I cry the day I take the tree down

Today was a busy day for me. I finished taking down Christmas decorations (which believe me is no small task). I started yesterday with the village and misc decor, but today I tackled the tree. It's definitely not as much fun to take down as it is to decorate. I was able to get everything done and Ryan & I took everything back to storage (also no small task).
I love how clean the house feels after Christmas. (well, it will feel cleaner after a little housework) Don't get me wrong, I also love the cozy Christmas Decorations. I just feel like I didn't get to enjoy them as much this year. Definitely need to figure out what to cut out for next December.

So all this week the kids have been home entertaining each other. We did go to National Treasure on Wednesday night and I took them out to lunch and a little shopping on Thursday, but for the most part they have been left to self entertainment. So today they both got together with some friends. Parker went to the park with his friend Ethan to ride their new scooters, then to Ethan's house to play. Miranda invited a new friend from one of her choir classes over to our house to "hang out". For Christmas, Miranda got a book from American Girl that shows how to make tiny treats. So this is what the girls decided they wanted to do. I went to the store and bought a few ingredients and they were on their way. Here is some of their final creations.
Fried eggs, donuts, cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls, pizza, smores, pb&j rolls, and mini sandwiches.

They had so much fun creating these mini treats. After cleaning up, I took the girls out for a bit of shopping. They had a fun time trying on different fancy dresses and shoes. They both ended up buying a little something for themselves too.

It was great to see Miranda having such a great time. She's had a hard time finding a friend she can really connect with. Perhaps Tess will be that friend. Unfortunately she attends a different school. Well, at least they'll still be in choir together.

Tomorrow after church, we are leaving for Cedar to spend some time with Ryan's parents and a party at the Websters on New Years Eve. I'm making homemade salsa for the event. Yum-o!
We haven't been to visit since last August, so I guess it is about time. It gets so hard to leave town when the kids are in school.
Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Wonderful Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Dennett's home. The kids were very excited about all the gifts they received. When asked what was their favorite, they both just listed everything they received.
Nancie and Raynold left this afternoon, and I hope had a wonderful time. We certainly enjoyed sharing our little family traditions with them.
Christmas Eve was crowded but fun. We had a soup dinner at Granny's house and then did the annual white elephant gift exchange. There were about 54 people there that night.
Christmas Day was just fun and relaxing. We opened gifts, went for a drive while the ham was cooking. After eating, we just hung out and watched Sandlot. (Nancie and Raynold hadn't seen it)
I'm going to venture out to Target in a bit just to see if anything is left that is worth buying.
I hope everyone else had a wonderful (and relaxing) Christmas as well.

All is calm....

Well, things have settled down a bit around here. The last couple days were very crazy and made me very tired (thus no posting). But after today I'm ready to relax and enjoy the Christmas Spirit!

Nancie & Raynold, Ryan's parents came to town to celebrate Christmas with us this year.
Ryan and his dad went to the BYU football game tonight.

The kids slept over at my mom's last night so they could play and help tend my cousin's kids while she recovered from surgery. They had a great time decorating cupcakes for Christmas Eve dinner too. I picked them up and set off to help them finish their gift shopping. It was a whirlwind spree, but ended up getting something for everyone on their list at Target!
Woo hoo....I believe the shopping is officially finished!

Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm soooo glad! I'm looking forward to enjoying the day with my family without the hustle and bustle. A day to focus on Christ and the Christmas season.

Is it Christmas YET!!!

Enough already....I'm starting to get exhausted! Physically and mentally.
I so want Christmas to come so I can RELAX!
I was able to get more done today, but still so much to do.
Tomorrow is the Teacher lunch from 10-1 so I'll be tied up at the school all day. Tomorrow night is Miranda's Choir concert. She's in both Concert and Show Choir., so should be fun. I need to finish Teacher gifts and class bags. I'm helping with Parker's class party on Friday. So I'm bringing a craft and sugar cookies for everyone to decorate. I just decided I'm going to PURCHASE the sugar cookies from Sam's Club. Not that I really thought about baking them from scratch. (he he, just kidding, you know me better than that)

I actually ventured to the mall today. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It was crowded, but I didn't wait in any lines or anything.

Today was Whoville day (aka. crazy hair and clothes day) at school. Parker decides at 8:00 this morning just as I'm stepping out of the shower, that he wants to color his hair. Well, hair spray color isn't something I stock in my craft room (shocking I know). So I quickly dried my hair, got dressed and ran to Walgreens to purchase color. He wanted to make a smiley face in his hair with yellow and black, but no yellow was to be found, so he had to settle with orange.



Ok, so it's not the best smiley face I've done....but he was happy with it. He wore a pink shirt for crazy clothes. (It's one he wanted for "gender bender" day)
Yes, I did let him go to school like this.
Ryan and Parker finished delivering our cookies to friends who live further away, while I took Miranda to Broadway class and I did some quick shopping and returning.
The best part of the day was that Ryan and I actually got to go shop together for a moment. We ran to Sam's club and Kohls. This was the first time we've been able to shop together for a while.
Well, no cocoa tonight I'm too tired.

Cookie Monster ...

..Or should I say Monster Cookies? Well I did have my baking day, however I didn't stay home and work at it all day like I had planned.
I needed to help Parker carry his water project to school, so I decided to shower (first mistake). Then Ryan had some suits that needed to go to the cleaners so I thought I'll just drop those then head home to bake.
Well, the cleaners is right next door to Albertson's so I ran inside to get ingredients for Vegie soup for dinner (I knew I'd be in a mess for dinner after baking) So then I thought...while I'm out I should run to Party City to get the tablecloths for the Teacher Lunch, Return a couple things to Target, Pick up the crafts for Parker's class party at Michaels.......well, you get the idea.
Needless to say I didn't get baking until about noon.
I did end up baking 24 giant cookies. I ran out of time (and energy) so I decided not to put the frosting border on top. (they taste better without them anyway) They were fun making them with the 4 different flavors in each cookie. (I ended up mixing 8 double batches of dough.)
You can kind of see the sections in the picture. The good thing about baking the giant cookies is I can't keep "testing" the finished cookies. I think people might notice if a chunk was cut out. I did, however test each dough. White Chocolate Cranberry is definitely my favorite, with milk Chocolate Toffee coming in second.
The only problem with these cookies is they were completely taking over my kitchen. I got all 24 wrapped, tied with a bow and tagged then we loaded up the car and delivered all but 6 of them. Whew! Feels good to check one more thing off my list.

My feet are very tired tonight...wish I could squeeze in a pedicure this week. Hummmmm.

Miranda finished up one of her big projects tonight. She had to rewrite "A Christmas Carol" in modern times. She is an excellent writer, but felt pretty stressed out about getting this project finished. I'm going to stay up and type it for her so she can turn it in tomorrow..that's what mom's are for right? Although, I may leave some of it for Ryan to finish up in the morning.
Unlike me, he wakes up bright eyed around 5am every day. Ugh! I'm having a hard enough time adjusting to 6 - 6:30am. I'm so NOT a morning person. Confession time....Sometimes I even get back into bed for another half hour after Miranda leaves for school.

I watched the Biggest Loser finale tonight. These people are amazing! They lose soooo much weight in what, 4-6 months. Good grief. I think I could do that too if I could move away from life and live on a campus with a daily trainer and only good food in the house. Well, I can't even get started on this topic, it's much too late and I have a paper to type.
Better go heat up the water for cocoa!

Makin' a list...

...and definitely checkin' it twice so I don't forget anything!
I was able to check off a couple things today. Parker finished his water project
(with a bit of help from dad and mom).
Why do teachers assign projects like this at Christmas time?














We had a hard time trying to find a box that would work well for the display. Ryan had the brainstorm to use the box Parker's R2D2 came in to have a glorious 360 experience of the water cycle. The inside mountains are even made using the packaging from R2. Pretty clever I must say. Parker and Ryan did most the work. I just helped a bit at the end. I've typed 2 reports for the kids tonight and Miranda has another one for tomorrow. Dang that homework.

Tomorrow I actually have a bit of a free day. I did have tag making for Teachers gifts and a Dentist appointment planned, but I rescheduled both! So now I get to work on neighbor gifts ALL day! Maybe I won't even get dressed tomorrow so I'm not tempted to go out and get sidetracked. I'm making 25 giant cookies (like the one for Parker's birthday) for neighbors. I'm going to attempt to make 4 different flavors in one cookie. M&M, Toffee or butterscotch, White Choco. Cramberry, and Regular Chocolate chip. Then I'll put a frosting border and Merry Christmas on the top wrap, tag and deliver! That's the plan anyway. Wish me luck!

Did I mention I sent my Christmas Cards!!!! It's such a relief I just had to say it again. It's been a slow card receiving year so far. I mailed out 65 cards and have only received 7. I find that the sooner I mail my cards in the month the more cards I receive. Guess I need to get mine done in July next year. (don't laugh....ever heard of Christmas in July?)

Well, my cocoa got cold while I was typing Parker's water report so need to re-heat it before bed. Can't wait to check off more things on my list tomorrow.

Christmas is Coming

What a fun but busy day we had yesterday. Parker's birthday was a big hit! Parker and his friends had such a fun time. I put some pictures of the games we played in the slide show below. Check it out! It was a lot of work, but seeing Parker's enjoyment was well worth it. Besides, they won't want to have theme parties for much longer, so I should enjoy it while it lasts. Can't believe my baby is 10!
We went to the Forgotten Carols right after the party. It was excellent as usual. Nancie & Raynold weren't sure about the changes at first, but they still loved it. Eric & Lori hadn't seen it yet and they both enjoyed it too. What's not to love about it? I had a good cry fest as usual. Michael McLean Has such a talent.

What a glorious feeling to have my Christmas Cards finished and ready to put in the mailbox tomorrow! Here's a peek at the finished product. (sorry to spoil the surprise for those reading this) You can't really tell from the photo, but the pattern paper is glittery and the cardstock is the "bling" line so it has a shimmer also.It took quite a few tries to get the photo just right. The dog was not very cooperative. But I'm pretty happy with the outcome!
So now, on to the next projects this week....lets see, teacher & neighbor gifts, PTA teacher luncheon, Water cycle project, Office party and Miranda's Choir concert. Not to mention more Christmas shopping...Christmas will be here in one week!

Parker's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Parker!

Today is Parker's 10th birthday and we got to begin this glorious day at 6:00am! Parker wanted to open his presents this morning before Miranda went to school. Did I ever mention I'm not a morning person? But...because it is a special occasion....I got out of bed with a smile on my face.
Parker seemed pretty happy with his gifts. I can't tell if his favorite is the robotic R2D2 or the Serta temperpedic pillow. I think he had a pretty fun and exciting day. But the fun is just beginning! Tomorrow morning is his friend Club Penguin Party. I was able to get his cookie "cake" finished tonight. The Penguin and logo is in chocolate. (not so easy to work with especially on a cookie) .
Tonight was also the Ward party. Parker did an excellent job as the innkeeper for the Nativity play. He was very serious about his part and looked very cute in his costume too.
Parker's friend Brecken is spending the night and is going to help get ready for the party in the morning. These two just have crazy fun when they get together. They even looked like twins in their white sweaters tonight.
I can't believe my baby boy is 10. He is growing up so fast. I just want to slow things down so I can enjoy his childhood. It's going to be over before I know it.
Things have seemed so crazy and hectic around here lately. It's like I'm running in circles all the time. I feel like I haven't had time to enjoy this Christmas season. I'm really looking forward to the Forgotten Carols tomorrow night. It's just the thing I need to get my mind focused on what's important.

Ryan did the sweetest thing today.... He sent me flowers just to thank me for all that I do and to say I love you! I was so excited. Every so often he does something out of the blue that just makes me love him even more than I already do. He is so wonderful to me and our kids.

I feel like I'm starting to slur my words a bit, so I better get to bed. I doubt I'll be able to write tomorrow since we won't be home until late. Happy Birthday Parker!

Shop til you drop!

I had a whirlwind shopping day today! I hit 10 stores in 3 hours! That's all the time I had after working at the office and before picking up Miranda. Oh, wait, add one more store to the list. Miranda and I went to Target before Parker came home so she could get his birthday gift.
(I also added to my gift purchases there). One of the stops was to pick up my photos for my Cards and their machine has been down for 2 days so they aren't printed yet. So I can't get the cards finished quite yet. My plan is to have them in the mailbox on Monday morning!

We went to dinner tonight to celebrate Parker's birthday because tomorrow is our ward party so Parker was feeling jipped. He of course chose Olive Garden....one of his favorite. After dinner Parker "helped" me bake cookies for his class tomorrow (chocolate chunk and cornflake cookies). We made 30 bags for his class with 2 cookies in each. Then he wanted an extra 30 cookies on a tray for his reading group.
(I still have an extra couple dozen cookies to send to the office tomorrow so I won't eat them)

I also baked his giant cookie "cake" for the party. I'm going to decorate it tomorrow night. He keeps changing his mind on what he wants it to look like, but I think he's finally decided. Not sure how it'll turn out, but I'll do my best. Ryan worked on a couple of the games for the party. I'm not sure if I would recommend a Club Penguin party to anyone or not. It's a lot of work.

Well, no hot cocoa tonight....I had a cookie instead ;0)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

But the cocoa's sooooo delightful! I've started my wintertime addiction to hot chocolate each morning and night. Nothing warms me up more! I do go with the sugar free kind to try and be nice, but I think adding mini marshmallows puts me back on the naughty list. I've heard that Starbucks makes a KILLER cocoa, but I've yet to try it...I'm afraid I'd be hooked!
I can't believe how chilly it's been around here. I'm not much of a cold weather person, so I just hustle from the car to the indoors. (gotta love those booty burners, as my kids call them, in the car!)

I made a lot of progress on my Christmas cards tonight. I've printed, stitched and embossed all of them and tied bows on most of them. I'll pick up the photo's tomorrow and hopefully finish them up before baking Parker's cookies for his class treats and cookie "cake" for the party on Sat. He's getting super excited! I'm still a bit nervous about a couple of the games, but Ryan assures me he's got them under control.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we're going to see the Forgotten Carols after all. We're leaving Saturday right after the party to head to St. George to meet Nancie & Raynold and Eric & Lori for dinner and the show. The kids are so excited to go! Ryan's parents wanted to treat us to the play and dinner for Christmas...how sweet is that.

My marshmallows have melted to the perfect froth so I'm going to drink up and get to bed.

Safe and sound

Had a bit of excitement today. I arranged for someone to pick up Miranda today because I had some Christmas shopping to attend to. Miranda had forgotten her house key and just let herself into the casita to keep warm and wait for me(it has a keypad lock). Little did she know the casita is also connected to the alarm.
So whileI was in the middle of my shopping and I get a call from our Security Monitoring place saying our alarm is going off. I knew it was Miranda, but couldn't figure out why she didn't just turn it off with the code. Well, I couldn't remember my password so they couldn't call off the dispatch team. After a bazillion phone calls between Ryan, Miranda, myself and the security people, Ryan finally was able to cancel the alarm and security which was on the way to our house. The bummer part of the whole thing is I had to end my shopping early so I could go home to let Miranda into the house. At least everything was safe and sound.
You know, I definitely feel more secure with the alarm system, but sometimes it is a pain in the patootie! Another time it went off while we were out of town, so we had a neighbor check on things and it ended up being a helium balloon setting off the motion detector.

I finished the office party invites. I just hope everyone get's the quote and thinks of the color blue instead of the feeling blue. I thought it was a clever take on the Blue Man Group that we'll be attending.We did re-takes for the Christmas card tonight...the kids were very patient with me since they had to put off watching the new Harry Potter movie. Here's a couple fun shots of the kids. (ignore the goldfish Parker's eating)
Aren't they just the cutest!
Well, I'm off to finish my hot cocoa with marshmallows and get cozy in bed.

Big Party Plans

Today was stake conference at 8am. Miranda sang with the choir for an old folks home.
It's been a pretty laid back and relaxing day.
I've made more progress on my Christmas Cards. Even took the photo today for the front. But I'm having second thoughts on the colors in the photo, so may need to re-do it tomorrow.
(sorry kids)

My focus this week will be on Parker's birthday party. He has decided to have a "Club Penguin" party with 5 of his friends. December birthday parties are so crazy. Ryan desperately tried to talk Parker into a less involved party like he had last year (we went to Laser Quest). After many attempts, Parker just said, "Dad...this is my 10th party and I want a big one for my first double digit year. When it's your birthday you can do whatever you want, but I want a Club Penguin party". (Guess he told him)
So Parker and I will be planning, creating and prepping games and activities for his party this Saturday! I do really enjoy this party planning stuff...it's right up my alley. Parker is very excited about the theme he chose so I hope I can do it justice.
It's based on an online site he and his friends are members of. Everyone is a penguin, and they can interact with each other and play games to earn coins to buy items for their igloos and costumes. He's had a lot of fun with it the past few months. So for the party we're going to play games to earn coins and they will buy items from our "store". Should be fun.

Success and Relief

Whew....today was our PTA Santa Breakfast. I noticed I didn't really say much about this in previous posts. But this event has pretty much filled my time, mind and energy the past 2 weeks. We pre-sold 600 tickets and I was totally stressed last night about how we were going to accommodate that many people. Thankfully we divided the sales into 3 time slots 8,9, & 10. We had 200 come each hour. Let me just say things couldn't have gone better. The flow was sooo nice, there were rarely any crowds or lines for food or for photos. We had enough food for everyone. We have done this the past 2 years, but I wasn't really involved with the planning, just helping. I decorated two trees on Thursday for the Photo backdrops.
One for Santa,

and one for the Grinch.

I can't express the relief I feel after events like this when I'm in charge. I definitely have ideas for changes for next year, but this was the best year yet for Santa Breakfast!
Starting to work on my Christmas Cards this weekend. And Parker's Birthday Invites are out.
Only 16 days til Christmas and I think I'm gonna make it!

Proud Mother

Miranda had her Young Women's in Excellence tonight. Despite not feeling well, she looked so beautiful and her project was amazing. Miranda always amazes me with her talents and ideas. She has the sweetest spirit and always sets such high goals for herself. She decided to make the Temple envelope to display, but then she decided that wasn't enough so she sketched the Las Vegas Temple on a canvas and colored it with chalk. It is so beautiful. She felt bad that she brought more than one item and wasn't going to display it, but Ryan and I talked her into it.

She led the opening song for the program, but couldn't sing because of her sore throat. Poor thing is miserable. She stayed home from school today, but is ready to go back tomorrow (feeling better or not). She has started antibiotics. Tomorrow is also her Straight A field trip to go bowling during school hours. But because she missed the last two days she doesn't want to go and miss more. She really doesn't like to miss school. I don't blame her, I was a lot like that too.

Parker had his straight A hot dog party and citizenship Popcorn Party today.
Did I mention what great kids I have?!

Short and Sweet

I was able to finish decorating! I even finished up the lights outside that Ryan had started last night. Whew! Now just need to tidy up a bit more. So glad to have that done so I can enjoy it now.

Miranda came home sick from school today. She has a fever and sore throat. I hope it's just a 24 hour thing. She has Young Women in Excellence tomorrow, and she hates missing school.

I've been playing around with Digital cards tonight. Not sure if I'll go that route or not. Just need to focus on one idea and go with it! I keep thinking I'll be able to get my handmade cards finished in time to mail, but I don't know.

Short and sweet again...extremely tired!

Feelin' Good!

Today was a great day! I didn't exactly get a lot done around the house, but I did go with Parker to get prizes and supplies for his "Club Penguin" Birthday Party that is next week. He is quite excited about his party idea, so hopefully I can do it justice. He has informed me he wants a frozen cake from Cold Stone with Cotton Candy ice cream in it. Guess I get off easy on that one.
Miranda went to Broadway class and had a lot of fun. The class is deciding how to do their production number and, of course, Miranda was full of ideas for them.

The funnest news of the day is that I won the contest I entered my Thanksgiving "pie" favors in. (see my "give thanks" post). I couldn't believe it! I truly have never won anything. Makes a girl think that her hard work doesn't always go unnoticed. There were some great entries. You can check them out at the link I have for Bitten by the Bug. I won a $35 gift certificate to Cornish Heritage Farms. It's an online stamp store and I can't wait to go shoppin'!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas music on my blog. I listened to it all day today while at the office. I just love the Christmas Season. I finally took some pics of my tree and other decorations. Still a little more to do. I had a few lights out on my garland, so need to go dig out the extra light box.
Here's a close up of the "topper"I know my tree may be a bit much for some tastes, but that's how I like it! My kids even gave up trying to fit all the ornaments on there that I have for it. Watch out Paddock!
(I may add a few more tomorrow he he ;)
(Yes, the dog has a stocking too)
I started making the invites to the Dennett Winspear Christmas party. We're going to Blue Man Group. We're going to take the kids this year. Should be a lot of fun.
Well, must be getting to bed.... 6am comes terribly early!

One day at a time

Today we were able to get the tree done as well as the mantle and nativity up.
The kids have been such a great help this year.
I can't find the camera, so I'll have to get pictures tomorrow.
I had an enjoyable Sunday. I loved the Christmas Devotional by the 1st presidency.
It was so nice to just sit and enjoy the songs from MoTab. I needed the calm today before the storm this week. Well, hopefully it won't be too much of a storm...just busy as usual.
Santa Breakfast is Saturday and bills need to get out at the office.Miranda has YW in Excellence, then there's pack mtg, RS Christmas party and all the other usual weekly things. Ah well, one day at a time.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas...

Well,...I did it! I started decorating for Christmas! Ryan helped me get the big tree together and make sure all the lights worked, then the kids & I put up the village.
We all took a pizza break then the kids decorated their tree for upstairs
(all by themselves woo hoo!) They did a wonderful job decorating the loft! That was all I had the energy for tonight. I even took a nap while the kids decorated upstairs. (hope I can sleep tonight.)
This morning we went to a baptism for our friends daughter Aspen. I made a cute baptism card.












We also gave her a display board I made a while back. You can't tell from the photo, but it says Princess on the bottom of the mirror. I learned how to make these at Creative Escape in Sept. They are very fun and make great gifts!
Miranda had her Children's Choir concert today. They combined with the Deseret Strings Orchestra. It was beautiful music to get ready for the Holidays! I forgot my camera (oops) but she has 2 more performances next weekend so I'll get some shots then.
Tomorrow I hope to work on decorating the big tree. Need to dig out the advent calendar too! It took 3 truckloads from storage to get all our decorations here. Maybe it's time to trim down the decorations?
Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. I was feeling a bit bummed when I posted last night, but doing better today. Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Realization

Today I have come to the realization that I may not get everything done that is on my to-do list. I know, I know, it's shocking. But...I am, after all, only human. I may or may not decorate for Christmas, I may or may not send homemade cards, I may or may not keep my house spic and span 24/7. I must set limits and decide what is the most important thing for me to do right now. I truly want to enjoy the Holiday season with a stress free mind. I did turn down requests to help with the Ward Christmas party. (I did the entire thing last year)
Just too many things on my plate.
Today was busy as usual. Won't bore you with the details.
Parker (and Ryan) went with the scouts to the Planetarium. I'm sure now he'll be back in his "space" phase and wanting to decorate his room with the space theme. He changes his mind so often, I don't dare paint or purchase anything. Actually, I hate to admit it, but he doesn't even sleep in his room anymore. He had a lot of bad dreams, and started sleeping in the loft. Does that make me a bad mother....I hope not. I need to choose my battles, and as long as he is still going to bed and waking up on time, what does it matter where he sleeps. (right?)
Miranda went to Broadway class tonight and did not enjoy herself. She got to listen to all the girls sing that got the parts she auditioned for. I'm beginning to wonder if she should be in it if it doesn't bring her enjoyment. I'm not sure I like how the class suddenly changed it's focus to the competitions coming up in the spring either. Definitely some decisions to be made here.
Not tonight...too late.
Busy day again tomorrow (what else is new)