winter skies

Is it just me or is there something extra special about winter skies.  As I have been driving around I have been noticing how the cold air makes the clouds do remarkable things.  They just look so cool.  I'm not sure if its nostalgia or I am finally beginning to appreciate the simple things but it seems like everyday is an amazing cloud pattern.  So among all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I encourage you to take a second and look up at the simple beauty God created for us. (excuse the poor quality of the shots they were taken while driving) 

Now I have proof of those purple mountain majesty's they sing about.

Thanksgiving 2011

We hosted Thanksgiving this year.  It was good weather which was really nice because I was hoping we could put some kids outside.We had Scott's mom and sister, my parents, 2 of my sisters and their families plus some extra friends.  All in all we had 25 people over.  It wasn't as bad as you would think because we divided up the dishes.  All we had to do was a turkey, some rolls, and the appetizers.
The one great thing about my family is that you never have to ask them to help AND when they are helping they don't need to be assigned things, they just see something that needs to be done and they do it.  They just handle it.  I Love It!! It makes things so easy. Plus they always clean up before they leave.  I chalk it all up to my mother.  She has taught us so well. I think it was all those boutiques she dragged us to.  We had to set up and tear down booths.  I hope I can teach my children as well as she taught us.
After the meal we all cleaned up then the boys watched the game while the girls worked on a craft. (button bracelets)  We were experimenting for my sisters mutual activity.  We had planned on playing junk BINGO but the craft was all consuming.  So we'll save it for Sunday.
I had no concept of time on Thanksgiving, when it was 6:30pm it felt like 3am.  and I was kind of dreading the black Friday tradition.  Nevertheless I made it though the day unscathed.  Now for the black Friday fiasco.

another birthday

Welcome to the crazy time of year.  Its not bad really.  I usually like crazy but it seems like I have very little time to visit my blog.  I had another birthday at the most inconvenient time ever.  My birthday always seems to fall on the week of Thanksgiving.  Sometimes I think I should change my birthday to the summer.  Actually I think everyone with a birthday in the months of November or December should do the same.  I decided for my birthday I wanted to go to a pizza place that holds sentimental value to me.  It's not that its awesome pizza (its not bad but its not the greatest pizza in the world.) Its just a place we always went to when I was younger for special occasions and get togethers.

I invited some friends of ours, and my sweet mother had my sister send out a blast text to everyone to come.  My other sweet sister made delicious cupcakes for everyone.  I wasn't expecting any of this so it was all a nice surprise.

As usual we took up the whole restaurant and the kids were quite well behaved. Which is unusual for our group.  We had a great time just chatting and eating good food.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Its good to be back.

white christmas

For Ellie's birthday we decided to indulged her love of drama by taking her to a play.  We went to White Christmas, a play I knew nothing about but thought it would be appropriate.  Ellie was excited.  I can always tell when she is excited or nervous, she talks a lot, Okay a lot more than usual.  Can I just say I loved it!!!  I know it was for Ellie but Scott and I enjoyed it just as much if not more. It was funny, whitty, charming, and overall entertaining.  I give it 2 thumbs up.  I loved how they included the audience in a few of the scenes.  The first shared scene they had us join them in singing a Christmas carol.  I'm not sure if the actor was too emotional to finish the song or the play was written that way but it was very touching and a great way to start off the show.

There was some great singing and dancing involved.  The dancing was mostly tap (one of my favs) I just wanted to get up on the stage an join them.  The whole thing was set in the 1950's an era I really enjoy.  Scott said the whole thing was a little cheesy and the music was what he calls Vegas Lounge music.  I actually LOVE Vegas lounge music so that made the play even better.  Ellie's favorite part was the snow at  the last scene.  She asked me before the play started if they were going to make it snow.  I was doubtful and told her that it was just a college play not Disney.  But snow they made (actually foam) but it had the same affect.

leaves

I raked a huge pile of leaves in the backyard for the kids to play in before I disposed of them. (it doesn't look huge in the pictures but it started out 4ft tall x 6ft wide x 7ft long)  I started with the leaf blower but when the pile got too big I had to use the good old fashioned rake to really hoist the leaves on top of each other.  It took me about an hour but we had a great pile when I was done.  I asked the little boys if they wanted to play in the leaves. They weren't exactly sure what I was asking so I just picked them up and threw them right into the pile.  They were totally buried.  At first they were scared until I reached in and pulled them out by their feet.  After the initial shock it was tons of fun.  So much so that the neighbors climbed through to fence to join us.  After 20 minutes of playing in the leaves I remembered to get my camera and make some memories.

more Halloween festivities

Sadly I ran out of time this year so I did not do my annual Halloween party.  I was a little disappointed in myself but I can only do so much so something had to go.That's okay, theres always next year.  A new thing for us this year was a school costume parade.  I have snippets of memories doing this when I was growing up and I do remember that I loved it.  My kids were just so excited that they got to wear their costumes to school.  since it was on actual Halloween day I dressed all of us up in our costumes to head to the school.  Brennen was originally Darth Vader but he has a few dress ups to chose from so he was something different everyday that week.

There were a lot of your usual costumes and some super funny ones.   I loved this male teacher that dressed as a lunch lady. He was totally in character the whole time he was so funny.

Another annual activity my family has is to go out to dinner in costume on Halloween. Apparently its always Chili's just different locations.  So we had a group of about 20+ people show up at the restaurant for one server to take care of our whole crew.  Don't worry there was almost no one at the restaurant.  Kids ate free so that was a huge bonus.  It was crazy and loud and there were at least 4 spilled drinks but it was tradition and we were happy to finally be part of it.

As for our neighborhood it was a drastic change from out last one.  Our last one went all out on Halloween.  Everyone decorates there are TONS of kids, huge block parties with movies begin projected on garage doors.  This year at our new neighborhood a few houses decorated but my real disappointment was that I only got about 20 trick-or-treaters.  I am officially determined to bring this neighborhood up to speed. 

Movie themed birthday party

Tis the season of crazy busy.  On top of all the other holidays that come this time of year.  We also have a slew of birthdays and anniversaries to contend with in addition to my turn teaching preschool.  So we start the kick off with Ellie's birthday.  Thankfully Scott was home.  He was a huge help to me in getting everything prepared! This year she went with a movie theme.

This party actually cost less than my usual $50 because it involved more brain thinking than anything else.  I bought a few decorations from the dollar store.  Red and gold crepe paper with matching balloons.

She had all her guests come as a character from one of their favorite movies.  If they didn't come dressed up we provided something for them from our dress up box.  Once everyone arrived I split them into 3 groups to go hunting for characters.  Before had I found all our stuffed animals and toys that came from or matched popular movies that the under 13 would know.  I came up with a clue/riddle for each one so they had to guess what character it was and then there was a riddle to where that character was hiding. For example Pascal from tangled was

    His skin can turn from red to blue. His best friends hair can heal you.

his hiding place clue was to that he could see you from his lookout tower.

Once they found the first character it had a clue taped on it for the next character. The last one told them to come inside and find something round for a special treat. It was a pumpkin with goodies.  While they were searching I got the food ready.  We had everything you could get at a movie theater.  Hot dogs, nachos, candy, soda, and of course popcorn.    I did buy each guest their own popcorn container for .50 cents the dollar store.  They got to decorate them however they wanted.

After food we did movie quotes.  I read off a movie quote they had to raise their hands to answer.  Whom ever got the most quotes won a prize.  They loved this game so much that when I ran out of quotes I had them say their own and let the rest guess.  We had quite of  few rounds of this before we served cake.

The cake was FABULOUS!!! My wonderful sister made her a cake that looked like a big popcorn bucket with popcorn spilling out.  It also had movie tickets made of fondant on it.  It looked amazing!! thanks Steph!!!  After the cake and ice cream we did presents then planned on watching a movie but the girls wanted to play ghost in the graveyard instead.  (One way to have a less stress party is to be flexible.)  I had no problems with it so they played the night away until their parents came to get them. I kept the  popcorn going all through the party.  there was popcorn all over the house by then end of the party but that's easy to vacuum up.  I actually had most of the party cleaned up by the time the last kid left. Everyone had a great time.  So happy 11 Birthday Ellie we  love you

anniversary

For this post I MUST start it with a scream AHHAHAHAAHHA!!! That is an excited scream.  On November 4 2011 my hubby and I will have been married for 12 wonderful years.  He thought it would be fun to surprise me early with a little outing.  I just had to make sure I had a babysitter for the night because it would probably go late.  I took the kids to my sisters while we had a quick dinner then headed off to my surprise.  (on the day of he asked me if I wanted to know what the surprise was.  I said NO.)  As we drove in the car my anticipation grew.  We pulled into the parking lot of a big event center, still no clue. as we were walking toward the doors I happen to look up at the flashing billboard right when it flashed. So You Think You Can Dance.  As soon as I saw it I screamed a happy little scream.

I Love love love the show.  I never miss it. It brings me back to the old days when I used to be a dancer.  I actually danced for most of my life (from the age of 3-21 dance was a big part of my life)  It was pretty awesome!  we had great seats and the energy was so intense it was tactile.  What more can I say I had a great time.  there were lots of great dances but one of my favorites was the tap dancers duet. 

I am so thankful for my hubby that he so patiently sat through the 2 hours of dance for me when it is NOT really his thing. He is such a great guy.  I love you babe your my best friend! Thanks for 12 fun filled years, I am eager to enjoy the next 12 and beyond with you.