peaNUTS about Christmas

So, I am just crazy about Peanuts. I have collected a lot of vintage peanuts items over the years and used to have them in Austin's room. Here is the bulletin board I made at work. I put little numbers on snoopy's house and I can pull one off each day. I didn't know what words to put and Aaron came up with the peaNUTS about Christmas. Cute idea-so I used it. So when I saw the figures in CVS yesterday I had a fit! But I left the store without buying them. I went grocery shopping and then couldn't stand it and went back to buy the peanuts!
Here are some pictures of my kitchen at work. I set up an area with hot chocolate, cider, flavored coffee and some candy for the teachers.

This is the stock room and I keep it very organized. Here is where the teachers can eat and hang out with me. I am the kitchen manager. I handle all aspects of the kitchen and I am in charge of all the staff-which is me! I am the sole employee in the kitchen! LOL! I like it that way because I am very picky about how my kitchen is run and very strict on food temperatures and sanitation. At my previous job I had a staff of 12. I prefer it better this way!

I do get lonely sometimes as my kitchen is in the back of the building,but I leave and hang out with the kids a lot too.
It is a great job and I thank God everyday that I have an easy and good paying job!

What a Deal!!

So, when Billy and Wes moved out on their own I gave them my big couch. I then found a recliner at a yard sale and so we only had two recliners in our den. A friend from my old job called and asked me if I knew anyone who wanted to buy some furniture. I got this sofa, love seat, two end tables and two lamps for $100. I think I got a great deal and they are in excellent shape. I put my Christmas pillows on them.

OK- Don't get grossed out but Austin had his expander put in a few weeks ago. I am just blown away by this as I have never seen such a thing. They are rapidly expanding his upper jaw. We have to 'crank' his mouth twice a day. It is already starting to separate his front teeth. They took the wire out of his top braces because that would kind of defeat the purpose. We are adjusting his jaw to hopefully prevent jaw surgery in the future.

This will be a long and painful process for him, but he is doing good so far!

Christmas Tree Is Going Up

Saturday morning I got up and assembled my big tree. It took about two hours to put it together as I am very careful to bend each branch the correct way. Later on in the day I put all of the strings of lights on. That took another two hours. I make sure that each branch gets a strand of lights from the trunk to the tip and then back down the other side. I have had many people ask me how I get my tree and lights to look so perfect. I owe that to my old boss at an upscale Christmas store that I used to work at part time. If you are ever in the St. Nicks store you can still see some of the trees I have done. I tried to get some detailed pictures but they did not turn out well.
I have to wear long sleeves. Otherwise I would look like I have been in a cat fight.
Looks like there are a few holes where some lights need adjusted! :)
We also got Austin's Christmas tree up in his room. We worked some more on the yard decorations. While we were outside I decided that I wanted to get rid of my double outdoor water pond. It is so hard to keep up and I was ready for it to go. The boys removed all the rocks and I gave the ponds and pumps to someone from our local freecycle group.
Saturday was very busy for us. I woke up today not feeling very well. I will be going back to the doctor tomorrow. Friday I returned to the doctor who did my biopsy and things did not look well, so I am going back to another doctor. This is getting rather expensive! I hope for good news tomorrow.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

WELCOME! I put some candy in my old salt cellar. We had some chips and dip and other snacks on the buffet so everyone could snack while waiting to eat.I tried a new desert this year. This is ginger pumpkin cheesecake. Everyone loved it!This is a ten pound 7 layer chocolate cake! YUM! I could eat it all. Bingo was a blast. We got down to the last prize and the last number I called caused a three way tie. The guys were chasing each other around trying to grab it. It was so funny. We had to play a tie breaker. Wes won a can of lifesavers.
Mom won twice. She got a Charlie Brown DVD.

Aaron won twice. He got some candy here.

Austin won a 'grow your own lump of coal'. Funny thing is-he helped me pick this gag gift out and then he ended up picking it. LOL.

Here we are playing. The boys got Rock Band for the Xbox today. They have been having a blast. They are still playing here behind me. All these bodies in this room it feels like 95 degrees in here! Mom is the best singer! I brought the house down.
OH, yeah, my niece Bridgette- she won three times and then quit playing because the boys were all afraid she was going to win them all.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

See, I told you that mom was coming to help me clean-and she does not play! Here you can see that she is even washing my windows. I had a tuff day today at work doing the big Thanksgiving dinner for all the kids and the staff, so I was not up for much cleaning. Mom can run circles around me anyway.

Here are all of our gifts for the bingo prizes. Last year I started a new tradition. As it gets late in the evening and everyone is stuffed we all sit down and play Bingo! Each winner gets to choose a prize- no feeling- and at the end you may keep your gift or exchange with someone. There are some real nice gifts and some gag gifts. We had a blast last year with this. The funny thing is that one of the gag gifts ended up being the one thing that all the kids wanted!

Well, I am off to watch Charlie Brown with the kids!

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving

Yesterday I was up very early and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I got all of my silver polished. We do not eat until 6pm so I will put some chips and dip and appetizers on the buffet so that everyone can graze while mom and I are cooking.


Billy and Wesley came over and hung my outside lights. They will get turned on that night after we eat :)


I went to the grocery store and bought the boys some food and paper items for helping. They never seem to have food over at there place and they eat out too much!

Mom will come over on Tuesday and help me 'redd up' as she would say. We will get everything cleaned up real good- like spring cleaning. We always do a good house cleaning before the holidays.

Mom grew up outside of Lancaster in Pa. So she talks like the Amish people. We have lived in the south for over 20 years but she still has the same accent and a lot of her Amish terms have stuck with her too! When they say redd up the house that means clean up. :) (There that was your lesson for the day) LOL

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

For Kelli's http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ show and tell Friday, I am continuing with my theme from yesterday to remember my twin daughters. This past year on mothers day. my oldest son Billy surprised me with this special gift. It is a necklace of two girls that is engraved with the girls' names. As you can tell by the picture, I wear this all the time and it is already becoming worn. I cried when he gave this to me.

This is Ashley's tiny feetprint.

This is Kayla's tiny feetprint.I have created a nice scrapbook for all of thier tiny hats and shirts that they wore the day they were born. I also have a few photos of them along with pages from my journal that I kept at that time.

I want to thank everyone who stopped by yesterday for my birthday memory. I know it was difficult for some of you to comment and you did not know what to say. I am so sorry if I made anyone uncomfortable. I should have thought about that first. My point in doing the post was to let everyone know that I am proud of the fact that I have twin daughters and want the world to know that. That is one reason that I wear the necklace and my mothers ring that includes two November stones. I love for people to know that I am a mom of 6 kids. I am proud of that. :)

IN MEMORY OF KAYLA AND ASHLEY- HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Seventeen years have passed yet sometimes it seems like yesterday. They say that time heals all wounds. I don't believe that. I know that time softens the wounds,but never fully heals. The scar always remains.

Kayla Nicole and Ashley Elizabeth were brought into this world on Nov. 15th, 1990. Kayla was the first to come weighing in at 16 ounces. She was immediately returned back into the arms of God. Ashley followed next at 12.75 ounces. She then joined her sister in HIS embrace.
I was 20 years old and had a very difficult pregnancy. I was always in pain and my body began to swell. My pregnant belly began to grow much to rapidly. The doctors attributed this to having twins. They were wrong. I had massive polyhydramnios. They tried to drain some of my fluid. They gave me an option to kill one baby and MAYBE the other would live. Honestly, there was a little part of me that considered this. I knew one was a girl and I so desperately wanted a daughter. Of course we decided against this. After a month of medical testing and consults from out of state doctors, there was nothing left to do.
My labor began. I can still hear the tiny heartbeats on the monitor. I can still hear the gushing sound as my water broke a nearly flooded the room. I can still hear the silence in the room as they did not cry.
I remained in the hospital for many weeks to follow. I was allowed to leave for the funeral but had to return. I endured so much ( I will tell more later). The day I returned home Billy who was then 4 asked me where the babies were. I just started to cry. He never asked again.
** I remember one day sitting on my front porch and looking up toward heaven. I needed peace but could not find it. I cried out from the depths of my soul "Why, God why!" I was always taught not to question God, not to ask why. But this single word question burned in my throat, ached my heart and soaked my face with tears. After all these years, I still do not know why-but I do know this--
Had it not been for Kayla and Ashley's death I would not have had the blessing of giving birth to Aaron. Aaron who I held and never let go when he was born. Aaron who swells my chest with pride. Aaron who is at the top of his class, a gifted and talented child.
I also would not have had the blessing of giving birth to Austin. Austin who came into this world tiny and frail. Austin who is growing to be the most kind and caring human. Austin who would give you the shirt off his back or his last dollar.
These are the greatest blessings I have received admist all the pain in suffering of losing the girls.

Dear Kayla and Ashley,
Happy Birthday! This would be the year that you would graduate high school. I can't image what you would look like in your caps and gowns. I can't image how much fun we would have had picking out your prom dresses. Would you pick the same one or be totally different? I miss you so much and still cry every year on your birthday. I wish I could just hold you for one more minute. I know you must be very happy now in the arms of Jesus and I can not wait until the day that I get to see you again.
Love, Mom
mom0f4boysandtwingirls! :)

Here is a poem I wrote all those years ago
GOD PLANTED A NEW FLOWER TODAY
TWO ROSE BUDS READY TO BLOOM
THEY WERE SO SOFT AND DELICATE
BUT THEN HE DECIDED IT WAS TOO SOON
HE TOOK THEM BACK TO HEAVEN TO GROW
HE KNEW THEY NEEDED HIS TOUCH
SO WHY, OH WHY I WONDER
DOES ALL THIS HURT SO MUCH?
I KNOW THEY ARE HAPPY NOW
AND ARE WAITING FOR ME WHEN I DIE
DEAR KAYLA AND ASHELY PLEASE KNOW I LOVE YOU
AND THIS IS NOT OUR FINAL GOODBYE.

Thanks for joining me for a memory of my precious daughters. Please visit tomorrow for my Show and Tell with Kelli http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ I will be showing some very special items related to the girls.

My Health Update

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me and my current health issues. I got all of my major blood tests back and everything looks good! I did however have a raging kidney infection. I had thought that I had a kidney stone as I have a long history of them. I got a CAT scan and no stone was present! Yeah! Only a raging infection which can easily be handled. I do have one more important test that I will have done in the middle of December.
Praise God for the good news.

FUN STUFF

BALLPOINT PEN

Did you know that the first ballpoint pen came out in 1945. More than 5000 people jammed the entrance to Gimbel's department store to buy one. The store sold all 10,000 that they had. Each pen cost $12.50. WOW! That was a big chunk of change for one pen! Must have been a weeks salary then :)

EASY BAKE OVEN

This is the model of Easy Bake oven that I had. This came out in 1963 (before I was born) and cost $15.95. There were 500,000 sold in the first year. The next year the avocado green came out with more dials, a fake clock and an oven hood. In 1970 harvest gold came out and baked twice as fast and had a working timer. 1978 introduced the Mini-wave oven and was orange, brown and white. The 80's produced a dual temperature oven and then a pink oven with a snack center. The newest ovens can make macaroni and cheese and pretzels. WOW! I did not know that! I guess that is because I do not have any girls.

This is the model with the range hood. I think my cousin had one of those. I so loved this toy. I remember I made strange cakes with many assorted ingredients. I can still taste that orange cake mix that I so often used. Yuk! My information for this post was found in my Reminisce Magazine. I just love those!

Show and Tell Friday

Hop over to Kelli's placehttp://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ to find out how you can participate in your own show and tell.

Today I am showing part of my old rug beater collection. I have a bunch that I have been collecting up and they hand on my big wall that leads to the upstairs.

This is a braided type and is very neat close up. This one below is my favorite. It also has braided wire. The handle is very short compared to the others. I would think that this one would be easier to use. You can tell this one has been used a lot as the handle is very wore. I paid a good bit for this one :)

This one above is very odd and different from most others, too. The one below is very common and I see a lot of them.

I am always on the look out for different and unique rug beaters.I wonder if these also doubled as paddles back then? Should would be easy to swat a bottom with them! LOL! Sorry I do not have time to show more. I am already late for work! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

My Health

I have been having some serious health problems over the past year and was sent to yet another specialist on Monday. It was not very good news. However, I do not have an official diagnosis and am still praying that it is something that can be easily taken care of.
I want to thank Kimmie at http://overthemoonwithjoy.blogspot.com/ for adding me to her prayer list and lifting my burden up to the greatest healer of them all!
II Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Thank God that my affliction is temporary and one day I will know no pain or sickness.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

This is one of my trees from the year before last. I love the way the lights shine in the french doors.


Christmas will be here before we know it! Every year I say that I am going to do my shopping early and well- that never happens. Well, I am proud to say that I have already started. Yesterday I wrapped most all of the presents that I already have. Of course they will all get re-wrapped and tagged and bows put on top. I just wrapped them now to keep the kids from peeking. I have put them around my "fake fireplace" in my bedroom. I bought these electric logs for $3.00 and Billy built me the fireplace to put them in. He even has it looking like bricks inside. This was his first woodworking project. I have not really finished painting it and you can see where the cat thought the edge was his scratching post . Anyway, I love sitting next to it, curled up with a book. It makes a crackling sound too. I also have a real fireplace downstairs .:)
Well, I got a good head start this year. Does anyone else? Oh, I think I see one with Tab's name on it!!! :)

Show and Tell Friday

Once again it is time for Show and Tell over at Kelli's place. Click here to find out morehttp://kellishouse.blogspot.com/. You should really join in as it is loads of fun!

I am showing off my apron today. This apron was made for me by some of my most loved children at the daycare where I worked . One of my favorite parents :) brought it in for me on my last day there. She wrote the saying "you have made an imprint on our lives" and then left me with all the paints to do the hand prints. Of course that is her daughters right there under the saying. :)

I became very attached to several of the children and leaving them was one of the hardest things for me do. I am very fortunate to still have contact with some of them, and do see some in passing. I miss them all so much and know they all have new teachers to love them, but it makes me feel so good when I do see them and they come running up to give me big hugs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween

I was very disappointed last night. I went to my niece, Bridgette's house to help her pass out candy. She has just gotten her first apartment and so she was very excited about passing out candy to the kids. Well, I know it makes me sound old but Halloween has sure changed since I was a kid.
The kids were not even dressed up. They were carrying grocery bags and duffel bags for candy. Some kids were digging their hands in the candy bowl. Some said 'I don't like that, I want something else'.
Wow, even when my kids were little it was not like this. I dressed them up in cute little costumes and taught them how to say thank you.
I am very disappointed and glad that Halloween is over with! I sure can't wait for thanksgiving.