I am not crafty. I do not like to clean, cook bake or make crafty messes in my kitchen that my boys often BEG for.
Enter a Costco purchase for less than ten bucks:
Every possible thing a gingerbread house needs was in the box AND it came with instructions.
So suddenly, I was a cool mom.
Pretty careful for a bunch of boys!
Does this make me crafty?
We I set up our Christmas tree this weekend. Back when we had no kids and no money, we bought a bargain of a fake tree.
I was always against fake trees, but hubby insisted on it and it wasn't the hill I wanted to die on.
I think we bought the display tree at KMart. It is not pre-lit and doesn't particularly fool the eye into thinking it is anything resembling a real tree.
For the past few years, we have talked about shopping the after Christmas sales for a new fake-but-more-real-looking-easier-to-set-up-possibly-even-pre-lit Christmas tree.
However, by the day after Christmas, I'm usually pretty pooped, so putting in the effort to find the right tree for the right price is not high on my list.
Anyhoo, my bloggy friend Nicole posted about her favorite ornaments on her tree and I thought would share a few of my favorites.
I have friends with "designer" trees that are carefully decorated with matching ornaments and look like they could be in a Macy's window.
Not us.
We go for the white trash mix and match sentimental look. We have a varied collection of ornaments that have been growing since before the day we said, "I do."
This one is heartfelt for obvious reasons. During the holiday season of 2001 I bought this flag ornament and wrote the "why" on a sticker on the back.
Not that we will ever forget. But I want our children to remember too.
During my junior year of college, I studied abroad in Israel and Greece for three weeks.
We toured major places from the Bible in Israel and followed Paul's missionary journeys in Greece.
I bought this ornament in Bethlehem. A pretty memorable time to walk where our King was born.
When I was on my mission trip to Russia two years ago, we stayed in the nicest hotel available near our rural little orphanage.
People, you have no idea how good we have it. Most rooms only had two beds and a sink with cold water and a toilet. Our group shared three showers that each had only a five gallon hot water heater -divided up between 16 people equals: burrrrr!
The hotel staff were what made it delightful. They were always pleasant and kind - even though we couldn't communicate without a translator.
On our last day, the women working there brought out a tray of gifts for each of us to choose from. They were all hand-made, basket woven types of gifts and there were all different kinds to pick from. I chose these shoes.
They hang on my tree and when I look at them, I remember that we are all God's people, no matter what we hear on the news.
Who can resist this cutie pie?
Thanksgiving weekend was such a whirlwind for us that I had a very hard time putting it into words. So, I'll tell a story with pictures:
The turkey preparation/cooking/carving is my LEAST favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. I always volunteer for everything anything but the turkey. Our friends, the Balyos, who were joining us from the great state of Wyoming and I asked them to do the turkey and I would do everything else.
Well, they decided not to make the mind-numbing six hour trek across I-80 and I was left with a 21 pound turkey to prepare.
So this year was no different. The location rotates each year. The Andersons hosted the event this year and we all had pies that we had never tried or even imagined existed. Macadamia pie was one of my favorites, but the boys all loved the chocolate banana creme. It was GOOD, and always a great time seeing friends who we wouldn't normally see on a holiday (or sometimes on a regular day!).
Squirt is a beggar, mooch and piggy.
Pie Breakfast was no different!
Sauce, Hunter and Rufus pigging out sampling as many pies as possible.
After they closed down the event we'd had enough, we headed home to join forces and attack our messy house so that our friends the Myers wouldn't have dust bunnies mixed in their mashed potatoes.
Isn't she a doll?
I know, he looks pretty happy :-)
So, we had two families for dinner and one of the boys' friends who lives down the street, for a total of five adults and ten children for Thanksgiving dinner.
After Thanksgiving dinner, I received a phone call from the Balyos - they decided to make the drive. So at 1 a.m. that night, they arrived for a visit.
Did I mention that they have four boys as well?
So, at mealtime over the weekend, this is what you'd find at our breakfast bar.
Eight boys under the age of eight. 
These are the ones I was sure to keep when they packed up on Saturday!
Saturday night we had some other friends over for leftovers a visit and Hunter snuck up to me and quietly asked, "Mom, could I have some P-I-Y?"
"Some what?" I said.
"Pie!" he answered.
We all roared in laughter and decided that there is one top-notch homeschool operation going on around here!
Remember my weekend with this little cutie?
Well now she looks like this and loves me from afar (as we can see from her clothing choices)!
Oh - I just can't wait to see her in just two weeks. She's getting ready to visit our little ski town.
Little does she know that we barely have any snow yet!
I just don't have the time or energy to do a Thanksgiving wrap up.
So I'll give you a glimpse of life with little boys. Our basement is a stylish functional play room. Just when we have it cleaned up, the four go down and have a mess-fest again.
We have a daybed and trundle in that room for when we have an overflow of guests - oh and also to serve as an indoor diving board!
p.s. I know you want to know where we got our carpet and matching window shades. Nope, not going to tell. That interior design is ours alone!
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