Oh happy day!

Ok, so I pour myself a bowl of cereal this morning, (I have granola with raisins every day.)I'm on my way to the fridge to get some milk and I look down to see this. No, seriously...I didn't touch a thing! There is a happy face in my bowl of cereal!! After I show everybody who will listen, I ran to grab my camera. Surely this is a sign of how my day will be, right? After several incidents, (One of which included Bryson knocking an entire bowl of cereal and dried fruit out of my hand and all over the car), I decided that the face must represent a mischevoius smirk instead of an actual "smile". The joke is on me! ;-)

Ok, I'll play along....

Read this on Nicole's blog the other day and then I just got this email from my friend Susanne. It's always fun to read other's responses to these so here goes:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper is just more fun to open.
2. Real tree or artificial? I've never had a real tree. Had friends who did...love the smell, not the mess.
3. When do you put up the tree? I used to put it up the first weekend after Halloween (oh yes, you heard me right) Now I have to wait until after Braden's birthday (Nov 4th)
5. Do you like eggnog? No
6. What about Fruitcake? Not that regular candied fruitcake...YUCK! It's always been a family tradition to make a graham cracker based version, though. YUM!
7. Favorite gift received as a child? I always looked forward to the big box of nuts and chocolates we got each year
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
9. Hardest person to buy for? Thomas' parents!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I plead the 5th
12. Mail or email Christmas cards? I usually make them..... Don't expect any this year!
13. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, Rudolph, Polar Express....too many to name! I love them all.
14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Halloween

15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh yeah!
16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom's ham, chocolate pretzels, peanut butter bon bons
17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear, please.
18. Favorite Christmas song? I am so totally addicted to the Rat Pack Christmas CD this year. I'd have to say "Baby, it's cold outside" by Dean Martin
19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? We always go to my mom's on Eve and have both our parents over Christmas morning for breakfast.
20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer , Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph
21. Angel on the tree top or a star? Big gold bow
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Well.....we're bad at my house. I let the kids open one gift each Saturday in December. I guess because I was always BEGGING to open something early as a child. My parent's liked to watch me go nuts I think ;-)
23. What is the one present you want most this year? To see my kids' smiling faces on CHristmas morning. What better gift than that?
24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People are so hard to buy for this year!
25. What I love most about Christmas? Thomas getting to be off work so much and Braden being out of school. We get to all be together for so long!

75 degrees in the middle of December???

Well, that's what it was here today! Unbelieveable! What a beautiful day, but it made it so hard to believe that Christmas is only 2 weeks away. I took the kids out to enjoy it and Megan came over for a bit to join them. It was fun while it lasted....The high temp 5 days from now is supposed to be 38!

Mmmm.....yummy

And what says "Christmas" like a pair of new red flannel pajamas? One for each of us, I might add. I am crazy about pjs. In fact, if you came by my house after 6pm pretty much any day of the week, chances are, you'd see me in them. It's one thing you can never have too many of. There's nothing like being comfy at the end of the day!

And that was my adventure for the day.

Mission accomplished!

What could be more fun...

than a cookie decorating party! We're going to have a few of Braden's friends from school over in a couple of weeks to decorate cookies. After seeing this idea in Real Simple Magazine, I knew I had to do one! I mean, really.... a bunch of kids, cookies, icing, every sugary candy topping you could think of. Hmmmm........you might want wanna check back with me after the messy chaos and see if I am still as thrilled with the idea. ;-)

Long overdue Halloween Photos

Ok, per request from friends, here are a couple of photos from Halloween. Please excuse the wonky blue tone as I had just gotten my new camera and hadn't figured out how to change the settings yet! The first one is my favorite and I totally can't believe I even caught it. Was snapping away when Braden's little girlfriend said "Get one with me kissing him!" Of course, I was expecting a little peck on the cheek, but as you see, she laid it on him....right on the lips! GASP!

And here, you can see my little dragon grabbing up a handful of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters at the front door. Both of the boys like giving out the candy as much as they like getting it, I think.

A night of too much candy, hyper kids and lots of fun!