We made it!

Friday was the nature trail hike with the 1st graders. Oh boy! It was longer than I remember. And it was FREEZING! For being October, it was bitter - icy humid cold. CJ got to ride in my Kelty kids back pack for a while, then he walked, then one of the other moms (whose husband is also a hodgkins lymphoma stage 2 survivor like me) helped carry CJ when he was going to slow and didn't want to be in the pack. It was beautiful even though a lot of the red leaves had already fallen. The children were pretty well behaved. We were the last class out of 5. HK sat next to her cousin for lunch. Then we all loaded back on the buses and headed home. They dropped off those of us who drove back to our cars and I ran errands with the kids. We went to Anderson's Seed store to see if their Christmas displays were up. A few trees, but no C9 lights like we were looking for. I got the price. Then I went to Lowes. The price was about $1.50 less per 24 feet and it included all white lights. I wanted to do red and green and white. So at least I had every 3rd light included. I mixed it up with a few multi-color strands and only had to add a few - the individual bulbs were 5 cents cheaper at Lowes too. Sorry Andersons - I'll still buy my plants from you - better price, better condition, bigger and healthier for sure at Andersons. ANYWAY, I got all of my lights for the outside of my house for less than it would have cost me to buy a nice large wreath to put on the wood beams in our entry way. And I know a few of you are wondering why I am worried about Christmas lights already. We need to get them up while it is warm. Ok so it snowed a few inches here this past weekend (my parents came back from Switzerland this morning to find 8 inches on their driveway!) It'll warm up later this week and those lights will be going up! Besides, there is something about lights that help me stay in the holiday spirit when it is all dark and dreary out and we didn't have any last year. Our old lights were half out and had white strands. Our old house had white trim. This house has dark brown trim and since we needed new lights anyway, this was the perfect time to do so. So this year, the day after Thanksgiving, the lights will be on. I want to add a garland to the banister but that will just have to wait until next year. I pretty much have the kids presents purchased. And Tyler and I are fine with nothing but what our parents and siblings give us. I already have custom made presents for our moms, and I am working on the ones for our siblings. We got grass this year (hydro-seed) and that is so wonderful I can hardly contain myself. Besides, I really want to put mulch in the flower beds next year and we are saving up for that. I am going to relax and enjoy this holiday. I am going to have the time to give service, whatever that may be. I am going to spend more time studying the scriptures this holiday season. I do have one project I will be working on - a digital scrapbook design for cancer patients. Keep an eye out for that - part of the profits will go directly toward cancer research. Anyway, I better get to work! Hope you all are doing well! Take care