On the Nightstand

Can anyone tell me what the word meme means or how you pronounce it? I have been reading this term in blogland for months now. Still don't know what it is. But, I think it goes along with being tagged?!? Anyway...I have a friend that did this following meme, On the NIghtstand, and tagged whoever wanted to play along. I thought it would be a quick, fun post while the holidays have us so busy.

The Rules!!!!
* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
* Tag five other people to do the same

The book:
Vital Signs by Kathy Herman


The 5th sentence on page 56 (and the next 2-5 sentences - per the instructions):
"I really love you, Mom. Thanks."
"Honey, you feel warm. Why don't you get out of that long gown and into something more comfortable?"
Jennifer wrinkled her nose. "I can hardly wait till I'm out of maternity clothes."

I am going to tag five people. However, if you have already played along don't feel any pressure to follow along!
1) Robin
2) Erin
3) Christi
4) Brooke
5) Rebecca

No more complaining...I have help!

Remember this post from a few weeks ago? Actually, I wasn't complaining at all! I was overjoyed to have completed the laundry!

I couldn't help but follow up with another laundry post. You see, I have a little helper. He is cute as can be! He "helps" me by taking the wet laundry out of the dryer once I move it over from the washing machine.

Only this day he took his help a step further and decided instead of taking the clothes out...he'd just get in with them! Gotta love it!

Christmas Traditions

I have many great memories of this time of year. And, for me, a lot of times those great memories were made by great traditions. I look forward to this time of year and continuing traditions that were started by our parents and grandparents. Even though our family has been added to and lost a few, has gotten older and younger, addresses have changed, and decorations have evolved, the traditions still make me smile!

When we got married I knew holidays would feel different. And it was important to me to make sure we hung on to those traditions, but also formed a few of our own. I wondered what our traditions would look like and and how they would come about. I learned that traditions start as a conscious effort and a desire to make them happen! It was several years (really having kids brought it about) before we had a few of our own. Now that our children are approaching the school age years, the traditions are settling in and it is lots of fun to watch. I am sure before it is all said and done our traditions will have changed and settled again and again. For now, I must be diligent in carrying them out.

Before I look up and the Christmas season is behind us, I want to show you a few of our traditions:

Christmas Card Garland
A couple of years ago I saw this nifty idea at my cousins' house. They hung a simple garland over an arch in their home and from that garland they hung the Christmas Cards they received. I immediately adopted the idea for our home! We have been doing this same garland for two years and have ours hung over the french doors in our keeping room. The best thing about it - we get to see the lovely cards from and faces of our many wonderful friends every time we pass through the kitchen or sit for a cup of coffee! They are no longer hidden in a basket or tucked one behind the other on a door hanger. Simply find an available branch and paper clip the Christmas Card to it. I love it!


Paper Chain
The kids and I make a paper chain with red and green construction strips. As they are getting older they help cut a link off each day showing them we are getting closer to the BIG day!


Kids' Room Trees
The older kids have a small tree in their rooms decorated with ornaments of their interests. They love having the glow of the lights and something so personal to them in their room.


Twinkleberry
I first heard of "Elf on the Shelf" a few years ago in a dear friend's blog post. I checked out the story behind it and purchased our family it's own. The kids chose the name Twinkleberry (quite cute, I think) and he visits us daily this time of year. It has been fun to watch them tell him what they would like for Christmas, report to him how their sibling may be behaving, and even us parents scurrying the next morning to move him before they wake (or worst yet, having them tell us he did not move upon them waking)!


What God Really Wants for Christmas
We ordered this treasure a few years ago from Focus on the Family. This little devotional tool is awesome. Each night for the last week before Christmas you read a little poem and open a gift. The kids love hearing the rhymes, reliving the story of Jesus' birth, and opening the gifts.


Jesse Tree
This is a new tradition to this year. A fellow blogger had a small post mentioning the Jesse Tree and listed a reference site to its meaning. I did not grow up with a Jesse Tree and was not familiar with the story. After some research and visiting the site she recommended, we printed our ornaments and devotions, let the kids color them, and were ready to go.

I must admit the task has been a little daunting. We started the devotions later than we should have (the site says start the last days of November) and catching up has proven to be tough. And this devotion program on top of the one mentioned above, we are exhausted. However, I love the material, the concept, and the message. It is a keeper. We will just have to try again next year!

Happy Birthday to Jesus
On Christmas morning (while we are still in our pajamas) we read the story of the precious story of our Savior's birth. The kids all gather around and listen, we sing Happy Birthday, and enjoy a little birthday cake!


Christmas Pajamas
We only open one gift on Christmas Eve...the Christmas pajamas. For now, all the cousins receive matching pajamas...and it is cute!





Well, my list is growing as I beam with excitement from all the great memories! I'll go ahead and stop for now!

I am not a bag lady!

This is what I have been doing...wrapping! I love gift wrapping. I like the pretty papers, the beautiful ribbons, the colorful tags, the excitement that builds as you wait to actually get to the gift, and the sight of it being torn in two! I will go out of my way to find a box of the right size so that I can wrap the gift. Sad, isn't it?!?! At least I am being honest!

The BIG party

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had been getting ready for the big party. Every year we host the BSU Christmas Party at our house. It is always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so I have to get in gear with decorating!! As hectic as it makes Thanksgiving week, it is worth it! I love having the students over and showing them a more personal side of us and the kids love having a full house and showing off their rooms! Thought I would share a few pictures from the night:

Missions Banquet

The weekend before Thanksgiving was when our world started to kick it up a notch. It started with the BSU's Missions Banquet. This is our primary fund raiser for Summer Missions. It is a steak dinner and night of entertainment (provided by the students). The students are asked to give $50 that in turn goes to pay to send out our state's summer missionaries (it usually raises over $5000 for missions in one night!). The night is always a blast. When I was a student the banquet was semi-formal and the entertainment was made of skits and lip sync acts. Over the years things have changed a bit. The students have been picking a theme and dressing up accordingly and the entertainment has become more and more tech savvy (good number of videos). This year the theme was "High School Cliques". Students dressed up as jocks, nerds, drop-outs, cheerleaders, etc. My personal favorite - the BSU staff dressed up as the cafeteria workers! Which was seemingly appropriate since they do the cooking.

The kids and I usually make it up there before everything gets rolling good. It is usually a late night so we just stop in for a short bit. You can see some more great pictures here.

Boomama's Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome!
Come on in and see what Christmas at the five dubs looks like...

Walking up to our front door


Our mantle and hearth (I had such a good time participating in the Nester's Garland Show and Tell last week. Check out this previous post for more mantle pictures.)


The main tree in our family room is decorated with shiny ornaments, white lights, sprigs of glittery red, lime green, and gold.


The kids' tree is in our foyer and is decorated with ornaments from mine and Kris' childhood, ornaments that have been given to my children, and ornaments they have made. I put colored lights on this tree and let them decorate away!


Also, in our foyer we have this large console table that I use to display our Fonatnini Nativity collection, three more whimsical wisemen and a precious moss angel!




Since I was little my grandmother has given me a Santa every year. It has made for a very enjoyable collection of many kinds of Santas. I have them displayed a bookcase in my dining room.


My dining table has a new twist this year. Like my mantle, my centerpiece has evolved for what seems like every year. This year I am trying the big balls hanging from a garland in our chandelier and two tall "stacks of ornaments" that I got on clearance after Christmas last year. The extra space on the dining table was super nice the night of the big party (time this picture was taken). I think I like it!


Our Nutcracker collection (my mom started this collection for our children)


This picture is of our buffet in the keeping room. I love this handprint angel plate done by my son last year. It is one of my absolute favorite pieces! This pencil tree is the one we are using as our Jesse Tree (i'll be posting about it real soon).


The next few pictures show a few places I display random Santas, Snowmen, Angels, Christmas Pillows, Christmas Books, etc. around our home










Hope you enjoyed your visit...come back soon!

TAGGED!

I've been tagged by my good friend, Robin, to do the following:
1. Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2. Choose the 4th picture
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same.


Isn't this an adorable picture?!? This is Wes taken at about 5 or 6 weeks of age. We had him all bundled up to go somewhere and when he yawned the toboggan scooted down over his eyes.

Thanks, Robin! How fun it was to travel back through the pictures and post one this random! Now, I tag:
1) Kerri
2) Haley
3) Stacey
4) Carley

No two snowflakes alike

One of my favorite bloggers (that I do not know) posted this really cool site. It is a site where you can go and create your own snowflake. It is similar to the site I told you about in this post. I think the kids will expecially have fun seeing how many different snowflakes they can make...I thought it was fun! Check it out!

What a neat way to honor a snow day in our neck of the woods! They say we accumulated 3-5 inches yesterday....it was all melted around lunch. Snow is so rare around here, we will take what we can get! We had fun waking up early to the big flakes, watching the kids' excitement, taking a walk around the block, curling up by the fireplace and watching a movie. Here is a little picture of what we saw...

Wasn't it lovely?!?

Garland Show and Tell

Today, Nesting Place is holding her Garland Show and Tell. This is a first for me! I have never participated in a Mr. Linky. But, I figured this would be a good way to start! She has such great decorating ideas and tips. I have learned a lot from her...especially her post on making a garland!

The day after Christmas last year we got out and hit a few of the sales in my hometown. We had never done this before, but I am so glad we did! There are a few locally owned shops that have some amazing decorating ideas/goods and they were marking most things at least 75% off! I was lucky enough to score a few new and updated things to decorate with. What a joy it was to pull the "new" things out this year and give them a go.

My mantle has evolved for what seems like every Christmas. I have never been totally pleased with the look and tended to change it up every year in search of the right garland. I just may have gotten it this year! The shiny ball garlands were one of the best deals from last Christmas and I think they really jazz up the mantle. I love the bright colors, the way they shine with the twinkle of the lights, and the way they nest in the pine garland.

Little Turkeys

I guess I should start this post by saying I am a little turkey. A little turkey for taking this long to post! Sorry about that. As is for most everyone, this time of year really cranks up a bit and blogging had to take a back seat for a week or so. Now that my house is decorated (more to come on that, later) and our big party of the year (more to come on that, later) is behind us, I hope to be back on schedule!

Now back to little turkeys...I realize that Thanksgiving seems like it was ages ago. And, most of us are already into the planning and wrapping and decorating and cooking and socializing of Christmas that this post is way over due! However, for my sake, I wanted to post a few pictures of my little turkeys taken on the days of their school programs.

Bankston Hays and Ann Elise posed for me in their turkey outfits before taking her to school

Ann Elise smiling for the camera during her feast

Wes getting ready to line up with his class - they performed at a local assisted living home