Christmas Highlights 2008

Our Christmas was wonderful, I really should have posted about it sooner. We spent both Christmas eve and Christmas day with family and the kids were totally spoiled as usual. They got presents from Santa, Casey and me, and from grandparents on both sides as well as presents from aunts, uncles and cousins. They even picked presents to give each other.

I really need to learn how to make one of those photo collage things so I don't have to download so many pictures at once. But here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying Christmas. (I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.)



(Disclaimer: I never thought I would buy toy guns for my kids but Camden is so obsessed with them that I caved and got him one; and he loves it. In fact before he had a toy gun he made everything else into guns. He shot everyone with toy lizards, pieces of hot wheels tracks, books and even his own body parts.)

"Gingerbread" Houses

It was a couple of days before Christmas and this is what it looked like outside.
Since we already had all of the decorations from making gingerbread cookies just a few days before, we made graham cracker gingerbread houses. ( I didn't have all of the ingredients needed to make a new batch of gingerbread, and chances are, even if I had all the ingredients, this is still what I would have done. Lucky for me, the kids didn't mind.)

It turned out to be the perfect thing to do on a snowy day.

Manic Monday: Tradition

My sisters and I decided to bring back a holiday tradition we used to do every year when we were little. We made gingerbread cookies before Christmas. It was always one of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up. We would all go to our Oma's house and make "pfefferkuchen." Our cookies were decorated simply, with almonds and rasins, and brushed with egg whites to make them shine. Oma made us all wear aprons and hair nets and we baked at her house all afternoon using cookie-cutters of all shapes and sizes. For some reasons the shapes I remember making the most were chickens, moons and circles with scalloped edges.

This year we made gingerbread cookies using traditional gingerbread-man shaped cookie cutters and decorated them with white frosting and almost every kind of candy you could think of. The funny thing was, the kids really weren't that interested while we rolled and cut out the cookies. Jace went to play with a friend, Camden took a nap most of the time while we baked, and Alek and Sophie were too little to care. So it really was like reliving a tradition of the past. It was my mom, my two sisters and me. But when it came time to decorate the cookies the kids definitely joined in the fun as you can see by their masterpieces.

Hoppefully this will be a tradition we can carry on for may years as we continue to share it with the next generation.

Alek found something to do while we were busy making cookies. He loves this drawer.

Camden hard at work. You wouldn't believe how much candy that kid ate while he decorated cookies!

His finished project and classic "the flash is too bright for my eyes" smile.

Jace really took his time with his biggest cookie. He's trying to get it just right.

He was happy with how it turned out and couldn't wait to eat it.

And here's the whole group.

I'm so glad we did this. Thanks Katie for suggesting it!

Christmas Wishes

Just a quick post to wish all of you and your families a wonderful Christmas filled with all the joy, peace and happiness you could ever hope for.

Friends, Food and Fun

Casey and I are both lucky enough to have some really great friends. These are the kind of friends you may not get a chance to see very often but when you do, it's just like old times. And we both got to spend time with our fiends over the holidays which was so much fun.

We were able to catch up with some of Casey's friends whom he worked with roughly ten years ago. His friend John and his wife Jenny were kind enough to offer their home and treat us all to dinner a few weeks ago. It was fun to catch up and let the kids play. It was funny to see these guys together. It was suddenly as if they were all ten years younger again. As one of the other wives noticed, it was as if they had never been apart, they didn't miss a beat and picked up right where they had left off before even though two of them live out of state.

Here's a picture of Casey with his friends Jon, Jon and John. Seriously!

Then, a couple of weeks later, my friend Sarah planned a dinner at her house for five of us from high school who still keep in touch, to catch up and reminisce a little. We even looked at an old picture from a school dance. It was our first dance and we laughed at how different we all looked and found it amusing that the same group of five from junior year of high school were once again together.

Here's the group: (Casey) Me, (Eric) Holly, Christy (Chris), Heidi and Sarah.

Thanks again John and Jenny, and Sarah, it was so fun

Manic Monday: Tree

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.- Jack Handey

I'm really not feeling creative tonight but I at least had to post something to move that hideous video down on the page.

Funny Christmas Song.

I am not sure why but when I watched this I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. My sense of humor is a little twisted though so some you may not find this as funny.

No Wonder All The Girls Like Him

Ever since we moved into our house, Jace has been quite popular with all the little neighbor girls. They are always knocking on our door and asking if he can play. He even got a love note from one little girl in his kindergarten class. It says: I love you Jace, love Anna. Then she drew a boy and a girl holding hands. She even labeled them Jace and Anna. It was so cute. (Maybe I'll scan it and add it to this post later.)

I always though it was because he's such a cutie. Jace is also a pretty well mannered kid and he's happy to play with anyone. While that may be the case, we recently discovered that there may be more to it than that. This is how the conversation went when we discovered another reason the girls all seem to love our little Jace.

Jace: Dad, I have something I should tell you...But I don't want to...But I should.
Casey: What's that?
Jace: I kissed Olivia.
Casey: You did!? (totally shocked and laughing a little)
Jace: Yes. (A little embarrassed)
Casey: Where did you kiss her?
Jace: On the mouth. (Now even more embarrassed, and suddenly shy; very uncharacteristic for Jace)
Me: Why did you kiss her?
Jace: She told me to...She said she was the princess and she was asleep and wouldn't wake up until I kissed her.
Casey: Have you kissed any other girls?
Jace: Yes...I've kissed Isabel too.
Me: On the mouth?
Jace: No, just on the cheek.
Casey: How did you like it.
Jace: I didn't really like it very much.

Well hopefully it stays that way for a while. A long while. And just to make sure that no more kissing is taking place, Casey ended the conversation like this

Casey: Jace, do you know what happens when you kiss little girls?
Jace: What?
Casey: It makes their dad's really mad.
Me: (Laughing)

I don't know if Casey's last comment had any effect on Jace or not. But I do know that I'm going to have to keep an eye on Jace when he's playing with those little girls.

And I haven't done a smiley list in a long time so here's a new one:
-It snowed!
-The way our Christmas tree looks now that it has lights on it.
-I actually got to pick up a shift at work this week (a rarity lately)
-Jace told me that he still believes in Santa even though some of the other kids in his class don't.
-Camden can sing the ABC song, well most of it. He leaves out E and WXYZ.
-Alek tries to chew his food with his two little front teeth.

Best Santa Ever

My kids got to see Santa at a family Christmas party we went to this past week.

I wasn't sure how Alek would react to Santa but luckily he didn't cry. He wouldn't smile though either.


Camden gave me a classic Camden "cheese" after giving Santa's beard a little tug. It's real alright.


And my cute Jace knew that all he needed to do was give a nice smile for the camera so he could run off and open his present. One picture and he was done.
The kids had so much fun with it; and I loved it because now the kids and I don't have to stand in line at the mall for a picture with Santa. Thanks Uncle Carl, you are the best Santa ever!

Christmas Tag

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. It just isn't as fun to open a present when it's in a bag.
2. Real tree or artificial tree? Real this year but we've used a fake one in the past.
3. When do you put up your tree? We don't have a specific day we get tree up every year. We usually try to get it up sometime during the first week of December.
4. When do you take the tree down? Between Christmas and New Years.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but only in small increments and it has to be "watered" down with milk.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I was four or five years old and it was a Strawberry Shortcake doll that gave off a strawberry smell from her mouth when you squeezed her stomach. So I guess it was a burping doll?
7. Hardest person to buy for? It's a tie between my dad and my brother.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have two of them but only one is out. It's a Fisher-Price one and the kids love it. I don't have anywhere to put my other one where my kids can't get to it.
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? I have mailed Christmas cards in the past but I'm not very consistent with it. Probably not going to happen this year.
11. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story; you know, the one with Ralphie.
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually do it all in December. Maybe one of these years I'll be organized and get it done early.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so but I know we recycled some of our wedding gifts.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pumpkin cookies. But they are a year-round favorite for me. So...my favorite thing to eat at Christmas would have to be...homemade toffee. I also really love Christmas cookies and my mom's almond poppy seed cake with orange glaze. Mmmmm.
15. Lights on the tree? Actually, at the moment we don't have any lights on the tree. Our tree is a lot bigger this year than the one we had last year and we need to get some more lights for it.
16. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay Home
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen; and, of course, Rudolph. Yup!
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? I want a star for the tree but I haven't found the perfect one yet, so right now we don't have anything on top.
20. Do you open Presents Christmas eve or Christmas day? We let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve but everything else is saved for Christmas Day.
21. The most annoying thing about this time of year? People's intolerance of those not of their religion celebrating a holiday.
22. Favorite ornament theme and color? Simple, classic, old-fashioned. I like the tree to be really colorful but I especially like the way red ornaments look against the green tree.
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? My brother makes a fantastic deep fried turkey injected with spicy seasonings.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? Snow
25. Favorite Christmas tradition? It's so hard to decide, definitely something with the kids; maybe making Christmas cookies or going to see the Christmas lights. (I may come back and change this one if I think of something better.)

I'm going to tag my cousins on this one. Tiffanee, Mckelle, Monica, Pam and Carlye

PS: Did anyone else notice there's no question number 8?

Manic Monday: Light

Do you know what I love? Daylight Savings time. So why does it have to go away for four short months and throw off everyone's schedules and make winter feel so long...and dark...and dreary? Why can't we leave our clocks set to daylight savings time all year round and have a little extra evening light in the winter as well? Arizona does just the opposite, they don't participate in daylight savings time at all and leave their clocks the same all year round. And I don't see any reason why we couldn't do the same thing, or actually the opposite. Just something I think about sometimes in the winter when I look out the window and notice how dark it's getting only to discover it isn't even 5:00 in the evening. Sigh. Ok, my rant is over, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Whew finally got the christmas lights up

Amazing Christmas Lights Display - Watch more Free Videos

Manic Monday: Shop/Shopping

It's interesting how much my shopping patterns have changed over the years.

I used to take great pleasure in finding the perfect item at the perfect store. And this isn't particularly referring to Christmas shopping, just my everyday shopping habits. If I needed makeup or shampoo I would go to a store just for that. When I needed groceries I would head over to the grocery store; a nice upscale store where they would take my purchase to the car for me. If I needed a birthday card and wrapping paper I would go to another store just for that. And of course if I needed a copy of the newest hit CD I would go to a music store for that. And while at any of the above listed stores I would leisurely browse through the products as I did my shopping, often stopping to examine other products or read labels. It truly was enjoyable and relaxing. Maybe even fun, but it's hard to remember.

Now, however, my day-to-day shopping can be summed up in a single multilingual word: Walmart, or as a fellow Walmart shopper referred to it one day..."The Devil's Store." Do I frequent the store because I absolutely LOVE Walmart and their rollback prices? No...It's because I have three kids to pack in and out of the car and the fewer stops we have to make, the better. But I actually loathe that store. The location closest to us is easily the biggest Walmart I've ever seen. I was told it's six acres worth of store and it looks like it. It's dizzying to just be in there. Honestly my first couple of visits there made me a little nauseous. And my days of browsing and leisurely shopping are over too. I make a mad dash through the store as if I've won a shopping spree.

Hopefully shopping will be fun again someday. Until then, I'm going to try and figure out how I can fit all of my purchases in the cart so easily as I shop, but then it suddenly seems like twice as much merchandise once it's in bags and loaded back into the exact same cart.