Christmas Wrap Up!

We have been terribly busy with all the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season. I am so glad that it is over and hopefully we can return to some sense of "normal" around here. I've already taken down and packed away all the Christmas decorations and I am in the process of clearing out the old and organizing the new. I thought I would take a minute to update about our Christmas while I had a minute.

So here we go....

First off on Friday the 19th we were to have Anna's school Christmas party but instead got 12 inches of the wonderful white stuff. Can you say YUCKY?! Anyway that did indeed guarantee a White Christmas for us. We ended up doing her party on Monday and it was a wonderful time. I really enjoy getting to help the class at events like this, it's so fun to get to know all the kids. As "Anna's Mom", that's what the kids all call me, I recieved alot of hugs and one Mom even made a comment about how popular "Anna's Mom" was,LOL!! It's nice that I am there enough that they all know me and that they all like Anna so much. She is especially popular with the boys already, her Dad was not amused by this and has his shotgun ready already!

Next was Christmas Eve and we went to Randy's cousins' for the evening. We had a great time and all the cousins had a blast and got way too many toys. Then we came home and put out our "Reindeer Food" and snacks for Santa. Then it was off to bed for Anna and off to get ready for us. We got the stockings filled, the presents ouot and the puppet theater built.

Anna woke up bright and early Christmas morning. She was very excited to see everything Santa left and the great puppet theater her Dad and I got her. So far the theater is her fave thing. Here are some photo highlights:









Later that day we had some of my family over for more present mayhem and some yummy food. We had a great time and even got some Wii play time in. After everyone left Randy went and picked up my step-daughters and they came to stay for a few days. My step-son also dropped in but he's busy with college and girls and work so he didn't stay with us. Anna had lots of fun playing with her sisters and we enjoyed having them stay a bit longer than usual.

So now on this last day of 2008 we can finally take a breath before we start the New Year and all the new adventures it's sure to bring. Hope you all have a wonderful and Happy New Year!!!!!

Spotted

This Christmas we spotted 2 new reindeers helping Santa. And I was even able to grab a couple photos, so here they are:

Reindeer Drake


And Reindeer Anna

Let It Snow!

I HATE snow!!!!! I mean I really hate snow. I wouldn't be sad if I never saw it again. Sure it looks pretty on the trees and all that crap but so does sun and flowers! I got half our huge driveway done and a path all the way to the end for the mail and school bus. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! I hope one day I can move somewhere that never or rarely has snows, that would be awesome!!

Dog Bite Update: Anna's ear is looking great and healing quickly. And she's been more cooperative in letting me take care of it.

Dog Bites, Birthday and Hip Hop Dancin'

Where to begin! On Friday night Anna went with her Dad to pick up some firewood and go to his cousins to finally get her b-day present. A little while later Randy calls to tell me she got bit by a dog!!! Apparently the firewood guy had a dog and he said it was friendly and she had been playing with it for awhile when it bit her ear! She says he didn't growl or anything so my best guess is he got too rough while he played with her and may have to tried to grab her coat or winter hat and got her ear instead. He told me it wasn't that bad and they would be home soon. Of course when they arrived home, it looked awful to me and she didn't want us to touch it all. We had to bribe her w/ a new Wii game just to get the earring out. So I did the best cleaning job I could. She was happy though that she got her b-day gift and it was a great Ariel mermaid doll that sings and lights up and stuff.

Saturday was my b-day so we got up and went to get Anna's Wii game. She decided on a Catz 2 game and we also ran some other errands as well. We then stopped by my friend Julia's office to get some voodoo medicine to ward off all the bacteria from Anna's dog bite. Later my mom came by with my fave cake and homemade mannicotti. My Aunt Anne also ended up stopping by so it was nice to eat and visit. I had also made an enchilada casserole so we had tons of food! They even brought me some nice gifts too!!

Sunday I got up early to get a Wii Fit from Best Buy that Randy was buying for b-day and Christmas. They had a ton of them so it was quick and painless! Buying it was painless, however getting on it and having it tell you how awfully fat you are , not so much! I have a long year ahead of me for that. UGH!

On Sunday I was also able to bribe Anna, with some small Chritmas gifts, to let me really clean off her ear and get all the caked on gunk off. Once it was really clean I was able to see it wasn't so bad and I think the earring did the most damage. It's now healing very nicely. Re-piercing that ear is going to be fun though, but that's a battle for another day!

Monday my friends Christy and Julia planned a nice lunch at Julia's office to celebrate my birthday. They got me yummy Da Francescos food and even had "real" plates and candlight and everything. It was so nice to sit and chat and enjoy a nice lunch with friends. And the cake was AMAZING! I think I am ordering one for Chritmas it was so good. It was some type of custard cake with fresh berries in the filling and on top. It was soooooooooo good. I was even nice enough to bring some home to Randy and he even said how good it was. I am so lucky to have such wonderful and thoughtful friends!

After I was stuffed, I picked Anna up from school and she went to try out a new Hip Hop dance class to decide if she wanted to do that or ice skating. She had been really stuck on ice skating but she doesn't like the idea of falling down so I didn't want to fork out all that cash for her to tell me she doesn't like it. After we did a dancing w/ Santa thing a few weeks back she's been asking to go back to dancing. After lots of discussion about what kind and where. We settled on Hip Hop at a family friends new dance studio. I was surprised to see how many kids were in the class, at least 10, boys and girls equally. She went in and 45 minutes later she came out so excited. I asked her if it was fun and she said" no Mom, it was super fun forget ice skating" LOL!!! She wanted to know when the next class was and if she could sign up. So come January we are back to dancing. The bonus is the studio is next door to Trader Joe's and across the street from the Village of Rochester so I have something to do while she's at class too!

So that's the last few days in a nutshell. Hope everyone is well and staying warm! I will try to update again soon,but we are so busy with getting ready for Christmas and school events that I keep getting sidetracked. Sorry!

Deck the Halls

Last week after lots of begging I broke down and put up the tree and other decorations. I really wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving but Anna had other ideas. So it's beginning to look alot like Christmas around here! We still have a few more things left to do but it's mostly done and ready for Santa.

I also got my Christmas cards done and in the mail, got all the early December b-day cards mailed and even have a few gifts bought. I was going to wrap them, but haven't decided exactly what's from Santa yet and he has special paper. It feels great to be a little ahead of the game, but I am sure in a few weeks I'll be feeling behind again!

On Friday we went to the Kris Kringle Market in Rochester, it's an outdoor German type market w/ greenery and other Christmas stuff and yummy food. We had a great time except for the part where I discovered that I lost my cell phone-UGH!! Luckily when we called it the person who found it answered and ttold me where I could pick it up. You'll never guess where I lost it- the BEER TENT- LOL!!! I swear I only had one glass of hot spiced wine which I even shared with my mom! Speaking of the hot spiced wine, it was super yummy, I need to figure out how to make it! Anyway I got it back and on our trip to pick it up Dasher, you know Santa's Reindeer, had shown up at the market and Anna was excited she got to see him.

I have just one more thing to add- I HATE the cold!! Snow is okay, I can deal with it, but this freezing cold crap is for the birds, well actually it's not since the birds are smart enough to leave!! Is it Spring yet???