Christmas Eve...

Every year we have Dave's dad over for dinner and then the rest of his family comes over to share some Christmas cheer with us. We were a little late in bringing out the cameras, but did get my nieces and sister-in-law. We played the game Catch Phrase for almost 2 1/2 hours. Its addicting and full of laughs. Brittany the tall one lives in Minnesota and we don't get a chance to see her very much - she is extremely beautiful and Alyssa the blondie is sweet and cute. We love them both. I am hoping to include them in my photo blog soon. So watch for them as they have agreed to be my practice. We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas.

A Classic Christmas Story...

At school the girls had a book exchange. They each were to purchase a book and in their classes they were to play a game and then they would have a different book to go home with. Autumn got her friends book (imagine that). She said she knew which one it was and knew it would be good so why not pick that one? Ambrea on the other hand said we switched around so much I couldn't keep track. Anyways, when she pulled out Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I instantly had a flash back of when I was a kid and for some reason I remembered that I too had gotten this book when I was either in Kindergarten or 1st grade from a little friend. I loved that book and I know I must have asked my parents to read it over and over. When I read it last night to the girls I enjoyed it even more. They followed along and loved the pictures and to tell you the truth if they would have asked me to read it again - I would have.

Christmas Cut-out Cookies....

Thank goodness for daddy and thinking about making cut out cookies with the girls. I am not one to make cookies and I am not sure why. Maybe its the fact that anything that I make lately - burns!! Anyway, Dave thought it would be fun to make cut outs this past Sunday at about 5 p.m. I said I think to save some time you should just buy the pre-made cookie dough (I am always looking for a way to save some time and mess for that matter). Autumn and daddy set out to the grocery store and returned with no frosting. So they got the cookies all cut out - Autumn helped periodically, but Ambrea hung in there the most. I, on the other hand, was blogging the last blog entry. The next day I ran out and got the frosting and had it all ready for them when they got home. Ambrea did a great job and was even creative with the sprinkles. Daddy even made her a cookie in the shape of an "A" for being such a great helper. The cookies tasted great!!!!

An attempt.....

I was thinking this year the girls would be up for some fun wrapped up in lights. Or should I say mom thought it would be fun to wrap her girls up in lights. I was taking pictures and listening to them tell each other how they should be posing. At one point, Ambrea said "Autumn you always think your the cuter one." It was quickly answered with a " I do not - I just like to over pose my self." It was fun and challenging to get them to stay wrapped or hold the lights so they didn't look like the lights were growing out of their bodies. Then it came to a point where the "lights are just to hot-mom", "when are we going to be done," and "didn't dad just say it was time to go to Wal-Mart?" Needless to say the attempt at our own personal touch to this years Christmas card was a bust. We choose a nice pic of the girls taken by our dear friend - Kristen. Thank goodness for those pictures. So no sneak peeks here just a fun one that I played around with on my Adobe photoshop. There are more and I may put them in slide form. They are nothing special just a 1/2 hour of their time and me trying to get them to cooperate for what its worth.

Drawings Ambrea Style....

Do you ever just wonder what goes through a little ones mind
when they are drawing pictures? I find pictures around the house
all the time and most of them are intended for me to enjoy. I love
picking up a pile of papers and finding a sketch from Ambrea that involves
my hair all curly - cuz it is! Not so sure why I have arms in
different positions and hers are perfect. (hmmmmm?) At least I am thin in her world (lol!) I also love how at this stage of the game its all about sounding out the words - literally! Did you catch the word "famley"? or the "p.s. I love you" (the p.s. is covered up) where did she pick up the "p.s." part? She makes me smile everyday with her silly little quirks and her cute little drawings. Keep them coming!!!

Another year older.....

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Yes, another year older. Could it be that these will be the better years of my life. I hope it to be, but I also don't want to lose sight of what I have learned along the way to get to where I am at now. I have a great family that makes my birthday mean even more. My girls went out tonight with their dad to pick out a present for me. Ambrea got me the Willow Tree 'Angel of Miracles'- Trusting in life's everyday miracles. My cup runneth over as I look at my girls and know that we are blessed. Autumn got me a new bow case for my bow as I was borrowing one from David. David also got me a Willow Tree 'Heart of Gold' Angel - You will always have my heart. If any of you know me I started to cry. I am a sap I know, but sometimes its these kind of moments that remind you that you really are loved. My birthday is actually tomorrow, but they just couldn't wait to give me their presents. They also got me a cake (the birthday cake had a Bratz ring on it!!) and some great cards. Yes- my cake is sitting on the bow case as I wanted all my little treasures to be in the picture. I love all my presents.

The season is upon us....

It begins... the hustle and bustle of the season. Along with all of that comes the school projects. The girls came home with a "family project" instruction sheet and a huge green piece of paper. We were asked to make a tree that represents your family, traditions, or artistic ability, etc.. You could cut the paper any way you wanted and use whatever you wanted, be creative! Well we gave this some thought and to the Dollar Store we went. Got a few things and realized that the styrofoam cone that we wanted was not there. Off to Michaels on Saturday a.m. with my girls and everyone in their brother out - Yeah! Mind you when we walked into the place you could not get to a check out, but this project was due on Monday we had to proceed. In the Styrofoam isle there is a bunch of things to choose from. My girls can come up with anything that involves hitting each other with something, to being in someones way, to "mom why are we here again?" NICE! But we found what we came for and I wanted out of that place. Got in the longest isle ever then became smart and walked all the way to the back of the store -literally as every isle was full of chaos (don't stores have a max capacity? - cuz I think Michaels was at it) found a check out that I think someone else should have gone before me - but I butted in and put my stuff on the counter - Had to write a check out so it gave the girls time to ask for everything under the sun near the checkouts - hate that they put $1 items by the checkouts - Seriously, are you kidding me? We were out of there. Got home and let my finds sit on the counter thinking that someone would want to help mommy with this. OF COURSE NOT! Sunday morning I got up at 5 a.m. ran to get a paper (more like drove - I have no ambition) came back, drank my coffee, and started on the Family Tree. At about 7:30 a.m. they finally pitched in and by 7 p.m. the decorations were on the tree. Yes -it became an all day thing! The whole point is, we finished it with things that we love about Christmas and the above pic is the finished project. Got to love those school projects!