New, New Year's Eve Tradition

We started a new tradition this year for New Year's Eve. The weather was actually perfect for us to buid a fire in our Texas grill/firepit so we fired it up and roasted hotdogs and smore just like we do when we go camping.

When we went home this past weekend the girls were a little disappointed that it rained the entire time we were there, and so that meant no popping fireworks at Grammy & Poppy's. My dad usaally builds a big bonfire and all the grandkids come over and do fireworks, with half of them standing just inside the back door because of their fear.

We brought Madison, Greg's sister Liz's daughter home ith us for the week. She doesn't start back to school until next Monday so she is going to keep Maryn company when Mackenzi & Maci head back to class. It is fun having her here with us, but a little more added chaos to our home full of girls & "M's".



Taylor & Jared spent the day between our two houses and didn't resist the offer to join in on smores making. They seem to love them, well I think Jared liked playing in the fire more than the actual eating of smores, but all of the kids had a fun time and it was fun to be making new treaditions and memories with them.

Greg was a big trooper seeing how he was in charge of all of the kids and grilling that went on. I made plates, refilled drinks, retrieved napkins, brought out chips & dip refills... well you get the picture my job was volunteer waitress. I loved seeing them enjoy being outside "camping". They actually asked to set up the tent but we were afraid it was too chilly, and thankfully we didn't it was 32 degrees this morning. BBRR!

Great memories!

*Do you have any New Year's Eve traditions?*

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Homeward Bound

Greg & I decided, at the last minute to drive to Katy, a suburb of Houston, to look at a possible job. We called my parents to see if they could meet us there and get the girls Thurday night and keep them on Friday. We would just drive the rest of the way home Friday evening to spend a little time with them.

The hospital paid for us to get a hotel room so we spent the night near Houston Thursday night. It was so nice to not have kids to wake us up, BUT we decided to set the alarm and get up fairly early and workout in the hotel workout room. WE have been eating so bad the past few weeks that we definitely needed to work off some of the fattening junk we have consumed. After we worked out we quickly showered and I dropped Greg off at the hospital. I drove around parts of Katy I hadn't seen before. I drove through neighborhoods I felt we might would like to live in.

Greg called me and I picked him up, he changed clothes and then I took him to the places I had seen. We looked at some model homes and were again taken back at the realization, that in just a few months, we could be living in a home that is 2 1/2 times the size of ours now. My first thought was, as always, How am I going to keep something this big clean?, then my second thought was Are we ever really going to be able to afford something like this?

We enjoy looking at model home so much that we have been doing it for years. We first did this with our friends Robert & Becki during medical school and have loved it ever since. We sometimes go find model homes when we are out on a date,instead of going to the movie or something, we go and look at homes trying to get ideas on things for our dream home. I love to look at the decorating ideas, of course, I'll have to copy something I see, seeing how I'm no expert on it.

STILL NO DECISION ON A JOB OR PLACE TO LIVE!! OUR #1 New Year's goal is to make the RIGHT choice SOON!

It never ceases to amaze me, the weather that is. I think every time we decide to take a trip home the weather always ends up looking like this.

I dread the rain and have little desire to be out in it especially driving 80 miles and hour on a highway in it. We had to take most of the 2 hour drive fairly slow, due to high winds, thunderstorms, and crazy truckers that conitue to drive way to fast and out of control when they can't see.

We finally made it to my parents house to meet up with the girls, my brother, his wife & kids, & my sister and her tow girls/ We opend Christmas gifts and the kids ran wild through my parents house. The main living areas of the house was pretty open, since all of the furniture had to be put into bedrooms, while the ceiling and walls were being fixed. They are jsut now trying to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Rita did a number on their home.

We visited for a while and then it was off to dreamland. We met up with Greg's parents on Saturday for lunch, then had Christmas with them. We had a great visit and the girls were definitely spoiled again. We chatted for awhile and then decided to beign the 5 hour drive home. We asked our niece Madison to comehome with us for the week. She is out of school all week and thought it would be fun for her to come home with us to play.

Girl's Outing

I promised Mackenzi & Maci I would take them to the mall, MarynLESS, so they could spend some of their gift card they got for Christmas. Taylor happened to be sleeping over, and was able to join in on our fun. We only went to Linited Too & Claire's due to our time crunch without Maryn. Greg had her there at the mall just walking around with her and then he had to go into work, he was already a bit late when we started our shopping so we had to make it quick. The girls found a few things they liked, and there were a few things they weren't willing to spend all of their money on, so they still have some to spend. Taylor brought along some $$$ she has been saving and actually bought something, then had me return it for her so she could get something better. Buyer's remorse so early, I think she has been shopping with Jenny & I a few times! I wasn't sure if she should be spending her money and didn't even know if Jenny knew she had it with her, but Doug & Jen were out on their anniversary date and I didn't want to bug.

We had a fun time and I felt really blessed to have my daughters(& freinds) to share these fun shopping trips with. I hope they will remember the memories we are building as mom & daughter as much I will. I love you girls bunches.

Christmas Eve Gift & Christmas Gift

"Ring, Ring, Ring"

Every year growing up on Christmas Eve, my PaPa would call everyone, really early in the morning, he knew and when ever they picked up the phone he would shout out,"Christmas Eve Gift"! Whoever was on the other end of the phone call, especially those who were expecting his call, would not even answer the phone with a "hello", instead you would just pick up the phone and try and beat him saying Christmas Eve gift (minfd you this was looooonnnnggggg befoe caller ID!

He also did this same thing on Christmas day, but it was "Christmas Gift" that he shouted out whenever calling. I don't know if he ever really explained to us why he did it, but I think I remember people saying that it was his "gift" to others to "wish" them Merry Christmas first, BEFORE most people were even awake. After he passed away(when I was 13, we continued to carry on his tradition for awhile. I hadn't ever really shared this with Greg or the girls, but on the way to church,on Chritmas Eve I thought about it, and told them the story. So while we were driving we called my Nanaw, my parents, & one of my cousins and left messages yelling "Christams Eve gift" to them. The girls loved it and thought it was neat to hear stories about a man they had never met.

These pictures were I attempt to have a family picture taken with our tripod. We didn't realize until after the girls had stripped their clothes off, that we didn't press the auto focus before w ehit the timer button. UUURRRRGGGHHH!!!



Church was really good today, other than the fact that I sat in the pew with my heart racing the entire Sacrament meeting, expecting to get the dreaded "Sister Gordon will you please come and bear your testimony". Why do I say dreaded, sacrament, and testimony, all in the same sentence, you might ask? I absolutely have a terrible fear of speaking in front of people, to the point where I can almost have an anxiety attack. I guess I should back up a bit. On Saturday while we were at the movies, our Bishop called and left a message for me just to give him a call. Well...I kind of didn't return his call so when we arrived at church he started naming people that were going to share their testimonies, and then said if we have any time left I'll be calling on a few more people that I would like to hear from. GULP!! I had to swallow my heart! I didn't end up having to go up BUT, I did bear my testimony silently over, and over, and over, the full hour, trying to get it to sound just right. I apologized to Jenny after the meeting, seeing how she was one of the ones he called on, probably due to me not returning the phonecall to the bishop. Greg's comment was "maybe Bishop R. got you and Jenny confused and thought he was asking you when he was really asking Jenny". There are a few people at chirch that get us confused but surely the bishop knows who we are?

Cute girls in their matching jammies they opened on Christmas Eve.

After I heard Santa and the reindeer fly away I snuck into the family room to snap a quick picture of the tree and gifts.

Santa definitely spoiled the girls once again, getting them way too much. They had a fun time unwrapping and playing with their new stuff.

It was a quiet day just having the five of us here. After eating pigs in a blanket, for breakfast, we hung out most of the day. We made our lunch, which consoted of Rudy's turkey, cream corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, anr rolls. It was very good but after all of the preparation it took us less than 15 minutes to eat.

We talked to all of our family throughout the day and wished them all Merry Christmas. It is so weird to not be at home, or have someone spending the holidays here with us, but it is also fun to be making memories with the girls.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

My very cute Pink Christmas gift from DeDe. She wrote me a very sweet letter telling how she tried to make me a scarf and hat but, she said it didn't turn out. I bet it was cute, but she said she didn't want to send it to me. She ended up buying me a pink scarf and matching hat,some yummy lip gloss, bath confetti, and lotion that you could eat. She also gave me some of my favorite treats M&M's, twix, junior mints. All of this cute stuff was packaged in an even cuter pink and brown Gap bag. I love it all DeDe and am so glad you sent it all to me. Thanks for being so thoughtful and sending me some of your favorites. Now whenever I use them I will think of you.



We went for our traditional Christmas light tour and I had to capture this house that is just down the street that resmbles the Griswalls. This guy just put out all of this stuff two day before Christmas. What is he thinking?

Twas The Eve Before Christmas Eve

We decided to take the girls to the movie, since the weather around San Antonio was a bit on the dreary side. We went to the Pallidium Theatre that opened on Friday, to see Charlotte's Web. The girls really enjoyed it and Maci even sat through it mesmorized because for her love of animals. She didn't even ask to go to the bathroom, and that is a first!

The Clouses were having Christmas Eve Eve because of Doug's schedule and they invited us over for friends & family time, food and fun. We had a fun time just hanging out, chatting, playing games, and eating.

Jenny & I were dressed in the same shade shirt and it WASN'T planned. WE both have a lk of festive things to wear and both happen to have this same green shirt.



The Asian part of our meal. Doug and Jenny made eggrolls and Thai chicken that was oh so yummy!

The Mexican side of the meal. 7 layer dip, chips, torillas & creamy jalepeno from Chuy's



Jenny drinking milk like a cat, when we played the game Would You Rather! I thought she was going to pee her pants while doing this challenge. It was fun and Mackenzi & Taylor some how have ended up being part of the adult crowd now. I'm not so sure I like that, but they seem to enjoy it and felt special.

Daddy Daughter Date...

TO THE ER!

Yesterday evening I ran a few errand with my kids and brought my workout clothes along. I decided to go and work off some stress and stopped at the gym before heading home. Just as I got there Greg called and said he was done with work and would meet me at the gym. I thought he wasn't going to be coming home for another hour or so and that was one of the reasons I needed to have some stress relief.

I got on a treadmill and walked and ran my usual 2 miles. With it being "rush hour", the gym was getting pretty packed so I called Greg to see if he was near by. He said he just pulled up so I told him I would save my treadmill for him. Well, for some reason he took a while to get changed and I continued on the treadmill for another mile or so. I was relieved to see him walk up behind me and kick me off.

I lifted a few weights and decided to shower before I left. I was heading up the stairs when one of the girls from the kid's room bolted out the door. I was jamming to my MP3 player and couldn't here what she was saying to me or if she was even talking to me. I quickly turned off the tunes to hear her say, "Maci was running..." that's all she need to say and I knew she had fallen and hurt herself. I walked in to find her laying on the floor with paper towels on her head while being comforted by a guy that works at the gym and ALL of the kids. The guy was so nervous, hoping he did the right thing by laying her down. The bleeding was worse when she stood up so they laid her down. I could tell they were concerned we might would sue them or something. It wasn't their fault, she was running, what she does most gracefully, and tripped over her long feet, and fell into a book rack. I assured them that this was a long time coming with Maci and we were surprised she hadn't had stitches or brpken anything until now.

I got Greg off of the treadmill to see if she need to be stitched, and he said, "yep". Again we reassured the people in the kid room that he could just take care of her and it wasn't a problem.

before stitches

I called Jenny on my way home to see if I could drop Mackenzi and Maryn off and she said of course. Greg cam home and picked Maci and I up and we left for the ER. We decided to drive downtown to the clinic he moonlights at, instead of dealing with all of the hustle and bustle at University Hospital. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. She did great and only SCREAMED when he gave her a shot of numbing medicine. He put two stitches in and she was all ready to go.

after Dr. Daddy is done

We stopped at Mi Tierra's and got her a treat. This mexican restraunt is open 24 hours and has a ton of pastries out front, like a bakery. We loaded up on way too many of them.

Maci was living up the one on one attention she was getting. It was really fun just to have her alone with us, even though it wasn't the way we would have wished to be spending quality time with her.

Merry Christmas to ALL

I know Jenny already documented the trash guys, but I couldn't not talk about them too.
I was so glad when I came home from running errands and my trash was still sitting on the curb. I had tried to catch them on Friday, but I left and they came while I was out, so I was excited to give them their "tip".

The girls came home from school and we waited for them to come around the corner. Mackenzi & Maci ran their envelopes out to them and they were so grateful. Full on smiles appeared even though it was raining and they obviously had a rough day. The driver even got out of the truck to come around and waved to me. What a trio a guys! Disgusting work they do for all of us. My little tip wasn't all that much but I just wanted them to know we appreciate them.

*Do you give Christmas gifts to "ALL"?*

GIFTS, GIFTS, & PINK GIFTS

We have been getting goodies & good mail from all of our friends and from prople at church. The primary presidency gave all of the kids a CD of the songs for next year and a cinnamon ornament, plus they gave me one, too. So that means we now have 3 CDs of the songs for primary and one CD of nursery songs for Maryn. We definitley are going to have no excuse for not knowing them. Caleb, a boy in my CTR 5-6 year old class brought by some yummy caramel popcorn, and the Wirthlins brought by a tin of cookies. Then on Sunday, while we were napping our hoemteachers dropped off a box of clemintine oranges(my girls' favorite). We are definitely feeling loved by everyone this holiday season.

Anna sent a good mail package with the cutest Christmas cards with vellum envelopes. I love them and want to know how she made them. Okay Anna, you need to reveal your secrets to the cutest cards on earth. Thanks a ton.

MY PINK CHRISTMAS GIFT arrived. I had been anticipating it everyday and smiled when the mailman rang the doorbell and I found it sitting on the doorstep. It is from Dede, and it is safely sitting under our tree still in the priority mail box. I was afraid to open it, just in case it wasn't wrapped, I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Thanks DeDe, I can't wait to open it on Christmas morning.

Whirlwind Saturday, Sick To Boot, & 200th Post!

Having come down with a terrible cold, (but at least it isn't the flu) I was not looking forward to my Saturday happenings as much as I was planning on. I started feeling sick on Thursday afternoon and wuickly took some cold and sinus medicine hoping to catch it before it caught me full force. I was too late! It caught me and boy did it ever.




Mackenzi had a swim meet on Saturday morning so I got up (wanting to snooze a little later being Saturday) and went for my mornnign walk. I rushed home showered and wuickly got ready and was off to the RACES, literally! Mackenzi swam well, and placed 1st in the butterfly, 3rd in freestyle, 4th in back, and 5th in breathstroke(her least favorite). She was swimming with kids in her age group but normally they sepreat girls and boys but they just competed against everyone, which can be tough swimming against the boys because a lot of the time they are faster than girls.
Greg had wante to watch her swim, but after leaving his morning sprts clinic they calle dhim to go back and see on of the girls that was having problems. He met up with us agter the meet and took Maryn running some errands so I could get Mackenzi and Maci ready for their winter dance show.



These girls are growing up way too fast. It makes me sad. Where ahs the time gone? They looked so cute in their costumes and with all of their makeup on. They all danced really good.


Maci was so nercous, and didn't want to perform because she said she didn't know her dance. Funny thing is, that every week in class she is one of a few that nerver skip a beat when practicing. She cried a few(well really alot) enough that all of her makeup was gone except her lipstick by the time she went on stage. She did a great job and KNEW her dance.

After the recital we stopped at Chuy's for dinner, at the girls request. I am beginning to think we have successfully brainwashed them. No pictures at Chuy's but believe me we were all successfully satisfied and stuffed after dinner.

We then headed dwon town to see the Christmas lights. This has become one of our favorite traditions while living in San Antonio. Some may say once you have seen the Alamo and Riverwalk once then that is goof enough, but we really enjoy taking the girls their and documenting with pictures each year we have been.



We rode the river barge through the San Antonio River, which isn't very big and not clean at all(we saw a dead mouse) but feel it is the best way to see the lights and riverwalk especially with kids. The girls had a fun time and asked lots of questions about some of the historical sites the tour guide was telling us about.

While we were at the Riverwalk we made our traditional stop in the Texas store to get our ornament for the year. This is another tradition we have. We get a family ornament, which usually is some sort of Texas, country one, then we let the girls pick out something for them that resembles them throughout the year. We didn't find their individual ones but we got two family ones because we couldn't decide. We figured this may be our last year in San Antonio so why not?

Our cowboy boot ornament, with the state of Texas, bluebonnets, and longhorn all on it. A Texas Flag cowboy hat! Both hanging proudly on our tree.

MY 200TH POST!!


Confession! I may be skipping church tomorrow to try and recover from my 12:30 am bedtime on Friday, and my 11:45 pm bedtime, and all while being sick.

Four Eyed Monster

NO! NO! NO!
I'm not making fun of people that wear glasses. I'm only referring to what Mackenzi said when she found out, about a month ago, that she would need to see an eye doctor and possibly get glasses. Her actual statement was, NO! (with her hands over her eyes)I'm going to be a FOUR EYED MONSTER!! I have no idea where she came up with that description, not to mention she has never, ever called Greg or I that when we sport our frames at night. I immediately reassured her that we would find the cutest frames we could find and she would then look as smart as she actually is.

I'm sure all of our girls will be sporting some sort of corrective lenses at some point, since I started wearing glasses in 2nd grade when I was 7, and Greg got them when he was 8. They don't stand a chance, right? For sure we will try our best to choose the cutest most stylish frames and stay away from the Superwoman sketching on the lenses with rose tint that I wore. What was my Mom thinking?

Last Monday, Mackenzi & Maci both had appointments with the eye doctor. This one being the second trip, the first one we sat and waited for an hour and were sent home because of some sort of insurance screw-up!! They both got their eyes examined and dilated and goofy me had my camera in my purse and FORGOT to take a picture. I did take their picture in their very stylish plastic frames to protect their eyes from the sun.



We found out Maci will just need to go back next year and see if she will need glasses then, but Mackenzi definitely wasn't seeing well. We looked at frames their at the doctors office, really only to flatter them, knowing we would shop around to find the cutest and of course best deal we could.

After looking at many, many frames, we opted to get two pair at eyemaster for the price we would have paid for one pair at another place. Mackenzi is definitely my daughter, because she had a terrible time choosing which glasses to get. She decided on a cute purple wire frame (sorry Poppy,we know how you "LOVE" purple) but she does look really cute in them.



She also chose a plastic black pair. She looks really cute and all grown up in these. She was so funny the first few times she would take them off and put them back on agian. One of her comparisons were without out them it was "dusty" and with them it looked "clean". Well, hopefully that means when she has her glasses on, our house will always look clean. In that case, I for sure will be making her wear them all of the time! hehehe!!



She is definitely a far cry from a four eyed monster. She looks just as beautiful with them as she did before. She does look a little more grownup with them which I'm not crazy about. We love you "Kenz"!!

Good mail

Jenny brought by a stash of candy and a sweet card before I left for my getaway weekend. A girl can never carry enough candy with her, right? It helped me while shopping and my sugar was running low. It definitely gave me an energy boost. Thanks Jen for the treats.

I have gotten a few pieces of good mail recently and have needed to post about them. Amie's kids, Jessica & james sent my girls the cutest letter about running errands and shopping with me. They always stop at Wendy's for a Frosty treat when they are out and aobut with their Mom and thought they would enjoy free frosties. We love frosties and will be using these soon! Thanks a bunch Jessica & James & Amie.

Jill sent a lot of her blogging friends the sweetest note and ornament. Mine says HOPE!! How did Jill know this is one of my most favorite words, especially lately. Jill you are the best and I feel so blessed to be connected with you.

Another good mail delivery from Jenny! The girl doesn't stop. I will never catch up to everything she has given me. I will be planning on taking her something and all of a sudden she is standing on my doorstep with a card, flowers, a treat, a Sonic Diet Coke, clothes...I don't even get the chance to pay it forward with her. She is too quick on giving!! She brought me a black shade shirt. For some reason I haven't gotten one and didn't realize it until recently. She also gave me coupons for Shakes and a gift card to Sonic. I'm literally being spoiled everyday by goodies from her and she just called to tell me she is on her way home from Chuy's with some creamy jalepeno dip and chips for me. I'm totally sploiled, what can I say, or maybe she is trying to convinv=ce us to take a job here in San Antonio so we will not have to say our goodbye's for another year and a half, instead of this coming summer.

I am beginning to think someone has sold my personal information to all of the catalog & magazine companies. The past few weeks have been crazy with mail. I am giddy each day when I check the mail anticipating Christmas cards and I open my mailbox to find at least 3 catalogs, magazines, etc. waiting for me. Little do the people sending me these know, is I am so swamped with my everyday duties, Christmas shopping, crafts, cards, school parties, & anything else I'm leaving out, that I have no time to sit and look at these. I've browsed a few of them and then they find a home sitting on the table or kitchen counter for several days. In all honesty I should just not even think I may get a chance to look at them and helo them find a new home, in my trash can.

*Are you getting many Christmas Cards or are the catalogs and magazines taking over the mail system? Do you love chocolate & treats as much as I do?*

They actually missed me!!

My girls were busy cleaning and making welcome home signs for me right before they came to pick me up at the airport. They also, with Daddy's help were busy making homemade chicken noodle soup and cornbread. It was so nice to come home and feel that everyone missed me while I was away. Sometimes I know they seem to have a lot more fun and do funner things when Daddy is in charge.


Maryn's artwork. You have to love the way a 2 year old "writes". She really thinks she is writign words, which is so cute.

Maci's picture of an airplane, our mini van, & the airport. I love it.

Mackenzi's welcome home sign which she used her signature on. So colorful and I love it, too.

Mom & Daughter Weekend

This past weekend was the beginning of a new tradition my Mom wants to have. She has been saying she wanted me, my sister Allison, my sister in law Jessica, & herself to start an annual getaway shopping weekend.



We decided to make our first trip to Frisco, which is North of Dallas, since we planned it over Thanksgiving weekend and it was kind of last minute. I flew out of San Antonio, and they drove to Houston and flew o Dallas from there. We all arrived about the same time(830 a.m.) picked out our rental car and began our two and a half day shopping excursion. We literally shopped until we dropped on Friday. The three of them had been upa nd awake since before 3 am and I got up about 430 am, so after flying, driving, shopping, shopping, & more shopping we were beat. We ate dinner at a Uncle Julios, which was a mexican restraunt that someone recommended to Jess, and then stopped at Wal MArt & Target before crashing at 10 pm.

I set my alarm for 7:30, knowing how dark hotel rooms are and with no kids to wake me, I wouldn't have just woken on my own. I went to the workout room & ran on the treadmill to offset some of the terrible eating I was doing. They all gave me a hard time about not taking the weekend off from exercising, but after I at least walk 6 days a week and soemtimes add a few gym workouts to that, my body doesn't know how to react to not doing anything. Hopefully iut paid off and I didn't gain any weight.




We shopped most of the day on Saturday, one of the highlights being a two hour visit to IKEA. We have been to the IKEA in Houston many times, but there is something about walking around a HUGE brand new store that it mesmorizing. We made record number of visits to Target in a two day period. We were in search of a few things that needed to be in different sizes, colors, etc. so that led us to 4 different Targets about seven times. YEP I said "7"!! We definitely love Target in our family.




It was a fun weekend with many laughs, a few tears, hugs, kisses, & great memories that will last forever. Thanks for a fun weekend, y'all. I love you all so much.

Where are we headed next year? New York, California, Mall of America...?

Surprises

After a rough weekend, this past weekend, I was given a few surprises.



I had watched one of my VTees kids and when she came to get them I was a bit taken back to open the door and find a beautiful poinsetta, Celine's CHristmas CD, and a sweet card left on my doorstep by my sweet husband. Tears welled in my eyes and how lucky and blessed I am to have such a thoughtful man in my life. Thanks babe for making my day!

I told the girl that was picking up my kids that I figured it was from Greg and felt terrible when she said maybe I should hint to her hubby about giving her flowers someday. She said she hadn't gotten flowers from him since they got married almost eight years ago. I didn't know what to say and told her for sure I would be dropping little hints to him so be on the lookout for surprises. Hopefully he will surprise her one day soon.



Then a little while later Jenny brought over some yummy cheese and potato soup,bread, pretty pink roses, and a card. Thanks Jenny for always knowing just what I need when I'm feeling down and blue. You are the greatest!



On my way out to take Maci to dance I stopped to check the mail and was totally surprised to find a package from Natasha from Louisiana. At first I thought it was my pink Christmas gift, but when I opened it, it was jsut a fun good mail delivery. She sent me candy, a cute stamp, some scrapbook embellishments, darling ribbon, a very cute card her daughter designed, and a cute picture of her kids. I have never met Natasha and don't even think she has commented on my blog, but I was so happy to get something so sweet from her. Thanks a ton, Natasha.

Same Look, New Me!

Yesterday I was able to get my hair highlighted and trimmed. It does, of course, look the same but man do I feel like a new me after having it done. There is just something about having my roots touched up and the split ends taken away that makes me feel like a refreshed, happy girl.



Jenny was nice enough to take Maryn right after our walk so I could shower really quick and make it to Sara's in only about 15 minutes. Thanks goodness Sara lives in the next neighborhood over. My hair usually takes about 3 hours to do but I opted just to get the crown done this time so I was done in about 2 hours. I hadn't looked at the clock while I was there but whenever I got in my car and saw it was only 11:10 I was a little excited thinking of the possibility of making it to Chuy's before the lunch rush. Well, when I pulled into Jenny's driveway I rememberd Doug was post call and he had already made it home. I then realized my hopes of making it to Chuy's were slim, since the cold weather the night before, was a huge help to Doug getting to sleep all night. He was ready to hit the road, and was taking Jenny to lunch at Chuy's since her camera had broken. I was a little disappointed, but thought I would make Greg take me & the girls for dinner. We had planned on taking the girls shopping for each others gifts when he got home from work so we could just stop and grab a quick bite at Chuy's.

By the time I picked Mackenzi & Taylor up from activity days and met up with Jenny & Doug, and by the time Maci had picked out the perfect gifts for Mackenzi & Maryn at Target it was getting late. Not to mention Chuy's is a little bit of a drive and at 630 pm there would have been a wait to eat. We went to another mexican place, Salsalito's, before Mackenzi and I were off ot swim. Greg brought Maci & Maryn home and had them in bed when I got home. That was a nice treat to come home to.

So having my hair done today made for a better day than I had been having the few days before, even if no one noticed, not even Greg!!

Giving & Receiving

Our family loves this time of year so we can share with others and have the spirit of giving in our hearts. We have tried to instill this spirit in our girls so they will love givign to others especially those who are less fortunate than us. We love making and delivering treats to friends and neighbors and love shpping for children in the community that will not have a Christmas without the help of others. We are planning on buying toys or clothes for someone in need but haven't done that yet.



One of our favorite things to do is to make these yummy pretzels topped with Hugs and an M&M and give take them to people we Visit & Home teach. Well on Sunday, Greg was working all day & Maryn was down for a nap so I thought it was the perfect time for us to make our treats so we could deliver some when Greg came home. After getting everythin gready I realized Maci had fallen asleep watching a CHristmas movie but Mackenzi anI continued to make them. I figured Maci could help dlever them and she would be happy. When she woke upm she was a bit upset, NOT because we made them without her BUT because I told her they were not for us and she couldn't have any. She soon got happier when I let her eat the ones that were too messy to to give away. We had a fun afternoon and only were able to deliver one set of goodies because it became too late.



It is really easy to do if you ever need a simple treat to give. Just place the hugs on the pretzels and put in a 200 degree oven for just a few minutes (iusually less than five) and then take them out and press an M&M on top. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer so the chocolate will harden and Wholla! Quick, tasty, treat!







The Clouses didn't let us down this year. They were on our doorstep on the day we all thought they would be, dawning their red blinking noses, singing out "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", and bearing our family Christmas gifts. They are so on top of things and really stick to their tradition of bringing our gift on the first FHE of December. Y'all are great and so with it!



Jenny made us this family sign, which I love, a cute "believe" ornament, and then the girls got their Dear Santa clip board. We were all excited to get our gifts and love all of them. Thanks Clouse Clan for being the best friends and neighbors we could ask for. We love you all.