The number of presents

I never put out all the Christmas presents until Christmas Eve. The reason for this little tradition is my children. I can not trust them to not snoop or unwrap so the presents stay hidden. Sad but true. this morning while we were getting ready for school, my son says to me: Mom I noticed that there is only one present under the tree for me, is that all I am getting this year?
Now my kids are the way they are because I am the way I am so in true smarta$$ fashion I say: Yeah that's about right I think all the times you have behaved, listened, and/or obeyed probably adds up to about one present. I am kidding, my son knows this
He: Well ya know baby Jesus got three presents so I should at least get three.
Me: Sorry to tell you son, your no baby Jesus but if you want we could probably round up some gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I really just love my kids personality and sense of humor. It makes life interesting, fun and yes sometimes frustrating but so worth everything.

What a guy!

What a great day! I came home to a clean house, done dishes and some yummy desserty things. Sometimes my husband can be awesome. Just a little joke. We really do love each other. I am incredibly lucky that my guy likes to cook and is really good at it. So ch-ch-check it out



Yummy persimmiony desserty things on happy farmer plates!

Work in Progress

The kids had fun putting on ornaments but I think it might need some rearranging. I am pretty picky about my trees so I was being the overbearing mom in the background telling my children no not that spot. It is really hard for me to just let go and let them do it.

fashion smashion

This is Ella's take on Tim's teesthen it became this skirt
Ella is constantly changing her clothes all day and night(until bedtime) It drives me crazy and now she is starting in on mine and Tim's clothes. She loves, loves clothes and shoes. Taking her shopping with me is a blast. Everything is so beautiful. We went into old navy a while ago and she walked up to a manikin(sp?) with a sweater, pencil skirt, bracelets, big over sized bag and started petting it. She kept saying over and over again look mama it's beautiful. I want to wear it. The sales ladies laughed.

Deck the Halls

We are officially decorating for Christmas now. After Thanksgiving dinner I made Tim put up our tree and I pulled down all the Christmas boxes. Yeah!!! When I started opening the box with all the tree ornaments my kids went a little crazy. I had to wait a couple of days for them to calm down enough to decorate the tree. Today is the day and of course my Nate and Ella being their typical selves started posing and directing little comedy skits about putting the ornaments on. This is some of what I got.

So Thankful

The last couple of days have been so relaxing and I have had some time to think about all the many ways that I am blessed. In this crazy, busy life I tend to forget about the truly amazing things in my life that I am so thankful for. I love the Holidays!!

Ella helping with Thanksgiving dinner by washing the potatoesElla making whip cream for dessert.

Silly kids trying to dog pile their dad P.S. I really do brush Ella's hair but two seconds later it is a tangled mess again. The only time it looks decent is when it is in braids, which she rarely lets me do. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Hope you all have good eats!

Funday Sunday

The kids had a date over at Brandie's today. There were a total of 8 kids all 6 and under so it was loud and chaotic. But really fun. The girls all played dress up and gave us a show then they all watched Walle. We were there for like four hours and I think the kids could have gone for another four. After the kids play date us mom's went out to dinner all by ourselves. I don't even know how to explain how wonderful it is to have a couple of hours with uninterrupted conversation. A great day with some great friends!!
Ella was Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Princess Jasmin, and Barbie Island Princess. She could not stop smiling the whole time we were there. It is funny how fast little girls become so into the dress up and princesses.

long time no see

My cousin is in the air force and I have not seen him in over a year. He was able to get some time off before he gets shipped off to Iraq again so we spent some time at my mom's house. It was good seeing all the kids run around and play together. Nate and Ella do not have that many cousins here to play with. It makes me sad that everyone is so scattered around and we are all missing out on each other!


Finally got the kids at down time, they decided to watch a movie!I was told that they had enough pictures and could they just please watch their show?Cousin Blythe and her husband who I just met for the first time today.

Some of my Favorite Things

time with family

time with friends

making Christmas gifts

baking Christmas goodies

new job

new schedule

just some of the little things that make me happy

Nate lost another tooth!My kids clowning around for the camera

Ella really wishes that she was scary when she jumps out of the clothes hamper yelling ahhhh!

Ella also really wishes she lived in a place where she can wear sundress everyday. I am having a hard time convincing her that it is cold outside

Guilty

I admit it! I am guilty of wanting to get on with Christmas. I always feel like Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday and I try to not do much Christmas stuff until after turkey day but I can't help it. I find myself wishing Thanksgiving over with already and have been itching, positively itching to put up my Christmas decorations. Our family tradition is to put out Christmas on Thanksgiving day after dinner but I just don't want to wait. My significant other keeps telling me NO!!!

little non sleeper

Nate goes to bed so easy--shower, jammies,brush teeth, bedtime story and good night!
Ella I think we put to bed about a million times and then we get tears and I have to go potty, I need a drink of water, I need another hug and kiss. UHH I can't wait until this little phase is over.

Halloween

So the kids had fun on Halloween, how could you not with everyone giving you candy?

We did the whole neighborhood thing and they were little troopers walking all over the place. One of the neighbors had a mini haunted house that I thought was hilarious, however the kiddos got scared so I then had to carry Ella. All in all good times.

Tooth=$100.00

My kid "yeah I lost my tooth at school today"


Me "Oh did you pull it or did it just come out"


My Kid "I wiggled it and wiggled it and it just came out."


Me " did it hurt? was there blood?"


My Kid " Yeah it did bleed a lot, but don't worry mom I still


have enough blood left in my body to live."


Me " Well that's a relief."


My Kid "Yeah, do you think the tooth fairy will leave me $100.00 dollars?"


Me "uuh No."

Pumkin Carving

Nate had a pumkin carving party at school. It was fun we carved, then all the little school kids got up and sang some songs. I forgot my camera! I think Nate did a good job on his pumkin. He drew and I carved, no knives for 5 year olds. Safety first!!

Sunday Snow Day!

Saturday we woke up to a surprise(for me anyway) of snow. Lots of snow. Unfortunately I had to work so we could not go play in the snow until Sunday. Fortunately the snow was still on the ground Sunday so here are the pics of the kids playing in the snow. Nate and Ella had quite the snowball fight while I refereed from the safe (warm) fort headquarters aka the house!!

Happy Birthday Girls!

Wishing all the October girls, Anna, Emily and Robin a very happy birthday!

Halloween Costumes

Halloween is in 2o days, my kids costumes are almost complete. They can't wait for candy of course. This year we are going to decorate our pumpkins instead of carving. Nate wants to do a witch, a mummy, and a vampire pumpkin.

We will see how that all goes.

I love making decorations and making part of my kids costumes. Just getting everything ready for Halloween is so much fun. To get in the mood I decided to post some old Halloween pics.



Nathan's first Halloween. He is four months in this picture. He was such a chunk!!



Nate's 2nd Halloween, he was still liking the lions.

Ella's 1st Halloween. I thought she made a pretty cute princess Leia. Of course it took her all of two seconds to destroy my beautiful yarn buns!!!

Nate was a pirate two years in a row so his costume was really easy to do.

Last year's Halloween. Ella was a 50's girl and Nate wanted to be a power ranger. I was a little sad that he did not want me to make his costume. Ella's turned out really nice though.
I fell so in love with this picture I blew it up and framed it!! And that is all of Halloween past.

This year Nate is going to be a member of the S.W.A.T. team and Ella is going to be a fairy princess. I will be sure to post the pictures.