Christmas Day 2011

Christmas morning - I heard the pitter patter of footsteps and knew that Evan and Mackenzie would soon be running down to the basement to crawl in bed with us - they're both pretty good snugglers!!! Both were excited that Santa had come and the cookies and milk were gone!!

By 9:00, the Smith's and the Savage's had arrived and it was time for our fruit and dip and the best cinnamon rolls around (made by none other than Jessi!!) Stockings came next from Santa for all the kids and it was fun to watch their faces as they opened each little gift!!

And then the REAL fun started as the presents were passed out!! Once again, we did the CHRISTMAS chair - whatever child was opening had to sit in the chair and it worked out well!! Was it loud and noisy and chaotic???? Absolutely!! But that's 1/2 the fun when you have little ones around!!

Egg bake and sausage casserole were next along with toasted cinnamon bread and coffee!! How were we ever going to eat lunch after all this breakfast food???

Jill had my name this year and I received new black fashion boots, a black sweater and a new mouse pad for work with the kids pictures on it!! Glenn got me a new computer bag for travelling and a coffee canister for work!! One of the things on my Christmas list was a FLAT bottomed coffee cup - I have one of those coffee warmers that sits on my desk but unless the coffee cup is perfectly flat, it doesn't warm the entire cup!! I think Jill searched every store around for a coffee cup that was flat on the bottom but to no avail - so I opened a gift from Glenn and it was a large coffee mug that he has promised to grind off to make flat!!! Surprisingly enough, when Jaime, Jessi and I went to Caribou Coffee on Monday while we were shopping, there was a glass mug for sale and sure enough, it was flat on the bottom - yes, I bought it!!

Lunch was our big meal of the day since Gary had to leave for work in the afternoon - ham, elk roast, hash brown casserole, crunchy coleslaw, baked beans and pumpkin bread along with mom's punch was on the menu!! YUM!!! And of course more turtle cheesecake and peppermint dessert that Jessi had made!!

Luckily, most of the kids napped in the afternoon and the women did their sock exchange!! We laughed and laughed at the gifts since there was one particular gift that each woman needed to end up with and that's exactly how it happened!!! HOW PERFECT!!!

We had picked up Papa Murphy's pizza the day before for our evening Christmas meal - of the 3 we ordered, we hardly made a dent in the second one and the third one was untouched!! Guess we'll just go for 2 pizzas next year!! Jessi had some major cheese strings going on in this next picture!!

All in all, one perfect Christmas!! Just being together for the holidays is enough for me!!

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve - the day started out rather cold but with the sun soon out in full force, it actually was quite nice outside and at least some of the side streets started to melt a little bit!!

Evan and Kylan were up EARLY - they couldn't WAIT to play Indiana Jones on the WII - and of course the guys were up early getting ready to go ice fishing again so I relunctantly crawled out of that warm bed and faced the day!!

We took the kids to see Arthur Christmas - or was it Christmas Arthur?? I can't remember - but the movie was cute and I even enjoyed it!! The kids were great during the movie and we headed to Jamba Juice afterwards for drinks!!

Then it was time for me to get busy in the kitchen and make the punch, egg bake and get the beans ready for the next day!! Jessi had been really busy in the kitchen the day before and made this awesome turtle cheesecake!! I wish I could take credit for it but I can't!!

Before we knew it, we were off to church where we met the rest of the family minus Robby and Parker - Parker hadn't napped so Robby stayed home with him!!

After a great soup supper, I got out the guitar - I had practiced with the little ones so they could sing Away In A Manger for their parents (along with the actions!) They did pretty well but of course I had to hand the camera off to Glenn and this was the BEST picture of the ones he took - no points for him in photography!!! I also had bought bells for each of them to jingle while we all sang Jingle Bells and they LOVED doing that!!

After opening gifts from the other side of the family, Jill read The Night Before Christmas and Gary read the Christmas story from the Bible.

By this time the kids were getting whiny and crabby and we knew we had to hurry through the predictions before the meltdowns started!! GUESS WHAT???? Yours truly ACTUALLY GOT THE MOST RIGHT!!! First time ever!!! Glenn and I were SO excited (well, I was anyway!!) and then Jill told us she FORGOT to bring the frog!! I think she was really thinking that her and Robby would win again and it would just stay at her house - oh no, it's coming to OUR house for the next year and I'll have to think of the best spot for him!!

It was a great day - lots of great food, visiting and just being together!! But it was time to head back to Jessi's house to get ready for Christmas Day!!

Christmas 2011

Friday was only a 1/2 day of work - naturally we weren't very busy at the office so spent most of our time packing up! And soon it was time to head out, pick up Glenn and head to Denver for the long weekend!!

The car was jam packed - Glenn had brought his ice fishing hut and equipment so the guys could go ice fishing and with all the presents, clothes and food, I had really wondered if it all would fit! It sure took a lot less time to unload the car than to load it!!

The guys headed out to ice fish - Jessi, the kids and I headed over to Jaime's and the girls decided to go shopping while Rayna watched the boys! We headed to Kohl's and each of us found a pair of black leggings and I also found a couple of long sweaters to go with them - only to find that when I got back home, one was flawed and had to be returned later!

By this time it was getting near dinnertime so we stopped at Wendy's to grab some burgers and fries to take home to the kids! Jessi and I headed back over to her house, along with Kylan who was going to spend the night!

There's just nothing cuter than seeing the kids ready for bed - possibly because that means there will be peace and quiet???

Jessi and I FINALLY got to sit down and watch a Christmas movie, my first one of the season! Don't ask me why I hadn't watched any before because I just don't know!! The guys were supposed to fish late but ended up coming home sooner than expected because they got cold! We didn't stay up very late because the next day had a long agenda attached to it!!

One Last Christmas!

One FINAL Christmas with my boss Gary - we exchanged gifts before I left for the holiday weekend! Hard to believe we've spent 20 years celebrating Christmas as employer and employee!

Christmas Get Together - #4

Last but not least was the get together of the "church ladies". I decided a long time ago that this group needed a name since Arlyne and I are in BOTH groups of ladies and we were always getting mixed up which group we were going to see!! Karen suggested the church ladies since all 4 of us attend church, although not the same one!!

We met out at Arlyne's again - her house sure got a workout this year!! Hot wassail tasted great on this cold night and we enjoyed the shrimp dip and brie cheese for appetizers before our meal of taco soup with all the trimmings, bread and apple salad!!

We all exchanged gifts by the Christmas tree and ended our evening with coffee and delicious cookies as we sat and visited the night away!!

It was a long day for me and an even longer drive home in the dark!! I'll be glad when the days start getting lighter for a longer period of time!!

So my holiday parties are over and now it's time to get down to the business of CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Get Together - #3

It was ONE busy weekend but we had one more party to attend - the "unchoir" party!! Pretty strange name I know - but this group IS the entire choir that used to sing together but is now disbanded!! Arlyne the director has made it a point to have a get together every Christmas, just so we can all see each other because after all, we're FAMILY!!

We all met at Arlyne's where we chowed down on lots of appetizers and the traditional "red punch" that I always bring (yes, this is mom's recipe!) and as soon as the Broncos game ended, we ate our potluck meal, always delicious!!

After coffee and dessert and LOTS of visiting, the most special part of the night arrives - singing Christmas carols!! We all head into Arlyne's "music" room and it's so pretty with all her beautiful decorations and lit tree, and then we sing!! Trust me, it's a beautiful thing to hear!! No, we might not have the voices we used to have when we sang in the choir, but to just sing TOGETHER once a year makes it so special to each and every one of us!!

And then we reminisce - mainly about the Christmas Eve service where we are singing "Still, Still, Still" (which we didn't know by heart) and someone hits the light switch by mistake!! We're trying to sing in TOTAL darkness, fumbling over the words and trying to remember notes - oh my, one of those things you NEVER forget!!

We all left with smiling faces and happy hearts - knowing that next year we will all meet once again for our special "unchoir" party!!

Christmas Get Together - #2

We call ourselves the "choir girls", because we all used to sing together in choir at Faith Lutheran Church under the direction of Arlyne, the other "red" lady in the picture!! But choir is a thing of the past - and the friendships have remained!

Saturday found us at Clara's home which is not too far from my house (remember the blog where I got totally lost at night trying to get home from her place!!!) Luckily, our get together was during the day and I only took ONE wrong turn getting there!!

Clara served us a delicious brunch consisting of a layered breakfast casserole, apple salad and a rich caramel chocolate chip pie!! We had a great time just sitting around drinking coffee at the table and playing the game "The Art Of Conversation" - we certainly learned a few things about each other that we didn't know before!!

The weather was gorgeous outside and the sun coming in the windows made it difficult for pictures but I wasn't complaining - the nicer weather was wonderful!!

Before we knew it, almost 3 hours had gone by and it was time again to say our goodbyes till next month!

Christmas Get Together #1

The Christmas Festivities have begun!!

I'm blessed to have so many dear friends that I get together with at Christmas!! And I have many great friends afar that I SO enjoy hearing from at Christmas too!!

Friday afternoon after work Joleen and I headed to Brenda's Boutique, a new consignment shop in town - we walked in and who was working but another good friend, Karen!! We looked around and decided we had to come back at another time to try some clothes on since the store was closing by 5:00! After a quick stop at Walmart, we headed to Wines of Colorado!

This place is one of my favorite places to eat! It was all decked out in Christmas attire and soon we were wine tasting at the cute little bar section!! I wasn't finding what I wanted till the guy suggested I try some of their hot spiced wine - oh my, no doubt in my mind that's what I was going to drink - it was wonderful!!

We had a delicious meal and were just talking away when we happened to look at the time! WOW - where had the last hour and a half gone?? We quickly opened our gifts to each other, paid the bill and headed out the door!

We raced back up to Woodland Park and headed to church as we were attending the Christmas program there, On The Home Front! It was a great production set back during World War II and we honored the veterans in the audience after the performance

It was one crisp, cold night as we walked back to our cars, definitely in the holiday spirit!

Weekly Recap

December is busy - always has been, always will be!!! All those extra things like putting out the Christmas decorations, baking, mailing Christmas cards, shopping and wrapping gifts - well, they just take time, lots of time!!


I'm usually ahead of the game as I'm so darn organized!! And I'm not doing too badly this year but still have this "hurry, get it done" feeling every day that I get home from work!! Of course it doesn't help that it's DARK 2 minutes after I walk in the door either - I do much better at getting my lists done when it's light outside!!


I have one more shopping day ahead of me to finish up!! And then there is the never ending pile of gifts to wrap!!! But I TOTALLY enjoy it because I always have the Christmas lights on, the Christmas music blaring and hot apple cider to sip while I wrap!!


Poor Glenn is not feeling well at all - it started out as a bad sore throat and now has moved somewhat to his chest - he definitely sounds like he sings bass now!!! He made the comment when he got up this morning that he wouldn't be talking much at work!! Now that will be a REAL switch for him!!


And work??? We started packing up the office on Friday - boy, was that weird!!! Sorting through drawers, throwing away an endless supply of stuff that Gary no longer needs, deciding who wanted what and such - gosh, it IS coming to an end!! We also mailed out the "retirement" letters on Thursday so on Friday the calls started coming in!! I'm sure there will be a lot more on Monday............


Somehow this didn't get posted on Friday like I had planned so now it is Sunday night - the shopping is basically done AND wrapped, 6 loaves of pumpkin bread are in the freezer, the house is clean due to company on Saturday night and I'm ready to sit down with a glass of wine and some cracker mix.........relaxation comes at a price sometimes............

Garlic Anyone?

When you're up at 6:00am and open your frig to get your juice out for the morning, you don't expect a strong marinade type smell to come streaming out of the frig!! At least I don't, especially when the ONLY thing you put in different after dinner was a covered container with some hash browns and sausage in it!!

OK - I DID buy a pork loin that was already marinating in a smoked apple wood sauce!! But I checked it and there was no hole in the package and it didn't smell - hmmmmmmmm - I stuck it in a ziploc anyway.........and proceeded to exercise!

Glenn came down a while later - opened up the frig and started complaining about the smell - I told him I had no idea what it was so he started looking through it all. And he found the culprit!!

GARLIC!!! I buy the glass jar that has the fresh minced garlic in it and I had used it on the hash browns for dinner. And put it away in the same spot I always do - BUT - because I usually buy the small jar and it's stored in the side of the frig, the last time I went to the store they did not have the small jar and I had to buy the large one - which did NOT fit sitting straight up like the little one did - so I put it on its' side..........and it leaked...........and it smells.............

I scrubbed the shelf down, I scrubbed the garlic jar down, and then I had to suds up the dish rag because IT smelled like garlic!!! And when I was showering, my hands had to have MORE soap on them because they STILL smelled!!

I'm hoping when I go home tonight that my house doesn't smell like a garlic clove - and that the cup of coffee grounds and the new soda box have taken the smell out of the frig - and if it hasn't? OH well, everyone will just think I'm one FANTASTIC ITALIAN CHEF!!

Cold, Snowy and FUN!!

Everybody slept pretty good - and Jill felt much better the next morning which we were all thankful for!! Glenn cooked up some yummy pancakes for the kids in all different shapes and sizes!!

Evan (and Jessi) were THRILLED that I had kept this old marble game around!! They had a ball building it and rebuilding it and even the little girls enjoyed putting the marbles in!!


But the noise level got loud so Jessi and Glenn decided to take the older 3 kids outside to sled!! It was SUPER cold out but after I saw them sledding, I KNEW I had to get out there and take some pics!!

Evan slid down the little slope a few times but sure didn't like climbing back up!

Even Aleah had a turn on the sled!

Isn't this a cute picture - 2 little girls just looking at each other!

The girls!!

Parker stayed inside where it was nice and warm!! And I even captured a smile!!(and a tongue)

What a fun weekend we had with the girls and the grand kids!! And I'm already wondering how cold it will be NEXT year when we do the parade!!

Holiday Home Tour & Christmas Parade

It was the December weekend we had looked forward to - the home tour and the parade - and even though the weather didn't look great, Jessi and her kids and Jill and her kids both headed down on Friday night! It was a good thing too because it DID snow quite a bit on Saturday!

Snow and cold greeted us on Saturday morning but we were still determined to do the tour! Robby's mom Bev and husband Mike came to the house to help Glenn babysit the 4 kids! Joleen joined us 3 girls and we braved the snowy roads to head to Woodland Park and start our tour of the 6 homes!!


The homes were beautiful - especially the largest one we saw where Glenn had done the granite - I took my camera and took a few pictures of his work !! WOW - what a house it was!! We enjoyed seeing all the homes and just spending some fun time with the girls!!


We had picked up Papa Murphy's pizza for a quick dinner that evening as the parade started at 6:00pm. But Jill wasn't feeling well so she opted to stay home with Parker since it was so cold outside!! What a frenzy we were all in, trying to get snow boots, hats, mittens. snow pants and coats on those 3 kids!! But we FINALLY got them all put in the car and headed back into town!

Was it cold? OH my - it was VERY COLD!!! The temperature on the bank said 10 degrees but I believe the car read lower than that! Needless to say, it was icy feeling outside!! We found our spot that we wanted to sit at, got some hand warmers out to use, and poured some nice hot apple cider that I had brought in a thermos!!


Now aren't these kids cute as can be sitting on this blanket??

Now take note, right behind us is a really neat shop in town that now has wine-tasting and all these people were watching the parade from INSIDE the shop!!! I did think about checking it out but figured they wouldn't appreciate 3 little ones inside!!

The parade was wonderful and the kids loved it!! But most of all they loved all the candy that was thrown to them!! My oh my, we must have come home with 3 or 4 pounds of candy!! And keep in mind that it had snowed most of the day so there was snow, slush and ice all over - the bag of candy had to be "dried" out when we got it home!! The kids enjoyed waving at the floats and since they all looked so cute standing and sitting there, there was LOTS of people in the parade that came over to give them candy! All in all, we were out in the cold almost an hour so that heater in the car sure felt good!!

I really thought the kids would sleep in on Sunday morning after all of that fresh air!! But by 6:30, we had two little ones in bed with us!! So much for sleeping in................

We had a fun morning though - the girls LOVED playing on the pool table!!

And having a tea party!

And coloring pictures!!

And little Parker? He was a "mama's" boy all weekend!! I didn't get to hold him a lot but at least I got some smiles...............

To be Cont'd...............

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

It was decorate the house weekend - after our Thanksgiving get together!! I ALWAYS look forward to decorating, even though it takes a LONG time and lots of carrying up and down the lower level steps!!


I decided to put my village houses in a different place this year!! I always agonized about putting them on top of the kitchen cabinets because it was SO MUCH WORK!!! I have to stand on a step ladder as Glenn doesn't want me standing on the granite counter tops!! And because I'm so short, the leaning over part to reach the tops is not fun!! Not only was there all the stuff to take down from there, but then putting all the village up there, along with trying to plug it all in - bottom line - it took me almost 2 hours each year to get it set up

So I made the decision last year that I was going to put it on top of the entertainment center in the lower level, which is where we spend most of our time anyway as the TV is down there!! It was a GREAT decision!! They look fantastic there and the setting up part was much easier!! I still had to set them on small boxes and because there are already cords up on top because of the lights in the entertainment center, I had to cut some side holes in the boxes so they would sit straight. But it was a far cry from putting them on top of the cabinets again!! Hooray for easier decorating!!

The MOST fun is always decorating my "travel" tree!!! And this year I had 4 new ornaments to add to the bunch - Las Vegas, Puerto Morales Mexico, Michigan and Belize!! Once again, I had the pleasure of reliving each vacation as I put each ornament on the tree!! I realized this Christmas that the tree is getting pretty full of ornaments as of course I have many, many others I put up - but Jessi told me you can NEVER have too many ornaments on a tree so I'll take her word for it!!

The house looks great and is all complete - and my evenings can be spent sipping apple cider in front of the fireplace and dreaming of future vacations and ornaments for the tree!!

Happy Birthday Mackenzie

BEFORE the birthday party............was our annual shopping day!!

I was wide awake by 5:45 am, ready to face the crowds and the traffic!! Jessi and I left the house by 6:45 and soon met Jaime and Jill for our day of shopping!!

It really wasn't too bad - I think all the die hards had went at midnight!! And there was only one door buster item that was completely sold out that I wanted so I didn't think that was bad at all!!

Break time was spent at Panera Bread and oh my, they had some great bagels there - although the coffee wasn't fantastic!! A hot out of the oven cinnamon-sugar pretzel hit the spot at the mall and Noodles and Company was our lunch destination!! To top off the day, it was gorgeous outside so we rarely wore out coats after it warmed up!! All in all, a great day of shopping and I made one huge dent in the list.........

Kenzie and Evan were excited to help decorate the cupcakes!

And before we knew it, all of the family arrived and Kenzie's party had started!! She liked her new boots that we got her and proudly modeled them for us!!

Remember that GREAT bargain I got at the Munchkin Market last spring??? Well, I wrapped up a large portion of it for Kenzie and she loved it!! Can you believe I still have 21 baggies of the pet shop left???? Guess what she's getting for Christmas??

After a great meal of chile and hot dogs, it was time for the cupcakes!! Kenzie of course had to wear her new dress and "wings" for the blowing out of the candles!! What a cutie!!

We were all a little tired after the celebration - in fact, after Jessi and I cleaned the kitchen, we sat down on the couch and looked at each other and started yawning - it was time to hit the sack!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kenzie!!!

Turkey Day 2011

Thanksgiving Day dawned absolutely beautiful and the warmest one we've had in years!! I had decided a couple of days ago that instead of trying to fight the traffic on Wednesday night that we would just wait until Thursday morning to head up to Denver - and that was definitely the RIGHT decision as it made for a great drive with hardly any traffic!! In fact, I ended up driving since Glenn insisted that we stop by Burger King for a breakfast sandwich for him (I opted for cereal that morning!!)

As I was getting close to Jaime's turn-off I started thinking about coffee - Caribou Coffee - and wondering if it might be open............so I turned off a couple of exits early and headed over there to find it open!! I called both girls and got their coffee orders and we brought coffee to the crew -yum!!

Rayna was set up right inside the door with her "face painting" station!! Kylan was the first victim and he did look darn cute!!

Soon the Savage's and then the Keppy's arrived so it made for one big happy family!! Putting the finishing touches on our meal was quick and easy and because it was so nice outside, the kids could play outside which really helped the noise level!! Although when you get the 4 guys together, I think they can be louder than the kids!!

Robby had brought my new hard drive for my laptop and immediately set to work fixing my computer - HOORAY - he finished it in no time at all and I was good to go!! THANKS Robby - we all appreciate your skills!!

One NEW thing about this Thanksgiving - no more bibs - yes, the girls called me one day at work and they had made the decision that they were tired of bibs and ready for comfy pants - and I was OK with that - a little sad, but OK!! This tradition had been going on for many, many years - back in the days with we used to get together with Cindy and Rene for our Thanksgiving!! Many fond memories of those bibs but I guess it was time to say goodbye to them!!

Brad and Jaime cooked 2 turkeys - one in the oven and one in the smoker - and they both were excellent!!
Somehow I missed taking pictures of the family at the table - maybe I was actually eating this year instead of taking pictures???

We sent the kids and the guys to the park after lunch so we could clean up and it worked out great!! It was almost hot out when we strolled little Parker to the park for a while!!

The kids decided to watch a movie up on Jaime's bed since the guys were watching football and I caught this picture - do ya think they're a little interested in this movie or what???


Evan was next to get his face painted - and we were actually sitting on Jaime's deck which is off her bedroom on the 2nd floor, looking at ads.............

Parker slept through our meal which was nice for Jill - he's crawling all over now and despite wanting to be held by his mom all the time, he was still fun!!

I had decided I wanted pics of the boys and then the girls to use on my Christmas cards, along with a picture of Glenn and I!!! So we got them all lined up and I snapped away, knowing that most of them would not be too good, trying to get all 3 of them to sit still and smile!! I peeked at the pictures on the camera and was just sure I had a great one of them, but alas I was NOT happy with them - the best one of Evan and Parker had Kylan blurry - now how can that be???? This one turned out cute but the lighting is not great at all - I need some lessons from Amanda!!

Then it was the girls' turn - and again I thought I had a good one but I didn't - either Aleah was moving in 1/2 of them or I need to steady my hand!!

We did run out and do a little shopping - I always seem to find something at Walgreen's in the toy department!! Jessi and I headed to Michaels later on and no matter how many times I tell myself I do NOT need any more scrap booking things, I just can't help but buy more!! After all, it WAS on sale!!

Then it was off to Walmart for the 10:00pm start - there was nothing I really needed that was going to be put on sale at that time but of course I didn't want to be left out so I went!! It wasn't as bad as that one year Jill and I went but it was still VERY crowded and after I picked up a couple of things, I was ready to get out of there!!!

And then it was off to bed before our 6:00am alarm for Black Friday shopping!!