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Straight from Santa Claus, check this out!!

Santa’s List

Still waiting on the word on the other kidlets

McKenzie started writing these cute little notes to us and leaving them in random places for us to find. Yesterday, I was sitting in my chair, and she slipped one next to me while she was giving me a hug. It was folded up and put in a sweet homemade envelope she’d folded. It just said “I love you Mommy”. So sweet. This morning, I heard her sneak in and out of my bedroom. And I found this one tucked under my pillow:

Then I spotted this one (see it there in the front?) later this evening. This one is still there as it says “To Dad” and Daddy hasn’t yet spotted it so I left it for him to find (HINT HINT David!). These are cute and fun little surprises. McKenzie is so creative and I love it when she does stuff like this!

It was a nice day for a walk, so I went on a walk with McKenzie and Bailey around our neighborhood looking for leaves to “crunch”. McKenzie and Bailey love the crunching leaves sound. We don’t have any big trees on our street or in our yard, so we don’t really have many leaves, but we knew the nature trail would probably have some. And they did. GINORMOUS leaves! I wish we’d taken a walk sooner, because most of the leaves had fallen and were mushy from previous rainfall. It was still a nice walk though.

The girls were mostly just being silly in the pics I took, which was fine with me. If I try to tell them how to stand, smile, pose, they will usually get frustrated and avoid the camera at all costs. They do better when they get to just be silly. So here they are in all their silly-ness. The Mr and Mrs Smith one was McKenzie’s idea. The very bottom one with the huge leaf was me tickling McKenzie’s face with it LOL.

OH! OH! OH! One more thing…. McKenzie is super stubborn about her hair. I mean SUPER stubborn. She has worn big heavy bangs on her forehead since she was itty bitty. I have tried for years to get her to grow her bangs out, but when they get to the point that they are hanging way down in her eyes, I can’t stand it anymore and have to cut them. She has always refused to wear her bangs back. She doesn’t like her forehead or her eyebrows. I have tried SO many times to get her to give it a try. This morning I was brushing her hair after her shower and I put this headband on her. I told her that she is GORGEOUS any way she wears her hair… but that her hair back gave her a totally different look and I just kept telling her how beautiful her face is and how I like to see it once in awhile. The nice thing about her head of bangs, she could wear them straight and down like normal or go for something different like this. I was so happy that she finally agreed to try this out today… and she wore her hair back ALL day. She really does have a beautiful face… and I feel like her bangs are always covering so much of it up. I want her to be confident any way she looks… and am so glad she isn’t feeling self conscious about her forehead for the time being.

 

 

Belated Birthday I should say… Libby turned 4 on 11/2. McKenzie planned this big party for her pups last weekend but it rained all day. So we pushed it to this weekend.

She had plans, lots of plans. I really think my little girl has a future in party planning. She made invitations. And lists. And Signs. And goody bags. So, I pretty much let her loose to plan what she wanted. She invited all the dogs on our street (and their humans got to attend also). She invited Plain Grandma and her pups Shelby. Games ranged from musical chairs (but on the street and with music from a tiny alarm clock with horrible sound), to a dance off, to dog races, and more. This party was to start at 2pm, but the girls and their friends were outside making a sign before most people are even done with breakfast. All the kids in the neighborhood helped with the sign. SO cute. You know my stinky dog is LOVED. The kids had to wait for Shelby to arrive, which was fashionably late about 4:30pm LOL. They had fun and the girls were very proud of their work so it was a success! Libby is probably traumatized for life, but how often does a dog get a birthday party, right? LOL

This website comes highly recommended from Miss McKenzie herself! She gave it two thumbs up. It’s too hard for Bailey, because you do have to be able to read on your own to understand most of it. She wings it though Pixie Hollow is a Disney site. Your ‘lil princess enters her own fantasy fairy world through Pixie Hollow, by first selecting and naming her very own fairy. McKenzie’s is “Rainbow Gem”. There are some preselected “handles” to pick from. From there you can dress your fairy, play games, search for other fairies and “pixie dust” and just play around in fairy land. It’s pretty cute. My girls love fairies

www.pixiehollow.com

I have been collecting toy catalogs I’ve gotten in the mail for the last few weeks and set them aside to use for my kidlets’ Christmas wish lists. I have been trying to come up with an “easy” way for them to all work on their own lists, including Bailey who can’t quite write well enough to make a list from scratch. I thought about having them cut pictures out of these catalogs, but then I realized that might cause some bickering. Threw that idea out the window… and I decided to pull out some old price stickies from a garage sale we had and first assigned each kidlet a color, followed by writing their first initial of their name on each label (this is wear I say “YAY” that I decided not to begin all of their names with the letter “K” so our Christmas cards would look “cute” LOL). Well Katy didn’t have a label color, but I didn’t think she’d make a list from the Walmart toy catalog anyway

The kids had fun going through the catalogs and picking out what they want to ask Santa for. I posted previously about how to write letters to Santa here. I am hoping to help them get their letters in the mail in the next week or so.

I haven’t had a chance to look through these catalogs to see just what the kids’ marked, but it should be interesting to see what they want this year. I really am not sure what to expect. Well, except for McKenzie’s guitar. We’ve had two guitars purchased as gifts for kids in the past. Katy and Ashlyn have both gotten them. Guess how many times they’ve been used? Less then 5. Total. No more guitars!! Tanner and Ashlyn have pretty much outgrown “toys”. I won’t be shopping the preschool aisle at all for the first time in probably 16 years! But I’m not quite done with what my Uncle Butch refers to as “the pink aisle” yet. That’s the home of all those pink Barbie and girly girl doll boxes And thanks to my two little nephews, I get to shop for little boy toys, which I totally stink at!

Anyhoo, some pictures of the kidlets scouring through the catalogs tonight!

It really feels like Christmas is just around the corner, and I know it will be here so fast. 42 more sleeps!

Oh and congrats on another win to the Blazers. WOOHOO!!

Ashlyn is my athelete. I never would have pinned her for an athelete when she was little. She was all girly girl. She was (and still is) my artist. My “fall and get hurt, scream like I lost my right arm” girly girl. Now she’s TOUGH, grrr! She loads her Christmas wishlist up with things like Transformers and Spiderman figures. Crazy girl. She still has her girly girl side though which I guess makes her well rounded and sets her apart from my other goofy kids. She loves being active, which means participates in every club and activity she hears about. She also tries out every sport that she can. She’s played softball since she was 5 years old and is quite good! But, that is the only sport she’s ever really played. Now that she’s in middle school, she’s been able to try volleyball and basketball as well. These are first experiences for her, she is so tiny compared to the rest of the kids! These two sports in particular do seem to be easier for the kids that have height and strength on their side, but she’s a trooper and continues to try. This makes those baskets she hits and the balls she gets over the net even more special for her. She’s a great teammate and it’s quite exciting to watch her become more skilled and to see her sportsmanship come into play.

She came home from a game the other day and said they creamed the other team, by quite a few points. She said the other team was so nice, though, that when one of our players fell down, the other team would offer a helping hand and help us up. A great lesson to learn in sports. It’s not ALL competitve, you can care about your opponents

So this post is just to share a few cute pictures I took at her last basketball game! Bailey had dance afterwards, so that’s why you see her in her little dance outfit

I stumbled across some project ideas on the Box Tops for Education website. We save these, but I was just waiting to have enough that would be worth a decent chunk of money to send them in. Each box top is worth 10 cents. The kids are great about spottin them and cutting them out to save. I will go to open a box of cereal and see the box top missing already LOL. Anyway, when I found this site, I thought it would be fun to do a “Thanksgiving” project and tie it in with a donation of $1.00 to the kids’ school. The completed sheet is worth $1.00, it was a good Math lesson for Bailey We’ll probably do some more this way, as there are a few different ones to choose from! Check it out!

I was picked to host my third House Party. I have to say submitting applications to the House Party site and being rejected over and over again was beginning to be frustrating! I finally got one that I really wanted! The Pre-Holiday party featuring Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Tara Leigh music, and Aerobed! I received so many fantastic goodies in the mail, all for free! I was so excited about the Harry Connick Jr Christmas CD. I also got a CD of various popular songs from different genres, including one of my current favorite songs “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock! They included 4 coupons for FREE cream cheese, then a bunch of coupons for $1.00 off a package of cream cheese, which it so often goes on sale 10 for $10 that I shouldn’t have to pay for cream cheese for the next 6 months LOL! Also a ton of neat recipes. The tin is filled with recipe cards! So I’ll keep applying at House Party and I encourage you to as well. It’s free!!

McKenzie and Bailey are enjoying the eye masks that Aerobed sent. McKenzie thinks that she gets better “beauty sleep” using hers and Bailey walks around in the middle of the daytime trying to find her way around “blindly”. Goofballs. If you are in the market for one of these Aerobeds, just head on over to the Aerobed website and they have some special house party discounts!

BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO ME THIS WEEK

David and I were able to go out on Thursday evening and watch a Blazers game. Part 2 of that, is they won in the final SECOND of overtime. YAY! It was exciting!

WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

It’s raining! It’s a perfectly rainy, stormy, glorious Fall day! I absolutely love it! We have nowhere special to be today. The kids are all playing nicely and I’m enjoying the Love Comes Softly series on Hallmark. I couldn’t ask for a more relaxing lazy day.

WHAT I AM CURRENTLY INTERESTED IN THIS WEEK

I am looking forward to taking my Halloween decorations down and cleaning everything to get ready for my Christmas decorations. I am also very much looking forward to the CMA Music Awards on Wednesday. This like the Oscars for me (and I love those too!). It’s my favorite awards show ever, and I couldn’t be more excited about the two hosts: Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley. I am workin quite a bit this week, so I’m not sure I’ll have much time for any major projects. We’ll see! I have to sit down with the kids and make their wish lists and we need to get started on giving their rooms a deep clean. Not looking forward to that!

FROM THE GARDEN - CHANGING TO - WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR

I am thankful for our lower fuel costs. I’m thankful for my hubby’s job and the stability that has given us. I am also thankful for my job which continues to help out when we need it the most. I am also thankful to all of the many blogs I read daily that help me find inspiration to take care of my family through bargains, motivation for family activities, and more.

WHAT I NEED TO DO TODAY

Well, I don’t really need to do anything. I am having a lazy day. At the very minimum, I need to feed and bathe my kids. LOL. I also do need to get some laundry and dishes done so that I feel like I did get something accomplished today, but my body and mind really just needed a break after a busy week at work. So… what I need to do today is: RELAX and cuddle with my kids while we watch tv and play games

WHAT’S FOR DINNER?

My mind has been going back and forth with this all day. I have settled on grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. That was going to be our lunch, but the kids opted for corn dogs. So, it makes an easy dinner night and a meal I know the kids will all eat every bit of

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Well, I’m going to pick the one I found this neat survey on. I was doing a search for a Christmas planner and found her blog: My Home For The Holidays

Found this coupon the other day and I had forgotten about it… but then saw it again over at Coupon Geek and it reminded me to print it out. It’s a pdf file, so there are no limits to how many coupons you can print. (These would make great stocking stuffers!) Just print fast before they take it down. Coupon Geek suggests using this Q in combination with the Walgreens Easy Saver coupon for $2 off a brush, so you’d have a total of $4 off one of their Ouchless line of brushes. I don’t know what those brushes retail for, but it sounds like a good deal! I also know that Walmart and Target have the ouchless headbands and ponytail holders Ashlyn loves to wear to basketball and she seems to lose them almost as fast as I buy them. I think they are right around $2.00 so this coupon would make them almost free!

>Print your coupons here<

Who doesn’t love free pictures? Have one printed for yourself or for a Christmas gift for a family member. You simply upload your photo to the Walgreens website, and enter the code FREEPIC at checkout. Ahhh the thrill of a good freebie

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