December 31, 2012

The last day of 2012!

 

How exciting, nerve-wracking, fun, lazy, cold, and delicious!!!

Let me explain.

 

It's exciting

because a new year has so many new possibilities! 

You get to start all over.
The book is empty at this point. 
You get to fill it with whatever you choose.
 

 

It's nerve-wracking

because of the things I did not accomplish in 2012. 

It's not necessarily a bucket list, but a list of things "to do" no less.
Painting projects, craft projects, recipes to try, visiting long distance relatives and friends...the list goes on and on and on and on....
 

 

It's fun

because we have plans to hang out with sweet friends to ring in the new year. 

Our incredible hostess invited our kids, too.
I love gatherings where the kids get to play and hang out together.  

(That's SO my style!)

 

It's lazy

because I'm still in my jammies. 

I've done laundry since 7 am, though...so it balances out, right?
Nuff said.
 

 

It's cold

because...well...it's finally snowing.
We were very excited to see this season's first snow falling this morning.
I love to sit in the big comfy chair and watch the snow fall.
(DELICIOUS!)
 

 

It's delicious

because....HELLLLOOOOO!!!! 

Where 2 or more are gathered, there's delicious food! 

(I know...it doesn't really go that way, but it works for this post today.)
We are having sandwiches, chips and dips, crackers and dips, fruit and veggie trays snd desserts.  Yummy!


If you are traveling tonight, be safe.
Happy New Year friends!!
Enjoy every delicious minute!

(Speaking of...I think I'll go sample the cookies I made to take to dinner......)

 

 

Christmas Favorites

 Christmas Eve at Home

 

 

Courtney and Momma
(Not very flattering, but it was getting late!)
 

Corbin and Momma
(Seriously...Santa was on his way.  The radar said it was WAAY past our bedtime.
We were at risk of Santa's skipping our house!)
 

Our tree

 

 

Once more with presents this time.

 

 

 

Christmas Day at "Grandma's" House

 

The gang all together! 

 

 

Sibling LOVE!

Glad they are both smiling at the end of the day.

 

 

 

Celebrating Christmas at "Nana's" House

 

Courtney, My Momma, and Me

  

Me and my Granny

 

 

Celebrating Christmas -- Silver Dollar City Style!

 

Baby it's cold outside!!

 

 

My Family!

(BIG.  LOVE.)

 

 

 

CHEERS!

May your days be merry and bright, friends!

Christmas was delicious.

We made some incredible memories this year.

We hope you did too!

 

Christmas Vacation

Yahoo!  It's finally here.  I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to Christmas vacation. 

Day one:  Sleep in.  (Check!)  Clean house.  Catch up on laundry. (again)  Make Christmas goodies! Play with my kids.
Day two:  Sleep in.  Make more Christmas goodies.  Shop for the last minute gifts.  Play with my kids.
Day three:  Sleep in.  (Notice the pattern?)  Wrap the last minute gifts. Play with my kids.

This will continue through Christmas morning.  One thing is for sure.  The kids and I will be sleeping in!  Yes!!!  It's 9:00 as I type this, and they are still in bed.  One has a cold and has studied all week for finanls.  The other is fighting the beginnings of a cold and has helped the other one study all week for the finals.  They are beat. (Can I mention how incredible it is for Thing 2 to help Thing 1 study for finals?????)

Christmas vacation gives me the excuse to stay home and hang out with the kids.  (They don't really want me to play with them....just so you know.)  They'll tolerate a board game with me once in a while, but they really love it when I play the XBox with them.  (mostly so they can laugh at how BAD I am.---and that is not "Bad" as in the cool way.)  We enjoy sleeping in and staying in our PJs until noon.  We don't go a lot of places, and there aren't a lot of expectations.  As a matter of fact, one of the only expectations is that we make the Christmas goodies and have crock pot meals cooking all day.  Yeah for crockpots!!  (That's a topic that could be a worthy of it's own post!)

I hope you get to sleep in on your next day off.  It is refreshing to be able to just sleep.  Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight and then I'll be able to get up at my normal time in the morning.  HA!  Who am I kidding????  That's the part I left out on Day 1, 2, and 3!  Staying up late is the other fun part of the vacation.  #ilovespendingtimewithmyfamily

Christmas vacation is delicious friends.  I hope you enjoy every bite of it.  Be safe if you are traveling.  Take LOTS of pictures.  Please remember how precious every day is.

Granny

 

 

I sure do love this lady!

Granny is ...well...she is about 40 years older than me. 

(wink wink)

 

I cannot even begin to tell you all the reasons why I love her.

I'm so thankful for her every day.

 

Chrissy and Granny, Christmas 2012

The Countdown to Christmas

Vacation, that is!

We celebrated Christmas with my family last weekend.

This will be a short school week.

Our Christmas parties are Thursday, and my kids are SUPER EXCITED.

This year we have had an "Elf on a Shelf" in the room.

The kids named him P.J.

P.J. sometimes leaves notes fro the kids.

Sometimes he leaves treats.

Sometimes he leaves messes. 

One day he left a "Naughty" list.

(YIKES!)

Another day he brought letters from Santa.

P.J. has only 2 more visits with us before he leaves for the North Pole until next Christmas.

(I'm a little relieved, but don't mention it to P.J. or to Santa.)

 

We've done a lot of fun activities at school.

Most deliciously...we've had food days in the lounge.

Teachers will eat anything.

We leave the lounge with stacks of papers from our mailboxes in one hand

and mounds of mouth-watering treats in the other...hoping these sugary bits will provide enough energy to get us through the afternoon with indoor recess because the wind chill is 32 degrees.

(Sigh....I know it's Pathetic!  It's all true, though.)

 

We had a field trip to the Christmas tree farm and the movie theatre to see Santa Paws.

We wrote letters to Santa.

We were BUSY elves making gifts for our parents!

We had a food drive to donate to the Fire Station to help local families.

This was one of my favorite activities. 

Our whole school was involved.

We made it a contest to see who could get the most cans.

We did not get off to a good start. 

No.  Really.

It was terrible.

They announced that the classes in the lead had over 100 cans.

When I emailed asking how many we had brought....I was mortified!

We had only brought in 26 cans!

Good GRAVY!

That was NOT acceptable. 

I am a little too competetive sometimes.

I quickly fired off a group email to my parents alerting them of the severity of the situation.

The winning class got to take the food TO the fire station AND get ice cream!!!

Uh.  Huh. 

I wanted to win!

The next day, we brought in 124 cans!

Whew.  We were in the race!

We continued to bring food for the next few days,

watching the numbers of cans we brought as well as those of other classes. 

We were in 1st place for one day.

But then...another class mom brought in a dolly full of flats of cans.

They won. 

 Holy moly, did they ever!

I was really proud of the kids though. 

They kept bringing cans and cheering each other on.

Mr. even bought them ice cream for their good effort.

(yeah...I know.  I'm a lucky girl!)

 

Anyhow...Christmas is only a week away. 

I can't believe the school year is half over!

Where does the time go?

I know I say it over and over, but seriously friends...

don't blink.

The milk spilling toddlers turn into finals taking freshmen before you can even say sassafrass.

Every single minute has the potential to become a memory.

Make the most of every single one of them.

 

Be Present.

Life is a Gift.

 

Enjoy the days leading up to Christmas Day.

Mmmmm.  they are delicious!!

 

 

 

Thankfulness continues

Hugging my babies today.

I"m thankful that God protects us and keeps us safe.

His blessings are too numerous to count.

My cup runneth over.