Another BLISSFUL Day Off!

SO what did I do on my 2nd week day off? I had an absolutely WONDERFUL massage with a new gal that I really liked!! She uses a lot of the same techniques that my other one used BUT uses HOT, MOIST TOWELS over parts of your body that felt SO GOOD!! I've already booked my next one!!

And the rest of the afternoon? I spent it on the couch, reading a book!! I started downstairs in the family room because the wood stove was going and it was toasty warm - but after a massage, I have a hard time STAYING warm!! So I brought my electric blanket downstairs (it's not one we use on the bed, just a small twin size one that I use when I'm cold!) and set it to high!!

After a while, I decided to move upstairs so I could enjoy the decorations as I read - I fixed myself a "special" coffee and not only finished my book, but started another one! It was ONE WONDERFUL DAY!!

My sister Teri had suggested quite a while ago to read a series of books about "knitting". At the time, it didn't sound too interesting to me but when I was at my used book store, I unknowingly bought the first book in the series - and of course couldn't put it down!! The book I finished on Wednesday was the #2 book in the series and now I'll have to get the next one to read!! Thanks Teri for a GREAT suggestion! Easy reading and a REALLY enjoyable series!!

What will next week bring????

One FUN December Weekend!!

Who would have thought 2 little chairs would be SO enjoyed by Evan and Mackenzie!! I always keep all of the toys in the one closet and when we went to get out books to read before bedtime, they both saw the chairs and INSISTED we carry them down to the lower level so they could read their books on them! Yes, I hauled them up and down the stairs several times last weekend!

Both kids were really good about not playing with the ornaments on the tree or bothering the nativity scene on the hutch!

The bus is always a fun thing to play in - Kenzie couldn't quite get the hang of where to crawl in and out but she managed............

Jaime had brought down a couple of educational crafts a couple of weekends ago and both Evan and Mackenzie enjoyed playing with them.

What a fun weekend with Jessi and the kids - it's always nice to have any of them down during December to see our decorated house as Christmas is always up in Denver!!

Holiday Events!!

I love, love, love the holiday season!! And I was excited when Jessi and the kids decided to come down so they could participate in a couple of the events held in town!!

But FIRST, the cracker mix had to be made!! I knew Evan would get a kick out of dumping around 15 boxes or sacks of crackers and nuts, etc. so Jessi opened them, I held the garbage sacks open and Evan dumped! Then I poured the "mix" on top, shook it up and turned the bag every couple of hours for the next 2 days - tonight it will be ready to put into containers for gifts!!

Next on the list was the Holiday Home Tour which consists of going to 6 different homes in the Woodland Park area and touring them - of course they were ALL decorated for Christmas!! Glenn was sweet to babysit the kids (although they slept the ENTIRE time we were gone except for the last 15 minutes so his job wasn't TOO tough!!) while Jessi and I headed in to explore the homes - WOW - we fell in love with the first home and couldn't get over some of the amazing things that were done to that house!! It was our favorite for the afternoon!!

After a trip back home and a quick dinner, it was time to head back in for the Christmas Parade! We hadn't been to one in years so were excited! Was it cold??? ABSOLUTELY!! But we were bundled up good!!

We did arrive about 1/2 hour early to get a good spot and luckily there was a bench right behind where Jessi and I staked out our claim so Glenn had a seat and kept the kids warm for a while!

Main street ( a major highway) was blocked off for the occasion and rerouted around the town and it was neat being on Main Street with the beautifully decorated stores and lights!! The parade lasted almost an hour!! And yes, we were getting pretty cold by that time but about 1/2 through, the Lions Club brought around FREE hot chocolate and I can't tell you how great that tasted going down!!

Sunday morning Jessi and I did MY Christmas baking which really isn't baking at all but candy making - chocolate covered peanut butter balls and caramel pecan bars - they BOTH turned out excellent and we'll be enjoying them until Christmas!!

Jessi and I decided that the weekend needs to be an annual event since the home tour and the parade were SO much fun!! Maybe next year I can get the other 2 girls to come down too - although I'm not sure Glenn could handle 6 kids!! Thanks Jessi for a great weekend!!

WHAT???? A Day Off????

Glenn and I did NOT take a fall vacation this year - and since we're nearing the end of the year, I happened to look at my little vacation chart to see how many days I've used this year and lo and behold, I still had 7 vacation days!!! SEVEN DAYS!!!! WOW - I was one excited girl!!

But alas, we're not going anywhere...........So I just decided to take a day a week until Christmas and then I'll probably just carry over the extra days!

What am I doing on these days off? I'm doing "ME" things!!

Yesterday was the first one - and I decided that in order to really enjoy the rest of my days off, I needed to get completely caught up on the shopping and the list of errands I had to do! But I STILL had a great day - I got up as usual but instead of heading to work, I backtracked to Florissant to get some yummy coffee at Costello's - then it was off to W. Pk to get Christmas letters ran off, Christmas pics picked up, a Walmart run and newspapers to the recycle center.

And then it was to Colorado Springs to finish up the Christmas shopping - ALL of this was done by 12:00 and by then, I was sitting in the movie theater watching "The Next Three Days" with Russell Crowe - a great movie which I WILL watch again when it comes out on DVD!

What am I doing with my other days off? HMMMM - I know one day will be scrapbooking, one day will be a FULL day of reading (hopefully an entire book) and the others are yet to be decided!! Got any ideas for me????

Who's Turning 2 Years Old???

Why, our little angel Mackenzie!! Her birthday isn't officially until Dec. 2nd but since we're all together for Thanksgiving, it's the best time to celebrate!!

Jessi served a brunch on Saturday morning so I was up to help her - I SHOULD have told her NOT to use the stone for the one pizza, but since she had the crust turned up all the way around, I really thought the liquid egg and milk would stay INSIDE the pizza - NOT! Oh, the burning smell of eggs on the oven bottom - good thing it was nice enough to open the windows and let the smoke out!!

Mackenzie loved opening her presents and looked so cute sitting on that big chair!! She would promptly push the other kids away if they got too close to her NEW toys!! It was cute!!

What a sweet picture of Jessi and Kenzie!!

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of Kenzie and her cake so I'll have to borrow one of Jessi's shots when I scrapbook!! It's nice when there's 2 or 3 of us taking photos because that way we have a CHOICE!!

Happy Birthday Kenzie!!

Black Friday!

I must be getting old - the thought of getting up early for Black Friday held NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER for me!! 5:30 was the earliest I could manage - and even that seemed too early!!

Earlybirds Jaime and Jessi were shopping their little hearts out at 4:30am while I snuggled in bed and didn't give them a second thought!! But all too soon, the alarm went off and I was out the door to pick up Jill! We headed to Kohl's first as we knew the crowd would be gone since it was SO LATE - ha ha!! Met up with Jessi and Jaime there, compared notes, and soon were off to the mall to hit a few stores!

Jill and I split off after that and hit a few more stores before it was time to break for lunch at "On The Border". Yes, I did forget to mention that somewhere between all those stores, I did stop and get my coffee for the day...................

All in all, a very successful day shopping - most of the items I bought were on sale and really only have a couple more things to get!! I did 3 online orders on the computer Sunday afternoon and it's nice to be winding the shopping down!

We were all a little tired on Friday afternoon but rallied enough to have a nice dinner together and then I played Christmas bingo with the grandkids - we used M & M's for the markers and whoever won each game, got to eat an M & M - Mackenzie of course didn't understand the rules and even though Glenn was helping her, they kept running out of M & M's all the time - gee, I wonder why?

Aleah was in a great mood on Friday and I enjoyed spending some time with her - what a cutie!!

I hit the sack early Friday night - after all, there was still a birthday to celebrate on Saturday morning!!

Thanksgiving Day - 2010

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day - good health, beautiful homes, jobs, family, wonderful friends - we are truly BLESSED!!

Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and COLD but that was OK - we had great weather driving up the night before and slept at Jessi and Gary's house this trip!

Jessi and I made a quick run to Walgreen's in the morning to catch their 50% off toy sale - picked up some great bargains and then it was off to Jaime's!! Robby and Jill had arrived the night before too and it was fun seeing Aleah again - she looks so cute toddling around!!

The girls and I jumped into the dinner preparation, even getting Rayna in on the action!!

When Rayna had been at our house a couple of weekends before, I helped her make Thanksgiving place cards which were decorated with cute little stickers!! She had fun deciding where everyone would sit!

Of course the kids got their trays first and were so active, I cold hardly get a picture of them - there was lots of shoving of trays and we ended up putting Mackenzie at our big table so the boys had a little more room!

We were so glad to have Gary with us as he didn't have to go to work till later - his heaping plate kind of tells you our menu: Turkey and dressing, mashed potatos and gravy, crunchy coleslaw, corn pudding, fresh green bean casserole, sweet potatos, Hawaiian sweet rolls, relish tray, pumpkin and apple pie and strawberry tarts!! It was all delicious of course!

After the huge clean up - (it's amazing how many dishes you dirty!!) I decided to take a few of the kids out for a walk - we bundled up the kids and I pulled Aleah in the wagon down to the park and back! She loved it but I about froze as it was so windy out!!

Of course a big part of the afternoon was looking at the ads and planning our strategy for the next day!! Michael's was having a late afternoon/evening sale so we girls headed out to that and picked up a few things - mainly a new coffee table centerpiece for me!! I had broken my hurricane lamp this year (after having it for probably 30 years!!) so a new centerpiece was on the list!! I found the one I wanted, marked 1/2 price of course - and then had a 30% off your entire order so really got a good deal on it!! Our other bargain was a fat pack of 12 x 12 Christmas scrapbooking sheets - again with the same deal and since Jill and I split one, it was practically FREE!!!

And then it was BLACK FRIDAY!!!