springdellgirl

Fa La La

Another busy week at our house. I love this time of year even if it is a busy time. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the holidays. This week Kameron had a special day when all the dads got to come to his Kindergarten class and they made Gingerbread houses. Kameron was so excited. He had been talking about this for over a month. Mom at school...not that exciting; Dad at school...super cool!One little girl, who is also in our ward, had her grandpa come in who was visiting from out of town. He is a bluegrass singer and sang a bunch of songs and got the kids and dads involved. I heard he did a fantastic job. Kameron came home dancing a jig and singing "Grandma's Feather Bed".

Their masterpiece

Tyler came in early and had lunch with Reilly. She was thrilled. You couldn't pay me enough money to eat school lunch. Gag! She is currently a "lunchroom worker". She loves it...except when she has to scrape the trays. She also gets to earn a "hot lunch" on the days she works. So the day Tyler came in I asked her if she wanted to use one of her free "hot lunches"...she usually takes her lunch due to the whole vegetarian thing...She informed me that she doesn't get a "free" lunch. She worked and "earned" that lunch and don't I realize that "nothing in life is free"? Aaaahh!! The sweet sounds of my own words coming back to me.

On Tuesday we had our book club Christmas Party at Twigs. It was so fun! Great food...even better company. We shut the place down. We met at 6:30 pm and left after 11:30...and who said mormon moms don't know how to party! We had a book exchange and I got a great book that I am very excited to read it is "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris. Thanks Rebecca! You can read more about our night on the town on Andrea's Blog


The next day was our YW Banner Activity. Some crazy person in our Stake YW Presidency thought it would be a "fantastic" idea to do a winter hike. So on December 30th at 7:30 am I will be dragging my butt up a cold, snowy mountain. I can't wait! (Note the sarcasm). We are also going to be carrying banners up the mountain and planting them in the frozen ground/snow. The banners are to represent "What I stand for". Here is mine:


Here are some pictures of our holiday decorations. This year Tyler and I went to the big fancy hotel in our town and they had it decorated with some gorgeous flocked trees. I have never really wanted a flocked tree before but they looked absolutely beautiful. We did some checking around and a flocked tree ran in the range of $100. We are much too cheap to pay that but I saw a white artificial tree at Rite-Aid on sale for $20...SOLD! I put all my vintage 50's "Shiny Brite" ornaments on it and it looks very cute in our kitchen.




I have also done a whole bunch of Christmas baking. I had to get presents/treats ready for a whole slew of teachers: Reilly's, Kameron's, ballet teachers, piano teachers, activity day leaders, the families Tyler home teaches, and the ladies I visit teach. I still have more to do for neighbors and friends. My mom has always made treats and elaborate cookie plates and my sisters and I would love to go and deliver them for her. When Kelley was college-age and Stacey and I were both married we used to take pity on poor Kelley and make her some great Christmas treats. Later we found out that she would disassemble our plates and rearrange our baked goods on her own plates and give them away as gifts to HER friends!

I finally got all my Christmas cards done and all my packages sent. The women that I visit teach are all ladies who don't want any visits from the church. They have relented to having a monthly letter sent to them. How I got that job I don't know! Anyway I have had about 7 ladies for almost a year. I have had the best time with it. I have an excuse to buy really cute stationary and cards. I hand write each one and include the RS Newsletter and VT message with parts I like highlighted. At first I had no idea what I would write about to women I have never met but it came rather easy. I babble on about myself and our ward. Much like this blog... since then (not because of me and my little letters) one of my ladies has returned to church and I got a really neat card from another one right before Christmas (finally someone wrote me back). She was very sweet and said how much she enjoyed my letters etc. So since I can't drop off a treat to them for Christmas I sent them a mix CD of my favorite Christmas music. Tyler made me a FABULOUS Christmas CD. I am very picky about my Christmas music...hearing Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, or Celine Dion belt out a christmas carol makes me want to puke. (Sorry all you Mariah, Jessica, or Celine fans). I LOVE all the old stuff...Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Johnny Mathis etc. I also like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Manheim Steamroller etc. So Tyler burned a CD of all my favorites for me. I had him burn about six more copies for my VT ladies and sent it to them. My visiting teachers are great...Carolyn...you are the best! Look what she brought me tonight:

My kids flipped out! Great idea! I might have to steal that one from you for next year. The kids have been busy helping me make cookies. Here are a few pictures of my little "helpers":




This weekend I got my Christmas present early...a new digital camera...Yay! Hence all the pictures. Poor Tyler...he also got his Christmas gift this weekend too...a new washer! Some day we will exchange gifts that aren't replacements for broken items or household necessities. At least it's better than the year we each gave the other 2 tires for the car or the ever-exciting christmas garment exchange. (Early on in our marriage I made the mistake of giving Tyler garments as a gift (he really needed them)...he let me know in no uncertain terms that garments are NOT a gift!) He's come a long way baby! The year of the garment exchange he was QUITE excited about his haul of underwear...a whole weeks worth...yehaw!

Friday was my mom's birthday (and Naomi's)...Happy Birthday Mom! I love you lots! You are the best and I am SO lucky to be your daughter.

My mom!!