Fair Trade sale!

Just in case you didn't get all you wanted for Christmas, I received a postcard from CRS Fair Trade/SERRV with a promo code for 25% off everything (except cases of chocolate) at crsfairtrade.org. This link will take you directly to their online catalog - http://www.agreatergift.org/crs
The postcard says "Mention code F08325 when you call in your order, or enter it into the coupon box during online checkout. Discount will be applied to final billing, but not shown online." (-I have email confirmation that it's okay to share the code). Also, my birthday is in February.
(Editing to add that the sale goes thru Jan. 17th)

Merry Christmas

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." - Luke 1:46-55

Zach's 1st Haircut!

At 15 months 2 days old, Zach had his first haircut yesterday, Dec. 22. As with Michael and Nicky, I put it off as long as I could, since that first cut can make babies look like (*gasp*) toddlers. He still has plenty of hair left to frizz up in the mornings, so I'm not too despondent.

My favorite Christmas Classic

heard at my house

Yesterday Michael came breezing in the room and said:
"Mom you wanna see the special features of the steering mechanism of this car I'm making?"
(Say what?!)
A lengthy explanation of his Lego creation's said features ensued.

Today he asked me if I knew lawn mowers only had one cylinder.
(Can't say I've ever given it a moment's thought.)

Adrienne asked if I could get a girl baby in my tummy because her brothers are driving her nuts.
(Sorry kiddo - no thanks. Y'all drive me nuts too.)

Zachary dumped cereal all over the kitchen floor 3 times in 2 days.
(Sigh)

Daddy and Nicky are in the kitchen at present, making jello cookies. Nicky cracked an egg all over the counter & floor before I came downstairs. I'm going to hide down here for a while.

things that make me happy

So Kelly says I gotta blog 6 things that make me happy. I've had some ideas festering in my head for a few days. I decided it's too much mental work to come up with the absolute top 6, so here are some of my random occasions of felicity, in no particular order.

normalcy - this turned out to be an exercise in blessing-counting. I'm glad to get through the day without any catastrophes.

date nights with my hubby - way too rare.

sweets consumption - probably seems frivolous, but so be it.

trips around the country or in the backyard - I'm not well traveled, so even small trips to conventional destinations are exciting. Think the Black Hills, Chicago, St. Louis, the Mall of America...

baby smiles - 'nuff said.

that one commercial with the runaway shopping cart - I don't remember what was actually advertised. For some reason I got a kick out of that silly cart rolling all around town.

Christmas trees and Monster Jam rallies

On Saturday we bundled the kids up and headed out to cut down our Christmas tree at a local nursery. It's kind of weird that one of the traditions of the season involves everyone grabbing a hacksaw when they walk into a public place. Actually, I’m not sure if it was a hacksaw, cuz I’m a chick and I don’t know my saws. Don’t care enough to google it either. Anyway, I snapped before and after shots for posterity, and for my loyal readers.

Later that night, Nate took Michael and Nicky to a Monster Jam rally. I meant to insist that Nate take the camera and get a few good shots, but I forgot. I'm bummed. I can hardly think of anything more blog-able than a Monster Jam truck show. Never fear, I'll post a stock photo of Grave Digger:

Apparently this big bad truck is a wimp. He lost a tire at one point, and the engine would cut sometimes after landing a jump. Probably some sort of safety mechanism. Loser.

one of those weeks

...been busy running the kids around this week. We had a few inches of snow a couple days ago that mucked up the roads more than a few inches of snow should, so the trips to preschool and faith formation and basketball were exciting.

Zachary got into the garbage today. This is not a new phenomenon. The trash can isn't big enough to hold everything the bag can, so as you can see, it sits in the corner being filled up to the brim and is then raided by our resident 14 month old.

I took this picture in the heat of the moment. It doesn't show the extent of his pillaging. Now that I've had time to cool off a bit and concede that a pile of refuse is probably irresistible to any one year old, I'm only interested in renting him out.