Tiniest Tree Ever

I love this time of year.  The girls are so excited to wake up to find Lula and typically once they find her they are shrieking with excitement or full of giggles.

This morning was a shrieking morning. They were real worried that I wouldn't see her and would accidently turn the Ninja on.  Good thing they reminded me ;-)

Decided to put the tree up tonight.  That didn't go so well.

What a joke.  I really was going to try to use this tree and not buy one this year.  As much as I love real trees they are sort of a pain and the idea of spending that money each year to then just throw it away always seems wasteful.  I really am not ready to purchase a new fake one yet though so it looks like we just might be smelling pine again this year!  Now....where can I put this guy?!

Elf with the Elf

She's BACK!  The girls always look forward to this time of year.  They can not wait until Lula's return.
This morning she brought them a new Elf movie, seems appropriate :-)

Flashback

Kay and I went Black Friday shopping this year.  We left Thursday night around midnight, met Stacey out and spent the evening roaming around.
I really wanted to purchase a new camera so Best Buy was our first stop and after that we didn't have much of a plan.


When we walked through Michael's I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw these charms!
What a FLASHBACK!  Instantly I was brought back to the 80's - walking up to Tom Thumb to purchase more charms from the quarter machine.  The ones with the moving parts were by far the coolest!

Hannah has been using the expression 'way back in the 90's' lately.  Cracks us up!  Although to be fair it was almost 20 years ago, but still......does that qualify for 'way back in the' status?  I think not.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  There is always so much to be thankful for.

This year I am so thankful for our health.

We have had too many friends be affected by health issues this year and it makes you stop to realize just how lucky we are. 

Chopsticks

Tonight the girls and I went to LeeAnn Chin.

I was pretty surprised when both of them grabbed chopsticks and started eating.

I know I have never taught them these skills.

When I looked closer I saw that they had taken a straw, folded it in half and then put the end of each chopstick in each end of the straw.  Then like magic you have a perfect chopstick trainer.

(I later learned that one of the staff at A+ taught them this fancy trick!)

Kindness Begins With Me

Every year the school has a theme for the kids and each kid is asked to create a poster with the theme.
This years theme is Kindness Begins With Me.
They work on the posters in art and are expected to do them at school.


This was Hannah's this year.  I am just in love with the way they draw and color when they are little.

 

Mrs Turkey

Hailey came home with a turkey outline.  The assignment:  give the turkey a disguise to hide it from the farmer so it doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving.  We looked around for ideas, brainstormed at breakfast a few days and settled on dressing her up like a princess. 

Truth or Dare

The kids found a Truth or Dare app and have been very interested in it.  Hannah got it out at the cabin a few times this summer and today decided the kids in the neighborhood should play it.
I opened the window to hear them say "Your dare (giggle, giggle, giggle) is to kiss........a rock!"
(good thing I have played this game and know that it is very innocent. But....maybe I will watch them for a while anyways ;-)

Demo Day 1

Brian has never been happy with our garage floor.  There were issues with the structure and after many, many, many emails and conversations, he finally won!  Dale agreed to replace the floor.

It was our chance to also add a drain and possibly think about an epoxy floor- I mean, we might as well since this may be the only time that everything is out of the garage.  Not to mention, Brian spends a lot of time in the garage.  It would definitely be worth it!

This? or This? or This?

As it gets closer and closer to the wedding there is more and more to do.  I offered to make Kim's invites and programs as I had for Kristin and Jennie.

She didn't really have anything in mind and was pretty happy with every idea I had shown her.

I spent the last month sending her ideas from the internet or inspiration that I would find.

Eventually I found one that I loved so decided to mock it up for her and once she saw it it was an easy decision.  Her and Joe both approved.

We printed them out on multiple colors of paper just to make sure they were perfect.  We ended up deciding on the pure white.   I think it was the best choice!

Now the printing, cutting, addressing, licking and mailing begins!

These Boots Were Made For Walking

A LOT of walking.

Hannah got these boots from Kim and wore them so much that I actually went and bought another pair.  They were wore out but Hailey love them too so she made sure they were passed down to her.

The time has come where they no longer fit anyone and it's time to say goodbye.  I have to admit, it makes me a little sad.  I know they are just shoes and I have a million pictures of our girls wearing them but I needed to take one more, just to showcase just how much these boots were loved.

Janet. Ms Jackson if You're Nasty

Our seats were awful. Way at the top and on the side of the stage.  I guess that's what you get when you want to go last minute and don't want to spend a ton of money.  I am so glad we decided to go.  She put on a great show and it was so fun singing and dancing along to her greatest hits.