Lazy Day After Christmas

One of the best parts of Christmas is the day after. The house is trashed. I have no idea where I am going to put all of the new toys. I can't even begin to put them away because the kids just keep dragging them out. I spent the whole day playing UNO Moo for Preschoolers, Busy Pets, Whack-A-Mole, Pattern blocks, and hot wheels on the racing track. We watched Pocahontas and UP. We ate Christmas cookies and drank hot cocoa. About 1 o'clock I decided to shower...and then I just put my sweats right back on. I made a scrapbook page. I watched a lifetime Christmas movie with Matt. We ate left over spagetti for dinner. It was a wonderful day. Hope you and your family had as much time and fun enjoying one another this Christmas.

Gingerbread, Marshmallow Monsters, and Tutus

I love gingerbread houses. This year I decided to try one of the kits from Winco. I highly recommend this, it's easy, the candy comes in the bag, the frosting mix is in the bag, and the house is prebaked. For kids, especially, this is the only way to go. We had a great time!



While the kids made gingerbread houses, Leanne and I make snowmen on a stick. We stuck three marshmallows on a lollipop stick and then dipped them in white chocolate and added mini m&m's for the eys. While we worked, Dallie ate marshmallows, although it looks like the marshmallow may have tried to eat her. She was happy as a clam with marshmallows in her ears, her hair, and on her face. Love this shot!



This is a shot from Marianne's dance recital on Saturday. Marianne is pictured below. She is such a talented young lady and has started taking dance in Meridian this year. The production was beautiful. I love all the tutus and lights.


She wasn't very excited about posing in her tutu, but I made her. Here she is!


I finished up some odds and ends today in town, and i believe I am 100% officially done Christmas shopping. We made reindeer cookies at my Grandma Yates house this morning and spent a little time with Leanne and Dallie at her house this afternoon. I am freshly waxed (eyebrows and mustache) and ready to get ready for Christmas. Tomorrow is our final craft project, chocolate suckers, and then it's time to finish wrapping up presents, iron clothes for church, and clean the house for company. I love this time of year!

Christmas Crafting

Really? It's really December 21st and I have only posted nine posts this entire month? I really had every intention of posting daily and recording all of our Christmas activites and stories, but time has seemed to run away from me and it's already almost that time.

Here are some shots of the Christmas crafts Cameron and I have been working on every afternoon while Tucker is asleep. She is at such a great age to do this kind of thing with.

I am hoping like crazy to get back into the swing of life after December and 1) finish painting my bonus room, which is half white and half brown and one wall kind of purply brown and 2) finish up my scrapbook for the year, which I left off on back in September. It seems like no matter how hard I try I can't stay up on those. Matt is going to work on a bigger work space for me this winter while he is off, with a whole bunch of countertops and a whole bunch of storage, mainly so he doesn't have to look at the mess anymore. It should be nice, can't wait till it's all finished.

A little Holly Jolly

And the count down is on! We are only counting until Christmas Eve here since we will start opening gifts at Matt's parents house at 10 in the morning, so that leaves us with just three days to go.....

Here is the photo of Cameron, Tucker, and Dallie on Santa's lap. This was taken at the church bazaar a few weekends ago....

And here is my newest addition to my Christmas decor, designed by my good friend Aimee...this is my third nativity set, but since it is the reason for the season, I may just go ahead and start collecting them!


A photo of some of our Christmas books. Each night in December we pick out two to read. I have about five different versions of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" but we love them all. Me being a teacher and all, my kids are pretty much book lovers/nerds whether they want to be or not. This photo just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.


This is probably the most popular Christmas decoration in our house. I had to break down and buy this when Cameron was two. She loved it. It plays music, lights up and blows snow around inside the globe. Cameron even took it for show and tell last week. It isn't my usual type of decoration, but the kids love it.


And last, but definately not least, in fact, very much my favorite is Cameron's Christmas gift from preschool. She brought this home from school all wrapped in tissue paper for me. But then she got excited and opened it. Anyways, it's an ornament for our tree and it's her face on a colored angel. I don't know why I love this so much, but it just gets me excited for all of the handmade glue and paper and glitter that is to come for our tree. There is nothing better than kid made Christmas ornaments.

Tonight is Cameron's Ballet recital and I am getting ready to put some chili in the crock pot and take a nap with the kids so they will be rested up enough to survive the performance. Then after that, it's off to confession to prepare for Christmas at church and finally home. Busy day!

How many more minutes till Christmas?????

Here is a Holly Jolly Matt on the side of the bonus room roof trying to get the Christmas lights to work. He will do anything for Cameron, but he never would put lights up when it was just the two of us. They look beautiful.
A little holiday cheer for the day...the top of my Stocking pole.....


And Cameron working diligently on Christmas activities. I swear, I can't keep the girl in crafts. We went to Michaels last weekend and bought a bunch of ceramics, cookie cutters, chocolate molds, activity kits, etc. $42 later we were ready to rock and roll. She is bugging me to death because she thinks that until every craft is done and on the tree, we shouldn't stop. I was hoping for more of a 12 days of Christmas approach. Atleast she's excited.


Today I took Cameron to the doctor for her second follow up to her ear infection. Luckily her second round of antibiotics did clear up the infection in her ear, but now she has a Urinary Tract Infection. Poor girl, we're on antibiotic #3 for the month of November/December. This antibiotic has been too hard on her stomach so she's had some upset tummy trouble this afternoon. It's very hard to watch your kids hurt, but she's resting right now and watching some Cailou Christmas so I've snuck upstairs to regroup and enjoy the quiet.

This past weekend my friend, Amber, a fellow Mom of a preschooler, hosted her annual ladies Christmas party. I look forward to good food, good games, drinks, and conversation all year. I won an absolutely beautiful wreath that her mother made. I just love how it looks on my door. Maybe I'll get a photo of that posted.

Friday of last weekend we went out for our friend, Cody's 30th birthday party. We went to Tepenyaki's Japanese Steak house in Boise, along with about 9 other couples. It was such a nice night out, and a total change of pace from our regular Olive Garden date night. I can't believe all of my friends are turning 30....has it really been that long? All of a sudden 30 just doesn't sound as old as it used to sound.

I think I am finally finished up on my christmas shopping. I am working on two teacher gifts for Cameron's teachers and a few white elephant gifts for our Christmas Eve at my parents house. I paid our looming tax bill today at the court house. Whoever made the due date December 20th seriously has to be the biggest scrooge ever.......but what can you do?

This weekend we are going to watch my sister perform at Northwest Nazarene University for ballet and then we are going with the cousins to see the Frog Princess. Cameron has been waiting and waiting for that one. Then she has a performance at church Sunday morning, she is a sheep in the Christmas song. Then Monday night is Cameron's ballet performance. Busy week and weekend ahead. I'm getting so excited for Christmas morning, can't hardly stand it.

A little Christmas cheer

So much for "December Daily". I really had the best of intentions, but alas, four days have gone by and I haven't so much has even thought about my blog. I have been busy working on getting all of my Avon orders delivered so I know if I have any "spending" money for Christmas. I finished Christmas shopping yesterday while my sister kept the kids (yay for sisters!) and I also got my Christmas cards ready to go. Now I have the looming closet of gifts that I need to start wrapping, but I am waiting as long as possible because I'm afraid if I leave the room for a second they will get opened...last year most every gift had a small tear in it that nobody seemed to know how it had gotten there. That nobody is four years old this year and has a two year old brother that she uses as a pawn in all of her evil plotting. I can only imagine what they would be capable of.

Here are some Christms photos of our tree. Cameron's friend, Ainsley helped us decorate. I was very patient and let them put each and every ornament right where they wanted it, which was smack in the middle as high as they could reach. It was terrible. I have slowly moved ornaments and they haven't seemed to notice. The top photo is Cameron pouting while I finished "fluffing" out the branches. She is not very patient.

Weekend Christmas Fun

I wasn't able to get any pictures uploaded from the weekend yet, so here are a few photos from the past two years. I can't believe how much the kids have grown and changed! This weekend Matt and I left the kids at my parents house on Friday night and we went to Boise to finish up some shopping. I had bought Tucker his Spike the T-Rex toy at ToysRus the day after Thanksgiving thinking that if it wasn't on sale taht day it wasn't going to go on sale. Wrong! This week it was on sale at Fred Meyers for $25 less. So of course I had them hold one at Fred Meyers since ToysRus doesn't always price match. I went and bought ANOTHER Spike the T Rex so we had to return the one to ToysRus. I also had a few returns to make at the Mall. We ate at Red Robin and got groceries at Walmart. Saturday I went to the Carberry Christmas Bazaar, which was nothing but crap, and then picked up the kids at my mom's house. Cameron had a birthday party for her friend Athena and Tucker stayed at home and took a nap with Matt. I got my Christmas cards printed, so now I need to get going on those. Saturday night was the Annual Christmas Bazaar at my church. And if you're Catholic, there's not a better way to raise money than by gambling and drinking, so bring on the beer and bingo! You wouldn't believe how many crazy Catholics you can pack into a hall for a little fundraising if it involves bingo prizes and beer. It's always a good time. Of course we were stuck out in the kid alley playing cake walk and ring toss. Cameron won 2-two liter bottles of Coke and Tucker one a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. Gotta love caffeine for kids! We also won a whole pie and a plate of cookies in the cake walk and numerous Christmas related tatoos (all on Cameron's stomach, the only body part she's allowed to put tatoos on). We also got a picture with Santa, will try to scan that in tomorrow, and played kiddie bingo.

There was a three pack of cheap knock off princess barbies. You know the kind that look cute from a distance because they're dressed similar to the Disney princesses, but then you get up close and they've got the look of a three dollar hooker. Purple lipstick, half-crazed ex wife kind of eyes. Anyways, of course, Cameron LOVED those barbies. So we played bingo to win them. I kept telling her not to get her hopes up that someone else might win first or we just might not win at all. She was adamant she was going to win the 3 pack of barbie hookers. Tucker won.

So of course up to the prize table we go. Tucker looked over the whole table of toys and then, after a lot of deliberation on his part, pointed to the barbie 3 pack and said "Cameron". He truly wanted to get them for her, without any suggestions from me. It was the sweetest thing! He was so proud of himself! Of course we all made a huge deal out of what a great brother he was to give Cameron a present. Then Cameron wins Bingo shortly after and she decides she's going to get Tucker a gift. She gets him a stuffed bear with little or no thought to what he might like, but he is still tickled to death. They love their gifts from each other. And now we have these scary looking cheap knock off barbies. When I went in to tuck Cameron into bed, I had to kick them into the closet because the one looks just a little too deranged for my taste.

We also put up Christmas lights today and also the Christmas tree, which I have photos but I am going to bed for now. Hope your weekend was jolly.

December 3rd

I started making my Christmas cards for the year. I don't make all 50 of them, but I do make about 10-15 and use them on people who appreciate a handmade card. These are it for the year. I obviously fell in love with this line of paper from Bo Bunny because I haven't branched out from it very much....


We took a break from all of the hustle and bustle today to go to the dentist. This was Cameron's first time and she was a trooper. We have no cavities and we left smiling so it was a great first experience. I also left without cavities, but on the verge of tears as my gum recession has continued to progress, which means sometime in the future, I will be having to graft tissue from the roof of my mouth onto the exposed roots of my teeth. I imagine it will be about the time I turn the big 30. I don't really think I"m getting old, but sometimes I take a step back and realize things are really starting to just fall apart! This sucks!

Cameron is watching a Charlie and Lola DVD titled, "How Many Minutes Until Christmas", which is appropriate for her excitement. Tucker is sleeping, which is appropriate for his level of excitement. I just turned in a huge Avon order, mostly last minute stocking stuffers and I am ready to kick back and watch Oprah for a few minutes before I start a pot of potato soup for dinner. Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Makin' a list

Today we went to my sister's house to try to get the first annual attempt at the perfect "cousin shot". All three kids were in red Christmas attire and my sister bought each one of them a pair of reindeer horns. I am a cynic about taking pictures of kids in a group. They never work. One is always making a weird contorted face or falling over or looking away or crying or pooping or something. I hate them. But, surprisingly, the reindeer horns and Leanne and I singing Jingle Bells and dancing around like idiots captivated them enough for Mike to get the shot. I wish I had it to show, but it's on my sister's camera. Maybe I'll get it uploaded in the next few days....

We finished all decorating that does not involve the tree. The garlands are up, my cupboard shelves are decorated, and all fall is packed away tightly. Cameron is more than ready for the tree, but I am going to still try to put her off until Sunday.

Here is my altered Christmas notebook that I made to keep myself sane. Usually what I do is I buy a crapload of "sales" and then hide them away. When I finally go to take everything out of the closet, I realize I didn't save a dime. I over buy. This year I made myself a notebook, I carry it everywhere. I keep all receipts in there. I tabbed pages for Tucker's Stocking, Tucker's gifts, Cameron's Stocking, Cameron's Gifts, family gifts, and so on. I have prices in the right hand column and so hopefully there will be no surprise in the closet on Christmas eve.......

Gotta go, Rudolph is over so the kids are out of control again.

Deckin' the Halls

So before I can start decorating for Christmas, I have a few jobs that never get done any other time of the year. The first thing is that all of my grapevines and greenery comes down, get's washed, degreased, and packed away. This in itself is a time zapper. I hate it. But, if I don't have a reason to do it (Christmas) I never will. So here is the mess on my kitchen table. The kids hate this time. They REALLY want to pull out the garlands and lights and this is just a waste of time. I couldn't agree more. Next, all of the Turkey art comes down and put away for future scrapbooking endeavors. They were pretty proud of their hand turkeys. Oh, and if you love this board, my good friend, Aimee makes them special order. The only problem with this one is there are not enough hooks on it for the mass amounts of art that get produced in our home.

And finally, we go on a scarecrow and pumpkin hunt. We even managed to round up a turkey or two to dust and put away for next year. This is just a small sampling of what I have to hide away in my so called "linen" closet which has become a shelf and a half of fall and two full shelves of Christmas. Towels and linens are overrated anyways.

So this was today's project. I managed to get a few lights up around the tops of the cupboards and a few garlands hung, all the while Cameron is heckling me and yelling about the importance of the Christmas tree, which our neighbors decided to put up the day after Thanksgiving. I myself will probably wait until this Sunday. That's one less week we have to break ornaments and get yelled at for touching the tree.

Here is a picture of my latest swap, a December flip calendar. I did the 4th and the 21st and in return I have a 6X6 calendar to use to count down the days. I actually got two copies so I'm trying to decide who gets the other calendar.........

Day 21

Day 4

The final project.

Happy December!!!

December Daily

Merry Christmas everybody! In case some of you don't know, around these parts we get pretty into the up and coming holiday. We are already in the thick of decorating, shopping, and singing Christmas carols. With the kids being the age they are, I"m expecting to go full blown "Christmas" and I plan to document it all right here....daily. So get ready to see what Christmas at the Brown house is all about.....




And in the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share Cameron's Christmas list that she made with Matt while I was out on Black Friday. I plan on sticking this one in her scrapbook...

Cameron's Christmas Wish List 2009 (Age 4)

1. princess piano
2. princess wand that disappears at night
3. cute baby bottle
4. princess party decorations
5. Cinderella blanket
6. princess pillow
7. princess watering bucket
8. very own Christmas book
9. princess frames
10. very own spring book
11. duck duck goose book
12. princess vaccum
13. princess purse
14. princess hat
15. angel she can paint and decorate with stickers

Tucker's wish list consists of one thing....

1. A T-Rex

Gotta love the difference between boys and girls.