Bolivar Christmas parade

On Saturday, December 11th Rayden set off to referee a wrestling tournament. The rest of us stayed at home and waited patiently until 2:00. Why 2:00 you ask? Because that was when the Bolivar Christmas Parade started. We bundled up and grabbed almost every blanket we own and marched up to the church parking lot. We waited....and waited....and waited for the parade to start. It was late getting off and in all the waiting Kaleb decided that the parade wasn"t worth freezing for so he walked back down to the house and watched a movie. And I must say that after seeing the parade in its entirety I wished I would have joined Kaleb. It was disappointing, to say the least. Most of the floats consisted of pickup trucks pulling flatbed trailers full of bales of hay and freezing kids throwing candy. But, we had fun....and we got lots of candy to show for it. And next year we'll be sure there is at least one awesome float in the parade....SHBC plans to enter one next year!

Advent activities

Our advent calendar...ahem...our homemade advent calendar (thank you very much!) had an activity every day in the month of December. One day the kids came home from school to find a crafty scavenger awaiting them. I starting by writing clues and cutting out all the pieces needed to make a beautiful work of art.

Then I hid the pieces one by one according to the clues. One was in the coldest place in the house...
Another could be found where you might go to watch a movie....

And others made friends with the soap and shampoo...

And once they found all the pieces, they went to work.
(random rabbit trail here....but it's my blog, so you'll just have to deal with it....is my husband a total hottie or what?! Man, I am a blessed woman!)
And together we do make some beautiful babies....if I do say so myself (which I do).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Rayden's family in Branson. We scoured the Black Friday ads looking for the perfect deals. We ate a whole lot of delicious food. And we greatly enjoyed each other's company.

At midnight Tommy, Deanna, Rayden, and I were at Walmart (with everyone else in that region) waiting for the awesome sales to begin. I was shocked that Rayden joined us this year. I ask year after year if he'd like the brave the crowds with me, but his response is normally something like this..."I would rather gouge my own eyeballs out than do that." But this year the stars aligned just right I suppose and he joined us. I scored a Cricut machine, Rayden waited in line for a wii game that we gifted to Tommy for Christmas. And Tommy and Deanna scored some pretty sweet remote controlled cars. After a bit of browsing through Tanger outlets we were home and tucked into bed by 1:30am.

What did Aubri think of the experience? Well, I'm not sure they want her review!

Later that Friday we went for lunch and a show on the Branson Belle. My kids have been on this particular "lake cruise" with their grandparents before, but this was my first time. And let me add that this will have been my only time. It's not that the food wasn't good....it actually was fairly tasty. And although the entertainment was a bit cheesy, I did laugh quite a bit. My vowing to never set foot on the Branson Belle again has everything to do with a cruise they took only a week or so later. This boat took off for their afternoon cruise and got stuck....with no electricity....in the middle of the lake for over 24 hours. There are stories of the patrons ripping the curtains off the stage to wrap up in due to the frigid cold. Let me make myself very clear. I will N E V E R go on that boat again. Just thinking about how I would have reacted to that situation causes me to search for the nearest paper bag....or Xanax.

The weekend was fun, but over way too soon. Before we knew it we were headed back to Bolivar. At least we had some fun waiting for us....it was time to decorate for Christmas!

Hilarity!

Yesterday Aubri was putting on her shoes before church and was having a little bit of difficulty getting the buckle done. She looked up at me with doe eyes and said simply, "Mama, sometimes it's tricky being a big girl, right?" I smiled back at her....my mind flashing forward to all that this precious angel may see and experience in her lifetime....and said, "baby, you just don't even know how true that statement is."

the Suessical

First off, tell me this. have you ever seen anything cuter than this?I pulled up to the car line at school on a sunny Monday afternoon (after another hugely successful shopping trip in Springfield). My intention was to pick up my babies, take them home, feed them a snack, help them with their homework, feed them dinner, care for my hubby (who had a horrible cold), and get Kaleb ready for his first grade program and get him to the school by 6:30. No small feat for sure.

And only milliseconds after my kids got in the car I get an announcement from the eldest child of the Hollis brood. Even before I hear the click of his seat belt he declares that he needs a red tie for the program.
Let me clarify. He did not need a red tie. He wanted one. He DESPERATELY wanted one. I mean, he acted as if his next breath was literally dependent on me coming through with a red tie.
Being the supermom that I am I decided to grant my sweet son's wish. I had about 2 hours and only one store (walmart) to find one. I was pretty sure that walmart would be a huge disappointment so I instead searched through the scraps in my fabric basket.
I found some red and white striped fabric and googled "child's tie tutorial."
I quickly learned that you actually need quite a bit of fabric to make a necktie. And I only had a scrap. I then googled how to make a bow tie. After receiving approval from my boy I set to work. It was surprisingly easy. And Kaleb was utterly thrilled! When I was fixing his hair he asked me if I thought he would be the most handsome boy on stage. I said, "baby, I don't think....I know." he smiled and off we went.
It was a wonderful program. They sang and danced so wonderfully. Kaleb participated just as he was supposed to...no break dancing....wandering around...or other unexplained weirdness. He even remembered the line he was assigned. Yes, he said it very rapidly and it was difficult to understand, but he was wonderful nonetheless. I could not have been more proud. Oh, and I was right by the way.....he certainly was the most handsome one on stage.

the one in which I make you jealous

Last night was girls' night out. And not just any girls' night out...but my favorite kind of girls' night out. Shopping. And not just any kind of shopping...but deal-spotting, coupon-clipping, saving-more-than-you-spend shopping. And not just...okay....never mind...I am sure you get it by now. Let me just give you a brief rundown of my loot.

Target: (oh how I love thee....and miss thee.....please Lord, bring a Target to Bolivar)

5 Holiday candles

2 renuzit cones

Glad trash bags

2 puddings

3 TGIFriday Skillet meals

Cottonelle TP

Cottonelle flushable wipes

2 Wheat Thins Stix

1 Wheat thins

1 Chickin in a Bisket Crackers (a total fave of mine from childhood)

a child sized afro wig (hey...it was $2 on clearance and don't lie...Kaleb will look awesome in it!)

a pair of black dress pants for Kaleb

country crock butter

2 oscar meyer lunchmeats

3 chicken noodle soups

3 boxes dryer sheets

3 feminine products (I will spare you the details!!!)

lightbulbs

2 paperjam guitars (the boys are getting them for Christmas...shh...don't tell!)

Simply Lemonade

2 Market Pantry apple juices

3 Reach floss

2 travel sized Tide detergents

My total before coupons: $160

My total after coupons: $91 and $20 target gift card

Dillons: (my love affair with you grows stronger with each passing day!)

10 Carnation evaporated milk

8 Propel fitness water

6 Honest Tea

Nestle break and bake cookies (seems wrong to put that right under the ORGANIC tea!)

Danimals yogurt

Activia yogurt

3 24-count advil

Ronzoni pasta

8 Annies Maccaroni and cheese

6 Chunky Campbells soups

strawberries

pomegranate

wheat bread

2 shoulder roasts

rotisserie chicken

2 hot pocket side shots

4 Green Giant steemer veggies

Heinz ketchup

joint juice

Idahoan instant potatoes

pepsi max

twix (to treat myself for such awesome savings on the drive home!)

My total before coupons: $74

My total after coupons: $31

Now go ahead and pick your jaw up off the floor and head on over to www.hip2save.com or www.frugalfritzie.com to learn how to do it for yourself. It's so much fun!