Headed Back to Work!

Tomorrow I have to head back to work - BOO!  Don't get me wrong I am very glad to have a job and I love my high schoolers but I sure have enjoyed my week off.  I guess since I head back tomorrow that means I need to get to sleep since it is after midnight but before I do that I wanted to look back at what all I did this past week so I can feel some what better about heading back to work tomorrow.  Hopefully I will feel somewhat accomplished!  Here is a little bit of what I did during my break -

• shopped, shopped and shopped some more pretty much everyday including Black Friday when I shopped from 10pm - 6:25am!  
• went to the Mart in Atlanta,
• went and rode the Pink Pig with the kiddos,
• had Baby Maya spend the night,
• 2 Thanksgivings (one with my family on Thanksgiving and one with Phillip's family on Saturday),
• house completely decorated for Christmas with trees in almost every room,
• made Christmas ornaments,
• celebrated Mom's birthday,
• went out with some high school friends,
• ran lots and lots of errands,
• got the car washed,
• finished a scrapbook for a girl at work,
• made a burlap bubble wreath,
• updated my blog,
• updated my class website, 
• rode to Lagrange with Phillip for work,
• went to church,
• made a Christmas list of what I need to get, already got, etc.,
• sewed a curtain for Baby Maya's table in her room,
• washed clothes,
• picked out and ironed clothes for me and both kiddos for ALL week (Way to Go - Whitney!),
• outfits ready and ironed to go see Santa on Wednesday at Phipps,
• etc., etc., etc.!!!

Well - as you can see from the above list I used my break to the fullest and it feels really good.  I am so glad I was able to accomplish so much this past week.  Now just 15 days to go until I will be off for two weeks for Christmas break - wonder what I will be able to get done then!  I better head to bed so I have energy for my high schoolers tomorrow (oh and the twins too!)  I will just keep thinking - I can do it, I can do it, I can do it - I CAN!  Merry Christmas!

Our Ornaments

This week while we were out of school for Thanksgiving break we made some ornaments for the tree in the basement. The kids had sooooo much fun doing this. These are those simple ornaments that you make with applesauce, cinnamon, and glue! How simple? Again - they loved it and we actually have to make more. We didn't quite have enough for our tree - oh well it is fun! I will post pictures of ALL of our trees soon! Merry Christmas!

Mr. Elfie is HERE!

Mr. Elfie our friendly Christmas Elf showed up today and we are SO excited! He showed up in grand style - he prepared us a North Pole Breakfast complete with holiday plates, napkins, snow donuts, a note, gifts, cups, etc... It was so exciting! The kids got up at about 8:45 and headed to the kitchen to get a toy to play with and they were so surprised with what they saw. They came running back to tell me and Phillip. They were jumping up and down saying "come see, come see"! It was so sweet. When we got out there we couldn't believe what we saw - in fact Mr. Elfie had arrived and it was so neat. He had prepared the kids a North Pole Breakfast. He also wrote them a letter which was probably their favorite part. He also gave them a couple little gifts like an elf ball, window clings, and some stencil rulers. How nice! They also thought it was so funny that Mr. Elfie had stole my bananas that I had just bought at the store earlier that day for my lunch next week. They couldn't believe he would do that. It is so fun to see them so excited. I know this won't last for long but it sure is fun now. I can't wait to see where that crazy elf is tomorrow! Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving #2

Saturday we had Thanksgiving #2 with the Lester family. We had a great time. We had it at Aunt Catherine and Uncle Phil's house - thanks guys! The food was all yummy (Thanks Clara Lynn, Catherine and the guys for frying the turkey).  The kids had a ball playing with their cousins. I am so thankful for our extended family and that my kiddos have such great cousins to be so close to. Happy Thanksgiving!

Family Pictures

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For Mom's birthday we had our picture made for her.  I think they turned out really good and she LOVED them.  Here is a book with all the pictures - take a look!
 

I made it! Thanks Pinterest

Well you probably already know about the website Pinterest by now - if not you better get on board.  I love it.  It is basically a website that allows you to create virtual bulletin boards where you can "pin" anything you see while you are surfing the web.  You can also repin what other people pin as well.  Anyway - it is a great website that is full of endless, wonderful ideas.  I again LOVE it!  Well - I have been on it looking and looking and looking for sooooo long and final I made something I saw on there.  I made this burlap bubble wreath and I love it and it was sooooo easy to make.  Well, I better go I have more pinning to do!
 

Thanksgiving #1

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a great Thanksgiving over at Quinn's house today.  Thank you so much Quinn and Jim for having us.  The food was yummy!  Quinn had the kids make placemats when they spent the night at her house a couple weeks ago and they were so excited to so them off to everyone.  They were so cute!  Great idea Quinn.  As you can see from the pictures today was also Grandma's birthday!  Happy Birthday Grandma! We had a great day - now it is time to start planning our shopping for Black Friday!
 

Spend the Night Party!

Tonight Maya got to spend the night with us!  We were soooooo excited.  This was the first time she has ever spent the night away and it got to be with us.  We started the evening off by taking her to the mall where she had a Chick-fil-a kids meal that she loved.  After dinner we let the kiddos play on the playground and she LOVES that.  The activities in the play area are just her size and she especially loves the log that you can climb through like a tunnel.  It is so cute to watch her.  The big kids were so excited to have her with us.  After playing for a while we headed home and played in the basement for a while.  The kids wanted to show her all of their toys.  After all this playing we had some tired kiddos so we headed to bed since the next day was a big day - THANKSGIVING!  Blakely insisted that Maya slept in her room so she did.  As you can see from the pictures Maya was out!  Also Blakely slept the wrong way on the bed so she could keep an eye on her all night.  The next morning we had breakfast and Maya loved sitting in the big girl chair/table, then we had a bath (ALL together!), then we headed over to Quinn's for Thanksgiving - on the way Maya passed out - I think we wore her out!  Thanks for staying with us Maya  - we can't wait to have you again!

Pink Pig

Today Quinn and I took all the kiddos to ride the Pink Pig at Macy's at Lenox Mall.  We had the great idea of getting there when they opened however I think everyone had the same idea.  We waited in line FOREVER!  Also - it was very cold and part of the line is outside.  We made it work though - I took the kids on walks, we snacked, we played, etc... so it worked out and they all LOVED the Pink Pig ride.  Maya looked a little unsure but I think she loved it.  I know my kids did - they keep asking if we can go ride it again.  After the ride we headed down to the food court for some much, much needed lunch.  All the kids were really good and I am so glad they enjoyed it.