Impulse buy

Have you ever read the book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"?  The next series of events sounds like this book to me.

I took the kids with me to Target to buy groceries.  At the checkout, Owen notices a Target Ad.  He picks it up and comments on the 4K TV's advertised on the front.  I tell him to take the flyer home and show dad.

That night, Owen shows the ad to Jake.  Jake starts to think a new "better" TV might be nice.  So we agree to go the next day and get a new TV.

Later that evening we are mentioning the new TV and Jake brings up the idea of getting a Sound Bar to make the sound better.  We agree to look when we go to get the TV.

We go to Target and find the perfect new TV for us.  And the sound bar is even on sale and the same company that makes the TV.  Jake mentions that a new PlayStation would play really good on this new TV.  So we add a new PlayStation to the cart.

We don't think the trip completely through.  After we purchase these items we realize with the kids in the car we don't have room.  So we get the purchases in with enough space for Owen and I to squeeze in between the front seats and TV.

It may sound impulsive, but it was an AWESOME adventure...and we have an AMAZING system to play our video games on.

New "hobby"

I've loved studying God's word.  In Wichita, I was a part of CBS (Community Bible Study).  I would do this on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  Then on Saturday, I would spend up to 6 hours at Newspring getting ready for the service.  I loved it!  I even met with a few middle school moms one day a week before pick up to pray for the staff, students and parents.

Since living in Spokane, finding a church home for us has been a little bumpy.  We will watch Newspring online and call that church.  The kids have each found a youth group they fit in.  Owen meets on Monday evenings at Southside and Allie goes to Summit on Wednesday evenings.

There isn't a CBS in Spokane, so I signed up for the AM book study through the Life Center church I had originally thought to be our new home church.  It meets on Tuesday mornings and I LOVE my group leaders.  The book we are doing is All Things New (2 Corinthians).  They have asked me to help with hospitality the 30 minutes before and after.  I work with about 4 other ladies setting up the coffee and snacks and cleaning up after.

There I met a woman who invited me to meet with some doctor's wives wanting to start a Side By Side chapter in Spokane.  I didn't know what this was, but I went.  Met a few cool ladies and decided to join.  The book they will be starting next month is Seamless.  One of the main leaders invited me to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) that meets on Wednesday mornings.  So I agreed.  It's similar to CBS, so I felt somewhat at home being there.

Now my calendar has me at AM study every Tuesday morning.  BSF is every Wednesday morning.  Side By Side meets every other Friday morning starting February 1.  I also meet for a once a month moms group at Life Center on Thursday mornings.

I am meeting TONS of christian moms and woman of ALL ages.  I can't wait to see what these "hobbies" become in a few years.

Kid at Heart!

I'm not sure if this some sort of mid-life crisis, but I'm addicted to Legos.

I'm not talking the cheesy set of Friends, Batman or Disney Princess ones.

I'm referring to the Creator Collections.  The ones that are over $200 each set.  That are probably 15-20 cumulative hours of work invested in each set.  They build on each other to create an AMAZING city scape.  Every detail included to make a fantasy world you can both build and escape too.

This past week I got the latest set that was released on January 1.  It's the Corner Garage.  This quaint gas station included a second floor vet clinic and a penthouse apartment.  I love these sets.  I love that my husband encourages me to spend both the money and time on these nuggets of joy for me.

There isn't a real purpose behind these, but the fact that I enjoy the process.  I only build them once, but I will gladly take you on a tour of my Lego City whenever you visit.  I'll even show you the pool hall and flower shop.

I LOVE LEGOS!!!

Chuck the Chicken

Owen is a freshman at Lewis and Clark High School.  This is the FIRST year he has shown ANY interest in school spirit.  Our rival school is Ferris High School.  The 2 schools have a contest to see who wins "Chuck The Chicken".  That's right!  He's a rubber chicken.  The contest contains 3 parts.  Boys Basketball Game winner, Girls Basketball Game winner and Spirit at both games winner.

Each year the school decides on a theme for spirit week.  They have 2 shirts made for each student to purchase.  They try to create a routine/cheer/show for between the games to show their team spirit.  This year's theme was "Chuck Hits Hollywood".  Spirit week included students dressing in all white one day (like Marilyn Manroe), dressing in all black one day (paparazzi) and comfy day (pjs).

Unfortunately, we lost Chuck to Ferris High School this year.  But my son, who has NEVER dressed up for spirit week, actually knew what the days were and dressed accordingly to them.  He even bought the spirit shirts.

Me being the creative brain, have been coming up with some ideas for future year themes.

1. Chuck of Oz-it would be based on "The Wizard of Oz".  They could have grade level competition where each grade was a character.
2. Chuck's Day Off-it would be based on "Ferris Beuler's Day Off".  Since Ferris is our rival, I thought that was funny.  We could also have a mash up routine like the parade scene where they start with Danka Shane and switch to Twist and Shout.  They do have 2 different shirts.
3. Chuck In Time-it would be based on "Back to the Future".  Each day of spirit week could be a decade. 80's. 70's. 60's. Wild West. Futuristic.

I know I'm not the deciding party for this, but I thought I would put some of my ideas down just in case someone asks.

Plans change...

Happy New Year!  I'm not one to make resolutions, but I do focus on a word for the year.  Ironically, last year was "change".  Little did I know just how much my life would change.  This year, my word was borrowed from Jake.  He wants to focus on "roots".  I like this a lot, since we have basically uprooted our family to a new time zone.

The best part about focusing on just a word for the year, is there isn't any disappointment from failed resolutions.  In fact, you get to see how God will take one word and morph all aspects of your life for good with one word.

Allow me to elaborate.

This week, Jake and I had planned on taking a trip to Cabo.  We had never traveled outside of the country before and even got out passports to make it possible.  However, our travel day was probably one of the hardest days we've had in a long while.  By the time we reached Cabo baggage claim, we both decided to cut our losses and buy tickets home.

I had thought this trip would be a fun get away with Jake to just hangout and explore a new environment.  But God wanted us to strengthen our relationship roots and forced us to have some conversations that hadn't been able to happen before.  We finished our 23 hour travel day by sleeping in our guest bed, exhausted but very much in love with each other and feeling like we were suppose to stay in Spokane during this week.

By staying, we were able to attend Owen's Jazz and Band concerts.  Jake and I went on dates with the kids.  I got started planning the Spring Break schedule for my next trip.  And my sister is now booked to come see us in May.

Sometimes it's the little things that add up to a bigger focus.  This week, we were able to build our roots as a family.