a little late...

...but we had a good christmas!  my poor emily woke up sick with a little fever :o(   she has inherited my curse for being sick on or around christmas!  i can remember soo many christmas eves and christmas days where i was miserable(but managed to still open gifts...tee hee!)  we ended up putting her back to bed after barely getting through a couple of stocking stuffers!  i was so upset!  i was sure that this was the year that emily was really going to get into it.  so yeah, i cried on christmas!  david snapped me out of it though!  he had such a ball!  each thing he opened had to be played with right that second!!  it was so fun to watch him!!  after my parents got here we we put david down for a nap, and got emily back up.  she was feeling much better!!  i was so relieved!  the kids opened gifts, we ate yummy treats, and just enjoyed each other's company. 

a norman rockwell painting, we certainly are not!  haha  david's diaper leaked so he couldn't wear his christmas jammies, emily's hair was a mess all day, i never made them wear their christmas outfits, and there was no family pic in front of the tree this year.  oh well, they can't all go as planned! lol

hope you all had a great day!  now bring on 2010!

going to sit back and enjoy

ok, so you all know i've been a horrible blogger lately.  this is one of the busiest christmases(is that a word?!) that i've ever had!  not really sure why?  last year at this time, emily was still receiving 8 therapies a week!!  i was running around like an idiot trying to remember which therapist was coming and at what time!   this year, she's happier than a pig in poop @ school.  i feet like i was always running behind, always something to do.  well, i'm DONE!  there are things that i would have liked to accomplish, but i'm not super woman.  i want to sit back, relax, and enjoy my family.  this has been a magical time of year thus far.  david walks around the house every morning and makes me plug in every.single.light.he can find!--he knows where they all are now.  he's still trying to blow out the tree!  i lose it every time too!  haha  emily is just amazing.  i hoped, dreamed, prayed(and i'm not super relious, but it was worth a shot, right?) that she would be walking by christmas.  i think this will be as close to a miracle that i will ever get.  at the rate she's going, she may be running marathons by the spring! 

it has been a very difficult year for hubby and i.   in the end, we have learned to communicate more openly, and just focus on our family.  financially we are in reality now.  we have not used a single credit card in a year.  it was so easy to just get what we wanted rather than, wait, and save.  well, that landed us in a world of mess!  now, we are concentrating on things that we need...and making sacrifices.  its so much better to live within your means people...trust me!  we realize that with clothes on our backs, food in the frige, and a roof over our heads...we are far richer than alot of people out there right now.  we are thankful for each day. 

ok, back to the holly jolly stuff ;o)  we went to emily's holiday concert on tuesday.  it was great!  so much fun watching the kids dance and sing!  here are a few of the high lights...

they can never get those headbands on her!

santa again!

they were lovin' their auntie m!!!

mommy got some lovin's too!

this is emily's school nurse.  she's dressed as porky pig, singing to blue christmas.  david ran out there to dance with her...the place went nuts!  he's such a ham!

she gave me a little stink eye!

we had so much fun!!

i probably won't be back until after christmas, but i'm sure i'll be lurking around all of your blogs!!  i want to wish you and your families a wonderful christmas!!  eat, drink, and be merry!!

<3

i see the light at the end of the christmas tunnel

now maybe i can sit back and enjoy the season before its over!!  my poor blog has been so neglected.  any spare moment has been used to bake cookies, wrap gifts, clean up the house, make my mom a 50th birthday dinner, oh, and i have caught a few desperately needed cat naps! 

the decorating has been done for a week or two now...i've just been fluffing here and there.  usually once i have something just how i want it, something falls, moves, or shifts in some way...and basically by this point, i'm over it, and it can stay where it is! lol 

on saturday we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday.  i made her a big turkey dinner, and it was so tastey if i do say so myself!!  i used a brine for the bird...and man, was that meat juicey.  that will definetly be the way i cook a bird from now on!!  the gravy was SLAMMIN'!  everyone really enjoyed it, and that made me so happy.

yesterday i started my baking extravaganza!  the best idea i ever had was to freeze all of my cookie dough!  i made everything about 2 weeks ago, labeled them and threw them in.  i took them out the night before...it was awesome!  the only thing that i still have to make are the linzer tarts, but everything else(peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chip and pecan snow balls) came out terrific!  i will definetly be doing that again!   this year i got the kids involved...i've been waiting for this for years!!  i rolled out the sugar cookies and cut them, and let the kids have at it!  emily needed hand over hand assistance, but david just went to town, shaking away!  i let emily play in some left over dough, i think that was her favorite part!

tomorrow is emily's holiday concert.  each classroom get to pick a christmas song to dance to or make a video for.  i can't wait to see what emily's class does!  i'm going to pack up her teacher and aide gifts tonight so i can bring them with me...this way she won't have to lug them on the bus with her on wednesday.  her aides are getting cookies and a wire star ornament as well as a bottle of suave body wash.  her teacher will receive cookies, a comfy blanket($5 @ walmart--but the most awesome blankets ever, i got one last year as a gift!), suave body wash, a bath poof, and a small bottle of nail polish.  everything will be around $10 for her and $2-$3 ish dollars for her aides.  just a little something to say "thank you and happy holidays".   i had big plans of crafting something, but just ran out of time and energy...who doens't like cookies and some yummy smelling body wash though?!

oh well, i have a couple of things to wrap while the little man naps!!

so much for getting it all done!!

i had big plans last night!  finish christmas cards(and mail them today), make ornament(i did manage to get that done, but it took me all night!), make knot blankets for the kids(not enough fleece, and joann was all out of the colors i needed!),  finish stitchery and make it into a pillow(got lost in the shuffle, and i never even thought about it until after my head was on the pillow!)

ok, so i had an ambitious evening planned, but it all went out the window after i started making the ornament.  i'm so glad i finished it though, i really think its a show stopper!  i'll be bringing it to the family ornament exchange.  i found the idea for this over at Everyday Chaos  i knew when i saw it, i had to make it!

its just so darn pretty!  i used scraps of wrapping paper!  this was completely free to make...i love it when a plan comes together....well, other than the fact that i didn't get any of my other jobs done.  oh well!  i was taking breaks in between...so don't be afraid to try this...yours probably won't take you all night!!

on a side note...i discovered that its not good to leave your glitter where little fingers can reach it...

 

at least he offered to clean it up....

little stinker!!

finally

all of the christmas stuff is up!!  tree and all, thank you very much!  it was tough for me to get it all out this year.  once the tree was up, it gave me that last kick in the rear to get moving..."umm, hi, new years will be here if you don't finish!"

i thought about not putting our village up at all, but its just not christmas without it.  where we normally put it is directly in the danger zone...meaning, david can reach it...and WILL touh AND break something.  then i remembered that back in our apartment days hubby(before he was hubby) built me a mantle for over the tv.  AH HA!  i couldn't put it all out.  i opted to not use the 3 largest pieces, but it really looks cute, and i'm glad i made myself(well, hubby) drag it all up ;o)

here's the dining room table.  i keep it wintery so that i can leave it up for a while after christmas

some of our fav christmas books

i got this idea from Hope Studios

i made it our snow day project last week!

the tree!  i made a popcorn and cranberry garland this year.  i should have made one more strand, but i stabbed myself in the thumb with the needle enough!

with all of the cookie dough in the freezer, i just needed to bake something!  so i made some white choc chip oatmeal raisin cookies...hubby looved them! bonus!!

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups quick cooking

2 cups (12 ounces) white chocolate morsels

1 cup raisins

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in oats, morsels, and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.



Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

a little christmas survey

1. Have you started your Christmas Shopping?


yes!  we're basicallyonly shopping for the kids this year, so its pretty easy!



2. Tell me about one of your special Traditions.

i love going to my parents' house on christmas eve.  lots of munchies and my mom now reads the night before chrstmas to the kids.



3. When do you put up your Tree?

we usually purchase it the 2nd week of december, and put it up that weekend.(that's what we'll be doing tomorrow!!!)



4. Are you a Black Friday Shopper?

used to be, but with kids i stay at home now.



5. Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?

this will be the first year everyone will come.to.us!!  very excited about that!



6. What is your funniest Christmas memory??

my brother sister and i ALWAYS got up early on christmas day. like, 3 or 4 am early!!  and weren't allowed to get my parents up until 6.  one morning we were waiting for 6 and got a case fo the giggles....which turned into roaring laughter.  until we all started throwing up!!  it was like a chain reaction!!  its funny because even thow we were puking, we were still laughing!!  btw, we were like 16 or 17 at the time!


7. What is your favorite Christmas Movie??

so hard to choose!  national lampoon's christmas vacation, the polar express, rudolph, the santa clause


8. Do you do your own Christmas baking? What is your favorite treat??

yes!  love.it.


9. Fake or Real Tree?

real! we considered fake this year, but just couldn't do it!


10. What day does the actual panic set in to get it all done?

i'm usually pretty good at being all done.


11. Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?

never. i love to wrap gifts!


12. What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?

i just love being with my family and spending as much time with them as i can.



13. What Christmas craft do you like best??

anything!!  i love making my own decorations and ornaments.



14. Christmas music??

yes, please!



15.) When do you plan to finish all your shopping?

in the next couple of days.

theta mom thursday

last friday my sissy picked me up for my first trip to the new christmas tree shoppe!! i'm in love...i fall in love pretty easy lately! lol  we met our friend and her husband...ok, ok, so there was a boy there.  he's been a friend since high school though, so he's like one of the girls anyway! 

we had a blast!  other than the woman behind me in line invading my personal space to find out what the hold up was...waiting for change, now get out of my face!  the balls of some people!  you are at the "christmas tree" shoppe in december...what makes you think that you won't be waiting in a line?!  sheesh!

anyhoo.  my sister and i ended up frolicking around michaels and target as well!  i love shopping with her.  we laugh like little school girls!!  i got the kids a couple of things for christmas, and a couple of cheap decorations.  we didn't get home until after 10...so.much.fun!!

ATWT

christmas morning 2001...he proposed!!

never thought that i'd dread a snow day!

seriously!  its going to be a long day!  most of the area just has a delay...where i live however, its like the twilight zone.  i'm hoping that i can have the kids' sleep/nap scedule run so that they'll miss each other for most of the day.  while emily is minimally improving with david, its not enough that she can spend and entire day with him!!  last night she about crawled out of her skin while hubby had to go out to the garage for a few minutes.  so stressful-for all of us!

i'm trying to think of some crafting things that we can do.  i want to make a handprint calander from the kids for my parents, but i don't have paint yet.  today would have been perfect to do it...grrrr.  emily loves to finger paint at school.  note to self: next possible snow day, be prepared!  

yuck, just took a sip of cold coffee!

anyhoo.  christmas decorations still aren't finished!  i did make some cookie dough yesterday and put it in the freezer.  cookies for all this year! lol  i did choclate chip dough-with and with out nuts, sugar cookie dough, and peanut butter...all rolled into balls and ready to bake.  i've never tried the freeze and bake thing with cookies before.  i'm hoping it doesn't blow up in my face!  i just feel like i have alot to bake this year.  i'm doing a cookie swap with family, hubby asked for a platter for the fire house, and emily's teachers and aides are all getting baked goods as well!

here is a little of what i have around the house so far.  i'm really not so great at taking pics of things that aren't kids...so don't laugh! plus my camera is not that great...i'm dying for one of those big fancy shmancy ones, but i'll have to win the lottery first :o/

i got this wreath from emily's fundraiser.  its so beautiful!

we're going to get our tree tomorrow night.  i think that will finally give me the boost i need to get the rest finished!!

merry sitsmas!

stop on over to SITS today, and have a merry sitsmas!!!

this and that

my head has been spinning lately!  not really sure why.  i guess its the holidays.  i'm worrying about getting the kids done for christmas...but have to wait until hubby's next paycheck.  ugh, worrying about money saa-hucks!!  esp this time of year.  we're getting through it though.

i love to decorate my house, but for some reason this year i just can't seem to get done!  i still have to put my village up, hang some jingle bells, and set up my grinch scene.  maybe tomorrow(i've been saying that for a week now!)  i have all of these craft ideas floating in my head...but don't have the time energy or money to do them.  its frustrating,  so i'm trying to take a simpler approach to things this year. 

these were quick and cheap...and i had everything on hand!!  love that!

i bought this little tree @ the christmas tree shoppe for $1.99.  a little fluff and some old ornaments gave it a new look!

i saw this on someone's blog last week...i'm sorry i can't remember where to save my life.  if it was you...thanks for the great idea...you rock!!

here is one of david watching the snow fall on saturday night!

i did get most of my christmas cards written out.  ok, so maybe i can check a few more things off of my list than i thought!  the baking will begin next week...oh, my poor jeans are going to hate me!