Getting caught up

I have a ton more to post, but they will have to wait. I have a touch of a headache tonight, so I am signing off and will try to do more tomorrow. Keep checking in because there are a lot to come. This has been a busy couple of weeks, and I have gotten some good use out of my camera.
Have a good night and enjoy the posts I did manage to do tonight.

Ice Skating Lessons

The county offers FREE ice skating lessons at a rink near us, so we took advantage of it. (Sarah didn't meet the age cut-off, but we may try to get her in January)Slow and steady...keep your hands out and pat your knees to keep your balance.

Doing good Miss Mary!!

She really did do a great job...a few more practices and we won't be able to keep up with her.

Back and forth they go

As beginners, they got to learn on the small rink. (and the lady in the blue jacket was the instructor and she had numerous youth helpers)

It was a great lesson, and we can't wait to go sometime as a family to skate.

I think she was pretty proud of herself. I know I sure was!

Gingerbread House Day

On the Monday before Christmas, Mary was asked to invite someone to come to school to help her make a gingerbread house. She chose Grandma!! (and I got to be there since I am a PTO mom and volunteered to help set up and clean up)


Putting on the wallsMaking progress...now which candy should we use?

The finished product!

It was LOADED with candy and icing. Great job Mary and thanks for your help Grandma!

And I even got to pose with the masterpiece and its creator.

Youth Christmas Party

We had the youth Christmas party in our basement . Besides the power going off numerous times for no apparent reason, it was a great evening with pizza, football (you know we HAD to watch the Steelers), fun, games and even a little patience. Here is where the patience comes in...the kids are learning some of the fruits of the spirit...and this week their lesson was on patience. They each got to "attempt" to build a house out of cards.

It took a lot of patience and some serious concentration.

We did a gift exchange (and this headband was one of the gifts)

And we just hung out...enjoying each others company.

Santa and Stewarts

On Saturday before Christmas, Santa Claus got to ride the fire truck around South Park and visit all the kids. Thank goodness he knows where our house is...we were worried since this will be our first Christmas here. We were in the middle of lunch with the Stewarts when we heard the siren and knew he was on his way. Pay no mind to the fact that it was probably only about 30 degrees outside or less, and my daughters don't have a coat OR shoes on. (We couldn't miss Santa, and we were only outside for about two minutes)

After all the excitement of Santa, we took the Stewart's over to get a tour of our Church. I just had to take a picture of the girls with Janet in front of the pretty Poinsettias.

And then when we returned home, Sarah just had to show Janet how good she is at coloring.

It was so great having visitors...so if you haven't seen our house in person, feel free to stop in. No guarantee it will be clean, but we are always more than happy to see our family and friends.

December Nights, December Lights

Mary's Kindergarten class put on a little program before Christmas called "December Nights, December Lights". Here is Mary when all the kids were to find their parents and smile or wave. Her little friend from Church, Giana, is right in front of her. Here is a full picture of all of the morning Kindergarten kids at her school.

waiting patiently for her shining moment.

Her and Matteo (a classmate) got to speak some lines. (sorry I can't remember exactly what they said and Mary is in bed, so I can't ask her)
*notice the height differences...these are all Kindergartners, but Mary towers over them*

All of the kids did a great job...especially MARY!!
(and it was great because Grandma and Pap got to see the program, since we live SO close)

Ribbon Trees

The woman's group at Windover Hills did a Christmas craft in December. We made ribbon trees. It was a fun evening. The craft is quite simple, once you get the hang of it. This is the tree I made. This is a tree someone else made, but I really liked it.

Here are all of the trees that were made. Aren't they pretty?

Here is one of my friends from the church, working on her tree. I am posting this to kind of show you a how-to pic.

A brief outline of the directions is...take a styrofoam cone, numerous things of coordinating ribbon (varying widths) and straight craft pins. You start with the widest ribbon and cut it about 5 inches long. fold it in half and pin this a few inches from the bottom of the cone (just so the fold of the ribbon sits nicely on the table). Continue this all the way around, slightly overlapping the ribbon. Then you take your next pattern of ribbon and do the same on the second row. You can decide how far up to pin it, just be sure it covers the pins on the ribbon below it. For the third row, you cut your ribbon a bit shorter. (maybe 4 1/2 inches) and you continue. As you get closer to the top continue making your strands of ribbon shorter and shorter until the top is about 2 inches. The possibilities are endless with this and it makes a great centerpiece. (I bought small cones for the girls, and they even enjoyed this project...just be careful with little ones and straight pins-they had trouble holding on to them and kept dropping)

Cookie Trees

A few weeks ago, I made enough cookies for every kid at *Windy Kids to be able to make a Christmas Cookie Tree. We had seven layers with fillers between each layer for 15 kids. Let me tell you, that is a LOT of cookies. (Windy Kids is our bi-monthly kids program for kids between about 3yrs old and 4th grade that Jude and I have started here...following the same idea as the After School Special that we had at Creekside)


Thank Goodness I had a helper in the morning (and 2 helpers in the afternoon)
She helped me measure out and add all of the ingredients.

Then she decided she was done with the hat...and preferred to be silly.

I rolled the dough and both girls helped me with the cookie cutters. (a special thanks to Kathleen Porter for giving me the set of cookie cutters for these awesome trees)

I took these pictures of the tables of cookies, but failed to take pictures of the finished product, I guess. If I find them later, I will be sure to post but for tonight, they are MIA.

I should mention they turned out very nice and each of the kids enjoyed decorating them with icing and lots of yummy candies.

Christmas pics

Here are some of the MANY pictures that I took that didn't quite make the Christmas card this year. Thank goodness the girls are good sports.

Never quite noticed the height difference being this much. Not sure where the genes came from, but we sure are gonna have some TALL girls.

Freezing outside of the Church

Notice Bee's red nose...she was a tad cold. Sorry girls!!

This first pic taken outside, so the noses weren't quite red yet.

Two beautiful girls!!

This has to be one of my favorite pics from the day

We were having smiling issues...can you tell?

Strangling her sister

Merry Christmas to all!!

WooHoo

O.K. So I really love shutterfly now!! I recently posted about them because I heard that I could get 50 free Christmas cards for doing so, and I did it...a little leary, but I still did it. Well, guess what?? (I didn't quite follow the directions to the T, but they gave me a second chance to make the correction) AND I got my code. Not only did I get my code, but this evening I placed my order and FINALLY have my Christmas cards on the way. So if you have been checking your mail daily waiting for pictures of my beautiful girls...have no fear, you didn't miss them. They are still in the works. May be more like New Years cards!! :) And on that note, if you follow my blog and would like a Christmas card, leave me a post with your address or send me an email with your address. I'd LOVE to send one to you. I am so excited about them, and can't wait to see them myself. Have I mentioned how BEAUTIFUL our daughters are? Well, they are!!
O.K. I'm tired and need sleep. (Sarah had a horrible night last night with waking ME up) So, remember...give me you address and you will get to see my FREE cards. (I really didn't believe that it would work, so am THRILLED that it did)

I LOVE Shutterfly!

It is that time of year...the time we all struggle to pick out the perfect picture or pictures for our Christmas card. You start off trying to find the perfect outfit, then the perfect background and most importantly and our biggest struggle, the perfect smile. (Boo is going through that stage where she is "trying" to smile and it is so NOT natural...she has such a beautiful smile, if I could just get her to relax) Then, once you get all of that straight, and if you are like me you end up having a couple hundred pictures to choose from, you have to pick the "card" that fits you and your family. I have found that I like to order my Christmas cards through Shutterfly . They have hundreds, and I mean hundreds of options to choose from. I guarantee you will find something that fits your theme, or suits your family. I seriously don't know how I will choose which one is PERFECT for our family Christmas picture. I like this one but it is a folded card, which I have never sent before; and this one catches my fancy too. O.K, so there are hundreds of Christmas cards for me to choose from...how on earth is a girl to choose? This will be a long weekend...trying to decide on the picture and the card...anyone want to help??

Not only have I had success with Shutterfly's Christmas cards (and yes they are and always will be CHRISTMAS cards) but I have also ordered prints and photo calendars from them. I haven't done any this year, but am thinking about creating some again. I love their calendars because you can personalize the dates as well as the photos. I have probably 3 or 4 years worth of calendars saved because I don't want to part with them. They make a nice keepsake and a wonderful CHRISTMAS present for those that you love. It's a gift that keeps on giving throughout the year. I have found, they are very competitive in their pricing, and often times offer discounts when you buy multiple calendars, as is the case currently.

Another favorite that I like to order is their mouse pads. They are so nice, and everyone in my family uses a computer at some point or another in the day, so it gives them a glimpse of my beautiful girls every time they use it. :) I also like that these are very durable and reasonably priced. Along with the mouse pads they have a plethora of gift ideas. If you don't need any more gifts, they offer birthday invitations and photo cards (which are different from the Christmas photo cards listed above)

I keep forgetting that I have a credit with Shutterfly, so I guess I better quit blogging and decide what I want to spend it on. When Boo went to Seeds of Faith, we participated in the Scrip program (where you buy a gift card at face value, get the face value of it, but your tuition gets credited a percentage of the amount of the card). Shutterfly offered a great percentage back when their card was purchased...hence my Shutterfly credit that is burning a hole in my pocket tonight. Have a great night, and good luck picking your favorite card.

**Shutterfly is giving 50 free Christmas cards away to anyone who will blog about their awesome site. (Tonight is the last night to apply) So, thank you Shutterfly for offering this opportunity to share about your company while also giving such a great gift!**

To anyone reading this, I hope you can find something perfect for your family on Shutterfly! It's pretty easy to do so!