Who wants a cookie?

On Christmas Day, my mom wanted to make Christmas cookies with the kids. She had bought a tube of sugar cookie dough to roll out. First we had to get everything all set up.Then we covered everything, and I mean everything with flour. And then we rolled them out. Then it was time to use the cookie cutters. About half way through cutting out the cookies, C got frustrated with the fact that the cookies kept sticking to the table despite the flour. He came up with the good idea of rolling the dough on the spatula, cutting the cookie right on it and then sliding it on to the pan. What a smart little guy!

While we were working, my grandma "GiGi" supervised.

Once they baked, it was time to put the icing on.

Next came the sprinkles. We caught K licking the top of the sprinkles bottle. I guess that was her version of "decorating."

We let each of the kids lick the knife-usually a "no-no" at home.

Then the best part of all was eating them! As you can tell by the green mouths and tongues. And actually they tasted really good! It was fun but a lot of clean up. Thus the reason it usually only happens when Grandma is around.

I'm Back!

Wow! It seems like forever since I've blogged. Isn't that kinda pathetic? Since I have quite a bit of catching up to do, I'm going to do it in stages. I've scheduled a few posts to post over the next few days. That way, you won't get overwhelmed with my life and you will have to come back to "visit." This post will just be a general "schedule" of the last few days in Pensacola.

Thursday, Christmas Day, we didn't do much since we had already had our Christmas. My sis and her husband went to visit his mom since she lives in P'cola too. The kids did sidewalk chalk, C played chess with Papa, they took a walk, we watched the Disney parade, we ate left overs, and the kids made and decorated cookies with Grandma (very messy). It was a slow, but relaxing day.

Friday morning the "ladies"--minus K---went shopping for the after Christmas sales. I actually did pretty good and didn't spend too awful much. I really only needed cards and tissue paper. I picked up a few extra things. My sister on the other hand--oh my! She was looking for wreaths. Next year she wants to put a wreath on every window of her house. She has 20 windows! She bought 20 wreaths and 20 red bows to go with them. It was hysterical trying to fit them all in her trunk! It was even more funny when they went to leave for home on Saturday. Their little car was full. Someone should have taken a picture. Let's just say, if they stopped suddenly, they would be wearing the wreaths. We also had quite the laugh going through Whaterburger for coffee for me and fries for sissy. We were laughing so hard that the window person asked if we were OK.

Friday for lunch we had Sunny's BBQ. The best BBQ ever! YUM! I do have to say, we ate very well all week. Friday after lunch we went to the beach to take family pictures. All the kids wanted to do was play. But we did end up with some very nice pictures. Check back to see them all.

Saturday morning we went to Eric and Brandy's house for breakfast. The kids wanted to see the dogs and the horse. Each of the kids got to ride the horse around in a little circle. They loved that! Saturday for dinner we had shrimp. My one request while we were there. We actually stayed an extra day just so that we could have shrimp. We had shrimp 4 different ways. 10 pounds of shrimp. DOUBLE YUM!

Saturday night was spent sorting things, repacking, and repacking again. We left Sunday morning around 6:15 local time. Much later than when I really wanted to leave. Once again, it was a long trip. It was so good to be home. At least it was warm when we got here. Our "house-watcher" had turned the heat up for our arrival.

Monday was spent unpacking and shopping. At least Daddy had off and was able to help. As of right now, most of the unpacking is done. There are just a few of the kids presents to unpack. But I figure, they can wait. When I do unpack them later, they can be excited all over again.

Here are just a few pictures. For more pictures, check back later!

The sidewalk chalk that the kids played with was 3D. These glasses were supposed to help it "pop" out. They worked-kinda.C actually played chess at least 3 times last week. He actually remembered where all the piece went and what their names were and how they could move. With a little help, he actually played a few good games and "won."

Merry Christmas!

Today is a day that we celebrate The Greatest Gift. Christmas is a wonderful time of year. To everyone out there: Merry Christmas! Or as my daughter says, "Happy Christmas!"

Florida State Fanfare

We have finally arrived in P'cola! In my opinion, that was the longest trip ever! But in reality, we made pretty good time.

Sunday we went to church at my parent's church. For lunch we made little pizzas with many different toppings. YUM!

Monday we went to the outlet shops in Foley, AL. For those who went to PCC, you know that they are the best outlets ever! We also ate an early dinner at Lamberts. Again, one of the best restaurants ever. It's the home of the throwed rolls! YUM! We got some good deals while we shopped. New clothes for all of us and Daddy and I got new Crocs slippers. Nice and warm.

Tuesday we made monkey bread for breakfast and hung out at the house for most of the day. Tuesday night was our Christmas Eve. The kids got to open one present and I let Papa open one of his. It was an injector for him to use for our Christmas turkey. G'ama opened her birthday present--A Christmas Carol--so we could watch it while we ate our "snacky meal." Every Christmas Eve my family only eats snacky stuff--lil smokies, hankey pankeys, crackers and cheese, bologna, cookies, fudge---YUM!

Wednesday we had our Christmas. This was the year of the Seminole. There were many FSU gifts this year. But the cutest were the ones my kiddies got. C got a FSU football uniform complete with a helmet. And K got a FSU cheerleader outfit. C immediately went to try his on. He wore it just about all day. We haven't tried K's on yet, but it looks cute!

We had our big dinner this afternoon--ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed tatos, sweet tatos, rolls grape salad, broccoli casserole, corn, cranberry sauce. YUM!

Tonight was spent playing with gifts and eating pies and leftover snacks. It was a very nice day. But now I have a headache, I think because of the humidity. I could never live back down here because of that. Although, it does make K's hair curl really cute.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will get some more pictures to download. But for now here are just a few.

This is my grandma. She got new gloves, hat and scarf for Christmas. Isn't she cute?

Florida, Here We Come!

We are leaving for Pensacola, Florida tomorrow. I hate to travel. I'm not a good rider or driver. I wish I could wiggle my nose and just be there. So today is going to be a very busy day. Laundry, cleaning, packing, packing, more packing, and oh, I have an extra child for the morning. So I must rush off for now. I will post as much as I can while we are gone. Meanwhile, everyone have a very Merry Christmas!

It's Addictive

Try out this web site. Hopefully the link will work. Careful, it's addictive! www.akidsmath.com/mathgames/ctreepuzzle.html

Church Christmas concert

Sunday morning church had its Christmas concert. Usually they do a drama/cantata but for some reason this year they just did a concert--various songs by different groups. We have two children's groups that also preformed. C is in the younger group. They didn't actually sing anything but came in and stood on stage while the older group actually sang. They all looked so cute and did a very good job. C walked in very nicely and stood very still on stage with his version of a smile (sometimes he looks more like he is in pain). It was a good program.

Christmas A Little Early

Saturday morning we had our family's Christmas. We will be traveling next Saturday and we did not want to cart all of our presents to P'cola and home again. So anyway. We had told the kids the night before, but K was a little confused. She actually got one of her presents (the one from C) and looked inside it. She also kept saying something about her birthday and not being able to wait. So I think she thought it was her birthday. We all got some cool things and here are just a few pictures to prove it.

K got a Cabbage Patch newborn. Remember when they were so popular? The name that this one came with was Trinity; however, we are going to let K rename it and I'm going to request a new birth certificate. So far she has come up with many names, but I think it's going to be Monica.
C got this huge coloring book and 120 crayons. He has been eyeing those crayons for a long time. I'm jealous. I love to color and I'd like that many crayons.
Both the kids thought they needed to help open Daddy's presents. This year was a FSU year for Daddy. He got a jersey, a mini helmet, and a polo--all FSU.

One of C's favorite super heroes right now is the Hulk. Daddy found this shirt at Wal-Mart. The hands were on sale at Wal-Mart, too. The hands "talk" every time they hit something. They growl and roar and smash. Quite annoying. They will definately be an upstairs toy. What were we thinking?

We also got K some dress up shoes. The heels on them are a little bit higher than I anticipated. She had a hard time clomping around in them. But she liked them. I like the "highwaters" with them. What do you think?

K also got a build-a-bear kit, a Tinkerbell cereal bowl, new ear rings, play food, a Tinkerbell tea set, Fisher-Price Snap 'n Style dolly and extra outfit (it's like an over-sized Polly Pocket), Elmo ornament, bath toys, Elmo and Ernie K'nex, and a new shovel. She is ready to shovel snow. (It looks like she is hitting me in the head, but she's really not).C also got his own copy of Mr. Popper's Penguins. He is so excited that he can read it any time he wants. And since we had to return the copy to the library, now he can finish reading it. he also got Uno, Battleship, a new cereal bowl, Crayola pencils, Cars movie cars, Etch-A-Sketch, Indiana Jones ornament, a Star Wars t-shirt, and the movie Madagascar.

Daddy also got the new Batman movie, 2 books, 2 new sweaters, a new tie, a James Bond calendar, a new softball, and a new shaver. Funny face for the shaver?!?! Daddy actually bought it himself the day after T-giving. This is his surprised face. I married such a funny man.
I got new S&P's, a new book, 2 new movies, new bracelets, new slides for my necklace, a computer table, and new pink fleece pants. The last and best present that I got---a very nice framed and matted FSU picture. It is so cool looking! I just can't decide where to put it. For those who know my house, any suggestions? :)

Tag, I'm it!

A friend tagged me with a challenge to post 7 "little known items" about myself. I was then to tag 7 others. I don't have that many friends! So I'll post my items but won't tag anyone else. :(

1. I always wanted to be left-handed. I always thought it would be cool. Both my parents are left-handed and they probably would not agree with the "cool" part.

2. I take a gummy-children's vitamin every morning. Yummy for the gummy! I also take an adult one, but the gummies are just too good. K makes sure to remind us every morning to take them.

3. I've had 2 C-sections (just like my blog savvy friend--this is getting scary). The 1st was due to C's heart rate fluctuating during labor. The second was planned so that my mom could be here in time to stay with C. She got here in the morning, I had K in the afternoon.

4. I collect salt and pepper shakers. I have probably close to 300 or so. All kinds. Normal kinds. But my favorites are funny kinds. i.e.: I have the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. One part is his hat and the other is his head. I have collected these for a very long time. My Grandma started me on it. Hopefully one day my K girl will be interested and I can pass them on to her.

5. I love a good pedicure! Emphasis on good. I've had some where the chickie talks my ear off--"Shhhh! I'm here to relax. Quiet is good!" And I've had some that I could've done better. But most that I've had---aaahhhh! Bliss!

6. I have had K's middle name (Nicole) picked out since I was a kid. I have always loved the name, but never wanted it as a first name -just a middle. Strange, huh? I'm glad Daddy liked it too.

7. I broke a prong (probably different each time) on my engagement ring four different times. Four different time, Daddy had to take it back to the jewler to get fixed. So we bought me a new one (much bigger but much cheaper if you get my drift) and I haven't broken a prong on it yet. Go figure!

So that's me. This was harder than I thought! I asked Daddy for help and he couldn't think of anything. I guess I'm too complex of a person. :)

C's doctor's appointment

C had his 6 year well-child appointment today. We have recently switched doctors and this was his first appointment with this doctor. K has seen her before, but not C. He did very well at answering the doctor's questions and everything was good when she checked him out. He is 3 feet 8.25 inches tall and only weighs 38 pounds. Later when I asked the nurse his weight/height figures so that I could write them down, she didn't think there was any way that a 6 year old could only weigh that much. He is in the 5th percentile for weight. The doctor never said that she was worried about his weight but she does want him to try to eat more and wants him to go back to drinking whole milk instead of 2%. I guess we need to fatten him up.

When we left, the office gave him some books and stickers to take home. I was very disappointed in the books. They gave him a chapter book (since he is such a great reader) that I threw away. We will go and buy him one to replace it. For those of you who know me, that's drastic measures for me when it comes to books. I actually called the dr's office and complained about the book. It has some language in it that is not appropriate for any kid--not just mine or his age. You'd think a pediatrician's office would screen what they give out a little better. Hopefully next time will be a little more positive.

Happy Birthday, C!

It's hard to believe my C is 6 today. It doesn't seem possible. I love my boy! He keeps me on my toes. And he has a very soft heart, when he stops to listen.

We had a good day for his birthday. Daddy took the day off to spend it with us all. That's always nice (no alarm in the morning). I got up around 8:15 or so and found C downstairs in the dark waiting for every one else to get up. Since the other 2 were sleeping, C and I snuck out to get the Donuts that he wanted for his birthday. We went in our pj's. C thought that was funny. Yummy Dunkin Donuts!After breakfast, C opened 2 presents--one from us and one from Grandma and Papa. He got a Lego Batman PSP game from us and a Hulk school supplies value pack from Grandma and Papa. His first comment about the game was "But I don't have a PSP." No but Daddy does and we let you use it sometimes (especially on our upcoming trip). The Hulk pack had 2 portfolios, 1 themed notebook, 1 small notebook, 3 pencils, an eraser, a ruler and a pencil sharpener. Kinda cool. One of the benefits of homeschooling, you can use whatever kind of pencil you want! So guess what he will be using tomorrow!

For lunch we went to McD's. C wanted a happy meal--for the toy of course. Even though the toys are not what they used to be. Oh well.

For dinner we went to Monical's Pizza. Yumm! They have thin crust pizza which I love. We shared breadsticks and each got our own pizza. Then the staff brought out a "MonsterCookie" for C and sang to him. He loved it. He also got a T-shirt from them too. The cookie is so good! It's still warm and has ice cream on top. I liked C's choice for dinner. But then again, how could I complain about anywhere? I didn't have to cook. :)

Some other notes of the day: we let C play PS (even though it's not Saturday) since it was his birthday. And I had blown up a few balloons and we had a good time batting them around playing volleyball/soccer/C gets to make the rules/who-knows-what.

Funny side note: I just found his birthday card-after he was in bed. Ooops! So I guess he'll get it tomorrow.

Today's Post brought to you by the letter "S"

My blog savvy friend challenged all her readers to a "thankful game." I have to post about 10 of my favorite things that start with the letter "S." If you'd like to play, post a comment and I'll send you a letter for you to use in your own post of your 10 favorite things. She gave me the letter-she was going to give me "Z" If you play, I won't be so mean. I won't give out Q or X either.

So without further ado, here is my list:

1. Salvation: Mine, my hubby's, my son's (K hopefully one day)
2. Snow: When it's pretty and white and I don't have to drive in it. Do I have to be thankful for the dirty snow, too?
3. Slippers: If my feet are warm, I'm warm. If they are cold, I'm cold.
4. Songs: I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music. I love to listen to music-and a wide variety at that.
5. Sleep: Ever since I became a mommy, I like it more and more!
6. Soul-mate: I love my hubby! He is quite awesome!
7. Sidekicks: (another word for friends) and I have to include family in here cuz I couldn't find a word for family that starts with an S :) And besides I consider them my friends too.
8. Scrolls: (another word for books. Aren't I good?) I LOVE to read!
9. Scrapbooking: when I have the time and when it is all organized. Which right now, it is NOT!
10. Soup: I'm making broccoli cheddar cheese soup tonight, so it's on my mind. I've never made this soup before, so hopefully we won't be making an emergency run to McD's :) I'll let you know.

Whew! That's done! It was kinda fun though. Just harder than you think to make them all start with the same letter. I now have more respect for Pastor Schettler and all his alliteration.

Christmas shopping

Let me start out by saying--I hate crowds. Maybe I'm getting old? But there is one time a year that I like to go out in the midst of the crowds. And that is to Christmas shop. On Saturday, we went to a mall on the northside of Indy and did some Christmas shopping. We left around 9:30 and didn't get home until after 6. It was a long day, but we got a lot done. We only have a few more things to get and we all will be done with all of our shopping. Thank goodness! Now that I've had my one day of crowds, I'm done. Besides my feet were hurting by the end of the day. We did go out to eat at a favorite restaurant -- Carrabba's--since there isn't one close to us. K didn't get her nap and she was grumpy by early evening. Now she is all messed up as to her "nap" time. When she went to bed last night, she thought it was just her nap and wondered why it was dark. Today when she went for her nap, she wanted to brush her teeth and get her jammies on. And she keeps talking about a "nap." She is such a person of routine. Now I have only a few days to finish up, since we are having our family Christmas this Saturday. No pressure!

C's birthday party

C asked me today, "Mommy, Is it hard to believe that I'm almost 6 years old?" Yes it is hard to believe. I told him I remember when he was born and he said "Really?!?!"" In shock and disbelief. I find it hard to believe that I have a child who is almost 6. He may drive me nuts some days but he is very special to me. I love him dearly.

C wanted an Indiana Jones theme for his birthday party this year. Kinda funny since he's never seen any of the movies. Our friends (minus the Mrs.) came. Aunt Teena made the cake. She always does such a good job! C was most excited for the Indiana Jones whip that he has been wanting for a very long time. Here are a few pictures to show what the cake looked like and what he got as presents. We had a nice party. He had fun, I'm pretty sure.