The Honor Roll

Jake jumped in the car yesterday after school and immediately pulled his jacket back to show me this:



He got his 2nd quarter report card (he didn't get one for the first quarter...We moved half way through the first quarter and although his new school got all his records they still didn't give him a report card. Is that normal? I have to look into it.) last week and got all A's except one B. We are so proud of you Jake! He also got a pencil and a letter from the Principal.

The Honor Roll pencil:

Our smart boy who says he is getting all A's next time, with his awards.

Just because I like this picture of my sweet boy.

The pain in my foot

I have to tell a quick story before getting to the point of writing this post. A little background if you will. On Monday while Jake was at school I moved the furniture around in his room. My parents house is a charming historic home. My dad pointed out when we set up Jake's room that the windows are drafty and we may not want to put his bed right next to the windows, but Jake liked it that way so we figured we would try it out. Well, Papa G. you were right and it is like the wind was blowing right onto Jake's bed. So I moved it all around on Monday. Jake came home, thought it was great, and then we decided to hang up a few posters. There was one that was supposed to go above the windows. As I got ready to stand on the already partially broken chair (one of the rungs on the legs was popped out and won't stay in so it was a matter of time...) I heard a voice in my head saying "don't stand on the chair". I like to refer to this voice as the Holy Ghost, but at the time I thought it is only going to take a second and I was just being paranoid (I do that some times). Then as I was standing on the chair and I felt it shake and that voice said "get down", but I thought just one more sec...AHHHHH! Picture me in slow motion falling down as the chair topples over, Jake is screaming "MOMMY!" in the background. I am catching myself with my right foot-hey maybe this won't be so bad after all..Oh wait a second..(remember this is all slow motion) I think the chair is broken but no it isn't...oh wait..now it is because my left foot just smashed right through one of the legs and literally breaks them off the chair. I then land on my butt but all I can feel is pain on the ball of my foot. And Jake is next to me asking if I am okay. Okay so this story isn't quick. At any rate I don't think it is broken but I have a large black and blue across the arch and ball of my foot and I have been wearing Jake's soccer slipper ever since. He thought it would help and he was so right! It hurts (a lot) to walk without it but when I have it on it hardly hurts at all. It is too small, but that is the part that works. It makes my heel hit the ground and holds up the part that is bruised. That is how I know Jake loves me. He just had to help, he was about in tears. At first I told him I didn't think the slipper would help and said no. But then I saw that look in his eyes that he needed to do something to help. This proves two things. First: Jake loves me a lot. I love you buddy. Second: I would obviously be awesome at Karate.

Decorating the Christmas tree

On Saturday evening we got out the decorations and put up the tree. The first ornament to go up this year was Emily's. A white ball with a black lab puppy on it for her first Christmas 5 years ago. Jake picked it out and the decorating began!




After we decorated the tree we had hot chocolate and homemade rolls and tested the cinnamon honey butter recipe I got from another blogger. (I didn't put the home sign up for affect, that is actually just were I have it one counter...under the pretty glass cabinets.) It was only okay. Way too much honey. We are going to modify it and try it again. Aaron picked out the movie..The second Lord of the rings, whichever that one is. I was so thrilled (sarcasm again)! I like it don't get me wrong I am just not ready for Jake to be watching them. But Aaron thinks it is awesome and Jake doesn's have nightmares. I was just hoping for Rudolph or Frosty myself.

More leaves..

On Saturday we had to break out two leaf blowers there were so many leaves. This is basically 2 weeks worth of leaves. They are pretty much down now so the leaf blowing fun is over for the year. It was a ton of leaves and a lot of work and fun!

Jake and Aaron tag teaming the front yard.

Jake loves leaf blowing!

This is the pile from the back yard...It is a small back yard and that is a lot of leaves!

Jake laying in the leaves. I reminded him that there could be Emily "waste" in there and he couldn't get out fast enough! I did make him stay in long enough to take a picture.

That is a big pile of leaves! I couldn't find an angle that could really give it justice but it is a BIG pile.

Luckily we live in the "city" and they come by and suck up the leaves. They came by today and of course I had to take a picture. The problem was I was still in my pj's (yes I took Jake to school in my pj's...I don't have to get out of the car and with a jacket over it no one knows. Or at least that is what I tell myself!) I took the picture from the window.

Elizabeth made me do it!

On Friday Elizabeth and I had a girls day. We went to consignment shops and she tried to convince me it is okay to buy used shoes...I can't do it. We found some cute stuff for her little ones though. Jake has way too many clothes for me justify buying him anything else! Plus when they move into the "big kids" section it is hard to buy clothes a head of time like I did when he was little. I have actually had to pass on unused clothes because he grew more than I thought he would.

What girls day is complete without some good old fashion redneck fake nails!? (over Thanksgiving I told my sister-in-laws I have been wanting to get them. They would laugh to know I did if either of them actually read my blog! :)) Elizabeth talked me into it. I didn't want to pay $25 so she reminded my that she owed me money for buying her New Moon ticket..So we did it and it is so fun! Elizabeth had one nail that she asked the lady if she could fix after. The cute little Asian lady told her "dat your nail, dat not my nail!" It was so funny! Apparently Elizabeth has on nail that you can't do anything for! :)

Rocking at Old Navy

On Thursday Jake and I had to run to Old Navy to exchange something and we ended up playing Beatles Rock Band for...awhile...We probably played 5 or 6 songs (at least) and it is so fun! Jake's favorite band is the Beatles so we couldn't stop. I have never played it and I am pretty awesome at it if I do say so myself. I got a 99% on singing and drums. Yes we were singing in the middle of Old Navy...It was pretty slow hardly anyone was there. Santa please bring it to us this Christmas! (He's not) And of course I had my camera in my bag to capture the moment...

First Christmas decorations

We were in Spartanbutrg for Thanksgiving so we didn't get the Christmas decorations out the day after like we usually do. Which is fine with me because I love Christmas and decorating for it, but after about 3 weeks of the "stuff" I start to go a little insane and want to take it all down immediately after opening gifts. I don't, but I want to. Since Aaron is in SC during the week we of course waited for him to come home to help. (That will be in a couple of posts I am updating...) So, this past weekend we decorated because he loves it soooo much! Just in case you don't know Aaron very well I am being sarcastic. Picture taking and decorating aren't really his thing. But he pretends to like if for about 15 minutes. It is so touching! :) But back to my little story I never started...I do that all the time. On Thursday while Jake was at school I decided to get out our snowman plates and put up the first decoration of the year. (For anyone who really studied the last post picture and saw our Nativity up in the background-I decided when we moved to Monroe to keep it out all the time because I LOVE IT! (thanks Mom and Dad for buying a little every year) And because that is the perfect spot for it! It has been up since we October so it doesn't count. Have I mentioned I love my camera? I had to take pictures...

Kim Garner THANK YOU!!! She gave me this adorable Christmas sign (she made!) when we moved and I couldn't wait to put it up. Check out all her cute crafts on her Etsy site: mycreativeside.etsy.com


My beloved snowman plates set! These are the cute mugs. Don't they look so pretty in the cabinet? I got them years ago on Black Friday at Target for $8 and I love them.

This is the pattern on the dinner plates. It is what our family would look like if we were snowman!


I just couldn't resist this picture! Doesn't it look so pretty with my other plates in the cabinet? The cabinets are glass front so I get to look at them every time I go in the kitchen. It makes me happy. The dirty dishes in the sink don't really make me happy though...I didn't take a picture of that don't worry..