Christmas--Part I

Wow!  So much blogging to catch up on!

I'll back up a bit and post through Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day will have to be its own post!

The Friday before Christmas, both girls had their classroom Christmas parties.  Fun was had by all.

Landry and her best bud, Kelan, with their pepperoni Rudolph noses.

Landry and her teacher in their matching I heart Santa shirts. 

Next was Korley's party.  She ate a ton of sugar and stuck her tongue out at me a lot.  By the way, I DID NOT fix her hair this way.  Some teacher "re-fixed" it before the party and Korley loved it. 

We went to Arlington the Monday before Christmas.  The girls and I decorated some ornaments on the blizzardy Christmas Eve. 

Such concentration.

This was our house in Lubbock on Christmas Eve.  We weren't there--our neighbor sent us this picture.  We apparently got a ton of snow, though!

We got snow in Arlington, too!  My parents' house.....

and street.

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house.  We always have Christmas music playing in the background while we're eating in the dining room.  While we were eating, Korley told me she had to go potty.  I told her to get down and go.  A couple of minutes later my sister said, "um, Korley's not going potty--she's dancing in the living room".  What else are you gonna do when the mood strikes?

They've got their fingers on the seam of the wrapping paper just waiting to tear into it.  They can hardly stand it.

More to come tomorrow!

From Our URL to Yours......

Random Stuff

Last Wednesday, Fuddrucker's had a dinner night for the families from Landry's school.  While Landry enjoyed seeing a lot of her friends outside of school, the highlight of the evening was seeing Santa (again!). 

Korley happened to catch him at a time when no other kids were waiting to talk to him and she talked his ear off.  There would be a natural break in the conversation (well, as much of a natural break as a conversation with a three-year-old will allow) and he'd say, "Well, have a Merry Christmas!" and put her down, and then she would climb back on his lap and ask another North Pole question. 

Here, she is asking him about Stevie (our Elf on a Shelf).  She is VERY paranoid about the reports Santa might be getting from Stevie. 

Landry had her turn with Santa, too.  I don't think she was as interested to talk to Santa as much as she was interested in getting a full-size bag of Skittles from him.  Additionally, she is NOT paranoid about what Stevie might be reporting to Santa. 

The previous Wednesday night, the choir kids from church went to sing their Christmas songs to some folks living in a nearby Retirement Home. 

The kids did a great job and were so respectful and loving to the residents there. 

After they sang in the common area, we split up into groups and went to some of the residents' doors to hand out cards the kids had made.  Some of the residents that couldn't make it down to the common area asked the kids to sing for them. 

One lady told the kids that they "made her Christmas".  She was so happy that they were there.  She said that she didn't have any family, and that the card they made for her meant so much to her.  It was really sweet, but so sad. 

While I'm thinking about it, any family that might be reading this, please don't ever put me in a Retirement Home.  It has nothing to do with not being in my familiar surroundings, or being alone, or not being independent.  It has everything to do with the temperature.  I don't think I will survive with the thermostat set to 82 degrees!

This past Monday, Landry had a mother/daughter party for her girls' group formerly known as Brownies (did I ever blog that we got kicked out of Girl Scouts?) (well, we did) (fyi, here's my thoughts on Girl Scouts--they make awesome Thin Mints).

Anyway, we went to a mother/daughter Christmas pancake/pajama party.  See all of those girls wearing their pajamas?  Had there been a picture of the moms, you would see that I was the only mom wearing pajamas.  Kind of embarrassing, but I was comfortable.

Anyway, they made gingerbread houses, ate pancakes, and had a book exchange.

We brought a Christmas-themed Junie B. Jones book.  As the girls were opening their books, the mom of the girl who got the Junie B. Jones book was standing beside me and going on and on about how she couldn't stand Junie B. Jones books.  I just kind of nodded and gave a nervous laugh.  Then, the girl and Landry came running up to show off their books to us and Landry said, "Look, Mom!  She got the book we brought!"  Suddenly, wearing pajamas was the less embarrassing element.

And, just because, Merry Christmas from Baxter.  :)

99 bottles.....

Kids can practice their counting using anything these days......

Why My Fat Jeans Are Now My Skinny Jeans

Every year, I always hear my real friends and blog friends talk about all of the Christmas baking they are doing.

I usually nod along and then start nervously shifting in hopes that the subject changes soon (to my real friends, not blog friends).

I don't bake.  (Or cook.  Or grill.  I barely microwave.)

So, needless to say, I'm not one of those people that always has Christmas goodies sitting around the house during the holidays.

But, last week I was at Hobby Lobby and they had their cute Christmas tins 50% off. 

I bought 14 of them. 

Generally, this probably would have given me buyer's remorse, but I only spent $14 total--plus, if you've ever stood in the Returns & Exchanges line at Hobby Lobby, you know it's just better to keep whatever you bought no matter how much you paid.

I didn't really have any plans for the tins at the time I was impulse purchasing, but I thought they would be cute Christmas goodie tins to give to neighbors and teachers and such. 

What to make?

I didn't want anything too difficult or time consuming.  Or, anything that required a lot of kitchen tools.  I don't even have a rolling pin.  Or a sifter.  I have a mixer, but it's WAAAAAAAY in the back of a cabinet and so not worth trying to get out. 

I remembered that I had seen a simple recipe last year around Christmas-time, and it looked really good to me--which is really important.

So, here's what I made:

Rolo Pretzels.....or, A Little Piece of Heaven

You experienced bakers are probably rolling your eyes because you heard of these things 20 years ago--and, you've moved on to something more complicated that involves a rolling pin and a sifter.

But, let me tell ya--uncomplicated or not, I've got to get these things out of my house before I eat another a tin full!

In my opinion, it's the perfect treat because it combines salty and sweet!

If you're a novice like me and are interested in the "recipe", here it is:

Ingredients:

--small pretzel twists (or you can use the square pretzels)

--Rolos

--pecan halves

Directions:

--preheat oven to 350

--take the wrapper off all of the Rolos

--spread a bunch of pretzels on a cookie sheet

--put a Rolo on top of a pretzel, and a pecan half on top of the Rolo

--bake for about 4 minutes

--remove from oven and allow to cool

That's it! 

Do any of you have any easy Christmas goodie recipes that you'd like to share??  Something easy....with no rolling pins or sifting required!

2nd Annual Polar Express

Last Sunday night, we went on the Polar Express again. 

I think this year was even better than last year.  Korley is at the age where everything is exciting and magical.  And, we went with our neighbors, whose little boy is her age and her best friend, so that made it even more fun and special for her. 

Landry was VERY excited about the Polar Express last year; however, she thought we were going to the real North Pole. So she was a little disappointed when we stopped in a half-unharvested cotton field (snow effect) near Levelland which housed a wooden barn with the words "North Pole" written in lights on the door.  Let down.

This year, though, she realized we were going to the "pretend" North Pole and she was more excited just to ride on the train.  She also got to bring her friend Kellan, which made the whole experience really fun for her. 

Here are the girls in their jammies before we left the house.

The Polar Express.  Isn't the scenery beautiful and magical?  :)

Korley and her friend Hayden

Landry and Kellan played their DS's pretty much the whole time.  Sigh......

Receiving our cookies Mrs. Claus baked us.

The conductor is giving Landry and Kellan a hard time for playing their games. 

They did take a small break, though, for hot chocolate!

We finally made it to the Levelland North Pole.

And, Santa came aboard.

Korley, of course, told him that she wanted skates. 

Go Tell It On The Mountain

I'm a little behind on blogging.

I intended on finishing my blog posts from last weekend earlier this week.

I didn't intend on getting a computer virus and not having my computer for the rest of the week. Bummer.

But, I'm back in business now and plan to catch up.

Last Sunday morning, the kids' choir that Landry's sings in at church performed in both services. 

The kids sang so well and it was really cute! 

Here she is dressed in her Sunday best with Korley. 

This is Landry and her good friend, Kellan, before the performance.  These two are so much alike it's scary. 

Singing.....

Here she is singing her solo in "Go Tell It On The Mountain".  She did an AWESOME job.  I don't know why she never gets nervous singing in front of a crowd.  She definitely didn't get that from me.  I break out in hives just speaking to a group of 5 or more. 

What does make her blush, though?  Accidentally singing during somone else's solo.  Oops. 

Here are the kids performing with our music minister, Andy.  They loved singing a song with him!

We are so proud of Landry's love for the Lord!

Maddening

My PC got a bad virus today.

So, first thing tomorrow it will be shipped to the PC infirmary to be reimaged.

Fun times.

Will post more when I get my PC back. 

(P.S.  I hate this machine!!)

Weekend!

First things first.....don't you love my new blog design?

I was ready for a change and Traci at Sweet Cheeky Designs worked with me on my fabulous re-do!  Thanks, Traci--you do amazing work!!

We had a really busy and fun weekend!

The first few months we were in Lubbock were really quite miserable for me.  It was the first time in my life that I have lived somewhere where we really didn't know anyone.  I don't embrace change very well and this move was quite the adjustment!

Shortly after we moved here, we joined a gym/tennis club.  I hadn't played tennis since high school, but I dusted off my ancient Wilson Hammer and started participating in tennis clinics and ladies' play days.

Before too long, I had found a group of ladies that I enjoyed playing with and we formed our own league team.

My tennis friends are an eclectic bunch.  We range in age from 25 to 60s (which really is the new 40s), and have lots of different life experiences and backgrounds.  But I'm so grateful to have had these ladies in my life during my transition here. 

We had a little Christmas party/ornament exchange Friday night.  It was fun to get together and talk and laugh away from the court.  AND, it's always nice to be able to see each other with our hair fixed, make-up on, and in "real" clothes. :)

Trish, Amy, Carol, Lesley, Jess, Melissa, Shanna, and Amber--love you gals!!

More to come really soon--this was a busy weekend and I have to break it up into separate posts!

Guess Who's Celebrating a Birthday Today??

THIS GUY! 

Lulu on PW

My sister's picture made Pioneer Woman's Confession page today!!!

Click HERE to see the post!

FYI, here pic is the first one posted.

Santa....through the years

While we were in Dallas over Thanksgiving, we made our way up to Allen to have the girls' picture made with our favorite Santa.


You may remember, that last year we were a little disappointed when we got to Stonebriar Mall and our favorite Santa had been replaced. So, we were happy to find him this year!


Especially Korley. She quickly told him she wanted skates, and then as any good three-year-old would do, she figuratively put him on the witness stand and asked a round of questions.


What's on your face? Why do you have a beard? Why is it white? What are you doing here? Where are the reindeer? Are the reindeer pooping?--Everything we've ever wanted to ask Santa.

Santa 2009

And, as I often enjoy doing--here is a trip down memory lane.....

Santa 2008

Santa 2007

Santa 2006

Santa 2005

**no Santa 2004--there was only so much trauma we all could endure**

Santa 2003

Santa 2002