Christmas Morning At Our House...

'Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a mouse

The children and hubby

Were nestled snug in their beds

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...

AND MOMMY WAS ASSEMBLING ALL THE FREAKIN' TOYS!!!!!

Boy, let me tell you...I was SO organized this year. I was done baking. I was done shopping. I was done wrapping. I was ready to go. All that needed to be done was for the gifts to be placed under the tree once the kids went to bed.

Santa brings each of the kids one gift every year and he doesn't wrap them. Assembled but not wrapped. Okay, so I was almost ready to go. Just wait for the kids to go to bed, quickly assemble the Santa gifts and get a good night's rest. Yeah RIGHT! I was in Mattel hell last night! If anyone ever considers getting their daughter one of these...

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or one of these...

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...consider yourself warned. Assembly required folks! Lots of assembly required. The boat? 90 minutes. The castle? 3 and half HOURS!! I was up until 4:30 in the morning! I didn't have to assemble F's gift since he asked for legos and, well, he would have been a little peeved if they had come assembled since assembling them oneself is the whole point of legos. Thank goodness for that because I probably would have never made it to bed if I had even more to assemble.

It was all worth it this morning though when they woke up and...well...see for yourself (click on the photo below to see the kids run downstairs for their gifts)...

Christmas Morning 2008

Our Family's Christmas Wish List:

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F: Legos ~ CHECK

K: Barbie Cruise Ship ~ CHECK

M: Playmobile Castle ~ CHECK

Daddy: Fancy Wine Opener ~ CHECK

Mommy: Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Siblings ~ uhhhh...still waiting on this one!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day with your family and friends! Be safe and be merry! And for some more FFF Christmas posts, go see Sarah.

Happy Holidays From Our Home To Yours...

Some might call it "going green". Truth is, I just didn't get my act together quickly enough this year to get cards out! The holidays really snuck up on me. It's a sign of the times and of our very busy lives!

Let's start with the kids...

F ~ (10 years old) is in 5th grade. He has a fantastic teacher this year and he adores her. Who could blame him? She is young, energetic, and full of creative ideas for teaching kids! Through her, he has found a real love for school. He still has a strong interest in outdoorsy things (frogs, snakes, bugs, etc) and has taken up the trumpet this year as well as Debate Club. He and his buddy "D" performed a parody of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" in the school talent show. It was very funny and they did a great job. We are extremely proud of the academic success F has achieved this year. He has been on honor roll since the start of the year.

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(above: F dirty & loving it, catching fish at the lake ~ July)


(above: F in the school talent show)

K ~ (7 years old) is in 1st grade and also doing very well. She is a perfectionist with her work and it really shows! Her penmanship rivals that of some adults I know! She is extremely social and enjoys spending time with her friends. This year she and her friend "A" performed a jitterbug dance in the school talent show. They did a great job and were absolutely adorable! She still loves Cheerleading and Dance and was named "Co-Captain" of her Summer Squad. She is looking forward to starting up her cheer classes again in January. This past summer was a rough one for her. She had a long seizure episode which she was hospitalized for. The weeks following were filled with many doctor appointments. She was tested for several different things and we were able to rule out various scenarios but we still have no answer as to what is happening to her or why it happens. Hopefully time will tell.

(above: K cheerleading ~ May)

(above: K in the school talent show)

M~ (5 years old) is in Pre-K this year and to say she loves it would be an absolute understatement. This child is so ready for school! She played soccer last Spring and l-o-v-e-d snack time. Playing soccer - not so much! She'd last about 2 minutes on the field and then start inquiring as to which mom brought snack, what kind they brought, and how much longer she'd have to wait before indulging! She loves her food!!! She is a happy-go-lucky girl and is usually more than willing to participate in any fun activity. Her teacher told me "I've taught for a long time and I've never known a child who is so happy. It doesn't matter what is going on, everything is always right in M's world." That pretty much sums up M!

(above: M at soccer ~ May)

(above: toothless M ~ December)

In June, my parents treated me and the kids to a California trip which was jam-packed with fun! We spent a couple of days in So Cal and then headed up north to see my brother and sister-in-law. We had a blast and my kids proved that they could spend 14 hours in a small car together and still sort of like each other at the end! The tail end of the trip brought us back to So Cal for a few more days. We squeezed a whole lot into one trip...Disneyland, Legoland, La Brea Tarpits, Cabrillo Museum, beach days, Golden Gate Bridge, Boat Tour of Alcatraz, etc. It was so much fun!

(above: F, K, & M at Torrance Beach in Southern California ~ June)

(above: M, F, & K at Muir Woods in Northern California ~ June)

The end of the summer brought about a lot of changes in our family. My sweet cat Tori died. She was 19 years old and was with me for 18.5 of those years. The kids had never known life without Tori. We sure do miss her. Another big change for us was the sale of our restaurant. Although a bittersweet time, it has enabled Fred to be home with us more often and become a more active part of the kids lives. We are all so much happier now that he's home regularly.

I am still working for the school district. Because I work for the same district that my kids are in, I am home when they are home. I leave for work after they go to school and I'm home before they are. How lucky for me!!!

I wish you all the happiest of holidays. May 2009 bring you peace, stability, and much joy!

A Little Christmas Weirdness...

We are on day 3 of Winter Break and my kids are already getting a wee bit stir crazy. Thankfully they are finding, err-umm, creative ways to work through their crazies together. I'd give an intro to the following clip but...well...what can you say about this?...



Gotta love F's high-pitched note there in the middle. Can you say PuBeRtY!

Now onto something that is NOT weird...my friend Anissa is doing a fabulous giveaway on her review site so go check it out HERE!

Snowman Soup...

I am posting this for all of my readers who may need a cute, inexpensive gift idea for their kids' class parties...


M's preschool party is tomorrow and we decided to make "Snowman Soup" for her classmates. It turned out to be about 50 cents per child so although they are SOOOOOO cute, they were inexpensive and easy to make! Here is what you need:

• 1 styrofoam cup per child ( I got these snowman cups at Dollar Tree. 12 cups for $1)
• 1 candy cane per child
• 1 package of cocoa mix per child
• about 5-10 mini marshmallows per child (I got these pre-packaged mini marshmallows at Oriental Trading. 6 dozen packs for $3.49)
• 1 cellophane bag per child
• 1 "Snowman Soup" recipe card (I just typed them up on Microsoft Word and added some clip-art. See below)

Here is what the recipe card looks like:

You don't have to use the pre-packaged marshmallows. I've made these in the past and either put the marshmallows in a small ziploc bag or just dropped them into the cup. You may also add a Hershey's Kiss to each if you'd like.

Place the cocoa packet, candy cane, and marshmallows into the styrofoam cup and place the cup in a cellophane bag. You can either put the recipe card in the bag with the cup or you can tie it to the outside. Tie a ribbon around the bag and this is the finished product:

Enjoy!

What Do You Get When...

you mix way too many of these...

(Candy Cane Martinis compliments of our Hostess Aimee)

with a bunch of girlfriends at a Holiday/Pajama Party/Bunco get-together?

I believe you get this...

and this...

and definitely some of this...

(our Hostess Aimee taking a self portrait after a few too many Candy Cane Martinis)

and a whole lot of these...

(Okay, I'm looking a wee bit tipsy here. Oh yeah...I think I might have been. Was I? I don't remember. What is my butt doing in this picture? It looks like I'm sitting on a flattened doughnut in Christmas pajamas. Yee-gads!)

**UPDATED TO ADD:

Okay - per Aimee's suggestion, I have to tell you what provided much of the laughter that evening (besides over-consumption). Every December our Bunco group does a Christmas party and we have a gift exchange. This year there were 2 HOT gifts that made their way around the room. One was the purple scarf seen in a couple of the above pictures (from Pier One) which each recipient wore proudly until someone snatched it away. The other...well...it was...ummm...something we dubbed as "The Aqua Globe Douche Bong". I'll give you a minute to conjour up an image of what that might have been.

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Done imagining? Everybody with me now? Okay. Well, we didn't get any pictures of said Aqua Globe Douche Bong for the obvious reason that amidst the laughter and guzzling, we forgot! But here is a stock picture of something similar...

'nuff said!

To all of my Bunco girls...THANKS for the fun night! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! I love you guys!

And The Winner Is...

Well, my 100th Blog Post Giveaway is officially over! I put the names of everyone who left a comment in a bowl...

Did you count them? No? Scroll back up and count them. Count those little white pieces of paper in the bowl. Go ahead...I'll wait right here.

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tick...tock...tick...tock

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You back? How many did you count? Five? Yep, that'd be right. There were only FIVE names in the bowl even though I know PLENTY of you read the post. I'm not bitter about that though. Nope, not at all. It's ooookay because I love my FIVE faithful bloggy followers who left comments! Thank you Mindy, Melisa, Aimee, Anissa, and Natalie! You guys ROCK!

Anyway - then I picked a name from the bowl...

Who won? My sweet and very funny friend...

YAY for Natalie!!! She's a winnah! She's a winnah!

Natalie, as soon as I get your address, I will send off your prize...

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Thanks to all who participated! And even though I joke about those of you who check in but don't participate, I really love ya anyway and appreciate you checking in with me!

100th Blog Post (UPDATED)...

UPDATE:
I wanted to add a few things to this post...

1. I've decided on a prize.
2. If you are a stalker of my blog, now is a great time to "come out". Don't hide...I want to know who you are so I can start stalking your blog too! If you visit regularly (or not), please leave a comment!
3. I've decided on a really cute prize.
4. You are still considered to be "blogging" even if you don't have a blog but enjoy visiting blogs (But, really??? You ought to get yourself a little blog).
   
5. I've decided on a really cute aaaaaannnnnd oh so fabulous prize.
6. The deadline to enter the give-away is 10:00 pm central time on Saturday night (the 13th).
7. I've decided on a really cute and oh so fabulous prize aaaaaannnnnd I know the suspense is killing you, right?

(Oh c'mon...you know it is!)

So.
Without.
Any.
Further.
Adieu.

(Can you even stand it???)

The prize:


Yes, it's true! This very cute and oh so fabulous Vera Bradley coin purse/key chain/ID case could be yours so don't hesitate! Enter now! See below for entry details...

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It's my 100th blog post!
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Does Hallmark make a card for that?!? But seriously people, how do you celebrate something as big as your 100th blog post? Many of my friends have done some really fun posts for their 100th. Things like:

• "100 Things About Me"
  
• "100 Things I hope to Accomplish In My Life"
  
• "Ask Me A Question"
  

Well if you're a regular visitor to my blog, you know a lot about me by now and anything that you don't know is too boring to list. I couldn't even begin to fill 100 lines of things I hope to accomplish during my life - I'm lucky to get through a day just accomplishing a couple of things I set out to do! And as far as asking me questions...well you can do that anytime (not that there are probably a whole lot of burning questions on everyone's minds)! So I thought and thought and finally decided to ask YOU a question and have a little giveaway...

QUESTION: "Where do you blog?"

Odd question? Not for me. I am definitely a visual type of person. When I'm reading an email from someone, I imagine them typing it. When I'm speaking with someone on the phone, I conjour up an image of them on the other end chatting away. One of the things I love about blogging is that most people post pictures on their blogs which make it so much easier to connect with them. When I visit your blogs, I try to imagine where you are when you're blogging. Are you in your home-office? On a laptop at the kitchen table? Do you blog while you're at work? Wherever you blog, I want to know!

GIVEAWAY: I have yet to determine what the prize will be but...wait, wait, wait...it will most definitely be ~*~FaB~u~LoUs~*~ I promise! Once I figure out what the prize is, I'll update this post and let you know. In the meantime, here's how you can win...the unknown prize... which will be fabulous...

• To earn ONE entry into the giveaway: Leave me a comment describing in detail where you blog (ie; I blog at my desk in my home office.")


• To earn TWO entries into the giveaway: Leave me a comment describing in detail where you blog AND let me know that you have posted about my giveaway on your blog


• To earn THREE entries into the giveaway: Leave me a comment instructing me to visit your blog because you have posted about my giveaway AND posted pictures of your blog station
  

I couldn't possibly ask you guys to do this and not share with you where I blog! I recently gave my home-office a face lift. Here is what it looked like when we bought our house...

and here is what it looks like now...

It's not completely done. You'll notice that one of the chairs is missing a slipcover, the cabinets are missing the hardware, the lighting isn't completely finished, and I still have some accessories to add. But I'm getting close to having it done. Also, the color on the walls is much more subdued than it shows on these pictures. It's actually a very light watery blue. The pictures above my computer are all black and whites of the kids (Mary, this is what I was telling you about).

So that's it folks...my blog station! Now you can imagine me sitting there blogging away! Not really? No? Hmmm...maybe I'm just weird that way!

Thanks for making the last 100 posts such fun! I'm looking forward to 100 more!

Another Milestone For M...

Since there is no theme for Favorite Foto Friday this week, here is a glimpse of how our day started out...

As if the fact that my baby has turned FIVE isn't enough, now she's lost her first tooth! It had been wiggling for the past week and this morning it finally fell out!

To see more FFF posts, click here.

Make A Wish...

Many of you may already know about this but I wanted to post about it for those who may not know...

Macy's Department Stores has teamed up with the Make A Wish Foundation this Holiday season. They have placed mailboxes in each Macy's across the country and are collecting letters to Santa. You can even download special stationary for your child to write their letter on. For each letter Macy's receives (must be in an envelope and stamped), they will make a $1 donation to the Make A Wish Foundation up to one million dollars!

SAHHHWEET! I love this idea and we will be heading to Macy's tomorrow with our letters to Santa!

If you'd like to read more or download stationary, click here.

Ho ~ Ho ~ Ho!

Call of the Wild...

It's midnight and I'm the only one awake here at my house. My kids go to bed at 8:30 and hubby went up to bed a couple of hours ago. I've been catching up on my tivo'd shows.

Anyway - I was fially ready to head up to bed myself when it occured to me that I wasn't sure if hubby brought our dog inside for the night. So I went to the back door and the light was off on the deck. I could make out his furry outline right in front of the sliding glass door. And I do mean RIGHT IN FRONT of it. That was sort of strange because he generally likes to hang out in his doghouse when he's out there. But, whatever. My hand was on the handle to pull the door open when the light of the moon hit the furry outline just right and I realized that the outline did not belong to my cute furry little doggy! Nope, it belonged to this guy instead...

I wish I had grabbed my camera faster because as soon as he saw me, he came right to the door and put his little hands on the glass and watched me. Very cute! I am sure this is the same little guy who pays us a visit several times a week. When he first started coming, I kind of freaked out when I saw him. My dog was on the deck and this racoon was sitting on the railing hissing at him. So after scurrying my dog inside, I grabbed the first thing I could which happened to be a golf ball. I tossed it - not AT HIM - but in his direction and he immediately put his little hand over his eyes and froze. He sat that way for several minutes and every once in a while he'd uncover part of his eyes and peek at me. Now that's a moment I wish I had gotten on tape!

One thing I didn't anticipate when we moved to the midwest from Southern California was all of the wild animals! We see deer every day, we have seen a cougar, bobcats, groundhogs, opposum, racoons, and countless types of birds (including pelicans). All in our own backyard - literally!

What can I tell ya? It's an exciting life here in the midwest! Now if I could just find the darn ocean!