Girls Day Out

Warning: This next week will be filled with posts that are full of Williamsons since, for the first time in years, all Williamsons will actually be in AZ. We have missed them all and all of the fun it is when they are all here so we are going to soak it in as much as we can. The girls especially miss the girl cousins that are around their age.

Saturday was a girls day out since the guys have been gaming every night basically all night. We headed to Phoenix to pick up Shelley from the hospital and then we ate lunch at Macayos.Here is the whole bunch (Tanya will be here Monday night).

After lunch we headed to Hobby Lobby to check out their deals. It was a long day for me since I am sick, but it was fun. I followed it up with a little rest and a night in pajamas lounging around the house.

Christmas Day

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!

it finally came.

We had our typical Christmas morning of opening our presents at home.

Tate loved his remote control car, little cars, trains and marble track. Tate also enjoyed one of the movies Santa left us on the DVD player that Santa left Scott.
Claire enjoyed her noisemakers although she has been making plenty of noise all by herself lately.Macey said her favorite gift was her bike (some how I do not see a picture of her with it in my file, but you can kind of see it in the background). A little flashback here. One of my most memorable gifts that I got as a kid was a 10 speed bike. It was pink and gray and I loved it. Emmy's favorite gift was a kick scooter. Here they are playing Sing It on the Wii.

Then we headed over to my moms for our Christmas morning breakfast and opening the gifts from my parents. There were some {great} gifts this year!

My parents saved this gift for the last for Toby. It was a signed box of Cardinals cereal. My dad and Toby bank up their KTAR points and then they have a store where you can spend them. Toby had it all planned one morning ,when these went on sale, that he would be waiting and ready to get one of the few signed boxes available as soon as they were available. Well, apparently Toby did not get one, but at the same time my dad did and he gave it to Toby. He was very surprised.My mom showed us what my sister Shannon and her husband Dustin gave her for Christmas...In case you can't see it, she's expecting in April and my mom is so happy to get more grandchildren whenever they come! We assured her that we were definately not giving her that for Christmas or any time soon.

And then there was my gift. I was definately the big gift recipient this year with the gift of no more glasses! I told my mom how despearately I wanted to get rid of my glasses and she is treating me to some Lasik! I am so excited to get rid of these things!!! Thanks mom! Now I can play with my kids and do every day tasks without having to worrying about breaking or cleaning my glasses!!! Priceless.


Then we busted out my brothers Guitar Hero World Tour that he got for Christmas. We played it for hours and it was so fun that I had to get some more the next night!


Next on the agenda was heading over to the Williamson's house to hang out with all of the family. A group of us went to see a movie for Christmas. We saw Bedtime Stories which I thought was ok, but the kids were cheering at the end so they must have loved it.

{It was a wonderful day with good food and family!}

On the {1st} Day of Christmas

It's Christmas Eve!!! I can hardly stand it.

Our Christmas Eve tradition as long as I can remember is opening pajamas! My kids are not quite to the point where they know what is in the present, but it will always be pajamas. I also threw in some sorely needed new pillows for Macey and Emmy. Claire got some "new to her" pajamas which I should get a picture of tomorrow. I try not to make them Christmasy so that they can wear them all winter and the next hopefully!

P.S. Sadly, today a family in our neighborhood lost their home to a fire that started with their Christmas tree. It happened so fast and is devistating. They were renting and had renter's insurance, but have no family in town. A fund has been set up if you would like to donate to help them pick up the pieces. Go here to donate. I don't even know them, but it just brought me to tears to know that they were having to deal with this on Christmas Eve of all times.

Have a MeRRy CHRISTmas!!!

On the {2nd} Day of Christmas

Here are a few of the [kids favorite things] at Christmas time.

Of course there is the previously mentioned count down clock.

The kids love this tree. We have had it forever! It is motion sensored (when you have it on) and it sings. The mouth moves and Tate was trying to stick cars in it this year.They love snow globes. We have a small collection that they love to play with. The big one winds up and plays a song while the bottom part spins around.
The kids love the advent calendar as much as I had hoped they would. This is the one I finally made this year. These are the new additions to the family per the kids request.Last but not least. These are some small nativities that we have on the piano and the kids love to arrange and rearrange these constantly.

On the {3rd} Day of Christmas

First of all I am not sure why I am counting down the 12 days of Christmas. Becuase the last day is Christmas day? I don't know we are just going with it now.

Also here is an updated picture of the "card wall" since Scott was a little embarrassed at the lack of cards when I posted it before.

For today I am going to show you a few of my favorite things/decorations around here which is very few since I have never really been able to full out decorate my house the way I would like to for Christmas it has just kind of been pieced together.

First is my sparkley silver Christmas Tree. This was from my neighbor Shannon a Christmas or two ago. I think it perfectly simple yet fancy.

These are my Christmas salad plates that go perfectly with my silver china. I found them on clearance at Target a couple of years ago and I don't think I have used them yet, but I hope to this year or the next because I love them so much. The sad thing is the food would cover up all of its prettiness.I love this nativity set although it is gold and I pretty much hate gold. I never really see any nativities I love because they are all so ornate, but this one is simple which is why I like it I guess.I also love this Santa. This was from my mom one Christmas when we lived in our other house she left in our doorstep as a surprise. He is blue and silver! I don't know if these are my favorite, but I finally completed them. I did not pick the paper wisely so they are not great, but the exciting thing is that I can just use new paper next year and simply make new ones.

It's a Dirtbag Christmas

On Saturday night we had the annual dirtbag Christmas party. We have a white elephant gift exchange which is supposed to be decent gifts but this year there were a few doozies (no idea how to spell that). We had a fun game of jeopardy dirtbag style. There was also an ugly sweater contest which Lance (the one on the right) ended up running away with due to his over the top outfit. Thanks Benson and Kyle for hosting it was fun! Now we have to start planning for next year!!! The ideas are already flowing!

Wicked 30th Birthday

On Saturday my bestest friend Erin turned 30! Her sister put together a fabulous lunch at Crackers & Co. which I have, amazingly, not been to before! It had a "wicked" theme. Heather made some cute party favors.... and the cute hat Erin was wearing. Some yummy cupcakes that supposedly are better than Sprinkles....These ones are oreo, mint and the Almond Joy one is died green to match the theme.

Here Erin just opened her gift from her mom which was tickets to see wicked for their whole family.She was not too thrilled to be turning 30, but I told her just wait for 40!

On the {4th} Day of Christmas

I {LOVE} music in general, but especially the music at Christmas time!

Playlist is down right now, but hopefully I can get a playlist of some of these songs together later.

My list is not as long as Kim's list, but we do share our favorite in common (we actually share similar taste in a lot of things)(I also agree with her assessment of KEZ).

The Forgotten Carols.Love love love it! The message of the songs on the whole CD encompass the whole meaning of Christmas and the tunes are wonderful. A must have for Christmas.

Another favorite of mine is Garth Brooks Beyond the Season. Some different songs that the regular old ones and who doesn't love Garth Brooks' voice! My sister has not been able to find it so I am not sure you can even find it in the stores anymore.

Another Favorite is NlightN's Christmas album. I got it from their concert at QC High a couple of years ago and do not see it for sale on their website, but they gave them out for free at a recent free concert in Safford so if you just email them and ask them they may still have some available. Nothing beats Brent Slade's voice and Mark Peterson's piano talent! Go here to hear Oh Holy Night (one of my favorite Christmas songs period).

On the {5th} Day of Christmas

We {LOVE} our holiday treats! Probably too much.

This year I simplified and settled for a Bath & Body Works soap for the neighbors gifts.I should have snapped some pictures of the wonderfully wrapped & tasting treats we have recieved before we ate them, but we could not stop ourselves.

Along with the must have this time of year (ie ginger snaps, fudge (Scott likes this but I don't really make it), peanut brittle, caramel (I prefer it on popcorn), etc) here are some of the treats we like to make and eat this time of the year.....
I just like to use plain Hershey Kisses or mint ones (they melt faster so check on them earlier). I also only put one m&m right in the middle. They are a super easy way to have chocolate covered pretzels and super yummy. Go to Becky Higgins' Blog and scroll down to get the recipe.

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A great appetizer I like to make is so simple and so addicting. You can't eat just one!!!! Sorry no pics....

Ham & Pickle Roll-Ups

sliced ham (I use the rectangle ham from Costco)
cream cheese, softened
Kosher Dill Pickle Spears (you may have to slice these in half or thirds long ways if they are too big)

Just dry off the ham and spread a thin layer of cream cheese all over it. Dry off the pickle spear and roll it up in the ham. Then slice into little rounds (as you would with a tortilla roll-up). You will enjoy plenty of the imperfect ends as you make them:-)!

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Here is another dessert that I look for any excuse to make and people love it!Striped Delight

35 OREO Cookies (I use Fry's brand mint oreos)
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) butter, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cold milk
1 tub (12 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
3-1/4 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

I also sprinkle Andes mint pieces on the top (you can chop them yourself or Wal-Mart sells Andes mint pieces for baking by the chocolate chips)

PLACE cookies in food processor; cover. Process to form fine crumbs. Transfer to medium bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch dish. Refrigerate 10 min.

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk in separate bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in 1-1/4 cups of the whipped topping. Spread over crust.

POUR 3-1/4 cups milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon evenly over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 min. or until thickened. Spread remaining whipped topping over pudding layer.

REFRIGERATE at least 4 hours. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator

On the {6th} of Christmas

Class Parties

Emmy had hers on Thursday and I was too busy to snap any pictures, but they had fun making poinsettias, decorating cookies, building snowman out of marshmallows, and playing pin the nose on rudolph.

Macey had her party on Friday. They wore their pajamas and watched The Polar Express while they snacked on lots of treats. Then they played a round of pass the snowman that got pretty heated. Those kids are competitive. Then they switched with the class next door and played a game where all of these items were in a sock and they had 15 seconds to guess what was in there and then write it down.

Here is Macey with some friends from her class.

Ornament Exchange

Last night I attended my friends annual ornament and goodie exchange. There were so many gorgeous ornaments I could not decide what I wanted to go for because any of them would have been great. I think I scored big time. It just worked out that I ended up with several of these ornaments (we were supposed to go home with 3 ornaments) and then I made some deals with some of my friends and ended up with both of the sets so that I had 3 of each to hang on my tree. I love silver!

On the {7th} Day of Christmas

This is our Christmas card wall. We always tape them on the side of this armour so that they are out for us to see and enjoy. I am noticing though that either, we have been cut off from some people's lists, or people just aren't sending Christmas cards this year. Three of these are from companies that Scott does work for. Maybe we will get some more in the next week! I like to make our Christmas cards every year (they got bypassed last year with a newborn baby) it is fun for me in a stressful sort of way. I really do enjoy making them, but I am 99.9% sure this is the last year they will be handmade. Most likely settling for photoshopped/digital next year.Here is our Christmas card this year....


Here is the letter tucked inside...

On the {8th} Day of Christmas

Photos with Santa. I do not insist that we see santa every year, but it usually does happen every year. These pictures were from this year at the Festival of the Trees. Scott's mom is involved in putting this event together and his brother takes the pictures so Scott took them down there to see santa this last Saturday.