Christmas Review

We had a great Christmas. I hope you did, too. We did our usual thing of getting together on Christmas Eve with my family. We had dinner, opened presents and went to church. You should have seen the look on Savannah's face when she opened up the Hannah Montana guitar from grandma and papa. It was a warm evening. I had on short sleeves and didn't have a coat on all night.
The next morning, Savannah slept in until 8:30 when we finally decided to wake her up! Santa still doesn't hold a whole lot of excitement for this 3-year old. We enjoyed french toast for breakfast and then opened gifts. Savannah was excited, however, about 2 bath toys so she wanted to take a bath. She didn't even want to finish opening the rest of her gifts. Oh well. Other favorite gifts include the Hello Kitty umbrella and Hannah Montana watch.
We enjoyed the huge lunch spread at my grandma's. We also do a gift exchange there. I came away with a travel case and Steve got a weed-eater.
It took us a few days to recover from all of it, but that's part of the fun, right? Here's wishing you a Happy New Year in 2009!

Some Assembly Required

Dear Wilton baking products,

I recently purchased and assembled your "Gingerbread Dreams" house kit. While the finished product turned out super-duper cute, getting there took more patience and skill than herding cats.

We we all set to enjoy this activity as a family. My three-old was very excited to get started and my husband even gave into me begging him to turn of the TV wanted to help. Imagine my dismay when the instructions said to assemble the product and then allow to dry for several hours before decorating. I had to shoo everyone out of the house, which is difficult when you have candy and icing all spread out on the kitchen table.

It took quite a bit of work to a. fit the pieces together b. hold them in place while they dry and then c. get them to stay that way! Next time, I suggest you have an emergency hot line number where you can speak with an actual engineer. You know, like the Butterball hot line, but for gingerbread houses?

Also, it would be good if you could include more decorating candy. My daughter ate about as much as she put on the house. I had supplement with my own Hershey Kisses, M&Ms, peppermints, Mike and Ikes, 2-year old Halloween candy etc...

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I have included some photos for verification.

My Life in Pictures

Here is the past 3 weeks in pictures...

-First week of December: finished putting up the new pre-lit tree. Dang thing takes up so much space we had to rearrange the living room. Plus, a section of lights still won't work. Rat bastards!

First Friday in December: craft night at my friend's house. I already showed ya'll the cute palm tree ornaments (made from WINE CORKS). Here is the wall hanging I made for my niece and the Baby Jesus candle. First Saturday in December: Christmas Program at church. I was the head angel- yeah, I know!

Savannah was a sheep, I mean angel! She's the one sitting down...

First Sunday in December: we went to a night-time parade with lights. Here Savannah is cuddled up with our friend Mary Claire.

December 11: last day of my school program. We had been doing a fundraiser and I told my kids if they raised x amount of $, I will give them a popcorn party. But if they raised xx amount of $, I would dress up as an elf on the last day. Well, folks, you see that they did. Charming, aren't I?

December 13: Family Christmas party with the aforementioned "recycled" gift. Pictured is my immediate family. No, Savannah isn't picking her nose. I think she's just smelling her fingers...

Dec. 16: we left for Florida. Steve had a work thing so the rest of us tagged along. It was a lot warmer than I had expected. I wish I had packed more shorts. Oh, what's that you say? It's 10 below where you are? Sucks to be you...

Dec. 19: We went to Disney World. The crowds weren't too bad and we had a good time. We got to see and do some things we didn't get to do when we went in May. Savannah was so into the characters this time, she sat down and practically had a conversation with Stitch.

Here's my little thrill-seeker on the teacups for the first time. You might want to turn the volume down a little...



Dec. 20: Got home from Florida with a nasty cold. I don't have any pics of that. You're welcome.

Dec. 22: Finished up our shopping and met our friends at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. I don't have pictures from that either.

Today: I made one of those adorable gingerbread houses from a kit that you can find everywhere. I don't have those pics yet, either, (ever since Steve re-did our computer, it's like learning to ride a bike all over again!)but its worthy of it's own post later.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the festivities and this time of year like we have. It's hectic and crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

She's Crafty

... that was a nod to The Beastie Boyz in case you didn't know...

Thought I would grace you all with my presence and presents! As I said before, just been real busy.

We had "craft night" ant my friend's house where we whipped out some home-made gifts. She made some gorgeous frames and I made candles, a monogrammed wall plaque and Palm tree ornaments. Some are featured below along with portions of the Veggie Tales Nativity scene (other portions could not be located at the moment). How cute is that?!?! And easy peasy!

I also finished up school for the semester. We had an eventful last day with the kids. When I get those pics I will do a separate post. Clue: Vertically challenged Polar employee. Afterwards I went out to eat with my staff. Oh, and did I mention I baked almost 200 cookies for them?!? I'm not sure what I was thinking but they turned out pretty cute.

We had a family party Saturday night. It was the usual home-cooked meal and gift exchange. Savannah scored a Barbie princess toy. Steve and I didn't fair so well. He got a flashlight, which really, was also a gift for Savannah and I got a recycled holiday bowl. How do I know it was recycled? It said "2000" on the side. Nice.

Finally got the Christmas cards ordered and picked up, successfully, from Wal-Mart. They are so cute! Now all I gotta do to address the little suckers.

Today we are off to Florida and Disney World fora few days. Yes, again! Steve has to go anyway for a work thing so Savannah and I are tagging along. While in that part of the world, we figured let's go to Disney again while we can. I just hope Savannah doesn't think she gets to visit Mickey EVERY 6 months for the rest of her life...

Savannah-isms

Out of the mouths of three year-olds...
- She has this thing about licking pieces of paper as if they were all envelopes with glue. So she's sitting one day with some paper and she asks, "Can I make sumfin wif my tongue and my spit?"
- Steve is always telling Savannah boys don't know how to wipe. So one day she's at my parents' house and she has to go potty. My dad calls from the next room, "Do you need me to help you?" "No," she answers. "Why not?" "'Cuz you don't wipe very good."
-One night as I'm telling her nite-nite, she says, "I love mama and my Dexter and my Daddy and lots of bodies." (everybody)
-We had the church Christmas play last weekend. Savannah was supposed to be a sheep. It comes time to go to church and she comes out wearing her fairy skirt and toting her fairy wings. She says she doesn't want to be a sheep. She wants to be an angel. "Why don't you want to be a sheep?" I ask. "I'm too mean to be a sheep." Oh, really?
P.S. The holiday craziness is upon me. Sorry I haven't had time to visit ya'll's blogs and return some of the comment luv. Bear with me...

The insanity that is Wal-Mart

Man, I really hate Wal-Mart sometimes, but it's one of those necessary evils in life. You hate standing in line forever to check out with your groceries, but where else can you get mac & cheese for 50 cents? I'm sorry somebody probably had to work in terrible conditions in El Salvador to make them, but the Garanimals line is really cute and cheap! I could have found a nicer colander somewhere else, but when your Aunt Sally made the gift exchange dollar limit $10, that $5 colander will be really cute with the speciality bag of pasta. But of course nothing could be worse than that poor person being trampled on Black Friday. I just can't imagine...
Over the years, I've had run-ins with them and I swear them off for a while. In fact, I still will NOT use the 1-hour service at our local Wal-Mart again. ever. MORONS!
So, it's that time of year. I need to go ahead and order the photo Christmas cards so I can get them in the mail. I checked around and Wal-Mart had about the cheapest price for what I wanted. I figured if I stayed away from the 1-hour in store developing I was fine. . . nope. All I wanted to do was order $18.36 worth of photo cards and have them delivered to my local store and I would pick them up. But the on-line check up was so screwed up, I never got that far. UGH!!! I will simply try again tomorrow.
Below is the photo card runner-up pic. Dexter looks like he is screaming in pain and Savannah looks so evil. Yeah, that's about right...

Wordless Wednesday

Excuse me...

I know my "Merry SITSmas" post is actually showing up on Nov. 30- the day I drafted it- but I published it already and I don't have time to figure out how to make it for TODAY because some of us have to LEAVE THE HOUSE AND GO TO AN ACTUAL JOB. So let's just pretend it's up there for today...OK?

Pssst...

Did you know that for Merry SITSmas tomorrow the grand prize is a $200 gift card to Tar-jay? Whoo-hoo! I could get the rest of my Christmas shopping done and some air-freshener for the port-a-john!

Redneck Skiing

This is the post I really wanted to share for my first YAGBTS, but I had to wait on the pictures, then I got busy and I kinda forgot, anyway, here it is...

Several weeks ago, my cousin had a small, outdoor reception to celebrate his marriage (2nd marriage for both of them). There are no outdoor "facilities" and my brother noticed that the port-a-john for the workers at the new house had recently been emptied. Don't ask me how he noticed, he just did. He suggested moving it over to the evening festivities for the guests to use. So, my dad gets a rope, wraps it around the potty, hooks it up to my uncle's golf cart and they proceed to drag it - oh, maybe 50 yards through the woods and mud.
Daddy is afraid it might tip over, so he's holding on to keep it balanced. We decided it looked like redneck skiing!!! Of course Steve decided to follow along on the 4-wheeler in case they needed back-up! I'm just glad somebody had a camera! Kodak moments, I tell ya...

Like I said, Jeff Foxworthy ain't got nuttin' on me...