Snow much fun

Just two weeks ago we sat at the table discussing the fact that it was mid- December and we'd yet to have any snow.  Usually by Thanksgiving we've at least had a measurable snowfall, but this year was looking to be a repeat of last year where there were only a handful of days in the 30's and we didn't get to play in the snow at all.  The next day, we got a surprise snow that came with an entire day of 67 mph winds.  It was horrible.  It blew so hard that it blew through all of our a/c vents and our house was freezing.  Christopher adjusted our heating zones to warm the upstairs more and we're still trying to get them back to normal...  It blew off several sections of shingles, particularly on the corner right above Kate's room.  We heard a loud banging so I went out to look and a huge section had blown loose and was beating down on the roof.  It sounded like someone taking a bat to the roof every 10 seconds.  Thankfully we got the roof repaired the next day.

Winter has officially arrived in Southern Illinois, and even though I hate cold weather, right now I'm enjoying it!  We were supposed to get 6-10 inches Christmas night, but it missed us by miles and we got nothing- not a flake.  Then Friday afternoon, it started snowing a bit and I didn't give it much thought.  With the kids home on break, I don't get time to watch the weather.  Well, that little snow turned into 3 inches!  I went out Friday night and took some pics because I knew it would be gone by morning.

Come morning, it was still here.

We had our last Christmas with Christopher's mom's family at noon, but when we got back we went outside.  I didn't think we needed to get our snow clothes down from the attic, so we just went outside in coats.  We were back in within 5 minutes.  We were COLD!  And the sole came off of Preston's boot!?!?!  I'm glad he got a new pair for Christmas- the others went in the trash!

The snow was amazingly still here today, so this afternoon we got the snow clothes down and headed up to Granny and Pa's and spent the entire afternoon outside.  When we were little, their house was our snow day destination.  They live on 7 acres and Pa would spend the day pulling us behind the four-wheeler on sleds.  When we'd get cold, Pa had a fire going in the wood burning stove in the garage, so we'd warm up and go right back out, only going in to eat.  Though he didn't have a fire going today, we did go in the garage to warm up a bit between rounds.  I'm so glad my kids have had the chance to have Pa pull them, and I know it means a lot to him, too.  He was ready to take them out as soon as we walked in the door!

 Kate outgrew her snow clothes, so she wore my snow pants, so I had to wear Pa's.  They were quite big!  On the agenda tomorrow... buy Kate some snow pants!

It's only supposed to be 24 degrees tomorrow, so the snow's not going anywhere, and we're getting another 3 inches tomorrow night and the rest of the week is slated to be cold.  I imagine we'll be spending the week up the hill enjoying the snow since the kids are out of school until next week.  Loving it!

Busy Christmas

Hold on to your hats, folks!  This one's pretty long- you might want to grab a cup of tea, maybe something to eat, because you might be here a while!  I plan on doing some catching up posts, but wanted to get Christmas out before we got too far behind!

We have a BUSY Christmas every year.  With big families, we have to split things up, which makes for some long days, but it's always fun and we enjoy it.  Last Saturday we had Christmas at my dad's.  As always, the food is GREAT!  Steaks, baked potatoes the size of small footballs, salad, and more goodies than you can shake a stick at.  I left feeling so full!  The kids had a blast and got so many fun gifts!

 We got a kick out of Lilly's Christmas sweater!

Sunday morning we had Christmas with my in-laws.  The kids were so excited and were practically begging to leave to go as soon as they were dressed and ready!  Again, they got way too much, but had so much fun!  We also gained a new member of our family...  Harry Styles now resides in our home- Kate's bedroom to be specific.  She'd been begging Grammy to kidnap one of the boys from One Direction for her Christmas gift, so here he is, and Kate couldn't be prouder!  He's scared the &@%& out of us a few times, but at this point, we're pretty used to seeing that smiling face.

 Abbie and Issie got a go-cart.  Issie climbed right in and so did Kate.  Issie promptly pushed the gas and ran Abbie over.  That's why you don't drive with a horse in one hand!

Christmas Eve is always spent with my mom and grandparents.  It's always a lot of fun- especially giving Pa his Christmas toilet paper each year!

 I made Cooper this dinosaur tail since he's super into dinos and he was SO excited!  He put that tail on and proceeded to swing it at everyone there!  He even figured out that he could move it around to the front so he could sit down.  That was a sight!

Christmas morning the kids woke us early at 6:00.  I told them that was the earliest they could be up.  Preston was up at 4:00, though and asked me to check the santa tracker to see where he was.  By that time, he was already back at the North Pole, so he did a quick cookie check, saw that he'd eaten them and went back to bed.  He says he didn't go back to sleep.  All I know is that I did!  And no, that's not a bottle of wine from her stocking!  Santa always brings her sparkling grape juice!

 After getting ready, the kids enjoyed a few of their gifts before we headed out to Uncle Kent and Aunt Karen's house.

Kate got One Direction tickets from Santa and is thrilled!  She and I will be headed up towards Chicago in July for a fun night.  I've never driven that far by myself before.  She's already begging to drive into the city but I'm not sure I'm that brave!

 We had lunch with Christopher's extended family at his aunt and uncle's house.  It's always a busy, fun time, but we have to cut it short every year to be at my dad's family's Christmas that evening.  Kate and Sarah getting excited about something...

A few months ago, I got an idea to do and ugly Christmas sweater theme at Me-maw's Christmas, so I told my sister, Ali and she thought it would be more fun if it was just us, and to act like it was no big deal.  Then she got Ashley in and Kate wanted to.  When we were at dad's Saturday, we decided we couldn't leave Diana out, so she was in.  We almost had Seth agreed to dressing up like Cousin Eddie in his bath robe, but he chickened out...  So we all showed up at Me-maw's house dressed up in out homemade ugly sweaters.  It was so much fun!

Diana went as Cousin Eddie with his dickey.  Loved her bow!  Her earrings were taken straight off her Christmas tree and went back on when she got home!  Hilarious!  Ashley was a gingerbread man.  When I was helping her spray paint the "flour" on her shirt Saturday night (she was wearing it), I accidentally painted her hair!  I still wish my hair curled as well as hers!  She got the good hair genes of the bunch!

 Ali was a Christmas tree. Kate had a googly eyed Santa.

 And then there's me...  I was an elf.

 Three sisters, a sister-in-law and a daughter.  I can't wait to see what ideas we cook up for next year!

Overwhelming

Hello!  It's been a week since I last updated and figured that with this next week, I'd better update or you might wonder if I was still alive.  Things have been busy- way busier than I expected, and this week is going to be the worst.  Backing it up a bit...

Thursday I did a little baking.  Didn't go so well.  I've been making these pretzels with Hershey Hugs for years (way before Pinterest) and decided to start with these.  I obviously wasn't paying attention and bought Kisses instead.  They don't work- they have to be Hugs.  So after trying to no avail to press an M&M into them, I just gave up and used a spoon to somewhat mash the Kiss into the pretzel so they'd still be edible.

 I'd like to say that my go at fudge went better, but alas, it was an epic fail, too.  You pretty much have to eat it with a spoon if it sits out for more than 5 minutes, but I'll admit that it's good.  GOOOOOOD!  I had planned to give them to our ENT Friday for Christmas, but we went empty-handed.  But we did get a good report!  Preston still has his left tube and the right is completely healed.  We see him again in May unless winter rears its ugly head and things go downhill like usual.

We've been having fun with Bobby Boy, our elf on the shelf.  His first week back, he was pretty tame, but he's been a little ornery since December hit.  One day we caught him driving around with his arm around a married woman!  Mrs. Blueberry from Kate's dollhouse family was out and about with Bobby while poor Mr. Blueberry was asleep in his bed.  Tsk, tsk!  I've been keeping up with his daily adventures on twitter.

Our weekend was pretty low-key and we spent most of Saturday working on Kate's newest Lego movie which should be finished this week.  I was promoted to Supremo Editor-in-chief for this project because of the amount of editing required.  We're so close to being done, and it is SO good!  That girl has talent, and it keeps her focused for hours.

This week is going to be a mess.  I have to volunteer at Habitat again tomorrow, then we're going to the Lions' Christmas party with my grandpa that night.  I have two dress orders to make this week and have out by Friday (Sat. at the latest) and the fabric has yet to arrive...  Plus, we're going back to Fairview for the second Wednesday in a row to finish up Christmas shopping.  We have two parties next weekend (birthday and graduation).  A guy is coming next Monday to refinish our bathtub.  We have a dentist appt. next week, plus having to do ALL of my baking then.  Such a mess.  I'll be happy once I get these dresses done.  But that means I still have to do my sewing projects for gifts...  Next year I promise to start early!

Is it April or December?

Holy cow!  It's been a warm weekend around here, and I'm not complaining!  It was 68 degrees here today and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow.  I swear this morning when it was really sunny, that it looked like spring- then the clouds came and it looked just like December, but as soon as you walked out the door, it certainly didn't feel like it!

Saturday was the Christmas parade downtown and Kate had to march.  She was all decked out in necklaces and a Santa hat, and even wrapped wrapping paper around her flute!  The parade only lasted 5 minutes (short and sweet) and it was nice not to even be cold while we waited.

That afternoon we went and borrowed Keith and Dee's slide projector and spent the evening watching old slides.  It was fun.  Everyone always tells me that Preston looks just like Christopher and I never really saw it until we saw those old slide and he looks JUST like him.  Heaven help us!

Today was just too warm to stay in, so we went to the park for a little frisbee golf.  I still can't get over being outside in just a shirt and not being the least bit cold.  I'm afraid we're looking at another snow-free winter this year.  Boo!  I at least want one good snow to go out and play in.

Preston is really big into dominoes lately.  That's all he's wanted to do since Friday.  Tonight he built a tower that was 5 feet tall before it finally fell.  I was able to catch a pic shortly before he finished it.

I also ventured out to take a picture of our lights while it was warm.  I hung the ones on the bushes.  Spiffy, huh?

Shhhhhhh!

Listen.
Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell? (whoa-oh-oh-oh)
Closer.
Let me whisper in your ear.
Say the words you long to heeeaaar...
We're going to One Direction!!!!!

This is Kate's exciting Christmas gift!  If there ever was a bigger Directioner, I've never met her!  She's going to flip!  When I saw they were coming in our "area," I knew I had to buy tickets.  It was originally for her birthday since the concert's not until July and that would be a shorter wait, but I just can't keep this in any longer, so it's been switched to Christmas.

I wish they were coming to St. Louis, because we had to settle for Tinley Park- *4* hours away!  I tried for Louisville, KY, but they were sold out and I wasn't about to let this pass.  Not sure I'm ready to take Kate by myself to the Chicago suburbs, but there's no turning back now!  So if you hear a deafening scream Christmas morning around 6:00 a.m. central, you know what it is!  And yes, they'll be up that early!
 

Not so scrooge-y today

So the Christmas spirit still has not descended upon me, but at least I'm not as grouchy about it as I was yesterday. 

We did a little online shopping this morning and got Kate all wrapped up (no pun intended).  I still need to get stocking stuffers, but other than that, she's done.  I can't WAIT to share her big gift.  She's going to die!  Well, I hope she doesn't, truthfully, because I'm pretty darn excited about this gift myself, but you know what I mean!  I must mention that it took an hour and a half for Christopher and I to buy 5 gifts on one website.  Had it been just me, I would've had it finished in 15 since we knew exactly what we were on the hunt for, and some were already bookmarked.  Men just aren't savvy shoppers like us girls!

I've been busy making these hand sanitizer holders that my mom asked me to make her.  She needed 14.  I can tell you that it's been one disaster after another and I'm so glad that all I have to do at this point is glue on the flowers.  She better not tell people where she got them because I'm not too thrilled with them and have my doubts about how long they'll last.  I've already had to replace 2 snaps tonight. 

I've also come down with Kate's cold, so today has been pretty rough.  I need to just take a hot bath and go to bed, but it's not even 10:00 yet.  I've also re-injured my foot that I hurt when I fell off the kitchen counter last month.  I was doing fine until Monday, and it's been hurting ever since- especially when I drive or bend my toes- or put weight on the outside of my foot.  I swear, I'm falling apart folks!

Feeling scrooge-y

I don't know what it is this year, but I'm just not getting into the Christmas spirit like usual.  We've bought a total of 3 gifts.  THREE.  Usually, we're done by now.  I don't even have ideas for people, either.

It doesn't help that people started badgering us for gift ideas before Halloween.  I understand wanting to get shopping done early, but what's bad about that is that the kids haven't even thought about their Santa list at that point.  So when people ask, they tell their big ideas.  Most of the time at that point, it's just a casual "I'd like this," but by Thanksgiving, it's turned into "OH MY GOSH!  THIS IS THE ONLY THING I WANT FROM SANTA!!!!!" and someone else has already bought it.  I can't tell you how many years they've done this and when I read their Santa list, it's all stuff that's already given out, and we're left with crap that they could care less about.  Trust me, it STINKS!  This year I put a stop to it, and told everyone that was hounding me for ideas that they'd have to wait until after they'd made their lists before I gave out any.  They still haven't written them, but we know what they really want and what we're going to get, and they've got enough spare ideas to go around.

Apparently, though, the side of the family that had to be told this (and does NOT read this blog, so don't worry), didn't like my plan, so they went ahead and bought stuff.  That's kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and I apologize if I sound ungrateful because we always appreciate anything that we're given.  But every other year, they ask specifically what the kids want so that they don't just get random stuff.  This year, I have no clue what they're getting.  They don't know sizes for clothes or even what they like.  And this side of the family goes WAY overboard in the spending department, so it's not like they spend $20 and get them something small, it's always something big, or enough to add up to their limit.  At least maybe there is a bright side- we no longer have to look for ideas to give out.  But it also means that all of the time spent searching the web for ideas has led to a list that is useless. 

I'm just feeling frustrated.  Some years the excitement of Christmas is just bursting out, and this year, it's almost non-existent.  Some years I can just lie on the couch at light with the lights off and stare at the tree, and this year, I'm just praying that the cat doesn't knock them down and break more ornaments.  Some years I'm already itching to do my holiday baking, and this year, I'm dreading it.  It's not just the gift issue either, it's just that the Christmas spirit isn't here.

Our picture-less Thanksgiving

Some days I wonder why I have my big girl camera.  I went this entire Thanksgiving weekend without taking a single picture.  I had good intentions.  Really, I did.  In fact, it came along with us everywhere we went, but never made it out of the case.  You'll just have to hang in there and trust my recap!

We always set up the kids' tree downstairs on Wednesday so they can decorate it before we get our big tree on Friday and break out all of the decorations.  It just makes things SO much easier.  They got out of school early and came home and got started on the tree.  Christopher got home early and decided we needed to get the decorations up then instead of Friday.  I wasn't too thrilled, but it turned out to be a blessing! 

Our first gathering was Thursday at noon at Granny and Pa's.  Probably my most favorite of all because Granny is the best cook ever.  Her noodles and dressing are life changing.  I just wish I could get mine to taste the same.  According to Pa, it's because she puts so much salt in them that they float.  Maybe.  My cousin Greg and his new wife Sierra were able to come up from Savannah to be with us.  They were the ones that got married in May and we were unable to attend their wedding, so it was really nice to see them and meet Sierra.  Of course, I ate WAY too much food, but it was worth it.  Soooooo worth it!  It was in the 60's so after lunch we all went outside and the kids got to run and play and it was a nice change from the normal 40's.  Loved every second of it!

So after stuffing ourselves silly at Granny's, we headed to Christopher's parents' house for dinner.  Unfortunately, I'd stuffed myself so much at lunch that I was unable to eat much at all.  It was pitiful!  But we had a good time and the kids got to play with their cousins.  A busy, and fun day!  We unwound at home later on watching old home movies from when Christopher was a boy.  We had a good laugh over those!

Friday we went and got our real tree.  Unfortunately, the 60's from the day before were LONG gone and it was in the 30's and WINDY!  We made a record dash through the tree farm and found our tree in less than 10 minutes.  It was just too cold to dilly dally, so we took the tree we parked in front of!  We got it home, got the lights on, and they all went out once it was fully decorated.  It turned out to be the very first strand that I'd put on, which also happened to be twice as long as any other strand, and also the one that was shoved inside the tree.  It had to come off, and of course, required another trip to Wal-mart for  more lights.  Three broken glass bulbs later, the tree was fixed.

Today we had lunch at Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ed's house and we stuffed ourselves yet again.  So much so that dinner wasn't even an option!  I fixed the kids some leftovers and called it a day.  Now we just have to recover from our food comas.  It's 10:00 and we ate at noon, and I'm still full.  Ugh!

Career Day

As we were waiting int he drop-off line at Kate's school this morning, the kid in the car in front of us got out wearing full-on leather chaps and a biker vest.  "Is that kid wearing chaps to school?"  Kate informed me that it was career day.  I asked her what her career was and she said, "I'm a British stay-at-home mom!"

She's constantly asking what professions will land her in Britain, so who knows!  Something tells, me though, that this assignment expected more thought than a homemaker.  But it's Kate.  You just have to know her!

Baby, it's COLD outside!

This weekend was WONDERFUL!  It was in the 60's Friday and Sunday, and Saturday, it was nearly 80 degrees!  We spent a lot of time outside and it was probably our last nice weekend for a very long time.  I know I've already said that, but considering it's nearly Thanksgiving, we've been pushing our luck with nice weather!

Today, it's COLD!  We got snow flurries on the backside of the rain we got last night.  SNOW!  Tonight we're supposed to be down into the low to mid 20's for a low.  Winter has come to Southern Illinois...

I'm sitting inside spending the day scrapbooking, sewing and streaming the new One Direction album on iTunes.  Kate is beyond excited for its release tomorrow!  So am I ;)  But maybe not as excited as a 13 year old girl can be!

Life

It's been a busy week again.  I'm afraid it's just going to get busier as each week passes until Christmas is over.  And I've found that getting gift ideas out of a teenager is like pulling teeth- it's not easy, nor fun.  She and I sat down at the computer tonight and did come up with a few ideas, so if you've been emailing me all week wanting ideas, they're coming (slowly but surely).

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year- the Methodist Men's fish fry!  Not only is it near and dear to my heart since Pa was the one to start it over 25 years ago and it helps SO many needy children in our area, but it also gets me out of cooking for a night!  Now, I'm not a fish eater- I won't touch anything that comes out of the water, but I love the corn bread, beans and slaw, so I trade Christopher my fish for his slaw.  It works out well!  This year, Preston tried the fish and liked it!  We told Pa today and it made him smile.  He's pretty well known for his fish!

Today Kate came home and I could tell she was bothered.  The guidance counselor pulled her out of P.E. to tell her that she was failing science.  Now, Kate has never gotten grades like that, and has always been an honor roll student, so this was a little confusing.  I came home and checked the school's site which keeps an up-to-date report on all the student's grades and it showed she was getting a 97%.  I contacted the teacher and she said that there had been an assignment that she'd forgotten to put her name on, and until she figured out who it belonged to, she didn't put a grade in for her.  Well, this was the same time that the GC pulled everyone's bi-weekly grades and it showed she was failing.  But the teacher did figure out that it was Kate's paper, and posted her grade, but the report had already been pulled.  So the good news is, she's definitely far from failing!  Phew!  But it embarrassed her, and really worried her as well.  Common sense would tell me to double-check something like that, especially with a child that has always had exceptional grades, but that's something people tend to be lacking these days. 

Luckily for Kate, they got out at 11:30 today, so she didn't have to stew long before we figured the whole grade thing out.  Since it was nearly 70 degrees, we decided to get out and take Christmas card photos before it got cold again.  We headed up to Ramsey this time and found Pa up there fishing, so we got to see him for a while.  I'm not sharing our photos yet, but here's a few from our afternoon.

 Preston discovered that cattails literally explode once they dry up and spew millions of little dandelion puff type seeds everywhere. 

 The water looked like it had snow on it from the seeds.

And you know picture-taking is done when your teenager starts looking like this...

VOTE!

These two kids begged me to make these shirts for them!  Honestly, I promise it was their idea.  Actually, it was Kate's and then she got her friend Sierra on board too.  They're both having school-wide elections today and they've both been campaigning hard.  It's kind of scary because when I was Kate's age, I was out campaigning for bond issues, and here she is just as passionate about politics as I was then (and still am).  Proud of my little politician!

But aside from that, PLEASE, EVERYONE, VOTE!  It's more than just a right to vote, it's your civic duty.  We have to stand up for what we believe in and make our voices heard.  There's really no excuse not to.

Tonight we'll be glued to the tv watching the results roll in.  Kate has to watch them for class, but we'd be glued regardless!  And just in case the shirts weren't enough...

Trick or treating

Since Preston was sick last weekend, and all of my family was out of town, we trick or treated a week late.  Actually, it was a weekend-long Halloween celebration in November.  Better late than never, right?

We always get together with Christopher's family for dinner and then let the kids dress up and get their goodies.  It saves all of us from having to drive from house to house, especially since we'd end up missing the other kids while they were out.  We did this on Saturday and the kids had a good time.  They got WAY too much candy...  I just got the bill from Preston's latest filling yesterday before we went.  If I don't chuck the candy, we might be getting more...

Today we went trick or treating to my family.  Preston was Harry Potter this year.  If his hair was a bit darker, he'd be his twin.  Kate didn't dress up.  She was going to be Mitt Romney, but we couldn't find the mask when I went back to buy it.

It was so nice tonight at Granny and Pa's.  They were all gone last weekend, so it was one of those rare times when we didn't go up for dinner.  We went up at the same time as always, but we ate a little earlier, and with it getting dark sooner, it seemed like we were there so much longer and we had a great time.  Lots of laughs! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is coming, folks!  I've not even attempted to do any shopping yet.  I've thought about it, but that's as far as it's come.  In the spirit of the holidays, I've started adding some Christmas items to my Etsy shop.

 First up are my reindeer applique shirts.  I think they're pretty cute!  You get to choose between a red or green bow. 

These two aren't technically Christmas, but definitely a winter item!  These are crocheted bow headbands, and they're nice and toasty!  I made these for my sister's birthday and she loved them!  I'm sure you will, too!

I'm hoping to get my chevron Christmas dress up next week.  It's going to be fun!

Thanks for looking about!