It's not the decorations or shopping that make me crazy, it's the expectations that I've attached to those things. I've been listening to my inner "Should!" without even recognizing it. This voice tells me what I'm supposed to do.

This is not the Mommy Olympics. Although every moment of everyday it feels like it.Motherhood is no Sprint, but it really is a marathon. The difference on the journey of motherhood is to make memories along the way and enjoy moments with the kids. I mean truly enjoy quality time with the kids. 

I spend so many days and nights with my kids but so much of the time is not quality. I strive all the time for true quality with each kid. Very often I complain about this to my dear friend stacey and she cracks up. 

Well my effort to make some holiday stress is failing miserably. My house feels like and smells like a cookie factory...

I am posting my melting snowman cookie for you to give it a try.

Directions are as follows:

Use sugar cookie dough

Smash a ball of dough flat( It does not have to be perfect ) 

Bake as would for any sugar cookie recipe

Allow to cool

Make icing and use back of spoon to coat the cookie

Allow to dribble over sides

Place 2-3 marshmallows on a plate and microwave for about 10secs

( watch carefully ) 

Do not let marshmallow double in size

Place on cookie

Once dry , decorate as desired

Let your imagination run wild

I used gel pen tubes from Walmart which made the decorating fun and easy.


We have had quiet a bit of snow lately but it all melts so fast. There has been a ton of rain which made for slushy snow and bad road conditions. Well we have made our own melting snowman inside but these are yummy..Take a look.

We have some sad melting snowmen

He is being so careful...

I love the excitement and wonder in kids...

Ready to eat his work of art ...

She is so happy with the snowmen...Well we found a way to make a snowman since the snow outside is slushy too.

YUM YUM !!!

My little helper...

Happy little girl 

off with his head

Frost lost his head Oh No !!

Gel pens $3.50

Marshmallows $1.59

Powdered sugar $ 1.29

The memories and time with your kids PRICELESS !!!

Give it a try and go make some memories with your kids.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cutting the tree

So every year it is a debate as to wether we should splurge on an artificial tree or not. Somehow I cannot bring myself to to accept a fake tree. On the other hand I am adding to the fact that the world has one less tree...aarrgghh!!! I suppose I am willing to live with that.. Christmas is such a magical time.. A time to rejoice in the birth of Baby Jesus. I may not go to church or be a christian but I Believe..I believe there is  power much great than we know and if we put our trust in HIM, he will show us the way.


 It is a very exciting experience for your child to prepare, plan and decorate for Christmas. Christmas is not merely a festival, it is a holiday tradition. The most important and probably the most recognized feature related to Christmas is the Christmas tree. All over the world, the Christmas tree is probably the most widely accepted symbol of Christmas. 



The christmas tree today in your home marks the spot. A place where Santa would leave all the gifts made especially by Santa's little helpers for all the good little boys and girls around the world, to be unwrapped and celebrated on Christmas morning.


For the last few years we went to Home Depot up the street and got a tree which was perfectly fine. This year Pravan could not remember the last time we cut a fresh tree. In the past we have also hiked into the mountains, with snow knee high and found a tree in the forest after getting a permit off course. Hey a pretty good way to spend $10.There is nothing like seeing the kids run around looking for the perfect tree and that fresh smell of the tree indoors is heavenly.


This year we drove 2 hours to Grass Valley and went to our favorite tree farm.You can see it here. http://www.rainbowridgechristmastrees.com We had some good friends join us.Dave and Piret Griffith and their adorable little boy,Sebastian. Piret is from Estonia and has a lovely accent. This was my first time meeting her although I have know Dave for a while.Dave and hubby work together.It was a lot of fun to hag out with friends.


 I adopted Priyasha's best friend Samantha and had an extra kid. it was great to see what three kids would feel like. Well it was great , but it was even better that I got to give her back... And NO I am not having a third kid.


Here is what our day looked like...

Looking for the perfect tree.... 

  Kids have a turn to use the saw...that was the high light of the day for the girls...

The kids had a very fun day but were cold and exhausted....

The Landry tree...

What a fun day...

I hope Santa brings all your kids something special... Hoping we have a white christmas. It is such a clear night and a lunar eclipse as well. My kids have been guessing where Santa might land his sleigh and are prepared to feed the reindeer...Christmas is a time to rejoice and a time to give with a open heart. Enjoy !!!!

Merry Christmas .... Thanks for stopping by.

So much to be Thankful for

Turkey time is here once again.Time for football, pumpkin pie,Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,gravy, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Yum !Yum ! My goodness where has the year gone... Seems like it goes by faster each year. This year I am most thankful for my health and my family. The kids are getting bigger and now they can help me with many things around the house. I am thankful for all my wonderful friends and family. Believe it or not I am thankful for a great boss. While the unemployment rate is so high in Nevada, I am so grateful to be part of
Homefolio Magazine and Prudential Sierra Nevada Properties.HomeFolio Magazine is a beautiful and effective media-marketing tool for Realtors.
Check it out  www.homefoliomagazine.com. 

Today as we gather around the table for a wonderful meal, we give thanks for many many things. I am so glad that my kids appreciate all that they have because in my opinion they are spoiled. Tomorrow they will work on a few craft projects as the turkey is being basted.

My brother is far far away in South AFrica and I will be thinking of him, like I do every day. We did not celebrate Thanksgiving in South Africa but now that I am thankful to be in America and  I try to learn the basics of all these traditions and I feel confident that when my kids are grown and gone I will be visiting them for the holidays and they will know how to throw a feast together.

Most of my friends will be visiting their moms during Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays and spending time with family. I wish them all a safe travel. Some of my friends choose to do this because they do not know how to cook a turkey or a ham :( So sad, if you ask me. So what happens to the tradition when their mama is no longer here... what will the younger kids do? What happens to this tradition in the future? I hope they will at least attempt to show the kids, but maybe grandma will.

So what is the history of Thanksgiving? 

When we sit down to our Thanksgiving dinner, we honor a piece of early American history. The story of the Pilgrims and Native Americans serve as a good reminder for all of us to be thankful for what we have--no matter how much or how little.

George Washington declared a feast of Thanksgiving in 1789, and presidents issued similar yearly proclamations after that during the Civil War.

President Abraham Lincoln saw it as a way to unite the country, and he in 1863 he proclaimed a national Thanksgiving celebration on the last Thursday in November.

 It was changed from the last Thursday to the third Thursday by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 as a way to lengthen the Christmas shopping holiday. In 1941, Roosevelt finally changed the date to the fourth Thursday in November, proclaiming it a Federal holiday in 1941.

You can find a ton more interesting facts HERE

Anyway I just wanted to share a project we did today in preparation for tomorrow. I made four place cards with the kids and a centerpiece. Tomorrow the kids will write their names and help with table seating. I take no credit, as I have not invented these. I downloaded these cards from www.marthastewart.com  I have added these to my blog for your convenience. These do not require hours in the oven or basting, it does need some pasting. I also lost control with the stickles. I love love love stickles. A great product if you have not tried it.It adds glitter and dimension. Check it out HERE

I hope you try out these awesome turkey templates. Here is how mine turned out. 

One card for each of us and a centerpiece.

This is the place card that the kids will add their names to.

This is the large turkey.Notice the glitter glue.

Sorry the lighting was bad. I will reshoot these in the morning. Well Happy Thanksgiving. There are many many more reasons I am thankful. I am very thankful to be here and share some of my joys with you. More to come tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by. If you make the turkeys, link back to me so I can check out your creations.

Gobble ! Gobble !

Mwah !!!

Snow blankets Reno today

After a long warm fall, we have the first snow fall of the season. Well, I guess it was more of a blizzard. 

Here is the view from my front door. You cannot see the mountains. It is a white out for sure.

My husband works in Truckee, California and most times during the snow chains or four wheel drive is necessary for safety reasons. He will sometimes take my car and I am happy to stay home. Today I had several appointments scheduled and needed my car. He was sweet to make arrangements to car pool. He left home at 6am only to sit in traffic since Highway I80 was shut down. It was not too long before he called me to let me know that he was on his way back home. The roads were terrible and the highway was dotted with many vehicles that went off road  and several car accidents. A few involving 18 wheelers. No matter how careful a driver you are, we have to always watch out for the ones that are not.

Due to the weather I cancelled my appointments for the day. Here is my car armed with studded snow tires. I love that we have studs. It makes driving in the snow a little better. It gives the car a lot more traction.

I checked facebook periodically, watched the news and called the parent hotline to see if there were any delays for school. Nope nothing of that sort, not even a snow stop announcement. If the roads are really bad, (and they were this morning ) the kids are picked up at designated stops so the bus does not have to travel on the smaller roads that are snow ploughed last. 

As a parent I was not comfortable sending him on the bus that does not have seat belts. I am glad I made that choice. On my way we saw cars sliding on the slippery roads, a couple of accidents and drivers spinning their wheels. Not a pretty site on the road today. 

Here is Pravan before he went to school this morning. He was such a good sport to do a mini photo shoot in the snow.

The snow however is pretty soft powder that my kids love to eat, sled on and make snow angels. Snow ball fights and a snowman is always a warm welcome in winter play. Since Friday we have managed to go sledding and eat snow. That is a whole other post as I have too many pictures to post. 

I am looking forward to the long holiday weekend and having some quality time with the kids in the snow. I have a feeling that tomorrow the phone might ring at 6am to announce some sort of delay for school. The high is expected to be 6 degrees Fahrenheit. For my metric friends that will be -14.4 celsius.

Here are some highlights from the news today : 

Mayor Bob Cashell has cancelled the tree lighting ceremony tonight due to the treacherous road conditions. 

The artic front will also bring some windy conditions, with gusts to 45 mph in Reno-Sparks.Record lows are likely to be set with this cold blast of Arctic air.

So as I write this I got a connect ed call from the school district informing us that we may have a delayed start in the morning  due to icy road conditions from a drop in temperature. This will be determined in the morning and I am sure we as parents can expect to be woken up by a phone call super early. So what is the point of a delayed start if we cannot sleep in.... arrghhh!!!

Thanks for stopping by... Send some sunshine my way :)

Mwah !!!

 

Glitter and Gold, Fairies and dust, Magical childhood is a must !

Hello World !


This is by far my post popular post. Thanks for stopping by. Please please leave me a comment or a thought. Another tooth is lost and one more loose...stay tuned as I update this post.


Glitter and Gold, 
Fairies and dust, 
Magical childhood is a must !

Being a child is surely a wonderful thing, the laughter and excitement and the glow on their faces when the fairy visits or when Santa comes makes being a MOM truly amazing. So why is loosing a teeth so special... It is a SMILESTONE !!! 


Read on to learn a little about the tooth fairy and some beliefs.... 


( okay not sure why there is so much space above, I cannot see it in the draft but it shows up when I post. Anyone blogger out there can tell me how to fix it. Thanks. ) 


Inflation seems to have crept into the tooth fairy’s economy as the price of a tooth seems to be going up. According to records back in the 40's a kid was paid a dime and in the 1950's that quickly changed to a shiny new quarter.In the 60's the Kennedy half dollar was more common and this quickly changed to a dollar in the in the 70's and 80's. So in the 90's to the 2000's it varies from a dollar to five dollars.

Seems as thought the going rate in 3rd grade is $5. So Pravan was thrilled to redeem 5 gold coins per tooth and bonus coins for setting out 2 teeth and saving the fairy a trip. After all the fairy has to figure out a way to get in the house, bypass the cat, find the right room, bunk beds can be an issue. How does she know a kid lost a tooth anyway ? How does she do the currency conversions ? Carry all those GOLD coins  ?? 


Her only source of light is the fairy dust so she shed a ton of it everywhere. The bookcase, window sill, ladder, pillows, sheets, floors and even Pravan's hair. Boy did she make a mess. A huge mess, no fault of her own... Special fairy dust makes her fly and touching a human child makes her shed.... she has to be cleansed before she returns to tooth heaven.


So after the tooth fairy visited last night I spent hours sucking up the glitter with the vacuum hose.. and still there will be glitter everywhere.... Pravan loved every bit of this....He laughed as I whined and whined and I tried endlessly to vacuum up all the evidence she left behind. He says that I should not blame her as she was bringing him treasures and had no intention of making mommy mad. Princess piped in and told me that she was super excited and needed to shed more glitter to carry two teeth. She is about the size of Thumbelina so two teeth would weight more than she does... LOL !!!


Perhaps it is a reward for a "passing of age." A lost tooth is one of the first signs of growing up. It was not too long ago I was making notes of each tooth and documenting when they came in. Now I find I am doing the opposite.Perhaps a piece of childhood is lost with every lost tooth.

There are many stories available on the internet as to how the tooth fairy came to be. Here are some traditions of other countries:

Centuries ago in Europe it was common practice to bury a tooth in the ground.One reason for this ritual was the superstition, that if a witch got a hold of the tooth, a curse could be placed on the child, (as with fingernail clippings and/or hair). So by burying their children's teeth, this unfortunate curse was prevented from happening.

In some countries there is a mouse instead of a fairy ( I love the idea of the tooth fairy, Oh by the way have you watched the movie... " Tooth Fairy " My kids and I loved it... You should watch it...It is a barrel of laughs and giggles...

Other countries like Taiwan and Greece instruct their children to throw their tooth on the roof for good luck.

In Argentina and Sweden, a child places his or her tooth in a glass of water. Overnight

a Magical Mouse drinks the water, takes the tooth and leaves money.

  

                                                                                    




                                                                                       Two teeth for the fairy to collect ...

Pravan was excited to put his teeth under his pillow... I am so glad that we have a tooth fairy and no longer have a mouse or rat to collect the teeth. Now if she can lay of the glitter on her next trip. I may have to use a night light the night she is expected...heheehehehee....

             






Pravan's teeth are ready to exchange for his treasure....

And here is his treasure...... 5 gold coins for each tooth and one bonus for each tooth since he saved her a trip... that is 12 gold coins but he got 11 and two half dollar coins, she knew he has been collecting special coins....

I got out of bed just in time to freeze this special moment... These are the special moments that make motherhood soooo rewarding.... 

Pravan got a letter from the tooth fairy and a certificate showing when she took the teeth away and his address... I will post at the end of this post for a closer view... Yeah the tooth fairy is up to technology speed and made sure mommy got an emailed copy for the scrapbook.... heheheeee....

         


                                            reading his letter ....
















Of course it doesn’t end there. Children often ask  "what happens to my teeth after the tooth fairy takes it away ? " Parents have had many different answers to this question. For example: The Tooth Fairy 

- Gives them to newborn babies who don’t have any teeth as yet.
- Gives the teeth to Santa to give to dolls in his workshop or turn into jewellery.
- Turns them into seashells for fish to live in
- Plants them in her garden and grows children
- Grinds them into fairy dust that she uses to enable her to fly.
- Makes tooth castles in the sky.
- Turns the teeth into the stars of the night sky. 

The tooth fairy certificate

Whatever the answer, the story of the Tooth Fairy has endured for hundreds of years and will surely endure for hundreds more to come.

The traditions mentioned in here about the witch and tooth mouse was information I read on various sites. I do not take credit for it nor did I make it up.


And that's the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.


Thanks for stopping by... Please leave me your comments or share with me your tooth fairy story. It will be published in the comment section for other moms to read... 


Mwah !!!!!

xoxoxoxo !!!!!!