Christmas 2008

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We had a good one. We all woke up around 9 a.m. Christmas morning. The kids went after their Santa gifts and stocking first. Santa got the 3 boys Nintendo DS's. Bren got Black, Chase got Blue, and Logan got Crimson. They each found DS games in their stockings along with other things and candy. We ate a quick breakfast then onto opening the other gifts. We got Chase a Losi mini RC Hemi truck. It's cute and fast and easy for him to control, he loves it! We got Logan a Razor Malibu Scooter, an Indiana Jones whip and hat (he's been dying for that!) and a Cars (the movie) car set. He was happy. And we got Brenden an LG VU cell phone and case. He's been asking for quite a while and ALL his friends have one, and he is a teen now so I figured we should go for it. He was very happy. We also got them a few other little things.
I gave my hubby a Ralph Lauren 1/2 zip pullover, RL long sleeve shirt and the kids gave him some pajama pants. From the kids I got a Hello Kitty scrabooking kit and from my hubby I got a really cool wooden Advent calendar with little doors that open for each day and $100 to go shopping for some clothes!

After opening gifts the kids played with their stuff while I cleaned up and got everyone ready. I baked 2 potato casserole's a one sweet potato casserole and we were off to my parents house for 1. There we had Christmas lunch then opened presents with them. Bren got some money (that's what he wanted) Chase got a big Nerf gun that shoots a million bullets like and oozie! And they hurt too! And he got a board game. Logan got a smaller Nerf gun and a fishing game. Eddie and I got money. After we had dessert and left a little after 4 to go home to rest for a bit until we had to be at his parents house. I picked up some more and tried to rest a bit then had to bake 2 more potato casserole's! We went to his parents house for 6:30. We ate Christmas dinner then opened presents there. Bren got more money (again, what he asked for!), Chase and Logan got Air Hawk anti gravity cars, they really do drive on the walls! Eddie got a drill & a Crown Royal gift set and I got a $50 gift card. We had dessert, again! And left there around 10. I was SO tired by the time we got home! Of course the kids wanted to play with all their stuff. Eddie is usually off between Christmas and New Year but couldn't get that this year so he had to work the next day and went to bed, sucks. I stayed up with the kids til about 2 that morning!
We had a great Christmas with lots of good food and family =)
Hope you did too!
My kids can't wait til next Christmas! Only 362 more days til Christmas, LOL!
Here are some pics- More to come...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Comments Online Mall

Merry Christmas Eve =)

Tonight we had the kids "adopted" gradparents over for dinner. I fixed ham, potato casserole, sweet potato casserole, fresh green beans and rolls. It was yummy! And for dessert I fixed a tray with my sugar cookies, Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans and White Trash. They loved it.
After we finished watching Christmas in Wonderland then we opened our presents from each other. The boys each got Game Stop gift cards and Logan & Chase got games for their Leapsters. And she had a stocking filled with tons of goodies for them to pick out. They gave us a new set of dishes (that I picked out!) and then surprised us with another set! Being they are only 4 settings and we have 5 people so this way we all have plates and such and can even have company over with the extras! We gave them a really pretty suncatcher thingy (that she had actually wanted to buy one night when we were out but I told her not to and to put it on her Christmas list) and the boys gave them a picture of them in a frame. They really loved that =)
After that we let them open one small present under the tree. They all picked the ones from each other (which they had no idea what they were, LOL!) But they had seen them and really wanted to open those. They were funny gifts so I'm glad they did choose those. They were these reindeer that you fill with mini jellybeans and then to get them out the reindeer poops them out! They are so funny and they all loved them!
They left around 9:30 since we all have big days tomorrow! Now my boys are watching The Grinch, the one with Jim Carrey. And will hopefully be in bed by midnight so Santa can visit ;)
We have a big day tomorrow! I doubt we'll make it home before midnight so I'll post about it on Friday while I'm relaxing!
Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

Gingerbread Houses!

Well, they are really graham cracker houses, LOL! We started this tradition last year. We go to our neighbor's house 2 houses down, we make gingerbread houses and eat dinner and the kids play.
Brenden and his friend Richard were making gingerbread mansions but they both fell down =(
I helped Logan and Chase. Logan's roof fell in but I picked it up and put some crackers down for reinforcement! They both came out great. Except when we got home I had set them both on the counter but while we were'nt looking the stupid dog tried to eat Chase's and knocked it on the floor ruining it. I did get some pics before though!

When we got home I had to run to the store real quick, Bren, Chase & Richard came with me and Logan (3) stayed home with Eddie. Well, Eddie was in the back of the house cleaning the bathroom and I guess Logan couldn't find him so he walked back down to the neighbor's house telling them that we had all left him home alone!! So I get home and Dana is walking down the street with Logan and says "ya'll really did leave". I'm like no, not all of us, Eddie is home, why? So she tells me how Logan came down telling her we had all left him! I felt like a bad mom for a second! I went in the house to find Eddie who's still in the back and ask him if he knew where Logan was. He says he thought he went to the store with me! Great, just great!

After all this I made 5, yes 5 potato casserole's! I need 1 for Christmas eve, and 4 for Christmas Day...2 for my parent's and 2 for Eddie's parents get togethers. I want to do as little as possible tomorrow and Christmas so I make those ahead that way all I have to do is make the topping real quick and bake it.

Tomorrow night the kids adopted grandparents are coming over for Christmas Eve dinne with us. I have most of the house cleaned but still need to do the floors. I'm hoping to have a semi-relaxed day tomorrow. Christmas day will be busy, busy, busy! But fun nonetheless =)

I am done with all my shopping and all my wrapping so I'm ready for some Christmas fun!
Night!


Here are some pics from tonight:

Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans

This one is sooo easy and sooo good! They sell these at the mall in a tiny bag for 6 bucks! So I found this recipe on Vicarious Foodie and made a whole pound for 6 bucks!

1 bag pecans
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon powder
2 zip top freezer bags

In one zip bag put egg white and 1 tablespoon water. Close and shake. Then add whole bag of pecans and coat. In the other zip bag put one cup sugar and 2 tbls. cinnamon. Pour coated pecans into sugar bag, zip tightly and shake until all pecans are coated with sugar. Pour out onto well greased baking pan and bake for 1 hour at 250* Stir pecans every 20 minutes in between.
When done let cool. They are great warm but even better when completely cooled!
Enjoy =)

Christmas White Trash

Ok, I'm not really sure if that's the name or not! But I made some tonight.
Here's the recipe, I kinda made it up as I went!
4 hanfuls pretzel sticks
8 handfuls of peanut butter captain crunch
whole medium bag of Christmas M&M's
(and you can add whatever else you want too...nuts, raisins,any kind of cereal, chex mix, whatever you want!)
1 pack of Almond Bark
Half bag of powdered sugar

Put all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Melt Almond Bark as stated on package. Pour melted Almond Bark on dry ingredients and mix till coated. Then pour onto baking pan covered with wax paper, sprinkle powdered sugar all over and let dry. When dry, break apart into smaller pieces and voila! You've got some yummy eats =)

December 1st- The Christmas Plan

Well, it's officially December now! My kids are super excited about Christmas and are counting down the days. Friday all of the neighbors were out putting up their decorations. Saturday it rained most of the day but we were back out Sunday putting stuff up. Our street is so bright and cheery and even more so now that the neighbor across the street is getting his stuff up. He's the one that has the lights programmed to the beat of the music. So when you turn on our street you tune your radio to the channel he has listed and you can hear the music and watch the light right there in your car.
You can see a short clip from last year here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnk6_lXRIe8
This video doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.
Anyway, I put up most of my decorations by Sunday evening. I am waiting to put up the rest until I see my roofer Tuesday. I don't want to put lights up on the house and have to take them back down.
Ok, so last year my friend Becky had talked about doing a Christmas plan. It's where you plan an activity for each day leading up to Christmas. I did one and it was really fun. I haven't written it up yet, but will probably go by the one we did last year. So today I had the 2 girls I watch and our activity today was coloring gingerbread men. We also made Christmas cookies and decorated them tonight.
I'm not sure what our activity will be tomorrow. My middle son that has asthma has been sick and is getting worse. I try to do everything we can to make him better before going to the doctor for meds so we'll see.

Finally, Our Christmas and Pictures!

A little late here! Our Christmas was great. I got my new camera and love it =) I got Eddie the iHome dock for his iPods. And the boys got lots of neat stuff. From Santa Logan got a new bike and Bren & Chase got Rockband for the X-box 360. We have had a blast with that! Their main gift from us were the BB guns and Logan got a FAKE one! We also got him a Thomas the Train set. They got X-box games and PSP games and cars and all sorts of goodies. We had a nice time at my parents house for Christmas lunch. And an okay time at Eddie's parents house for Christmas dinner.
And now here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and day, I put them in a slideshow format for easier viewing.
Enjoy =)

A Playful Christmas Evening =)

What a wonderful, exciting, busy day we had. The kids are happily playing with all of their toys and we parents are exhausted! They got lots of stuff and we even found some secret Santa gifts on our porch this morning! And no, we didn't do it and I'm not 100% sure who did but it was a nice surprise =)
I'm tired so I'm turning in but I'll write about our day tomorrow and post some pics that I took with my new camera!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Goodnight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

December 24

Wow! Today was a busy day! Eddie had to work so the kids and I slept in til about 10. I got up and slowly got going but the minutes were just flying by. So I got ready, got the kids ready and started baking sugar cookies. After I finished we made a quick trip to Walmart for 2 things and to drop off some Christmas cards to our favorite workers there. Then some McD's for lunch and when we got home a little after 1 Eddie was already home. I took a break to eat but then had to ice the cookies, clean, and start cooking for our dinner with the "Adopted" Grandparents. It doesn't really seem like much, but my goodness I was busy up until the second they got there. The Grandparents came over for 6 and I had some yummy starters waiting...cheese, pretzels, tostitos, wheat thins and an awesome spinach and artichoke dip that I had a friend make for us. For dinner I made Spaghetti with meat sauce, meatballs on the side, salad and garlic bread. And for dessert we had cherry pie, honey cakes and sugar cookies. After we ate it was time to open presents with them. The kids were so excited! Brenden and Chase got remote control helicopters, Logan got a Leapster L-Max with a Thomas the Train game and then she had given them a HUGE stocking that she had decorated herself with the kids names. It had lots of cute little toys like cars and bath stuff and these really cute little drumming Santa's and bears that are really loud! She gave Eddie and I some Snoopy Christmas decorations that light up and hang on the window, which was really cool because I had almost bought one of them a few weeks ago! She also gave me a new ornament for my tree that was a ball with an angel that reads "I believe in Angels and you're the reason why". She calls me her angel, it was so sweet =) And she also gave me a glass angel to add to my collection, so now I have 11. I will have to take a picture so y'all can see. We gave them the present from the kids, we got them an ornament with 3 little bears in a stocking that read "Grandma and Grandpa's Sweetie's and on each bear was a kids name. Eddie and I gave them a $50 gift certificate to Corky's BBQ.
Speaking of taking pictures though, Eddie let me open my present tonight so that I would be able to use it Christmas morning! He got me an Olympus Stylus 730 digital camera! It's Awesome, I love it! And the kids got me a memory card and a carrying case so I got to open that too! I took some pictures and they are so much better quality, it's got a huge display screen and it's so easy to use, I'm so happy! I will post some new pics on Wednesday b/c I am so busy until then!
Right now I am trying to make sure the kids are really asleep so I can do what I need to do, if ya know what I mean ;) I am SO tired too but can't go to bed yet, UGH! Then I'm sure we'll be up early tomorrow, doing presents, eating breakfast, getting ready, getting kids ready, gotta bake 2 casseroles! And be at my parents house for 1:30, eat there, open presents, play then head home, unload car, bake 2 more casseroles, rest (yeah, right) then be at Eddie's parents for 5:30! Eat AGAIN! open presents and then we usually don't get home until midnight! Oh my, I'm getting dizzy!
So much to do but yet so worth it and the kids have a blast. So wish me strength and luck!
I hope you all have a great day tomorrow!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night =)

PS...Chase is still stirring, he needs to go to bed! And a funny about Logan...he took his Leapster to bed with him! And when we told him to put it away he tucked it under his legs, so sweet =)

December 23

Tonight was dinner with my parents. My Dad is in town from New Jersey. They came over at 5:30 and I had cooked baked ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, asparagus and rolls. And for dessert I made my honey cakes and fudge. We had a nice dinner then sat around talking for a bit after. It was nice to be able to spend some time with my parents.
After, Eddie, the kids and I hoped in the car and went looking at Christmas lights.

December 22

Ah Saturday! One of my favorite days =) Not too much planned for today. I made a big trip to the store for all the stuff I need to bake and cook for our Christmas eve dinner with the "adopted" grandparents and then for my parents and Eddie's parents houses on Christmas day. That was hectic! There were like a million people doing the same thing, it was crazy. I had more things I need to do but a big storm was coming so I decided to go home. Of course Eddie decides he wants popcorn that evening and I went out to get it with Logan right as the storm was coming through, real smart :/ Lots of rain, wind and temp dropped about 20 degrees!
Tonight Eddie cooked dinner for us and after we all sat and watched a movie and ate popcorn.

December 21~ Lunch With Old Friends!

Well, today started out a little flat, and I mean that literally! I was meeting 2 of my good friends from high school at 12:30 and I had 1 errand to run before so the kids and I left early. I had to go to the Ford dealership (the one my hubby worked at for 15 yrs.) to pick up a hand made book mark that his best friend's wife made for me. So we turn in to the dealership and I hear this bad noise. I knew the left back tire was bad so I moved my side mirror down to look and it's flat on the ground! So I pull in slowly into a parking spot and take a look and the tire is shot. No hope of just filling it with air this time! And I just knew Eddie was going to kill me...not like I did it, BUT I was the one driving when it happened! So I go in and find Thomas, he's the parts manager there and Eddie's best friend. I felt so bad b/c they were having their work Christmas lunch! He went and got one of the tech's who is also a good friend of ours and he and David changed my tire =) I kept apologizing, but they told me to shut up! They said they both have wives too and know that Eddie would do the same for them. Which actually, Eddie has, he went and changed Thomas' wifes flat tire a few years ago. So good thing for good friends!
I was a little late for lunch but not too bad. We went to Chick-fil-A and my friends had already gotten tables, 1 for us and 1 for the kids. We got our food, got the kids settled and then started yapping about old times. It was great! When the kids were done eating they all went to play in the indoor play thing and we got to talk for almost 2 more hours! It turned out that my kids and my one friend's kids got along so good, they had a blast playing together. By the time we left they were all asking when they could get together again. So we will try to do that. The one friend with kids only lives about 10 minutes away so that would be doable. The other friend was my best friend in high school but she lives in Ft. Worth, TX so I don't get to see her often. But she's moving back this Summer so that's exciting, we'll be able to spend more time together. It was just SO wonderful to get to spend time with my old friends =)

December 20~ Dinner with the Neighbors

Today was hot and rainy and just yucky! Thank goodness I didn't have much to do. We all watched a movie then after Kaiden left we made a quick trip to Fed-ex to mail off a Christmas present that will not make it in time (sorry A.!) At least your kids will have some gifts to open after Christmas, LOL! Then we came home and relaxed. A little bit later I got up to go to the restroom only to find out we were all of the sudden out of toilet paper! How does that happen? So had to make another trip out in rush hour traffic, ugh!
Tonight Eddie had his company Christmas party...employees only, no spouses invited =( That really sucked and I am a little ticked but what can I do? But that's okay, we had more fun anyway. Tonight we did the kids present exchange with their friends on the street. Our neighbor 2 doors down from us invited us over for dinner and the kids all opened their presents and then we ate some chicken spaghetti and dessert. After the kids all played outside then Bren had his friend sleep over. It was a fun night =)

December 19~ Christmas Caroling!

Tonight was our Caroling with the Neighbors party. We all met at our neighbor Kris' house and brought food and drink, there was about 25 of us. I brought the sweets, I made my special honey cakes and some red and green cupcakes for the kids. After we all ate we went caroling. We started on our street then worked our way down 2 other streets. And I'm happy to say that this year almost everyone opened their doors! Our first year we had so many people not open their door.
Somehow I got the title of "band leader", LOL! Not being conceited here, but I am the best singer(so they say)...I've sang all my life and was in Acapella Choir all through high school so I'm used to performing in front of people. It's like one of us had to lead and if I didn't do it it was a mess so that's why I stepped up and would tell them what song we were singing and what note we'd start on. Well, I couldn't tell them what note because no one knew what I meant so I'd sing the first few words so they knew what I meant, LOL! It was SO fun. And even funnier was Logan really took to the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer song and was singing it really loud while walking between houses. It was so cute.
After we all went back to Kris' house and just talked while the kids played in the street. And we're all so thankful that the rain held off...last year was a total bust thanks to the rain. We still had our party and ran out in the rain and caroled to one house but it just wasn't as fun. It was perfect tonight, clear and 65 degrees.

December 18

Today we delivered our cookies and cakes to some friends of ours. And boy am I glad we did it today and not Friday. There were a million people on the roads, bumper to bumper, driving like maniacs! It was crazy! All I wanted to do was get home alive!

That was it for today. When we did finally make it home we ate lunch, Logan napped and I actually got to sit down and watch Ellen. That was a treat =)

December 17

Another Monday, ick! Today we colored Gingerbread men. That was about it. Kaiden was even sicker then she was last week and had diarrhea so I called her Mom to come get her. The last thing I need is a tummy bug to go through all of us right before Christmas, not cool!
In the afternoon the kids and I iced the sugar cookies and then I packed them up in their goody bags so I could deliver them Tuesday.
And tonight I went shopping again by myself! Just had a few more things to pick up.
Nothing more to report. The days are flying by and Christmas will be here in a blink!
Night

December 16~ Baking!

Today was pretty chilly, only 50*! Yeah, I know that's hot compared to the North! But I did just as I said and stayed in baking all day. And to make it better, Eddie took the kids with him to run some errands! So I got to bake and have quiet!! Whoo Hoo!

December 15~ Shopping!

Wow, what a busy day it turned out to be! We went to Cabela's and it is HUGE! And jam packed full of people. One complaint, the store was so cluttered with merchandise, and man do they need to stop putting shit in the walkway, it was so NOT shopping cart or stroller friendly. But besides that it was pretty cool. They had a walk through aquarium, a laser gun shooting range, and museum type settings with lots of dead, stuffed animals! The kids liked it. AND while we were there we picked up their Christmas presents! If I had any clue that we were going to do that I wouldn't have brought them! But we were still undecided on what their big present from us was going to be. Well, we somehow ended up by the BB guns. And after looking at them and the kids really interested and me thinking of "A Christmas Story" how Ralphie wanted one SO bad we decided to get Bren & Chase Red Rider BB guns! Just like the one Ralphie got! So while Eddie was looking for some help to get them I took the kids upstairs to the Fudge shop so they wouldn't see. My Mom said they have the best fudge so we had to try it... it was okay. Of course my favorite fudge would be at this really cool store at the top of the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. It's awesome! So anyway, Eddie got the guns...ended up getting Brenden a different one that was better for his age and Chase got the Red Rider. But then he took them out to the truck and had to figure out how to hide them, HA! One fit under the back seat and the other didn't so I sat in the back and Chase didn't even notice. After that, Eddie came up to find us and we were going to eat at the restaurant there but it was just to packed. So as we started to leave we saw a gun for Logan that looked just like the boys except it wasn't real of course, just made realistic sounds. He's going to be so happy that he has a gun like his brothers! And I know that anyone who reads this is probably thinking we're crazy for getting our kids guns...don't worry, that's normal here in Louisiana! And, it's just a BB gun! They will only be allowed to use them with adult supervision!
Okay, so we headed back to the city and found a place to eat. But then we still had to find the bike we're getting Logan! Eddie went to a few places last night and no luck. So we were going to try 2 more places and if we didn't find it we'd order online and pray it came in time! So, we go to the first place, me & the kids wait in the truck and what do ya know? They have 1 left! We know we need it right now b/c it might not be there later... BUT we have the kids with us! How in the heck were we going to hide a whole bike? AH! Eddie pulled it off, I just made sure that the kids were watching the movie, turned the volume up and Eddie snuck up from the back and gently laid it in the back of the truck! We went straight home and made the kids get out in front the house while I went and parked in the back of the driveway and transferred all the stuff from the truck to my car trunk! So as far as I know, we pulled it off.
Tonight I actually left the kids home with Eddie and went shopping by myself. Okay, I went to Walmart...but good enough! I knew they would have almost everything I needed plus I needed to get some groceries. I did end up finding everything I needed except for one Doodlebops DVD. I walked around and enjoyed myself, stopped to look at things without a million kids nagging me. It was okay! Then I went to Game Stop for 2 gift cards and to the Dollar Tree where nothing is over $1! I needed gift bags and why pay $3+ each when I can get them for $1 each?

Now I am pooped and am going to get some sleep b/c tomorrow I am going to bake all day. But one more thing...remember me complaining about the weather being so HOT! And it didn't feel like Christmas at all? Well, we finally got some cold weather! Our high today was 78, it rained a little and then got very windy and right now it's 42...and our low is supposed to be 35. That would be a 43 degree drop in less then 12 hours! It's only supposed to be 52 tomorrow, which is pretty cold to me so it's a good thing I'll be staying in baking all day =)

Night!