Trim the Tree

I have my children to thank for this one. I love how they are getting big enough to put up and decorate the tree now without my help! Big D put it together, Miss M helped fluff out the branches, and then Lil D and The Princess joined her in hanging the ornaments. When we moved into our new house, we knew exactly where we wanted to put the tree ~ in the bay window. It was a perfect little cubby for the tree, and everyone driving down the street can see it all lit up. It looks so pretty from the inside and out! I still have to find a wreath for the front door and put some lights out front. It's fun decorating in a new house this year. What about you? What kind of decorating have you done so far? Do you enjoy decorating for Christmas or Hanukkah?

They're calling for snow today...mixed with rain, but snowflakes nonetheless. My kids are so excited about the first "snowfall" even though I don't think we will get much. We only saw snow one time in our 3 years in southern Arkansas. My kids were shocked and disappointed when it was melted and gone by the next day...they were used to snow that stuck around for awhile! They are really looking forward to snow this year, wearing their snowpants and boots again, and finding a big hill to go sledding on! Does it snow where you live? Love it or hate it? I love the first snowfall, but by the end of February, and sometimes even late March, I'm sick of the snow and ready for Spring. I don't drive in the snow, it's hard enough driving here in dry weather. So when it snows, we stay home..except for Big D who plows in the winter time. We play in the snow, then we come in and watch movies, bake cookies, & drink hot cocoa. If Big D is out plowing all night, the kids will all pile in bed and sleep with me. I'm looking forward to the first big snowfall, bigger than what today should bring. It's been awhile, and it should be a lot of fun, and another reason to happy to be back in Jersey!




**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**

The Homeschool Desk ~ My Homeschool Blog

I was contacted recently for a feature in The Examiner for my homeschool blog: The Homeschool Desk for their Early Childhood Education Activities: Where to find Inspiration column. I was honored to be asked to participate. I was asked about The Homeschool Desk blog, as well as where I get my ideas and inspiration, and my philosophies and advice on education. Here's a link to the article HERE. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to view the slideshow! Please feel free to "tweet" this link or to share with your homeschool friends. Thank you!




**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**

Holiday Weekend Wrap-Up

Whew! The holiday weekend sure flew by! Sadly, I spent most of it on the couch or in bed with a bad head cold, that I've now passed on to Big D. I'm finally starting to feel a little better today. Hopefully I won't get my kids sick. We had a nice Thanksgiving with my family. The first in several years. It was nice to pick up where we left off. Lil D injured himself while playing kickball with his cousins in my dad's backyard, but other than that, it was uneventful. The day flew by..

I don't do Black Friday. How about you? I'm not saying I've never done Black Friday. I'm just saying I don't do it anymore. Especially here. Too many people, too much traffic, and I'm just talking about any ol' day of the year. So most of the day on Friday I stayed home with the kids. Big D had an early day at work, so when he came home around 1:00, exclaiming how there was hardly any traffic on the roads, we decided it was safe to venture out to the stores. Most of the sales are at the crack of dawn, and hopefully everyone had gone home by now. We were right.

We headed out to Burlington Coat Factory to shop for winter coats for the girls. It's going to be really cold here soon, and they really needed new warm coats. Lil D's still fit from last year, so he was off the hook. We found The Princess a coat on sale that she loved right away. She's easy to shop for, we like the same things. Miss M, who happens to be a little more particular, had to wait til the next day so we could go to the mall and find her one. The mall. Gosh, I hate the mall...but Miss M loves it, so she drags me there every now and then to shop for clothes. And, as it turns out, it was worth the trip, because we did have some luck finding her a nice warm Land's End down coat at Sears.

To thank me for my trips to the mall with her, she went to Kohl's with me ~ my favorite store to shop for myself. I hadn't been in a Kohl's in over 3 years. The one in Arkansas was over an hour away. And, I hated the drive so I never went. I can't believe I lived that far from my favorite clothing store. Anyway...I tried on several sweaters in various colors while Miss M gave me her honest opinion. A wonderful thing about shopping with my teenage daughter is that she will tell me honestly how something looks on me. And, she was so patient while I tried on several different styles. Not like when I am shopping with her. I'm usually, "hurry up! are you almost done? that looks fine! let's go already!". I am not a big fan of shopping for clothes, can you tell? I would seriously hire a personal shopper for myself if I could afford one. Lately, Miss M has been my personal shopper, picking out stuff that she thinks would look nice on me, crinkling her nose up her nose at stuff Big D thinks would look nice on me. She can put an outfit together lickety-split. I told her she's like Brunette Barbie. She's got an eye for fashion, that's for sure, and she loves to shop for clothes. Don't know where she gets that from, but it's definitely not from me! When we go out together, I feel under dressed, if that gives you any indication! But after shopping at Kohl's that day, I feel a little better. I found some beautiful sweaters on sale, and I saved over a hundred dollars! woo hoo! There weren't any lines either. On Black Friday, no less. Not bad..I say.

The rest of the weekend I spent lounging with Big D and the kids, crocheting, and reading. I crocheted some dishcloths for the kitchen. And in between that, I finished 2 books by Nicholas Sparks, my favorite author. The first one is called The Rescue, and the second one is Dear John, which is being made into a movie coming out in February. Both good love stories, and I just enjoy the way Nicholas Sparks writes. The Notebook is my favorite book of all time. I just started True Believer yesterday, also written by him. It was a nice relaxing weekend, despite the fact that I was sick.

So how did you spend your holiday weekend? Anything exciting? Find any good Black Friday deals? Or do you prefer shopping online? I love shopping online. It means I don't have to go to the store or even leave the house. The Internet is a wonderful thing.




**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**

Message in a Bottle..

How I had often thought of doing something like this when I was a child. This is incredible! Check this out!





**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**

Thanksgiving ~ a time for looking back..

I've had a lot of time to think lately (hard to believe, I know...). It's been almost 5 months since our move. We're adjusting. Slowly. I've been thinking about Arkansas a lot lately. Why? I don't know. Sometimes I'll be driving around, and think to myself, how did we get here? I live here? How did we end up living here again? It's almost surreal, like a dream. Something I never pictured would happen. Yet, here we are. I'm a Jersey girl, through and through, yet some part of me is somewhere else these days...

With a major holiday like Thanksgiving coming up this week, I've taken some time to reflect on what I'm thankful for. Moving has been hard at times, stressful, and difficult for us all at different moments. It's something Big D and I chose to do, but circumstances more or less left us with only one choice. It's something that has changed our lives and will affect us forever, especially my children, and that truly gives me pause. It creates an ache in my heart I can't explain into words, but it's there. Big D and I have made so many life-changing decisions the past few years, that I think it's beginning to take its toll on our family. Don't fret for us though, we're making it, thanks to our faith in God, and support we have in each other. We thankfully have a strong marriage and a strong bond with our children that helps us weather these storms. We have grown closer as a couple and a family as we tend to do in hard times. But, still...I find myself concerned about many things, most of all the well-being of my children through all of this and the effect it's had on them. When a big decision is made like this, it's hard not to think "what if..". It's that little nagging voice that hangs around to bug you and make you doubt yourself.

God gets us through, but there are so many days that it hurts to know that we had to leave friends behind again, and a life as well. A life that we were finally starting to enjoy in Arkansas. I re-read this today. I needed to put it all into perspective. How is it that I finally came around to making Arkansas my home, and letting go, only to suddenly have the rug pulled out from under me? Maybe that was the lesson He was teaching me, after all. It's like they say, once you stop looking for a lost item, it shows up on its own later usually while you're looking for something else? Once I finally decided to give Arkansas 100% of my effort, my job was done. His job was done, once I just let Him. I get it. I understand. But, it still affects people more than just me. I know it's not meant for me to know everything God has planned for our family, but lately I just feel like where are we going here? What is going on? When will we feel settled and secure? When will our life be "normal" again? What is normal?

So, this Thanksgiving, instead of having doubts and regrets, I've decided to be thankful. I'm thankful for many things. My devoted and loving husband, my sweet, resilient children, our extended family, our friends near and far, our home, my blog and Internet friends, and all of our blessings that are too many to count. But, I'm also thankful for this blog. I used to scrapbook years ago, but after having our third child, then homeschooling, it got pushed aside for other things. This blog is my scrapbook now. A way to record our family's times together. And, looking back, I'm glad I have this record of our time in Arkansas. Even during the rough times, I can appreciate the fun we had and the friendships gained. I've been spending some time reading my posts from back then. Some make me laugh, and some make me want to cry. But, it's a way to keep the memories alive in my heart. Here's some of my favorite posts...enjoy, and I pray that you are blessed this Thanksgiving and have much to be thankful for! And, if you remember please say a prayer, for my family, for my children..that time will work in our favor and we will finally feel "at home" again...soon.

My thoughts on the ramblings of the local paper now that I think about it, I kind of miss this kind of news.

Things I've learned from living in Arkansas and boy, did I have a lot to learn!

Don't try this in a small town. seriously. don't.

Not just for my amusement. southern entertainment at its best

My thoughts from last Thanksgiving..wow, it seems like a lifetime ago, and yes, in case you're wondering I earned my free turkey this year from Shop-Rite.

Babies everywhere...and getting over my fear of snakes. Green Acres is the life for me. Who ever would have guessed?

A baseball celebration or rather how we spent most of our time during our 3 years in Arkansas.

Friends and sleepovers friends and times we'll never forget, and we miss dearly.

Girlfriends and why I don't recommend moving cross-country with a teenager.

All of our hard work I can't say I miss the leaky roof and the tons of work that needed to be finished, but I'm really proud of what we did accomplish in our time there.

Things I've learned And, He ain't done with me yet!

Saying goodbye, my last post from The Natural State a surprise, even to me.

Our new home awaits us. very thankful for this one this year.

Moving to the Suburbs..and a new adventure begins! You can take the kids out of the country, but...well you know the rest.

Thanks for stopping by, for reading, for taking the time to leave me a comment. I'm thankful for each and every one of you!

Have a thankful and blessed Thanksgiving. I know even through all we've been through, I have so much to be thankful for. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?



**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**

I heart my blog friends!

I have been so blessed because of this blog. I have met so many people near and far, and I treasure each and every person that takes the time to read and comment and reach out to me in friendship. I have made many friends that I would not have otherwise if I had not started blogging. The Internet is an amazing thing, huh?

Another blessing is that Miss M has also made a friend and a pen pal thanks to the bloggy world. Her name is Jessica, and she is Lindsay's daughter over at the Cross-Stitch-House blog. I met Lindsay through my in-real-life friend and blogger Angie in Arkansas who blogs here. Angie was the first real person I knew that blogged, and she helped me a lot when I was just starting out as a blogger, and basically had no clue what I was in for. And, the rest as they say...is history.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes!

I've enjoyed corresponding with Lindsay, and she's always so kind to send me a little something in the mail now and then. This time, however, Miss M was the one who got a surprise from Jessica in the mail! In the package was a letter, and a CD that Jessica made of her favorite music for Miranda to listen to, and Jessica even designed the CD cover as well! She also included a postcard of the town that they live in. Thanks Jessica and Lindsay, we're so blessed to have you as our friends! And, we love surprises in the mail! You girls rock! Big hugs and thanks to you both from across the pond! If you're a blogger, how has blogging blessed you? C'mon, tell me! I really wanna know!






**All original photos and text belong to Green Acres**