And a Merry Christmas to all...

Santa's been here! YEAH!







That was pre-kids waking up. And this is after! Yikes!



And a little in between





The coveted present (the one she's asked for 3 years in a row)



I think she might like it ;)





And the little man with his phone...maybe he'll leave mine alone now?!



The Goods-Preslie: DS, 2 games, barbie, barbie car, Razor scooter, 2 barbie movies, an Inkoo, owl shirt, hat and gloves; Kycen-truck, scooter, Cars 2 movie, cell phone, animal fridge magnets, blocks, 2 shirts and pair of pants. I think that about covers it!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and celebrated the true meaning of Christmas as well as the fun of the presents. From my house to yours, Merry Christmas!

PJ Elf strikes again!

Most people let their kids open up one present on Christmas Eve. At least most people I know. Even I did as a kid! The way I've done it since Preslie was born, was that PJ Elf drops off a present on Christmas Eve, and that's the present you get to open!

Since we always do Christmas Eve at my mom's house, PJ Elf always leaves his goods there. PJ's and slippers for ALL!

Grandma Goose's Christmas Party

Every year (at some point during the month of December), most of the family comes together at my grandma's house for a Christmas party. We eat, socialize, and do a white elephant gift exchange. The same group of us always come. Every year. It would be nice to see some of the others, but that's ok.

My grandma always makes clam chowder, and my uncle Dave always makes his chili. It's tradition :) Then we all gorge ourselves on homemade candies, breads, cookies, etc that my grandma has slaved over for the last week. I swear she is cooking for a family of 100!

The white elephant gift exchange. What more can I say about that. We come up with crap to give away, just to bring home more crap. It's great!









Can you tell who left with the good prize?

Limo ride...say what?!

Preslie's school is just like most others with their fundraisers and all. This year was no different in that aspect, and we were getting ready to start to sell cookie dough. Last year, she sold like 3, and that was to my parents. lol. I hate fundraisers for the fact that most people I know around us have small children, whether it be their own kids, grandkids, etc. that they buy from. And don't get me started on the prizes that they entice the children with...ick. Preslie's school offered up a pretty cool prize for those that could sell 20 tubs of cookie dough or more. A limo ride to McDonald's for lunch. And to a 6 year old, that was the coolest thing in the world!

Well thanks to the many nice ladies that I work with, my parents, and a few neighbors, Preslie was able to sell a total of 21 tubs of cookie dough! WAY TO GO! I made sure that I was able to take my lunch at the time that she would be getting ready to go so that I could snap some pictures. I didn't want to miss her first (and hopefully not last) trip in a limo. I mean, I'm only 31 years old and have never been on a limo ride...I'm just sayin!

The first group of kids waiting for the limo to pick them up



It's HERE! (Only 10 minutes late, but that's a long time to a 6 year old!)



Preslie by the limo



Sitting inside...she was pretty excited that they didn't have to wear seatbelts!



At McDonald's where they ate lunch and played before going back to school



Such a fun experience for her! I'm glad she was able to experience it.

Our Christmas card...2011

How CUTE right?!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

It was a struggle to get the tree up this year. I won't lie...it was up for a couple of days before I broke down and let the kids decorate it. Preslie wanted to put all the decorations we have on the whole tree. Kycen wanted to put his decorations on one branch I think there were 10 snowflakes on that one branch...that is until he went to bed ;)

We have the typical kid-friendly tree. With ornaments of all types, colors, shapes and sizes. But I like it like that :) I try to buy one new ornament each year for each of us. This year, I dropped the ball and couldn't find any that I really liked. Then I thought I'd make some cute frame ornaments to put on the tree with glitter and all that (since I love the glitter!), and couldn't find any wood ornaments either. At ANY craft store. sigh. Oh well. I'm trying to find some now. So I can be prepared for next year. Ya, that's what I'm doing...preparing. HA!

Kycen putting his ornaments on the ONE branch of his choosing



Preslie making sure to spread them all out to look nice



YEAH we're done decorating the tree! Just kidding, I'm sure that's NOT what they are thinking



I must've waited until the next night to take pictures of the kids in front of the tree. Oh well. At least I have some. And Kycen's look just makes me smile :) He's such a cutie!





And here is the tree. Completely decorated!

Family Pics (again)

I entered a giveaway for a free photoshoot a little while back on The Real Housewives of Riverton's blog, and I WON!! I was sooo super excited (and surprised), because in my eyes...you can never have enough pictures! Especially pictures of me and my kids, because I'm always the one taking pictures. I am usually never in the picture!

Emily did such a great job. Even though Kycen cried through most of the shoot, there are still some pretty cute ones! Preslie takes a GREAT photo! She's been in front of a camera her whole life, and you can tell :)

So here are a few of my favorites from the day.


Kycen-almost 21 months, loves his sissy a LOT and is starting to copy her, probably loves candy and sweets more :), just started saying lots of words in the last couple of weeks-more juice, please, cracker, candy, grandpa, grandma, puppy no no, sissy, etc., runs to the Santa in the mall with arms wide open screaming "santa" (and he doesn't cry when sitting on santa's lap even), is SUCH a momma's boy (and I love it for the most part), has started singing...all the time, loves to play with blocks and anything that he can stack, loves his cars, will eat anything-the boy is not picky!, will not smile when he see's the camera come out, is extremely stubborn, will automatically go and sit on the stairs when he knows he's in trouble, has had more cuts and bruises than any child I know (well maybe not any child), will sleep for most of the night in his own bed and then wants in bed with mommy, loves dogs-any and all of them, has the cutest laugh ever!!


Preslie-a little bit of a drama queen, can cry big tears at the drop of a hat, loves her grandpa and grandma like no other, is in 1st grade and rides the bus to school, loves to watch movies and anything on the Disney channel, is sooo smart, loves to read everything-and I mean everything!, loves to golf, is finally starting to like to shop, will play with her brother...sometimes, is a talker (just like her mom), very social, has a dang cute personality, loves to play with her friends, sleeps in her own room but has to have her lava lamp on at all times, doesn't really like sweets and candy, loves animals, is a great eater and loves to eat out, will pose and smile for anyone-anytime anyplace!







Well that's our cute little family! Happy Holidays everyone!

First Go at Couponing

My friend Michelle has been couponing with a vengeance for the last while. Lately (with the scary economy and job market), I've been thinking that I need a stash of food storage "just in case". So, being the nice friend she is, she took me out yesterday and we stocked up. We got 12 cans of veggies, 12 cans of fruit, 22 boxes of panty liners, about 60 pouches of pancake mix, 20 boxes of pasta...and my grand total was like $12, because I needed a couple other things that I didn't have coupons for. We went to 2 different Targets and Walmart. It was kinda crazy! She does this stuff all the time, and I'm just getting started, but it was pretty fun!

OK well I don't have a picture of those goods that I can put on here. Thought I took one with the camera, but I guess I only did on my phone. BUT, I do have a picture of my first solo trip couponing...that is an entire story all on it's own, for another day.



This go around, I got 100 pouches/boxes of potatoes, 50 boxes of pasta, some random things I needed from the store (frozen pizza, milk, diapers, etc). We had to do all those coupons at 3 stores to get it all done. Aaaahhh couponing...I'm not quite used to doing the massive amounts yet. It makes me nervous. Just a smidge :)

Raking the leaves

If you know me at all...you know I HATE yardwork with a passion! There was a short time when I liked to plant flowers, and every year I will pick strawberries in our patch and even get a wild hair to do some massive weeding, but overall, I do not like it. At. All. So for the last couple of years, I pay someone to come and do it for me. I mean the mowing and raking and all that good stuff that I hate.

This year was like all the others,and I had my friends son come over and rake to earn some extra cash. It was cold, and by the end of it was snowing, but at least it got done. Preslie even got out there and helped rake and bag leaves. I swear we had 20 bags, and didn't even get them all picked up.

This was the view from inside...all nice and warm! Me and Kycen just hanging out and watching :)





Hey look! I even got a smile!



Kycen isn't really fond of the leaves...it took much coaxing and promises of chocolate for him to sit there!



Preslie is practically buried in the leaves...we had so many!

I'm so glad that's over!

Homemade Craft Exchange

For a little while, I have read about this Homemade Craft Exchange that happens twice a year. I tried to get in on it during the summer, but found out about it a little too late, so when I saw the post on Facebook for the winter session, I jumped right on it and quickly signed up. This was something kinda exciting for me, because it forced me to do something crafty that I'd never done before! I'm a scrapbooker and cardmaker, but I wanted to do something different than what I'm used to doing.

I ended up with two partners, one from Alaska and the other from California. Two different climates, so my original idea was out the door. I talked back and forth with these ladies (super talented ladies I might add) and got to thinking about what I was going to make and send. The gift had to be in the mail by November 30th, so I had about a month to get things together.

For the one in California, she had a little girl roughly my daughters age, and I just know how much my daughter loves to help out in the kitchen and cook with me and grandma, so I thought it would be fun to make and send mom and daughter aprons. I got a little help from my mom (because I'm not a sewer either), and made 2 cute aprons. I'm a dork, and didn't take a picture of them before I sent them! Grrr...

For the one in Alaska, I tried my hand at woodcrafting, and can I tell you, I LOVE it. It was lots of fun and her gift turned out super cute! See!



I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the glitter! They turned out so cute, that I wanted to make a set for myself! I'm certainly loving the glitter this year!

And what did I get in return? From California...





This super cute little bag that is perfect to hold a diaper and small thing of wipes, or a treat, or a notebook and pen (and actually I can fit them all in it cuz I tried). It fits perfect in my purse, because I hate carrying a diaper bag!



And these darling owls! I just love owls! And even better, they are filled with rice so they can be heated in the microwave! Preslie does it ALL the time!

From Alaska...

I'll add the pictures shortly. I'm having upload malfunctions!

Lighting of Christmas Village

Every year I try to take the kids (there was a time that it was only one...) to Christmas Village. They light it all up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's set up so cute with little buildings to look inside, and all the lights, and (of course), they have Santa! It helps to get into the Christmas mood! This year I was a little bah humbug, but at the last minute I grabbed my neighbor and we took my kids to see the lights. We were walking across the street to Christmas Village when the fireworks started! That was a first. I've never been there for the fireworks. We missed the parade, but got a show anyways.
And MAN was it cold outside! We never last very long in the cold. Kycen wouldn't keep his mittens on. He'd have me put them on, then take them right off. You'd think freezing fingers would force the child into keeping them on. But NOOO! Preslie on the other hand, would walk around in the cold forever and look at the lights and buildings, and be just fine. My feet were frozen! My face hurt! I'm sooo not a winter girl!











So much fun! I feel bad that we didn't make it back down before Christmas (or New Years for that matter), because the weather was much kinder the later in the month it got. We maybe would've enjoyed ourselves more...and by "we", I mean me!