A Little Trip

I seem to be averaging blogging about 1 time a week . . .means my readership has gone down from 7 to 2! And those people don't check often! {smirk} Things have been wild around here. We got news last week that I'd get to accompany Andy on a business trip. Never done that before. Never had the guts to even think of asking Mom and Dad to take care of all 3 of the kids for multiple days. But when I saw this place I couldn't resist! We're only staying there one or 2 days (right now, just 1 night. . . hoping for a cancellation), then we're moving on to the site of where his meetings are. I'm a happy gal! Of course, this has lead to much frenzy . . . over an hour at the PO getting a passport, massive cleaning of the house, as Mom and Dad will be staying here, not to mention just the normal things I do. Hoping to get caught up sometime before I leave!

PSA for the day

After calling the same unnamed (for fear of who it would bring to my blog! I made that mistake one time when using another word for "unclothed" when speaking of art . . .got the weirdo comments in droves!) catalog THREE times to have my name removed from their list (who knows where they bought it from! Domestications?), I've found this wonderful little form. It's the Form 1500 at the post office . . .and everyone needs this little gem! The Supreme Court did a good thing . . .making sure we could decide what fit the description for the usage of this form, and didn't leave it up to the USPS. You can say you don't want a golf catalog if you want to . . .and the USPS can't argue you on it!

I'm personally looking forward to being able to start criminal or civil sanctions against the above said company if I get another one of their catalogs! There are just some catalogs I feel should be REQUESTED and not just sent to because the company bought your info.

In other happenings . . .did you know that you can do modern dance with the song "Old Time Religion"? tehehe . . . I saw it in action last night with Alaina!

Ian took the TAKS yesterday . . .. from what I asked him, his content sounded like it was well thought out. I'm just hoping he used his best handwriting! And Allison's reading Little House books by herself! YIPPEE . . . .she was stunned last week to learn that there was a TV show as well! tehehe

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

I know . . .I've had several of you emailing asking where I'm at. I'm here! Finished up the photography class. . .and I gotta say, I guess I just am that good! ( think I mentioned that last time . . .or I thought I did, but I don't see that post. HMMMMM)

We had to do action shots for my last class. He wanted both showing movement and freezing movement. I took in about 12 . . .some new, some old. The second and third ones here are ones I took at soccer practice last week. First was from Princesses on Ice in November. He really liked the Belle one and the one of Alaina running . . .and said I'd gotten down the perfect timing with the soccer pictures.



In other news . .. finished a big project, that took up a great deal of my free time. Took Andy to Bob's Friday for his birthday (we've never been to Bob's twice in 14 days!) and to see Firewall.

We've had the cold/sinus infection stuff around here. Would be why I haven't posted.

Oh, and the latest Alaina-ism . . .she told me today she was "going out of my mind!" tehehe

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping all is well with you all and that you have an enjoyable day. I've been swamped. . . between a soccer game, a birthday party, a banquet for Andy and Allie, playing dominoes with my sister and BIL, taking pictures up at the school for Allie's V-day party, colorizing them, organizing the shindig, and taking pictures for my photography class I haven't had a moment to get the regular stuff done (you know .. . housecleaning, cooking).

So, Andy and Allie had a father/daughter banquet for the YMCA Adventure Princesses . .. or whatever they're calling it this year! Took me an hour to get Allie's hair done. Messed with different exposures and tried a little f-stop stuff (still need some help with that!). Here's one of the pictures:

Ian had a soccer game Saturday afternoon. We were hoping that since it was late afternoon, it might warm up some. NOOOOOO . . . I think it was the coldest day we've had this winter. And on top of that, the winds were strong! I heard that Sunday the winds were 40 mph. I know Saturday had to be that fast. I took NO pictures. . . never happens! But I had to bundle up the girls and myself so we could survive watching the game. They did win 5-1. Go Jags!

So, last Friday I took pictures of Allison's class for their Valentine's Day scrapbooks (they put their valentines in a handmade little book and their pictures were to be on the cover). Then I made a second photo for them to take home to Mom and Dad. Here's Allie's:

Finally, class assignment for this time was landscapes and architexture. SOOOOOO not interested in these topics. I finally came up with these. Thinking the first one is a VERY weak landscape!

A shortie . . .

Don't have a lot of time. Since my last post, I've taken more pictures, received Girl scout cookies (if you ordered, I'll be emailing you soon!), made a trip to Arkansas, and followed a UPS man through a shopping center! Yep, I was soooooo trying to avoid a mailboxes, etc I've had a box to be returned in my van for a week! Saw a brown truck from across the parking lot and winded and stalked until I got the UPS guy. Mission accomplished! Alaina's home with a virus today, I have tutu's to finish, gotta take some pics with said tutu's then it's time for Photography class! I just wanted to stop and take a minute to post. . ..

Insecurities

First off . . .to those that asked. Allie danced on Monday. Mom said she smiled and danced the entire time. Hardly missed a step. @@ . . .what do I know? ROFL Glad she did though. And she was so pleased with the rose Mom and Dad gave her afterwards. I'm sure I'll have to pull the dead flower out of there sometime next week . . .when it finally dies.

So, onto insecurities. I've had the first 2 of my photography classes this week. Our first assignment was self portraits (YUCK!). So I spent over 2 hours taking pics . . .I think I took somewhere in the realm of 150! I pulled the ones I thought were fairly good and took them in (we were supposed to take between 2-5). He showed all of them up on the big screen, and asked questions, shown were there could've been improvements, etc. He got to mine, said something about it being good to do closeups (I had a pic of my hands scrapbooking), said "Very nice pictures" and moved on. No asking about ISO, if I shot with or without a flash. So, of course, that leaves me to wondering how good they really were. Are they that horrible that he didn't even want to start discussing them? {sigh} I don't know. This Tuesday we're supposed to bring in portraits. Will see what I can do about getting some people together for that.

Here are a couple of them . . .



Excited . . .tonight the 6 of us grown-up kids (my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife, and the 2 of us) are going to Bob's Steak and Chop for dinner. YIPPEE . . . . I do find it funny that they have "glazed carrot" on their menu. Nope, not a typo. For $2.95 you can get one huge glazed carrot. tehehe

An End of an Era

Some of you know that Ian was dx'ed with a focusing issue when he turned 6. Not really exactly sure what the medical term is, but the first time they did a vision test, they thought he seriously needed glasses because he did that poorly on the eye test. They got the dr. in the room, he had Ian read the chart . . .and he was 20/20! We'd been sent to this OD because we'd had Ian in OT because he couldn't color! Yes, the kid figured out multiplication in K, had been spelling since he was 3 .. . .but the kid couldn't color to save his life! So, off to OT we went .. .seeing if it was poor fine-motor skills. She asked if his arms got tired at school, and he said "No, but my eyes do!" . . so off we went to Dr. S, the OD PA (whatever PA means . . .maybe pediatric something? He has a ton of kids in his practice). So he went through the most thorough eye exam I've ever seen. I thought that perhaps he was just doing this extensive an exam because we'd been referred by an OT. . . .nope, those are his regular exams! Both the girls have been too, and it was just a "regular" check.

And the dr. discovered this focusing issue. Apparently, it's not often discovered this young . . .and a lot of times the kids are dx'ed with Dyslexia, ADD, etc before they are properly dx'ed because it's harder to catch. They gave him a script for prism lenses. Literally overnight, the kid went from being very relunctant to read, to reading vary well. He had all those words in his head, he just couldn't see them properly! He's worn the lenses for 3.5 years. . .they basically retrain the eyes to work properly, and we did, I don't know . . . a TON of vision therapy sessions. Not cheap, but so well worth it! Who knows what kind of student he would've been without them.

Today, we went to visit Dr. S and he did an exam, checking to see how fast he would read things structured oddly, etc. And the kid ACED it! He doesn't have to wear the glasses at all anymore, unless he's having a particularly stressful day, hard time with the eyes, etc. So no more glasses. . . on a regular basis at least. I had to capture Ian today in his glasses. You can't see it so much in the pic, but man, these glasses have been well loved. After 2 frames broke, we went with those flexible ones. . .and oh, are they bent out of shape, lenses scratched. . . they've been worn on the playground, wrestled in . . .they're definitely used!



Allie did a drill team dance clinic today, since we had no school. 6 hours with a gym full of girls of all ages! The other 2 kids and I were there for the "showoff" time, and I'm not sure Allie learned anything. She wasn't enthusiastic, by any means (as you'll see below). They're supposed to dance at halftime at the ballgame tomorrow night. I was not thrilled to miss my first photography class for it, and even less thrilled with the aspect that I'd be missing class to watch her stand there! So, Mom and Dad are taking the 3 kids and going to the game, and I'm going to class.


The first picture was when she noticed I was sitting there. Vast improvement over last semester, when she rolled around on the floor with a couple other girls when they were supposed to be sitting quietly! Photo 2 . . .well, you can see how enthusiastic she looked!
Third photo . . .I can't get why their drill team counterparts (the teenagers) gave them party blowers before the day was over! Allie was more into it than the dance! ROFL And yep, all the girls in her group had these tiaras . . . and they blink! ROFL

Okay, I don't normally do this . . .you guys will notice I don't even have a "my favorite blogs" sidebar. . .but if you're in for a giggle and 40-something women and undergarments . . . go check out this post (sorry, Kelly . . . I just had to! Too Darned funny .. . besides probably a majority of the people who come here, end up here because of one of your links here! tehehe) Kelly's blog

Dead On . ..

You know, these internet personality things rarely get me right. I think, in part, because I never like the answers I have to choose from. This one, however, nailed it!

You Are Likely a Second Born

At your darkest moments, you feel inadequate.At work and school. you do best when you're evaluating.When you love someone, you offer them constructive criticism. In friendship, you tend to give a lot of feedback - positive and negative.Your ideal careers are: accounting, banking, art, carpentry, decorating, teaching, and writing novels.You will leave your mark on the world with art and creative projects.

The Birth Order Predictor

Yep, I feel inadequate when I'm not doing well emotionally. ROFL . . work was school, and I evaluated all the time. Friendship . . . yep, perhaps I give too much feedback sometimes!

Even the ideal careers merged all parts of my major: I was a secondary ed major with emphasis in business (loved the accounting part) and English (writing novels). Guess I'll leave my mark with scrapbooking, huh?

These are a few of my favorite things . . . .

Here's Alaina giving you a friendly wave. We told her to get some shoes on to go outside to play on Saturday. Here's what she came down wearing. . . .a few of her favorite things. The infamous red boots, her favorite pair of pants (she calls them giraffe pants, because she's a giraffe nut; but they're really leopard) with the matching sweater. Then for a special touch, her favorite summer dress. And yes, we did let her go out in the backyard this way.



I looked out the window one night last week and saw this view. I loved it, and have been looking to photograph the sky at this time of night for a project I'm working on. Unfortunately, I couldn't shoot over the houses. {sigh} will keep trying.

A few of my favorite things:

the iPod . .. it's quickly becoming an addiction. While working in the scraproom this weekend, I listened to a whole audiobook.
beef fajitas from On The Border. . . as long as I ask for the beef and the onions well done.
The Motive by John Lescroart I love this guy's books. I usually like it when an author takes the same character (or 2. . . here) and writes several books with them. Seems to give the character more depth.
The movies . . . my friend Erin took me to dinner and a movie (Last Holiday) to celebrate my birthday. We laughed and laughed through it. It's always great to spend time with a good friend.
Chatterbox Chalet and Holiday Lodge papers . . . YUMMY! I got some late last week in the mail and I'm in love! If you haven't checked out Chatterbox's sneak peeks . . .go, quickly, to their website (www.chatterboxinc.com) and check those things out! Oh, they have some journaling embellishment boxes that look AWESOME, several new rooms, transparencies. . .and more!

Okay, off to watch an evening of DVR'ed TV.

Sometimes you get what you ask for . . .

This can be a good thing, or a bad thing.

Good . . . I got the iPod I've been asking for on Friday for my birthday. Spent a lot of this weekend looking up songs, downloading them from iTunes, etc.

Bad . . . I've been wanting to get more daytime reading time in with Alaina. Reading to her through the foggy glass when I'm in the shower . . . not so much!

Good, yet bad, part 1 . . . . I love girl scout cookies. Yummy! They rank at the top of my list as far as sweets. Bad . . . Allie's selling them. I hate selling things. When I worked at gymboree, I never tried to sell people 20 thousand pieces to the wardrobe. I rang up what they handed me, tried to help them out if they needed something to match, and that was it. And as Allison is a 1st grader, you can imagine who's doing most of the selling! Andy had one lady from work tell him she'd buy "at least" one box of cookies, if Allie would write her a note about why she was selling (basically give her sales pitch). #1 . . . this lady has no idea how long it takes Allison to write anything .. . and #2, unless she writes fairly slowly, it's not going to be anything the woman can read!

Good, yet bad, part 2 . . . . I put several camera things on my Christmas/Birthday list. I got a 50 mm fixed lens for Christmas. That's working out well. My birthday . . .my sweet dad fixed me up a bag of goodies. A couple of different filters (a skylight filter and a Polorizing filter), plus a soft focus lens (he said it would work better than a soft filter, which I'd asked for), this lens, an adapter, and 2 other things I haven't figured out (can't remember what he told me) what they're for. All very cool things. The soft focus lens and the 5x lens, he told me I'd need to set it at f4 . . . I don't even know how to do that! Hoping that's one of the first lessons when I go to photography class! So, great, because he picked this stuff out for me, and knew it was stuff, I wanted . .. but it goes to show you, you'd better watch what you ask for .. . you just might get it!

A Little Experimenting . . .

After letting PSE 4.o sit dormant for a week or so, with the exception of downloading some pics, I decided I really need to learn something about photo editing. More than just the basics I've been doing so far. I've got the b/w pic with a colored element nailed down. So I thought I'd try the all black and all white backgrounds. I played around and didn't do them as perfectly as if I were really trying. Doing some experimenting more than anything.

First attempt was to change this photo's background to an all black background:



It turned out fairly well, except I didn't notice the light spots at the bottom of the pic (gotta remember to scroll down!)



Then I decided to try and take this one from a pink background to a white one:



This one didn't go so well. I used the dodge tool and played with the hard edges and the soft edges. Her legs and arms just don't look right! The left side was done with the soft tool, and the right with the hard tool. Left definitely looks better, but i still need some practice on this one! And then there's that smudge on the right hand side. . . it looks like you've got it all, but just doesn't end up that way.

Guess I'll keep practicing!

On Being an Insomniac . . .

New meds . . .. upside, not as many migraines (YEA!). Downside. . . not as much sleep either. The past 5 weeks, I've been a whirlwind of nocturnal energy. Thus the 4:30 am wrapping spree one night. Lately, I've been using that time to clean . . .don't know what little cleaning monster got into me, but it was about time! I've spent 3 late, late, late nights going through kids' memorabilia, endless scrapbook magazines, Gymboree clothes that need to be ebayed, countless books and the like. Now if I can just get the Christmas tree down!

Talked to dr. and he's changing the dosaging. . . but who knows how long that will take to adjust my sleeping schedule! So next couple of nights, I'll be in the scrapbook room, working on some layouts that are percolating in my head, and perhaps start a Chatterbox entry.

Two Things I Hate About Christmas

Now that the Christmas season is over, I gotta admit. There's 2 things I hate about Christmas. The first one is putting Christmas away. Taking down the 4 trees, finding places for all the new toys (so they're not all over the floor), getting the house back into order. I've not made much headway on this, so far. I set the girls to work taking ornaments off the big tree, with the order that they were not to touch the china ones, the dept 56 ones, or the Christopher Radko. Like they know what any of these things are! And Ian took the ornaments off his tree. That's as far as we've gotten! We have had years that the kids' trees end up staying up until March because I just want to avoid that they need to be put away.

The second thing I hate about Christmas . . .the weight gain! All the yummy desserts, the baked goods, the potatoes. . . they all call to me! I was shocked when I got on the scales and discovered I'd LOST 7 lbs over the holiday season! Whooooohoooooo!

The kids are all back in school today. Before Alaina left, I took some shots of her with her favorite piggies in her hair. I wanted to try out the new 50mm fixed lens. Here are a couple shots:


Now I just have to figure out how to use the new PSE 4.o!

An Interesting Two Weeks

When the Christmas break began, I was so full of hopes and plans. We were all healthy after coming off over a week of the stomach flu. The kids' parties were finished, the wrapping was done . .. . the holiday baking completed early. We had 3 really good days there.

Then Christmas Day evening hit. We'd spent a majority of the day at my parents' house. . .eating (2 meals), unwrapping presents, laughing and playing. Andy hadn't felt so great that morning, but he seemed to be better as the day went on. By the time we got home, Alaina had a fever, and Andy basically tanked. {sigh} We never did really figure out what we all ended up passing around .. . the flu (of the non-stomach variety)? a cold? I'm not sure. But by the time we were to leave on Thursday morning for Arkansas, we'd taken 2 of the kids to the dr . . .one with a double ear infection, one with an ear infection and a sinus infection. I figured surely a day of antibiotic would help. With Ian, it seemed to . . .Alaina . . . no such luck. I think here, 6 days later. . . and 9 days after she started the whole she-bang, you can finally see a spark of that Alaina flair.

So, over the course of 2 weeks. . .we celebrated Christmas 4 times (once at home, once at my parents, again at home with Andy's parents, then in Arkansas), we watched 2005 slip into 2006 (I was in bed trying to go to sleep. . . fear of another migraine), and we earned an extra day of Christmas break. Yep, you heard me! I almost became one of those moms who got their kids ready for school and took them to drop them off, with nary a kid in sight! We didn't realize until yesterday evening that we didn't HAVE school today. Oops!

Then, last night, someone from down the street came and rang the doorbell, wanting to know if our neighbors were in town. They're still gone. . .and apparently someone broke in their van window and stole a bag inside. Poor thieves . . . they didn't snatch anything worth getting, and dumped it in a recycling bin, where it was found. Poor neighbors, they now have to have a window replaced. And it's kinda scary . . .knowing that someone was either (1) survailing houses, trying to find people who were out of town or (2) going from driveway to driveway peeking in all the vehicles looking for something to steal. The policeman that came felt it was more likely option 2. Kinda makes me feel "oogy" knowing someone is doing that.

I don't really make resolutions . . .they've never really been my bag. But here's hoping that (1) we all stay safe and (2) Christmas 2006 is more healthy than this past one!

It's Over. . .

First of all . . . Happy Birthday Erin!

I've been so busy the last couple of days, I haven't even had a chance to update. The 23rd, we spent just about the whole day baking. Yummy sweets, but may last us forever!


Fruitcake Cookies


Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins (got this recipe from another blogger).


Peanut Butter Cup Tarts (remember these from Alaina's Thanksgiving party?)


Ice Cream Kolaches

Took us forever just to get all the baking done! Happily, we had all the wrapping done by the 23rd.

We did Christmas Eve dinner at our house. My parents and my friend Erin came. Nice, cozy dinner for 8. The kids passed out their "gifts from the heart" .. . . a picture frame from Alaina, an ornament from Ian, and a prettily wrapped candy bar from Allie. I hadn't gotten a chance to take their Christmas pictures yet, so I did it quickly in the kitchen before we ate dinner. Here are a couple of the ones I've started playing with:





A while after dinner, the kids got ready for bed. Then we started the normal Christmas Eve bedtime routine. They put out the cookies for Santa and red bell peppers for the reindeer. And they each write a note to Santa. We don't do that ahead of time mailing thing. . . just the night before. So far, none of them have done a last minute change to what they want Santa to bring. Then upstairs to bed.

They had a great time this morning. . .don't have the pictures dumped onto the computer yet. I'm waiting to install PSE 4.0 that Andy got me. Everyone got what they wanted from Santa (Alaina wanted a toboggan for her Bitty Twins, Allison wanted the American Girl Horse Lovers outfit, and Ian wanted a Darth Vader Voice Changer!), and much more from us and each other. Alaina's biggest thrill was her new Gameboy. She's been begging for one, and it's really hard to make her wait out things like that, because the other two have them. We'll see how crazy I go when we drive to Arkansas! And the Darth Vader mask is going to have to stay home on that trip! Ian's played and played with it, but I'm tired of Darth's Heavy Smoker's Breathing! And Ian's thrilled with his new digital camera. I haven't looked to see the shots he took with it. Allie. . . she's so happy about getting tons of little animals to play with, and more American Girl stuff for her doll Kit.

Will get some pictures posted soon.

It's beginning to look like Christmas . . .

The kids are on their first day of Christmas break. They both had a great time at parties yesterday. I'm Allison's room mom, so I'm there for the whole party, trying to get everything done. So, I did what I usually do . . .I sent Andy to Ian's party with a camera. Ian's so thrilled to have Andy come to these things.

Everytime I do one of these things, I worry that there's not enough to do. And always, we rush through to get it all done. But the kids always seem to have a great time. Guessing it doesn't really matter what you do, as long as they're good and sugared up and it's different from the regular routine.

We were going to make a gingerbread tree 2 nights ago . . .the icing just never gelled right. So yesterday, we used leftover icing from the party and got the tree all done. The plan was to get a gingerbread house, but well . . .Mom waited too late! So I picked up an onsale tree set. And I think from now on that's what I'm going to buy every year! It was so much more easy to put it together than those houses!



The kids always want to get a "silly" picture. They're well trained from the group silly pictures that get taken at school! They decided we needed a picture of them getting ready to eat the tree.



Christmas lights picture of the day. This house annoyed me . . .I don't like the tree trunks wrapped and the branches left empty (man, I'm starting to sound Christmas lights picky, aren't I?). But then I noticed the centerpiece of the whole display, and it put a grin on my face!



How many people would think to light up the basketball goal??? Just so funny!

The awards are out . . .

So, apparently the judges (usually the fire dept, don't know if it was this year) have been out riding around and chosing their favorites displays. The Best Overall display was my neighbors with the train (This is typical! Not sure how many years they've gotten that award!). The Best Theme went to this house:







I guess the theme was Santa, Snowmen, and a dash of the Grinch? I didn't quite figure out what the theme was. "lots of stuff in yard"? Still thinking . . .

The other award was for the house with the most lights. Now, I know you think it's gotta be that syncronized one. But that house is actually in the next subdivision. I think these are the up and comers in the lighting arena. They've got the carpet of lights, just like that other house had when they began!



In other news . . .

Andy and I were with Alaina today. She informed me that she had the fancier jacket between the 2 of us. Andy was puzzled . . . well, mine doesn't have Rainbow Dash on it! tehehe Then Andy told her to remember that when she hit 17 and wanted a formal. He wasn't going to buy her one without Rainbow Dash on it. She told him that wouldn't do . . .she wanted Sunny Daze on it! That kid.

In the midst of working on Allison's class "holiday" party. Occurred to me tonight that I needed hats, gloves, scarves for a game they're planning . . .Mad dash to send the teacher an email to forward to parents. {sigh}

And we got the cards finished tonight. . .this has been a 2 month project. I was determined to get them out this year. Here's the stack that's going out in the am, be on the lookout!:



Wonder how long we'll be at the post office mailing those things off!

Hope you guys are having a great time, this last week before Christmas.

Whirlwind of Activity

First off . . .Allison's well . .. we're all well, for the moment.

We've been quite busy. Of course, Allison occupied all of Thursday. Then I worked on her class party on Friday. Can I just say thank goodness for xyron machines! The craft is one of those oriental trading foam crafts . . .and they just never stick with glue or the glue gets all runny. So I'm xyroning all the pieces and will be able to hand each kid a xyroned strip.

Then last night, Andy and I went Christmas shopping. Finished up the kids' gifts. We waited too long to get all the things I'd planned on getting. Hoping Alaina's not too irritated when she doesn't get the big giraffe she wanted. Thinking not, as she keeps saying she's getting a Gameboy, and we keep telling her she's not old enough. She's got one under the tree. . .tehehe. Also got a few gifts for some of the adults I needed to buy for.

We stayed up until after 4 this morning wrapping everything! EEK But I wanted to wrap them while we had the chance . . .ever since the year that I waited until Christmas Eve to wrap and we ended up spending most of the night in the ER with Ian and a broken leg. . . .I try to get them wrapped as we buy them.

Today's light display:


These pictures didn't turn out very well, because there wasn't a lot of lighting. Got a giggle out of these because, 1) there are so many inflatables and 2) they spilled out over their neighbors' yards. They had to outline their display so you could tell what all was theirs, as both neighbors have inflatables too. Anyone see a problem with any one house having THIRTEEN inflatables?

And another house, to make up for yesterday's lack of pictures:



{sigh} didn't realize how blurry this one came out. On first glance, I didn't like this house . . .don't know why, it just didn't hit a chord with me. Upon further glances though, I actually decided I liked it. . . the different colored lights, the way the bushes were covered. This wasn't a buch of net lights (which I'm not that fond of . . .they never cover all they should), these were those large bulb lights and they covered everything well.

Another One Bites the Dust . . .

I told Andy that today over the phone, and he thought I was saying the last hamster died (I WISH!). But I was actually talking about Allison . . . .I had to go pick her up at school after she got sick this am. That makes 4 of us since Sunday morning! And to make matters worse, I'm starting to feel a relapse coming on. {sigh} How am I supposed to get Christmas shopping done like this?

So, instead of this wonderful gushing post about how much of my Christmas list (well, the one in my head anyway. .. . haven't written anything down), here is a house that makes me giggle.



Looks pretty normal in the dark, right? See those glowing things in the weird trees (they put horrible looking skeletons in these trees for halloween). Take a closer look at this picture taken in the daytime.



The 2 circles to the right (How cool am I? I finally figured out how to draw circles!) Those are Santa heads in the trees. The circle to the left . . .another Santa trying to get in the window. And then here's the view you can't see at night . . .this is to the left of the breaking and entering Santa.



TWO more Santa. . .they gotta be more thieving Santas (see yesterday's post) . . . look how skinny they are! No way is that the real thing. You'd think people were trying to say something about the neighborhood . . .really we don't have many break-ins. I'm not sure what store you buy these at.

Okay .. . tomorrow, a house I really like. I promise.

Hoping Time Slows down

Well, another short lapse. The kids have been sick, and apparently I caught it! ARGH We've been trying to keep up with the advent calendar. . .have a couple of days to make up. {sigh} I was hoping this would help keep me in line! Let's not even talk about the lack of Christmas shopping around here. I'm afraid I will never be caught up!

Hope you guys enjoyed the links to the videos of those houses I shared on Monday. Here's another set of pictures for you to enjoy.



These people actually have some lights on the back side of their house too. I find that whole thing a little odd, as they just about backed up to a small cemetery that the subdivision north of us is built around. And a closeup of the door area:



Yep, that's one Santa in the window, with another one hanging down in front of the door. Makes you wonder if they're really Santas, or just thieves trying to break in! {vbg}

Today, we started our work on the "Gifts from the Heart" that we're planning on sharing on Christmas Eve (Erin, 2 things . . . 1-- will give you more info in the invite that will hopefully be going out Friday, and 2 -- stop reading here so you don't see Ian's gift!)

Ever since Ian took an ornament class several weeks ago, he's wanted to make more. So I bought supplies for him to make some fancy ornaments. I helped him a little, but he did the mod podging and painting by himself. And picked out who would get each one. Take a peek (once again . . .except you Erin!):