wiww-frugal fashionista

When the kids have a day off from school, one of my best friends and I gather our boys and head to Sea World. We both have 3 boys relatively close in age so we just get each other. I truly love that about her.

It was a perfect fall day here in Southern California; not too warm and not too hot. It was just right. Although I dream of moving elsewhere often (probably too often), days like these make me count living here as a blessing.



On a side note, I finished wrapping all of our presents last night. I'm am so very early by my standards. How about you? Are you an early shopper and wrapper or do you wait until the last minute? I have to say that spreading out the shopping and wrapping early has really helped me to feel like there is not always one more thing to do (and buy!).

Happy Wednesday to you!

Much love,
Katie

Linking Up:

the pleated poppy

a christmas reminder

I had big plans for last Friday night.

I saw images of a merry family singing along to Christmas songs on our way to find the perfect Christmas tree.

Instead, we got off to a very late start. I was finishing my mojo chicken noodle soup for a friend who suffered a heart attack this week. She is in her forties and it was discovered that she has a very rare heart disease which caused the attack.

Thank God that her heart will heal on its own and that she is finally home and healing.

Um, talk about putting things into perspective during the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

So as we ordered our children to use the bathroom, get their shoes on, and get in the car while I threw dirty pots into the sink and gathered the soup, salad, and cookies, we all began to crumble.

We weren't even out of the house yet.

On our drive to find the award winning tree, we listened to 3 boys bicker and complain.

We took away minutes for extra playtime.

Threatened to turn around.

It was ugly.

I may have even muttered under my breath, "I hate Christmas."

And as Jack, our wild 4 year old, ran around the tree lot picking up every piece of twine and played hide and go seek behind the trees we were inspecting, I let my frustration boil over and marched him to the car.

My perfect Christmas images and spirit were slowly crashing in sync.



And when we got home, my vision of our family of 5 joyfully decorating the tree, while watching a Christmas movie and munching on popcorn as we took breaks to laugh and chat, crashed too.

Jack was tipping the tree over as he insisted on climbing on the couch arm to reach the highest branches.



Charlie grew frustrated with the ornaments that slipped from his appointed branches.

And well, Luke, chose to put stamps and return labels on our Christmas cards.



Before you think he's all that, you must know that it was a job. He's trying to earn money for a very expensive Lego set. He's had all week to do the job, but he chose tree decorating as the right time.

Eventually, the star was set by Jack. It was his turn this year. It was Jack's 1st time. The star fell down and broke before we even had a chance to photograph it.



But, Kevin who is a handy hubby was able to mend it.

In exhaustion and defeat, we put the boys in their pajamas and crawled into my bed. Each boy picked a story from our Christmas Story box.

I could feel their warm bodies inch towards mine. A sweet shaved headed 5 year old rested his head on my shoulder. I could feel his warm breath.

I felt the tightness subside. My heart was not racing.

It clicked.

This is what Christmas is about.

Our family.

Togetherness.

Simple moments to be grateful for.

Reading stories about the joy of the season in which we celebrate the birth of our King.



My hope is that you may each find the simplicity of the Christmas season.

Much love,
Katie

christmas book box

If you have been following along for awhile, you know I am a freak for traditions.

I LOVE them and I may or may not drive my poor family insane by my inflexibility with them.

One of my favorite traditions in December is for each child to take turns picking out a Christmas book each night. We snuggle on my bed together and read.

Although our books are beautiful and well taken care of, I sadly cannot say the same for the storage box. I've always hidden the old Easy-Ups box in our entry way closet in the previous years.



However, I wanted to display our books without the cost of buying something new to store them in.

So I headed to the Dollar Tree (they should be paying me for endorsements by now) for packing paper. I found ribbon at Michael's, and a glittery candy cane ornament (50% off!) at Khol's.

I have total glitter phobia, so this shows that I really had a vision for the project.

I wrapped the old box and gave the left-overs to my younger guys, Charlie and Jack.



It kept them busy while I finished the box.

I then taped AND hot glued the wide red ribbon.



Next, I layered the velvet green ribbon and hot glued it as well.



The grand finale was hot gluing the ornament. I choose the initial of our last name.




The final product...



I love it. It was so simple and cost me under $10! Now I have something adorable and practical for our Christmas book storage.

Merry Christmas!

Much love,
Katie

Linking up with April.

breathing in time

I tend to live in fast forward.

Always seeking the NEXT.

But there are days when time stops.

We slow down.

We enjoy togetherness.

And the benefits of a slower pace.



There will be a time, when the pogo sticks will get loaded in my trunk and be dropped off at the local thrift store.



The fast forwarding of life will mean boys who no longer spend afternoons creating with chalk.





And they will dream of real life hole-in-ones.



I stop. I stare at them. I freeze the moment.

Time.

I need more of it.

Time.

I need to appreciate it.

Time.

I need to breath it in and feel it as I exhale.

Much love,
Katie

Linking up with Jami.

arrr...a pirate party

I used to choose my kids' birthday themes. I loved taking the reins. But as our family expanded, my energy and need to control such things deflated.

I now ask them what kind of party they are craving and go for it.

As Jack and I were in cruising through Party City one day, he said, "Mama, I want a Pirates of the Caribbean Party."

I paused.

He's never seen the movie, he is way to young to remember going on the ride. But, he's seen Luke's books and LEGO sets.

So POTC (Pirates of the Caribbean) it was.

I've simplified my party planning. It does not come even close to Martha's style or Pinterest. However, it fits my kids' style.

Happy kids=Happy Mom. It works the other way around, too.

We had all that we needed to keep a group of boys and one sweet girl cousin content.

-Open space and sunshine while playing with dear friends and family.



-Pizza, breadsticks, and fruit.



-A homemade treasure map cake. Props to Kevin for executing the design.



-And a treasure hunt.



They had to decode pirate-ese and find the treasure chest stuffed with chocolate coins, which was hidden by the balloons.



The kids left happy. We kept it short and sweet. There were no tears, no overly sugared kids, and no pushing them beyond their limits.

It was just right for birthday guy, Jack.



He rocked his 4th birthday.



Much love,
Katie

the share and care project

Hi Friends!

I am super excited to invite you to join The Share and Care Project. Karen from Happily Ever After and I have a huge desire and vision to reach the homeless this Christmas season. You may have participated in a similar project if you joined the November happy day project at Joy's Hope.

Here's the low down:

Create a gallon size zip lock bag with the following items (just suggestions):

-chapstick (pack of 3 at 99 Cent Store)
-wisps disposible toothbrushes (99 Cent Store)
-deoderant
-gloves (99 Cent Store)
-beanies (99 Cent Store)
-hand or foot warmers (Dollar bins at Target)
-granola bar
-nuts
-raisins
-juice box/water bottle
-Christmas cookies
-Homemade Christmas cards

Since Karen and I live in the same town, we are going to host a Share and Care party with our friends and their children. The children will make all the cards and decorate sugar cookies. However, it can be something you do with your family, neighbors, church, MOPS group, etc.

I will keep my 3 bags (one for each of kids) in my car. When I see someone in need standing outside of Walmart or off a freeway entrance, I will hand them the bag. If you do it with a group, I'm sure you can check with your nearest shelter and see if they accept donations.

Please join us in sharing God's love during the Christmas season as we celebrate the gift of Jesus.

Also, please don't forget to grab a button on the right and share the project on your blog. Let's see how many lives we can bless.



Much love,
Katie

home

I'm not a stay at home kind of girl.

I prefer to be out of the house as much as possible.



Espeically when it means that my 3 guys and I are inside together for a long period of time.

Let's be honest. It usually means there is fighting, tears, and frustration when we're trapped inside too long.

But then there are days when it is seamless.



There is no fighting, tears, or frustration.



Instead we have creativity, preoccupation, and cooperation.





And even a rare willingness to take a pic with me when I point out that we are dressed like twins with our blue tops and black jeans. I didn't even get an eye roll.



Fun times.



What about you? Are you a stay in or go out type?

Much love,
Katie

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