Oh how excited I am that Christmas is over.  I am not happy that my hours got cut at work but I am happy that the hustle and bustle of the month is over.  I felt really overwhelmed.  Now this week’s check will be nice but still….not sure I could have done that another month.

Many parents out there spent tons of money on the latest and greatest of toys.  Went to the store with a list in hand and stressed about getting THE right toy.  Tony and I played the game a little different.  With 4 kids we certainly could not afford to go hog wild on gifts.  I know what my kids like and I got what we could afford.  The best part is the toys they loved the most are these $3.50 flashlights and some $5 book bags.

Tony and I have discussed on numerous occasions that we don’t want our kids to be raised thinking Christmas is about the gifts.  We want them to understand the holidays are a time to be with family.  To spend quality time together.  If we start them off young not getting in to the hype of all the expensive gifts then it won’t be so bad as they get older. 

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  My Fall semester at school is come and (almost) gone.  Christmas is on its way.  I didn’t procrastinate this year in buying gifts.  Tony and I decided not to get the lil ones anything we weren’t willing to throw away in a couple months when we move.  I ended up going to Family Dollar and spending some money on some toys.  I got some cars for Max, action figures for Lil Tony, and baby dolls for Isabel.  Nicki of course will get clothes and maybe an e-reader.  See a couple months back she rented books from the library and forgot to return them, racked up a $65 fine.  YIKES!  So this way she can rent an e-book and when it is “due” it will just become no longer available to read.  Cool huh! I kinda want one.  LOL!

I have been reading my friends blogs and getting some holiday gift ideas for my kids.  My friends are  all crafty so I am getting ideas on things I can make.  I can make games, stuff like memory and learning activities.  My lil ones won’t know any better if they are bought or made.  I want them to get excited about Christmas but not be over excited about the gifts.  My family isn’t really religious but my favorite part about Christmas used to be that all my family would get together.  The  one time of year, all my cousins, aunts, and uncles would all gather at my grandmas.  I LOVED it.  I mean the gifts were nice but I never really got anything way cool, ya know.  Like my parents wouldn’t go out on Black Friday to get the latest and greatest new toys.  I got books and clothes and maybe one or two toys from my dad.  My mom would get pretty cool toys and my grandma would get a toy or two, after all she did have 11 grandchildren.  LOL!! So it wasn’t really about the gifts.  And I certainly don’t want it to be about gifts for my kids either.  I mean I know kids at lil Tony’s age that “need” certain name brand toys and video games.  By the time Tony and I are both working decent jobs, the lil ones will be getting older where we will have to spend a little more just because $5 toys will no longer be right for them, ya know.  Might need to buy a Nintendo DS or something but they won’t get a TON of things is all I am saying.

Anywho, I am happy to say that I am almost  done shopping and December isn’t even here yet.  LOL!

I just can’t believe Thanksgiving is over.  We had a great day!!!  Now to focus on finishing this semester and getting things together for Christmas.  Nicki will be home this Christmas and I am super excited.  I bought a bunch of presents for he kids a week ago and now I just need to get some stuff for Nicki.  She mostly wants clothes.  We are trying to convince her she wants an e-reader too but for some reason she doesn’t seem interested.  She needs some new shoes too, maybe some justin boots, who knows.  All I know is we aren’t going to go all out for Christmas this year.  Oh, I totally forgot, when I was at work last week the nicest lady came through my line and she was buying some wooden puzzles.  The puzzles rang up for a penny which items frequently do and when I mentioned it she was in shock.  She mentioned that I needed to get some before they sold out.  I advised employees are not allowed to take advantage of the penny deals.  So she went back and bought 7 puzzles and she left me her phone number.  I worked late so I called her the next day.  We met down the  street and she gave me the puzzles.  I though it was SUPER nice. So that is more presents for the kids.  I think I just need to get a few things for lil Tony and then Nicki’s stuff and we will be set. 

What day is today?  What month are we in?  Sheesh, the time is flying.  I can’t believe it is almost Halloween.  I can’t believe Christmas is almost here.  I can’t believe my Fall semester is half over.  Why is time flying by?  I haven’t even begun to think about Christmas.  What to get my 4 children on a budget.  Well let’s see I take that back, I have thought a little bit about it.  I thought about making some cute gifts, memory game cards and some other learning activity gifts.  We still plan on moving next summer and will  be throwing away all the kids toys at that time so I certainly don’t want to buy anything expensive.  I bought the kids some balloons the other day, cost me $0.97 and they were happy for days.  LOL!!  They are just too young to care how much stuff costs.  They are too young to even realize whether they got a lot or a little amount of gifts.

Nicki will be the only one I will really worry about with gifts.  She is a teenager and although not in to expensive clothes or electronics, I certainly don’t want to skimp on her gifts.  Last year most of the gifts were bought as a family and only a few individual gifts.  Not sure we will be able to do the same this year.

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  We will be getting rid of all our decorations when we move but I can assure you when we move and buy all new stuff (decorations)  I will be loading up on Christmas decor.  I also love personalized and handmade Christmas tree ornaments and decorations.  Maybe I could get a couple personal stocking stuffers for the kids.   I will miss the cooler weather when the holidays come.  The cold weather makes it feel like Christmas. 

I can’t wait for the holidays!!!

WOW, the last two weeks have been crazy.  I just can’t believe it is September.  I can’t believe Christmas is less than 4 months away.  Before I know it we will be celebrating the new year.

The holidays are totally going to come and go.  I already see Halloween decorations and candy in stores.  I asked Lil Tony what he wanted to be for Halloween and he said Mario.  He told me what he wanted the rest of the family to be.  Daddy will be Luigi.  Nicki will be Kuupa, Isabel will be a Princess, and Max will be the Mushroom.  AND mommy will be taking the pictures.  LOL!

If we lived somewhere that we had friends or something I could send out Halloween invitations.  I would probably make them, I hardly ever make those kinds of cards but I know it would be fun. 

The next couple weeks will probably be pretty busy with school work and such.  I will try to be back tomorrow. 

Today is Monday which means Tony should have had off because that is what he arranged through work (to coordinate with our school schedule) but because it is a holiday he had to go to work for a little bit.  He chose to go in super early so he can get off super early.

Yesterday was supposed to be our fireworks celebration at the park in town but around 5:30pm it started pouring, lightning and thundering.  I was convinced that the celebration at the park was going to be canceled.  It cleared up around 6:30/7.  I put the kids to bed thinking they would make it up on their rain day but at 9:20pm from the distance (in the direction of the park) I heard loud “booms” and the sky was all lit up from fireworks.  They had the celebration anyways.  Now the only real place to watch the fireworks at the park is in the grass.  Who wants to sit in the wet and muddy grass.  Not me and my family that’s for sure.  I was bummed though because now we won’t be able to see them.  This is the first time we lived somewhere long enough to attend a fun event more than one year.  This would have been our 3rd time attending.  We will be moving next summer but not until August so hopefully we will be able to go next year.

Today we are laying low until Tony gets home, hopefully around 2pm, and then we are going to go to a BBQ at his friends house.  I am excited to get out of the house.  We were supposed to go to one of my friends house yesterday for her son’s 2nd b-day party but I had the worst headache.  I ended up laying down, taking a nap, and didn’t wake until around 3 or 4.  I felt bad but I certainly could not have been social with my head feeling like it did.

Then to top not going to the b-day party, the fireworks were canceled.  I felt so bummed.  But today should be a better day and I am excited to go to the BBQ.  Hopefully it doesn’t rain today. 

The holiday is over.  Boy oh boy did the time fly by.  Nicki has been in IL since Tuesday.  Since she was in IL we decided to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.  The lil ones are still young enough to not understand when Christmas really is. 

Since Tony had off Christmas Eve and Day we thought it would be good to do that.  We woke up Christmas Eve and went downstairs and opened gifts.  The kids loved their gifts.  The main toy was a Wii and a kitchen play set.  We ate breakfast and then Tony (and I) spent the next 2 hours putting together the kitchen play set.  When I first bought it I thought it came with pretend food but when we were putting it together I realized it only had plastic kitchen utensils, plates and cookware. 

So we got the kitchen play set together and then Tony set up the Wii.  After all that was done we sent the kids to play.  Tony and I got busy cooking/baking.  We decided that when classes start we just get too busy to concern ourselves with cooking a big dinner.  We thought it would be good to prepare meals and freeze them. 

Our freezer is filled to the top with food.  In the past week we have made, 30 enchiladas, 3 pans of stuffed shells, 2 lasagnas, a cheesecake, 17 mini cheesecakes, 18 personal pizzas, a handful of waffles, a pan of cinnamon rolls, plus our Christmas dinner.  We have been busy.  I am hoping to make more stuff next week when Tony is off. 

I think having these meals that all we have to do is pop in the over will help greatly.  Plenty of days I get home from school and don’t want to even think about dinner. 

It was really rough not having Nicki here for the holiday, I can say for sure that I won’t allow her to go visit family any other Christmas’.  LOL