Christmas Checklist.

Things I had planned to do before Thanksgiving:

Buy all Christmas gifts for extended family...........................................done

Wrap and send out all Christmas gifts to extended family.....................done

Design Christmas card............................................................................done

Print out and address all Christmas cards.............................................

Buy and wrap all gifts for our little family .............................................

Buy stocking stuffers.............................................................................

Design boxes for gifts to friends.............................................................done

Finish boxes for gifts for friends.............................................................

Martha Stewart would not be happy with me.

But then again, Martha has never had one of these...............

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(This happens to be chocolate and not poop- although we have had those messes too.)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Extra, Extra!!!

Carli's shining moment on our local news. (Too bad she is the only one not smiling- not sure what that is about) Click Here to see the story (Sometimes it doesn't play right away- it is the story about Livingston school- if you need to click on it)

Thank You!

Happy Veteran's Day

To celebrate this year, Carli's school had a very nice program to remember Veterans. (Past and Present). Carli asked her grandparents for pictures and info and this is what we got back.

John Paul Jacobs (Jon's grandpa- the one he was named after)

Paul Jacobs (Jon's dad-and my new fav hottie- hubba hubba-lol)

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(I know that I have family who has served also- but I don't have pictures and I don' know their stories- I really wish I did)

Carli's class was chosen to give a special presentation. It was a sweet poem about veterans, in which each child said a line or 2. I think it was after the poem that the principal was talking about giving thanks this month and how 'Veterans' should be at the top of our list.

I think I was touched by seeing all the men an women who have served our country walk in. There were a couple of women, one had a sweet baby in her arms. There was a very old man in a wheelchair. There were the young men with beaming smiles on their faces and the old ones that had something behind their eyes that I couldn't quite figure out. I think it was humble pride.

The whole presentation made me think about what we have in this country and how beautiful it is.

Here is a story that I recently got in an email- although I have read it before, I am always touched by it.

Little Rock teacher Martha Cothren uses some unorthodox teaching methods in her social studies classroom at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. But she gets her message across.
On the first day of school in September 2005, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she had all of the desks taken out of the classroom.
When the kids walked in for first period, there were no desks. They looked around and asked, "Where are our desks?"
The teacher said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."
"No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior?"
She told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."

And so they came and went in the first period. Still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period, same.
By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in the class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, the instructor gathered her class.
They were sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. She said, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily. Now I'm going to show you how and why you have the right to sit in this class."
She went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.
They placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing the desks, those kids, perhaps for the first time in their lives, understood how they got the right to sit at those desks. FREEDOM!
Their teacher said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly, to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk. Don't ever forget it."

The Silver Lining

(It really does happen to be silver) This car is really growing on me. Not that I didn't like it before- it was just really new and has sooooo many gizmos on it that I couldn't even figure out how to preset my stations. (Until just today). My fav part is that it has automatic doors that open with the punch of a button. It also has seats that heat up by themselves. I feel as though I am out of the stone age and away from cars that you have to open by yourself and heat with your own butt. (The horror!-lol)

It also has a sunroof. Why on earth does anyone need a sunroof in a minivan? The minivan is not sleek and "cool" like sporty little cars with sunroofs. The only reason that I would think it would have one is to open it up and say, Why me?? Why do I have all these kids."-lol At least now when I say it I have a better view than the felted roof.

The kiddos love it and Jon says it is fancier than his truck. I am a pretty lucky girl, I guess!!!

But my Fav, Fav, Favorite part is that it is NOT white. Growing up in Vegas, we always had white vehicles because white is the coolest (I mean temp wise) that you can get. As I got older- I realized that they are a LOT of white minivans out there. A LOT.

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You wanna hear a funny story... (I am sure you do.)

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Last spring I went to Costco. I had the little boys with me and had to hurry pick the other ones up from school. I ran to the van, threw open the door and went to toss in one of the boys when I took a look.

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Wait.... a.... minute............

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NOT my minivan.

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Embarrassed and not wanting to get caught opening someone else's minivan, I quickly shut the door.

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This set off the alarm.

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The mini van that was NOT mine was LOUD. I booked it over to our van (next isle over) and tossed the boys and everything I bought inside. I was returning the cart when I noticed that gobs of people were looking at the now ear-piercing screams coming from the OTHER WHITE MINIVAN.

(I think I acted just as confused as they were- "Yeah who's the dummy that set that thing off, cuz it sure is annoying!!?!? -Geez!")

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When we went to pick out a new van, we told the dealers what our needs were and then they asked if I had a color preference. I said , "Yeah- not white"

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Silver isn't my first choice, But hey, it's NOT white!!!

The Harley, My In-laws and Saying goodbye to Ol' White-y!

This weekend was like no other the Jacobs-6 have ever had. There was a lot of laughing and some crying. (okay- I think I was the only one that did the crying)

Where do I even start???

Last Sunday, Jon got a phone call from his family. His Uncle finds crashed Harleys and fixes them up. I guess there was an auction in Pasco that he bought a wrecked Harley at. Jon was asked to pick it up and hang onto it for a couple days. Jon's parents decided to come and get it to bring back to his uncle. The kids' primary program was also this Sunday so they decided to stay long enough to see the kids say their parts in the program.

I had it planned for quite awhile that I was gonna go to Portland on fri and do some tax-free Christmas shopping there. (And I had some personal business there also) My in-laws weren't due to arrive until later that afternoon.

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It was about 12pm when I started my shopping and after hitting Anthropologie (and feeling pretty swell about the sooooo cute $30 dress I got there)-decided to hit my fav. Goodwill (in the ritzy side of town).

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I had just pulled onto the highway when some strange light on the dashboard came on. I also noticed that our old white mini-van was not shifting gears like it should. (Oh! $#%&@!!!)

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I pulled over at a Schucks thinking that maybe I could have someone help me install......something.... if I had to and looked up what the heck the light on the dashboard meant in the manual).

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(Uh- Oh! ...Engine Trouble. Nooooot good.)

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Luckily there was a Firestone accross the street. I cruised over there and was told it would take about 2+ hours to fix. I was on the same street as my favorite Goodwill- so not a big prob.

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Called Jon and told him the 411.

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2+hours later I called Jon back to tell him that it would take 3-4 days and upteen dollars to fix the car. (And they aren't sure if the engine trouble is also causing the worsening electrical problems we are having lately- but probably not. (which would mean- more time and $ would have put into repairing it)

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When I told the guy at the repair shop that I lived in Pasco and needed to get home that day, he replied, (in his happiest voice) "Oh- I have been to Pasco. ("Nice bud, but it doesn't help me that YOU have been there.")

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Jon's parents walked in the front door just as I finished telling him the bad news. Jon hopped in his truck and sped on over to Oregon.

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I declared Jon my Knight-in-shining-armour who always rescues his princess. (Okay- you can stop gagging now-I don't care what you say- he is still my hero!)

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Long story short, we ditched our beloved old family mini-van that gave us soooo many memories. (Just left it right there)

We bought a new mini van the next day that has more dang 'bells and whistles' on it than a Vegas showgirl. (But that is a whole other post!)

My Love and many thanks to my in-laws who really saved the day. Thanks for watching the kiddos for us. You are amazing. (Next time you visit, I can promise you there won't be as much drama- Okay- maybe I can't promise that- after all- you have seen Jack-lol)

The Black Halloween

On Halloween Night 2009....

Nolan joined the S.W.A.T. team.

Carli was slick like a Ninja. Bridger moved through the fall night like a bat.Jack was all arms (in the candy) like a spider.Why they all chose black - we will ever know!

"We will do whatever it takes to get the candy!"

(Bwahahahaha!)