Can the Tooth Fairy live with us?

Jacob has three teeth that are dangling, hanging,
out of his mouth. He is constantly pulling on them,
feeling it with his tongue, and the new permanent teeth are coming
in so the loose teeth are sticking straight out.

I need to take his baptism pictures to send out the invitations

but it is hard to take Jacob seriously in a church suit
with 2 teeth sticking StRaIGHTt OUT! This picture does not show the side profile!

So, Jacob was at school yesterday playing with his friends and a girl
kicked him in the face (it was an accident, mom!) and knocked the not-sticking straight out tooth out. So Jacob is excited about the tooth fairy coming and
made a long list of questions for her.

First, he tells her (the tooth fairy) that he LOVES her, so sweet! Then he asks
if she will pull out his front tooth. That would be a very brave tooth fairy!

Jacobs's questions Kristy's answers

1. what is your name? Kristy

2. do you have any pets? yes

3. are you a boy or girl? girl

4. do you have wings? yes

5. do you have any family? yes

6. do you like being a tooth fairy? yes!

7. where do you live? fairyland

8. can you please leave me a star wars lego set and a dollar circle yes or no

well, the tooth fairy must have thought the question was about leaving the dollar, but jacob is searching the house, like a boy with a mission, to find this star wars lego set.

jacob woke us up at 7:30 am to tell us about the letter and asks
stephen to help find the lego set.

I love this age and all the excitement with santa, tooth fairy, and coming up is the ever cleaver leprechaun trap.

i hope you do this with your kids! you make a trap to catch a
sneaky leprechaun
and then he leaves some gold behind,
because they are SOOOO hard to catch!

Ode to the Vacuum Part II

I guess my sweet husband was tired of seeing my new Oreck in the box.

So, this weekend he put it together for me and took my old vacuum away.

I tried the Oreck and it is light weight so there ya go! I guess he will need to find a new Valentine's gift. Maybe he could give me the new coat I bought at Old Navy. It was regulary $99.50! Would I pay that, heck no! Not $49 or $25, it was only $17. Yes, a new coat! I've had my little red riding one since my college days.

This is cute and cheap, score!

Reading for Fun!

I loved it when a new magazine would come in the mail. I love books. I remember when we lived in a town of 250 people, the book mobile would come every couple weeks! I could hardly wait because there was a new adventure waiting. In 2009, I read over 20 books. Some of my favorite were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Running Up the Mountain.

I love this quote...You'll be the same person you were last year, except for the books you read and the people you meet.

I read with two book groups, so it keeps me on my toes. I constantly have at least 3 books that are partly finished.

Over the last several years I have thought about the idea of less is more. Less clothes that I don't LOVE, and a few that I do love. Less toys around the house, less mess, and more conversations, and connecting with my children through games and reading.

So when I saw this free book from one of my favorite blogs I thought of you! Do you like a free book mobile that comes to your computer????

Free ebook: Thriving on Less--Simplifying in a Tough Economy

Download a free copy of Thriving on Less--Simplifying in a Tough Economy here.

What are some of your favorite books and how did they move you?

Ode to the Vacuum

I have a little secret, if I tell you do you promise to not laugh? Promise!

I love to vacuum. I usually vacuum several times a week. I've thought about this obsession and decided that it relates to instant gratification. Whip out the vacuum and in minutes everything looks better, cleaner, happier, and I feel good!

We have never bought a vacuum. I know that sounds confusing. Let me explain... we received a vacuum as a wedding gift and it lasted from June 1909, just teasing to see if you are watching, June 1996 until December 2003 when the movers broke it.

The Allied moving company gave us the money to money a new one and I did my research with Consumer Reports like every good child of Owen Berrett's should do ;) After borrowing my neighbors for a couple weeks, I finally took the plung and used the moving reimbursement to buy a new eureka smart boss vacuum. I am in love with this vacuum and it has treated me well.


How have a I treated the vacuum, not so well. I've run over the cord and had to use some eletrician's tape to bandage it. I am ALWAYS vacuuming up accidentally, way too big to fit up that little hole, stuff! If you smell burning rubber, it is me! I vacuumed up Madeline's sock and for the life of me I can not find it in the vacuum. I took it apart and searched everywhere but it is gone! Oh, and the plastic release button at the bottom broke off, so now the vacuum will not stay in an upright and locked position (I know it sounds like I am an airline attendant).

So my sweet mother-in-law, asked my husband "what does Tonya need for Christmas?" His reply "a new vacuum". So sure enough there is a big book Christmas morning with this beauty in it. Well, it's been 3 weeks and it still is in the box. I just can't seem to open it up, why? I'm not ready to end this love affair with the smart boss. I feel like I might be cheating on him, is that weird?

I know I need to let the poor thing go but I'm not quite ready. Maybe Stephen can wrap it up and I can open it on Valentine's Day and then I'll be ready! I know it's a really, nice, light-weight vacuum.... some day.

More Memories

here was our morning. i just asked the kids to savor the moment and they truly did!

6:47 am eat Christmas crunch cereal

7:03 am mom and dad get dressed and ready, kids stayed in their new pj's

7:32 am start opening gifts and enjoy each one (the secret is have them open a toy first so they will enjoy putting it together and playing with it for a while)

10:15 am still opening and enjoying gifts

11:30 am pause for lunch

12:45 pm still opening and enjoying gifts

2 pm we go upstairs to see the santa gifts and open them to find...... a WII. oh, my heavens who bought us a Wii, because mom would never do that she thinks we spend to much time on TV and compute as it is. Santa, you are pretty sneaky ;)


yes, he is excited! every gift that is opened, he starts chanting.. lego, lego!
this was madeline's big gift, the american girl cookstove. thankfully, ag had a sale in december with this puppy 1/2 price, yes!
the cute fruit for canning on the cookstove. do you notice the cool ninja belt i have one. compliments of jacob's new dress up costume. it was 90% off from target's after halloween sale!
madeline has told me all year that she would love a robe for Christmas. so i found this at kohl's and it is cute and cozy. she kept saying, i love my robe.
and for the grand finale, the wii! the kids loved making up all the goofy characters. jacob's guy is named ????? and his eyes and at the bottom of his face and his mouth is on the top of his head. no wonder his name is ??? the guy is seriously confused!

Favorite Christmas Memories

We always make a Gingerbread house. We love this tradition. We go to Win-Co and look at all the eye candy and each person picks 3 candies for a total of 12 delicious dandies.

This year we used the chocolate-covered sunflower seeds as our Christmas "lights". So cute!

Jacob's add in was this gummy bear rappelling off our house.


We had some snow in the middle of December and it happened on a saturday so i ran to target and bought our very first sled. how could we live this long without one, kind neighbors who let us borrow one. no more, we are proud owners of the Avalanche Mover 2000.


on Chirstmas Eve, our children beg us to open the gift they bought for each other. we use this as a motivator tool to clean the house from top to bottom. numerous times during the day, you can hear "is it time yet?" to which we answer, nope, more cleaning ;) aren't we mean!

madeline gave jacob a webkinz toy, he was so excited. jacob gave madeline a littlest pet shop toy. for a fhe night, we go to target and the kids use their allowance to buy the toy. first, we walk around the store and pick out 5 things that we like. then we separate and make the agonizing decision of what to buy.

then, all the gifts go up here on our "gift shelf" so there is no lego shaking!!!! jacob is famous for this one! i sewed up these cute "gift bags" for Christmas. they are made out of fabric with a ribbon tie. super cute, easy, and reusable, yes!
this is what kept jacob occupied until 2 pm. when the kids woke up at 6:44 am i gave them a little pep talk about "savoring" Christmas and enjoying every moment. it only comes around once a year ya know.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

i bought this christmas village at a garage sale 5 years ago. we always put it on my grandmother's goldleafed table. i love the miniature people.
i bought some christmas ornaments and hung them outside with satin ribbon. i wanted something beautiful to look at during the day. my sweet husband is taking care of the night lights. he has put up over 8000 lights!!! i'll take a picture and post it later.

beautiful!
here is my cute girl with hairy! we love our cute little guy. hopefully santa will put something in his stocking. madeline made a cute stocking for him last year. he loves dog biscuits.

sorry it's been a month since i've posted. mytagbag.com business (cute temple bags) has been crazy, busy so I've been mailing packages. Merry Christmas if I don't talk to you before then!