I'm Hideous Look Away!

P and E love commercials. Of course that's because they see all these new toys and want to hit WM immediately. They also like those mini infomercials. They always seem to think someone in the family needs it. Anything with scissors is for mommy and her scrappin. The other day they were watching one for a skin cream. Emma informed me that I should really get some of that because it will take away all the spots on my face and even the red ones (moles) on my neck. Was I going to order it?

Parker is really growing up and it makes me a little sad. He can now take a shower by himself. That includes turning the water on, soaping up and washing his own hair. I was totally clueless he could do this and Steve informed me he's been able to do it for awhile. When it my turn for bath night, I put them in the tub since they have such a great time in there. Of course they really don't fit anymore, but they will play in there for an hour if you let them. Of course most of there conversations anymore involved butts so it's probably time to split them up.

Both were home today with fevers. There must be something going around since a bunch of people at work were out too with sick kiddos. If they are sick tomorrow I'm on duty. They seemed pretty good tonight, but still very congested. Emma took a huge nap, but of course no sleeping out of Parker.

I'll be glad when February is here...new reality TV! There is nothing on right now. And of course my trip to the city that never sleeps is coming up!

Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah!

Emma has cheer camp after school this week and is uber excited. They are performing at the pep rally Friday and then at both games Friday night. Ahhh.... a sweaty, hot, crowded gym surrounded by people I don't know...this will rock! Tonight was a smidge busy, but nothing quite overlapped so everything went smoothly. After cheer, E went to baton and tumbling. I took P to TKD so he could practice for this test. (It's in a couple weeks for the yellow belt) and then he had his monthly Cub Scout pack meeting. Poor guy is getting a cold and with his pale skin he doesn't look the best with red eyes and stuffy nose.

Had fun at the crop Saturday. I was even a winner! Won a new cute set of Stampin Up animal stamps. They also do little giveaways all day so you end up with a bunch of smaller things too. There is a scrap store SW of here that has the best stuff and they were there...so I may have done a "little" purchasing... some new Fancy Pants playing card type thingies for cards and more Prima bling. Ok and some other things too :-) I was working on another mini album, but of course didn't get as far as I wanted, but should be able to finish up Saturday when I go to a crop at E's school. Not sure if I'll scrap this week or not. My room is a "touch" trashed and I don't feel like making a path to my desk.

G and G Blue house came for a visit yesterday. It's probably good it wasn't today or they would of had to deal with our horrible gravel road. When temps go from -10 plus to 50 plus, that creates a lot of mud! Try getting a kid in a stark white TKD robe in and out of a filthy van (can't remember the last time it was washed) and past pubbles. He miraculously got there clean. It's a Christmas miracle!

He's Got The Moves!

Parker seemed better Wednesday night and Thursday morning he was a little quieter than usual, but nothing seemed weird. I get to work and the school has just left a message. Parker yarfed on the bus. I remember when I was little and when someone puked they put that nasty powder stuff on it. I think it was worse than the actual deed. I was worried he'd be embarassed, but at that age things don't bother kids too much yet. Heck he probably thought it was cool. Steve went and got him and he was fine the rest of the day. He said that his tummy felt silly on bus 14 (the one that picks him up) but when he got off to get om "firteen" to ride to his school then he frew up. (He still has trouble saying "th" so it was kind of cute the way he said it). He was bummed since he missed sharing day again and was supposed to get his robe at TKD that night. Since he was totally fine since about 9 that morning we went ahead and let him go. I got there right at the end since I had to work late and just caught him breaking his board. He was loving the robe. Here are some pics of him doing some of the moves. I can never remember what they are, but he's got most of them memorized and loves reading the list they sent home. A lot of them involved leg motions, so the camera didn't catch that very well.

Tonight we are kick back and fancy free since Steve is at a band gig. The other pic is of them playing their Game Boys when they got home (notice E's tongue. It helps her concentrate) Emma said her stomach hurts a little but I'm hoping that's because she ate a ton of bologna and then had generic Oreos for dessert.... They are now kicking back watching Scooby and eating popcorn. I know - I rock as a parent! I need to pack for the crop tomorrow. I just hate packing, because I never have any idea what I'm going to want to use and way over bring. Then I also trash my room in the process. I love getting there though and the one we are going to tomorrow has pretty good door prizes! Plus Steph isn't going so that gives the rest of us a chance to win :-)

Will have to watch the last Miss America reality show tonight. The girl from E's baton place kind of got ripped last week, so we'll see what happens. I guess she won the talent portion of the contest this week. It doesn't suprise me, she's an awesome twirler. The rest of the pagent is on Saturday night.

Under the Weather

Stayed home with Parker today. He was running a slight fever and just wasn't himself. He didn't have an appetite either last night so we knew something was up. He laid around most of the day and caught up on his Ben 10 cartoons. He woke up quite a bit during the night so was really tired, but he still didn't nap. He's anti-nap like his dad! I am pro-nap! He probably would have been fine to go to school, but you never know. He didn't have any energy so I think it's good he got a chance to rest. He wanted to wrestle tonight with daddy so I think he's a go for school tomorrow. Plus tomorrow night we get the TKD robe!

More good scrappy news today. I will have an altered paper mache box in Paper Trends' June/July issue. That'll probably be all the "tooting" you'll hear out of me for awhile since most of the calls had similar deadlines this month. This blog will return to regularly scheduled programming!

You've Got Mail!

The day started a little rough. I woke with my neck killing me (My fault because I spent too much time last night on the 'puter trying to put a slide show on the side of my blog...never did figure it out!), then dumped a pitcher of juice all over the kitchen floor and then couldn't get the garage door to shut before I left this morning because of snow stuck to it. Standing out in zero degrees temps not fun!

Stalked my email today since some calls were to be going out. I did get an item picked up for a Paper Crafts Christmas special issue. Yeah! Then Steve brings home this ginormous box from work. I can't ship stuff home since the dog finds cardboard delicious.... Erin Clarkson (who works for Scrapbooks etc, Making Memories and others and does really nice work) drew my name for a RAK of scrap goodies. There was a little bit of everything and many of the things were my favorites including chipboard, flowers and acrylic stamps. Also lots of cool Heidi Grace papers and other cool stuff too many to mention. Yeah again!

Going to a crop Saturday and some of the stuff is definitely going along!

Fareway is Way Fare!

Stopped there tonight while P was at TKD. I just love no matter how much you dally in there you are always in and out in less than an hour. You can have a cart full of groceries and as long as you don't go too crazy at the meat counter you can keep in under $100. You always end up running into someone you know there. The meat guys are so nice though that when they get you something they say, "And what else can I get for you today." I feel like I'd better order something else! The kids have to make a comment about Fareway EVERYTIME we go by. Which can sometimes be 4 plus times a day. They think it's hysterical when the Y is burnt out so it's Fare-wah. And then P came up with Fareway being Way Fare. Each Sunday they also point out that it's closed. They still try to ride in the front of the red firetruck carts together... When their combined weight is over 100 lbs and they are each almost 4 feet tall...it doesn't work so well! I do feel guilty that someone pushes my cart out. I actually would prefer to do it myself, but it's a Fareway no no. If people do it's code red in there...cart out the door...cart out the door! over the speaker. I don't really like people waiting on me..with the exception of having someone come in and clean my house for me. This is a current "discussion" going on and I seem to be losing.

Parker has been doing pretty well at TKD and has been really wanting to get a "dobo" (robe) and test for his yellow belt. I think we will go ahead and let him. He broke a huge board tonight on one kick....ouch! TBall doesn't start till April so he'll have some time to do this for awhile. The "Master" also said he could just come when he was able during the summer. I think we're skipping spring soccer since it's at the same time as Little League and I already signed him up for that. This year they hit off a pitch, so we'll see how he likes it. He seems a lot better at soccer so now that he's getting older he can start picking what he likes. Everything has been pretty low key so far and it's been nice he can try things out (and pretty cheaply).

Sunday we pretty much just hiberated inside after church. We getting so many cardinals on our feeder I could just watch them all day. Saturday P and Daddy had a good time touring the firestation and movie theater for Cub Scouts and then seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks. E and I hit MHM after the shower and the $ spot at Target sucked me in again. There was a free inflatible slide there and it wasn't busy so E probably went down 20 times before I got her to leave without incident. Of course she skinned up the same eye that she had the tear duct problems with.

On the scrappy front, I haven't really made anything the last few days (I need to dig out my room again), but did get a card picked up for the Aug/Sept issue of Paper Crafts. It was one I had made awhile ago, but it fit the call. I didn't think it was that great, but submit everything, because you never know.

Off to tuck the kidlets in.

O M Double G!!!

-9 on the tempeture thingy in the van last night just isn't right! The sock hop was as usual...chaos! Going to things like this helps me to realize I'm not cut out for teaching or daycare. You take 6 grades at about 100 kids per grade, add some siblings, some parents and it is loud. Appparently a number of kids aren't taught manners. A lot of kids just run the entire time, running into you and never saying "excuse me." Lots of cool silent auction stuff, but most stuff goes for a few hundred $'s.

A little worried last night that E would have to stay home from the dance and today we'd have to miss the baby shower. Her eye had been bothering her at school and it was gooky by the time I got home. We worried it was pink eye (miraculously the Hansen house has never had before) so Steve ran her into the clinic. It actually turned out to be a plugged tear duct because of a sinus infection. She hadn't been acting like her sinuses had been bothering her, besides the fact that she's been taking naps at school. I'm sure last night people wondering why she was at the dance...I felt like taping a sign on her...not contagious!

Well better get everyone gussied up for our doings today.

36 Days...But I'm Not Counting....

Posting a few more things I've made lately and a couple of my faves from a couple months ago. (Can you tell I like pink?) I was in a creating frenzy the last couple weeks. I'm waiting to hear back if some of them got love or not. I was excited to get my goodie box from Paper Trends today. My first from them. I got some Scenic Route paper (one of my fave companies) and some really cute bday paper from Around the Block that will look great on cards. Also got some cute embellies. I don't need more supplies, but hey... I can't say no! I put together a huge scrap supply basket last year for Parker's Sock Hop fundraiser, but this year time got away from me. It's a great way to get rid of things. I need to take some of my partially used stuff to the kids' classrooms when I get into a purging mood.

Speaking of the Sock Hop, tomorrow night is the big dance. Each year Parker's school has it for a fundraiser. It's pretty cool and the kids (E gets to go too) dance into sweaty exhaustion for 2 hours while the adults bid on over 100 silent auction items. Saturday I'm taking E with me to a baby shower for a friend of mine who is expecting twins. Yikes! The double yikes is that her daycare is $190/week per kids! They are boys and the cute part is she's naming one of them Cooper. I told Cooper and he proceeded to bite me, so he was excited I could tell! P and Daddy are going on a Go See for Cub Scouts that day. Touring the fire station and behind the scenes at the movie theater and then watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. Our next few weekends are busy, but mostly with fun stuff at least. Tomorrow P is to take 100 items because it's their 100th day of school. I thought about sending buttons, but (Gasp!) what if they didn't make it back home. I might need them someday on a project.....

I think E could turn out to be a crafter. Tonight I came home and she was making her own cell phone. It was a flip and everything. She cut it out of paper, put #'s on it and decorated it. She then proceeded to take phone calls. She later cut out a diaper for her dolly and it totally looked like one...I don't think I could still do that! I did let her use some of my good stuff the other day to decorate a plastic container. I promise not to pimp her out to the scrap community yet.

P.S. Only 36 Days to Vegas!

Hope he's not on steroids...

Emma on the way to school yesterday: "Mom, if I built the biggest snowball in the whole world could you pick it up?" I said no I'm not that strong. She says, "I know that Jesus could." They have had quite the fascation lately with how strong Jesus must be.

I'm planning to probably set up a separate scrap blog with my creations, thoughts, etc on anything scrap related sometime. Steve informed me I'm probably boring most of you to death. But until then, I will post something I made Monday night. P had TKD and so I sat there and traced and cut the paper out for this. Of course I got some strange looks. (P also broke another board!) It actually went really fast. I decided to put flowers on the "A" because I apparently trimmed the paper on that one too small and needed to hide it...happy accident! I have some other wooden words too for other occasions I might actually tackle since this was easier than I thought. I love to get them at HL when they are on sale. I used the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line (also got on sale at HL). I have a HL addiction....

Was suprised to find out another bracelet I made will be in Simply Beads in October (stuff also from HL...). They also want me to make another one to go with this one. I totally know nothing about making jewelry, but I'm thinking I'd better start reading up since I've only mastered bracelets so far. Percentage wise I'm doing way better submission wise in the jewelry department...who'd a thunk?

Stay warm and good luck with all the snow tomorrow!

Princess

Just realized I didn't Stickle (glue glitter) on the crown below...oops!

Had an awesome time scrapping yesterday at a friend's house. She fed us and even gave out goodie bags....better than some crops I've been to where I've paid money! I worked the entire time on this princess mini album I made about Emma. I forgot how long these can take. I was still putting on finishing touches tonight and then had to take pictures and write it up. Submitting it to a few things so we'll see if anyone gives it any love. I'm going to get a big jump ring to put thru the one crown point (no I didn't forget a gem there), although I think I used a whole box of glue dots in the process! Here is the journaling in case you can't read it.

Title: How to be a princess according to Emma
You have a prince charming
Eat what you want when you want
Wear makeup with everything
Wear fur
Dessert for dinner
You don't drink tap water. Only bottled
Be a daddy's girl
Always wear a crown
Have a sweet set of wheels
Your own pony
Toys Toys Toys
Always wear designer shades

Also included are some with stickers. They say:
Being a princess is a hard job but someone's gotta do it
Don't call me a princess, don't call me a queen, just call me the cutest Lil' Princess you've ever seen.
It's hard being the princess...but one day I'll be the queen.

Thanks again to Jill (http://www.jillcornell.blogspot.com/) for the yummy Rusty Pickle papers and stickers. I knew it'd be perfect for this!

Party Girls

** Tags removed for publication in Paper Crafts Christmas and More issue Winter 2008 and Paper Creations Winter 2008 issue.

**Ornament removed for publication in Cards December 2008 issue.

We are starting to hammer out our Vegas trip plans. We're staying at Planet Hollywood and planning to see a show and do some shopping. It'll be 5 crazy girls in a city that never sleeps! I'll have to be sure to take plenty of pictures of everything - without looking too touristy!

Did end up taking today off. Spent the morning doing a few craft things then I got tired and apparently drifted off on the couch for a bit. Luckily I woke up just in time to get E picked up from school, so I didn't appear to be the worst mother on earth. I didn't get as much crafting done as I wanted (I'm not suprised), but I need to get things packed up for a mega crop at a friends house tomorrow. I'm planning on doing a couple mini-albums...we'll see how far I get!

Here are a few things I made the other week. Haven't taken pics of the stuff from today yet. The Xmas stuff tin is made from the tin the KI Memories kit came in that I bought at Joann's. The tree is actually a paper mache box and the ornament is paper mache too. Sorry some pics are big and some are little, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix.

I'm A Cover Girl!

I checked my old email address and guess what? A frame I decorated that got picked up for Paper Crafts' "Gifts from the Heart" magazine a couple months ago, will be on the cover! It will be in out in a few months and I'll share once I'm able to. I guess when you don't stalk your email anymore good things happen :-) Hopefully that'll get my juices flowing since there is a bunch of stuff I want to get made by next week. Since I have a new bank of PTO days for the year, I'm planning to take a day off for me Friday. Hopefully I'll feel scrapping that day and not just napping and then Saturday a bunch of the crop gang are going to our friend Jan's house to crop most of the day.

Emma is showing her Danish Lutheran heritage. Sunday was a big day at church because they were installing our new pastor. Even the "bish" (the head bishop for our synod was there - Parker made sure he shook his hand - the peace is Parker's favorite part - very cute) was there. After church we of course had the church potluck. Although they don't do open faced sandwiches here - not enough Danes I guess! For some reason Emma was really pumped about the potluck. There isn't much at these things the kids will even eat. She was going around telling anyone (rather loudly) that would listen to her that "she loves a potluck!" and giving them a big grin.

I think I had mentioned before that Emma said instead of 20 boyfriends she now has 19 because Caleb pushes her and so he isn't one anymore. We got her class photo today and I didn't realize how many boys were in there and a lot of them are even cute. 16 boys and 7 girls. Great odds for Emma - especially since some of the girls are a little woofy. Ok that was mean :-)

Lots of stuff going on this week, but most of it is pretty regular so I won't bore you with the details. I did get Emma registered for Kindergarten tonight. Since P is already in year round, she's a shoo-in so not stressed about that like I was when I registered him. Plus uber excited she'll get full day Kindergarten!

Tale of Two Mittens

The most frustrating things about winter has been trying to keep track of the winter gear at school - snowpants, hats, gloves, boots...I don't dare send a scarf with..that'd be another thing to keep track off. We've also managed to loose a few things in the off season including a headband of Emma's that was our favorite for her hair. (Her hair is so thick and fine that it is VERY hard to find any that will stay in) Right now I'm trying to hunt down a brand new (sigh) pair of P's gloves that he left on the bus (I checked the lost and found box and didn't find them, but did find one of his hats I didn't even realize was missing) and Emma came home Friday missing a black glove. She also leaves her snowpants there about half the time. I take her to school every morning so I manage to eventually find most of her stuff either in lost and found or in her classroom. We are trying to get both of them to be more responsible for their stuff. Of course I need to work on that myself!

Steve is back home today and so after P's bball practice this morning we hit WM and BK. The fun land was VERY loud! We are now just vegging, but I really need to clean since it looks like a bomb went off in the family room (again). Hoping to do some cardmaking tonight.

Not sure if anyone watched the Miss America reality show that started last night but the girl from Norwalk (who was a twirler from Emma's studio) is on there. They showed her quite a bit and she's in a blue dress in a lot of the shots. She's uber smart and tatented from what I've seen and heard. There is an America's vote at www.tlc.com/missamerica so feel free to vote. They are having a send of party for her tomorrow so I might take Emma. Emma has met her before but of course I didn't have my camera then...sigh....

Well the princess is requesting some strawberry milky so I'd better get at it.

Even Care Bears Get Cold

Steve snapped these when they were outside sledding and playing the other day. Too cold for me so I hibernated inside...although now kicking myself because I would have taken more pics! Pretty quiet around here with no school or activities. They head back on Thursday and then the craziness with start up again. Not much else to share!

Steve 1 - Blue Crayon 0

After getting back from Christmas I tried to tackle laundry, putting toys away etc. agressively. I didn't want to, but I tried.... I washed a load of jeans and put in the dryer. Thursday morning I got up, went to pull out a pair and noticed some bright blue one them. Got to looking and every single pair had it on them. I look down and there is a bright blue crayon wrapper that is on the floor. ERRRRRR..... My two decent pairs of jeans (including one I just bought), most of P and E's and also Steve's good jeans all had the good fortune to be in there. I attempted to get off with no luck. Friday Steve didn't have to work and when I came home the jeans were pretty again. It had to have been a labor of love, but I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the labor! I figured that's what I'd have to do this weekend. I'm not very "housewifey" so I guess I'll keep Steve around since I've learned he can now tackle stains in addition to cooking and cleaning!

I bit the bullet and picked up my scrap room a little last night since I haven't been able to get in there for awhile due to the chaos and some recent purchases.... Hey HL had papermache stuff half off, I couldn't resist! Today P and E were best buds and played together a lot so I made some Christmas stuff for a call. I'm actually pleased with everything so far. I'm now burnt out on the holiday so if I do stuff tomorrow I'm moving onto something else! Now I have the exciting task of photographing and submitting. Two of my resolutions for 2008 are to have a better submitting system and to figure out how to run my camera!

Little Pets, Robots and Pokemon Oh My!

As usual we came home with the van loaded down with Christmas loot. It's amazing how fast Christmas comes and goes! With so many Christmases and late nights the kids did great. Most of the stuff is now sitting by the door and I'm trying to muster up the energy to put some of it away. P is showing E how to play her Game Girl and she's catching right on. On the way home I stopped at Archiver's while Steve ran to work for an hour and picked up some cool goodies. In my defense I had a gift card!

The trip to Vegas in February for Judi's 60th bday is a go. I can't wait. I've never been and it'll be 4 girls loose on the town! The other big news is that Judy 2 (Scott's Judy aka as Uncle Judy by P and E) got a diamond ring for Christmas - cool!

Not much else to report. Back to work tomorrow. Year end is crazy at work. Steve only has to work tomorrow poor guy.

Santa - So Much To Do, So Little Time

In the Hansen house, Santa comes a day early. Last year he wrote a letter to the kids explaining that he makes a special trip a day early for all the kids who won't be home on Christmas morning. He'll then make another trip to where they will be on Christmas (grandma and grandpas). If I was still a kid, this sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Two nights in a row of excitement and waiting for Santa to leave presents. We had to come up with something since we knew they would start putting two and two together otherwise. We did over hear him tell Grandma Blue House the other day on the phone say that Santa comes a day early to our house. Isn't that a little weird?

There is also another Santa that makes a trip tomorrow night at G and G Blue House...Silly Santa (as Emma's calls him) aka as Krusty Klaus aka Robert. Emma had Santa visit at school on Friday during their school party and Parker asked her if it was the real Santa or the Silly Santa? She said it was definitely the real one! This is the first year we have left cookies, carrots for the reindeer and milk. Emma also made Santa a snowflake, wrapped the whole thing herself and wrote on the package for him. When "Santa" opens it, I'll have to be sure not to rip up her writing. The backwards N is super cute! I'm feeling a scrap page coming on!

Busy today wrapping presents (I hope I hadn't stashed some somewhere and have forgotten) and making grub for the Christmas dinners. Once I can confirm the munchkins are asleep I will tackle theirs. Half of them have been riding around in the back of the van for awhile in a box. Friday night after work I looked for one last thing for P. The crowds were actually comical. I could not believe how wiped out the toy section at Target was. I then stopped at southside WM (hate that store) because I knew the Indy one had what I wanted but I figured while I was in the area I'd stop there instead. People where probably 20 deep at each register. They didn't have what I wanted so I could have just went to Inday and skipped T and WM and saved tons of time. Although I got a ton of cute $1 stuff at Target..it's a secret! This included little metal mailboxes I can alter. I'm about a 90 percent cardmaker/papercrafter, 10 percent scrapbooker anymore.

Last night Steve attempted Abelskeivers in his new pan. I'm pretty sure I have never had one before. Being Danish and all it's probably not something I should admit..although we did eat a lot of frickadillers growing up. They are basically a pancake that is shaped like a small muffin. Parker ate 8 of them and probably would have had more but we had to cut him off. I think E had 6...so they were a definite hit!

Well better check to make sure the Game Girl is charged up. Every day she's been telling people that's what she wants for Xmas. Santa did good!

Third Time Is NOT The Charm

Well...once again the same tire has gone flat today. 3 different times in less than 3 months. And 3 different holes in the tire...sigh... I actually stayed in a pretty good mood today and luckily it happened on the day that Steve is coming back from KC. None of the times has it happened on my way home and I've been stalled by the road so that's good. This time the tire went down fast. Steve came downtown and put on the spare so I could get home. He's playing tonight so I had to be able to get the kids picked up and P had TKD tonight.

While he was at TKD, E and I ran to WM so she could spend some bday money. I thought I'd seen every toy out there, but I guess not. She bought a Barbie that comes with a dog that poops. You even have a stick to pick it up with...eeeww..... You can also get a Barbie with a cat that poops so of course that's on her wish list now. She's so funny sometimes and such a thinker. Tonight as we were dropping P off she could see some of the guys in their robes. She said, "Mom - I know why they called it TaKwenDo. It's because they "tie" their belts." Tomorrow is her holiday party at school. They are making gingerbread houses and exchanging gifts from the sounds of it. They got their present from Lauri today and they were huge hits. Emma was squealing all the way home.

Where are all of these new Christmas toys going to go in our house? They are only beginning!

Boys Can Scrapbook Too!

Tonight was Parker's den meeting...this is of course after I remembered at the last minute and we rushed to get there. Christmas is severely sucking the few remaining smart cells I have left I swear. I did remember last week though that I needed to get pics printed for his scrapbook, so I did save face a little anyway. We were in such a hurry that Emma went exactly the way you see her in the picture. I am so embarassed! I probably should have taken an extra minute and changed her clothes, but she's such a dawdler it'd take 10 instead. They made a pinata today at school and she is covered in flour glue. Including her hair...so even if I'd changed her clothes her hair was trashed. She had just eaten some ice cream so she also had a messy face. Man I wish I still kept wet wipes in the van.... Luckily there were only a few parents there and I didn't know any of them.

Their craft for this time was a scrapbook about family, friends, pets, Scouts etc. He did a really good job and wrote some cute things without even being asked. He was excited because he said now he's getting older since he can do things that mommy does. Emma will be wanting to do one too I'm sure. She did really good at the meeting just coloring in her Pets book. No fits about the fact that she wasn't making a scrapbook. I also included a picture of the dreamcatcher he made at the last meeting.

Question of the Day: How can one 7 year old boy with no hips, butt, or an inch of fat on him eat a grilled cheese sandwhich, six fish sticks, a big granola bar, carrots, an ice cream cone and a piece of pizza and then come home from the meeting and say can I have some popcorn? He probably would have eaten more, but we had to leave for Scouts. One day he ate 15 fish sticks. In my defense though on that one...that was Steve's doings!

All Dressed Up With Places To Go!

Here is Emma in her new Christmas dress. You can't see in the picture, but it even comes with snowflake tights. (Of course the full shot of her is blurry. I'm the worst picture taker ever!) I know E thought she was pretty darn cute in it. Mom thinks so too! She's already giving daddy a heart attack when he thinks of her as a teenager....I didn't get any pics of P dressed up since they were at his Cub Scout Christmas party at the time. I also included pics from her Winter recital that was yesterday afternoon too. She's standing in the middle. I wish I could have gotten a close up pic of her in the antlers :-( But I had to get in there and jockey for a seat in the gym. The recital went well and so did the Christmas program at church. I'll see if Steve got any Cub Scout pics and if he did I'll post some another time. Parker was excited to have a day to veg and play his game boy today. Emma is learning about all the different holidays. Today it was Kwanza and Friday she came home with a dreidel made from a milk carton.

I ran to WM during P's TKD tonight and got a few more Christmas gifts crossed off my list. The freaks are really starting to come out in full force! Steve is going to KC until Thursday and has his first band gig Thursday night. Luckily this weekend we don't have a thing going on so we can finalize all the Christmas wrapping, buying, food making etc. I'm off on Weds and home with Parker so I'm planning to get Xmas cards done that day. I will post some outtakes from those another time.

Got a pleasant email surprise tonight. Something I had sent to Paper Crafts last May was also selected for the kids magazine that I'll have a headband in too. Now I just need to remember where I put it?

PSA: Do not make Peppermint cookies if it involves smashing candy canes. I was covered in chunks from head to toe last night. And in the end I didn't have enough for my cookie exchange and they were crumbling apart anyway, so I ended having to make even more cookies. The recipe was thrown away!