Is it Christmas yet?!?

I have been in a Christmas kind of mood lately. I enjoy Thanksgiving and appreciate the gesture, but I am in the mood for Christmas! No. Not the gift giving. I’m not in the mood for that. I’m actually dreading that. I am ready to listen to Christmas music nonstop, bake yummy smelling goods (and give them away), and have Christ be the center of our home instead of his sitting patiently on the sidelines while we bustle around. No. We don’t hide him away the other 11 months of the year. Life just seems to slow down a bit even with all the extra bustling that goes on during the Christmas holiday.  We make more time to notice the small blessings and gifts that our Savior gives us.  Even normal things take on a life all their own.  Hidden special meanings are brought to light during Christmas.  There is just something magical about having the Christmas tree with all the twinkling lights shining thru the dark cool nights. The nativity scene that Jake got me years ago made from olive wood from the Holy Land proudly reminding us to be a little more Christ centered as a family. A special feeling that Christ is watching our actions ever so slightly more than usual.

Christmas is a time of reflecting for me. I get to reflect on Christmas’s past and see how the kids have grown. I get to reflect on Christ a little more than usual. The sacrifices he made for all of us so we can go thru this thing called life. I get to look back over the year and see just how far we have come as a family (or stayed stagnant some years). So many things to reflect on.

Last year was a hard Christmas for me. I couldn’t tell you why. I just never “felt” Christmas. I tried, but everything I did just felt empty. This year I think it is going to be different. As soon as the stores started putting Christmas decorations out (yes, I know that was before Halloween), I started wanting to put up lights. I haven’t done it yet out of respect of Thanksgiving, but I have a feeling I will be going into the garage soon and pulling out everything Christmas related. I haven’t done that in a long time. I usually just put up the tree and let the kids put their ornaments on. This year, (Mike be warned now…) I want to decorate the house! I want the spirit of Christmas! Maybe when Mother comes next Saturday to help with Thanksgiving, we will get out the Christmas things and decorate. We can just call them decorations for Elaina’s baptism, right? ;)

How's your mummy?

 My sister, Chris sent me a link to a favorite BLOG of hers that had a great idea for mummy cookies. I thought the girls would have a good time with this project, so I looked to see what we needed to make these scary treats. Come to find out, I had gotten a package of double stuff cookies a while back and stuck them in the furtherest part of the pantry so no kids would find them until I was ready for them to find them. I hid them so well that I had forgotten myself that they were there! Haha I knew I had almond bark, so all I needed to get was some candy sticks. I ended up getting some black sparkle icing for the eyeballs as well. I thought the sparkle would show up better than it does. Oh well. Lesson learned. Haha

This morning I showed the girls the BLOG online of what we would be making to try to get them excited. Emma got excited. Elaina got mad. Not so uncommon in our house unfortunately. So, this is how the morning started for Elaina…  Yes, she was throwing things at me.  haha

After a while of Emma and me pulling apart cookies, Elaina decided she would come and have some fun with us. I’m glad she did. She ended up having a really good time (although she still won’t admit it). ;) First, we separated the cookies and put the sticks in between with a dollop of almond bark.

 Then we dunked the cookies in the melted almond bark. We had some almond bark and some chocolate bark in the pantry opened (sealed off of course). Emma thought it would be cool to have some chocolate mummies as well as some white mummies. I figured, “what the hey… it’s just got to be eaten anyways”. :) So after all the sticks were in, we melted some almond bark in the microwave. Yeah for microwaves! :) We worked with the white chocolate first. If I would have been thinking correctly, I would have started with the chocolate, but I wasn’t, so we started with the white. Haha We then dunked the cookies in the melted bark and used a spoon to help coat the cookies a bit better. Emma especially loved swirling the cookies to try to get excess off them. :)

 
 After we finished with both the white and chocolate coverings, we started to put eyes on these little mummies. I did it a little different than the blog did. I put the white dots on for the eyes, then went on to put the wraps on. Once the wraps were mostly on, the girls went back and took turns putting the black sparkle icing on for pupils. They had a good time. :)

  As soon as they were done, the girls were begging to eat one. I went ahead and let them enjoy their handiwork. They worked hard and deserved a treat, right? :)

Halloween 2010

The kids had the opportunity to dress up today for school. In Elaina's school, they were able to dress up as a book character. Kind of stupid in my opinion. My kids dress up how they like anyways, then try and find a book to somehow match up. haha Elaina wore a dress that Mom and I found in a thrift store for $3 (actually $2.99). Mother had to do a little “tweeking” on it, but it turned out really well. She called herself Barbie and she was good to go! Haha

Emma dressed up in a sparkly black number we found at the same thrift store as Elaina’s dress. Hers was about the same price if I remember correctly. Truthfully, I might not be thinking correctly, but it’s the same ballpark I tell ya! Haha Emma liked it and that’s what matters, right?

She went as a witch to school (no book character to find with her). We painted a black stripe in her hair for school to try to make her more genuine without putting on makeup. Yep. I’m lazy when we have 30 mins to get makeup, hair and wardrobe done for two people. Haha I think she looked really nice. :)

 Josh didn’t dress up too much for school. Just normal clothes but with a little twist. He found an old pencil sharpener shaped like a lightbulb. Then he hot glued it to a paperclip. Then he glued the paperclip to a hat. It looked really cute. No. I didn’t get a picture. I will have to do that, though. It really was a cute idea. He is too creative. I don’t know where he got that from…

Jake didn’t dress up for school. I was a little shocked that he didn’t. I thought that would have been right up his alley. ;)

Then tonight was the city trunk or treat. Since our ward didn’t have a trunk or treat this year (just a fall festival), I knew I needed to make sure the kids got to the city trunk or treat. :) The boys didn’t want to go. I wasn’t too shocked. They didn’t go last year either. I think they might think they are getting too old for it or something. Silly boys! Haha The girls looked really good. Elaina was a princess/ Barbie. Emma was a vampire instead of a witch. I think she was happy with how her look turned out. :) She looked quite freaky. :)

The birthday weekend

Elaina turned 8 on Sunday, so we seemed to celebrate all weekend! Haha She was determined to go out to Chinese food for her birthday, so I talked her into having a date with mom and dad on Friday night since Saturday was already was packed! :) We had a really good time. She did her best to wait patiently for Mike to get home from work Friday. I let her ride in the front on the way to eat. She thought she was a super star! She chatted all thru dinner. It was so fun to watch her. Then she sat in the back with me while Mike chauffeured us home. What a special treat to have an evening alone with Elaina. :)

Then Saturday, We had a tea party. We had lots of food and gussied up the table.

Aunt Dana and Abbie made the trek to come have the party with us. Elaina was in hog heaven! The girls had such a great time. Heck, so did I. It was great to see Dana and Abbie. When I asked Elaina on Sunday what her favorite part of her birthday was, she said that Abbie coming for her party was her favorite.  What a sweet girl!

During the tea party, it decided to rain. Not that big of a deal, right? Wrong. Dana and I were cleaning the kitchen when we noticed it get really dark outside then heard sirens going off. We were in a tornado watch/warning. We tried to play it off like it wasn’t that big of deal so the girls wouldn’t get scared. Abbie got a little scared, so I decided it was time for a little re-direction. ;) I had gotten some cloth bags for the girls to decorate as loot bags. I didn’t get pictures of them making them, but I did get some of their finished products. :) I think the girls had fun letting their inner creativeness come out.

Saturday was also the ward Fall party. Mike had to leave for most of the tea party to get supplies since the Deacons were in charge of the spook house at the church. Elaina about exploded waiting for Mike to return so she could open gifts. Haha

Elaina had been talking about buying herself a special doll with her birthday money. I took her to Wal-mart after the church party Saturday evening so she could get her doll. Sunday (her actual b-day) I let her take her new doll to church~ sacrament only. ;) She dressed her in the dress that Grandma had gotten for her dolls and  then she dressed to match her. She was so excited to have her doll look like her. Unfortunately she got to feeling a little sick during sacrament and I had to take both the doll and her home after sacrament.

We also let her blow out the candles while we sang "happy birthday" on Sunday since Dana and Abbie left before we were able to do it Saturday.  Elaina loved the cake...  It was totally "her".  :)

All in all, I think she had a great birthday.  Although, the party isn't completely over.  Now we get to prepare for her baptism on Nov 27th.  :)  Click HERE and HERE for all the pics from this fun weekend.

Are you romantic?

Last night, I asked Mike on a date. We realized some very interesting info.  My girls are romantics. I’m really not sure where they get this from. It’s obviously not me. I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. My idea of romance is Mike helping with dinner. I know better than to get my hopes up most nights, but sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. Mike is even less romantic than I am if that is possible. His idea of romance is baking bread with me and the kids nowhere in sight (or sound, more importantly). I’m fine with that most days. Last night was one of those times when I had been around kids too long. I needed to escape. Thus, date night! ;)

Well last night as we were leaving, Emma made sure to tell us to go watch a “romantic movie” and spend as much time as we like. Haha She is always trying to get Mike and me to go out. She gets a sparkle in her eye and tilts her head in such an animated way when even thinking about Mike and me going on a date.  It’s as if she is getting to live vicariously thru us and she wants to have some lovey dovey kissy poo going on or something! Haha The kids know we love each other, but we don’t spend a ton of time on dates… alone. We usually have at least one kid with us when we go somewhere. We also aren’t very imaginative and it gets old just eating out all the time. Haha As if Emma wasn’t bad enough last night, while we were pulling out of the driveway, Elaina was sitting on the swing making kissing faces and noises at us. Haha I don’t know what we are going to do with these girls! I just dread when they get hormones and want to go on a real date. Maybe I will sit on the swing and make kissy faces as they leave with their dates as well. On second thought, I better not give them any ideas!

I got busy this weekend!

I don’t know what it is about Conference weekend that brings out my inner baker, but it has happened yet again. :) It was such a beautiful day (mid 70’s) that we opened up all the windows and doors and turned up the TV. I was in the kitchen doing two of my favorite things. Cooking and listening to Conference. Was it me or was it especially good this year? :)

Anyways, I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and pumpkin cream cheese bread for Saturday morning. Sunday, I made homemade rolls to go with the grilled chicken that had been marinating overnight for lunch. :) The chicken turned out GREAT and I was too stuffed to bake anything that evening. :) I also tried a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies. They turned out wonderful. I will definitely be making them again. :) Oh, I also made some wheat banana nut muffins for breakfast Sunday. The recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I make half with blueberries and half with walnuts.  I hope you don’t think we ate all this food I made… Although the kids did try. ;) All of the muffins went into the freezer for school mornings. The pumpkin bread is in the fridge, waiting for school lunches. The cookies are also being used for school lunches although not at the same time as the pumpkin bread. ;) All in all, a very productive weekend. :)

Unexpected insights

Today was my Grandmother’s funeral. It was a very unusual day to say the least. We waited to leave until this morning because the boys had plans last night with their buddies. The funeral was 4 hours away, so that meant getting up at 4:30 AM! Thank heavens I had my wits with me and showered last night and got the girls’ clothes picked out. I had the boys get their suits out before they went to bed as well. Then this morning, we started out for East Texas. We knew it would be a fun drive, not only because of the length of time, but because the air compressor went out recently in the van and the AC blows nice and hot air. :) This morning, we were blessed with an added treat. It rained for over two hours of our drive. The rain was nice because it helped it be nice and cool. The unfortunate part was that the wipers decided today was a good day to not work. “Jesus take the wheel” took on a whole new meaning this morning! Haha Eventually, the sun came up and the sky quit crying. We made it safe and sound. I couldn’t help but think of how the journey was similar to our trials we go thru in life. How many times are we determined to get to a certain destination while all kinds of forces rise against us? Heavenly Father helped us see thru the rain (trials) just enough to keep forging ahead. Once we go thru the choice part (turn back or keep going), he helps us even more until we can see for ourselves. Then the destination is all that more special to us.

The service was nice. Jake was one of the pall bearers. He was quite nervous, but he did really well. It was quite an honor. After the graveside speech, the pall bearers passed by the casket and placed their white boutonnieres on the casket. It’s probably a normal occurrence, but I haven’t paid enough attention to know. To me, it was a beautiful show of humility and love.

After the funeral, we all went to my Aunt and Uncle’s home for lunch. I ate WAY too much. It was nice to laugh and talk with everyone. Lots of pictures were taken, but I left my camera in the car.  I didn't think we were going to stay as long as we did.  ;)  On the way home, Mike let Jacob drive along the back roads to my Grandparents old homestead. No, the other kids did NOT want to get in the car. Yes, they screamed they were going to die. We made them get in the car anyways!  Haha  Jake did a good job, though. I think his top speed was 20! It brought back memories of me learning to drive along the same dirt roads by Grandmother's house WAY too long ago.  :)  It was really odd how much the old home had grown older. Of course, I haven’t aged at all! Yeah, right! ;) We just walked around the old house and it was as if I was 10 again, hanging out with my cousin Ashley. I really miss him sometimes. Grandmother gets to see him, though. She gets to see Aunt Joan and Mama Parish (my great-grandmother) as well. I’m sure Grandmother is enjoying catching up with them.

On the way home, we were able to have some pretty great discussions with Jake and Josh about death and how to live your life. It’s amazing to me how teaching moments place themselves in the most inopportune times. For me, at least, it’s when I’m super tired or needing to get twelve other things taken care of that the kids come looking for help and guidance. On the way home, we were stuck in a car and super tired. What a great time for learning more about their characters and helping give them insight to making their journey thru life a little less roller coaster like. :)

All in all, I would call the day a super success. :)