Catch-up 1: Christmas

Well, just like at everyone's house, Christmas came! Whether we were ready for it or not. I never did finish decorating the house this year, but I'm not complaining about that...made it VERY easy to take down and put away. As in years past, not many pictures happened on Christmas. As soon as the kids get out to the family room and start ripping into things, mom and dad's hands are too busy opening boxes, assembling toys, showing them the general workings, picking up trash, straightening up the boxes, bows, ribbons and toys, and trying to keep the dog from stealing the Hershey's kisses that are strewn around that the camera just sits idle. :)

We did finally visit Santa a few days before Christmas...good thing the kids didn't change their wish list, and for the record, Riley would have nothing to do with the man in red.



Here's a couple shots from Christmas morning:

Presenting Ellie on "Beatles RockBand" drums. You haven't fully lived until you've heard your almost 4 year old sing "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". That's Riley in the back. This is the best photographic documentation she'd let me get.



My only picture of Nicole was of her in a trancelike state playing her new Wii game "Super Mario Galaxy". Not worth posting! Nicole spent ALL day playing Wii, RockBand, or her Nintendo DS (Imagine Teacher game). It was sort-of sick. Thankfully, she backed way off on her own in terms of screen time for the rest of Christmas break.

All Jared's dreams came true with the punching bag he got. We rearranged his room and hung it from the ceiling. He's a happy boy, and we enjoy telling him in his moments of general or specific (usually involving a certain sister) frustration to go take it out on his punching bag!

Merry Christmas

Great weekend.....mostly!

Well, Thanksgiving is over, done, and put away. Here we go with Christmas! Thursday was nice. Family, fun, and okay food.....my rolls didn't work and it sorta ruined it for me....and Ron. I did go get him 2 dozen good rolls the next day though to make up for it. They are now gone! I think next year, a nice idea would be to go to Mimi's cafe or somewhere that serves up dinner for you....no work, no dishes, just good food and then come home for a nap.....but then there's the no leftover issue..... Oh well. I have a year until we do it again, so no worries yet!

Ron and I planned on going out bright and early Friday morning for some shopping, but Jared decided to change our plans by getting very sick beginning around 1:30 AM......poor kid kept nothing down until about 3 in the afternoon. So I went a couple places alone but it was not all too productive. But I got some done, and a little more Saturday, so we are getting there in terms of Christmas gifts. It is so strange, I feel like I just got Christmas put away from last year, so I don't feel like I should be doing this yet!

Saturday we made our little excursion to the tree farm....pictures here...
The quest begins for the perfect tree....anything bigger than the stick Jared has is game....

After considering a few, including a very blue Blue Spruce(maybe next time, I don't know if I'd get sick of a blue Christmas tree after the first couple of days!) we found the perfect tree. Good height, color, straight, and lots of open spaces for our ornament collection.

The cutest picture of Ellie....she is starting to look so much like a big kid, which makes her mommy very sad! I am still in denial that she'll be three in a month! I guess I should get her potty trained and perhaps moved out of her crib. Ellie chose this itty-bitty tree as her favorite.....we told her that maybe when she's about 16 that tree might by bigger than the stick!

When we got home, we discovered that of the three long strands of lights for the tree that we had, only 1 1/2 of them worked. Lowes had mini lights on sale, so we just decided it would be less of a headache to get new ones...while we were at it, we switched from clear mini lights to multi-colored. A little change is always fun. While at the store, the kids found these fun Santa hats and had to pose:


The finished product!


I stole all of these photos from Ron's blog. How sad is it that I didn't pull my camera out once? I let him do all the pictures with his iPhone, and then he blogged them the same day, practically the same hour, on his iPhone. He's doing a better job of documenting things than me, so if you ever wonder what is going on with us because I haven't posted in a while....check out my husbands blog!

We have a very busy week ahead.....Christmas prep, and then my sister and her hubby come up to help with some work on my mom's new house. She closes on Tuesday, and then Wednesday evening we will start ripping out vinyl flooring and carpet, tearing down wallpaper, laying tile, and painting the master bedroom and some shelves....all topped off with moving her out of her old house on Saturday. I'm really wondering how that day and saying goodbye to that house will go. It was home for me from age 10, up until I moved out on my own. Lot's of memories there. I'll make sure to take some pictures.

Christmas collage o' fun

I really tried to get the kids to look at the camera, but they were less than interested in that idea when there were new things to take in!

Christmas was a success!

All the gifts were loved. The Wii is the favorite, the kids(esp. Nicole) adores her Disney princess handheld game, thank you Costco! Jared's fav is this crane truck thing, and I know he'll love his bike, but thanks to the 1st white Christmas we've had in about 5 years, he hasn't yet tried it out! They also both love their new webkins from Grandmommy. Ellie loves her plastic food she can "cut", and her dolly. Riley still hasn't come down from cloud 9 over her cell phone....I still haven't decided if I think it was a good idea, but it's too late now!

We enjoyed good food, good company, and a nice day. My mom came and spent the night, and we loved having her here. We now are looking forward to my sister and her family, and my brother and his family coming up from AZ to freeze to death over New Years! Thankfully I have a couple of days to wade through all the new crap and find a place for it to appear a little organized!

I also have three days to get ready for Ellie's 2nd Bday...I have no clue what to get her. She still hasn't broken in her Chrismas toys! I keep thinking a trike, but she already has a little ride-on handed down from the older sibs...oh well, I'll figure it out!

I'll add pictures of Christmas later....after I download them from the camera!

I HAD to share this!

MommyX5 had this on her blog, and for some reason, I love it and am addicted! Talent, humor, and more than one carol in a 3 minute package! Watch for yourself! (and thanks mommyX5!) **Helpful hint: Pause my Christmas playlist over there----> on the sidebar, or you'll just have a musical mess on your hands!**

Stressful busy days....

Oh, how I try to love these days leading up to Christmas, but it is so hard to love something that causes so much stress. And it shouldn't, but I have that syndrome where I want to have these fun activities with the kids so they have these fun memories of Christmastime, but then time runs out, or multiple people get sick, or Santa leaves right as we get there to take a 90 minute lunch...so it doesn't work out and I start feeling this underlying stress...

Here's how things are playing out:
Presents: Just about done. I still need to get Ron some things. He isn't being very helpful in giving me ideas. I guess he figures since he got the TV...but he still needs some fun gifts under the tree!

Daily December: I have one in production, I just need to add another picture, more pics on the camera waiting for download, and some ideas bopping around my brain for some others. I hope I get 25 out!

Health: Ron and I are fighting some stupid cold that just won't go away...tired, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes...now that I type those symptoms, they sound like mono, but we aren't that sick! Nicole had strep, but is 1/2 way through antibiotics for that. Hopefully the rest will stay healthy and we'll get some fun stuff done.

Still to do: We have to get back to Santa during a non-break time, I REALLY want to go see the lights at Temple Square, and then there are the cookies to bake.

I'm off now to get the cards done. Wish me luck that the copy center still has red paper and a copier that works!

The Perfect Christmas Gift

Thanks to my friend Steph, I found the perfect gift for my kids:



Lumpy, the singing piece of coal.
His song is as follows:
"Jingle Bells, Christmas Smells, you're getting coal today
If you were nice, just once or twice it could have gone your way...."

Check out her blog for a couple more last minute gift ideas!

Merry Christmas to me (a little early!)

Well, after deciding we weren't incredibly happy with our current camera, and going to Costco (love their return policy!) to upgrade a tiny bit....we ended up upgrading a lot a bit!

Here's my Christmas gift, three weeks early:

Ummm....yeah...I'm a little afraid of it! Now I have this great camera that has the ability to take fantastic pictures, but the operator (moi) has no idea how to enable it to take fantastic photos...

It's a nice set-up. Came with 2 lenses, a bag, a couple DVD's that I need to watch and see if they are helpful, and hey, even a handy strap.....which I'll need to haul the monster around! ;o)

So if my blog is pictureless for a while...you'll understand why! My poor daily December creations....maybe I'll digiscrap some cute journaling.... :o) I guess I could pull out last years pics....

No, I'll start playing with it. It is sort-of intimidating. I can't even figure out how to download and open the pictures....but hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

Just in cast you think Ron missed out on a good Christmas gift, no, he got his early as well...a new TV....a week ago. The camera is for him as well....since he has been the only one to take decent pics with it so far!

Wish me luck, and Nicole, I need to know your upcoming class schedule!