christmas

Spending the last few days recovering a bit... slowly getting the editing done from this weekend. Im really getting excited for christmas.. for the kids sake. Its fun to see them talk about it ... makes me remember what christmas meant to me as a kid. Were going to keep it simple this year... Andy and I are decorating the house... Katy will help me make cookies...and we are having family over for breakfast christmas morning...usually christmas is spent other places...which is fun also but I think its time to set some of our own family traditions. Now off to edit photos :)

Christmas wishes...

Last year the kids did a "video to santa" and Max asked if he could do that again this year.. so here they are :)

projects~nostalgia cont.~sewing~love

So we had the best time painting frames for the grandparents. I really enjoyed making most of our presents and it was great having something new to do with the kids. We ended up having 4 separate Christmas's for the kids. It was fun, but I would rather try and condense it a little. By the time it got to our "home" Christmas...the kids were burnt out and it really lost something special...because they had opened gifts non-stop for the last week. We'll have to figure something else out for next year...maybe celebrate with other family after Christmas morning.

Katy-Ro is really into princess, dressing up and everything "girly" this Christmas was the one to give her an entire wardrobe of prissy getup. My sister in law Catherine handed down her "Holly Hobbie" dress up chest. Soooo sweet!!

It seems that everyone has realized how bad I've caught the crafting bug... GiGi gave me a few sewing magazines...to ponder through...I never realized how many cool ideas are in these!!! I've only had a moment to flip through one..but look at how cute these pin cushions are!! I found at least half a dozen other cute gift ideas in this one "sew simple" edition.

Last but not least... I am really gaining an interest in digital photography. I am soaking up information and having fun with the editing software Andy got me for Christmas. I can only count the days until I can afford a nicer camera. Until then... :)

Merry Xmas again!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Max and Lady Katy Christmas Wishes...Adventures of Mad Max...what were you thinking???

Because Max is such a spirited child I have had to modify some routines to make sure he gets the intellectual stimulation that he needs. Max would rather scale the walls of his bedroom than sit and quietly and read a book with me. So we have changed it up a bit in the last year or so with the introduction of the Adventures of Mad Max and Growly ghost (his pet name for Katy). I start the story and then prompt Max to add in...we will take turns until.....duh ta duuuuh...."Mad Max SAAAAAVES the DAY!!!" This is our special time together...last night Max wanted to tell it all by himself. I made sure to get it on camera. He doesn't make a whole lot of sense and its really dark because we were getting ready for be...but its too cute to miss out on just the same: ) I turned the music off on my blog to save you that time... you might want to turn the brightness up on your screen if you want to see him.

After the story, we talked about Christmas a little bit...I asked him what he was wishing for Santa to bring him. So we decided to send Santa a video message. Here it is (wink, wink)

Of course Katy wanted to send Santa a video message also...If you cant tell by my voice it was the end of the day...lol :)

Oh and GiGi, while I was on the phone with you today and had to promptly exit the conversation. This is what my kids were feeding the fish. Yes my friends, that is two freight cars and a Mr. potato head...never boring.

Family Fun

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days...its been pretty busy around here. The holidays are quickly approaching and there is alot of planning and preparation to make sure that we fit all family time in. Saturday we were blessed with a visit from Joe and Jackie...Andy's father and stepmother. I can tell that they really enjoyed spending time with us and the kids. Andy was amazing helping me get the house ready... its a tough job with little monkeys running and jumping everywhere...always getting into stuff. I would have been stressed out to the hilt if he had not helped me out....thanks babe! I don't do well entertaining, my mother and step mom set a beautiful table and always have the house so nicely decorated for guests... I'm just not into it. I am slowly coming around with decorations during holidays because of the kids... but it doesn't usually strike me as important.(I don't push things in my life that will cause me unnecessary stress) Plus the kids are still at the age where they don't get that everything is NOT a toy... they probably broke at least 6 ornaments already... once again, why its not sooo important to me yet.

However, the kids are grasping the "Christmas" concept... and are getting really excited about Santa coming. I tell the kids that its Jesus's birthday and because Jesus is so selfless...he shares all his birthday gifts with people all over the world. Santa is just the delivery guy :)

The kids were funny yesterday, I came into the playroom to find them doing this....(the video is still processing so it may take sometime until it shows up here)