Liar Liar Pants on Fire

*If you are one of my kids reading this, do as I say, not as I do. Lying is never a good thing. Always tell the truth.
Two confessions for you today:

1. I hate clutter, especially paper clutter. Don't get me wrong, I don't go to other peoples houses and notice their clutter. Just mine. With school aged kids, it is an inevitable part of life. Spelling words papers, important notes, science fair project rules, upcoming book report details, field trip info, etc. Don't forget my shopping list, to-do list, and more.

2. I lie to my 5 year olds. Every day. Don't judge. In fact, you should thank me. (That's right, I am doing someone a favor. Maybe that cancels out the lie! Why didn't I think of that before?!)
Here is why: Their activity of choice, is drawing, cutting, gluing, anything that involves making something with paper for someone. Anyone, cousins, primary teachers, grandparents, siblings, friends, classmates, even people they hardly know. If I gave each of you half of what they made for you/your kids, you might have a problem with clutter, also! It's not all for other people, it is sometimes a map or just a picture they have created. Some get hung on their board, some on the walls, some on their dressers, floors and counter tops.
I do make them clean up their mess but throughout the day I go around a pick up a stray paper or two, discreetly put it in the garbage can underneath some strategically placed garbage so as not to get caught. Same thing at night after all the creating is done. Usually everything goes smoothly and no one seems to care. Every once in a while I get a "Mom, where is this paper I drew for _____?"
An example: Last week the kids and I went to visit my parents overnight. Joe was working so we thought it would be fun for each of the kids to write little notes and put them around the house for him to find. The next day when we got home the notes were left on the counter so I tossed them. When Joe got home that night he was telling them how much he loved their notes. I played dumb until one of them noticed they were gone and asked if I put them in my cedar chest (the place special papers go). I lied and told them yes.
So there you have it, I am OCD about papers and I lie to to 5 year olds.

Santa Clause

Because we have a nice friend that helps out Santa Clause this time of year when he can't be to all the places he needs to be, Santa Clause makes a stop to our house each year. It is magical to watch the faces of the two kids that still think Santa is really cool when they see him walk in the door.

Gone Fishin'

These are old pictures I discovered while going through pictures today. We took advantage of the fall weather while the kids were on break in October to go fishing at Enterprise Reservoir.
It was one of those didn't-turn-out-how-we-planned-it trips but still fun.










Check out the huge fish Braelynn caught!










There is a really nice picnic area close to the lake with fun rocks/caves to climb in and around so we took a picnic dinner with us but after we got done fishing and were starving we found out it was closed. It was getting dark quickly and we couldn't find a place to grill our hot dogs so we just headed home and had our picnic inside.





And...of course, here is Sam. Asleep. This time she had a legitimate excuse, sort of. She got stung by a wasp at our original destination (New Castle Reservoir). It was swarming with them so we quickly headed over to Enterprise reservior.

Santa Fun

Ever ran a 5k? In the cold? In a santa suit? I have. Yesterday.
Why? Because I couldn't withstand peer pressure.
I honestly didn't want to do it, but beside the fact that I hate to run and am a really really (I mean, I could almost walk as fast as I run) slow runner it was a lot of fun.
There was me, Joe, Tyler, my Dad, Brother Alma, SIL Matti, and some dear friends of ous who moved away 6 months ago, Rachael and Mike.