Christmas Countdown

The Housley family has our family for Christmas this year and sent us Christmas countdowns. The kids--including Chris--are excited to start tomorrow clipping off their piece of candy every morning. (It is also going to be a great incentive to be good or they won't get their candy!)

Santa Claus!

After visiting all of the houses at the Christmas Village, we went to visit Santa Claus. Allie wants a dolly and a barbie. Cooper wants a wallet and a skateboard and Maggie wants a sewing machine. They were all so cute with Santa and were very polite.

Ogden Christmas Village

We started out the Christmas season on November 30th this year. We visited Ogden's Christmas Village. The kids love it and almost run to each house. Their favorite is Hansel and Gretel's house.

Black Friday!

The above picture is just some random picture showing crazy people in line on Black Friday. I did not wait in line at Walmart! I did go shopping, but I went at 7:30 a.m. I told myself, "Self, you aren't going to get anything you circled in the ads, so don't be disappointed." Well, when I walked in, hoarders had left their discarded items everywhere and employees put them in carts at the front of the checkstands to return to their appropriate places in the store. I then was able to locate all but 1 of my circled items in ten minutes and went to an empty checkout line. I was in and out of Walmart in 15 minutes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. This year was a little bit different for us. We went out to dinner instead of at home...no pie baking, roll making, turkey baking, mashed potato smashing, sweet potato baking, dish washing extravaganza! There were just 11 of us this year for the Hislop gathering, so Chris talked his dad into going out...I'm not sure if we'll do it again, but it was something new. Another 'different' aspect of 'the-going-out-for-dinner-on-Thanksgiving' experience is where we went. We went to Sizzler. They had a turkey platter dinner that we all had except for Chris--he had steak and shrimp. It was fun but interesting.

After dinner, Chris, Maggie, Cooper, Allie, and I went to the cheap theater to the movie "Astro Boy." Another interesting experience on Thanksgiving Day. I didn't like it much and neither did Maggie, but the rest thought it was okay.

We did end the day by going back to Grandma and Grandpa Hislops and hanging out with them. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Word Girl Allie

While driving in the car, Allie and Cooper were talking. The conversation went like this:

Allie: Do you know what the word 'hideous' means?
Cooper: Allie, you don't know what that word means.
Allie: Yes I do. It means 'not cute.'
Mommy: Allie, you are right!!! Where did you learn what 'hideous' means?
Allie: From Word Girl (a show on PBS.)
Mommy: You are pretty smart Allie!

You can't tell me that you can't learn something from t.v. --I'm a good mom, aren't I?!
I didn't tell her that 'hideous' is a little bit stonger than 'not cute.'

Beauty Is...

This year's Reflections contest theme was Beauty Is... Maggie did great with last year's Reflections contest, so she wanted to do a few categories this year. Well, she procrastinated until the night before and pounded out a poem, Cooper did a picture and a type of poem and Allie did a picture. Cooper and Maggie got a 2nd place and Allie got a participant. They weren't disappointed at all and had a fun evening receiving their awards. The organizers gave out sun glasses as part of their awards, so they also had fun with those.

Cancun here we come!

Chris and I were sitting on the couch, snuggling after the kids were in bed, and he asked me where our next trip was going to be and when. Well, I jumped off the couch and went looking for our next destination and when. I found a great deal in Cancun at the above resort. We are going in January for our 11th anniversary. I am way excited.

A couple days after I booked the trip, I was telling Dianne, my mom-in-law, about the trip and she was way excited for us and said that she has never been to Cancun. I asked if they wanted to go and she didn't even hesitate in saying yes. So Chris and I are double-dating with his parents to Mexico. It should be a fun trip.