It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!

First of all, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to celebrate on Wednesday AND Thursday! Yummy, yummy.


After Thanksgiving is over I always decorate for Christmas. I guess it is just something that my mom started when I was young and I've just kept doing it. This year, Eric even had the day after Thanksgiving off. Of course he had to use a "floater" holiday, but he did it anyway.

So, around noon, the kids brought all of the Christmas boxes upstairs to get ready to decorate and Eric headed outside and up to the roof to do the Christmas lights. I had a couple of things to put up outside as well and so we spent most of the day getting that all done.

By about 3, Eric had finished putting up the lights and had figured out how many more strands we would need to finish up. We decided we would head to Costco and get our Memberships activated (his work has been paying for it for a few months and we just have never got there).

We found a box that had lights enough that Eric thought he would be done. We looked around for extension cords and couldn't find ANY! In our search for the extension cords we ran across a Gingerbread House kit that Tanis insisted we get for a Family Home Evening. So we did.

After we purchased the lights and kit we decided to just have a Costco pizza for dinner. It's yummy and fairly inexpensive. We paid like $12 total for 5 drinks, pizza AND 2 churros.

Anyway after we were done at Costco, Eric ran into a Lowe's to find his extension cords. By the time we got home around 6:30, all of us were too tired to even think about doing any indoor decorating.

Saturday morning Eric got an early start and I figured I might as well too. He headed out to the roof and I started straightening the house. After an hour or two he came back in telling me that he needed to head back to the store as we didn't have enough lights. (Because we moved in in Early December last year, he didn't do lights) Eric took Tanis with him and the rest of us stayed home to straighten up the basement that the kids just can't keep clean!

Eric was home in time that it was light enough he could finish up what he started outside, but he ran across a HUGE problem. Another thing the builders totally messed up on! I will post the picture and see if you can spot it...

If you can't quite spot the problem, this is it - On the right side of the roof 3/4ths of the overhang or whatever is missing! If you look on the left you can see a thin, darker shade of brown above the string of lights, on the right side it is missing until you get to about 1/4th of the way to the end. So he couldn't finish stringing the lights above the garage! Needless to say on Monday he faxed in a warranty complaint and hopefully it'll get fixed before Christmas.

Since he was done with the lights, we did the inside decorating. Eric had to put the tree up and I did all the other cutesy stuff. We had lots of fun!

Monday night we did do the Gingerbread House for Family Home Evening and the kids all had a blast. They each took turns placing a candy (whichever they wanted) on the part of the house we were working on. It turned out quite nicely.

Tuesday, Eric I and headed to the Anniversary Inn in Logan for our Anniversary. It was 9 years! My little sister watched our kids for almost 24 hours. Thanks again! We had lots of fun and as always it is nice to have time alone!
Hope everyone else has had a nice couple of weeks.

What Happens Next...

Twenty Christmas Questions

I got this "survey" off another friend's blog and thought it would be a good one to pass on. Enjoy! And feel free to answer them for yourself and repost.

20 questions....
what is your...
1.Favorite winter beverage?
It's gotta be eggnog. As soon as it hits the stores, it hits my fridge. And I've heard you aren't supposed to drink it when you are pregnant because of the eggs or something, but I've been drinking it in very much moderation, so things should be fine. :D
2.Fave Christmas candy?
Candy Canes for sure!
3.Favorite Candy cane flavor? Color?
I am all for original peppermint flavor
4.Favorite Christmas cookie?
My Great Aunt made a recipe for cookies that you shape as Candy Canes. They are too good. I get addicted and eat a TON every year. I know it is the almond extract that makes it addictive, but oh well.
5.Favorite Christmas song? to sing? to listen to?
My top 3 faves are:
Do You Hear What I Hear?
The Little Drummer Boy
Mary, Did You Know

But all Christmas music I love. I like original songs as well as the classic ones and even the classics redone.
6.Fave Christmas movie?
I honestly don't have one
7.Fave Christmas story?
I don't know, I've heard lots...Perhaps, the Forgotten Carols
8.Fave Christmas colors?
All of them
9.actual color scheme for your decor?
Honestly, it's whatever I have...Don't really have a "theme" set
10.Fave Christmas tradition? as a kid? with your own family?
I have two fave traditons growing up. Every Christmas Eve we would go to my mom's mother's house for dinner and some sort of program. Before we would leave we would open one present and it was ALWAYS a pair of pj's that my mom made for each of us. The girls would have matching pj's and the boys would all match as well.
Eric and his family have been so good to me as we still attend my Grandma's Christmas Eve dinner and program. Eric's family used to do their thing on Christmas Eve, but since I became a member of the family and they knew how important it was for me to be at my grandma's on Christmas Eve, they've changed things for me. :D
I've tried to do the pajama thing as well (although I don't make them), though it doesn't always happen.
11.Tree topper? star? Angel? other?
Oh, bother. We had a topper for a couple years that was a blue star - somehow it got destroyed a couple years ago and we just haven't gotten around to replacing it with anything yet.
12.Christmas lights display?your house? to drive by? small bulbs? large bulbs? white? multi colored? simple? Griswald? again pictures are a bonus here too.
We like to keep it simple, but lit up as well. We have a blow up snowman I bought last year that has an upside down face...we didn't take it back because it was so original. (I really need to take a picture) We also have some red candy cane stakes in the yard. Then on the house we have some icecicle lights as well as some big multi-colored bulbs...We haven't quite finished the house because as Eric was finishing up above the garage, he noticed something the builders screwed up on. (See above post)
13.fave holiday icon collection?? Santa? nativity? snowmen?
The Nativity is my favorite by far. It IS what the season IS all about!
14.Christmas card? picture? letter?
I've never really done anything...Kinda thinking about doing the little postcard things, but don't know if I will.
15.what is more fun for you White Elephant? or Draw secret Santa names?
Secret Santa, I hate not knowing what kind of "crap" you may be getting as some people have a rude sense of humor and some have none at all.
16.Holiday budget? extravagant or low budget? what do you wish it was?
It's whatever we can afford at the time. We've had very small Christmases some years and other years larger ones, it really just depends. My ideal would be to take about $50 a month and start getting stuff in January...I've yet to actually start that yet.
17.Tree? real or fake? prelit ? Green or flocked?
Well growing up we ALWAYS had a real tree, but since we've been married, we've always had a fake tree. I do miss real trees, but not the mess! We've also always had smaller fake trees that were very simple. But last year we bought a new tree. It is a 7 foot tree that is flocked on the ends AND pre-lit. No real hard work putting our tree up. :D
18.best gifts are? homemade? or store bought?
Honestly, I just like gifts that have thought put with them - either way. Some people just aren't very crafty or anything, so it is hard to make things, but if they put a bunch of thought into what they bought, that is just the same.
19.which is better in your opinion? surprises galore? or being sneaky and peeking?
Surprises. I think things get ruined when you know what you are getting. Where's the fun in that?
20.do you do thank you cards for Christmas gifts?
Not really because we are with the people who give us things, so we can give them a heartfelt thank-you in person.

What Happens Next...

Happy Karate-Chop Zooey

This weekend was another fun, but full one.

Friday was my birthday and what a day it was! During the day I did the big house cleaning, as it was a Friday and that is what I spend Friday's doing. Eric didn't say anything to me during the course of the day, which I thought was odd. But then I figured maybe he was just really busy.

I kept cleaning and answered a call from my dad. He actually sang to me over the phone! :D

I ended up missing calls from my grandparents, my mom, and two of my brothers - all because Shaylyn turned down the ring on my cell phone so I didn't hear it. Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone whose call I missed.

Eric got home from work and still didn't say a word about my birthday. We watched an episode of Smallville recorded the previous night and afterwards he finally asked me what was wrong. I asked him if he even knew what day it was and right away he was like - "Crap, it must be the 16th." He felt so bad.

In his defense, he didn't actually "forget" though. He had had a very rough week and wasn't feeling very well for most of it and it was one of those weeks where you just don't put a number with the day. I for one do that A LOT! He has also NEVER forgotten my birthday in the 9 years we've been married.

Anyway, he asked me what I wanted to do and was willing to do anything because he felt so bad. We didn't have many options though as we had a neighbor who had a small crisis.

The neighbor has a small baby - 2 or 3 months old - and the baby wasn't breathing right. This lady's husband works 2 jobs and isn't home a lot, so she had to call her sister to take her to the hospital. The problem was that her sisters car couldn't fit her, the baby and her two boys in it. So she asked if we would be willing to watch the boys for her. I told her that was fine. (I wouldn't want to be in her situation ever without having someone to watch my kids)

Eric asked if he should go get some pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook and asked if I wanted anything else. I told him that I wasn't really in the mood for pizza and I'd rather have a burger, but to maybe still get a pizza for the kids. I said he could also stop by to get some sort of cake and we'd be good. (Money has been tight and with our anniversary next week, we agreed on no presents for our birthdays)

He left and when he returned home, he brought Little Cesars for the kids, and Arby's for us. Yummy! He knows me really well. But, there wasn't any cake....Then he said to me, "I didn't get a cake, but I want you to know that I really do care and that I listen to you." He then ran back into the garage and came back with a gift wrapped from Bed, Bath & Beyond! He sure got points for going to that store alone.

Anyway, I pretty much knew what the gift was, but was excited anyway. He got me a Deep Fryer. I've wanted one for soooooo long! He even spent the rest of the night doing what I wanted to do.

So all in all, it was a good birthday.

Saturday was a bit crazy for us. Eric had his test for his yellow belt with his Kenpo Karate and he passed with flying colors. He had to do the trick where you break a board in half with your hand and he said he did it his first try. (I wasn't there to watch him do his test, but someone did get a picture of him breaking the board, and when I get it, I will post it) When he got home with his yellow belt, I made him pose for me. He got a blue gii (not sure how to spell that) when he was a white belt so that his colors would be blue & white for the Cougars. Now that's he's a yellow belt, I really hate the combination of colors. It makes me think of my Jr. High days and the ugly combination of colors the school colors were.

After Eric got to rest for awhile and I straightened the house, we decided to take the kids to the zoo. We have a membership, so it's not a bad thing to just go on a whim. When we first got our memberships they included tickets to ride the train for free.

The few times we had gone before we didn't get around to doing the train because we had people with us and we didn't want them to feel awkward. Anyway, the kids LOVED the train ride. Eric and I were just glad it was free. There wasn't a lot to see, except for some buffalo that you normally wouldn't see just walking through.

The picture of Eric, Lex & I was taken by Tanis...What do you expect with an unsteady 7 year old taking a picture? I just love the way Lex is looking.

After we were done at the zoo, we headed home. Eric went to play one game of Magic with his friends and the kids and I spent the night playing Music Scene It. We had a fun night and weekend.

Yesterday we headed to Eric's parents to celebrate my birthday. We had Roast, Potatoes & Carrots, followed by an ice-cream cake for dessert. We had lots of fun and enjoyed it all! Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

What Happens Next...

Interesting...

So apparently I got "tagged" and I have no idea what that really even means...So I am just going to follow Marisa's example as she is the one that tagged me. :P
The following are 6 interesting things about little ol' me...(This is gonna be difficult)
Hmmm.

#1. MY ELBOWS SEEM TO BE DOUBLE JOINTED
Not much to expand on with this one, except for the fact that I love to put pressure on my arms for the sole purpose of making my elbows do their thing, especially around Eric. He really hates when I do it in front of him.

#2. I AM CONSTANTLY WORRIED ABOUT MY TOES
That probably sounds very odd, but here is the reason why. I have a couple toes that are growing underneath the toe next to it. My grandma has had similar issues and has had to have numerous surgeries on her feet. I am scared that my toes will get as bad and I will have to endure a similar fate.

#3. MY LITTLE SIS AND I ARE ALMOST ALIKE IN EVERY WAY
Of course we have our differences which make us our individual selfs, but we still do many things alike. If we are out eating at an Italian restaurant we always end up ordering the same meal, this does happen occasionally at other restaurants as well. Even if we don't order the same meal, we will more than likely order the same drink. This has happened tons AND it happens when we aren't even sitting near each other. Our husbands have very similar food aversions and similar food likes. On top of all this we also have similar birthmarks in very similar spots on our individual bodies.

#4. I AM A CLOSET NERD
I guess this was bound to happen being married to a nerd. Eric has introduced me to a few "nerdy" things that I have grown to enjoy. Of course, there are still a lot of things that Eric does that I just wouldn't want to do. He introduced me to a card game called "Munchkin" that is so much fun, but it is based on Dungeons & Dragons. He also got me playing the Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game of World of Warcraft. I am not quite as gung-ho as he is, but I do enjoy playing on occasion.

#5. I NEED CHANGE
I get bored seeing the same thing day after day after day. This is why I change the look on the website monthly and I change this blog look every so often. I think this desire is also partly why we've moved as much as we have. (even though I HATE moving) It wasn't rare for me to change furniture around just to get a new look for different rooms in the home. There's been times in this house I've wanted to change things, but in this house, there isn't a lot that can be rearranged.

#6. I AM A WORRIER
I worry about so many things even if they aren't that important. I worry about things that will happen months from now or even what may happen if I do or don't do something. Many times after I've had a conversation with someone I worry that I've said or done the wrong thing. Why all this worry? I really don't know.

And there you have it...A few confessions from me...
Now I am tagging....Cristeen, BreeAnn & Kaeloni...Go For It!

What Happens Next...

Seeing in Shades of...

Last Wednesday, November 7, found as at the dr's office for my monthly visit. He had told us that on this visit we would be doing an ultrasound for the anatomy. I wasn't sure that we would be able to tell what sex the baby was as I was only 15 weeks along. I have always thought that the best time for telling the sex was between 16 and 20 weeks.

Anyway, we were originally scheduled for 5:30, but I had to reschedule for 3:00 as Eric had some plans he couldn't get out of. This meant the kids got a free day out of school (I had to leave the house around 1:30, which means Shaylyn would've been in school for all of 30 minutes, then we decided it wasn't fair that Shaylyn got to stay home and Tanis didn't.) and the first part of the day I was able to relax a bit more.

We dropped the kids off at my little sister's around 2:30 (thanks again, by the way) and headed to the dr. Remember my appt was set for 3. We didn't even get into the back of the office until about 3:30 or so. I've never had to wait this long for my dr, but maybe that's cause we always go later at night.

Anyway we got in and didn't have to wait that long before the doctor actually came into the exam room. Then we went straight to the ultrasound and we were able to tell what sex this baby is. The picture is posted below (hope you can all tell as ultrasound pics are really hard to see sometimes)

That's right, we are having another boy! Shaylyn wasn't very happy at this news and even started to cry and she was really hoping for a sister. Truth be told, I thought another girl would be fun, but I wasn't holding my breath. As it is a boy will make life much easier. If it would've been a girl we would've had to switch Shaylyn into the boys' current room - so that there would be room for a bed and a crib. As it is though, we are just going to make the bunk beds up for Lex & Tanis and the crib will go across the room, in the room the boys are currently in.

We did have a name all ready for a girl, but not for a boy, so we are kinda struggling there. There is one name that is looking more like it will be his name, but I won't tell you that today. ;)

We got rid of a lot of things for a baby when we moved, so we've got to get some things all ready that way. We need to get a carseat and a stroller and need to find a bed for Shaylyn as she is currently in one of the bunk bed parts and Lex is in the crib (we bought the crib that converts to a bed).

I'll leave you will two more pics of boy #3 - they are both supposed to be profile views. The whole point of the ultrasound wasn't to find the sex anyway, it was to make sure things looked like they were forming correctly and that things were going right. In one picture you can see the spine pretty clearly.

What Happens Next...

Halloween!!!

I know I am almost a week late posting about Halloween, but life got kinda crazy after Halloween and I was trying to get the website updated. Now that I got the website updated, I figured I could post a bit about Halloween.
Last Monday for FHE, we decided to carve the pumpkins. Eric had the "brilliant" idea to do more in depth carvings, instead of just the regular faces. He thought it would be fun to let the kids choose a character that they wanted to carve.
I searched the internet to find some free patterns for the characters the kids wanted. Tanis chose Spongebob Squarepants, Shaylyn chose Danny the Phantom and Lex chose Thomas the Train.
We had no idea what kind of "fun" we were in for. While I made dinner the kids cleaned all the guts out of their individual pumpkins. After we ate dinner it was time for the carving.
Eric had the job of cutting out the patterns so that I could trace it onto the pumpkin. Then I had not only the job of tracing the pattern on the pumpkins, but carving it out as well. I did the Spongebob one first and I really didn't do a very good job of it. Eric had to try and rescue what he could. Then I attempted Danny the Phantom, but towards the end he was proving difficult as well, so Eric finished him up. Thomas the Train was the easiest for me as he was mostly just a bunch of straight lines.
We got all the pumpkins carved out and ready for display. I lit them each up and took the pictures. They didn't turn out very well as I still don't know how to adjust the camera to get the kind of picture I want at night...

Spongebob lasted most of that night, but by the next day he was pretty much "dead." We asked Tanis if there was another character he would like that we could carve into the back that might be easier. He chose Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
I freehanded the outline from a picture I found online and then carved Jack's face into the pumpkin. He worked out pretty well and was pretty easy to do, compared to what we had done the night before.

Halloween was kinda crazy, but we had lots of fun. We got Tanis off to school in his costume and then came home to straighten the house before getting Shaylyn ready and off. The parade for Tanis was to start at 12:30 and Shaylyn starts school at 12:45. Her parade would be at 1:00.
I knew we would be cutting it close, but didn't know how it would work. The school our kids attend have quite a few little open areas throughout the school where they do music class and stuff. So parents were all sitting around in these areas. After just a few minutes we saw Tanis' class rush by. They weren't really starting the parade, they were just heading somewhere.
Before I knew it, it was 12:45 and I hadn't seen Tanis' class come through the "parade." But, not wanting Shaylyn to be late, we took her to her classroom. Luckily, Tanis' class was sitting in one of the open areas right across from Shaylyn's school class waiting to have their turn in the parade.
So, I was able to see Tanis in his "parade" and even got some pictures. Then we waited for a few minutes for the Kindergarten to do their parade. It all worked out really nicely.
After school the kids played with friends for awhile while we waited for Eric to come home from work so we could have dinner. I made canned Beef Stew for dinner with hard rolls and then we headed out for Trick-or-Treating around 6:30.
The kids lasted for about an hour or so and we were able to hit 2 1/2 streets in our neighborhood. Eric stayed home to pass out the candy (I HATE that job) and I took the kids. It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up going around the neighborhood. I really missed this the past couple years as where we were at before always did the Trunk or Treat thing.

In case you can't tell for sure, Tanis was Harry Potter, Shaylyn was a PINK Wonder Woman and Lex was Buzz Lightyear.
With all the fun that we had, I do have to say I did kind of miss our "traditional" Halloweens that we've done since we had kids. Growing up we ALWAYS had Chili for dinner that my mom made and that has continued. Plus, my mom and sisters would come with me as I took the kids trick-or-treating. So I did miss that we weren't able to meet up with family for our "traditional" Halloween Chili and the group trick-or-treating, especially since it was my nephews first time trick-or-treating. (Truth be told though, I didn't really care that I missed the chili) If Halloween had been on a day where the kids didn't have school the next day, I would've got to my mom's. But since they had school, it just wouldn't have worked. Maybe one of these years...

What Happens Next...