Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly...

Welcome to our house for Christmas. Usually the decorations are all hung the weekend after Thanksgiving but it just didn't happen this year. So here's what I do have up so far. some are the result of our crafty weekend. I didn't put up all of our decorations this year. There has been a lot of handmade stuff going up. Here we go...

The cones are hanging on our tree. We have no ornaments this year. Only the paper cones, flowers and I took our favorite pictures and mounted them on chipboard with ribbon to hang them on the tree. Turned out very pretty. I see the start of a new tradition. The kids love seeing themselves on the tree. At first Ms. K complained about no ornaments but she gets very excited to hang a new picture.

These usually house pictures of the beautiful babies but at the moment they are holding enlargements of vintage postcards. Love looking at them above the fireplace.

Homemade tags on every gift. Not the best picture but it was late last night and I was tired.

I love having bowls of ornaments around the house. It always makes me smile as I walk by.

Here's a vignette that I made during our crafty weekend. It is actually three pieces hooked together. I love how it turned out. It was one of those projects that just evolved and had no beginning plan.

Here's my garland made from bingo cards. The chipboard letters are Making Memories, the stamp is Tim Holtz, and the paper behind the letters is Cosmo Cricket. It spells out Merry Christmas. Love it!

hope you all are having a great day today!

All I want for Christmas...

Me: Mr. B what are you going to ask Santa for?

Mr. B: a baseball stadium

Me: a baseball stadium! Oh is that all? Is there anything else that you want?

Mr. B: No, that's all just a baseball stadium.


We're in trouble!

Ahh the busyness of the holidays

I had said I would post pictures of our Christmas craftiness and I never did it. Sorry! As in everyone's house during the holidays, the craziness gets to be a bit much. This last weekend Scott had his holiday party for work. His very generous boss flew us all to Las Vegas for the weekend. So nice. Scott and I were able to spend the whole day together on Sat. Just the two of us. Amazing right! When you have children that never happens! We had a really nice day. Not only that but we didn't put a penny into any machine or on any table. We went to the Bellagio and saw the beautiful decorations. Pictures to follow. From there we walked to the Venetian and went to the Modern Masters exhibit. I highly recommend seeing this if you are in Vegas. Here's our pictures from the Bellagio...

After the Art exhibit, we walked over to Caesar's and the Forum shops. We ate at a deli in there that had THE BEST onion rings ever! They were SO GOOD! We couldn't pass up FAO Schwartz while we were there and can I tell you how much fun it is to go to toy store with no kids. We got to browse and not have to say "put that down" or "stay here". We had t take a picture in there for Ms. K because she loves Groovy Girls and they had a whole wall of them. I couldn't get them all in the picture so here's the part I could fit.

I also got to experience my first fight while we were there. I had never really watched boxing and I didn't think I would like it but the Mayfield/Hatton fight was fun to watch. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

It felt good to get home though and here is what we were greeted with when we came out of the airport...

So beautiful! The picture does not do it justice. Okay this post has been long enough so I will make the craft post a separate one...

It's Here!

Hooray!! December is here. Have been busy crafting for over a week now and I have no finished projects to show for it. Love, love, love making Christmas projects. A little ambitious this year and I am trying to make all the tags to go on my presents. The problem is, we have so many presents to give that I might not get them done. I will defin. post pictures this weekend because today my sister is coming over and we are going to craft the day away. Our boys and our Dad are golfing in the church golf tournament so we have a whole day of glue and glitter ahead of us. It's the perfect day to do it because it rained all day yesterday (poured) and today it's still not sunny. That leaves the the perfect combination to have a movie/craft/popcorn/warm drinks/present wrapping day. Love it! Can't wait to stay in our sweats while the kids are bundled up under blankets watching Christmas movies. I wonder what's on the Christmas movie menu today... Rudolph (requested by Ms. K), Shrek the Halls, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon). Okay, more later gotta get the glitter ready...

Time flies when family is visiting

My aunt from New York was here for the week and boy did we cram a lot in! It's always crazy at thanksgiving! So much fun! Thanksgiving was nice. We had two dinners on Thanksgiving. My hub's parents came over during the day. I lucked out and didn't have to cook any of it. After eating lots there we headed over to my parents house for another meal. Can I tell you what a great cook my Mom is! Wow! Homemade skillet creamed corn, pineapple casserole (my favorite), stuffing with apples and cranberries, mashed potatoes, the list goes on and on. Here are some pictures of the overeating...

Gigi and Brendan

Friday my Mom, Charsie and I got up nice and early and headed out to the stores. This year we went to one store and then went to breakfast. After breakfast we headed back to shop and it was so nice. Not one line! How did we avoid all the lines? We got some really good deals. Can't wait to get them wrapped!
That night we all went to the Mission Inn for the festival of lights. It's a historic hotel in the next city and every year the ;lights are unbelievable. There are so many lights and they have animated people singing carols. Wow is the only word I can think of. we had never been to the lighting and we defin. want to go back next year. The had the streets blocked off and there was an ice skating rink, food stands, and all the stores had a window display contest. Lots of the stores surrounding the hotel are antique stores so of course their displays were fabulous. My camera batteries died before the show started so I was not able to get pictures of the firework show but I got lots of pictures of the window displays we saw before it was dark.

I think we are going to go back again so we can really enjoy the lights when they aren't thousands of people there.

Ms. K went back to school yesterday. Mr. B missed her so much he was crying while we were running errands. "When can we go pick up sissy?" "Is it time to get sissy yet?" That's what I heard the entire time she as at school yesterday. When we picked her up he was SO excited. He was walking next to her with his arms around her waist.

I know I have been a bad blogger this month. The whole tearing stuff in my foot and being on crutches messed everything up this month. I have to say it was an experience to teach a three hour scrapbook class on crutches. Not something I want to try again anytime soon.

Gotta run, Mr. B is pulling pictures out and spreading them everywhere!

My funny boy

He makes me laugh every day. Yesterday this conversation came about during the day...

Brendan had hit Ms. K in the head with his baseball bat (not to worry, not wood or aluminum).

Me: Brendan, you need to go apologize to your sister for hitting her with your bat. How sad, now it's in timeout.

Brendan: (crying) okay

he runs down the hallway with his two year old run that's still sort of a waddle and his arms a pumping to get him along (love that run!)

(overheard when he gets to his room to apologize)

Brendan: Okay, hold on I have to get my tears out of the way (wiping his eyes)

How can I be mad when he says cute, funny things like that?! Good thing I was out of sight because I was laughing!

Later on in the day Ms. K and I were in my room and I hear him coming down the hallways ( because he has to bring an armload of toys with him everywhere). This is what we hear...

Brendan: Here comes the man!

Glad he feels the need to announce himself. Not just "here comes Brendan" but "here comes the man". guess we won't have to worry about confidence right!

Plans have changed

now that I have to wear this dumb cast (soft) on my foot. It's really hindering our vacation plans. We did manage to go to the American Girl store as planned. It was really fun! We went with Mom, Julie and the Peters. The girls had a great time and I think they would have taken everything in the store home if we let them. The Grove was getting it's Christmas decorations up so it was starting to look very festive! Here are some pictures for the day...

The dolls were set up in displays with their accessories according to the books. Very cute!

The kids wanted to ride the double decker bus so the Kennedy rode while Mom stayed with Brendan and I because he was asleep and I couldn't get on it. Here they are getting off...

The stores had so many cute projects that I want to make. I took pictures of the ones I am going to duplicate! Can't wait to get to work. It's going to have to wait till I am done teaching my classes this month. I have one mini album class left this Friday. It should be fun.

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, actually it was yesterday. Had a really nice day thanks to my hubby and my mom. The family met at Mom and Dad's and we watched football. Mr. B and I wore our Chiefs jerseys even though they lost. My hubby knew I had been saving up for a camera and so that's what I got, a new camera. So excited! My mom made a fabulous birthday dinner (as she does every year!) but the best thing of all was my cake! Mom made my favorite, German Chocolate with homemade chocolate frosting. When I say amazing it does not even do it justice. WOW! So we ended our nice day and came home and put the kiddos to bed. Then the day went downhill. Literally. I fell down the stairs. We went to the ER because it was really swollen and bruised. Luckily it's not broken but I am still in a soft cast because we don't know if there are torn ligaments or anything like that yet. I am on pain killers right now so lots of sleeping occurred today. So besides the whole ER visit I had a great birthday!

Halloween Pics

okay the throwing up is done and now he is destroying everything in the house. since he is feeling better I can post our Halloween Pics! Here's my little lion and my medieval princess...

We had a fun night. We went to trick-o-treat at Grammy and Grandpa's and Gigi and Papa's. Then we went to our friend's house (Angie and Ric). Angie and I took the kids trick-or-treating while the guys passed out candy and handled dinner. So fun! Love having goods friends for a great night! While we were out with the kids, Amanda (Ms. K's best friend) told one of the houses, "they can't have that cause it's chocolate!" The lady felt bad and tried to tell her it was all she had and Amanda kept telling her Mr. B and Ms. K couldn't have it. So funny! She's always looking out for the kids and informs everyone they can't have milk or cheese or chocolate. What a good friend!

Sorry, I guess I was on a blog vacation

I didn't realize how behind I was! Happy Halloween (late!). I've got lots to catch up on! So sit back, relax and get ready for a long post. Scott and Brendan had a great time in New England. They got to see lots of family and Scott had a great time at the Red Sox/Indians game. The kids were so funny, David Ortiz (Boston player) has a nickname. He is called "Big Poppy". Brendan thought it was Big Poopy and the name stuck, so throughout the playoffs they would yell "Go Big Poopy!". When we were watching the World Series the other night, Carrie Underwood was going to sing the Star Spangled Banner. Kennedy stood in front of the TV with her hand over her heart the whole song. SO cute! Scott started to talk and she turned to him and said "SHHHHH". Love my patriotic daughter.

Last Wednesday (10/24/07) we had Ms. K's parent conference at school. We were so proud of her. She had a great report card. Her teacher said if she left the classroom, Ms. K could run it by herself. That's my girl! She also received an award(10/25/07) called the Lifeskills Award. it's for students that use respect, responsibility, patience, etc. everyday. Here she is getting her award and at her fall party at school..

Now she is off track and it's time to play. Monday (10/29/07) we went to Disneyland with Mom and met up with some friends of ours. We had a great time and Disney did a great job decorating for fall. Everything looked beautiful. Here's some shots from the day...

Sorry this post jumps around a lot. I have so much to cover an Mr. B has the flu today so I ave been typing this post for over 2 hours now. I keep running back and forth from the table to the couch because he's throwing up. I feel so bad because when you are little like he is it is hard to understand why you can't have a drink whenever you want. He just had his first sip of pedialyte so hopefully it stays down! I am going to post again today to show Halloween...