Not in Order...

Since I am still not organized from Christmas, I am not posting in chronological order. Besides, you know how they say if you ever want to start scrapbooking you should start current and then when you get that finished, you should work your way backwards so that you don't get overwhelmed. Well, that's what I am doing now. Trying to avoid being overwhelmed.

This was breakfast yesterday:

Strawberries and Apples dipped in melted chocolate

Carter being the boy that he is and so very different from Emily "created art" on his piece of chocolate and insisted that I take a picture of each side because there was something different on all six sides.

We had fun and as an added bonus, I've never seen Emily and Carter eat so much fruit at one time!!! It's still good for you even if it is covered in chocolate, right??

Casey was asleep still for most of this, but when he finally woke up, he decided he didn't want anything right away. Then, he wanted to dig into the Christmas candy...go figure! There's no fruit in that...where's my rationale for that breakfast?

A quick funny story

So I don't forget...

The other night we were goofing around before bedtime as we often do and playing pig pile on whomever, usually daddy because he can take it. Anyway, I had told the kids not to jump on me. It hurts Moma ,I said. They were all goofing around and being silly and I went into the bedroom with Emily for a little quiet to be able to read with her for her homework. Al tells me later, that as he and Carter are in the bathroom brushing their teeth, Casey comes in and whispers to Carter, "I have a secret. Come here." Then, when Carter gets closer, he says, "Go jump on Moma!"

Al has dubbed him our "ringleader":)

Since I haven't posted in a while...

We've had a snow day already this year and this is what we did...Al had hurt his shoulder at work, so I was designated snowball lifter! Wowie!! These were the biggest snowmen we've ever made and it took everything I had to lift them up!! We took Em's picture this way because she wanted to be sure and point out that she made a "baby" snowman and attached it to her "Moma" snowman near the middle here.


Carter's snowman is even taller than he is! Whew!! (Too bad, that it was so warm that day and after we made them, they started to melt. Then it got really cold, so now we have some kinda sad looking snowmen in our yard. Oh well. It was fun times spent with my kids in the snow!) When we brought our tree in the house, Al needed to cut off a few branches from the bottom to fit it in our house and stand. This is where the kids put "baby" tree. I just thought it was too cute!

Yesterday, we got about 12 inches of snow!!! Needless to say, Christmas vacation started a day early and we didn't go anywhere all day. When Al got home from plowing snow for 12 hours in nearby town, he brought the skid loader into town and piled a mountain of snow in our yard almost as tall as our house!!! The kids will be the envy of everyone near and far, I'm sure!

All I Want For Christmas...

All I want for Christmas is a few crafty kits...
I want lotsa toys! Hey and check out my belly button, Santa!
I'm serious here, all I want is a remote controlled train...


Conversation with Carter about Santa:

Carter: Mom, why does Santa have a strap on his beard?
Me: Well, Carter, he really isn't Santa, he's Santa's helper because Santa is sooo busy right now he doesn't have time to visit everywhere. So his helper is "helping" but yet needs to look like Santa.
Carter: Mom, where are Santa's boots? He's wearing tennis shoes.
Me: Well, Carter, maybe they were wet, and he's drying them out.
Carter: Or maybe they're over there! (pointing to a wonderful display in this library where Santa is stuck upside down in a chimney made of red books!)
Carter: Mom, can we stay and watch Santa leave? I wonder how he leaves.
Me: I don't think he brought the reindeer this time, Carter.
Carter: Not the reindeer mom, but the sleigh!

What I found

Al's so funny. Always making me laugh. I really love that about him. He took 80 some pictures with my camera of us getting the tree and setting it up, etc. And this is what else I found!
So, even though he is getting up at 2 a.m. and going to work plowing snow before he picks up garbage to get home at 4-5 p.m. and then plow snow at home and go to bed again, I still get a smile and a laugh! Love you dear!

O Christmas Tree, How Lovely Are Your Branches

We are on a hunt for the best Christmas tree ever! It is awfully cold though, so we are trying to hurry and Casey is just trying to keep up. I remember one year when it was warm and we wore light jackets to pick out our tree. Not so this year!
We found a beautiful white pine, long, soft needles that smell so good in the house. Full branches just waiting to be hung with ornaments.
The guys at the tree place we go to, (we've visited the same family owned place for, oh probably, 10 years) decided it would be fun to build a snowman. He was great! Big and huggable!
Our own little tree came complete with some of its own decorations! We've never had a tree like that before! How cool is that?
I don't know what Casey and I are talking about...Al was snapping away and I thought this picture looked cute.


Casey hung most of his ornaments from the bubble lights.
Here's one of my pinecone ornaments that we left in the tree. I just think that is so cool!
Carter had his own special spot in the tree too....
And the favorite Christmas decoration is this nativity that my mom made for my grandma many many years ago. It is needle point and very special to me. Carter begged and begged until I let him and Emily play with it. One year, we had to hunt for baby Jesus because he is the favorite piece and tends to wander away from the nativity.

Please ignore the mess that is STILL there and need to find a home, but hey, at least the decorations fit around it and it feels more like Christmas now!

Old Fashioned Christmas

The vocal music teacher at our school is really great. She designs a kind of musical each year for the elementary Christmas concert with acting parts, costumes and of course, singing. Last year they wore pjs, hats, mittens, and scarves and acted out a snowball fight. This year the theme was an Old Fashioned Christmas and an older gentleman read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas while the kids sang and dressed in their Christmas best. I was glad we finally got another chance to wear our Christmas best before it doesn't fit anymore.

Emily looked so pretty and Carter was such a handsome boy.

And while Emily and Carter were singing their hearts out, Casey was doing this....
And this!!!

Snow

Whew!! All the corn is out and we can finally enjoy the snow for its beauty and fun!