It Was Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

In fact, it still does.  Look a lot like Christmas.  Pretend like I did this post a few weeks before Christmas and not a few days after.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Out of love and respect for the old man, I patiently waited until the day after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree.  (Don't tell him that I really didn't have time to put it up before, otherwise it would have been up the first week of November.)

We have ornaments that we have collected from all the places we have visited.  We also have many ornaments that have been made by dear friends and family that mean so much to us.  It is fun to pull them out every year and reminisce.

My angel putting the angel atop the tree.

Oh, aren't they so precious.  It was not easy to get them into this position and as you can see from the photos below, it didn't last for very long.

I had a hankerin' to make some lemon whatever you call ums with cloves.  So I turned on a Christmas movie and pulled out the lemons and cloves.  The kids had fun doing it.  It reminded me so much of my freshman year of high school when my BFFs Liz, Sara and Helen and I used to walk around with cloves in our mouths.  Yeah for real.  I could not resist.  I had to stick some cloves in my mouth and walk around with them all day.  In my mouth.  Yep.  That flavor took me right back to high school.

Addy made an A on her lemon

Zac lost interest pretty fast.

I don't think he was ever interested.  Until he smelled them and stole one to put in his truck.

They did smell quite lovely for a few weeks and then the lemons started to look a little rough and we had to throw them away.  Next time we won't make them so early before Christmas.

Then one day I saw a friend post a picture on facebook of popcorn and cranberry garlands that she and her girls made.  I remembered the smell of popcorn and cranberries on a string that used to fill our home when I was a little girl.  So I turned on another Christmas movie, popped some popcorn, pulled out some string and needles and put the troops to work.  

Addy wanted to try a cranberry and it reminded me of the time when I was little and we were making these and my sister Farrah was probably only a few years old.  She ate so many cranberries that, well, right in the middle of stringing popcorn, she threw up.  Thankfully that did not happen with Addy.  We had just been eating dried cranberries the day before and she learned that dried cranberries and fresh cranberries are not equal.  I don't think this berry even made its way to her stomach.

We strung our creations on our tree in our kitchen.  In the past I have wrapped Christmas books I have checked out from the library and put them under this tree.  Then we would open a book every night in December and read it.  I decided that I didn't like half of those books that we would read and so I nixed that idea and just put our own Christmas books under the tree.  We have a book that has a story in it for each day in December and we read from that this year.  (Also my fine on my library card is so large at this moment I don't dare show my face in the library!  I'm gonna have to work out some kinda payment plan with them or something.)

And last but not least, we added a new fun decoration/tradition to our Christmas celebration this year.  I resisted the madness that is 'Elf on a Shelf' for a good long while.  But then my sister got one and my girls had so much fun learning all about this magical elf that I had to go adopt one for our family.  We named her Trixie.  This is where she was when we woke up the morning of Christmas Eve.  Having a nice little marshmallow bath under the book tree.  She returned home to the North Pole for her last time this season on Christmas Eve after we were all nestled snug in our beds.  I must say that I enjoyed waking up to Addy's giggles every morning when she found Trixies new viewing spot.  That sound alone made me wish I had given in earlier and made Trixie a part of our family sooner.

It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

3rd Annual Snow Family Gingerbread House Contest

I meant to do this post forever and a day ago (slightly anticlimactic 2 days after Christmas).  But I have been so busy enjoying all that is Christmas, I just never found the time.  My kids have been bugging me every day asking if I had posted this and if anyone has voted on their gingerbread house.  On Sunday, December 16th, in honor of my dads birthday, my family went over to my moms house for dinner.  And after dinner we had a little friendly competition.  I know which house I think is the winner-by a long shot-thankyouverymuch.  But, like last year, I am turning the decision over to you.  Please vote on our little poll on the right side of this blog.  Voting ends at midnight mountain standard time on Friday, December 28th.  After the votes are in I will post the results along with the reveal of who designed which house.  Please vote for your over all favorite and then cast a vote for each category- but please only vote for each house once under a category so that each house receives a vote.  Please vote on the poll at the top right hand side of the blog!

House # 1

(This abominable snowman is wielding a candy cane atop the house.  You can decided weather he is doing this in a menacing way or a happy go lucky I love candy canes so much I had to climb on the roof and yell it out for all the world to hear kinda way.)

               

House #2

(This abominable snowman is giving Santa a friendly boost  up on the roof.  You can decided if he is doing this in a menacing I can't wait to see Santa slip and fall off the roof kinda way or a friendly here Santa I am the only kind helpful abominable snowman in the house kinda way.  This house also comes complete with a dog house for my sisters dog Eli, who you can see pictured in the right hand corner.)

 House #3

(This abominable snowman is throwing Santa off the roof.  You can decided if he is doing this in a menacing way or a friendly hey Santa lets play in the snow-you first kinda way.)

House #4

(This abominable snowman is standing in the yard in front of a broken candy cane.  You can decided if he is the one who broke the candy cane or if it was already broken when he arrived on the scene.)

House #5

(This house come to us as an out of state entry and has no abominable snowman.  You can decided if this is a good thing or a hey if you had spent Christmas with us you could have had an abominable snow man too but you didn't so too bad kinda thing.)

Thank you for viewing.  Now go 

ROCK THE VOTE!

*Remember, please vote for your favorite over all.  Then vote for each house only once when you vote in the categories.  That way each house will receive one vote from you.  The categories are: Cake Bossiest, Winder Wonderlandiest, Funniest, Christmas Housiest, I ♥ Candiest. 

A 12 To The Third Power Kinda Birthday

Yesterday was my Birthday!  It was an awesome date to have a birthday on.  12/12/12.  It was a fun fun day!  It started the night before when these lovely ladies pictured above took me out to the Olive Garden for dinner.  We had fun and we stayed out long enough for them to sing Happy Birthday to me on my actual Birthday.

Anyone who knows April will know that in this picture she is saying, "I'll Take You Down".

And here she is actually trying to take me down.

I had the luxury of sleeping in the next morning, which was delightful.  My dear sweet Emily set her alarm and woke up extra early.  She woke her sisters up and they made me breakfast in bed and made all the school/work lunches so I didn't have to.  I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed have the morning off from lunch making duty.

Later that day these lovely ladies took me to lunch at Pei Wei.  

I have the privilege of serving in the Relief Society Presidency with them.  It was nice to go out to lunch and just talk about plain old regular stuff and not have to be so serious.  Because as you can see from the picture below, our presidency meetings are always very serious.

On the way home Jamie made us go run all her errands with her.  We stopped at the grocery store for hamburger meat for her stuffed peppers she was making for dinner.  We also stopped by the bakery and ate all their bear claw samples.  

After lunch Alicia, the Relief Society president, sent me a lovely text.  I really want to post it here but I won't because I don't want her to get fired from her job.  But I just want the world to know that she is very mean to me sometimes.  She likes to make everyone think that I am the one persecuting her, when really it is the other way around.

This was my fortune I found in my fortune cookie after lunch.

I had told Steve earlier that morning that I wanted to go out to dinner with him and the kids that night and come home and watch a movie.  Unfortunately he got stuck working late in Logan so the kids and I were on our own.  I was still stuffed from my lunch and the kids were starving.  So we got take out and ate Sticky Fingers from Wingers for dinner.

Then Steve came home and put the kids in bed and we turned on The Bourne Legacy.  True to form, I fell asleep about halfway through.  I finished it this morning.  I must say I think it ruined Jason Bourne for me.  Because now I know that he isn't just Jason Bourne.  He is Jason Bourne all doped up.  And man.  Could there have been a longer motorcycle chase scene?  There are two things I tune out in movies.  Fight scenes and chase scenes.  I don't tune them out on purpose.  I just realize part way through it that I am not even paying attention.  So for about 30 minutes in that movie I was totally somewhere else.

It was a fabulous day.  I love love love love love all the people involved.  Thank you all for making me feel so special.  And here's to my last year in my 30's!

How I Spent My Lovely, Lovely Weekend

Yeah, so, we had a nice weekend.  There was a lot of puking involved.  That's always lovely.  And it involved pretty much everyone.  Also- always lovely.  Steve was lucky because he had to work day and night all weekend long.  Well, lucky that is until he got sick and still had to work. 

The kids and I were so sick  this is what we did.  Laid on the couch and watched TV.   For two days straight.  We didn't have any strength to do anything else.  

We started off with several episodes of Extreme Doomsday Bunkers.  Then that ended.  Zac and I have already watched all the Walking Deads they have on Netflix.  So we started over.  And watched the first few again.  Until the girls came downstairs and wouldn't leave so we had to turn on something else.  We couldn't find anything else we wanted to watch so we looked under "What's Popular on Netflix".  And right there was Cake Boss.  We had never watched it.  So we watched like five thousand episodes.  It's not our fault.  Netflix just kept playing one right after the other.  We didn't have to put forth any effort what so ever.

Can I just say.  Probably not the most appropriate thing to be watching in our condition.  First, it made us wanna puke again.  Then it made us realize how incredibly hungry we all were.  Being that we hadn't eaten anything all day.

By 7ish Saturday night we finally decided that we really needed some type of nourishment.  But none of us felt like getting up and making anything.  Soup was the only easy thing we could make but just the thought of eating soup again made us all wanna gag (what we really wanted was cake)(from New Jersey).  I called Steve to see when he would be home from work because I thought maybe he could bring us something.  He was in Logan and wouldn't be home for many more hours.  I seriously considered calling my neighbors and asking them to bring their dinner leftovers to our house.  We laid on the couch for another 2 or 3 Cake Bosses.  Then it was like we were either gonna die or we were gonna have to eat.  Something.  Anything.  

The only thing I could think of that someone would bring to us was pizza.  But the thought of pizza on my weary stomach was not pleasant. But then I was like, well, none of us can get up and physically make anything.  And the pizza dude is the only person who will bring us something.  So I mentioned the idea of pizza to the kids.  To which they all replied with a collective groan.  So we watched another 2 or 3 Cake Bosses and then by that time it was like they didn't care how disgusting  pizza sounded.  They were like bring it on.  Bring.  It.  On.

Oh that blessed blessed pizza super dude.  He has no idea what he meant to us that night.  I love you pizza dude.  You saved us!  I just hope we didn't make you sick.  I was trying to hurry and take the pizza from you so you could turn and leave and not have to inhale too many of our germs.  But you just wanted to talk about the snow and Christmas...and all that good stuff.

Thankfully I think we are pretty much all well and good now.  I've had a few stragglers that felt like they earned a day off of school after a weekend like that.   But for the most part we have all recovered from our days on the couch. 

Everyone except for Addy.  We have scarred her with an overabundance of a Jersey accent.  She walks around now saying, "I'm the boughss".  (Translation: I'm the boss said in a New Jersey accent)

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving 2012 was a pretty quiet affair around these parts.  My mom and sister Lauren were in Ohio spending Thanksgiving with the newest addition to our family, by brother's baby Alaina.  Steve and I (unbeknownst to our children) actually seriously considered the possibility of loading up the van and driving to St. Louis just a few days before Thanksgiving.  But we decided to stay home.  Alone.  Just the six of us.  My kids couldn't believe we were having Thanksgiving with just our little family.  We have never done such a thing.  I must admit, I was kinda looking forward to it.  Life has been so busy around here and Steve has been working so much.  I was looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet and rest and spending time with the 5 people I love the most doing whatever we wanted and not have our schedules dictated to us.  And this Thanksgiving did not disappoint.  

It has become a tradition for my girls to go to my mom's house the day before Thanksgiving and spend the day making pies with her.  Since she was thousands of miles away, they were stuck making pie with me.  Aubrey made the fruit and lemon meringue pies all by herself and Emily made the pumpkin.  They turned out fabulously.

Instead of making pies, Addy opted to make targets with the boys for the next days activities.  This is her target she made.

The next day was spent cooking, watching the parade, playing games and watching movies.  Addy was the self appointed turkey baster.  And as usual, I cannot say the word turkey baster without thinking of my dear sister, Farrah.

As you can see, she did a magnificent job.

Earlier that day Aubrey went around and traced each persons hand.  She then made a turkey for everyone that she used as a place marker at the table.  She left room on the turkeys for everyone to write what they were thankful for.  Addy also made hand turkeys for everyone that were used as coasters.  Before we ate we went around the table and everyone had a chance to voice their gratitude for their blessings of the past year.

It was a mighty fine day.

Addy's Big Day

On Wednesday November 28, 2012,  Addison turned 6!  For months she had been telling me that she wanted to go to Build A Bear for her Birthday.  For months and weeks she has been counting down the days until she could go.  Last Wednesday, the big day finally arrived.  We sent all the other kids off to school and headed downtown to make her dream come true.  She was so excited.  When we got there, she went down the line of bears and other animals that you can choose from.  She seriously picked up every single animal, looked it straight in the eye, and gave it a snuggle.  She was making sure she found the most perfect bear for her.  She finally made her choice and  took it to get stuffed and she put a heart inside.

Then she gave her bear a bath and a good fluffing and brushing.  After that she checked out every single outfit in the entire store.  She had to try a few on her bear before deciding on a beautiful sparkly dress.  And we also had to get a robe.  Because you know, it just wouldn't do to have her sleep in her dress and get it all wrinkly.  Then she went over to the computers and gave her bear a name.  She decided on the name Annie because that is the name I almost named her when she was born.  Then we dropped a pretty sizable wad of cash and Annie was tucked all safe and snug in her new home.

The Birthday Girl and Annie

It was lunch time and Addy and I were famished after all that bear building we had done.  So we stopped at the food court and had a bite to eat.  Then I took her to school (she might have been a little late). And began my party preparations. 

After school was out Addy had a few friends over for her Birthday Party Spectacular.

We had a little carnival.  Em was in charge of the fishing booth.

Steve was in charge of a ball game and Aubrey was in charge of the 'Ring a Crocadile' game.

Zac was in charge of  'Pin the Tail on the Zebra'.  I have decided it is so much easier to throw a Birthday party the older my kids get.  They were such a big help to me.

Then we took a break from all the gaming to have pizza

This turned into a chorus of "Say What's"

And then it was time for cupcakes

It was hard to get a serious picture out of this girl

After we opened presents it was time to do some damage to a pinata

After all the kids took their 3 swings at the thing it was time for the big girls to step in and show that pinata what they were made of.