I was at Meijer last week and found this adorable Christmas outfit clearanced down to $1.19! I am not sure if it will fit Little Miss next Christmas since it is size 6 months and all my girls have followed very different sizing patterns. But I figured at that price, I really couldn't lose. Looks cute, though a bit big, on the doll (whose name is Alex :) doesn't it?
Prettiest Card - from Jim and Ruth Byrd
Cutest Card - from Bob and Louise Smith (Sara's mom's brother and sister-in-law)
Most Creative - from Tony, Barb, Caleb, Devon and Danika Askew (card made by Barb, Sara's sister)
Clean the house, get the laundry well underway and get along! A mental checklist of things to do in order to get early gift opening privileges from Mom. They complied: the bickering ceased, the washer and dryer was humming and the house was orderly in no time (amazing what can be accomplished with a "carrot" dangling in front of their faces :)
The two younger girls had a mostly "build a bear" Christmas, which sure made for easy shopping for a sick, pregnant mom. Britnee's gifts were electronics and hair accessories.
MY favorite gift were these and I cannot wait to wear flaunt them in Michigan :)
How awesome was it on the afternoon of December 22nd, when Britnee went out to start Tony's car for him, that she came back inside the house with a large box bearing my name? It had a return address of one of my email scrapbook friends who actually lives here in Indiana. We have never met in person, but we email each other frequently and feel like we know each other.
Bonnie is a caregiver for her twin grandsons and her daughter is expecting another little one in March. Before I knew I was expecting a surprise of my own and when they transferred Holly's three frozen embryos, Bonnie was slightly overwhelmed at the possibility of taking care of twin 2.5 yr olds AND newborn triplets. I volunteered my services and figured I could at least help her out one day a week for a while if the need arose. Well, God obviously had other plans, because Holly found out that she was expecting ONE baby girl and then we found out that WE were expecting! But because Bonnie is a very generous person and because she so appreciated my willingness to extend a helping hand to someone in need, she sent along a box of Christmas gifts for our family.
Britnee received a neat craft/activity pack of Capsters. Janae and Kerrigan both got two kinds of specialty markers which they have already enjoyed. I received a lap desk and a sheet of postage stamps. And for the whole family, chocolate covered pretzel rods and a bag of Hershey Kisses.
Thank you, "Grandma" Bonnie for sending an unexpected bit of Christmas cheer to our house!
'Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa, " I said
"You know... good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough stash, I'll see you next year!
I have found the perfect gift for Janiece Cooper and Angie Davis. Do cats always land on their feet? Want to throw a little baby shower? Why not relieve that corporate stress? Catch the love of your life? If you fit into any one
of these 4 categories then you have to get your hands on a catapult!! These
playful plastic toys provide tons & tons of flying fun for all ages! Includes four mini cats, babies, bosses or cupids. Hit that bull’s eye! Measures 5.75” Plastic.
Even if you like cats, this website has some unique gifts. Fun to browse!
Lots of you have probably have received this in your inbox. But I don't recall if anyone has ever posted it on their blog. So here is mine. Feel free to follow suit :)*/1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper – it’s one of my favorite holiday preparations…wrapping
*/2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial – until last year, it was one that we bought to use at our wedding reception (then we moved the wedding up to Oct!)
*/3. When do you put up the tree? Sometimes Thanksgiving weekend; sometimes not until the week before Christmas – depends on what I am personally involved in like directing school programs and such. Some years in Michigan we didn’t even GET one up we were so busy with school and church stuff…but we spent a lot of time at my parents those years and enjoyed theirs
*/4. When do you take the tree down? Again, no hard fast rule – sometimes the day after Christmas; some years it’s been the first week of February!
*/5. Do you like eggnog? Never tried it and don’t plan to
*/6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably Baby Alive
*/7. Hardest person to buy for? Tony or his sister, Liz (can never decide if she’s a child or a grown up J)
*/8. Easiest person to buy for? Kerrigan
*/9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep, a Home Interiors one that I got ridiculously cheap when I was a displayer before I was married…it was like 75% off after Christmas.
*/10. Mail or email Christmas cards? MAIL
*/11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably something from a gift exchange; nothing personal
*/12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The new Miracle on 34th Street (I think that’s the one)
*/13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? It varies….whenever the budget allows
*/14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably for a gift exchange – not for a personal gift
*/15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom’s soft sugar cookies
*/16. Lights on the tree? Yep…I think they are already ON the new tree we got last year…and they are white.
*/17. Favorite Christmas song? Religious: to play, Away in a Manger; to sing, Oh Holy Night – Secular: to play, The Christmas Song; to sing, Sleigh Ride (just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too; come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…)
*/18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel
*/19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Oh yeah! Highlight the following space AFTER YOU attempt to name them to see if you are right. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen; and of course Rudolph
*/20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Used to be an angel; now it’s a bow. I think I bought a star last year but took it back – can’t remember why
*/21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? All week long. We open them here before we go to MI; then typically open Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his
*/22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Too much going on to enjoy the season
*/23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Not that I’ve ever done one, but silver and blue
*/24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Mother-in-law’s fabulously moist stuffing and Grandmother’s recipe for apple salad (which I make and now have the actual apple bowl she used to use!!)
*/25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To feel good and be able to fully enjoy the holiday with my husband and girls
I won't bore you with a bunch of "opening gifts" photos that are meaningless to you :) I will be doing a full-fledged photo shoot with the girls and all their gifts later. But for now, enjoy seeing the focal point of the girl's Christmas at home.
We purchased a doll and a large item (Nikki's horse, Josefina's table & chair, and Kit's trundle bed) as a sort of investment for the girls from my parent's estate money. Then we bought them clothes and accessories from us. This was a Christmas that will undoubtedly equal no other as we don't typically spend enough to even get them an American Girl doll (not that they are lacking...that's just our choice.)
Editor's note: For those of you who have known that these have been in storage for several weeks and wondered if I would be able to keep them under wraps until Christmas, please note that we even went to Michigan and back before we opened ONE present!
Okay, that title is a little inside joke but the other day while shopping at Target, Kerrigan saw these bows that were HUGE and she immediately decided that she needed one to top her gift to Uncle Lauren. I looked at the five dollar price tag and decided it probably wasn't an absolute necessity.
A few days later, I stopped in at the Dollar Tree to pick up tissue paper and saw that they had the same size bows for $1...a little - okay, a lot - easier to swallow. I grabbed three of them figuring that Britnee and Janae would most definitely feel left out if they didn't have one for Liz's and Shamu's gifts. Kerrigan was estatic as were the other two girls. These are just so much fun!
After I took the photo I realized that you would not get the full effect of the size even if I told you the box it tops was a boot box. So I decided to give you a more visual comparison. The red bow below is sitting on a dinner plate. Now go get one out of your cupboard and be amazed :)
I am so totally and shamelessly stealing this from Julie Gurnee's blog. Actually I have really battled in my mind whether or not to post it b/c I don't want to look like a copy cat - how tacky!! But I finally concluded that there are people who read my blog that don't read hers and I SO want them to see this. This is probably my least favorite Christmas carol - mainly b/c it's so redundant. You think it's bad singing it? Try being the accompanist to a song like this! But anyway...onto the video...this version is so incredibly awesome that I will never hear this song again without thinking of this remarkable group of acapella singers!
