It's been unusually warm here lately. Sometimes the temps drop down, but not for long. It's been more like fall than winter here. So, when my oldest son asked if we could go to the park, I said yes since it was about 63 yesterday.

My little one still isn't feeling great. He is still running around like normal, but he just can't stop the whining all the time. While we were at the park, he seemed to forget about all that. He was happy as he could be! It was a nice respite from all the crying he's been doing.

Big brother pushed him on the swings and helped him slide down the slides. He liked it so much, he did it by himself. Sometimes, he would end up head first though. But, he still thought it was fun.

They both had a great time, and I got to take some videos of them having fun. I tried to find a short one to post, so I wouldn't bore y'all. I took a bunch more, but they are longer. Hopefully I'll get better at videoing!

I'm back after a lot of wonderful gatherings. On Christmas Eve we went to some cousins of mine who are really like parents to me. They had a cook out. It was great to be able to eat and talk with everyone.


On Christmas Day the oldest woke up at the crack of dawn, but at least he let me sleep until daylight. The baby must have been really tired, cause we had to wake him up. But when he got up he had a great time playing with the boxes and some of the toys, lol!



My oldest son's favorite gifts were a tent, a video game, and a remote control helicopter. The little one liked his ball pit, hot wheels, and especially his new cell phone. Maybe he won't steal mine now, lol! If you look closely in the second picture from the top, you'll see my Christmas present. Santa brought me a flip! I was very surprised and happy!


Around lunch time we went to my mother-in-law's house. We ate way too much there. The turkey and dressing and desserts were so good! I just couldn't stop myself. It was fun to see all my nephews again. Except for Jason, who we lost last month. Jason's best friend spent the day with my sister-in-law. I thought that was so sweet of him to stay with her on a day that I know had to be hard for her.


Then on Friday we went and spent a couple days with my best friend Barb and her family. The kids had a great time. Both our little ones were coming down with something. Hers with a fever and mine with a cold. So we left a little earlier than I intended.



My little one has been cranky ever since then. Nothing I do can make him happy. He doesn't have a fever, just a runny nose. I guess he just doesn't feel good. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their family and friends. We will be visiting friends for a few days, but I'll be back soon!

My husband and I have been wanting to be able to hook up our computer to the TV. That way we can watch any movies on my computer or TV shows. We finally got into looking at what it takes to hook it up. And gosh, it can be quite expensive. Instead of buying a gift for my husband he wanted us to use that money to buy what was needed to hook it up.

We had to go 45 miles away to get what was needed to do the hookup since we live out in the country. We bought audio cables and hdmi cords and adapters. Then we had to run all the wires under the house to the TV and computer. I say we like I actually did some of the work. Well I did do a little of the hooking up, but none of the drilling or crawling on the ground. That's just too much like manual labor! I was kind of scared that once we did all that work, it wasn't going to work. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm so happy my hubby decided to let us use his Christmas present for something we can all enjoy.

Doesn't it look cool on our big screen TV? This was before we put it back in the wall, so ignore all the wires and the hole in the wall.

That wasn't all we did this weekend. I know I told y'all a while back that we cut our satellite off to save money. We had been using rabbit ears to pick up local channels, but sometimes they would go in and out. So, last week we got an outdoor antenna. It was going to cost $150 for them to install it, but my hubby said he would do it, so we wouldn't have to pay that. We put the antenna up all by ourselves.

My husband wanted it to be really high, but didn't want to have to attach it to the roof. He decided to use the small pipe where the satellite used to be. But we needed more pipe to make it higher. We checked the price on some new pipe and it was going to be $138! So, he found some old rusted pipe, which someone gave us for free. We just had to strip the rust off and we painted it to match the house. It wasn't so easy to hook up all those pipes and get them up. That took a lot of strength on my husband's part. He got up on the ladder and roof to hook it up. No way am I going on the ladder or the roof. Yes, I'm a chicken! I stayed safely on the ground and offered moral support.

After a lot of hard work we got it put up right before sundown. My hubby's TV picks up both digital and analog stations. Before the antenna he could pick up about 25 channels. After putting the antenna up, he can get over 50 channels! That's a lot of channels. Digital TV is so cool. Everything looks so crisp. I love it!

This morning while I was going to crank my husband's truck for him, I did something stupid. I somehow hit the button to lock it up. With the only set of keys we have for it in it! He tried to jimmy the lock to get it open, but couldn't. Luckily we have AAA. It did take them a while to get out in the country where we live, but eventually we got it open.

This made my husband late for work. While waiting on the locksmith, his boss called back, and told him not to come in. They said it was too cold (he works outside), so they were just going to take the whole week off instead of half. So, we have Daddy home with us all this week. He deserves a rest after all the work we did this weekend. I'll show you tomorrow what we did. But for now, we're going to watch a movie together. :-)

I'm loving being able to share some of my favorite hymns here at Christmas. I hope everyone has a great time with family and friends this week. Remember the babe in the manger grew up to be our Savior. Praise the Lord!


It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

1. It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing.

2. Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains,
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.

3. And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

4. For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

I've been worried about some things lately. I know the Lord says for us not to, but it can be so hard not to. I haven't mentioned anything about my problems here, because I didn't want to seem negative. But, I have been praying and talking with my family and close friends about them. So, I haven't been alone.

Last night, I received some great news. Everything is going to be okay, at least for now. The Lord sent some help my way. I had been praying for guidance, not really sure what to do about the situation. But, He knew what I needed! Prayer works! Thank You Lord for blessing me and my family!

I was reading Simple Gifts the other day and she pointed out this site-Betamaxmas. It's a cool site that has old clips of Christmas shows and commercials. It's like you're watching an old TV and it has a remote where you can change the channels and turn the volume up or down.

I've watched shows like The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Night Court, and The Smurfs. All with Christmas themes, of course. You never know what's going to be on when you change the channel. Christmas in Pac-Land is on now (remember the pac-man cartoon?). My son thinks our shows were so weird.

Sometimes if you refresh the page you can pick up different shows. Try it, it's fun to watch, and you can always change the channel if you don't like what's on. It's fun to be taken back in time!

This is another favorite Christmas hymn of mine.

1. O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie;
above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight.

2. For Christ is born of Mary,
and gathered all above,
while mortals sleep, the angels keep
their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together,
proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the king,
and peace to all on earth!

3. How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is given;
so God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still
the dear Christ enters in.

4. O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in,
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell;
o come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Emmanuel!

Check out this whopper of an egg. It's next to a normal size blue egg. I think Fluffy laid it. She was sick about a month or so ago and I think maybe this is the first egg since she got better. That would explain why it's so big. Plus, Fluffy and Daredevil's eggs are a different shade of blue. It's probably a double-yolked egg.


It was so big, I couldn't even close the egg carton. I love my chickens!

Our homeschool group's Christmas party is today. Each family is bringing something to snack on. We usually make brownies for everything. Because they are so good and easy. But, this time someone else was already making brownies, probably not as good as mine. ;-) Just kidding, I think. So, we had to decide on something else.


I let my son pick, and he picked sugar cookies with sprinkles. He loves the sprinkles. Only problem is, I've never made sugar cookies from scratch. So I had to learn. We used this recipe I found online. It was easier than I thought. Except, I didn't realize the dough had to be refrigerated for a few hours before making. When we mixed the dough, it didn't look like a lot, but when we rolled it out it was actually a lot.


Earlier in the day, I let my son pick out 4 cookie cutters to make the cookies since they were 4 for $1. He chose a star, a gingerbread man, a tree, and a bell. We both cut the dough, but he was in charge of putting the sprinkles on. This was a fun activity, and they turned out much better than I expected for our first time!

I don't know if y'all have met all my roosters or not, so I thought I would introduce them to you. I have a total of 5 roosters. Three of them were given to me, and the other 2 we have raised since they were a couple days old.

This is Napoleon. He's a Golden Polish, or top hatter as we call him. He was given to me by my friend Barb.


Next up is Doe, as in John Doe. He's an Araucana/Americana or Easter Egger rooster. He also lived with Barb until he started crowing all the time and attacking her 5 year old. Crazy rooster spurred me this morning! He sure is beautiful though. We hope to breed him with our other Easter Eggers in the spring.


This is Kid Rock. Yes, I named him after the singer. That's because when he first arrived he tried to fight everyone else. Kid Rock is a gorgeous Partridge Cochin roo. I love the way his colors shimmer in the light.


Then there's the twins, Prince and George. They are Buff Orpingtons. We've had them since they were a few days old. Aren't they gorgeous too? Here lately it is getting harder to tell them apart, but I can, cause Prince is my favorite. George is the one in the front of the picture. Don't tell the other ones about Prince being my favorite, their feelings might get hurt.


Prince was posing so much for pictures this morning, that I just have to include one of him by himself too!

Okay, maybe 1 more. He is my baby!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is doing good! I had a great weekend visiting with my friend, Barb. Her and her son came down and spent the weekend with us.

She is having a giveaway on her site if y'all would like to enter. Just tell her Nancy sent you. And while you're there be sure to read some of her posts. She is an urban homesteader and has lots of useful information there.

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.
I don't know why, but I really love it!


The First Noel


1. The first Noel the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
on a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
born is the King of Israel.

2. They looked up and saw a star
shining in the east, beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night.
(Refrain)

3. And by the light of that same star
three Wise Men came from country far;
to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the star wherever it went.
(Refrain)

4. This star drew nigh to the northwest,
o'er Bethlehem it took its rest;
and there it did both stop and stay,
right over the place where Jesus lay.
(Refrain)

5. Then entered in those Wise Men three,
full reverently upon the knee,
and offered there, in his presence,
gold and myrrh and frankincense.
(Refrain)

Well, we tried to fix the tree where it would stand up. It was too small for the tree stand to hold it upright, so I gave up! I was getting pricked and cut and I got sick of it, so I went out and bought one. A cheap tree from Family Dollar. It was on sale, and I had a coupon, so it wasn't too bad. It was half the price of what a real tree would have cost me, and it'll do for this year at least. Don't laugh, I know it's small! And thin, and sparse, but oh well!


This is our Advent prayer chain. We put names of people who we wanted to pray for during all the days of Advent.


Check out my oldest son in the Santa Mickey hat. My little one is behind him checking it out. He's thinking what a cool hat, wonder if I can steal it.



Yep, just have to run from my brother really fast!

We were trying to be frugal this year, so instead of buying a cut tree, we cut our own off our land. It wasn't shaped that great, but it was the best one we could find. Here it is after we decorated it last night.


This is what it looked like this morning when I woke up.



I am so mad, it spilled water all over the carpet, not to mention all those needles all over the place. They hurt, dog on it! We tried to make it stand, but don't think it will stay, so we're out a tree. Hopefully I'll have a happy ending to post to the tree story later.

Y'all know I love entering giveaways to try and win stuff. Well, I entered a giveaway in October at Growing Your Baby for a pair of shoes. To my surprise I got an e-mail saying I had won! I was very excited especially since my little one's shoes were getting a little snug.


The shoes came a few weeks ago, but I had a lot going on, so I'm just now getting to tell you about them. They are called Pediped, the next best thing to bare feet. They're made for babies up to school age children. What I really like about them is they have extra insoles that come with them to help lengthen the time my son can wear them. If they are getting too tight, I can just take one of the insoles out, and he'll still be able to wear them. How great is that?


They also have some really cute shoes. I chose the Kyle style of Pediped Flex. The Flex shoes are made for children over 1. The style I recieved was $49. Normally, I would never pay that much for a toddler's shoe. But after thinking about it, that's a pretty good deal considering using the inserts, he'll be able to wear them a long time. They seem very well made with thick soles, too.


Isn't he handsome all dressed up with his new shoes on? His dad doesn't look bad either, lol!

I know you're shocked that I actually tackled cleaning something, aren't ya? Well, me too. But, my hubby really wanted our big closet cleaned, so he helped. Gotta love that! Before we started you could hardly see the floor in there. Here are some before pictures.


It was a lot of work taking all that stuff out and going through a lot of it. We combined boxes into categories, like Halloween costumes, candles, and so on. This actually needed to be done so we could get to our Christmas stuff. Here are the results.


Oh my goodness, did you see the floor in that last picture? I knew it was there all along. And so were my Christmas decorations.

Do you have a project you need to tackle? Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and get some inspiration!

In my last grocery challenge post I had .23 left to spend. You would have thought with only five days left, I wouldn't have went over budget. But, I did, by $32.17.

I had previously thought I would only have to buy some milk, but I had forgotten about Thanksgiving! We ate with Barb and her family and I had to bring something, so part of the money I spent went to buy that. Then, while I was at the store, I saw a good sale on pork chops, so I bought a few packs. So at least we have a little meat to start December with.

In the end, I ended up spending a total of $242.17. I guess that's not too bad for my first time trying to work within a grocery budget. Some of you have asked what my goal for December is. Well, I'd like to try again for $210. I hope I can do it, but with Christmas coming, I'm not sure. But, I'm gonna try. I'll keep y'all posted as to how I do this month also. If anyone has any helpful hints, I'd appreciate them!