Exhausted!!

I'm worn OUT!! ;D

We've been sooo busy and I have been going to bed sooooo late!! I can't keep my eyes open now and it's only 9:30!!! Ugh!!!

I'm going to have to go to bed and I'll tell you all about the parade, the Chameleon and the Fainting Goat named Oreo some other time... but not tonight, Josephine!!!

Hurry Hurry Hurry! :D

Got to rush a little today!! ;D We have to leave at 9:45am for haircuts!! Then we have to go to the store and hustle home... our friends, Alicia and her family, are coming in from MN for a few days! :D It's really cold out there way and not much warmer up there so I'm hoping for an easy trip for them :}

Today's Advent Cup is Make Chocolate Dipped Pretzels and Eat Some...! Oh... Ok!! :D We have a parade to go to tomorrow morning so that's what the pretzels are for!! :D

Anyway, I have a lot of cleaning, tidying and organizing to do before they get here, so I'm going to dash!! ;D - - - - !! Oh I crack myself up!!

Have a Fabulous Friday! : D

**Sob!!**

**Wails...** I'm not having good financial luck at the moment! :D At one am this morning I found a CREDIT CARD bill I forgot to pay........! ACK! This never happens. I'm VERY fiscally responsible and I'm REALLY upset this happened. THEN today I keep getting messages from Amazon that the card number I have entered is not working ( not the same card, thank god!) and and and.... ugh!! The Amazon stuff is simple to fix but, so frustrating! Just when I was feeling good about getting all my shopping done, and it comes back to haunt me!! ;D

I knew I shouldn't shop so late at night!! ;D

Ugh! :D

Well I went to bed at about 1:40 last night or rather this morning. Bleurgh. I slept like a rock, but then the kids came and woke me up ( WHY!?!?! WHY!?!?! ) at 6:45! That wouldn't be too bad ordinarily but man, I was sleeping so nicely!! :D

It's taking me a while to get moving this morning and it's sooo cold out today! Our advent cup tells me it's Gingerbread Making Day!! Whoopieee!! I do enjoy it, but like the tree decorating, it takes a lot longer than I think it will and it's a pretty involved process..!! Actually I wasn't thinking, today is just the putting together of the dough, that's easy! Tomorrow I will make templates and bake it and then on Monday we are having our Annual Gingerbread House Making Party!! It's a really fun day!!

I think for now I'm going to drag myself upstairs and plunge myself into a cold shower ( hah, hot! I know I won't do a cold shower....!!) and see if I can get myself moving. The kids are out in the "snow" and it's 19 out with a vicious windchill!! They are well bundled and having a ball ! I love when they come in bringing in the cold air and rosy cheeks!! I promised them hot chocolate when they come in today! They've already been out once this morning!! Nutters! The pair of them! They were out playing in the pitch dark and freezing cold last night!!!

Not me! I'm staying IN !! : D

Feliz Navidad....

Actually saying Feliz Navidad reminds me of when Jessie was smaller... I heard her in the back of the car singing along...

"Very Slobby Dog, Very Slobby Dog,
Very Slobby Dog, Yo Spiro hop hop, feleeecy lop..."


*Snort* !!!

Bless her!!! I can't hear the song now without hearing those lyrics!! :D Don't you love when kids sing along!!?!! :D

Zat YOU Santa Claus!?!

By Louis Armstrong.

Heard it?! Find it, listen to it!! It's absolutely awesome!!! The kids and I were in stitches!! :D I find Christmas music online so we have a really wide variety of music. I'm listening to a radio station now and Zat YOU? was on whilst we ate breakfast! Oh it's a hoot!!!!

Listen to it here if you fancy a change!! :D It's called Slacker radio but don't let that put you off!! I'm sure they meant to call it "Great Mom and Very Hard Worker" radio!! :D

Feliz Navidad and all that !!

Oh! It's THAT time of year again!!

I've just spent about 20 minutes getting the kiddoes dressed up to play in the snow! ( there's not much really, a thick layer of dust sort of thing, but that's enough for my two!! ) Anyway, Jack has a vest, undies, a long sleeve shirt, socks, jeans, snow pants, a hoody, sneakers ( I KNOW! I can't find the liners to his boots, I'm pretty sure I stuck them in the Goodwill pile by mistake...!! :}) a pair of gloves, a scarf, a hat and a winter coat on! You have to hustle to get them dressed as otherwise they start to overheat...it takes 20 minutes to get them dressed and who's willing to bet me that they'll be back in within 10 minutes, frozen, and demanding hot chocolate. Oh it takes about 10 minutes to take everything off again and it will no doubt be wet and flung in a heap in the hallway!!!! Ho ho ho !! ;P * sigh *

Don't Absquatulate!!! Stay!!!!!

Don't what!?!? :D Apparently ( and I'm sure it's true, why would they lie? ) Absquatulate means to leave in a hurry or to flee!!! I thought it was such a cool word I'd like to use it in my blog!! :D So there, gentle reader, please, don't absquatulate, sit back, relax, browse through the archives... Stay a while....!!! :D

Hmmm....

In an effort to quickly find something that would keep Jack off the computer whilst I took the dog out I stumbled upon Show Jumping on the TV. Jack was intrigued and I called Jessie to come and look. **WRONG** !! She was, to say the least, excited!! As she was only half dressed and fascinated, it was necessary for her to race up the stairs, grab the remainder of her clothes and then tear back down stairs to finish dressing. She just RAN into the kitchen and said, in a breathless voice, MUM!! Can you please get me a cup of tea! With honey!! I don't want to miss a THING!!!!!!

Oooops.

Can you say hooked??? Can you spell "New Ambition" Can you hear the ching ching of coins spilling from my bank account already?!!?!?!? :D LOL!!!

Keeping the Home Fires burning...

Rex is away in Iowa this week and after a long weekend together his absence is felt even more strongly than usual. He called yesterday afternoon and said that Shrek the Halls and The Grinch would be on TV at 7 and we should all watch it "together" ! I sent the kiddies upstairs to put their PJ's on (TV's always better at night when you're in your pjs!!) and whilst they were up there I popped some popcorn and made some hot chocolate for them. I also lit the fire and lit up the Christmas Tree. It all looked so beautiful and was so cozy! As the movies began we sat together and watched them. Us here at home, Daddy in his hotel. We shared the experience and made a few memories. These are the days of our lives and I treasure them! ;D

Decorating Christmas Trees...

Why is it that the lights are the hardest and most annoying things to put on the trees, but they are the one thing I LOVE the most on trees.....!!! I'm battling away to get them on and keep cheery but GRRRRRR!! LOL!! They make me BONKERS!! ;D

Ah, that time of year again! ;D Good job Hubby just bought me a GREAT big bottle of Kahlua and several small samplers....!!! What a hero, what a guy!!

yeahy!! December is HERE!! :D

Our Advent cup today said "Play Christmas Music all day and decorate the Christmas Trees!!" so that's what we'll be doing today!! There's snow on the ground and lots of Christmas spirit going on!! The kids have had their oatmeal and are desperate to go play outside so I'll send them out whilst I finish up our Christmas cards. I can't believe how many cards there are to mail and my stomach just lurched when I realised how much it's going to cost to mail them all!! :D I may have to get a little ruthless with the list... it's true, I have too much ruth! It's too bad though, when you only hear from someone once a year and then all you get is their name scrawled across the bottom of a card....!! It's not really worth it for them, or you, if you know what I mean!! LOL!! I'd rather have fewer cards with some words written in them then a thousand cards with only a name on the bottom!! Eh, maybe that's just me. And my Mum. !! :D

So, off to start the day!! :D This month is going to be a really busy and exciting one and I . just . can't . WAIT!! :D

*Tsk*

It would seem that some of my posts are posting without Pics.... : ( Boo. I'm sorry about that. I have tried to fix it, I hope it worked... I've been rather picture heavy lately! : D

Let me know if pics aren't coming through, won't you!!

Thanks a million!! :D

Photos from our Thanksgiving table..!

Jack is a bit of jokester.... here he is pretending to be "Grandma" !!! I'm not sure why he thinks Grandma wears her glasses IN her nose, but there ya go! : D

He's actually a dead ringer for her...!! :D




I have NO IDEA where the children get their sense of humor... hmmm......



A familiar pose of Jack's...!



Jessie giggling...!






Our yummy pies....!!

 

And again... see what happens the more sugar they get in their system! :D

 

Me and my Puppy! :D

 

Jack and the cream BEFORE the insanity that was the video clip....!!

 

Jessie going slightly crazy... note the empty plate from the pie...!!!

 

And Jack, trying to hide behind a fork.. Not so successful there, Jackster! :D





We really had a lovely thanksgiving... and yes...we did eat more than pie!! : D

I bet it's for world peace and harmony!!

It's traditional in our family to make a Christmas Cake... its' a fruit cake and I know in America that's French for God Awful but in England and in our house, fruit cake is just fine. The fact that it's made at least a month in advance ( preferably a year, but who's that organized?!?! ) and liberally soaked in Brandy every couple of days ( hours..! ) may have something to do with it! It's also caked in a layer of marzipan and then topped with a thick layer of royal icing... it's something to behold I'll tell ya! My brother and I would always snap off the tips of the frosting so that, though it had started out as a sort of spiky looking cake, it would end up more rounded!!! I think you will either know what I'm talking about or will be totally lost there... ah well... moving on!! :D

Anyway, another tradition with the cake is to stir in a wish when you mix it together. I remember wishing on the cake as a child and we have done every year since. Today was our Christmas Cake making day so we got all the ingredients together and mixed it all up. I made a half sized cake this year, otherwise it's HUGE!!.. As we got ready to mix in the wishes I called my brother in Wales. He, his wife and my nephew all had a wish whilst I stirred for them! I also called my Mum in England and she had a wish too!! I couldn't get hubby on the phone ( he's out shopping..!) so I wished on his behalf but the kids got to wish "Live and In Person!!" Here are the pics to prove it.... they look like pretty serious wishes to me....!! : D

Yes, but can you make a Snowman out of it?!?!

In Nebraska we can be pretty hard up for the white stuff. ONce in a while we get a good snow, but they are rare sights. It's usually too dry around here for anything good, or, ironically, too cold to snow. Sooooo on days when we get a flurry the kids are out enjoying it!!! It's pitiful!!! LOL!!!!

 

 

 

Shopping for Christmas Trees...!!

We love to go and get our Christmas Trees from a local tree farm not too many miles from us. Rex's family have been going there for centuries....(!!)

Yippeee!!!

 

The kids love to just run around and search out trees...! Jack keep shouting out "Here's a TINY one, Jessie!!!"

 

Too much sugar or fresh air?!?! :D

 

Too much fresh air?!!? LOL!!

 

After picking out the tree someone comes and KILLS IT for you ( ahem ) then you go into a little tiny shack with a lovely big heater and you get free hot chocolate and cookies.

 

The kids love to watch the trees get shaken and wrapped....

 

This one was HUGE!!!

 

We weren't sure it would fit in the wrapper.....

 

Is it stuck!?!?!?

 

Nope! They made it ( after a little kicking...!!)

 

 

Even hubby was surprised!!

 

And here's hubby, taking our much smaller tree to the truck!!!

 

Coming soon... DECORATED TREE PICS!!! LOL!!! ( but don't hold your breath!! :D )

Too much???

The piece of pie was too small looking, so I COVERED it with spray cream!!!!

 

... and then I went a little over the top with the hot cocoa.....

 

It has some chocolate chips in the bottom, chocolate powder, then topped with marshmallows, then spray cream, THEN grated chocolate THEN another chocolate chip...!!

Too much!?!? :D

Think!

Jessie had a great time with this week's "Think!" project... she had to go out and gather 7 rocks without being told why... then she had to stack them as high as she could....!!