to fall off for a good 45 minutes.

 

It is beautiful here and we are so happy to be in this lovely place for the next few nights. I will take as many pictures as I can! FYI: It is easier to upload to flickr, so click on my badge in order to see more complete pictography of our travels!

My sentiments exactly

I just saw this on Mama Pop.com and it mirrors my thoughts on the holiday season perfectly:

Poo. The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

So, the Christmas buy, buy, BUYing frenzy has started with a vengeance. I always get a bit of a thrill when the first decorations go up and the spirit of Christmas future is still soft-focused and filled with hope. This is about the time of year that I make lofty plans to make home-made tree ornaments, hand crafted cards, and generally get all Martha Stewarty. Relaxed, magical in the kitchen, a proper mummy to my children. This year will be different...

Then reality hits, and it's two days before Christmas, and you're wondering who the hell came up with the idea of Stockings for the Grown ups. Before you know it, you're purchasing something with 2 seconds of laugh appeal from Spencers. Something involving Homer Simpson and a beer bong. Dad'll love that.

In Britain, the national charity Oxfam have cannily tapped into this tendency to buy the ones we love something especially, especially trivial and stupid at Christmas. They have launched their campaign to Speak Out Against the Horror of Rubbish gifts. The t.v. commercial features famous-types like Helena Bonham-Carter, Helen Mirren and singer Will Young (you might not recognize the name on that one, but he's the lush young one near the beginning... link to the ad after the jump...)

Instead of lumbering your loved ones with unwanted kitchen gadgets and singing fish, this year you can go to Oxfam Unwrapped and choose from an alternative gift range, and buy fertiliser, a toilet, condoms, essential medicines and school books for communities in developing countries.


Considering the serious message underpinning the commerical, the whole campaign is delivered with real humour, with a satirical take on the typical fundraising commerical (Sally Struthers, anybody?)

While my family will be getting something under the tree this year other than a toilet or two, the campaign has made me seriously look at what I *do* chose to spend my money on--there's definitely room in the budget for some fertiliser and a bog, as long as I resist the jiving santa, that is...

To Santa or Not?

Matt and I are in a discussion about whether or not we tell our kids about Santa Claus. I say discussion and I mean it. Neither of us are passionate in either direction, but we both have misgivings about indulging in the Santa fantasy as well as not comfortable with dispelling it either.

My suggestion is that we just don't make a "thing" out of it. If people talk to our kids about Santa, they can give the dumb, "I have no idea what language you are speaking" look to those adults. Or they can choose to go for it. But we won't perpetuate the myth or tell stories about being good and getting presents. I mean, basically our problem is not so much with Santa as the idea of flat-out lying to our kids about something that we just don't care about.

Both of our parents told us about Santa, but I don't think that my parents carried it very far. It might have just been a "theme" of the season as opposed to a real person. But, Matt said he was really devastated when he learned the truth about Santa and just doesn't want to do that to his kids. My feeling is, just don't look at it through the eyes of a jaded adult. But let it be what it is, fun. Don't make it into a big deal, but you simply play and have fun with the season. I mean, we can't make Christmas morning be the morning of dreams coming true simply because 1) we don't want to and 2) we can't afford to. By simply not indulging in that, you would think that the truth of Santa making all of your dream come true would come out eventually.
Of course, you can't control what your kids do or don't believe.

Last year, my friend gave her kids a new swing set for Christmas. She had EVERYONE she could think of go in on it. Of course, they spent the night at their grandparents house and the swing set was installed at the kids house. So on Christmas morning, they had nothing to open. Their mom told them, "You have an amazing present at home. Everyone went in on it and you will enjoy it all year long!"
Her son, Sam was seen pouting a short while later. My friend asked him what was wrong. He said, "I know what my present is and I don't want it! Cause it's LOVE and LOVE is boring!!!"

What are you thoughts on what we should do about Santa? Pros and Cons of the Santa story? Help us out!

Also, if you get a chance, please check out David Sedaris' Six to Eight Black Men story about Santa Claus. It will make you fall apart with laughter! Click here to listen