It was a good year!

This week has been a tough one. I have been working very hard to meet my deadline of the 31st to be done with every last touch of my book. I've had to sacrifice not blogging very much, spending time with the kids, visiting other blogs, and pretty much anything else in my life. It was hard, but I did it. How was I rewarded? Emily was up all night with the flu, puking every half hour. Happy New Year's Eve to me. I think I'm going to have to drink lots of coffee today to make it to midnight tonight. I have some posts that I meant to get up this week, but I promise to put them up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I wanted to leave you with this slideshow I made from photos I've posted through out the year-I was pressed for time, so I just used Smilebox. Sorry, if it's not all professional looking. Have fun tonight, kiddos' ! Happy New Year!

Surviving Christmas

I'm back.

Are you?

Did you have a great Christmas?

I did.
Santa was very good to me.

In fact, I'm typing on my new laptop he gave me right now. He also got me a bunch of other things too.

I think he's kinda cute too. He looks alot like my hubby and I'm allowed to kiss him too.

We survived Christmas and even Mother Nature gave us a nice present. She didn't bring us our big snow storm until Christmas evening, after all our visits were done and we were tucked away in our home.

We awoke to this.

And this.

I guess some people like a white Christmas.

I do when I don't have to drive in it.

I promise that I won't post anymore snow photos-at least for awhile.

Now that all the presents are opened, I can relax. Emily got that Nintendo DS she wanted and Jordon got a crap load of video games. Jessica's favorite present was the thingy-job that allows her to get digital TV and Zach was just happy to be able to rip things open.

I had the hubby fooled big time this Christmas. I had him thinking that his present wasn't coming until Christmas morning. He was all worried. He was all freaking out. He just KNEW that nobody delivers on Christmas day and he wasn't getting anything. Poor thing. Little did he know, I had his new four thousand feet long keyboard hidden in my son's closet.

I'm so bad, I'm good.

But, what have I done?

Now, I get to hear a husband try to learn how to play a keyboard all the time. I think that he'll be getting a nice pair of headphones for his birthday.

Now, I'm going to go put my new vacuum together that the hubby also got me.

Good thing he got me the laptop too or he'd be playing that keyboard in the garage.

It's here!!!!

Just saying Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!

Thanks to a wonderful year with you!

How many days til Christmas?

Is it Christmas yet?

Please say it's so. I'm not trying to turn into the Grinch, but I'm ready for Christmas to be here because...

I'm ready to take down the tree that's been up since Thanksgiving.

I'm ready to get my living room back and be able to use the dvd player without moving twenty presents to get to it.

I'm done using "Santa won't bring you any presents if..."

I'm tired of emptying the bank account by buying present after present.

I'm ready to find out what that special present that the hubby got me and hope it's not a new frying pan.

I'm done eating Christmas cookies and watching as my tummy starts to hang over my jeans.

I'm ready to have a day off.

I'm done watching every Christmas movie possible-ok, that one's my fault.

And finally, I'm ready for Christmas to be over so I can have some much needed champagne on New Year's Eve!

So cute, I could just eat them up.

I've been kind of busy this holiday season with family photo sessions and baby photos and I got the cutest photos of kids that I just had to share.

These are the best behaved brother and sister you'll ever meet.

Would your kids get this close without ripping each other's heads off?

If you met this little guy, you would hide him in your purse and take him home.

He's a total thumb sucker.

And then he stuck his tongue out at me.

Little booger.

Hey, do you miss this little guy?

Haven't posted pictures of him for awhile, but he's still around.

He's my little snuggle buddy.

Just don't tell his jealous Aunt Emily-she'll change the locks and tell him we moved to Antarctica.

The man in the red suit.

Christmas is almost upon us. Part of me is glad and part of me is sad. I plan for the best presents and I take pride in seeing the expressions on the kids' and hubby's face when they open their presents Christmas morning. No socks and underwear from me. No way. No how. I've also been one to over spend, with presents stacking literally as tall as the tree. Something I started when my first born was just a toddler. Back then, it was just her and I and we had to get a three bedroom just so we could fit the rest of her toys-no lie.

These days, we've added five more people to our family and though the stack of presents are large, I can no longer fulfill my kids expectations of a zillion presents per child. So alas, it's makes me sad and guilty on Christmas day.

I don't think the other kids are too disappointed-at least they don't show it to me. But Emily, she scares me. She's put in her order months ago and expects everything that she asked for to be under the tree.

Have you met her? You would be scared too. Fortunately, she still believes in Santa and I feel sorry for that guy. Luckily, he's left the mall by Christmas so she won't be able to go there and kick him in the shin the day after.

I'm a bit worried though, because the other day we were talking about Santa not bringing her any presents if she didn't go clean her room. She started stomping her way to her room when she suddenly stopped and turned around. She squinted her eyes and twisted her lip and asked, "If Santa brings our presents, then why are they already under the tree AND I saw you wrapping some?"

I started to sweat. The thought of her knowing that I was Santa horrified me. This little girl can get mean when she wants to and I wasn't taking the blame for her not getting that Build-a-Bear gift card she wanted.

I quickly replied, "Because he is so busy with all the kids to deliver to, he asked me to help store some presents under our tree and he'd be here to stuff your stockings on Christmas morning."

I held my breath and nervously waited for her response. She cocked her right eyebrow and thought a moment. She finally grumbled, "Fine. I'll go clean my room."

After she left, I let out my breath and wiped my brow.

THAT was a close one.

Do not eat yellow snow

Ok, the snow is now here to stay. I'm ready to admit it and go on with my life.

I've been spending the whole week hybernating inside my house, wearing my Minnetonka boots and my heaviest sweaters. When it gets like this, I like to bake bread, rent movies and try to ignore that cold white stuff outside.

This weekend, I did end up going outside for a bit to get some snow shots. Don't you love icicles? I love them too-unless I'm trying to take a photo of them on a sunny day. My camera doesn't like them. She (yes, my cameras are girl cameras) kept saying, "No!" while I kept saying, "Yes! Yes, you can do this-just focus!" (ha, ha-get it? Just focus? I kill myself.)

I ended up getting this shot before my son came outside and slammed the door shut, and in the process, knocked all the icicles off the awning.

At least one good thing about all the snow is that we can now finally find our black chihuahua when she goes outside to do her thing-and know where she did it at.

I'm all out of contests now.

I'm sad to say that my last giveaway is over, but I'm glad to announce that we have a winner!

My friend, Random.org, picked me a number. That number was................8!

So, I counted down the list and came to this blogger:

mineola said...
Oh! They made Mama Lotion new again!!! Brilliant!!!!! I would also love to try the Kinerase C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment from SkinRX!

Yeah!!!!!

Please come claim your prize, fellow blogger and soon, you shall have smooth, lovely skin like mine. Everyone will want to touch your face. You'll start having seventeen year old bag boys asking you out. Men will flock to you. Ok, I'm done now.

Don't fret, you other bloggers, I just got contacted by another company that was interested in having me do another giveaway. So, now you must come back to my blog again and find out what it is. You poor thing, you. I make you do such horrible things just to get something free.

Hello, World? Are you out there?

Yesterday I was informed by my Internet provider that they were adding exciting and wonderful things to our email during the next couple of days. They said not to worry, our emails will not be lost in the process and will be sent asap during this magnificent transformation.

All I heard was DON'T WORRY, WE WILL BE HOLDING ONTO YOUR EMAILS FOR ETERNITY WHILE WE DO SOMETHING STUPID THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T EVEN USE.

You see, I cannot live without my email and Internet. Not for one hour. Not for one day. When I first checked my email this morning, one little email snuck through. I knew this was wrong, for I usually get at least fifteen or more at the start of my day.

I could feel my throat tighten as I hit the send/receive button again, hoping for some Internet heaven miracle. Nothing. In fact, my email barked, "Do you really think that you are getting your email? Bahaaaaa!!!!"

Sure, this could only be a couple of days, but don't they realize that I may be dead by then? I need to fill out their complaint form, asking them the following:

How can I enjoy your fabulous newly serviced email system if I've gone mad, waiting for my email? Please forward my emails that you are holding for ransom to the bottom of the muddy Mississippi, where I will be after jumping off a bridge. Have a nice day.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature

Ok, I didn't fool her, I called her a bad name. Now it's not only cold, it's SNOWING.

I shall keep my mouth shut from now on.

This is our first winter with Bella. I wasn't sure how she would act in the snow and I hoped that she wouldn't be like Mia (our Chihuahua). First sign of snow and she's all like, You really don't expect me to go out in that, do you???

It turns out, Bella is the opposite.

While I was shoveling out the driveway, she was running around like a kid on Christmas day. She was so excited, she didn't know what to do. In the process, I spent alot of time getting back up from her knocking me down in the snow. I feared if I stood still long enough, she was going to make a snowman out of me-or would that be a snow woman?


She still managed to play with her basketball.

When it was time to go in, she hung her head low and I swore she was pouting.

Kids can make you feel so guilty sometimes.

Cold hearted *&%

The temperatures dropped this weekend where I live, so of course I had to do an outdoor photo shoot. I felt sorry for the family as they tried not to shiver as they sat on the cold ground without jackets on. I tried to get it done as quickly as possible and I wondered as I took the photos, how I would get the "red nose reindeer" look out of them when I got home.

I ended up catching a cold from that photo shoot. Last night, I noticed the array of colors in the sky and decided to forgive Mother Nature for landing me in bed this weekend from her bitter mood.

CSN Store winner!

I wanted to announce the winner of the CSN Store giveaway. I can't believe I only got 10 comments. I'm sad. I'm pitiful. Oh well.

I used Random.org and the funniest thing happened. It picked #1!!

I've never seen that before. What are the odds of that? Too funny. Well, the first person to comment was:

Michelle from Eight Helping Hands!

Way to go, girl!! I will send your info to them and your chopper will be on it's way. Have fun with it like I am with mine. Chop those veggies up. Dice that apple. Slice that salad-ok. I am done.

Congrats!

One Touch Chopper Contest Ends Tommorrow!

Hey, everyone!
My CSN Stores contest ends tomorrow! Go vote-your mom wants one for Christmas.

Moody Food Review's Holiday Food Gift Guide

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm doing a Holiday Food Gift Guide over at my food review blog. I've searched far and wide (I've always wanted to say that) for unique and tasty treat ideas for that hard-to-buy for relative, friend or even the mailman-hey, he might actually close the mailbox lid if you give him something for his tummy!

Anyway, you can find the list here. I'm posting five ideas a day until I reach 25 ideas. Here's a sampling of some of my picks.

Idea #1

Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook ($16.95) Ok, this one isn't food, but it's food related!

My husband is getting me this book because he loves me-or maybe he doesn't want me to rip his head off if it's not under the tree Christmas morning.

Idea #3
27 Baby Witch Brownies Gift Tin from Fat Witch Bakery. (Retail: $45) Assorted Selection: 9 Fat Witch Babies, 9 Blonde Babies, 9 Walnut Babies.

I love, love, love these. You must try one of these before you die.

Idea #10
Balsamic Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate from Ravenous Chocolate Vinaigrettes (8oz bottle $5.50)

Ok, I have to end my Christmas gift ideas for the day with something that containsed chocolate. Have you ever heard of this before? What a cool idea and you can use it on salads, as a marinade, and even over Ice Cream. Something you can put on your salad AND your mint chocolate chip ice cream? These people should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for making such a product. Santa, please put a bottle under the tree this year.

So go check out my other ideas and please keep checking back cause, well, my mom said you had to or else! ;)