Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday!

I'm behind again!

Today my first baby is 7! I can't believe 7 years has passed. She is 7 going on 17 though, I might add! :) Her party is this Saturday. It's going to be fun it's a Spa Girl party. I've got my girl friend and her teenager all lined up to help me out with the manicures/pedicures/facials, etc... :)

I just made some yummy cupcakes that I'll take in to her classroom at school. She has brownies tonight (She's selling Girl Scout cookies!) which, it's our turn for snack, so I have the snacks all ready to go. It's so cold outside today, that I put the juice boxes outside to keep chilled! :)







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Christmas was great. The girls were so thankful for everything they got this year. I loved their attitudes. It was very low key and we stayed in our PJ's all day (I have to admit that was really nice!) because we didn't go anywhere and nobody came over.

Oh, we got a new tree this year. It's the first time we've had an artifial tree in years! But I love it, it's from Target, a really nice pre-lit tall skiny tree! :)

I hope everyone had a great New Years!!!! We brought the new year in with friends. It was nice.

Let's talk Turkey!

:) LOL

Is everybody getting excited about Thanksgiving? It's just 2 days away now! :)
Tomorrow I get to make my pies! Yummm, the house will smell so wonderful with all my baking!

I do have to admit that I'm not making homemade rolls this year. I bought some rolls in the freezer section that you bake. Shhh...don't tell anyone! :) LOL

I went to the store last week and bought all my ingredients for our menu. I can't wait.

We'll have the usual

• Turkey
• Stuffing
• Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes w/garlic
• Cranberry Sauce (& sugared cranberries)
• Sweet Potatoes w/caramel sauce
• Green Bean Casserole
• Carrots (I'm not sure if we're doing a honey glaze or just spices)
• Rolls
• Pecan Pie
• Apple Pie

I picked up a couple bottles of wine to go with our meal today. We've got Apple Cider, which I might make some hot spiced cider with part of it.

In a coffe filter I put ground spices: 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. Allspice, 1/4 tsp. Cloves, then tie it off with a rubber band then let it simmer in a half gallon of Apple Cider on the warm setting in your crockpot...it smells so good, and tastes so great too! You can add rum to it if you like, but I'm serving wine so I won't be doing that.

Of course a fun alternative is to let Apple Cider simmer with melted down red hot cinnamon candies (general rule is 2 tsp of candies to every cup of cider).

I am adding a new pie this year, something light and fresh for a twist, Cherry Cheese Pie! ;)

I'm not making Pumpkin Pie, I don't like it, but it just doesn't seem right to not have it, but Bobby told me not to worry with making it. I don't know though, I just might run to the store and pick up the few extra things I'll need to make it...our friends might really want it. I'll just send all pie left-overs with them! :) We did invite a few others over for desert afterwards, I'm not sure if they'll come though...but just incase I need to be prepared, right?! :)

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Catherine is so sweet. Today she was thanking me for all kinds of things I guess she's really taking Thanksgiving to heart. She told me thank you for making her dinner, and helping her with her homework, fixing her hair and all kinds of little things that normally kids just take for granted. It was really heartwarming and I appreciated it. Meanwhile Abby sat at the table saying "Tartersauce" becuase she couldn't get the cap back on her markers! :) LOL

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I'm planning on taking some really great photos of our dinner this year. I'd like to make a little Thanksgiving Recipe Album, so it would be nice to have a great photo with each item, the recipe and some comments about it. I'd also like to include some general "Gratitude", "Blessings" type of pages too. Something that I can have sitting out around the Thanksgiving Holidays for years to come. I'm even thinking of having some blank pages so that Guests can sign it like a Guest book and write a short note of what they're thankful for. I'm really excited about this, I just wish I had time to create this before this Thursday! :) Hmmmm......I wonder if I could squeeze it in....

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As much as I love Thanksgiving, I really can't wait to pull out my Christmas decorations. :D Friday, after I go to the gym, I'll clean the house back up from Thanksgiving and I'll be ready to unload the storage closet just to get to the tubs of Christmas decorations. Funny how much stuff we have for just one month huh?! :)

Anyone going Black Friday Shopping? Not me! No thanks!!! To me, that isn't any fun, and doesn't capture the Holiday Spirit...I don't care how good the sales are, the crowds and traffic just isn't any pleasure to deal with!

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Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Disney on Ice

I just got back from taking the girls to see Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes. What a wonderful show, the girls were just mesmerized with the show. They laughed, they giggled, the dreamed, they wished, they had a fabulous time! It was just beautiful, and I loved watching their faces light up with each new princess story that was developing! Wonderful show, go see it if it's in your area!



Catherine my little photographer took this picture of me (I'd do some cropping, but my photo editor isn't working right) I've lost 2 sizes in clothes, so last night at the mall I hit the clearance jackpot at Old Navy. I got a pair of cords and two pairs of jeans for under $20! :) I'd love to loose another 10 to 15 lbs, but I'm really glad that I've done this well so far!

Well, we finally got a new big screen tv. It's future ready with High Def and it's 1080 resolution. It's 57" which is soooo big! I think we need a larger house just to hold it! :) LOL I haven't had a chance to clean up from the install yet, but here's the girls with the new tv...

Well, we had Catherine's 1st grade teacher/parent conference this past week. She's doing great, and is very well behaved in class (I wouldn't expect anything less, she's such a good girl). She's in her the top reading group, spells wonderfully, is doing fantastic in math as well. I need to work with a little on writing, she's doing good but a few letters/numbers she writes backwards (this is common until 3rd grade but now is the time to make the corrections). She's still loving school, and I'm so proud of her! :)

I hope you're all doing great! Hugs!

Halloween Happenings

As promised, here's the fall decorations out front:

I got a new door mat this year, it's a fall harvest of apples.

The Halloween festivities started Tuesday with Hershey outlets annual candy & egg hunt...

Abby looks happy huh? LOL - She feel asleep on the way there and I had to wake her up...which is never fun! It was cold and windy, and the wait felt like it was forever for her, but it was well worth it when she got some candy! :)

Here's Cat and she had a blast running around grabbing some candy. She didn't get one single egg, but Abby was so sweet and gave her one when we got back in the van.

---------Thursday was Catherine's Fall Party and parade at school....I forgot my camera :( She was dressed up in the American Girl Princess outfit...I'll grab a picture of her in it....
We were going to do the town parade and party, but I had to watch a friends child, and just couldn't do it with all 3 in tow with Bobby out of town.


---------This year Trick or Treat night was on the 31st instead of the Thursday before, this is the first time in 10 years! The girls got way to much candy but they had a ton of fun! A bunch of us neighbors went together and even us adults dressed up this year! :) I was little red riding hood. :)

Catherine wanted to be a flower-girl and abby wanted to be a ballerina. Bobby was away so we emailed tons of pictures to Daddy so he could see the girls! :)

Bedroom pictures

Warning Label: Something has happened with my PSP settings when I save pictures....it looks normal when I save them as a smaller file, but when I reopen them, they're a really horrible quality...I don't know what has happened but it's driving me NUTS!!!! Okay...onto bedroom pics...


As you can see, the other nightstand needs to be stained, or else I need to just paint them both. I'm thinking of going with a dark brown.


There's my little scrapbooking nook I'd love to find a tall slendor cabinet to help house some extra supplies....it just doesn't look that neat and clean with it all stacked up there on the floor! :)

Okay, now for the girls room...at least just their new bedding. Abby FINALLY has a big girl bed. The hedboard hasn't arrived yet (well it did, but was damaged and is being replaced) but I can't hold off any longer, I wanted to share! :) The girls are pretty happy with it.

Another Bathroom redo....just one more to go

We've redecorated our bathroom upstairs. Someday we'll replace the sink cabinet and mirror, but for now, it has a fresh coat of paint.

Let's see, I painted the walls and base cabinet. Bobby installed a brushed nickel curved curtain rod (it adds so much room in the shower!), we got new BN (brushed nickel) curtain hooks holding a fresh new waffel weave curtain (that, this time I know to NEVER wash in hot water or to put in the dryer!) :D


Bobby installed a new outlet (grey with BN outlet cover), and rocker light switches.
I got new fabric lined baskets 40% off at Michaels (you got to love that!) We added the shelf I bought at TJ Max over a year ago that's been waiting for a home under my bed. :) It holds all my white shabby items including an ink drawing of the Star Barn located nearby here in PA.
I still have to hang my two stars with straight pins though.


There's my new towel bar and matching toilet paper holder (it pivets, which is really cool) and new toilet handle.....gotta love the details!



And to complete the bathroom a new light fixture!

The bathroom color is complementary to our bedroom color but with a light fresh airy feeling.

Friday the 13th

I've got my fall decorations out, it really cheers up the neighborhood!
(I tried to upload pictures but the site isn't working right apparently)

Catherine is 6 now, and with Halloween coming up she wants to watch her first "scary movie". Do you remember the first scary movie that you watched? We'll get one that's a kid friendly spooky movie like Casper or something. Bobby suggested that we get her the one with the headless horseman that rides around with the jack-o-lantern on his head....I can't remember the title of it right now. She's growing up that's for sure!

Bobby's been away on a business trip all week. I'm ready for him to come home (which luckily enough, he will this afternoon), we've missed him. The house is nice and clean for his return. It was so easy keeping it clean while he was away. I don't know why exactly, he's not a total slob! :)

I've been working out really hard at the gym and watching what I'm eating and I've lost 18 lbs already!!! I look and feel so much better! I need to go shopping for some new jeans & slacks! :) That's such a nice feeling! My motivation was to loose weight before I turn 30 next year. I'm so glad I made this decision. It's not that hard, and the rewards are so satisfactory....I don't know how I ever let myself go before! :) LOL Okay, I do know how, having 2 kids and being busy hard at work and play all the time, and frankly just not caring...plus it's cheaper to eat less healthy!

Today I got my hair cut and colored, it feels so light and fresh...I'm a whole new ME! LOL

I'm watching my friends two girls today, they spent the night last night...I feel like all I do is make meals and snacks....they're so hungry all the time...they must be growing! I don't keep a lot of snacks in the house so it's been tricky!