The North Pole Has Nothing On My Mother... (A Christmas Decorator's Dream)

So I think it is safe to say that my mother goes a bit extreme while decorating especially at Christmas. It can take us anywhere from a few days to a week to complete her living area. It is absolutely beautiful and I personally think we should just start charging admission LOL! I decided I should definitely share some pictures because something of this magnitude should never go unnoticed. At almost every "station" she has a color theme and Nativity.  I hope you all enjoy! 

View 1

                                    

View 2

The Blue Snowman Theme

The Green Area 

 
  

The Christmas Mantle

The Rocking Horse or The Wanna-be Rudolph as we call him.

The Maroon and Burgandy Nativity Scene

A Close-Up

The Purple Nativity Scene

Part of the counter 

The Red and Gold Area with Large Black Nativity Scene

The Gold Area (yeah sorry thats me!)

More of the Counter

Coffee Table Center Piece

Dining Area

The bar Counter

The windows with all the stocking that won't fit around the fireplace

Her Polar Express Train Scene in the Window

                          

                          The Outdoor Lights

Well I hope you all enjoyed the show! Big shout out to my momma for being so awesome! 

They Grow So Fast

I was feeling a bit nostalgic today and created this! I wrote this poem a few years ago for my kids. On a piece of paper I put their hand print and their picture then wrote this poem on it. I cannot believe how quickly they are growing up and it saddens me that they won't be little anymore. Heck I still call them my babies and they are going on 5 and 7 years old. It does help though when they tell me sweet little things like "I will love you forever Mommy" and "You are my perfect Mommy" they are always there to say something sweet just when I need it the most. I look at this poem frequently to remind me that even though I may feel frustrated with them at times, they are getting bigger and one day I will miss this time in my life when my kids always needed me. 

♫ Christmas Time Is Here ♫

Hello All! This is my absolute favorite time of the year. It is so exciting. Family and friends with so much love to go around...ok I know I sound like a hippy but that just fine and dandy with me! This past weekend I had the pleasure of having my niece and nephew over for a sleepover while their parents (my sister and her husband) and my husband helped them move. They recently purchased a home so on top of their already overworked lives they are throwing in a move too! Anyway, my children get so excited to spend time with their cousins and I am always so happy to spend time with them. So we all decided to start decorating for Christmas. We put together our tree (I cannot do the real trees because my ENTIRE family and I are allergic!) and strung up lights. As I started to get my ornaments together I realized that I am missing an entire box :(    See I told you-- something ALWAYS goes a bit wrong. I am missing bulbs and ribbons and I am pretty sure a strand of lights are gone too. Unfortunately this month is always extremely tight with us. We have Christian and Malachi's birthday (December 21st) my birthday (December 22nd) and of course, Christmas for 3 children.  So obviously going out and buying some new decorations is out of the question. But at this point my tree looked ridiculously empty. Think Christina, Think. I got it! Pine cones! We have them everywhere! So I went out to the yard and snagged up about 2 dozen pretty ones and grabbed a bit of string. I hung them and I LOVE them! I go with a Gold, Cream, and Silver theme on my tree (with white lights of course) and the homemade Pine cone ornaments made it look very chic. I may wind up dipping some of them in a bit of glue and applying some glitter as well just to make it sparkly! I am overall very happy with how it turned out and hopefully my other box of Christmas Decor shows up (fingers crossed please!)

Pine cone + String= Ornament!

      Later on in the day we played outside, rode bikes, watched Jumanji (which they all loved) and enjoyed tacos for dinner. After dinner we all went out on a walk to see all of the beautifully decorated houses. The kids all enjoyed sharing which lights were their favorites and it reminded me of driving around in the car looking at Christmas lights with my family when I was a little girl. I just love this time of year. It is so magical!!!!  

Rather Pretty!

 

Check your neck: A Thyroid Cancer Special

       Hello ALL! It has been quite awhile since I have posted a new blog. Things have been a but crazier than usual in the home front. These past few days and upcoming ones it has been doctors, doctors and more doctors :) Oh joy! As mentioned in my first blog, I was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (thyroid cancer) in August of 2009. My entire life I was never skinny. I was never able to lose weight. I was tired, run down, my hair was falling out, and my nails were brittle. I never had insurance so I could not afford to go to the doctor.The price of being poor I guess. Once myhusband joined the military and for the first time in my adult life I had insurance so I finally went. That is when I found out. From the get go I was labeled an "unusual case"which can sound a bit scary but it also gets a lot of big doctors interested in your case.  

One of my first reports.


     This cancer typically is a very slow growing cancer and rarely spreads. It usually doesn't hit women until they around the age of 45 and 99% of people have goiters on their thyroids with 99% of those goiters being benign. For me I was 22, it was almost 3 inches large and I had a total of 56 tumors/lymph nodes removed from my neck. I had to have two surgeries to remove it all. I spent around 14 hours under the knife. Most thyroidectomies leave a small scar (about the size of a toothepick) across the base of your neck (in between your collar bones) Mine almost made a complete circle around my neck. Neighbors joked around that it appeared that I had try to hang myself with fishing line and that I had already had the perfect Halloween Costume haha! I joke around a lot about this because  my entire life is such a catastrophe that honestly I (or anyone for that matter) cannot help but to laugh. Anyway, I received a large dose of Radioactive Iodine 150mci to be exact.That sounds fun doesn't it?  That is a strange experience. The technician brings in this iron canister that is marked as biohazard. He is wearing gloves and picks up the tablets with tweezers then places them in one of those paper medicine cups. After that he instructs you not to touch

The garbage bag in my isolation room

the tablets. Seriously? I am not supposed to touch it with my fingers but I am supposed to ingest it? Right. After that I stayed in isolation for a week while following a low Iodine Diet (which is probably the worst diet ever) After that ordeal I was in the clear, it would seem we had got it all. Then in July in 2010 while my husband was deployed in Afghanistan, I was given the crushing news. My cancer was back. I was alone with 3 children and I was sick. Ugh well talk about perfect timing. We biopsied a few lymph nodes in my neck but they all came back benign. We knew it was somewhere on the right side of my neck but couldn't pinpoint where exactly. So instead of surgery I received another large dose of RAI, this time 197mcis.. I did another Low Iodine Diet --this time was worse than the last one. I missed my kids birthday and my birthday, Christmas and New years enjoying Holiday food. I spent New Years eve in isolation. (blow the party puffers here) But after quite a depressing holiday season it appeared we got it! I was doing perfectly well other than my occasional spouts of exhaustion. Because of my thyroid being removed I have to be on medication for life. I cannot miss a doctors appointment and not get a refill. If off of the medication for too long I would die. Your thyroid helps control so much of your body, from heart rate to metabolism without it your body slows down until it stops completely. But I am grateful to be alive. A few weeks ago I went to see my endocrinologist and it seems like it is back yet again. I did a few biopsies, all benign. So I am on another Low Iodine Diet. This time I only missed Halloween treats so I will survive :) Unfortunately we are in the same spot we were in before. We have a feeling it is back but don't know where.  I am doing a body scan on Friday. Today, Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday I have doctors appointments I must attend. Hopefully we can find it, if not I will most likely be doing a CT scan on my lungs to check there. It is like a needle in a haystack, isn't it? lol The only reason I tell this incredibly long and boring story is to encourage you all to check your necks. Go to the doctor. Get checked out. Don't let it get out of control.  DAMN the cost, your life is more important. Go. Check. What are you waiting for?

A Sweet Treat; Fresh Apple Caramel Crumble

As we all know, children love dessert. They love candy and chocolate and sugars and sweets but those things just aren't good for us. I try to teach my kids about healthy eating but sometimes a little sweet snack after dinner does sound amazing. Here is one of my quick desserts that I call the Fresh Apple Caramel Crumble. It is very easy to make, there is no baking, the apple aspect of it is healthy and it is pretty darn yummy! So here is are the instructions:

Directions and ingredients for crumb mixture:

1/4 cup flour

1/8 cup sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons cold butter

Mix flour, sugar and brown sugar together then cut butter with knife or fork until the mixture forms lumps. 

The Olive Garden at home anniversary special!

Lettuce with Roma tomatoes, Olives, Onions,
Pepperocini, and salad dressing (recipe below)
The Country Cook's Olive Garden Dressing Recipe

Homemade Zuppa Toscana (my favorite!)
    Food.com Zuppa Toscana

So as some of you may know my husband and I recently celebrated our anniversary. On October 4, 2002 we officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. Me and my romantic side decided that I wanted to get married on our 5th year anniversary so on October 4th, 2007 we officially became husband and wife. We have been together for 10 years now and during that 10 years we have experienced marriage in its fullest. For better or for worse; We have had our share of joyous moments and we have had double heapings of desperate times. From becoming teen parents to becoming a military family, it has certainly been quite a ride. You also have to figure in all of the other catastrophes that tend to plague my life as if Murphy's Law only applies to me. For richer and poorer; We have definitely had our times of financial stability and then times where we had no idea how we would even get food on the table. With three growing little boys that seem to eat like black wholes and expand as quickly as the universe, finances are not exactly in surplus.  Through sickness and health; when I was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago we never imagined it would have been such a battle. I am on my 3rd recurrence in 3 years and sometimes I just feel as though it will never go away and that this battle will just turn into a war. Don't get me wrong, I am still opening a can of kung fu whoop (ahem*) so no worries I am peaches :) but it has still caused a great deal of stress. But even through all of the tribulations we have still come out on top every time and that is something worth celebrating. Especially in a time where so many couples call it quits without even trying to fix it. I believe in the notion that if something is broken you fix and not throw it away. There is something so very special about having someone so close and intimate, that can share in almost half of your life. That builds memories and a family with you and is with you until the end. So in honor of that, this blog is for you Sweetlove! Being such an extreme family person I decided to celebrate our anniversary with the entire family. What better way than to make Olive Garden at home and have a fantastic family dinner? I made Zuppa Toscana, a salad (equipped with the homemade Olive Garden dressing) and of course store bought Homemade Lasagna :) (hey its my anniversary I didn't want to be in the kitchen ALL day lol) I of course decorated it represent Italian decor. Below I have included links to the recipes that I made and i can personally attest that they are extremely close if not the actual recipes! 

The Lasagna I slaved over all day

 

Look how much love the sky felt for us on our anniversary <3 

                   

  

Happy Hauntings

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN! It is that time of year when leaves turn beautiful shades of rustic reds, oranges and yellows. When sweaters come out, sandals go in and hot cocoa is purchased in ample supply. I love the changing seasons. I really cannot choose a favorite because they all have so much to offer. But even though Summer brings heat, for some reason Autumn offers warmth. Perhaps it is because I know Thanksgiving is coming and family and friends come just a bit closer. I think everyone's heart gets a bit warmer with that thought. Of course there are other reasons for excitement too.  As usual I get ridiculously exhilarated over any chance to do a new craft. Of course the husband teases me and acts as though I am some cracked out crafter. With Fall here and Halloween just around the corner there is much to do. From decorations to costumes there is more than enough on my plate. This year Christian and Malachi want to dress up as characters from the video game "Plants Vs. Zombies." It is actually a rather funny cartoon game where zombies are about to attack and you need to plants various plants to defend the homestead. It should be no surprise that Malachi (who is close to copywriting the color green) wants to be the Squash from the game while Christian wants to be the Zombie. Isaiah, of course, sets his expectations high and wants to be an actual transforming Optimus Prime Transformer. Unfortunately they do not make these costumes for purchasing and even if they did I really don't want to spend $60+ in costumes. Being my frugal self that means it is time for Mommy to roll up her sleeves and get crafty! I have posted some pictures of what the characters look like.

 

          

Malachi's costume was fairly easy to assemble. I purchased some green fabric for $2 at the local thrift store. I folded it in half and hot glued the pieces opposite of the fold end together. Next I cut out two large half circles (with a small space in between the circles) in the middle of bottom fold for his legs. I cut out a very large half circle in the direct middle of the upper hot-glued seam for his head to go through and cut circles near the top on both sides for arm holes. I then cut a small straight line halfway down the back so he can get in and out and added left over ribbon on both sides of the slit to tie the costume together. I formed the fabric to look like a squash shape and hot glued the sides together. Next I drew the face on the fabric and voila I had the basis of his costume.    

         

                                                                    

 Next comes Christian and his Zombie costume. This was really easy. I paper mached a head for him from a balloon with newspaper and a flour water mixture. Once it had ample time to dry I cut out a mouth so that Christian could see out of it. I picked up a can of gray spray paint for $0.59 (you can't beat that!) and after I finished spray painting, I drew on the face with other paints I had laying around the house. I was able to get him a church jacket from the thrift store for $1. He already had a tie, white shirt, jeans with holes in them and shoes so we are pretty set!  


                                                      
       

 Finally comes Isaiah's transforming Optimus Prime transformer costume. This has taken up a  lot of time for sure. You will need a lot of small-medium boxes, duct tape, hot glue, paint and an over abundance of wine patience :) Now obviously this will vary a bit from person to person but here is what I did. I took a big double pack box of Honey Nut Cheerios for the chest, two 12 pack cases of pop (or soda for all those who probably have no idea what I mean. Sorry, it's a Pittsburgh thing) for the legs. Two small boxes for the arms (you could probably use something a little bigger than a rectangular tissue box) and another large box that will attach to the back but will become the front of the car when in the lying position. After 1 roll of duct tape, 1 bag of hot glue sticks, 1 bottle of Riunite Lambrusco (not required but it helps a lot) and some crazy engineering skills you will have yourself the basis of a costume! Next comes an INSANE amount of painting and a couple tablets of Aleve for arthritis you are now developing in your hand. At the end of the day, I don't think I spent more than $10 dollars for all of their costumes. It was a lot of effort but my kids love them. Thanks for your time to look at my blog. I hope I may have persuaded some of you to save your money & get crafty!

                

The Best Bath...

Hello all! Thanks for dropping by to check out the best way to an oatmeal bath. As I have mentioned before I have 3 amazing little boys. Unfortunately two of them (Chris and Ki- "The Twins") suffer from Eczema. Eczema is a long term (chronic) skin disorder that involves itchy and scaly rashes. Often times their skin is extremely dry. It can get so bad that sometimes it will feel like sand paper. It is really uncomfortable for them.  :(  I have to be very careful with which lotions I use on them and how much water exposure they can have, which kind of fabrics they can wear and even how to dry them off after a bath. Sometimes despite my efforts, the rash gets unmanageable. Today we played outside on the slip n slide for awhile so their skin got kinda bad. One thing that can help alleviate the dryness is an oatmeal bath. As many of you know Oatmeal baths can be extremely soothing especially to dry skin. Bath time in my house is already a disastrous event. It requires the amusement park sign "YOU WILL GET WET ON THIS RIDE." I am always completely drenched. With their skin condition they should really only bath every other day but they LOVE their baths so it is a complete fight to get them out. I am soaked and all the towels are wet. The bathroom is trashed. It makes matters much worse when there is oatmeal involved.  It is great but it leaves a DISASTER.  So I came up with an pretty great solution with a few different uses.  I take the oatmeal and place it in a sock. I attach the sock to the faucet and let the water run through the now "oatmeal sock." (patent pending lol ) I know this will sound weird but I actually use the cream oatmeal. Yes, I put "strawberries n cream" oatmeal in my babies' bath. The milk and oatmeal make the bath water so silky. When their skin is really bad I also add a tablespoon of Coconut oil to the sock as well. It really works so well. After the bath is filled up I removed the sock and twist it so none of the contents fall out. I use the oatmeal sock as the loofah. It is so soft and doesn't agitate the skin at all! It is amazing. And afterwards the tub is pretty clean!. (of course you still gotta rinse it down as usual, but you don't have hundreds of little oats stuck to the sides. When you are all done you can dump the sock contents into the garbage and wash the sock. I hope you try this out and thanks for reading. 

Summer Shakedown...Murphy's Law Strikes Again!

        Do you remember in my first blog when I told you how no matter how much planning I do something almost always goes wrong? Well I figured I would give a fine example while also giving some fun ideas for welcoming your school aged student to summer break! As a surprise I decided I would ambush my son with water balloons as he came stepping off the bus from his last day of school. I filled up water balloons for a half hour and decorated the back of my car to say "Welcome To Summer!" Chris and Ki were more than willing to help with the task of filling the balloons with water to prepare for their big brother's ambush. We filled A LOT. I could not wait to arrive up the hill at his bus stop with the back of my vehicle facing the road for him to read. I had the bin full of balloons sitting in the seat ready for attack. Chris and Ki were in their swimming trucks waiting for the water balloon fight. Everything was perfect. As I was about to get in the car to drive up to the bus stop I received a phone call....

Chris and Ki helping fill balloons.

 

Ok, So here is where Murphy's Law is always rearing its ugly face in my direction. As I said, I got a phone call. It was the school. My son missed the bus and he was waiting up at the office. The secretary informed  me that they had already tried calling about  15 minutes earlier but since I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off I left the phone inside and missed the call. My heart sank. At that moment all that was in my head was my poor baby is up at the school by himself waiting. What a horrible mother I am. I threw Chris and Ki in the car. I buckled them all up (including the patiently waiting bin of water balloons) and headed up to the school. Luckily the school is only about 1 1/2 miles away so I was there fairly quickly. As soon as I arrived at the school I realized Chris and Ki were still only in their swim trunks. No shirts. No shoes. Just wet swimming trunks. Crap. Obviously I can't leave my babies in the car so I unbuckled my half nude boys and the three of us walked proudly into Topsail Elementary School...soaking wet. Now at this point embarrassment took a backseat to retrieving my sweet baby who was waiting patiently for us in the office. I do not think I will ever forget the look on his face when his brothers and his mom walked into school in their bathing suits. He looked confused. So confused. As soon as I knew I had him and he was safe I was wondering how I could possibly make up for not being able to ambush him. I mean the surprise is going to be blown as soon as he sees the car, hops in and wonders why there is a bin of water balloons buckled safely in his seat. Luckily, I parked close to the entrance so as soon as we made it out the door I booked it to the car. Looking back now Isaiah probably thought his mother was crazy. I made it to the car and grabbed a balloon, I turned around and whipped it at his feet. He cracked up immediately and asked where I got it. I showed him the entire bin of balloons and told him that we were to have a water balloon fight when he got home. He was so excited. We got home and the war started. Even though things certainly did not pan out the way it did in my head I still think this will be a memorable last day of school for Isaiah. From missing the bus and waiting in the office, to family arriving at school in drenching wet bathing suits with a major water balloon fight at the end--this certainly will be something I will never forget. It would be nice for things to work out how I plan them... but if they did it wouldn't be MY life. My life is full of quirks, imperfections and at times catastrophes but it also adds come color and some definite lasting memories. Below is a list of ideas you can do to surprise your little one on their last day of school! Happy Summer Everyone!

Last Day Of School Celebration Ideas or Inspirations

• Water Balloon Ambush
• Silly String Ambush
• A Run Through Banner saying "Schools Out" , "Congrats" , "Welcome to Summer" or whatever you can think of!
• Place a banner and hook up all of your outdoor water toys for when they arrive.
• Go on a surprise trip as soon as they arrive.

I truly hope I gave you all a little laugh today and hopefully some inspiration on how to make the last day of school special. I spent $2.50 for supplies (balloons and car paint) so it didn't break the bank. Thanks again for reading! HAPPY SUMMER!!!