Christmas is in the air!

I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit. I've been working on Christmas crafts this weekend. I got a kit for a mini Christmas album at my lss on Friday and have finished it - just need pics for it now... I also made these cute little paper trees:

You can find instructions on how to make them here, at Two Spotted Dogs: http://www.twospotteddogs.com/CC08.html They will also be holding a Christmas crop December 5 through 7. Stop by and have some fun!!

We've been working on getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. It's up, but it needs lights. I'm hoping dh will do it for me. Adam really wants to start decorating. He's so excited about Christmas.

Brandi, my e-mail address my name with the numbers 413 following, "at" and then yahoo, etc... Send me your snail mail address and I'll get some goodies out to you.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! My day started off with a bummer - my sil was supposed to come for thanksgiving and called this morning and cancelled out on us. Now, that would have been a bummer in and of itself, but we changed our plans so she could come. We were either going to go see my family this weekend - it would have been all 3 of my brothers and all our kids. It doesn't happen often with that many people - hard to coordinate everyone's schedules. If not there, we would have gone to visit some friends in Arkansas who we haven't seen since May. To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement. But, life goes on.

We had turkey and all the fixings here. The boys played outside a good part of the day and I got the last of my fall clean-up in the garden finished. It was a beautiful day outside today. Tomorrow, I'll work on putting up the outside Christmas decorations before it gets cold and nasty outside.

We're waiting to digest a little before getting some pumpkin pie (or cool whip with a side of pumpkin pie in my case).

I am thankful for so many things. I am truly blessed. The biggest thing I'm thankful for is that we're all healthy. I have a friend who just got the news that her son's leukemia is back after a bone marrow transplant and that they're considering him incurable at this point. It's heartbreaking. It really puts my little ups and downs into perspective. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you're traveling, be safe.

Eeeek!!

I made a boo boo! Well, more than one and I'll get to the next one in a minute, but I put the wrong person down for the winner of the goodies from my retreat weekend! Shannon very nicely pointed out that she was over, so our correct winner is Brandi. I'm so sorry I messed up! Brandi, please e-mail me your snail mail addy and I'll get your goodies out to you.

On to my other boo boo today!

After spending a very lazy day with Adam, I decided that I needed to make the pumpkin pies that I had been wanting to make for the past week. I got one mixed up and into the pie plate and the second mixed up when I realized that I hadn't added the sugar to the first pie! I mix my pies in the blender, since I find that I get a more consistent flavor if I do and the second was in the blender at the time.

It was time to go get Matt and my friend's daughter from the bus stop, so I went out and chatted with some other neighbors. When I got back in, I realized that I had left the second pie crust (I cheat and use pilsbury) on the stove and the oven was warming up... It was too warm and mushy to unroll, although I did try. I put it in the freezer hoping it would firm up enough to unroll - it did. I got the second pie poured and tried to get the first pie back into the blender. I was mostly successful. I added the sugar after cleaning up a little and got the first pie back in it's crust and baked both pies.

We haven't tried them yet - they were still cooling after dinner, but I think they'll both be ok. I've made pies for years and have never had this happen. I decided that we would have a very simple dinner - who knows what else would have happened today!!

I'm back!

Well the retreat was fun! I got home Sunday night and Adam ran up to me, gave me a hug and kiss and said "Mommy, why did you leave for so long?" It's nice to know I was missed, but I could have done without the needy part of the boy the rest of the week. Last week just flew by before I realized it! I'm still not really unpacked from the retreat...

For those of you wondering, here's what I got accomplished over the weekend: 13 pages and two teachers' gifts and almost 60 Christmas cards. Woo hoo!! Since I hadn't planned on doing the cards, I won't count them in my total (I can't figure out a way to count them anyway). That brings me to a total of 21 and Shannon is our winner!! Congrats, lady - send me your snail mail addy and I'll send you some goodies. I'll post some pics the next time I blog.

Adam has had a cold for the last week and has been coughing at night, keeping me up. Last night, though, he actually slept through. It's amazing how wonderful an uninterrupted night's sleep is!! I've got a friend who's 2 yo son still gets up in the middle of the night most nights. I honestly don't know how she manages. I'm so glad my boys are good sleepers most of the time.

Matt's going to be one of the kids in his class representing his grade in the school spelling bee. He's all excited!! This year is going so much better at school than last year. I'm so thankful that his teacher is doing such a good job at keeping him engaged and challenged. It's a job I could never do and I'm so thankful that there are wonderful people out there who do it so well.

Scrappy weekend coming up!

I'm off to the retreat in Illinois!! I soooo need this - it's been a looong week. For example, Adam locked us out of the house this morning. Not a good thing at all. Then he tried to deny it. The boy has been playing with the locks on the doors all week and I've warned him. I was furious with him. It's been a long time since I've been that angry. I had to break into my own house, but at least I got back in...

Anyone care to guess how many layouts I get done this weekend? I'll put together a prize package for the winner - closest without going over... It's a 3 day retreat - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We arrive around 3 on friday and leave by 3 on sunday. Just to throw a wrench into things, if I can find a paper packet that I like, I'll also be working on teachers' gifts this weekend... If I can work on them, I'll be making 3 and each will count as 4 pages...

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll post what I've gotten done sometime next week.

Go Vote!

It's election day - go vote!!