our christmas pictures (for real)

The Milk and Honey Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Milk and Honey Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

I love this! I need it!!

the annual christmas video....

more christmas joy...

and a variety of fabulous family christmas pictures. we really rocked it this year with family photos, aside from the beautiful ones my sis took, the rest were pretty awful. oh well, it makes me laugh looking at them...




we also got to have a special visit from santa. he called each of their names and gave them a special early gift. S was on the fence about the whole thing, but not willing to take any chances, so she happily went along with it. she was eyeing his beard pretty closely. (it was real)



D struck a familiar pose...
going on the 4th christmas gift opening celebration here... things got a little crazy.
Paully was thrilled about our matching plaid disney jammies! (it was a joke) each year i try to find the most obnoxious jammies to wear over to my mom's christmas morning.
here are the girls with their cousins at my dad's. they were all super hyper!!! we were on our way to christmas mass where S did the first reading. she ROCKED it!!! she read very slow, deliberate and clear. i was so proud.
well... no pony this year. :( but i did get several darling things that i LOVE! especially the cake plate from my cousin made just for me!

crafts

my friend michelle, yes she's my friend too, yes she's that cool to be referenced on 2 blogs (maybe more?) in 1 week!!!! anyway, she sent me this link and let me tell you this really was fun to make. we got our ornaments at wallmart in a tube of 50 for $15. i also added a $3 box of mini ornaments to mine. make sure you get the shatterproof ornaments.

a peek at a possible christmas craft...
i heart my vintage christmas coffee mugs...
in the process of the wreaths.... i also added feathers to mine. probably won't do that again next time. also, i'm not that great with bows, no patience. that's more sar's department.
newlyweds.

don't panic!

i keep telling myself. i know i can get everything done. the good thing is that it's all fun stuff to do. except for cleaning the house. not so fun. but i do need to buckle down and get crafting!

another good thing is that the kids are filled with the good kind of christmas excitement (some more than others... not naming any names...insert 3 yr. old's name here)

D made her own version of "i love you more" in the car the other day... here are a few verses...

i love you more than a ghost full of food.

i love you more than scooby doo.

i love you more than if i were going to a birthday party.

i love you more than an elephant.

kind of random, but i was particularly flattered by the birthday party verse... she really likes those.

i heart silver cleaner...

thanks to some help from this little missy...

we were able to shine up these beauties....
my spoons from paris, a butter dish i found at a flea market and this awesome thing i found at goodwill. i'm not sure what it is, but i like to think of it as a fancy cupcake stand.

looks like christmas around here...

so we got our tree up (i will be hitting the after christmas sales for a huge pre-lit artificail tree) , got some decorations up, plans to make cookies tomorrow, did the advent wreath 2 sundays in a row (yeah), and even got a litle christmas shopping done. it was a productive weekend. here are some scenes from our house...

we were down to one non-broken nativity scene. now we don't have any that aren't broken. i guess they are just too tempting to pick up and walk around the house with.

some stocking holders (haven't made the stockings yet) but i do have all 7 holders ready to go.
and last but not least... our huge charlie brown christmas tree. paul drove all the way up to greer to cut it down. it is dripping sap all over the place and cut the children as they were trying to hang ornaments, but hey, i did say i wanted a tall one.

2009 chritmas list

some things i am hoping santa will bring to ME! (so selfish)

1. a pony just like max (except maybe white or black or a paint)

2. a flat cheese grater

3. a 6 or 8 slice toaster

4. a new 4 or 8 slice waffle iron

5. my own cake plate just like sarah's (except not with her name on it)

6. a cool, romantic adults only weekend away

7. world peace (even if it starts at my house, including 1 WHOLE day without even 1 loud high-pitched scream)

8. an anthropologie gift card (mulitple increments of $100's please)

9. a new knife set

10. a happy and healthy family for all of 2010!!! (and beyond of course)

i am off to a good start. i wanted to have all christmas decorations, including the tree, up by today. a good start for me anyway. i got the fall decorations down, paul brought in the christmas decorations from the garage, i got my christmas cards designed and ordered, and i found my christmas plates hidden in the cupboards (but didn't get them down yet). the tree is going to have to wait i guess. i was always for having a real tree, except for the last several years, the smell has worn off in just a few days and turned into a weird rotten water smell coming from the tree water, the tree ALWAYS dies and is totally brown by the time christmas rolls around, it makes a huge mess, and we end up spending around $70-$80 on a tree every year anyway. so this year i thought i would get a beautiful pre-lit artificial tree. p scrubs disagrees. he wants to go and chop down a real tree for the price of the permit, $15. the problem is i don't want to drive that far and wait that long. the only place left, he says, is in greer. that is too long of a drive to go and come back in one day. so we will have to wait and see what the master decides to do. see how much i sacrifice??? (i hope he is reading this...)

twilighters

these girls joined in on the new moon hype. not that they got to see it.... they just wanted to dress like vampires. well, they thought they looked like vampires anyway.
note to self... don't leave poisonous cleaners right on top of the toilet. it could be dangerous.

turkey day 2009

some scenes from our thanksgiving...

my familia writing down some things they are thankful for... for our thanksgiving tree.


we had a small set back when we could not find the gravy bowl anywhere. we seriously were looking for 20 min. luckily uncle dave walked in at that time and knew exactly where it was. i don't know why it was stuffed inside the cheese grater.
the world's best chocolate cake on the world's cutest cake plate. courtesy of cousin joan. it was a wedding present to dave and sarah. i would steal it, but joan engraved their names and wedding date into the clay.
my turkey. that was stressful. i guess it turned out ok.
it's not a holiday without a banner....
pilgrim and indian pumpkin pie...
S wanted the drumstick. i belive she ate the whole thing.
i just had a little.... i don't eat much.
i'm thankful for this guy...
the kids table...
enjoying our feast...
our thanksgiving tree.
uncle john and my mama.
ma and sar.

sar and nat.
can't wait for leftovers!!! i was thankful for our walk after dinner. we saw a big owl, pretty exciting. i love thanksgiving.

max

there's nothing better than getting a $1 pony ride around the neighborhood on a sat. morning. courtesy of max the pony. i want one.

veteran's day 2009

we headed downtown for the veteran's day parade with our veteran this year. the girls did a good job picking out red, white and blue outfits. S was really into it.

my bro, the veteran. and cousin ava.




thank you to all the veterans!!!