So....Many.....Toys....

They should put this label on there as a warning, and not an advertisement.

What.

Was.

I.

Thinking??

Wishing You....

A very Merry Christmas!

A Rather Slippery Evening

Saturday night, we joined up with some friends to go ice skating. The last time I went ice skating was almost 5 years ago (I was about 6 months pregnant with Maryn), and before that, it was probably 6 years since I'd hit the ice. Needless to say, my ice skating skillz are lacking. I've always heard that when a moose runs, it looks rather unnatural and awkward. That's the only image I could think as I made my way around the rink with Maryn attached to my arm, as I'm sure that's what we resembled. Despite the slipping and falling (by everyone else, of course), we had a great time. I was surprised at how comfortable Maryn was with sliding around. I thought it would scare the bajeebers out of her, but she loved it. They even had caution cones for the little ones to use for balance. A little goofy, but effective.

My favorite part of the evening was as I was skating around with Maryn she exclaimed, loudly, "I love ice skating!!" Everyone around us got a kick out of her enthusiasm for her new found adventure. After a while, she even got brave enough to leave the caution cone and skate on her own. (And by skating, I mean walking with ice skates on.)

Even Ailee got to join in on the fun. She didn't have skates (could you imagine a size 3 skate??), so she just walked along with our hands. There was quite a bit of protesting when we exited the rink.

It was a pretty fun way to spend a chilly evening. We ended it with warm soup, hot chocolate, games, and good company. I don't think I could've asked for anything more.

I am Totally Cheap

Lately, Maryn has been obsessed with the movie Star Wars. Especially Darth Vader....the kid loves Darth Vader. One day I was wrapping some presents and I finished off a roll of wrapping paper. A wrapping paper tube has all sorts of great uses--a trumpet, a baton, and even......

a light saber!!

Yes, yes. I am such a cheap-o mom. Hey, she's happy that she has a light saber--I'm happy that I didn't have to spend $15 on another toy. You should be warned, though. It takes a lot of coloring with a permanent marker to color all of that. I think I lost a few brain cells.

'Tis a Gift that is Simple

So, do you want a very cute, very easy, very inexpensive gift idea? Well, here you go:
I made these for the ladies that I work with at church. They were a big hit. I have to thank my sisters for the original idea. Here's how to make them.
First, go to the store and buy a 4x6 magnetic photo holder (I got mine at Walmart for $1), a pack of clear pens that you can screw the ends off of, and coordinating post-it notes. Don't buy the cheap-o post-its, they don't stick and end up falling off your refrigerator. The ones in the picture above fell off about 1 minute after I stuck them up. Don't waste your money, buy the real ones.

Next, cut a 4" by 6" piece of cute paper to fit your photo holder.

At this point, put on your post-it notes (with glue, double sided tape, or whatever you prefer) and embellish it however you want. Make a loop of ribbon and glue it to the back. Make sure your pen fits into the loop. If it's too small, it won't slide in easily (duh), and if it's too big, your pen will fall out (duh).

Now, this is the challenging part. Unscrew the end of your pen and pull out the guts. Depending on the diameter of your pen, cut a piece of your paper to put inside. I think mine were 5/8" by 4". It takes less than you think. If it's too thick, it will be too hard to get in to your pen. I even had to roll my paper a little, then peel a layer off because my paper was cardstock thickness. Roll your paper around the ink stick thing (is there a name for that?....anyone?).

This take a little practice...so good luck. Slide it in to your pen and trim any excess.

You're done.

Pretty easy, huh?

Here are some of the others I made:

You can also make a desk top one by using a stand up 4x6" photo holder. Just cut your paper to 5.5" by 6".

Have fun!

Giving Thanks in '09

This year I made the drive up to Idaho so we could spend Thanksgiving with some of my family. It was a super long drive, but the girls were pretty good (if I ignored the "it's taking so long," comments from Maryn every 15 minutes), and it was so worth it. Kade had to work until Tuesday, so he flew in later to join our festivities.

Here's my rather ravishing mother, showing off her Thanksgiving apron, while slaving away in the kitchen over our feast. And, my little sister, Marybeth, joined us as well.
(Thanks for taking such an awesome picture of yourself with my camera, so I could post in my blog!)

One thing that I love about my parent's house (or any of my family) is that I never worry about going hungry when I come to visit. My mom is a great cook, and always has lots of delicious food around. I come from a family of snackers, and I think there is non-stop eating when we get together. Look at that yummy food.

Since I had the camera out, Maryn had to show off for us:

Actually, I blame Kade for this. He paid her $1 to do it.

Ailee's look portrays it all...she was pretty wiped out by the time we sat down to eat, so she gobbled up her food like a good little turkey and was off to bed.

It was fun to have lots of time to spend with family. Two of my other sisters live in Idaho, so we had lots of late nights playing games, early mornings to go shopping, piano concerts to see, and even a baby blessing to be there for. I feel like I'm still catching up on sleep. Maryn LOVED playing with her cousins. I wish I had gotten more pictures of them all, but this is all I have:

Maryn, Johnny, and Ailee

Maryn, Paige, and Hailey all dressed up, with no place to go.
I love the boots, Maryn!

It was a fun-filled week and a half. I was sad to leave. And sad that I had to make the long drive back. It got a little spicy when "lunch" didn't settle too well with Maryn. (I put lunch in quotations because grody pizza from a gas station is not a good choice of food) What made it worse is that when you drive on I-80, there aren't a lot of rest areas around. As Maryn put it, we were "in the middle of no where." An emergency bathroom break left us no choice but to leave a little but of us behind on the side of the road. Maryn was a good sport about it.

Also, while we drove back, Vinny (that's my car) hit a big milestone. About 27 miles before I took this picture, he turned 100,000 miles!

I rewarded his years of faithful service with a nice car wash the next day, and he thanked us by getting a crack in the oil pan the day after that. I'm so excited to sink a bunch of money into getting that fixed! I guess I should count my blessings...at least I was only 3 miles from home, and not 700.
It was a great trip filled up with family and old friends. Though she suggested that "Grandma and Grandpa should move to someplace where it's warm all the time," Maryn keeps talking about our next trip back. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us come!