Snow and Family

We got a bit of snow on Christmas Eve which made traveling to Tyler (Dana's house) a little difficult on Christmas day.   It was a bit scarey while in Dallas, but once out of Dallas, it was smooth sailing.  :)

 We had a great time seeing Grandma, Grandad, Aunt Dana, Uncle Michael, Austin and Abbie.  I only got a few pictures, but trust me.  Fun was had by all.  The boys stayed in Austin's room and the girls stayed in Abbie's room.  The adults sat around the table laughing histarically while playing games.  Eventually the girls came to investigate all the noise and wanted to play too.  We all had a really good time.  Thanks Dana for letting us invade your home and letting us kick back and enjoy all the yummy food!

Christmas at our house

Christmas was fun here at the Roberts house. We didn’t get to follow all our traditions this year. We did have enchiladas for Christmas Eve, and they were delicious! I always look forward to Christmas Eve and the yummy enchiladas Mike makes. With the snow, the roads got really icy. Mike had to go to the ATM (Santa forgot to get cash out for the kids), so he checked the roads to see how they were. It ended up being too icy to go look at the Christmas lights. The kids and I were disappointed, but we got over it. :} We had a good time opening our gifts from Nana and Papa. All of the pajamas fit perfectly and the blankets are wonderful hugs. :}

We told the kids they couldn’t wake us up until 4 AM, as is our usual time for Christmas morning. It’s hard to believe that the kids wake up so stinkingearly on Christmas morning, but they do. We had a ton of gifts this Christmas. I thought it was going to be a sparse Christmas but it ended up being quite a big one. :}

Jacob got a camera. He also got a new shirt and tie so he can be stylish at the dances (they have to wear dress clothes to the dances). He didn’t get his dragon fruit he has wanted, but he did get some dragon fruit vitamin water. Same thing, right? Haha I told him we would go next week and get him a real dragon fruit. :}

Josh got a “LOT of chocolate”, just like he requested. He also got Nerf blaster guns with glasses and vests. He was really excited. Emma gave him a fun penguin and a Mentos blaster thingy. He also got a nice shirt for when he goes to the dances in March. Yep. He will be 14 in March and able to go to the dances with Jacob!

Emma had a good Christmas as well. She got a fur coat (fake fur ~ no. I’m not in PETA, I just can’t afford real! haha) She pretended to be upset about getting clothes for Christmas, but she has barely taken the thing off since she opened it. Haha She also got a new MP3 player.

Elaina was lucky enough to get two dresses this year. Penny’s was having a great sale. Lol She also got an MP3 player which goes everywhere with her. Yes, it even came to church with us today. No, it didn’t enter the building, but it did make the trip. Haha.

It's Christmas Eve

I figure it’s time to fill you all in on some of the exciting times we’ve had lately. :}
Elaina came home from school Friday with the cutest idea for next year. One of the other mothers made snowmen out of pretzel sticks. Such a cute idea and looks pretty simple, too (My favorite kind). :}

Mike has been hard at work getting ready for the Mountain Man Adventure next week. He has sewn his shirt, coat and added fringe to his pants. I’m impressed. He didn’t have a pattern for any of it. I’m not that good. :}

Today, I made the peanut butter fudge for Michael (Dana’s hubby). While making them, I had an accident. I’m not sure what happened, but I killed my favorite spatula. Have no fear. We got the other half out of the fudge and everything turned out yummy. :} 

Now for the best part. It’s still a bit early, but it’s snowing! On Christmas Eve! In TEXAS!!!! I think I am as excited as the kids are. Lol I took some pictures, but it doesn’t show up too good. The first picture is an hour ago.  Just imagine the sleet with snow flurries that are mixed in. haha The second picture is now.  It is coming down pretty good.  Maybe it will come down even more as the day goes on.  How exciting would that be?!?!  :}

Is it Christmas yet?

I was looking at my sister Chris’ blog this morning and it got me to thinking. I know. I try not to do it too often. It hurts too much. Haha Anyway, growing up we had all these different things that we associated with Christmas. Unfortunately, a lot of them weren’t Christ related. Clydesdale horses running thru the snow bringing beer to all the people who had Christmas cheer. Polar bears wearing red hats drinking Coca Cola sliding down hills of snow. We had to have Elvis with his “Blue Christmas”. Actually, we had music playing most of the time. I was forever singing Christmas carols to the top of my lungs, and not the sweet melodic ones… the rambunctious ones. Mother making Chex mix (the good stuff, not this stuff with bagel chips!). The hollowed out plastic pear with a little nativity scene nestled in the top center of the Christmas tree. I still have to have a little nativity scene at the top of my tree centered in the middle. :} Ahh the joys of Christmas.   It’s no wonder that marketing execs started making Christmas earlier and earlier. There were so many things that symbolized “time for Christmas” and only a few short weeks after Thanksgiving to fit them all in. Haha

I’m glad I’m prepared

A club that Jacob is involved with at school puts on a yearly “kids Kamp”. My girls love it. They play games, do crafts, watch movies and all kinds of fun stuff. I let them go today, since I really didn’t want to hear the girls crying about not going all day. I figured 6 hours of only having one kid would be a nice time to get some Christmas shopping bonding accomplished. I spent the day with Joshua. We spent the day wandering around different stores and having a grand time. I’ll admit. I had a bit too much to drink. Unfortunately, it was the hard stuff (leaded Diet Coke) and it played havoc on my bladder. Josh had a great time laughing at me, saying something about now he now knows where Elaina gets her need to see every bathroom in town. Poor Josh had to be patient with me while we rushed from store to store so I could relieve this little bladder of mine. On one such occasion, I ran into the stall without taking a good look around. As luck would have it, I discovered I had run into a stall with no toilet paper (of course after I had begun my business). Yep. My luck is never ending! Haha I could have quickly run to the next stall since the place was empty, but I wasn’t willing to tempt my luck any further. Never fear, though. I am a prepared mom. I have been made fun of several times for all the different gadgets and accessories in my purse. Today, they came in handy, once again. I simply reached in my purse and used the tissues I keep on hand. I know. You all are amazed that I didn’t use some of my spare napkins that I seem to collect. Ya’ll are so silly. You know I keep those in the car… not my purse! haha

Baking with a cell phone

Today I was lucky enough to have a special time with my sister. Technology is amazing. I was on the phone with Dana and she was asking about how to make pizza dough. I had the unique opportunity to make dough at my house while she made dough for the first time at hers. I was wearing my new apron from our other sister, Chris, and I like to think Dana was doing the same. It was kind of like all of us were cooking together. Dana did really good. I am so proud of her. She said her pizza and breadsticks turned out really good, too. I don’t know why my sisters are so afraid of cooking with yeast. Maybe now that Dana has had a touch of success with pizza dough, she will be a little more willing to try new recipes. :}

Baby it’s cold outside

This morning we woke up to snow! Yep. Real snow! The kids were really excited. Oh, who am I kidding, I was excited too. :} I love the snow. We are supposed to get some more cold weather tonight (yep, another chance of snow!) It didn’t last long this morning, but long enough to let the kids play in it before school.

My friend, Denise, gave Emma some clothes. In it were a couple of pairs of jeans. Emma is really excited. They fit her really well. :}

Monday, Monday

Yesterday, I got the coolest thing in the mail. My sister, Chris, sent me an apron and matching gloves. I have secretly wanted a “frilly” apron. I just haven’t been able to justify paying for one. I wore the apron all night, then again tonight. I don’t think I’ll ever take it off! Haha Thanks, Chris. I love it! Ignore me in the picture...  Elaina was my camera man.  haha

Today I have been on a flower hunt. Emma told me yesterday that she has business day on Thursday. I guess I should be grateful she gave me a few days notice. Anyway, she wanted to make the fun hair flowers that her cousins in Arizona made and wore. On the way to Sally Beauty Supply, I passed by Goodwill. On the off chance they would have some flowers, I went in. I ended up finding a basket of flowers ($2), 3 bunches ($1 each), and a silky skirt for Elaina ($1). I was so excited.

Emma and I had gotten some jewels from Wal-Mart after school yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon hot gluing jewels into the middle of flowers. Then after school, Emma and I attached them to the clips. They turned out really cute.

Apparently we brought cooler weather back with us from Amarillo. The cooler weather put me in the mood for “warm food”. For some reason, I can’t eat soup, stew or chili unless it is cold outside. Today, I made some potato soup. I was shocked that all 4 of my kids ate it. Actually, they devoured it. I’m still a little amazed.  I guess I will have to make it again sometime, or maybe just feed them more frequently.  :}

Sunday

Today we woke up to snow! Wow. What a fun treat. Of course, as our luck would have it, Emma and Elaina had only summer clothes clean. I foolishly thought it wouldn’t be so cold on the way home. Actually, it was alright. We were in the car most of the day. It’s not soo cold in the car. We were lucky enough to have snow most of the way home. It was even snowing past Amarillo. I will admit that when we stopped in Albuquerque (or was it Amarillo?) at the local Wal-Mart we did get some funny looks. Everyone there was wearing their thick winter coats and we went in without any. I guess it wouldn’t have been so bad if Elaina was wearing more than a short skort, with a summer shirt and flip flops! Haha Then on the way out, the girls stopped to throw a few snowballs. I’m sure all those bundled up folks thought we were crazy. Oh well. That’s what happens when you don’t see much snow. You enjoy it however, whenever you can. :}

Saturday~ The way home

Today we have been traveling most of the day. It was hard to say “goodbye” to everyone, but we needed to start back towards home. To be honest, I’m ready to get back into our routine. We haven’t read scriptures or been in bed before 11 PM at all this past week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind. I just miss reading the scriptures and my hour after the kids are in bed to relax from the busy day. :} 

We have seen much beauty today on the way to Santa Rosa. We are all looking forward to getting home tomorrow.

Friday

Today was our extra day to stay in Arizona. We crammed a lot into a little time. :} Mike went with his dad to Costco for some way cheap food storage. While he was gone, I went on a little outing of my own with the kids. Don’t worry. I didn’t have to rely on my own horrible sense of direction. We had “Lola” with us. The kids named the new GPS system Lola just like in the movie RV. We had a great time. :}

Once we all got back to the house, we went to the Asian Market. It was really fun. The food was packaged so wonderfully that it made you want to buy it all.

Then we went over to Missy’s house. While Mike played on the computer with Missy, the girls played with their chickens.

Then Papa and Nana wanted to take us out for our last night in Arizona. They picked the coolest restaurant. It was like a Golden Corral but SO much better! They even had an ICEE machine! I got to have an ICEE with my dinner! I may have died and gone to heaven and back without realizing it. :}

We then went to see the temple lights. It was beautiful. What a beautiful end to a great vacation.

After seeing the temple lights, we went home and had s'mores.  We gathered around the fire pit and had a great time.  Karen had a jar of questions and we went around the circle and everyone got to answer questions that most of us didn't know about each other.  We stayed up way to late and had way too much fun. :}