Catching up

We've been wrapped up in the holiday whirlwind here for the past week. The tissue paper is finally settling on the floor and things are starting to return to something that at least resembles normal.

Last weekend we went to Matt's work Christmas party, celebrated my birthday and then went to the annual Christmas Concert and Matt's mother's holiday party. I left the concert a little early with Norma to help her get the food all set up since Kay couldn't do it this year. Unfortunately, I forgot Matt no longer has a set of keys to my van. He and the kids were stuck at the church. Thankfully, his brother got him to the party and then Gertrude took him back later to get the car.

On Wednesday Kaylee had her best friend Emily over to play after school. All three girls had fun, although Ruby was a bit whiney. I think she may have felt a little excluded by the older girls. I don't think they were trying to leave her out though. They had a picnic in their bedroom and watched a Dora movie. They played for a few hours until Emily's mom came back to collect her. I think they all had a good time.

Keithen went to bed Thursday night and stayed up reading for a while. I was trying to get Ruby to settle down for the night when I heard him yell, "I just lost a tooth!" It was a pretty bloody one, so it took a bit of time to get him settled back in his bed. His tooth was placed safely under the little tree by his bed for the Tooth Fairy to find it. Thankfully, she didn't seem to have any troubles finding his new room.

Kaylee and Keithen had their last day of school on Friday. Kaylee had a class party which I helped plan. They had a "Polar Express" theme since they had just worked on that story last week. They took a ride on the Polar Express (their chairs formed into a train) and found jingle bells that we hid under their seats. They decorated their teacher like a Christmas tree and made train ornaments to take home. Then they had ice cream and cookies.


After school on Friday, the kids and I baked Santa's cookies. We didn't get them all decorated that night and put them aside to finish on Christmas Eve. (Note the flour on Kaylee's nose!)


On Saturday we packed up and headed to Fort Wayne to spend an early holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Mamaw Betty. We stayed the night in the same hotel where we had Grandpa's party last July. Ruby recognized it as soon as we pulled up outsie. Unfortunately, lack of planned meant we didn't get to enjoy the pool on this trip.

We had a big lunch at Grandma's house and then the kids dug into the present opening with gusto. Keithen was very tickled with his little digital camera and his CD/mp3 player with the Harry Potter books on it. Kaylee was head-over-heals with her big stuffed Diego doll and her Princess Dora castle. We made her wait until we got hom to open the box for the castle and I think she was about to explode from anticipation. Ruby was very excited to get the Barbie Hot Tub Bus and a ballerina "Our Generation" doll. Grandpa got a new popcorn machine and the kids were very much willing to taste test the first batch.








On Sunday afternoon we headed home to get everything ready for Santa. Unfortunately, we got a bit of a late start and had to make a couple of pit stops on the way home, so I didn't get to cook the Christmas Eve dinner I had planned. We ended up ordering Papa John's pizza instead. We finished putting together toys that came home from Grandma's house (the bus and the castle) and finished decorating the cookies. Ruby took charge of arranging a plate of goodies for Santa. (And of course there had to be popcorn for him again this year!) The kids opened their final Advent presents from Grandma Dollar (yeah.....I know.....I missed a bunch of days of blogging on those). Then we exchanged our family presents. The kids got their traditional pair of new PJ's and a treasured hardback book. This was the first year that they bought presents for each other and us. (Dollar Store shopping sprees for each of them!) They had fun exchanging the gifts that they had chosen on their own. Stockings were hung and the children were all finally off to bed very late!

Santa was quite generous this year, as you can see from the bulging stockings and the pile of loot under the tree! I think Keithen's favorite gift from Santa was his Pokemon gameboy game (although the spy gear will probably come in a close second). Kaylee of course was head over heals for her new Diego Rescue Center. Ruby's favorite has to be her Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses toy laptop computer.








Christmas morning I made scones for the first time in ages. Matt proclaimed that I "hadn't lost a step" because they were quite yummy, warm covered with fresh cream. Later in the day I finally got to make the meal I had planned for Christmas Eve, champagne garlic chicken. Yum! Of course a lot of time was spent playing and trying out new games and toys. The kids built a fort and a car with the "super fort" pieces Grandma and Grandpa Williams gave them.


Today Matt is back to work, the kids are buried in their new toys and I'm here catching up with life on the web. In a few days, the chaos will start all over. We still have Christmas to do with the Dollar family and with Nanny and Pappy. We have tickets to see Beauty and the Beast as a family and I'll be taking the kids to see Dance Kaleidoscope as well. Probably a couple of playdates coming on the horizon as well. So.....when do I get a nap?!

On the 13th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Kaylee and Ruby got "magic" towels. (Those little washrags that expand when you put them in the tub the first time.) Keithen got the final flashing critter, a big ugly spider. I asked him if it was related to Aragog.

On the 12th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Kaylee and Ruby got cute little stuffed horses. They have shiney hooves and little magnets in them so they'll stick to stuff. They were very tickled with them. Ruby brought the horses along when we went to pick Kaylee up from school later. Keithen got another little flashing lizard. He's almost got the whole set now.

On the 11th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Keithen got another little creature.....a frog this time.

Kaylee and Ruby got purses with a necklace and a bracelet. Kaylee wore her sparkly pink necklace to school.

On the 10th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

The girls got rolls of tape and Keithen got a lizard of some sort. It's either an iquana or a chameleon. Have you ever in your life seen someone so excited to get a roll of tape? Ruby said, "She even put my name on it!" (For those who don't know, these girls can go through a roll of tape in a week, easy!)

On the 9th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

The girls got books and Keithen got a little turtle.

On the 6th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Ruby and Kaylee got Jojo's Circus coloring books with crayons and Keithen got a notepad with a soccer player on it today. We may have to switch to doing Advent presents after school, as Keithen almost missed the bus today!

On the 5th Day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Kaylee and Ruby both got light up ink pens with Disney princesses on top of them. Keithen got one that looks like a goalie reaching way up high to grab the soccer ball.

On the 4th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Dinosaurs! Rooooaaarrrr!!!!! We think we have a Maiasaura, a Spinosaurus and an Apatosaurus. They were ready for school in time to open them before the bus came today. I think Kaylee was a little disappointed to leave hers behind this morning. The dino is waiting where it can see the front door to watch for her return.

On the 3rd day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Finger puppets!

The little googlie-eyed guys even helped us make our white trash this afternoon.

White Trash

(I usually at least double the following ingredients as we eat a lot of this!)

1 cup Cheerios cereal

1 cup Crispex cereal

1 cup peanuts

1 cup pretzels

1 cup M&M's (I use the holiday red & green ones.)

12 oz white chocolate

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Mix Cheerios, Crispex, peanuts, pretzels and M&M's together. Melt white chocolate in microwave. Stir the oil into the melted chips. Pour the melted chocolate over the dry mixture. Gently stir it all together. Spread it all out on wax paper for the chocolate to harden. Break into pieces.

On the 2nd day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Colored pencils!

On the 1st day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Yes, it's that time of year again! Today is December 1st, which means the kids got their first Advent present from Grandma Dollar today. They've had their boxes sitting under the tree since Tuesday night and they've all been pretty anxious to start opening gifts. (Especially Ruby who asked me about a dozen times a day this week, "can I open a present yet?") Unfortunately, Ruby had just woke up from her nap when they opened presents today, so she wasn't at her most photogenic. They each got a sketch pad today.