Holiday Happenings

This weekend we drove to a neighboring town to see the North Pole of Texas. The kids went last year with their grandparents, but the line was so long that they missed out on the actual train ride. We did have to wait awhile this year, but the kids played, watched the attractions, and drank hot chocolate. It was a neat experience, but I will let you check out the website for all the details.

Blogger was messing me up, so I won't spend time putting my pics in sequential order!

On the train and meeting Santa in the Toy Shop






Along the ride




While waiting in line




















The kids and I worked on teacher gifts on Sunday. Chocolate-covered Christmas Pretzels-yum! I tried to be the cool mom and let the kids do as much as possible, but it only lasted so long! My son lasted about 4 pretzel rods before I kicked him out of the kitchen. All he wanted was to eat the chocolate and the sprinkles. And besides, I didn't think the teachers would appreciate his germs all over their goodies! My dtr lasted a lot longer and enjoyed the process.

I am sure I will be discovering sprinkles in my kitchen for days!






This last week of school will be crazy, as I am sure it will be for most of you! Christmas party tonight, Girl Scouts Tuesday, church Wednesday, Cheer practice Thursday, possible party Friday, Christmas family party Saturday!

Stacey

Funny Boy

I figured that I needed to pay the same blog attention to each of my kids this week, so this is for my little man!

I have found that my son is almost as particular about his wardrobe as his sister. One Wednesday night, I decided the kids needs baths before church. After his bath, he picked out his clothes himself. He decided he wanted to be both handsome and a superhero that night.

My handsome superhero!



A couple of months ago, we started teaching the kids how to play Uno. Well actually, I had to teach my two little kids and my one big kid all how to play! For many times after that, we played in teams so the kids could catch on to the rules. Then we worked on playing as individual teams with a little grown-up help to stay on track. Now? Well, let's just say that we grown-ups have to hold our own against some serious card gamers!

One day, my son and I played a few games while his sister was at school. Four games to be exact. I will give you one guess who won all four games!!




This is not necessarily a funny story, but just funny how it happened when I wasn't home. I had left one Saturday morning for a girls' weekend. About 4 hours later, I get a phone call from husband as he is waiting in the ER.

The real story from my kids is vague, but something about playing on the bed while my husband was outside working. My son managed to land off the bed and directly onto the corner foot of a chair in his room. Of course, as with most minor head injuries, there was way more blood than there was injury! His shirt and pants never recovered, but the little gash on his head did. By the time they saw him, the bleeding had stopped and it was barely worth a stitch. The doctor offered a staple, but my son kindly refused!!



The whole shocker is that we actually made it over 4 years (over 6 if you count my daughter!) with this being our first ER visit!

And yes, I am knocking on wood!

Stacey

Christmas Card Outtakes 2008

I don't even need to explain!














Thankfully, I did manage to get a few good ones and our cards are designed and ready to be ordered!

Should be even more fun next year!! :)

Stacey

All I want for Christmas

It had been awhile since my dtr lost her 2 bottom front teeth. Her 2 top front ones had been getting more loose over time, but she was quite hesitant for the big pull!

She finally lost one while we were sitting in church. It was so loose that it simply fell out in her mouth and didn't even bleed! We were both a little shocked!

The other one lingered a bit longer.

She was watching TV and said she was twisting on it when it popped out!

She was actually thrilled.

The progression....

A cute girl with 2 top front teeth that are very loose!

A cute girl with 1 lost tooth and a very snaggly other one!

A cute girl who needs 2 top front teeth for Christmas!


The new teeth are already peeking through, so she might just get her teeth for Christmas after all!!

Stacey

A change of decor

I love Christmas, but this year all I can think about is all the things that I need to do after Christmas.

Plus, our house is very different from our other one and I knew the decorating would need to change a bit.

And on top of that, I wasn't feeling all the work it usually takes to put out all the Christmas stuff I have and decorate my 2 trees all fancy the way I usually do.

I probably only used half of my Christmas decorations this year, including only 1 tree. I also did something out of character and didn't make a showroom-style tree this year with matching balls, ribbon, and ornaments. Crazy, I know! ;)

What I did turned out just as nice and our house still has the Christmas look and feel. I mostly decorated the big tree and living room with a little decor sprinkled around the other rooms of the house, including the kids' rooms and bathroom upstairs.

The kids helped a bit with the tree decorating this year and I think it actually looks good with the kid-friendly touches. I actually really like the paper chains that the kids made for me! This time of year, you will always find Christmas book stacked in various places around my house. I always add one or two each year.






One funny story....

Every year after Christmas, I always buy new ornaments for each of us. Last year I picked up the cutest Hallmark ornaments at a great deal. I got themed ones that matched each of us from the previous year- Lightening McQueen, Barbie, a workbench, and a cute coffee mug Christmas tree. I left them in the boxes and would add them to the tree this year. Apparently, I didn't get as good a deal as I had expected. I bought 3 great ornaments and 1 empty box!! And boo hoo, it was mine that was empty!

Stacey

On the road and more

After the crowd left Sunday morning and we finished up church and lunch, I packed my bag and headed to Dallas for Appt. #2 on Monday.

I like to go up the night before, spend the night with a friend, then get to the first appt. of the day before heading back. This time I met a friend for a yummy Mexican meal and catch-up before heading over to another friend's house for the evening. It was fun to catch up with her since we don't see each other a lot!

The best part was that I discovered a Homedics clock that lulled me to sleep with "rain"!! And since I already had a BBB stop planned, you better believe I picked me up one of those clocks with my coupon! I am planning on getting one for each of the kids for Christmas, as well. They both want clocks and I am hoping it will help my dtr sleep better. Although, I can thankfully say that she has slept in her own bed without waking for almost a week now!! Yea!

My original stop to BBB was to try to exchange my Shark that I bought in June. My husband thought I was crazy, but I hate that stuff stops working for no reason in less than a year and thought it was worth a try.

And you know what?

They did not even hesitate to exchange it. They were so nice! And now I have a new vacuum for downstairs which I hope lasts a lot longer than 6 months!! Especially since I strongly dislike sweeping and 98% of my downstairs is non-carpet!

But my favorite stop?


A decaf peppermint mocha never tasted so good!!!

After picking up little man from Papa's house, we headed home to hang out and clean in preparation for house decorating.

He wanted to make some more rings so his chain could be as big as sister's!




Then while fixing dinner, I discovered this....

He had played non-stop while his cousins were here and it looks like he needed to catch up on his sleep!

Sounds good to me!

As far as my appt., I measured great and the heartbeat is strong. Next month, my daughter will be my partner as we hope to discover whether our newest family member will prefer pink or blue!

Stacey

It's all good

I just have not had time to tell the stories!

I had to prep for a full house over Thanksgiving which meant no Christmas decorating until this week. I usually like to decorate right before or right at Thanksgiving, but it just was not possible this year.

We had my sister's family and my mom here for 4 days. That meant 2 6-year old girls and 2 4-year old boys, 1 10-week old baby girl, and 5 adults! Crazy fun!

While I did prep several meals for the freezer before they arrived, we did not have to make the T-day meal. We decided to eat at our church where they serve the community workers, shut-ins, jail, and anyone in the church family that wants to eat. Good food without the mess!

The time mostly consisted of the kids playing (and cleaning!) with their toys. It was loud most of the time, but they did pretty well over the 4 days. We had some outdoor time before the weather got rainy, took them to see Bolt, and I had them help me with a decorating project which they loved doing! Yea for me!

My sister and I did brave the crowds for a little early morn shopping. I only needed a few things offered and we only hit one store, but it was ridiculously crazy! I took care of a few things for the kids, some friends, and me!

I reached a new level of sleep heaven and managed to find a set of the 500-count sheets being offered for $20! They were actually all gone when I went looking, but I found a set (right color, right size!!) dumped by someone else while standing in line to check out! Score!

I actually scored my other two Christmas presents a little early this year. My husband and brother-in-law installed a new garage door opener and 2 sets of motion-sensitive lights for my garage and back porch. My BIL is very handy and I am so glad he was around to inspire my husband to get those things done.

Now if we can only get the garage cleaned so I can park in there! Sounds like another weekend project coming up!

Some picture highlights:

The kids hard at work on making my Christmas tree paper chains!





The paper chain results!





Night time reading


Now on to Christmas!

Stacey