Christmas Time 2010

Christmas has really already come and gone?  I usually feel like I have had my Christmas decorations up for months and cannot wait to take them down and clean my house.  This year feels much different.  I feel like everything has been a little bit of a whirl wind the last few months.  Day in and Day out, go through the motions and do it all over again.  I made sure to put into my head that Christmas weekend would be much different.
We started off with a great breakfast as a family on Christmas Eve morning.  Katelynn was so excited because she knew that today was a special day, she would get to wear her pretty dress, open presents, and Santa Claus was coming that night.  The house was clean and my plan was too attempt to keep it as clean as possible throughout the day so I could really relax and enjoy myself.  We played some games and cleaned our bedrooms in the morning (I know, I know, but I have to get things done when I am home).  The kids took naps and I took that as my opportunity to get myself showered and ready for our special family evening.  I started making our lasagna afterwards because our plan was to eat supper around 5:30pm.  Junior goes to bed around 7:30pm and I wanted to make sure that we had time to open some gifts and take our time and then let the kids play with a few of their toys before rushing them to bed for Santa!  Once the lasagna was in the oven and the kids were both up from their naps we got on our "fancy" clothes for the night.  We went downstairs and played Wii games for about an hour while the lasagna cooked.  It was so much fun.  We were all relaxed and truly enjoying our time together as a family.
Dinner Time!
We had a great salad, lasagna, and garlic bread.  Dan had picked out some great wine and we let the kids have a treat of drinking 7-Up.  Katelynn even got to drink hers out of a wine glass.  She was so precious to watch as she was sooo careful each time she grabbed her glass and took a sip.

Present Time!
I decided that this year I would play Santa and hand out gifts.  I had asked Dan for one gift and one gift only (because it was far beyond the gift per person budget!).  I was pretty sure that I had gotten what I asked for, but not 100% and wanted it to be the last gift that I opened, the big finale gift.  Katelynn had made us all gift bags from toys and drawings and pages from her coloring books at the beginning of December so Dan, Junior, and I opened those before dinner.  Since Katelynn technically did not get to open a gift she got to open the first gift of the night.  Junior went next and then Dan.  We had multiple gifts from each other and my parents under the tree.  Really a lot more gifts than we should have.  (Next year I think Dan and I will need to decide on a set amount and a set number of gifts per kid).  It was fun watching everyone open gifts and Junior even got into it.  He would see a gift like he liked and get this expression on his face and say either "Wow" or "Look".  Katelynn did not open one gift that she did not like. She was excited about each and every gift.  A hard task for my 5 year old.  So it came down to the last few boxes under the tree and it was time.  Time to open what I have been researching and wanting for the last month!  My husband does know how to make his wife happy on Christmas Eve each and every year and I love him for that.  I opened my box and there it was!!  The Canon Rebel EOS  T1i - Digital SLR Camera!  A 8 GB SDHD Card and a HUGE Camera bag to fill with cameras and lenses.  And after that there was still another gift for me to open, my surprise gift.  I opened it up having absolutely no idea what it would be.  Dan bought me a 9mm hand gun and it's Pink!  I actually had seen this gun at Sportsman's Warehouse a few months ago when we were there on a date night and told him if he really wanted to buy me a gun then that would be the one that I would want.
Bed Time!
Katelynn ran upstairs and quickly got out a plate for Santa's cookies.  She picked her 2 favorite one's and then an extra Hershey Kiss just for him.  A glass of milk was set out and she was ready for him. We then cleaned up boxes and wrapping paper and we played with some of our favorite gifts we got. We actually let the kids stay up until 9pm which for Junior has never happened and for Katelynn it's rare unless she has taken too long of a nap.  Dan and I had a little talk with Katelynn about Santa Claus coming.  Dan specifically told her that she was not aloud to go all the way downstairs without first coming and waking us up first.  Santa's milk and cookies were in the main living room and the stockings were downstairs.  Dan and I stayed up and he played his new Wii game and I was charging up the battery for my new camera and downloading software.  We sipped the rest of our wine and just enjoyed the night.  It was bedtime for us around 11:30pm, which is even rather late for us nowadays.
Wake Up Wake Up Santa Was Here!
True to her word Katelynn came down the stairs and went straight over to Dan's side of the bed, "Dad, Dad, Santa was here!  He ate some of the cookies and drank the milk!"  Katelynn normally wakes me up when she gets up in the middle of the night or the morning so it took me a second to realize what was happening.  Dan had no idea what was going on.  I opened my eyes and turned over and looked at the clock -4:30AM.  OMG!  I told Dan it was 4:30 in the morning and we had Katelynn crawl into bed with us and told her it was great that Santa came, but it was still time to be asleep.  She didn't complain and climbed up into our bed between us and went back to sleep.
Junior woke us up around 6:30am and we made coffee and headed down to the stockings to see what Santa brought us.  Katelynn and Junior both had books and silly bandz in their stockings.  Katelynn got a couple of games for her new Leapster 2 and a Keyboard to learn how to play the piano.  Junior got a Mickey doll and a race track for his hot wheels.  Dan got an Air Hog helicopter and I got a make-up case for my Bare Escentuals.  I love Santa, he always brings what we ask for!  We yet again opened all of our boxes and packages and then watched the Walt Disney World Christmas parade on TV.

We played all day long.  This was probably one of the most memorable family days that I have had.  No one stopped to clean this and that.  No laundry to do.  No running any errands.  Just a complete day of family time.  What a joy this Christmas has been.

Here are a few random pictures that I took.  Keep in mind I have no idea yet how to use my new camera; there is a lot to learn.

Me and my new "Pink" hand gun. 

Junior and his new Crayola set from Santa.

Katelynn wearing all of her Silly Bandz.

Daddy always get the job Christmas morning of assembly.

Please mom - no more flashes.

Katelynn enjoying her Leapster 2.

Dan playing his new Wii game.
FYI - it's not a war game which is why the kids are able to watch.

Katelynn and her new piano.
Can't wait for us to learn how to play together!

Christmas Shopping, Oh How It Has Changed

I have been done with my Christmas shopping for a few weeks now.  Presents are wrapped and under the tree and the kids have very good about leaving them alone and admiring from afar.
I was thinking the other day how much Christmas shopping has changed, at least for me and in my mind.  I remember when both sides of my family used to draw names for Christmas presents amongst all the aunts and uncles and the kids.  The excitement of shopping for those gifts was so fun.  You would go out and shop for someone already knowing a few items that they truly wanted, but didn't have and wouldn't be buying for themselves.  It was exciting to get a wish list from people or their family members (if you asked them for ideas instead).  It was exciting to watch them open a present that you knew that had been wishing for.
Oh how things have changed.
I find it really hard to find items now where I feel that I am not just buying them more "stuff". What can I buy them that they haven't already went out and purchased?   I truly enjoy the joy of giving, but when I give a gift I want it to be something that someone wants or needs.  I am as much at fault as the next person in this.  If I want something I go out and buy it.  At least kids are still easy to buy for.
Eventually both families stopped drawing names for gifts because there just wasn't anything left to buy people or it got to expensive to buy a gift someone would really want.  Our families now bring grab bag type gifts and play games at the Christmas parties.  They now have the joy of playing the game and the laughs that are shared.  I guess I wouldn't trade that for "stuff"!

Ah My Junior

My little man, Junior, need I say more?!  He has been such a gift to our family and brought so much joy to each of us.  He is definitely a daddy's boy.  And boy oh boy is he ALL BOY.  He runs and jumps and seems to never tucker out.  He throws balls and plays with cars and every other type of boy things there are in the house.  He is starting to get a good vocabulary going too.  He can say little sentences when he chooses to.  He loves to look at books.  He will sometimes climb into his rocking chair in his room and be in there looking through the pages.

Junior's Day

1. Where's Daddy?  Where's Daddy?  Where's Daddy? This is asked multiple times a day at home even when Dan has just walked in the room.
2. What's that?  He asks this about everything.  It's sometimes hard to get through a book.
3. Sheep - sounds like "shit"  (this is the one that I think is funny because he really does think he is saying sheep!)
4. No - this is now his favorite word in the last couple of weeks.  Noooooooooooooo!
5. If he really wants to say yes to a question we ask he will say "MmmHmmmm"
6.  No matter what football team is on TV:  Go Vikings!
7. Mickey, Mickey, Mickey -Show?
8. Gum? Halloween obviously left an impression on him and he asks for candy all the time, but insists that it is all called gum.
9. He loves our Wii fit.  We just bought it recently and Katelynn has really enjoyed playing some of the games on here.  Since they don't all use the Wii remotes she seems to enjoy it more.  We will all take turns playing and when we are on either the Obstacle course or Ski Jump and are rotating you will of the sudden here "Junior, Junior turn".
10. Time for Bed.  He will run into the bathroom to brush his teeth and run into his room and pick out his bedtime story.  He will wave good-bye and tell you Nigh-Nigh!

Metrodome Roof Collapses

Metrodome Roof collapses

Even if you are not a football fan you should check out this video.  It is unbelievable.

Christmas Card Sneak Peak

For those who receive our Christmas card in the mail sorry if this ruins it for you.  I couldn't decide between the two pictures this year so our card will have two.  We had a pretty good experience at Sears Photo Studio except we didn't have the best photographer at the beginning of our session.  We wore our Christmas outfits to the studio and brought a clothing change. One unfortunate piece was there was no where to do a clothing change.  We changed the kids behind the curtains and then Dan and I each took turns changing in the public restrooms.  Junior was not excited to be taking pictures and did not want to sit still.  Dan tried really hard to get him to smile in the pictures, bless his heart, instead of letting the photographer do her job and get everyone set.  In a bunch of the pictures it looked like Dan was talking.  Another bummer was that we didn't get Katelynn's pretty Christmas dress in the picture.  The funny part is I bought her dress first and then picked out the rest of the family's to match her.  They wanted to take a bunch of pictures of the just the kids, but I passed on a lot of them because I had just had both of them in at separate dates and had theirs taken and we just did pictures with my mom over Thanksgiving weekend.  I will have to re-think taking our Christmas picture at Sears again next year though because they only have the one back ground with a Christmas tree so our picture back ground is the same as last year. (I know the little things that I pick at.  I can't help it.  I have to have control over what I can!)
Once again this year we drove two vehicles to the studio.  This seems to still be the best way for us.  We take the pictures and then Dan and the kids head home.  I wait around for the pictures and pick out the one's I want.  I sometimes wonder if Dan would pick out a different photo than I would have?
If you look at the casual photo you will notice that Junior is once again holding the football from the studio just like in the pictures with my mom.  It kept him happy and smiling and his thumb out of his mouth, so its in the picture.

I would love to hear which picture you like better out of curiosity!

So here you have it!

Reindeer Feed

The kids love cooking in the kitchen and we really hadn't started any Christmas baking - yet.  I figured since I had posted on my blog about the Top Ten Trends from Betty Crocker, Click Here to View, that I should try one out.  We picked the Reindeer Feed and I picked up the ingredients last night.  The kids were excited for Saturday to come and wanted to know when we got to start making this for Santa's reindeer.  I used this to my advantage of course and said when the living room and kitchen are clean then we will start it.  I have never seen my 5 year old move so fast to clean!  The preparation was easy, the recipe was easy and the kids think it tastes great and can't wait to leave some for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve.  We put a few aside to save just for them.  

The kids really enjoyed the first part of the recipe of hammering candy canes in a bag.  What kid wouldn't.  Dan even had to come and see what the commotion was about and had to take a couple smashes!

 Once all of the candy canes were in little tiny pieces it was time to melt the white chocolate and pour in half of the candy cane.  I have my little helper to stir it all together.

 I did the mixing of the chex mix and chocolate mixture and both kids helped me sprinkler the rest of the candy cane on.  

 Yep!  We have a winner he says.

 And the finished product.  Yay!  

Hope the reindeer will be really happy and Santa leaves us all a little something extra this year!

Me and the kids really enjoyed this time together and it was a nice easy recipe to start off with our holiday cooking / baking.  Next on the menu is Puppy Chow.

Betty Crocker Top 10 Trends

Need some Holiday Ideas?  A few things to keep you busy each night?  Check out the Betty Crocker Top 10 Trends for this year.  There are recipes that are easy to follow and some fun things to do with the kids (even quick video's for those of us who need a little extra help!)

Visit http://redhot.bettycrocker.com/trends.   What makes a trend red hot? When it's exciting, it's fresh, and making its mark from coast to coast. From the DIY craze to the rise of beer and bacon,  the food trends that made our red hot list are each very different, but have one thing in common – they'll get you excited about food.

Choo Choo - Take A Ride on the Santa Express

Me and Mom wanted to do something really fun while she was here with the kids.  I looked through some places around home, but there was nothing really happening at the big venues until December.  A couple of years ago I was looking at internet sites and stumbled across a site at an Arizona train station that had a train ride for the Polar Express - I kept thinking how awesome it would be to take the kids.  Well, after doing some more Google searching this year I found the Polar Express in Durango, CO, but a 7 hour drive was still a little too far.  I then found the Santa Express in Canon City and only 3 hours away.  Perfect for an overnight stay!  I booked our tickets and was so excited.  I had personally never been on a train ride before and couldn't wait.

Black Friday Shopping Day

Let's Go Shopping!

Katelynn had started getting a cold on Thanksgiving Day and with a cold for her comes coughing and nights with no sleep.  I was up and down the stairs multiple times that night and had the alarm set for 3:30am so we could hit Target a little after 4am.  I kept getting nervous that I would be too exhausted or sleep through my alarm clock and of course felt so bad for little miss Katelynn all night coughing.  I almost said screw it and stayed awake and thought about hitting Kohl's at 3am since I was awake anyways, but I didn't.  My mom kept hearing me come u the stairs and every time thought it was her wake up call coming to get her up.  Needless to say none of the girls in the house got much sleep that night.  3:30am came and Katelynn was miserable.  She needed to sit up for awhile so I had her come downstairs and sit on the couch with some books and look through them while I got ready to go.  I can only imagine what she was thinking.  What are Grandma and Mommy doing up and where are they going when it's suppose to be sleep time?  As we were getting ready to head out the door she did give me a look and asked if she could come with.  I of course had to say no, but felt a little bad since she was awake.  I told her she could look at books for a few more minutes and then she needed to go crawl into bed with Daddy.
Alright - coffee in had, keys in hand and cash in hand - it was time!  I am not really sure when my obsession started with enjoying this shopping day so much.  Sad to say, but a lot of the shopping that I do is for myself.  The deals are just too good?!  This year though I had an agenda and items I wanted for the kids.
So our first stop was Target.  We got there a little after 4am.  I was not interested in standing in line outside and making a mad dash for a TV.  We got everything we wanted at Target within probably 20 minutes.  Not too bad with two of us shopping.  The checkout line however wrapped around to the back of the store - whoa!  We stood in line and as most shoppers do decide while we are standing there that we could grab more.  I figured me and my mom are every retailers dream at this point.  We of course had the Target ad with us and as we look through it my mom decides that she wants something for Dan and off I go and there are a few left - into the cart it goes.  I had waited to grab a few items of clothes for the kids so I set off to grab them while she held our spot in line.  I detoured and then couldn't resist grabbing a Wii Fit for $67.00.  There were only 2 left and I grabbed one and another lady snatched the last one within in 5 seconds and they were gone.  I had debated for 2 days on my real need to have one and temptation got the better of me.  All day I kept saying "Dan's going to kill me on that one!"  Through the checkout we went and off to Walmart we go.
Walmart is not my favorite store and I have never went there on Black Friday, but they had some items for the kids that I wanted and my mom wanted to games for gifts as well.  I should have done my research on the store because I made a big mistake.  We got to Walmart about 30 minutes after they opened.  We see people with cart's and of course the big TVs checking out.  One interesting thing that my mom noticed was that the shopper's at Walmart had only one or two items in their cart's whereas Target shopper's had cart fulls of stuff; very interesting.  I make my way to the toy section and my mom heads to the entertainment for video games.  I am severely disappointed to see that the Leapsters are already gone.  As I keep looking though I don't even see where they were or a sign that said they were on sale.  I then look for the Crayola items I wanted and can't find them either.  I walk around to see if any other toys are on sale and nothing.  I am now not happy that I cannot find any of my items.  I head over to find my mom and she has a handful of video games, but has run into the same issue - no sale prices.  We ask a worker if the one's she has are on sale and she says she doesn't know, but we could scan them at a scanner in the store and check them and also something about the sale items being by produce.  Produce?  We find a scanner and only one is on sale.  I am honestly pissed off at this point and want to leave.  Ugh is all I can think - Walmart!?!  We check out with our one item and leave.
We head over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Old Navy and do a little shopping.  I am still steaming over the Walmart ordeal.   We head to the outlet mall to check out Toys R Us and see if the midnight shoppers have left anything for us early risers.  There were a few items there.  I see the Crayola items that I had wanted at Walmart and they are a little over double the price.  They won't do a price match so I decide there is no way that Walmart sold out of them within the first half hour of being open.  Back to Walmart we go.
Walmart again!  Back at Walmart my mom is heading over to McDonald's to see if they have coffee.  I stroll around the store and head down a different isle then I did the first time.  I start noticing all the displays in this isle from their ad.  I follow around a square of the entire store and low and behold I find the toy section of all the display items.  Damn it for dumb of me!  I find my Crayola items, but of course by 7am the Leapsters were gone.  Now I am just mad at myself.  I keep walking around the square and end up by produce and McDonald's and my mom.  I can see the displays that are now empty and that is probably where all the Wii and Xbox games were for extremely cheap - damn it again!  Now I am just mad at myself for not knowing how the store worked and not asking someone where the stuff was the first time I was there.  Ugh!  I bought my few items and then out the door again.  We headed over to Home Depot to grab some Christmas decorations I needed that were on sale.  A pleasant surprise there was the poinsettia's on sale for only .99 cents - thanks Home Depot - good deal!
8am - Time to Head to the Mall.  The mall stores opened at 8am.  I was definitely hoping to find some good deals on a few work clothes items.  We parked the car and started with Eddie Bauer.  Not too bad - everything in the store was 50% off.  I found a shirt for me and a present for my dad.  Next was Gap - they did have a good sale of 50% off everything, but it was a bust.  Off to New York and Company - they know how to save people money.  This was our best stop.  Everything in the store 50% off and if you shopped before Noon they took off another 10%.  They have Long pants, which I can not find anywhere else and their prices are very reasonable, especially with this sale.  Loved that store.  The Loft was a bust for me this year - my favorite store and I didn't find anything that I really wanted or loved, bummer.  I always go to Yankee Candle and Hallmark.  I was very happy that Hallmark brought back the Snowmen that sing for their Christmas item.  Last year they changed it to some Snoopy display that I had no interest in.  I also found the cutest little snowman to put in the bathroom.  I tried to take a little video of it, I will see how it turned out.
We got home around 11:30am.  Whew!  Now that was some serious shopping folks!  The car was packed full of bags and boxes.  We got home to the kids still in their pj's and a Christmas tree up getting ready to be decorated.  What a fabulous day/morning!  Thanks mom for coming with me in all the craziness.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a special treat this year of having Grandma Dickhaus spend the Thanksgiving holiday with us.  Dan as always cooks pretty much the entire Thanksgiving meal.  He loves to do it and I love him to do it!  He made his grocery list this year and headed to the store and since Grandma was here I took the opportunity to catch a ride with him and go and get my nails done - yah! It was even nice to spend some time in the truck together talking without the kids and without the kids music on.
I am really enjoying the deal that I am getting right now from Sears Photo Studio.  I signed up and paid $10.00 for their membership card and it is awesome.  I have probably saved over $250.00 already in pictures now.  So, with my mom in town I figured it would be a great time to go and have some fun and get some professional pictures taken.  I get a free 8 x 10 at every session and then during the week it's buy one get one free.  So Wednesday night after work and a quick supper for the kids we did our hair and make-up and dressed casual and headed to the Photo Studio.  We took some great pictures and I can't wait to get them back and get some nice picture frames.  It was really special to take some pictures of my mom and me.  If you would like to take a look at our pictures here is the link Sears Photos .  If you are in Greeley and have make an appointment ask for Megan if she is available.  She did a great job, was patient with the kids, and wasn't pushy at all about us ordering their enhancements or collages, and really let us pick out what we wanted.
Back to Thanksgiving!  Dan had his turkey stuffed and most everything oven ready (that could be) by Wednesday afternoon.  Thursday morning he woke up and put the bird in the oven.  We had some good coffee and all 3 of us scoured the Black Friday ads.  The kids even got into looking through the ads.  We have been asking Katelynn especially what she wants for Christmas and what she wants from Santa for Christmas.  I try to have her look through the toy section and pick her top 5 items.  She usually does pretty good, but sometimes she just decides she wants it all!  We watched the Thanksgiving Day Macy's parade of course and then when the dog show came on Junior that that was the coolest show in the world.  We ate around 12:45.  The adults stuffed themselves and the kids kind of picked at all of their food.  We all took nice naps and then just hung out for the day.  After we put the kids to bed my mom and I grabbed the ads once more and attempted to choose what items we wanted and what stores we were going to go to.  After our game plan was set it was time for bed because 3:30am comes really fast!
We had a great Thanksgiving Day.

Free Veggie Tales Christmas MP3 Downloads

Check it out!  I downloaded the entire CD and am making a copy for my car.  How fun.  Thank you Veggie Tales and Amazon!


Get 24 FREE Veggie Tale Christmas MP3 Downloads on Amazon.com.