Updated Secret Santa Suggestions

As you Artze/Meyer clan know, it has been requested that there be a way for Secret Santas to find out some ideas without spoiling the surprise of who they have. So I will list some ideas here on my blog as I receive them.

Hannah loves American Girl, High School Musical, Hannah Montana, music (loves Kid Bop cds), books. She enjoys so many of the regular girl stuff and is so easy to please. She also is enjoying her softball.

Abby loves art, writing, music.

Adam is into Diego, Cars, & balls of every kind. Anything boy actually.

Jenna is into Dora, baby dolls, & pretty much anything girl.

Emma has some cd options (Audio Adrenaline, Hawk Nelson, Reliant K, Boston, Beatles), colored jeans, chocolate (of course), clothes of sorts, and some Toms.

Kevin always enjoys some Pokemon cards. He has also asked for a notebook that is out there to hold the cards.

Caleb enjoys some Pokemon cards, too.

Nicole is into horses right now.

Mema would love some wine glasses that hold more than a little bit.

Hope would like an umbrella that is small & will open with a push of a button. She also loves Hershey's Special dark chocolate.

Scott could go for some non-white underwear. :) And he loved it when he got sheets for Christmas when he was a teenager! ha!

Kika would love a helicopter for interstate commuting. Or a BB gun.

Laundry Count

Ok, I did a laundry count for 6 weeks to see how many loads I go through.

Things to keep in mind:

1. Adam & Jenna's clothes are still small enough that I can do both of theirs together. But that will soon cease because they are getting so big.
2. I was never caught up on everything. These numbers only allow me to not have dirty clothes overflowing into the hallways.
3. There are two tallies of a 'wash' and a 'fold' because in my house, they don't necessarily happen on the same day. Although it looks like over a huge chunk of time, it is pretty even.
4. Again, I reiterate, I still have laundry waiting.
5. Rewashes b/c loads were left in the washer did not count in the tally. But that only happened 3 times!!! Yeah!!!
6. It's only gonna get to be more as the clothes get bigger, the kids start sweating through practices, and when I have more time to change the sheets more often (don't ask how often it currently happens!)

WASHING (6 weeks)
Total loads = 51
Avg load per week = 8.5

FOLDING (6 weeks)
Total loads = 50
Avg load per week = 8.33

Old Man

For Chris's 40th birthday, he and I got to get away for a night while Mema watched the munchkins. We headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains. After we stayed the night at not such a fabulous hotel, we walked around the downtown area on Saturday morning. Check out the leaves...

We left Blue Ridge for a drive to see the area. The colors were magnificent! These pictures do not do justice to the beauty the Lord creates. Below is a piece of the Appalachian Mountains.

We stopped at Woody Gap for a bit. One way was a trail that was 'heavy to strenuous' and the other way was 'moderate to heavy'. Not sure what that means exactly, but we hope to have first hand knowledge by this time next year. At least that is the plan.

We had a great time!!! Happy 40th, Chris!

Bye, Mema!

Thanks, Mema, for coming up here and keeping the kids. As always, our visit was way too short. But I'm thankful it won't be too long until we see you again. The kids already miss you (as do I). You make my part of the world a better place! (And I'm not only saying that because you did my dishes and vacuumed my stairs either!) We love you to pieces!

Happy Birthday, Hailey!

We got to spend Hailey's birthday with her! Happy 8th, Hailey!

We went to the American Girl store for some fun! While we were at the mall, Abby got her ears pierced again!



We have some silly girls on our hands! Those are gumballs!

Kristine, I miss you!

Happy Halloween!

The Seven Dwarfs had a fun Halloween!!!