Amazing Christmas

The day before Christmas Eve, the kids and I sat down and worked on a craft for the grandparents. I was browsing this blog and found this craft. I just had to have the kids make them. It turned out that they got tired and I ended up making them. They have 3 grandmas and I wanted one for myself, so each child made 4 for a total of 12. There are 5 fingers for a total of 60 snowmen. I had to cut out 60 scarves and hats. Totally sucked for me, but they turned out really cute. Funny story, somehow one ended up with 6 snowmen. I have no idea how one of my children grew 6 fingers, but it happened, so we turned one finger into a snowy pine tree. Too funny.

Our family had an amazing and fun-filled Christmas. We started Christmas Eve by sleeping in and relaxing. Then we headed to my grandma's house where there was a house full of family, friends and food.



We stayed there for about 3 hours and then moved on to RJ's aunt's house where there were more family and food. Not many gifts were handed out at either place this year and I think we all enjoyed that part, including the kids. Just hanging out at the dinner table and chatting was good enough for all of us.



After we left the aunt's house, we headed to RJ's mom's house. The kids rode with her while RJ and I had a quiet drive with just the two of us. Our friends (extended family) were sitting in the driveway waiting for us. We started opening presents immediately. I think the kids were busting at the seam to dig into some presents.



Afterwards, we went home so that we could set out cookies and milk for Santa and reindeer food for the reindeer. (Stupid me forget to get pictures of this) I'm sure I don't have many more years left of the whole set-up of Santa, so I need to enjoy it while it lasts. We also said our farewell to "Fred". The "Elf on the Shelf" aka Fred visits the kids each day in December starting right after Thanksgiving to keep an eye on them to see if they've been good or bad and he reports back to Santa every night while they are sleeping. Each morning when they wake up, the elf is sitting in a new place and they have to find him. It is one of the first things they do each morning in December. Fred visited us for the very first time this year. So, this was a new tradition for the kids this year. That means that I can mark off #48 off of my 101 in 1001 days list!



Christmas morning, the kids come rushing into our bedrooms to announce what Santa left them. This year, the boys got their presents confused and wasn't sure which one was supposed to receive which present, so they decided for themselves which one they wanted and agreed AND they actually got it right, so I didn't have to find a way to explain it to them. Hailey and Hunter received an ipod touch4 and Joseph received his own XBOX with Kinect.



RJ and I rolled out of bed, set up the camcorder and then watched the kids open all of their presents.

Then it was time for them to watch us open our presents. We take them shopping and give them each $40.00 to pick out a present for us. So, RJ and I both have at least 3 presents under the tree. (RJ and I usually don't exchange gifts on Christmas) Hopefully, this will teach them to give and not always receive and help them be creative in their gift giving. We try to let them pick the presents all by themselves, but sometimes we have to chime in. RJ told me that Hailey picked out a pair of wild jeans with bleach spots and holes all over them and that is so not my style at all. They also have to wrap the presents by themselves.



This year RJ received a fleece pull over from Hailey, a pair of pajama pants from Joseph and a marinade/herb rub gift box from Hunter. They had some money left over, so they each picked out a sweet treat that they thought he would like. I received a delicous smelling candle and several pair of boot socks from Joseph, a really cool picture frame collage and the Eclipse movie from Hunter and a pink neck pillow from Hailey. I always borrow her princess neck pillow when we go on long trips in the car because I like those better than a regular pillow when I have to sleep sitting up. So, she bought me one of my own.



Opening prsents from them while they watched with enjoyment is always my favorite part of the morning. Oh and we had a white Christmas. I'm looking forward to the New Year. The last 6 months of 2010 has been awesome, I hope it overflows to 2011.

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Back to the Grind

This Saturday, I will begin the 30 Day Shred. I bought this video last year and it is still sealed. But, in my defense, I was not able to use it due to the condition of my uterus. This year, I have no excuse. I had my uterus removed, I've lost 20lbs and I am ready to be fit. I'm going to try to do it every single day in January. If I miss a day, I'm going to make myself to it twice the next day, so that may keep me motivated and not miss. We'll see. I would love to lose 20 more or at least 10. I've never felt better. Right now, I weigh the same as I did when I got married, but I hope to get down to the size I was in High School. It is possible. I may not have the same body frame as I did in High School, but it is possible to be the same size if not in better shape. That is my goal and I'm not far from it. I want to reach this goal by March; whether it be the beginning of March or end, I don't care as long as it happens.

Also, starting this Saturday, I will begin organizing my house. It is called project Spring Cleaning in January and February, that way I can spend the warm days outside in the Spring. I am going to attempt to complete a project each weekend and share the details on the blog. This is what is on my list to do so far.

(in no particular order)

Regular = Incomplete
Bold = Completed

01. Paint Hailey's room
02. Paint dining room and kitchen
03. Paint living room
04. Buy a rug for living room and maybe new couch
05. Buy new bedding for my bedroom
07. Organize my closet
08. Organize dining room (I hope to give my dining room a new look)
09. Organize bathroom closet
10. Organize hallway closet
11. Rearrange my bedroom
12. Get my carpet cleaned, professionally
13. Organize the basement (small steps)
* Clothes
* Wrapping supplies
* Blankets
* Canned Food
* Books
* Home Decor
* Work bench

Can you tell, I am tired of the colors in my house? I haven't painted for a very long time. I've lived in my house for 9 years and I think we painted the house right before we moved in and haven't changed them yet.

After looking at my list, it may take all Spring to do as well, unless I can do more than one project a weekend. I have a list of outside projects I want to accomplish as well and I am bound and determined to not have anything to do in the summer except relax on the lake.

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Cream Cheese Cookies - YUM!

The kids and I make Cream Cheese cookies every Christmas to give to Santa. This is the only time of year that we make these. But, they are so good!


You'll have to excuse the bad quality pictures because they were all taken with my iphone.

They are my all time favorite cookies. I do, however, get really stressed every time we make them because it takes so long to cut each one out and I have three kids helping me. I usually end up going to bed in a bad mood, but the kids have fun and that is all that matters.

Here they are all stacked up after they had been cutout and baked.



We ran out of time, so the kids are going to put the glaze on tomorrow, (which is today now), but I had to add some glaze to a few cookies that I had to take to work.




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Here is the recipe:

Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almont extract
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a mixing bowl, mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Then add sugar until fluffy. Then add egg, vanilla and almond extract until smooth. Last, add baking bowder and flour a little at a time.

Divide dough in half and place in fridge, covered, for about an hour to hour 1/2. After dough has cooled, I sift some flour on table so the dough doesn't stick and then I roll our and cut the cookies with the desired shape cookie cutter.

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes depending on the type of baking sheet you have. I use parchment paper on my pans as well.

We used a teddy bear, diamond, octagon, star and heart because I couldn't find any christmas shapes. I'm not sure what we did with them after we used them last year because they weren't in their normal spot. I bet the kids used them to cut out playdouh.

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups of sifted confectioners sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons of water or milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring of your choice

In a small mixing bowl, mix sugar, water and vanilla until smooth. Spoon a little in ziplock bags and add food coloring. Then cut a very small hole in the bottom, corner of each bag and drizzle over cookies.

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If you make them, let me know how you like them.

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Lunar Eclipse

Did you watch the Lunar Eclipse last night? I read that if you didn't want to sit outside in the cold for 3 hours to watch the Lunar Eclipse then about 3:17am was the best time to look for it. So, I set my alarm for 3:00am, crawled out of bed, put my house shoes on, wrapped up in a blanket, trekked my way through an inch of snow to the drive way to view this eclipse. Well, I was so disappointed because it was so cloudy that I couldn't see anything, the moon, a star, nothing. :( So, I went back to bed.

If you are like me and couldn't see it through the clouds or if you didn't know about it, I found the perfect video that captured the whole thing and you can watch it in seconds with this time lapse video. Here it is. It is amazing. I wish I could have seen it in person.

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Nikon - mark off #1 baby!

I just ordered this:



and this:


from http://www.blogger.com/www.adorama.com. I am so excited!! I can now mark off #1 on my 101 in 1001 list.

I plan on getting one of these hobo camera bags soon, not necessarily that pattern, but you can get the idea.





And this camera strap and wrist strap from http://www.blogger.com/www.phatstraps.com because a girl has to look cute while taking awesome pictures. :) Again, pattern will probably be something different.




I can't wait to take better pictures of the kids sports, activites, outdoor fun, etc. and sharing them here.

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Scrap Pages

Recently, I was accepted on the Two Little Pixels creative team! I was so excited when I got the news that I was busting at the seam, but we weren't allowed to share the news at the time. Then life got in the way. We took a trip to Tennessee for my daughter's first cheer competition of the year (photos coming later), then I found out I got my promotion and all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I never got a chance to announce my exciting news. So, this is me shouting from the top of my lungs, I made the team!!

I love the fact that the designers there have such a variety of style. There is something for everyone. Here are three pages that I've created so far using their fab designs.

Winter Means Joy by A-liya


Be Classic by Deca Designs and Tempting Templates Vol. 6 by Rainy Days Designs


Peace at Christmas Time by Sabrina's Creations and Kelley Mickus Designs


So, go visit the store and check it out! Love them there!

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I've Waited 10 Years for This

I began working for my employer 10 1/2 years ago. I love it here so much that I can see myself retiring from here. I really do not want to work anywhere else. There was just one goal that I set for myself about a year after I started working here. I was bound and determinted to earn a promotion.

There are two types of employees that work here; "Professional Staff" and "Administrative Staff". I started out on the Administrative Staff. I wanted more, but we all have to start somewhere, right? The only thing I didn't realize when I started was that landing one of these "Professional Staff" positions was quite difficult. I've probably applied to 5 different positions since starting and was let down 5 different times. I truly believed that it wasn't ever going to happen.

Well.... It did happen. I can mark #54 off of my 101 in 1001 list! That's right! I received that promotion! I still can't believe it. I am giddy all over from excitement. All of the positions that I applied for were just for the title and money, they weren't really what I wanted to do. The promotion that I received is exactly what I want to do. I feel so blessed. I feel like all of my dreams have come true and it is time to dream bigger and better.

My boss told me last month that he was going to create a new position. I was excited but didn't get my hopes up too high. My hopes have been high before and the let down hurts; it hurts bad. I wasn't going to let myself get hurt this time. So, I took his words with a grain of salt. I applied. I kept my fingers crossed. I stressed. I worried. I cried. Then, on November 30th, I received the news. I was the new office Coordinator and my salary will more than double, effective December 17th. I'm still in shock.

I've always heard the saying, "It is meant to be" and I've even said it, but I never really believed it until now. I really think all of those let downs were meant to be. Because I wouldn't have been happy in those positions nor did I really have the time and patience to handle those positions at the time. I had babies to raise and I couldn't travel and be away from my babies. I won't have to travel with this position. I am ready. I am ready to take on the world now. I am exactly where I am supposed to be in my life. I can take a deep breath, close my eyes and the weight is lifted off of my shoulders. I love my life.

There are things in my life that I've questioned, "why me?", "why now?", "why not?", "what if?", "I should have?", etc. Now, I believe that all of those questions do not need to be answered. I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

There are things in my life that I regret. Now, I can't help but to think that those regretful actions were meant to be. Maybe to break relationships up that weren't supposed to be or to make other relationships stronger. There is no need to regret or question anything in our lives because whatever happens is meant to happen and greater things will come from it. As long as we are patient, fight for what we want and treat others like we want to be treated, we will become stronger, wiser and our dreams will come true.



This is a picture of me and my husband, taken by Courtney Bell Photography. We had big dreams here. So far, our most important ones have come true. We have 3 beautiful children.

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Crazy Girl!

I really wanted to show you all a video (without uploading to youtube) of my daughter singing at church with my mom, but it is too large to upload to blogger. Oh well. Here are some photos I found of her on my phone. Enjoy!

She got a hold of my phone and I found these on there. It looks like she was in the car, on the way to gymnastics. I probably thought she was playing a game and wasn't paying attention that she was taking tons of photos of herself. It started off cute, but then just went crazy. I need to make a scrap page using these pics. They are a bit fuzzy, but what do you expect with a 6 year old using my iphone.








Crazy Girl!

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Dance

I have a little dancer on my hands. We just saw the costumes that Hailey will wear during her dance recital in June. I cannot wait to see her. She loves to perform on stage so much. She takes hip hop, ballet, tap and baton. Her favorites are ballet and hip hop. We were walking to class the other day and she asked that I taker her picture, so she posed for me three times. I see a little model in our future. Just kidding. :)







Dancing is wonderful training for girls, it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it. - Christopher Morley, Kitty Foyle
When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way. - Wayne Dyer
You can't make a pointe if you don't understand the details. - unknown

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