Done, Done, and Done.

So many projects and I'm finally done.  It seems like I have been doing some sort of Christmas project since Halloween.  I finished all my baking and most of them have been delivered.  Then I finished my job charts for the kids (which is really a present for me), I finished the coat I made for my niece, Kenzy, and I finally finished all 4 dresses for my girls and Kenzy.  Best part is, I have days left until Christmas, yep 2 days to relax.  Okay, lets be realistic, I have to clean  the house and get ready to go to Manti and to have visitors on Sunday.  here are the finished projects, I will post pics of the girls in their dresses after they open them.

Job Charts:

!st I drew cute pictures to represent each chore (each kid gets a laundry basket, toys, bed and reading, then all the others rotate), then I glued on flat, glass rocks with E6000 glue.

I use pizza pans and a fancy cricut with vinyl, then cut out and mod podged the backs of each rock.

Then I added magnets to the back of each, and picked who gets which chores (this will change regularly), and then added a ribbon.  Are you jealous now Ann?

Coat for Kenzy, just to Grandma specifications: 

Fleece lined pea coat, perfect for Sundays.

(My model Ryann decided she wants one too, maybe for Easter.) 

Dresses:

Ryann tried on Kenzy's dress.  She doesn't know that she's getting one too.  It's nice having a model that is the same size.  Kenzy's has more gathering than the other 3, you'll see theirs after Christmas.

Word to the wise... if you are going to make 4 dresses in time for Christmas.  Save yourself some time and frustration.  Don't make your own patterns.  Ugh, what a headache, but at least they are cute.

And just so you know, I finished all this earlier.  My computer wasn't cooperating for me to post and now I can't sleep.

Shooting or Freezing?

We love spending time together.  Shooting is always fun, freezing, not so fun.

Phoenix and Blake taking turns playing with his toy 1911.

Jen shooting the super shorty AK.

Damon's friend hooked us up at the shooting range.  We got our own bay with targets.

Usually we shoot at paper or garbage.  There is definitely something to be said about instant results.

Those metal targets fall back when you hit them, then you pull a string and they all flip back up.

I'm proud to say, I hit 5 in a row, reloaded, then hit 7 in a row.  Yeah for me.

Then to boys shot the AK's and tested their speed using a chronograph.  Pretty cool toy.

I had to join the kids in the truck to warm up.

 

It was starting to get painful not having circulation.  Stupid Raynauds!

I'm Melting!

Yep, another idea from Pinterest. 

I think this one has been done by a number of different people.

I just used my own Sugar Cookie Recipe.

Cream:

3/4C butter (butter makes everything better)

1 C sugar

Add:

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Combine, then add:

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 C flour

Refrigerate 2 hours, roll out, bake 400 degrees for 7 min.

Now to add them to all the other goodies we made this week. 

Now we just need to make some time to deliver them. 

Because you can never have to many treats around the holidays.



Visit from Santa

Last night we had a couple of visitors. 

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit and check up on the kids.  It was a good thing too, these kids have been out of control.  It seems like the closer Christmas gets, the more excited they get and they just can't control themselves. 

Well Santa and Mrs. Claus let the kids sit on their laps, asked what they have been doing to be good, asked what they wanted for Christmas and gave them each a bunch of candy canes (each kid got multiple).

Here are the cute pics.

Phoenix

Ryann

Hailee

Blake

Thanks again for coming Santa and Mrs. Claus.

(It sure is great that my visiting teacher and her hubby do this every year.)

Also in the last few days I have been suite busy.  Baking, baking, baking.

We made ginger snaps, butter cookies (Damon's favorite), caramels (which I burned, so I'll be making a different batch), and brownie Chirstmas trees.

All of the treats will be going to neighbors and friends, along with melted snowman cookies, caramels (not the burnt ones), and some caramel puffed corn (yep Sheri, the yummy stuff).

On Friday we went with Nanny and Kevin to dinner and back to their house for our graham cracker contest.  Let's just say, this wasn't as good of a year for us as last year.

We won the "Best Attempt Award".  That is as good as, "thanks for showing up".  At least we had a great time with a bunch of friends.

Our chicken coup (Good idea, bad execution).

7 swans a swimming, 6 geese a laying, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle Doves,

and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Why on earth would my true love give me all these stupid birds?

I can't believe I did that.

Going to Walmart any time during the last couple of weeks before Christmas is a dumb idea.  I needed to get a bunch of groceries and was planning on price matching a number of items, so I had to go to the Walmart.  I was planning on going early in the day to miss the crowd.

  Well yesterday morning I wasn't feeling very good.  My stomach hurt and my guts just weren't right.  I decided to put off my Walmart trip until I picked Hailee up from school, then she could help carry in groceries and what not.  We didn't actually make it there until just after 4, much too close to the after work shopping hours. 

As we pulled in the parking lot a lot happened at once.  The lady in the stall next to me was so worried about not hitting me or any of the kids, that she didn't pay attention to the car behind her.  I hurried to get out of the car to tell her, while at that same moment a guy came up to me asking if I wanted to buy some tamales, and Hailee got the rest of the kids out of the car.  I helped the older lady back up her car, informed the guy that I didn't want any tamales, and thanked Hailee for helping with the kids.  I grabbed my purse and locked the car to head in to do our shopping.  Then Hailee asks, "why is the car still running?".  I had locked the keys in the ignition with the car still running.

I can't believe I locked my keys in the car while it was still running. 

I am so thankful for cell phones.  I called a friend, sent her to my house to get the spare keys, and had her come bring them to us at the Walmart.  We, the 4 kids and myself, went into to wait.  Now it was getting to the extreme shopping hours right before Christmas.  "I hate this!"  She finally gets there to rescue us.  I thank her and get the car keys and lock the car properly. 

I was so annoyed with myself, I decided to just get what I needed and be on my way.  Well since I was already there in the mayhem, I thought I might as well get everything so I don't have to come back.  Well we got almost everything on the list and made it out and back home in less time than anticipated. 

I guess the moral of this story is:

 Don't lock your keys in the car, especially while it's running.

And I am so grateful for friends who will come and rescue us when needed.  Even in the worst traffic possible.  Thanks again Deborah.

Gingerbread... Stuff.

One of my favorite traditions at Christmas time is making gingerbread "stuff".  Usually this is a week long process.  We decided what we're going to build, then draw up plans, then make the gingerbread, then put up all the walls, then decorate, then finally we eat.  

Because this is such an involved process, I tend to just take over.  It becomes "my" project.  

2010 Gingerbread Nativity 

Also in 2010, we went to a Christmas party with friends and made a "favorite Christmas gift".

Both Damon and I got a Nintendo as kids. 

2009 Gingerbread house... with massive amounts of candy.

What's the point of just looking?  Delicious.

So for 2011, I decided to let the kids have all the fun. 

I put graham crackers together with frosting for houses, then turned them over to the kids.

2011 Graham cracker town 

They did a great job.  I bet they will be completely gone by the weekend.

Stay tuned for the upcoming friend party.  The graham cracker theme for this year is:  The 12 Days of Christmas.  Oh just wait, we have a great idea. 

   

Ward party and Christmas Trees

On Saturday, we attended our ward Christmas party.  Delicious food and great entertainment.  The Primary performed a play about the birth of Jesus.  It was a family reading Luke 2, the "kids" (Damon and Tyler- both teachers), kept interrupting the "parents" (a couple of primary children).  While they were reading, the other primary children were acting out the scripture story.  Ryann and Hailee were both angels and Blake was a wise man.   After the play we sang songs then we heard a clatter on the rooftop.  Hooray Santa came to visit.  My camera batteries died so sadly I didn't get any pictures.

On Sunday, for our advent activity:

Sugar cone Christmas trees.

The kids trees may not look like the example, but at least they had fun trying.

Phoenix, Ryann, Blake, Hailee, Kenzy, and Kevin (my brother).

It was quite entertaining watching Phoenix,

she just leaned over and bit off the top of her tree.

"That's so Annoying"

While vacuuming the living room, Blake came up to me with his hands over his ears and said, "that's so annoying".  (I have a really old, loud vacuum.)  I didn't realize that I usually vacuum while he is at school. 
Too bad for him, I'll vacuum whenever I please.

  

I'll tell you what is annoying though.  Raynaud's in the winter is quite annoying.

Raynaud's is a weird disorder that I have.  Pretty much my body over-reacts to stress or cold.

I lose circulation and feeling in my fingers and toes.  As soon as I warm up everything returns to normal.  I was told that I just need to "keep warm and don't stress". Ya, okay.

These pictures were taken after I started to warm up, the colder I get the more they turn white and go numb.  So like I said, it's annoying. 

Onto a lighter note.

Here are the kids snowmen that we made last night for our advent activity. 

We hung them up for all to see.

Christmas Prep and a Yummy Dinner

Gotta love all the things we do leading up to Christmas.

Here are some Chocolate covered pretzels I made last week.  I tried a different chocolate than I usually do, and sadly, they was a little disappointing.  Oh well, they look pretty.

While we were putting up the Christmas tree and decorating.  Phoenix pulled all of the garland out of the pail we use for firewood at Christmas time and climbed in it.  She didn't even know we were watching her until I took this still photo. 

Here's a little video of her, we missed the best part of her singing and rocking.

Here are some of the Christmas cards we made for one of our advent calendar activities.

Here is one of the Baby Jesus mangers the kids made for our FHE with friends.

And here is our Delicious dinner from last night.  A friend of mine found this recipe and tried it.  They loved it, so she posted the recipe for others to try.  Yep, it was delicious.  I should have made more potatoes, everyone wanted seconds.  So now I will share the same recipe with all of you.

Ranch house crock pot pork chops and Parmesan mashed potatoes.