Out with the old!!

I'm so over chilling out! More like b o r e d! Of course ther are a multitude of things I should/could do, but I'm a slug. See, this is why the turbo pace is better for me, I don't make a very good relaxer. Its my all or nothing personality. It was nice to sleep the day away and veg out to the wedding dress show on TLC. Now I have to pay the price, my house looks like a boys college dorm. Bleh!

So on to the new.....of course I am all over my new fitness plan starting Jan 2. I'll be updating here daily so bear with me. I'm really excited. I better get my Kleenex ready for tomorrow, its "before" picture day and measurements. Waaaaaaa! I'm getting my body fat % tested (by calipers, which I have never done) at the gym monday, double waaaa!

The boys were so good on Friday, they played alllll day long at home (since their dad was sleeping between shifts and their mommy was a lump) and we had the B-Dog (Brody) with us so we took them to PPP for dinner. We were the heroes!! One thing I love about little kids, they are easy to please.









Heres to tomorrow. I've got stuff to DO!!

Christmas recap

Ahhhhhh Its over. I almost like the after Christmas time more than the actual 3 days of celebration. I like the "limbo" time where I can plan on chilling(although I haven't yet) and enjoying the presents and spending time with the kids. I thought I'd do a day by day~play by play so I can always remember what kind of stuff we did. I hate not having time to blog and getting behind. So here goes:

Dec 23: Sunday was pie making and movie watching with the kids. Mark was home, it was great. I took a big nap then got baking. I even made my own crust. I'm sure it wasn't better than the store bought pies, but sufficient. I was glad I was even able to pull it off. I made 2 pumpkin and an apple. Next time I make pie, remind me to put on lipstick!! LOL





Dec 24: Got up early(ish) and started cooking and doing dishes. Cook, do dishes, repeat, Cook, do dishes, repeat. I made our traditional Chicken curry from scratch to set aside for Christmas day(turned out really yummy) Green chile enchiladas for Christmas eve dinner and a big batch of Cinnamon Caramel corn. Got all cleaned up and then took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. That was cute and a perfect way to break up the LOOOONG day of waiting. Got home and MIL and I made the rest of the dinner and she did cheese enchiladas. Cleaned up really quick (again) and geared up for the BIG night. My brother and his little girl came over and we exchanged their gifts first thing (they had exchanged names, it was cute) and that really helped keep the kids under control having a real toy present to open. Then the elves somehow snuck in again this year and left all the kids new jammies (wow are they sneaky!!) Then our neighbors across the street came over and we ate all the yummy food. We sat down by the fire and watched a DVD short movie of Luke 2 on mute while the song "Breath of Heaven" played along to it....it correlates well and is very moving and reverent. We talked about the birth of the Savior and sang songs. It was nice. Then off to bed and get ready for SANTA!! woo hoo!





Dec 25: I was up at 4:30 and could not go back to sleep! ARGH! Cade came in at 5:30 and we all got up and dad got things ready and checked to make sure Santa even came. We were pretty confident that he did. The rule at our house is that the kids can't go looking in the living room till they get the parents up first. Amazingly, they actually obey this rule!



LOL Well Santa did come and he brought everyone one neat thing that they really wanted, and we got opening. We all took turns and the boys were SO excited about their Santa gifts and their RC Jeeps. I got Mark a portable DVD player and he got me a video camera, it was so cool. We got a lot of Christmas morning on tape. Mark had it set up and running when we all walked in so you can see/hear the kids reactions to their stuff. Its so funny! Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to put that stuff on here. So far, not yet. Then Grandma came over and we had breakfast and played with all our stuff and with some new games she had brought. Mark also got me Dance Dance Revolution and we played that a whole bunch. I've wanted it for years!!! Then I made some rolls and rice and we had our curry. I turned out to be a nice relaxing day.


Dec 26: I got up early(ish) again and got out the door to get my Christmas cards mailed off,~Hey, its the Christmas "Season" cards, OK???? mail my moms package to Montana, and run some other errands. I got home just in time (Mark had gone to help someone move) and then he took the kids out to spend their gift cards. While I had the place to myself I got it cleaned up (AGAIN) and got ready for my (step)mom to bring over her Christmas to us. She brought over SO much stuff, it was really fun. I loved everything. My favorite I think was a really nice recipe binder with ALL the family recipes we have used over the years. That is a priceless gift, I LOVE it. Plus she always makes me some amazing scrapbook-y craft things and this year was the best. The kids all got a toy and a bunch of clothes, art stuff, it goes on. It was a fun time. We just hung out and chatted. She took Cade with her to Thatcher so he could practice violin for an upcoming concert. It was so funny, he packed up half his Christmas stuff and took it with him, since he'll be gone til the 2nd. Then the rest of the day I played with my new camera and hung out with Mark. He had to go back to work (poor guy, its like in the low 30's at night this week and he's out in it all night!) so I cleaned Christmas up (AGAIN!) and cashed it in.

Dec 27: I had to do a hair appt. this morning, but then I was off to the big sales. I should have gotten Christmas stuff for next year, but I needed clothes pretty bad so I got a couple things. I got at least half off everything at Old Navy and Kohls. It was fun to have a few moments for myself and just shop for me for a change.

So we had an AWESOME holiday, I loved it. Of course with kids there are always moments of frustration, but overall they were grateful for their presents and there wasn't too much crying or whining. They have just been really busy with their new stuff. I love that, I get some peace and quiet. Well, a little anyway. :)



Now Sadie is at a sleepover, Marks working and Cade is gone, so its just me and the 3boys. Fire in the fireplace, we had hot chocolate and now its time to settle down with a movie. I have to do another hair appt in the morning, and then I'm free the rest of the day to just hang out. It should be nice.

5 more days!!

Sooooo close!! I am Christmas crashing right now, holy cow!! Today was school holiday party day. It went well, it was reallly fun. The kids were all a lot calmer than I thought they would be in Coops class. I had WAY too much left over candy from the gingerbread houses. The parents in my classroom are awesome and brought so much fun stuff. Seriously I could make a full scale gingerbread house and have enough to decorate it.

I am really happy its vacation time. I am sleeping IN tomorrow! And crashing early.


Side note: Oh, the joys of boys. The new thing for the last 12 hours has been the diahrrea chant. You know it...."when you're cimbing up a ladder and you feel something splatter, its diahrrea, its diahrrrea" I think we have rhymed every combination of words and phrases and stupid chants there could be. Its getting a bit ridiculous. Can't wait for this little trend to be done with.

Movie Review

Today we caught the first showing of I Am Legend. We really liked it! It was a nice break from all the running around and just go and tune out the world for a while. Believe me, this movie made me tune EVERYthing out, it was so intense! Its PG-13, but not the kind I'd take my kids to, it has some very freaky and scary parts, and really sad parts that might scare kids, just because it seems so real, like it could all really happen. Its one of those one that make you a little worried all day. What if some horrible virus does take over?? Its a good movie though. Will Smith is HOT!!! Looks like someone has been doing some serious training! As my kids say...Bow Chicka wow wow! LOL He is SO good at saving the world all the time. Dang! I give it two thumbs way way up!!

Getting there!!

Alright so I'm walking around kinda smug (no not really) about how I'm SOOOO ready for Christmas but I do realize that I am kinda cheating this year. Its a lot easier to do everything when you cut out a good 1/4 of the stuff you usually do. So that is my secret to "doing it all" when the "all" is less than normal. HA! I'm totally exposed now. I want to just have fun with the kids, not be grumpy and tired because I'm worked to death. I find myself saying "oh, I'm not doing that this year" an awful lot. Really, the only thing I actually cut out of the norm was the Christmas cards ( I do actually have to do a very small handful to some far-away family members and out-of-state BFF's, we're talking less than 10, so that dosen't really count) and no crazy variety cookie/treat baking(one big 'ol batch of something easy, boom we're DONE) or lavish Christmas Eve Dinner. We're having Mexican food. Most likely on Holiday paper plates, because my kids don't like soup that much, and I don't wanna wash Christmas dishes. So throw the Christmas Eve soup tradition outta here for now, yeah baby!!! And we are going to have so much fun!

I think my SIL was a wee bit dissapointed hearing that there would be no fabulous sugar cookies with cream cheese lemon frosting, but she and my BIL will survive. I'll give her the recipe.

Mark and I got some of the presents wrapped and under the tree last night. We are hoping it will be a loud reminder for them to be on their best Santa behavior. It was so fun watching them discover what we had done. Ther are 3 really BIG boxes all wrapped up for the 3 younger boys, something awesome that they didn't really expect or ask for but we stumbled upon for a bargain, and they are puzzled beyond belief. Its so great. They have no clue what could be in these big boxes, and I'm sure Cade and Sadie are worried as to why THEY dont' have big boxes like that. ooooh its so confusing!! I love it! I know when they are bigger I am going to miss these times like crazy. Its one of the VERY few times I don't want them to get bigger. Dayton just goes in there and watches the presents, trying to x-ray vision the paper, just mesmerized. Its the best.

the Chirp and me

I LOVE days like today!!! Rainy, cold, cloudy. I get to wear my big gramma sweater and my slippers, YAY! Unfortunately, I have to give it all up for the sake of finishing my Christmas shopping without the Deet-dog, because he has playgroup and there are only 2 more playgroups till Christmas!!! WOOWOO!! So as much fun as it would be to slosh around the house in my fuzzy clothes and eat pumpkin bars with frosting all day, I must put on some jeans and a scarf and hit the stores. I promised myself I'd get all the gifts in the mail to Missourri today, and I will succeed!

To make today even better, I managed to stay up till 2 last night (I partied like a Rockstar!) and got my office totally cleaned out, files filed, school papers and keepsakes sorted and stored, even my primary stuff gutted and reorganized. I found some stuff I could really use in the upcoming months, which was great. I even found a couple of coupons that are quite valuable. I set up a whole gift-wrapping station, and assessed my wrapping paper and tag situation, which was just like I thought....I need MORE. It feels SO good to have it off my to-do list, because that was a biggie. Lets all do the Toyota jump!! LOL

Now the not so great. The Chirp. You know what I mean. Stupid freakin smoke detector is chirping, we replaced the batteries, dusted it, still chirping every 30 seconds. It is of course the very highest one, about 30 feet up on the ceiling. We had Cade get up on the ledge and change the bettery, but it lookes like I will have to hoist my big body up there and check it myself.

And I'm getting a stupid cold. I'm trying to ward it off, but my lack of sleep last night is not going to help, I think I'm too late. Oh well thats what they make cold medicine for, right?? :D


Now I gotta get out of here and get shopping because this chirping is like Chinese Chirp Torture! ARGH!

Weekend update

I still don't have anything exciting to blog about. Friday was really pretty good. Friday night our ward hosted "A Night In Bethlehem". It was really fun. We had a ton of people there, which was great. I was in charge of the program, which I thought was a big job until I saw what other people were doing, then I was really grateful I had way less work than a lot of others. My main thing was running the actual program, which ended up being not too big of a deal. Our song went good, and I think at the end the spirit was really strong when we sang Silent night as a whole group. It was dark in there with the white Christmas lights overhead and the star lit up. I wish I could have seen it from the back of the room, but I was kinda busy LOL. Well now its over and I feel the pressure lifted off, yay! But then.....

Mark and I made the schedule of the activities that our family needs to do for the holidays, and it will really keep me busy. I know this is why I got all my shopping and decorating done early so I'd have time to do all the thigs we like to do this time of year, but I certainly don't feel "relaxed" or "Chilled" when I look at my calendar. Some of the stuff we still need to do as a family are:

Bake and deliver( simple this year...no cookie exchanges or anything nutso like that)

See Temple Lights

Sing to various single elderly grandparents (this is a WHOLE afternoon of driving as a family. We had a great time last year though)

Take various kids shopping for each other.

It dosen't sound like that much, but Mark is only available 2 nights per week and there are only 2 weeks left, so that is why we have to schedule things. Tomorrow night is dinner with my MIL to watch the Christmas brodcast that we taped last week.

Today was nice. I did a lot of hair (cha~ching) and then spent over 3 hours with Cade trying to find him some running shoes (not as easy as you'd think to find an 11 year old some decent shoes within a certain budget- we went 4 places!)and since we were out together he did his shopping for Sadie. He refused to carry the package though the store after he picked it out. He said he "wouldn't be caught dead carrying that" LOL!! It was SO cute when he was wrapping the stuff. He got really picky on how he wanted it wrapped and really did it up fancy with some different ribbons and did the tags and stuff. Really funny. It did bring to my attention that my office is not in any shape to be wrapping presents in. And at this point it can't just be picked up, it must be deep cleaned. ARGH!

Whateva

I can't believe I have been too busy to blog!! You KNOW I make my computer time a priority, but my life is just running crazy! It is semi-controlled chaos, I guess, just like everyone else. I keep waking up tired every day (and LATE! what is up with that??)and I think to myself, ok, today I am going to get some housework done, then take a 1 hour power nap and recharge. I have been trying to do this for a few weeks now and it hasn't happened ONCE! It certainly isn't going to happen tomorrow, or Saturday. Or Sunday. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. MABYE wednsday. Bah!!

But here again I find that tomorrow I have to be up super early, the kids are doing a dog-watching job for our neigbors, which means feeding them and letting them out in the morning before school. I refuse to do it for them, and Cade has to be there at 7:05, so yeah, early moring for us all. I don't even care about watching my shows, I am just going to go to bed. Well, after 2 loads of laundry. THEN bed.

So Elf'n Funny!!!

We got Elfed Too!!!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1140517903