Holiday Pictures

We Have Mini Weenie Puppies!!

I had a funny feeling last night as I watched Chili sleep on our couch. As I put her in the garage for bedtime, I knew we were going to wake up to puppies in the morning. Well we did not awake to pups but to her barking in get in the house. So I got up and let the doggies out into the yard. Chili was still not satisfied so she started scratching at our back door. Thinking she was just hungry, I put out their food bowls. An hour went by and we heard a strange yelp from Chili outside. We looked out and she was in the box we made her. She barked at Coco dog, so we thought she was just hogging the box to stay warm. After another thirty minutes we heard her yelp again, so we looked out of the window and saw her laying in the box and her tummy contracting. Les let her in the house and she immediately started running around and trying to get under the couch and then the Christmas tree. We knew she was in labor. So I scooped her up in her box and put her in the kids bathroom for privacy. Worried, I did not leave her side. She stared up at me panting and contracting. I coached and loved on her. She did so great! After about 30-40 minutes of labor she finally delivered her first baby boy. He was huge! She immediately started licking him clean and eating the rest of the "delivery". We thought surely that is all she will have since he was so big. But as soon as she finished cleaning him, Chili moved him to the side and delivered her baby girl that is a spitting image of her. It was so amazing to see her know exactly what to do. The entire process was such a miracle and I feel so blessed to have witnessed it. She rested after the first two babies, so Les and I thought she was finished. So, I prepared her some special dog food and took it into the bathroom. To my surprise, she had just delivered her second baby boy. He is grey with black spots and the neatest looking dog I have ever seen. It is so cool that she had one pup look like Coco, one look like herself, and then an odd ball. Stay tuned for more pics to come as they grow.

Oh, a little side story.....Leslie and Nolan got to watch the birth of the second pup and the smell of blood was pretty strong. Leslie ran out of the bathroom and back in and said her throat hurt. I replied that all of our throats are scratchy. She said, "No my tummy hurts too." I thought oh no. Well, she ended up vomiting all over the bathroom floor. We thought it was just from having a weak stomach, but now she is running a fever as I type this. Therefore, we are now fighting a yucky tummy virus. Wish us luck!

An As Seen on TV Christmas Exchange

This year (for the second year in a row) my mom's side of the family decided to draw names, buy As Seen on Tv gifts and give an infomercial infront of the entire family. We had so much fun last year that we decided to do it again this year. It really was a hooot! Les bought the Pedi Egg for our sister in law and in his commercial he said, "Shave your nasties". Everyone died laughing. My dad drew Les and bought him deer estrea (not sure how to spell that), so you can imagine how funny that was. In case you are wandering, deer estra is the smell of a doe in heat to attract the big bucks. Everyone's commercial was great and we had a ton of fun. All of the kids are growing like weeds and it was so nice to visit with everyone. Nolan had a ball with all 6 girl cousins!

A commercial about raising a "cup size"......Hee hee

"shave your nasties!"

"But wait, if you call in now you will get this Johnny Carson hat for free!"

Christmas Holidays

We had the most wonderful Christmas. We managed to fit all of our traditions in before it was bedtime on Christmas Eve. Mike and Linda made it to our house at about 5:00 pm just in time for my traditional Christmas Eve pot roast. The tree was sparkling, candles burning, and holiday music playing. Everything was perfect. After dinner the kids sprinkled their reindeer food out on the lawn. They love doing that. Then we came in and Leslie and Nolan opened one gift. I started this tradition several years ago. I get each child a board game to play that evening before bed. They both were so excited to get to rip paper so early. They got to bed at a decent hour and got up at sunrise on Christmas morning. It was so funny when they got up, Nolan did not believe it was really Christmas morning because Les said, "No....Go back to bed. Santa does not come for several more days." So Nolan laid there and finally asked me, "Mommy, didn't Santa come last night to eat his cookies?" It was funny. Once the kids walked into the living room they were almost too shy to walk up to all of their gifts. They just stood there and looked at me and looked at the Green Machines. Finally they got excited and ran to their piles of goodies. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and got ready to go to Matt's house for the Davis exchange. Linda had decorated the presents so beautifully, so be sure and check out the picture on the slide show. The cousins had a blast playing with their new toys all day while all of the adults lounged around and ate! Except Mindy, she stayed in the kitchen all day getting ready for our big dinner. Man it was good eating! Thanks Matt and Mindy! The kids and adults came away was so many new toys. We are all spoiled rotten. Thanks everyone for all of our nice gifts!

Gingerbread Day!

Whew, I am T-ired! We had a fabulous cookie making day! The kids were near perfect while the Christmas CD played over and over throughout the day. We started at 11:00 this morning making the special Royal Icing and "gluing" the candy on the walls of the house. This took forever! Les and I were so anxious to see the house put together, I actually rushed Nolan to finish his wall. The kids had a blast using their creativity and taste buds. They snacked on all of the candy and marshmellows through the process. Gosh I hope I am able to get them to sleep tonight! Yikes. We broke for lunch right after I finally got to assemble the house.
It really does not look that bad considering it was our very first house but definitely a start of a tradition.

Then it was back at the table to roll out and cut the gingerbread men cookies. Nolan and Leslie did really well rolling and flouring the table. I was impressed and they were impressed that Mommy was not using cookie dough from the refrigerator. Hee hee. Emily and Lily came over just in time to decorate the cookies later this afternoon. We had a bunch of cookies to do, so we were glad (and they were too) they were able to come visit for a short time. I tell ya, being so busy today really made the time go by even faster. My to do list for tomorrow consists of clean, clean, clean and grocery shop. YUCK.

This is Nolan making steaks for us tonight. You would think is 30 below zero when in fact it is only 30 degrees. That is really cold to us. Brrrrrr. But that does not stop us from a good steak on the grill.

TICK TOCK, TiCk ToCk, Tick Tock, tick tock

Waiting, waiting waiting. I feel like that is all we have been doing the past few days. The kids and I have been anxiously awaiting for the "big day" to arrive. As you know, the kids are out of school and I have been trying to entertain them the best I can. I just cannot keep them busy 24/7! Therefore, they are really starting to drive me CRAZY!!!

Here is what we have been doing. I found some old craft kits we have done in the past from preschool parties and we put them together. We did a foam snowman ornament and that lasted about an hour.

It was funny, see the heart in the middle? We had to turn it around because it said 2006. Hee hee, the kids did not understand why we had to put glue on the writing side and glue it face down.

Then I got on Jan Brett's website and printed off a gingerbread board game....that lasted five minutes. I also printed some coloring sheets of the gingerbread man and house. The kids are actually interested in coloring, now, thank goodness. I put together a little mural on our cabinets that is a work in progress.

We like to color while we watch Christmas movies together. Our latest movies we have watched was Santa Claus 2 and Jingle All the Way. Let's see, what else have we been doing? Oh, we went out on Saturday night, got a pizza and went to the newly renovated movie theatre to see Madagascar 2. We enjoyed that and it was nice to get out. Yesterday we attended church and last night, a Christmas children's play. That is it. Les has been keeping himself occupied by hunting. He has been 3 times in the last 2 days. I sure wish I could just get up and go scrapbook whenever I wanted. But that just does not happen. So I stay here and try to occupy the kids and keep them busy SO THEY DON'T FIGHT!

Today we have Big plans. I made the walls out of real gingerbread yesterday for our gingerbread house making party today (just the kids and I). Yep, no kit! I made the walls and roof and doors and..... while the kids were watching a movie. It really was not so bad. I did double the size I was supposed to make, but luckily I had some dough in the frig from the cookies the other day. So we are going to roll out, cut, and decorate gingerbread men and the house. Fun Fun Fun. I think I am more excited than the kids. Hopefully, it will take up most of the day, but probably not. What will I do next? Hmmmmm

tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tick tock tick tock tick tock

Party, Party Party!!!

WoW, I can't believe it has been nine whole days since I blogged last. Where in the world has the time gone? Seriously. Christmas will be here before we know it and then it will be gone. Boo hoo. I think it is so depressing when Christmas has passed. We anticipate the day so much and then it is gone in the blink of an eye. Of all days, I wish I can prolong Christmas day so we can really enjoy it.

Anyhoo, I have been so busy getting ready for the kids' parties at the schools. I made each one of their teachers a fancy clipboard with tons on ribbons. I received one from Ms. Ripley as a thank you gift and just loved it. So I totally copied her and made some for gifts myself. Hopefully they will enjoy them as much as I have mine.

Nolan's party was a ton of fun. I am a co-room mom, thankfully. It is a lot of work being the only room mom. Don't get me wrong, though, I love being active in the classroom. So, this year for the BIG class party we decided to decorate gingerbread cookies. Yep, you guessed it! I volunteered to make 20 gingerbread man cookies and the icing for each student. Yikes. I really wandered what in the world I got myself into once I started cutting the little suckers out. Then kept breaking and getting out of shape. But once I got the hang of it, I had 20 before I knew it. They turned out so cute! I also made 3 batches of the Royal Icing and put some in baggies for each kid to have their own. Once I got to the school the students were just coming in from recess and the teacher had them sit down on the carpet. I proceeded to read Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett. Just an FYI, I love love love Jan Brett books. There are so many "teachable" moments in her books. Not to mention, the illustrations are so beautiful. I actually bought this book with part of my "birthday money". How crazy is that? Children's books are my ultimate weakness. Sorry for that detour. I read the book about the gingerbread man that was looking for friends to play with, so we decided to make him some playmates. The kids had a ball. Afterwards, the other room mom made the cutest Rudolph cut out for the kids to play "Pin the Nose on Rudolph". Oh, it was an absolute hoot! The party was a huge success and the teacher even commented that it was one of the smoothest run parties she has ever had. Woo hoo!

Leslie's party was completely different. Each parent signed up to bring something to eat and the kids sat around a table and ate. Then Santa made a surprise entrance. He called up each kid and gave them a gift. Leslie was just itching to get up to talk to Santa. She said she wanted to ask for a pink Green Machine for her and a green Green Machine for Bubba. How sweet is that? So once Santa called her name, she ran up to him and hopped up on his knee. She wispered in his ear and he laughed. He probably had no clue what so ever what she was talking about. But she was proud of herself for actually talking to a stranger! Santa gave her the gift and she be-bopped down out of his lap. It was quite a sight. Here are the pics.

Magical Moments

Aaaahhhhhh, it can't get any better than this view.....

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the kids last night in the Christmas plaid pajamas last night as we sat by the big fire in the fireplace and sipping hot chocolate. Man, I wish it could be like this all year. These magical moments are unforgettable.

This is my view of a near perfect life.....

Leslie's tree

We finally got a tree for Leslie's room. It is funny, I just now put away all of the unused decorations and crates back out to storage. It will feel like only yesterday I put out the decorations when it is time to put them back away! Oh well, we are enjoying them at the present time and that is what counts. Leslie's tree is white to match her room with pink and purple decorations. It is quite girly and she is so very proud of it.

The Nutcracker

Yesterday my mom, Leslie and I went to see my nieces in the Nutcracker performance. It was a different kind of ballet because they brought in the professionals from a Russian company and held auditions in the community for smaller parts. So it was a mixture of talent, but it blended well and everyone did outstanding. One my nieces was a mouse and the other was an angel. They looked so darn cute and did a great job. Leslie really enjoyed watching the ballet and looking for her cousins. She came home telling her daddy all about it and was even practicing her dance moves. Ballet is such a cool sport, I seriously don't know how they get on their toes like that and jump around. It is truly amazing. Who knows maybe someday we will see Leslie up on stage on "point". With the way the girl walks around and dances on her toes, I wouldn't doubt it.

Living in Whoo-ville with a Lighted Parade

I seriously feel like we live in Who-ville, the Grinch's town, with all of the little Whoos running around and getting ready for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, though, I love every minute of it. On Friday night the town hosted a lighted parade down the main street. Les and his brother decided to be a part of it this year to promote their business. So on Thursday afternoon they gathered the need supplies that consisted of poinsettias, hay bales, tons and tons of lights, garland, and bows to make up the best possible parade float. They were so excited and the kids were excited to ride and throw candy to people. Friday night was super cold, so we bundled up the kids and took quilts to cuddle with. I also made a big thermos of hot chocolate. It was a wonderful parade and so lit up. I am sorry I only have a picture of our float, I was obviously unable to take pictures of other floats due to riding on our own float. Also, I don't know if you have ever tried taking pictures of lights at night, but it is hard to get the camera focused. This is the best I could do. I really need to play with my camera and take better pictures, use it to its full ability. The only thing I think was missing on the night of the parade was lighting the town tree and everyone holding hands singing "Wa Who" like the Whos do. I may speak with the downtown association about that for next year.

Update on the Prayer Request

Thank you all for praying for my dear friends. DeRance came home today and is on medication. The doctor is pretty sure he did not have a stroke, but cannot rule it our completely. However, thankfully, he did not sustain any brain damage from what happened on Monday. Whew. He just has some follow ups to make with doctors and meds to take. Thank you Dear God! The family is so very happy he is home and thankful for all of the prayers.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.....

Yep, we are all decorated and ready for ole Santa to hit the door! We drove an hour away on Sunday to pick up a 9 foot prelit Christmas tree at Sams. Boy it was worth the trip! Now we have our tree in the living room, on carpet, to enjoy. You see, the past two years we have cut down our own tree and had to keep it alive in stinky water on the tile floor in the play room. So obviously this was a better choice for us and we are super excited! Here are a few pics from the decorations around the house. I am a lot like JanaBanana (the blog I watch) because I decorate EVERYTHING in the house. I guess I get it from my very festive mother. She decorates EVERYTHING in her house too, even the toilet! She always has and always will. I love love love it! So, I take after her and put a little Christmas everywhere.

Nolan's own rustic tree in his room

This is our fireplace.

A closer look...

My collection of snowmen, I added cotton for an added touch.

The village....

This cute Santa is hanging on our back door for us to see everyday.

More touches in the kitchen.

My favorite decoration of all, my Willow Tree Angel Manger scene

A closer look...

I will update in a few days some more pictures of the outside and Leslie's room.