Oh How I Love the Pitter Patter of Little Feet

It happens without realization. The sound of pitter patter becomes the sound of kids growing up. My 5, almost 6 year old, no longer pitter patters down the hallway when he gets up in the morning. I don't even remember when it stopped. It just suddenly hits you that it no longer has that baby/toddler/little one sound to it anymore. Thankfully, sixteen months ago, I had a wonderful oopsie-baby & get to hear that pitter patter every morning when Ella wakes up. It's a beautiful sound.

Happy 70th Birthday Mom!

Last night we celebrated my mom's 70th birthday at Pizza Hut in Osage City. It was a surprise party planned and executed by none other than my dad. He did a pretty good job. Mom had no idea that she was arriving to a reserved room full of friends and family.
She spent her afternoon sewing with her friend Ramona, as she often does on Wednesday afternoons. Ramona lives in Osage with her husband Larry. The plan was after sewing, my dad would arrive and the two couples would grab a bite to eat for a small birthday celebration. The ladies finished up their sewing around 5:00pm and that left about an hour to kill, waste, etc. Normally, my mom wouldn't be too sorry to wait until 6:00pm to eat dinner. However, she said several times to her friend Ramona that she was hungry, she hadn't eaten much that afternoon, she couldn't wait until dinner. So finishing up their sewing on the early side required lots of thinking on the part of my dad, Ramona, and Larry to try to make it to 6:00pm. You don't want to arrive early at a surprise party! From what my dad told me, first Ramona said "oh I better get ready" and then proceeded to s.l.o.w.l.y. get ready. After she announced her readiness, it was Larry's turn. Nope, they couldn't get ready at the same time. When they were finally ready, there was still a little bit of time they needed to kill. Osage is a small town. So you can't hope for traffic in this situation. So with 10 minutes to kill, my dad had to do some quick thinking. He said "oops, I think I need to use the restroom, um a #2".... He then went & just stood in the bathroom for about ten minutes. hum-de-dum-de-dum....
To me, the funniest part of it all came next. As they headed out, my mom, the birthday girl, the one whose "day" it was, said "I'm in the mood for chicken". Well, now what do the 3 schemers do? "oh not me, I have had chicken the last several days" was the response of Larry and Ramona. "let's have pizza!" Imagine yourself, YOUR birthday.... and you are thinking "really???? isn't it my birthday??? shouldn't I have chicken if I want it??" Well, lucky for my dad and their friends, my mom is a big-hearted woman. And even though she REALLY wanted some chicken, she said "ok, let's have pizza" (whew....)
So there we sat, awaiting her arrival. Her sister and brother-in-law, 6 friends, my sister's family minus one college coed, and my family of 7. She walked in and said "oh!!!!" and was completely shocked. She was very happy and very surprised which is truly what you really want to happen, isn't it? I think she was more shocked than when she arrived for her 60th birthday surprise which my sis and I planned an executed 10 years ago.
So my wonderful mother turned 70 and thankfully, we were able to spend a portion of her special day with her. I'm so happy that we could go. And I am so thankful that I have such a wonderful mom. I love you mom!

More of Frugal Living

I realized after my rambling post yesterday that tips on living more frugally may be better in small bites. So I am going to try to post more frequently (no REALLY) with a few tips at a time.
SALTINES!!!!! What a wonderful inexpensive snack!!! Ok, I will be honest, I love the GOOD, pricey, fancy crackers... There are so many that I love, my favorites being those rice crackers. Yum. (which you CAN buy a little more cheaply at Trader Joe's). However, when feeding a family of 7, those do not stretch very far. If I buy the generic brand or aldi brand of saltines, I am looking at approximately $1. My kids often will have peanut butter on them (another staple) or I will have Nutella on them (not exactly on my budget-friendly budget items... but I am weak, what can I say). My 1 year old will eat them plain. I even used them in soup last week! Ok, that may not sound like a big deal, however, my family is spoiled. I often make homemade bread with soup. Or if it is a southwestern or Mexican type soup, we will have tortilla chips with it. Growing up, soup meant SALTINES! So I made my kiddos crush some up & put them in their soup. It was a broccoli cheese soup & it was quite tasty. And the saltines S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D the soup a little further. Who knew? (my mother knew, that's who!).
It's funny, when I am doing these frugal things, I see so much of what my mom did when I was growing up. I had no idea she was so good at stretching that grocery budget. Now she is my hero!

ok, i'm getting this idea from someone else...

so it's been many months since i have posted to this blog. how can i ever, ever achieve my dream of becoming a writer if i never, ever write??? alrighty, so i have seen a couple different mothers with blogs use the following stepping stones to do a quick little blog post... here we go. let's see if it makes me write more often.

IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE MY DOOR: the ground is covered in yellow, brown, red, orange, and gold. there are jack-o-lanterns whose smiles are starting to change. there is one pumpkin that helped a squirrel stock up for winter. and there are 3 boys working on a fort.

I AM LISTENING TO: complete and total silence. baby is sleeping, big girl is in her room playing with dolls. and 3 boys are outside working on a fort.

I AM WEARING: comfy brown pants that are far from figure flattering, cowboy boots, and a garage sale shirt that my mother picked up for me. it's not my style at all, but my mom is always thinking of me. for that i am so grateful.

I'M PONDERING: how to instill kindness in my children. they are usually kind to others. however, within our home, amongst ourselves, i often see them be mean to each other. it makes me sad to see them hurtful to one another. don't get me wrong, they are often all the best of friends. it's those times that they are not that I just wonder how to best teach them all the wonderful virtues that i would likek them to have.

I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR: a husband who loves me. children who are able to laugh and run and play. parents who have always put their kids first. and God for creating such a beautiful world.

I AM READING: Dickens' Great Expectations. I'm about 1/4 the way through. It's good. However, I have been so tired since I started it. I'm not really "into" it, not like I was with Dickens' David Copperfield which I fell in love with immediately.

I AM THINKING: that I am so full from a yummy lunch of cheese, meat, and crackers.

I AM CREATING: a pinata for Liam's birthday which is themed Harry Potter. The pinata is going to be in the shape of a golden snitch.

I AM LEARNING: along side my children every day....

I AM PRAYING : for many things. one of which is a dear friend whose daughter has a tumor. They are still figuring out what the next step is.

AROUND THE HOUSE: is chaos... it's always chaos. however, today it is more than usual due to the garage sale over the weekend. i need to send the boys down in the basement with the boxes.

FROM THE KITCHEN: tonight will be grilled cheese & tomato soup, the one meal that Liam truly hates... oh well. it's fall & it sounds tasty!!!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: trader joe's hummus with rice crackers. we had that for a snack today & we all enjoyed it immensely!

THIS WEEK: busy, as usual. planning liam's birthday. planning co-op class. bible study. scouts on two nights. moms' meeting on 3 nights, but will probably only go to one of them. little flowers for ciara. oh yeah, cleaning, school, etc.