The Main Event

My girls don't get up until 8. I know, I am blessed. So, we slowly rumbled out of bed on Christmas day. Thankfully the kids were patient while the adults tried to open their eyes. Of course staying up most of the night playing games and talking may have something to do with us being still asleep. The girls were so spoiled that got so many wonderful gifts. They would open a gift and want to play with it rather than moving on to the next gift. We had to put some gifts together, which took up most of the afternoon. McKayla said she got everything she wanted. Ariana just look overwhelmed by everything. We are so blessed to have loving family that spoil our kids. Even family that couldn't be here sent us money to buy special gifts for the kids. After we open gifts I tried to work on dinner. i was grouchy because I didn't get enough sleep and the food was not magically working for me. i normally can be a good cook, but it just wasn't happening. After was had something resembling Christmas dinner, we all took a nap. After the nap, I think I was a nicer person. I'm surprised someone didn't smack me with a piece of coal and tell me to straighten up. I love my family. We still stayed up late on the the 25th playing games and talking. We like games.

On Saturday My sister-in-law and husband cleaned the kitchen for me. I cooked breakfast and then my siblings left for Boise. It was so good to visit with them. They love playing with the kids and there are always a few laughs. My parents stayed until Monday. My kids loved having them stay. It has been hard for the kids to come down off a week of being fawned over and spoiled, but they are adjusting.

December 24

This is the day that threw me off my cooking schedule. We woke up and had some fun in the morning. I was able to cook breakfast and we kind of lounged and visited for a bit. Then my sister-in-law and her family came over. The power went out at this point. So, we played some games and the cousins exchanged gifts. Then we went downstairs to roast marsh mellows in the dark and read Christmas stories and play another game. It was a lot of fun. The power came back on and then they left so that both families could prepare for another Christmas party. I remembered as soon as they left that we needed to do the Christmas story. I couldn't believe I had forgotten. We did read it later on that night to the girls.
Then we went over to our neighbors house. Santa came to visit and he brought toys for all of the kids. It was a lot of fun. Ariana wasn't too sure about the whole thing, but McKayla loved it. We were able to visit with friends and neighbors for a bit. Then we headed back over to our house. I need to put a late dinner together because my brother and his wife were coming up from SLC late that night and they would need some food. I made baked ziti and it was a hit. Yum.
We all went to bed much later than we should have, but it was so much fun! This is why I didn't bake my pie ahead of time. I also didn't make the appatizers a head of time. In fact, I simple didn't make half the menu for lack of oven space and time the next day. So, the feast wasen't glorious, but we had fun.

December 23

So, I decided since there were no comments on teh pictures I left yesterday, that I would explain our Christmas day by day. On the 23 I got the house ready for guests. i thought my parents would be here early, but they didn't make it until late in teh afternoon. This turned out to be a good thing becasue my friend Karen came over and I was able to help her finish some blankets she was making. Who knew it could be so simple. I think I could maybe do that. Anyway, I had a great time visiting with Karen. Then my parents showed up and my kids got really hyper. McKayla has been practacing her cartwheel and she showed it off until she couldn't hold herself up anymore. (I will get a video up later.) Later that night my eldest brother Rob showed up and the girls went nuts. Ariana is especially attached to him. Maybe it is becasue he finds everthing she does cute and funny. He dosen't have steam coming out of his head on an hourly basis like I do. We had fun. My brother and I played air hockey and then my father and brother played some pool. It was fun to see my dad do a behind the back number. I just had to take a picture. We actully went to bed at a decent hour that night. Check back here for a report on our activities of the 24th.

Christmas 2009

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Saving Money

So, my brother told me about this blog that a lot of his servers use down in Utah. It is called http://www.sheshopssmart.blogspot.com/. This blog is really amazing. It has a weekly meal plan built around the coupons. I used it last night and it worked pretty well. The plan this week was built around Smith's coupons. We saved about 25% on our shopping and we really got more than enough for the week. Also, we were able to save 10 cents per gallon of gas as well. The bill was a little higher than I am used to, but lately I have been out of meal ideas, so the blog helps with that as well. You can also choose whatever store you want to shop at and it will bring up the coupons for that store. I love it and I wanted to share with you.

So Simple, Yet So Cute

So, I saw this great idea that I have been using on every scrapbook page and Christmas tag that I make. Yep, I went a little crazy, but I have to share.

This idea requires you to cut a shape or something out of your piece of paper. This can be done with punches, using the cricut, or using your scissors making snowflakes. Next, you get some clear packing tape and put it on the back of your paper with the sticky side facing the front. Now, the fun part, get some glitter, the finer the better. Sprinkle it on the tape you have a great sparkly look. See the above Christmas tag that I am going to put on the goodies I am giving to my neighbors.

For this project I used my cricut to cut out a snowflake card. Then I ran it through my cuddle bug to emboss it. Then I did my tape trick. And there it is all cute and stuff. Have fun!

SLC

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