Sometimes You Have to Improvise...

 

Whatever works, right?  :)

We May Have Set a Record...

We picked out our tree in less than five minutes this year.

Being our first Christmas here, I had no idea where a tree farm/lot would be so we just went to Lowe's last Saturday.

We were in a crunch for time between standing in a line (that moved 4 feet in 25 minutes in the cold) for a Santa with brown eyebrows - which we saw once we decided to step out of line. I was so relieved we didn't wait  and that the kids agreed we needed to try to find the real Santa later instead of one of his helpers. Then Abby and I were off to see the Muppets and take a tour of the movie theater with her Brownie troop while Pat and Noah went searching for a $5 hockey set. By the time we all got back home, we only had a couple of hours to find a tree, eat dinner, and straighten up a bit before we had some friends over for dessert.

Thus a new family tree-picking record was set.  We could have tried to set a decorating record too, but I convinced the kids that the tree needed time to settle so we would decorate it the next day. There's no way we could have squeezed that in too.

Funny thing is that Sunday was just as crazy between church, a child's baptism after church, an unexpected meeting that Pat had to go to, and the missionaries coming over for dinner...but we finally got it done. Phew.

Now if we can just find the real Santa with white eyebrows (and a decent beard)...

Wish us luck!

A "Beary" Merry Holiday To You!

Abby had her second grade program tonight, and I have to say, she was definitely the cutest bear up there - not that I am biased or anything...

She was all smiles the entire time and singing her heart out. I broke out my old school video camera (that we got when Abby was born) to make sure I'd be able to zoom way in - between the two heads and baseball cap that were in front of me - gotta love that. The Flip and phone videos just don't cut it when it comes to stuff like this. I got some cute close-ups...probably too many, but I couldn't help myself.

*Sure loved your program, little one! You did such a great job and worked so hard to learn all of those songs. We are so proud of you!

Look What We Made!

 

Noah and I just made these today...so.so.good. Click over to my "Teach it Simple" site for the recipe link and a spur-of-the-moment craft idea that used those scattered peanut butter cup wrappers!

What Could Be Better Than...

...a strawberry torte ice cream cake (thanks, Mom!) for my birthday?

Being able to share it with these little kiddos - 

...which was followed by a post-bedtime-mini-girls-night with my mom and sister-in-law, indulging in some chocolate mousse and mint chocolate brownies (thanks, Ashley!) while watching "What Not To Wear" and browsing on-demand exercise videos at commercials (haha!). Then we topped it off with an episode of "Parenthood" when my brother got home from teaching his class - much more fun to watch with my family. (You should hear us when we watch "The Bachelor".)

The one downfall to spending a whole week full of playtime, puppet shows, superheroes, the Muppet movie, new baby snuggles, and silly dance contests with half of our favorite people?

Having to say good-bye. (geez...tears are flowing just typing that.)

We sure miss you guys already...if only we had our own private "jetplane".