You Know You Came From a Small Town When...

...you land at the "international" airport and recognize 8 kids from your graduating high school class...when you run into your boyfriend from sophomore year at the mall...AND you can't go anywhere without recognizing someone!
I adore my anonymity in Colorado...those people have no history with me and that's the way I like it. They know me as an adult only and I don't have any weird vibes from them. It's not like I have bad memories from this place or dislike any of these people, they're great, but I just hate all the interaction that happens with it. I want to hang out with a small handful of people and that's it.

Does anyone else feel this way when they go to their hometown?!

Handy Mommy

I'm feeling very cool right now.

I spent 3 hours yesterday disassembling our garbage disposal. I accidently mangled my tea ball in it the day before and the chain got wedged in the small crack where all the waste goes. Two hours of my time was spent using a fondue fork as a...uh...er...stabbing tool...trying to move the stupid chain up or down and free.
I'm not sure how many colorful words were muttered by me, but I'm sure I could rival any plumber or sailor. The hardest part was actually getting the stinking device hooked back in. Thank God for a mop bucket and multiple cutting boards (great wedges they are).

In lesser news, I decalcifyed the shower head as well, but I feel much cooler about the garbage disposal.

Have you ever done manly house chores? Did you enjoy it as much as I did?

Bah-Humbug?

I'm a very low-stress person...very low stress. This means I have a really hard time when things get hectic. Enter the holidays! No matter how nice everyone is during the holidays, I just get completely wiped out by the busyness of it all. This year has been much the same.
We had my daughter's birthday SLEEPOVER (yes, I am crazy) last night with four giggly girls, they all had much fun (Twister, cupcake decoration, pillow fight), but I'm lasting on about as much sleep as a momma with a newborn.
The economic turmoil hasn't affected us (yet) and so our Christmas is much the same as it is every year, except for two positive developments:

1. I normally suck at gift-giving...I lack creativity and fall back on gift cards a lot. This year I got my hubby lots of little things (think nuts, root beer, a tarp) that he is going to love.

2. Jason grew up with a dad who had a very Godly outlook on money and Christmas was a time of wonder and loving abundance for my hubby growing up. So, we were able to lavish our kids this year and I can't wait for them to feel it!

Our kids really didn't ask for much this year and they were able to buy gifts for less fortunate kids, which I think is great for them to experience. All in all, I think we feel very blessed to be us this year and are glad to spread that to those around us.

This post was written for the Blog Blast over at the Parent Bloggers Network http://blog.parentbloggers.com which is sponsored this week by FFDA, Families For Depressed Awareness, which helps families cope with stress (so needed for many right now).

Merry Christmas!

Around & Around I'll Go No More

Can I just say, I'm a little happy about this recession. I have high hopes that it will cause us to reorder our priorities and look at what matters. I know that living like we have for so long has kept us from being very busy because we just don't have the means.

Our kids are on the cusp of both being in "real" school (2nd & kindergarten next year) and I've seen how busy that can make a family if both kids get super involved in a large amount of activities. I've made it a point, so far in their lives, to make sure they understand the value of playing with friends after school. I'm planning on continuing to make sure that they make enough time for each other and relaxing with friends after the busy school day.

I'm also a low stress person and keep my schedule fairly free. The last couple of weeks have been so nutty though that I've barely had time to breath (or blog for that matter). With both of the kids in school next year, I've considered taking on a job, but I'd have to pray about it ALOT before I take that step. I'll keep those things that matter to Him and consider everything else carefully.

How about you? Are you too busy? Just right?

This post was written for The Parent Bloggers Network http://blog.parentbloggers.com/ . This week, they've teamed up with BigTent (an online group organizer) this week to ask moms how they're going to make their "circus" easier in 2009. There is a great prize involved this week! Check out the contest here: http://blog.parentbloggers.com/2008/12/12/your-life-is-a-circus-join-our-final-2008-blog-blast/

Nothing Like A Bum Fight

The hubby's currently away...not in some foreign land, but a wedding, on the east coast...which sort've counts as a foreign land to this Montana girl.
K, so all the big attractions around Denver have free days, one such entity being the Denver Art Museum. The first Saturday of EVERY month is a free day...for Colorado residents. So, I ventured down there with my kids, my pals (Crazy Uncle Connor & his wife Michelle) and his grandniece Orianna (Oreo). I was a little nervous about how they would take it all. It's all pretty comtemporary and some of it is pretty graphic. I shouldn't have worried though, my daughter loved it! She wants to be an artist, so she was fascinated. I could tell Caedmon thought it was mostly weird (some definately was) and would've been happier at a car museum. They lasted three hours before we adults gave up and decided to walk them to a McDonald's.

We're walking through a park in the heart of Denver and lo and behold we come upon a bum fight. Apparently a couple of bums had approached the stuff of some other bums. Those bums had to defend their shtuff. How do you do that? Beat the other bums away with a broken broom handle. Then get a couple more involved and start punching each other in the head.
I never know what to do when I come upon something like that...do you call the cops? Intervene? Pretend like nothing's going on? Connor considered intervening, but they had driven off the other bums by the time we got parallel to it.

As we crossed the street, I looked down at Caedmon and said, "Let that be a lesson to you son, never get in a bum fight."

A Sign Your Kid Is (Too?) Comfortable at the Neighbor's House

We finally were blessed with snow this week and the kids were psyched. On Sunday they spent 3 hours sledding down the neighbor's hill.
I called my neighbor and told her how excited I was that they were having so much fun out there. She laughed and said, "Well, Caedmon actually came in a half hour ago. I was folding laundry in my room. He came in, said hi, climbed under the blankets on my bed and said, "Hey Steph, could you hand me the remote please?" So, I said sure and now my son is in here snuggling with him".
Wow, talk about owning your space! I'm so incredibly blessed that we've built a relationship like this with our neighbors and their kids. I adore Steph and her kids! It's exactly what I've been desiring in a neighborhood because it's what I had growing up.
Are your kids comfortable with the 'hood?

Winner of Gift Card Draw!

The winner of the GC I was offering was Claire!! Woo hoo, go claire. Unfortunately, I didn't win a Zune. Oh well.