Wii Had A Great Christmas!

My little darlin' just waiting to open gifts on christmas eve. Her dress and hair were just beautiful and then she really needed to wear her red white and blue bracelet with theh pink plastic necklace. She's all about the accessories. At least she forgot about the crown for a few hours.
Christmas eve tradition: opening one gift each...new jammies.

Wii FOR CHRISTMAS! Who knew wii could really have this much fun playing a video game? The first night we played until 11:15 pm. Yes, boxing about did me in. Holly and I were just too competitive to stop. Then last night Chris and I were up until 1am playing all kinds of different games. Tonight it was 11:45 when Chris shut down the Wii. When school starts we'll have to set a timer so we don't stay up too late.
SO FOCUSED!
GREAT FORM!
EVEN THE YOUNGEST CAN NOW DRIVE
REAL DETERMINATION


Since we having over night guest tomorrow night I thought this was the prefect time to start painting my daughter's bed room. haha Everything about Olivia screams princess so... I bought a pink princess comforter set for the bed. I had a crown cut out of wood which I still need to paint. I bought a sweet princess saying for the wall. (Rod Foley calls them stickers...they are so much more than that.) My plan was to paint the walls a beautiful light pink and that's it. My 3 year old had different plans. And yes, I changed my painting plans according to what she wanted. haha The picture below is the first coat of paint, it's still wet. Olivia informed me that light pink is Emma's favorite. Dark pink is her favorite. Can't argue with that.
The previous owners did such a crummy paint job that I may paint all the woodwork white. The bed is getting painted too. I have some cool ideas for the closet as well. So you'll have to check back to see my progress. However, if anyone has any window treatment ideas that are fit for royalty please fell free to share.

Cookie Creations

Nothing says Christmas fun like making and decorating cookies. Our cousin (second once removed or something like that) Shirley invited the girls over for some fun. I think she misses the days when her girls we little. It really was fun. Believe it or not most of the cookies are almost gone.

Merry Christmas to you all! Tonight was a fun family night. We attended our new church with Nana and Papa, came home to a wonderful meal (prepared by me :) ), opened our traditional Christmas eve gift of jammies, watched Santa Clause and now the house is quiet. Tomorrow we'll start the day with the Christmas story from the bible and then dig into the gifts. So many blessings this year. We worship a Great God!

Reagan's Quote

My special person is Olivia.
Olivia rilly wunts my elephant.
So I will give it to her.
She likes to play with my elephant.
First I need to find it.

Pics of the Week!

Look at these cuties!
Olivia talked about seeing Santa for days but when we finally met up with him on Saturday it was a different story. After a cookie and several tears she managed to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. It's amazing what a little sugar will do for a girl.

I went on the first grade field trip...Frosty the Snowman. Lovely bus ride!

Snow crab!
Looks like she's up to no good!Reagan and Olivia could not wait to get out into the snow today but it wasn't long before the red cheeked, cold handed girls needed to warm up with some hot chocolate.
Emma and classmates before the Christmas dance recital.

No More Nazi Dance

I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate Emma's new dance company, The Dance Authority. Their goal is to teach dance in a positive environment. Hmm, our old dance studio in GI most certainly did NOT have that perspective at all! Jackie and Jason treat everyone the same and make you feel welcome. Don't think we ever got that from Sm***y's.

It's pretty early to have a recital however, this was a fun informal christmas event for the girls. This is Emma's first year of ballet. I am so proud of her progress.



I thought I would take more pictures and it just didn't happen.

Both Reagan and Olivia were excited about some of the dances they saw. Reagan really liked the tumbling and Olivia liked everything else. ha Geepers, if we have 3 girls in dance next year we may have to sell lemonade on the street corner all summer as a fund raiser.

For any of you who know of my friend Marti but don't get her updates, I want to pass on some wonderful news. Yesterday she met with her docs at Mayo and she is now in remission. Her tests showed ZERO cancer cells. Praise God! She is still weak and needing our prayers. Even though she is working (for some dumb reason), she is not full strength yet. Multiple Myeloma is not curable YET but we'll take what we can get for now.

Yesterday I was able to go on a field trip to the Rose Theater with Reagan's class to see a 4 person production of Frosty the Snowman. It was fun...all but the bus right. It's either way hot or way cold on those things. As I sat there about to get car sick I remembered our HS select choir trip to Colorado. How the heck did we do that in ancient buses? We were even dressed up ready to sing at each stop...some years even learning a song or two. ha Those were the days!

Have a great pre-christmas week. That's what my girls are calling it. Hugs to you all!

So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!
~ Psalm 31:24, NLT

Got A Date with A Hottie!

Oh yes, it's Friday and I'm going on a date with my hubby! We are going to one of our favorite resturants, Ted's Nebraska Grill, with 2 of our favorite people, Tim and Susan. We are in need of some good friends, good food and fellowship. We're a pretty cheap date: gift certificate purchased super cheap from Resturant.com, going to a cheap movie and free babysitting. Thanks Abby! Have I said lately that I love my life???? Well I do!

I should have mentioned this before. For those of you who know my friend Marti be in prayer for her. This week she had her very painful cancer testing done and will know the results on Monday. The waiting is hard for me and must be much more difficult for her and her family. Good or Bad...I praise God for Marti, her friendship and the incredible example she is. It's crazy how God can use something as terrible as cancer to bring others closer to Him.

We have a very busy weekend coming up. Monday I should have lots of pictures and stories to tell. Hurry back to check in on Monday or Tuesday.

Today's note is short. I really should be in bed. Although the date stamp says it's Friday, in my mind it is late Thursday night. YAWN!

Words for Today: friendship & love

What More Could A Girl Want?

Liv loved her "princess" cake...think I need a little more practice. :)
The princess outfits were a HUGE hit, there are 3 of them but the bright pink one is most certainly the color of choice! She really does sleep in jammies but it isn't until she falls asleep that we can get the crown out of her hands.
DAY #1


DAY 2


DAY #3

Just had to share!

Our Colorado Trip

Lots of pictures in this post so I won't say much.

The first 2 pictures show the snow and SLOW freeway between Parker and The Springs which made us almost miss the wedding. YIKES! (20 mph)

Kevin & Lisa vowing be God and family to put up with each other for LIFE!

Geesh they haven't even been married all that long. :)

Emma is all about babies

The twins Henry and Madison

Even Great G'ma danced...Liv wasn't about to let her sit down.

And we're heading home-12 hours in the van.

Emma took this while we were sitting on the parking lot called I-25 heading toward Denver.

The Baby Isn't A Baby!

First thing this morning...well after showers and getting dressed I just had to get a few good mommy and birthday girls snapshots. Three (3) years old means no diapers, no baby toys, no bottles, no (or very little) waking during the night. How have the last 3 years flown by so quickly? It is true, I am going to blink my eyes and she'll be getting dressed for her first day of middle school and then it's all over from there.

Wednesday we (the Fam) took a trip to Sam's club to pick up a few things. Any family with kids knows the best thing about going to Sam's or Costco is hitting all the samples. So yes, we made the tour through the store. On our way out Liv spotted a box of dress up princess clothes. She must have told us 10-15 times, "That would be good for my birthday." As you can see, we went back without the girls and bought her dream gift. That child played all night in her "queen" outfit. Reagan would rather die than play dress up UNLESS her little sister asks her to be a princess. She even danced with Liv.

This morning Nana took Liv out for breakfast and to keep with birthday morning tradition I had to decorate with candles. The girl isn't so good at blowing out the flame. I think we need to work on it a little before the big family celebration tomorrow (fri) night. You'll notice that Liv is a little excited about her gift from Auntie Angie. To be totally honest, she was equally excited about the crown wearing kitty cat card. See...why do we spend so much money on toys?

I love birthdays. I love gifts. I love making others feel special. I hope today you had the pleasure of making someone in your sphere of influence feel special.

Christmas Preparations

One of my favorite Christmas traditions as a child is making peppernuts every year. I remember one year Eric and I were mixing in the 14 cups of flour and Rodger was "helpful" enough to tell us to mix it with our hands. Sounded good. Sure, he told us that and then left the house. We were covered in sticky dough with no one to help clean us off. Now that is a picture I wish I had to scrapbook. Ahhh, the memories! Fast forward 25+ years and as a mom, I am proud to be passing this tradition on to my children. Every year someone asks me for the recipe. I give it to them but just smile because there's no way they'll make these delicious little cookies. It's just too much work for the average person and I'm just crazy enough to do it. We haven't baked all the dough from the first batch yet...thus far we've made 2292. Yes, this year the girls and I have been keeping track. I'm guessing when we are all done we will have made about 3000 little peppernuts. Wow...we are nuts!




My next obsession with Christmas is the tree and lights. Oh how I love lots of lights. I am really thinking about getting a pre-lit tree after the season is over this year. Don't think I'll be content with the pathetic number of lights on that tree...I will add more. :0

The girls had so much fun decorating the big tree in the family room. This year it is packed full of every ornament from the box. I just love it! Another tradition is for each of the girls to get a christmas ornament from mom and dad. I try to buy something that represents them for that year. Then I write their name on the back and date it. Olivia thinks every Elmo and princess ornament is hers. This year's ornaments will probably have something to do with a cello, Littlest Pet Shop and a princess.

The most special Christmas decoration actually defines the whole holiday season...the nativity scene. This morning Olivia was talking to each statue, apparently the "kings" were yelling at the donkey because he was too close to baby Jesus.

Have fun preparing for the celebration of Christ's birth. When we keep it all in prespective we don't have to worry about the economy and if there's enough money to buy too many gifts. We have already been given the greatest gift of all, eternal life. Not here on earth but in Heaven with the King, the author of life, the savior, our friend. Accept His grace and mercy, you will never be sorry that you did.

Sound Christmas Advice

From my favorite money man, Dave Ramsey.

Here are the top 10 Christmas shopping mistakes and how you can act differently:

1. Not prioritizing.Instead of getting stressed out with all the parties, baking and shopping, in addition to your normal daily life, set some priorities before you’re bombarded with a million requests. Think about which things are “must do” and which are “would be nice to do.” It’s all right to say no to keep yourself sane. Shopping for gifts is more fun when you’re not completely stressed out.

2. Not using a budget.Before you make a gift list and head to the mall, set aside a reasonable amount of money for gifts. Make a commitment that you won’t add $20 to the fund every week just because you saw something cute that your niece would love. Get budgeting advice here.

3. Using credit cards.Once you have your budget finalized, stay away from credit cards! You will still spend 12-18% more if you use plastic, and you’ll be paying it off come 2009! Doesn’t paying with cash sound more freeing than having a credit card balance looming over your head? You bet.

4. Buying for everyone.Do you really need to buy gifts for every family member and friend you have? That can get overwhelming and expensive for everyone. Talk with them and work toward an agreement to draw names for gifts or donate money to a common cause.

5. Not listening.Listen to the hints your loved ones drop about what they need or want this year. Maybe your Aunt Sally mentioned that she would love someone to help her in the garden, or Cousin Bob keeps losing guitar picks. A thoughtful gift like this will mean a lot.

6. Not having a thought-out list on paper. If you think you can spend time in “Christmas retail world” without getting distracted by all the shiny toys, you’re in for a big surprise! You’ll be more likely to buy impulsively if you do it that way. Write down what each person you’re buying for would like and stick to the list. Stay focused!

7. Not shopping around.“Shopping around” doesn’t mean you have to spend 24 extra hours running from store to store to save 10 cents. Take a look at your gift list and do some comparative price-checking online before you head out into the retail and traffic madness. This will save you money, time and stress!

8. Waiting until the last minute.Procrastination is not the most appealing gift out there. Don’t find yourself stressed out on Christmas Eve just because you didn’t invest a little bit of time to plan.

9. Forgetting to plan for next year.Throughout the next year, look for outrageous sales on things your loved ones will need. If you time the sales just right and clip some coupons, you could land a major discount on something you were going to buy in a few months for a birthday or wedding gift. Remember to have a list and budget for this, too.

10. Forgetting why we celebrate.If this season becomes all about shopping and gifts, you’ve missed the whole point. People—not things—matter. The miraculous birth of a baby who changed the world is what matters.

Blankets, Friends and Makeovers...Oh My!

Finding a meaningful service project for Emma and Reagan is rather difficult. Some of the things I have done with them resulted in me doing most of the work and they didn't really understand what and why we were doing it. This year the girls and I made blankets for the Linas project. They provide blankets for children in shelters, etc. The girls picked out the fabric, Nana paid for it, I cut it and then they tied the whole thing.

It was just the right amount of work for them and they were so proud of the results of their efforts.

This blanket may be a gift for their daddy. Shhh, don't tell him. This secret is safe here since he doesn't read my blog. ha ha I bought the fabric as a christmas gift and then they thought maybe a little boy would like one with footballs.

Olivia experimenting on her own hair. This picture just makes me laugh out loud!

Emma and friend took about 100 pictures of themselves.

Little Olivia after the makeover ...she loved every minute of it.

The bad news of the day starts here...

Time to start hunting for a new car. Our last vehicle came from Roy's Grand in GI...they really treated us right so we'll probably start there. Since our van was totalled out today and we are going to get next to nothing from State Farm Ins, it's time to start asking God for a miracle. I know he can split the waters, feed 5000, cure illnesses, make time stand still...he can surly help us find the right van for our family. The rental goes back on Saturday-ish...I'm dreading being a one car family for a while. Why doesn't Chris go to work at 8:30? ha