December Daily 8

Got the two rooms in the house repainted. I can definitely say losing the dark accent wall in the office is a plus. Much lighter in there. I changed the color in our master bedroom and am not sure if I like a whole lot better than before. I love the new color a lot more, but I think the fact that we have a white chair rail in our room makes it look juvenile. Oh well. I will have to work around that cuz Joel aint payin' for me to take the down and repaint.

Hannah had school today.

Then we ran some errands ... not as many as I would have hoped (including shopping for the girls Christmas outfits).

Cleaned house.

But a prelit garland up on my mantel and am looking forward to embellishing it with all sorts of fun things. I see a Michael's trip in my future (yippee!).

My mom came over and we decorated Christmas cookies with the girls. It was fun. Hannah enjoyed it a lot. She actually did a good job too for a 4 year old. At one point she carefully selected a cookie for my mom and one for me. She then said, "I am giving you both these cookies because I love you so much. And all the rest are for Santa." Such a sweetie! I had to explain that these cookies would not last 17 more days and that we'll make more for Santa as the big day draws near. She was OK with that. I will have to tell Santa that she's a very good big sister because she even went out of her way to help Makaela decorate her own cookie. Hannah applied the frosting and then she took it over to Makaela and let her put the sprinkles on it. Melts my heart just thinking about it. Then Hannah let her eat the cookie. Makaela was happy needless to say.

Hannah is gonna be like me I think. She has a desire to express herself creatively. Constantly drawing pictures, coloring in her coloring books, writing "letters" (which currently contain scribble lines and lots of "Hannah"s). Her dedication to this cookie project was evidence of this. We'll be good partners in crime as she gets older. :) Not that I am in any rush for her to get older.

In my perfect world I really was hoping that my December Daily posts were going to be laden with Christmas stuff. Unfortunately they're not and real life must continue on.

December Daily 7

Nothing exciting to report today.

Lots of much needed rain.

Work.

Pulled a random idea for dinner out of my rear end. It was Popeye Pancakes and Top Ramen Noodles. I have no idea why they are called Popeye Pancakes but basically you cut a hole in the middle of a slice of bread, drop some butter in a hot skillet, put the bread in the skillet and pour some scrambled eggs into the middle. Let it fry for a minute or two, flip and cook some more. I learned this in Girl Scouts. I like them. If you put some maple syrup on it, it's very reminiscent of French toast. The girls were not big fans but they ate it. I seriously need some help in the kitchen. I think one of my New Years resolutions will be to have a meal plan for the entire year.

Joel had a basketball game tonight. It's a rec league and it was the first nght of playoffs. They won and are on to the next round.

Gave the girls a bath. Hannah wasn't listening and because she got her hair soaking wet when I asked her not to, she lost books for the evening. We are definitely having issues with her listening and following instructions. I even went so far as to ask her if I needed to write a letter to Santa and tell him to have his elves stop making any toys for her. She said no and shaped up.

Gave the girls their milk. Got them into bed and then had to clean up our bedroom because the painters are coming early in the morning to finally change this awful boring blue that I picked when we moved in. I tried picking a color Joel liked but I hate it so tomorrow afternoon, my room will be a nice soft hint of turquoise and I will finally be able to start putting things on the walls and get a new bedspread and curtains.

December Daily 6

I didn't leave the house once today. Love those kind of days. We woke up, did the morning routine (breakfast, cartoons, getting dressed), bundled the girls up in their coats and tackled the front yard in the hopes of beating the rain. Joel tackled adding more lights to the front of the house and I tackled the poorly maintained flower bed in the front. The house looks much better, but in both of our opinions ... it needs a lot more. I think deep down we both want our house to be one of those houses that you drive by and ooooh and ahhhh over. But then comes the debate of whether we actually want to store all of that stuff. Me? I say heck yeah! Joel? Not really. He constantly reminds me of how many Christmas boxes we already have.

After a while the girls got cranky from the cool air so I put them inside to watch this ...



and ...

Have you ever heard of Veggie Tales? If you have little ones and are looking for shows that enstill good morals and values and place an emphasis on God, then check them out. You can find out more about them here.

I also worked on decorating the interior a little bit more. I have all sorts of craft ideas in my head that I hope to have time to implement. I want to make a garland for the upstairs banister. I want to cut out some Christmas quotes in vinyl to stick on the walls. I want to frame some Christmas pictures. Knowing me, it's doubtful I will get it done.

It was a low key day. A nice day. We beat the rain and I am so excited that we will actually be getting some weather. This whole week we're due for 2 storms. I love the rain! I hope it stays on course. We need the water.

Oh and I almost forgot, we all shared the most delicious Christmas colored caramel apple from Sinfully Sweet & Apple Company out of La Verne. It was a granny smith, dipped in caramel, dipped in melted chocolate, and drizzled with more chocolate. Yummy! Hopefully the link works. It was down when I tried to get to it just now, but it was working earlier.

December Daily 5

Nothing especially Christmassy to report today. We went to two different birthday parties. The Flowers triplets hosted a super hero training academy and Diego hosted a Jedi training camp. It was a long day, but a fun one. On the way home, we cruised through a neighborhood in Chino that has been decking out their houses with a ton of Christmas decor since I was a little girl -- a lot of the houses look great but there are still some that need to get their decorations up. In about a week or two, there will be few houses without lights. Then we hit our favorite Mexican fast food chain (Alberto's). Joel is so proud because his girls got light sabers and tried Alberto's for the first time. These are major milestones for him. :)

December Daily 4

Right now I am listening to this ...

My favorite song on this CD is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (featuring Sarah McLachlan). LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! It's a toe tapping song and I am so happy right now.

Have you guys heard of Pandora? It's the greatest thing. It's a music playing website that allows you to enter in a type of music or an artist or a song. Then it will create this playlist of various artists for you that match the criteria you entered. It's a great way to learn of new artists as well as be reminded of songs you like but may have forgotten. I learned of the song above by entering "Sarah McLachlan" and "Christmas". I have not heard one Christmas song so far that I don't like. There's also an ap for you iPhone if you have one. Me and my husband use it all the time.

I am hoping to take the girls around to look at Christmas lights tonight while Daddy is at a diaper poker party. I also would like to work on some more Christmas crafts.

December Daily 3

Well, I am already behind. Bad bad bad!

Yesterday was a fun day. We had Hannah's little friends over to make Gingerbread man aprons. They turned out so cute and will be the perfect accessory for the kids when they all get together in a couple of weeks ot make Christmas cookies. I got them from here (looks like they're out of stock though). But here's another cute apron. A super easy project for a super great deal.

Then I got to go with some girlfriends to a Christmas boutique hosted out of someone's home. She had some great things for some great prices. I loved a lot of the Christmas decor but know I can make it myself so I didn't buy much of that. I got a few Christmas presents knocked off the list which is always good.

Pictures to come later tonight.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...

... a heart full of patience. This evening was not one of my better moments in the day. I blame it on the terrible task of having to clean out our office in preparation of having the room repainted and turned into a guest room prior to our big annual Christmas party we host. Yes, this task involved sorting a ton of baby clothes that have been outgrown as well as going through an entire year's worth of papers (medical, paid bills, receipts, bank statements, etc). I thought that catch all baskets were a good idea a year ago when I just began dumping papers into their designated "home". But tonight I changed my mind. Why can't I do the fun Christmas stuff and make gifts, or ornaments, or bake or decorate my house some more? I hate the non-Christmassy tasks of the season. So my wonderful husband just tolerated me as I was snappy and moaning and not being the best mom I could be. I love him so much for things like this.

OK. My poutfest is over. I took some pictures of some ornaments I bought the other day. I love them! Though I am not sure that this place will be their permanent home. They are currently hanging from my chandelier, tied with some of my fancy Christmas ribbon. I'll need to stare at them some more.

And last year I started a tradition. Each year I am going to let my girls pick out a special ornament. I will tag it with their name and the year. When they are grown and have a house of their own, I will give them all of their ornaments so they have a good, sentimental starting point. I love this idea though I get teary eyed thinking of having to part with all the ornaments that have sentimental value to me. And the idea that my babies will be grown and leaving me.

Makaela picked this Santa ornament out last year (with the help of Mommy).


Hannah picked this ornament out all on her own. I tried to show her more colorful and festive ornaments, but she wanted this one.

December Daily

Here we are, December 1st. I have known of a trend in the scrapbooking world to document each day of December for the past couple of years. It is such a wonderful idea, but I don't exactly operate in a manner that allows me to have projects such as a December Daily album ready to go on 12/1. This year is no exception. The only thing that is changing is that I will make the album soon (I hope) and in the meantime, document each day here on my blog. Hopefully I will have pictures with each post too. Right now as I type this, I have yet to take pictures, but another hope is to upload some later on today (by 11:59PM?) -- it's 11:46PM as I am adding the pictures.

So the tree is up! I love it! It's so sparkly! I couldn't resist buying several more ornaments for it today while out and about. And I have to say the girls contributed a lot to its beauty. Truth be told, this is something I was nervous about. I am very anal about anything where creative expression is involved. So I thought that sharing the task of tree decorating would be a big pill to swallow. But hurray for me, it wasn't. Yes, I did go in after they were in bed and move a few things around, but not too much. Only thing missing is the tree topper. I need to find one. This 9' tree of ours can't handle a piddly little Santa hat like past smaller trees have donned.

All of the boxes of Christmas decorations have been unloaded into the front part of our house. Can I just go on record now saying we do NOT have enough? This big house of ours demands some nice decoration and I have little to provide. Sigh! I am going to have to really hit those after Christmas sales this year. Forgive me house. Hannah is running around behind me asking if Santa will like the way we are decorating the house. :) Too cute! I say, "I think so."

Hannah and I made a Christmas chain last night. And this morning she got to rip off Day #25. We also opened door #1 on the Advent calendar I bought last year (at an after Christmas sale). I loved Advent calendars as a little girl! We didn't have them every year, but for some reason, I have distinct memories of excitedly opening each window during the years we did. I am hoping to recreate that same joy for my kids. They will have one each year!

Some projects I would like to accomplish this December are:

• get some Christmas layouts from last year done so I can display them around the house
• bake some braided bread
• bake lots of Christmas cookies for decorating at our scheduled play date on 12/22
• have Hannah make ornaments for all of her friends as a gift (really trying to drill in that giving is more important than getting; this year she has definitely caught on that presents are coming)
• get a nice family picture snapped for a Christmas card (whether they are handmade this year is yet to be determined. I think I might be on the every other year plan)
• find the perfect gift for my husband (probably the toughest thing on the list)
  make a paper garland for the banister
• make some vinyl cutouts for wall decoration

All of this in the midst of preparing for the annual Christmas party we host, Christmas shopping, birthday parties, work Christmas parties, work, etc. I can do this! Right?

Our tree -- they are very hard to photograph

The Christmas Chain

It has officially begun.

Before I begin, there is one more thing I am thankful for ... my inlaws! They are amazing; helpful beyond belief. They love to watch our girls and it is such a relief to know they are in safe hands and that we can leave for days on end without worry. An example of their wonderfulness: we traveled up to their place the day after Thanksgiving (Friday). Little Makaela had been fighting a bug for a few days but seemed well enough for the trip. Well, that night her cough sounded terrible. It was so bad that she could not sleep soundly all night. At 6:30 AM I awoke to her with a 104.2 fever and still a terrible cough. We took her all the way back home to the doctors and my inlaws drove Hannah down a few hours later. They spent the night with us. It is just so nice that they were willing to do that when the plan was to spend the weekend at their place.

Now, onto Christmas. Yes, given the fact that we were home the weekend following Thanksgiving, we took advantage and got the tree up. I love it! I love this holiday. Hannah was so excited! She keeps asking if she can decorate the tree and I have to tell her all the ornaments are on. Though I agree with her that it needs more and I will be keeping my eyes open for some deals as we're out and about these next couple of weeks.

11/26/09: Thankful for ...

... this amazingly beautiful family that God has blessed me with.

... for God.

... good food that will be sitting before me in just a few short hours.

... my dad and stepmom's warm and happy home that will be hosting this fun feast.

... doctors that are trying hard to cure my stepmom's evil cancer.

... for our troops both active and retired. Thank you!

... for freedom.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!