Christmas Ornament Countdown: 21 Days until Christmas

Buying an ornament from a hotel is pretty unusual-even for us.  But the Inn at Christmas Place in Gatlinburg was worth an ornament.  Here is the link from that day of our trip.  Nonna and Pops met us this year at the end of our road trip and this hotel was amazing.  The breakfast was good but seeing Mrs. Clause, hearing Santa sing, having milk and cookies for a snack, decorating cookies and making crafts all in 24 hours made this the hotel that my kids will always remember.  And to top it all off, Santa even made a visit to our hotel room and we all had a present the morning that we woke up.

December 3, 2015

Future scientist?

(click here for today's pictures)

• My crew was still wore out from Wednesday this morning -- all but Whitman had to be woken up.  Whitman though was up and out of his bed on his own at 6:50 raring to go!
• But everyone quickly got around before we headed out for our field trip.  We picked up at Grannymom and Sara and kids for our drive down to Arkadelphia.
• We headed to the Henderson State University Planetarium.  Robby had contacted an old friend from Acxiom who now works at HSU to find out the easiest place for me to find the planetarium. She gave him directions and said she would have a parking spot for me. And that she did, we pulled right up and soon found our personalized parking spot with nameplate and all. We walked over to the planetarium and met up with Amber and Heather and their kids.  
• The guide said they had 47 different choices for us to choose from.  He recommended a Westerner themed show around the stars but once the kids heard they had a Christmas themed one, that was their pick and the show soon started.
• I didn't know how Whitman would do and came prepared with lots of lollipops but he had found a grand spot right beside Grannymom.  And he was ready to have a conversation and he did for the entire 40 minutes. Good thing we had the show to ourselves.  Well, he wasn't too loud but definitely hear him at times.
• The kids all enjoyed the show but were ready to run off some energy once it was over on the HSU grounds.  We headed back to Little Rock to drop off our carpool buddies and then headed to Nonna's.  Campbell couldn't wait because it was her night to spend the night with Nonna and Pops.  It was still early in the afternoon so we all went inside for a bit and luckily Nonna even had lunch for us!  We played for a bit and then headed home. (From the pictures Uncle Jason sent, looks like Campbell went on to have a grand time at Nonna and Pops for the night even venturing out to Target for some browsing.)
• Kids played on their Kindles, Whitman took a nap (or at least laid in his bed for awhile) and Keaton fell asleep in front of the movie playing in the living room.
• Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen making my Bunko dessert. Let's just say - Pinterest FAIL!  It was so bad I didn't even try to salvage it.  Thought about making brownies but Robby told me to just pick something out at Target since I was headed there to already return some Christmas gifts that needed to be returned before we even gifted them.
• Robby opted for frozen pizzas for supper tonight. He said the kids weren't fans (guess they are spoiled even though he and I almost prefer frozen pizza to some of the ones we buy out.)  They then watched another Christmas movie, Switchmas, before heading to bed.

Christmas Ornament Countdown: 22 Days until Christmas

Right after I graduated for graduate school in 2002, we took a two week trip to Lake Tahoe.  The first part of the week our friends the Babbs came and stayed with us.  Then the next week, my folks and Jason flew in to meet us.  On this trip, we also made it to San Francisco along with Yellowstone. You can check out the pictures here and if you do, notice how young I look.

This was about the third ornament that we had bought for out tree-we probably had no idea that our ornament collection would grow to where it has today.  And if you were wondering, this year I was able to get all 216 ornaments on my tree.  This was probably a very dangerous thing to do since there is 2 wild boys in this house along with a 2 year old.  But even more dangerous is weighing down the branches of an 18 year old tree with all of that weight!

December 2, 2015

A little straw building!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Wednesday morning here and everyone had their clothes on before 8 so we then sat down for breakfast.  After our quick and easy breakfast, I had the kids then help with the laundry.  
• On the way to Bible study this morning, Campbell asked "why don't you go the short way?"  I told her that this was the only way and then she asked me about driving by Krispy Kreme.  After thinking for a minute, she was right.  There is another way to go which does pass by Krispy Kreme so we went that way.  I am not sure if it was a shortcut but I did mentally note that this route passed us by not just one doughnut place but two!
• Going in to Bible study we were carting Whitman's bag, my bag with 4 Bible study books and our four Bibles, brownies for Graham's classes snack, a pizza cookie for Reagan's classes snack and 2 containers of brownies to be sent to prisoners.
• We joined our friends at Rock Creek for a bit of playtime and lunch.  Then the we loaded up and went to see Beebee.  Nonna had taken plenty of candy and money to Beebee's place today so the kids ate up and then were all given their 1 dollar bill.  Everyone else happily let me hold on to their money for them but Whitman insisted that his money stay in his pocket.  The money even stayed in his pocket while he was racing a man in a wheelchair down the hall.  I guess to just make things interesting, Whitman decided to crawl-Oh, Santa, please bring me a leash for that child!
• At home, we didn't have too much time during the afternoon but I do believe that everyone rested a bit (I certainly did.)  Robby brought home supper which we all ate in the car on the way to church.  Then church time-puppets tonight for us.
• Once home, it was a quick showers, a quick snack, a quick Bible story and then a quick look at a Christmas ornament (we talk about one every night) and then bedtime for my kiddos.  Tomorrow is a big day-planetarium visit!

Christmas Ornament Countdown: 23 Days until Christmas

This ornament is new to our tree this year.  We bought these little coins at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in 2013.  After buying them, we didn't really have any idea of how to hang them on the tree so we just stuck them in the coin holder of my car and they have traveled around with us for the last 2 years.  Grandpa came to the rescue and was able to drill holes through them and now they hang perfectly on the tree reminding us of our trip to the west coast with Nonna and Pops.  Click here for the pictures from the trip.

December 1, 2015

Making a Pizza Cookie!

(click here for today's pictures)

• I guess that I blogged too early last night because the most exciting part of the evening was when Robby had finally had enough of Keaton's antics every single night.  He picked her up and took her to the bonus room.  She was not happy at all and let the entire house know about it but after a while she was soon asleep.
• And I was shocked at 3 this morning when she came into our room.  I would have never crossed an entire house in the dark (and I might not even now).  I let her lay in bed with us until I started to feel trapped in the middle and found her some blankets to make her a pallet on the floor.
• Then we were all sleeping well until Whitman busted in and stepped on top of Keaton to get to our bed at 6:40.  I guess the top that Robby put on top of the pack n play didn't work-may have to put him in the bonus room tonight.
• After breakfast this morning, Robby and Keaton headed off to school with Whitman staring out the window crying while watching them go (Whitman was crying, I held it together).  The rest of us started on school and who would ever believe it but the kids were all finished by 10 this morning.  It helped that we had done a bit last night and Robby made the boys get started before breakfast this morning.  
• The kids soon went outside while I straightened the house and then it was time to load up and pick Keaton up from school.  We all went in to get her and then I dropped everyone off at Grannymom's house so I could go and do some Christmas shopping.  
• While I shopped and shopped, the kids played at Grannymoms and even went to Rock Creek to play some.  The girls played school and the boys watched tv and when Robby came to pick them up, they then met me at the gas station so we could fill up both of our cars for 80 cents a gallon.  
• Then it was home for showers for the kids while Robby worked on supper.  We had breakfast for supper-a personal favorite.  Then everyone watched the Charlie Brown Christmas show after we read our Bible story and pulled our Santa down to count down to Christmas.  Pretty good day!
• And I have forgotten to write about Campbell the other day.  It was completely out of the blue that she looked at me and said "if you drop me off at the orphanage, who will be pick me up?"  I usually do not threaten the kids with an orphanage since I do not know where one is but I did tell her that surely one of her grandparents would pick her up.

Christmas Ornament Countdown: 24 Days until Christmas

Back in 2009 I started doing a daily countdown highlighting one of my Christmas ornaments each day.  By my unofficial count, I have 214 ornaments bought on one of our trips.  As I look over the list of ornaments, I can pretty much remember what each one looks like, when we bought it and if it was expensive or a bargain.  This year our tree is not in the corner but in a different spot so hopefully I will be able to put a few more of my ornaments on the tree and hopefully I will be able to keep all of the little hands off of the tree and it's ornaments.

Some years I save my new favorite ornament for the last day of the countdown but this year, I am showing it off first.  You might have a syrup bottle, spam container, baseball bat, yo yo or golf ball on your tree like we do but I can pretty much guarantee that you do not have a shoe hanging on your Christmas tree.

This summer we journeyed under the American Falls at Niagara Falls on the Cave of the Winds tour.  (Click here for the link from that day of the road trip)  Before you ventured on the wooden decks of the tour, you were given some neat little water sandals.  It was such a fun stop and even though we were soaking wet at the end of the walk by the falls, we can't wait until we get to do it again.