I can't find my kids

We have two large garbage bags of wrapping paper and packaging to fit into our city garbage can...somehow. It was a lost and found danger for quite a while there. We lost, then found Rebekah several times.



Santa showed up and left each kid new crayons, a coloring book and a single toy of their own. Then the gluttony started with the wrapped gifts under the tree. Daniel learned a lesson in being gracious and appreciative when he almost didn't get to open any more presents. (He had been disappointed with some new clothes...SO NOT FUN.) We didn't have too many $$ presents. The kids are still impressed with cheap stuff.



Chad and I bought each other an identical gift, so that will be the only thing we have to return. I'm sure the return line will be close to empty...it came from a local food/emergency preparedness store.



I wish I could say that Christmas is over, but I still have a quilt to quilt for a friend. Chad got me a quilting frame that goes up against the wall and tilts a bit, so that should make it a lot easier. I hope he can get it up and running quickly! I told her that I should have it to her by Valentine's Day! :{



We went to Sacrament Mtg and then home yesterday, as most people did.
I had sewn some matching jumpers for the girls and me. Here we are. Someone called us triplets! It all started when Leah really needed a dress that hung past her knees. You can see how quickly I let things spiral out of control.



The kids got a shark tent from their cousins. It swallowed them and their daddy right up!



Leah was a little wary of the teeth at first, but you can see that she was courageous and overcame her fear!

Warner Bros.

Chad and I went to CA for a quick escape since he had a site visit out there one morning. We all drove to Grandma's Monday evening, arriving around 7ish. Chad and I got up early enough to leave @ 4 am, to catch a 6 am flight to LA. Chad's meetings in Santa Clarita were done @ noon and we drove to Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank for a 2 hour tour of the studios, etc. We had a 5:30 flight back to Grandma's with a 3 hour drive home still ahead of us. When we landed at 8:30 pm, I told Chad I thought we should get some sleep first. So we slept for 6 hours, got up @ 3:30 am and pulled into the driveway @ 7 am. We were so tired! We switched drivers twice and stopped for windshield washer fluid once.

When we got home, I asked Daniel if he was awake enough to go to school. He said he was. I followed him inside and ended up pulling him out of bed. I guess he thought it was still the middle of the night! We were all tired and grouchy that day.

But we survived and got some pictures of the sets of some TV shows. Too bad we're not Gilmore Girls fans...there was A LOT to see of that!

This is a view of part of the exterior of County General from 'ER.'

Any 'Friends' fans should recognize Central Perk.


This shot is to show that they will often not finish the whole inside of a set if it won't be seen from the outside shots of the building.



The current town now used for Gilmore Girls has been used in several other situations, including "The Music Man," the Dukes of Hazard TV series and some single uses like a house for Phoebe's father in 'Friends.'

It was an interesting, but long tour!

Christmas Angel

Leah is our Christmas Cherub. She is full of emotion and never boring. I'm afraid she gets away with too much, either because we're tired of going through it for the 3rd time (Rebekah will get away with everything) or because she's too cute to really get into too much trouble. I think it's the first reason mostly, but every once in a while her cuteness saves her.

She is very sassy though and often not very nice. That's where even her cuteness can't save her (since it seems to entirely disappear). We are often warning her "not to talk to us that way."

Today she had a nice trip to her room.

Leah is going to be 3 years old two weeks from today. She's already on her way to teenager! It's going to be a fun ride. Hold on to your hats!

Check out this video of Leah during Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago. Notice the amount of eating she's actually doing! Sorry for the shaking...Daniel was bumping the table!

I have been Blogging like crazy!

Too bad you can't read any of them since I only wrote mental blogs.

My Christmas To Do list is finally getting smaller. And this afternoon it will shrink considerably.

This is the day of our class Primary party. I think I'm the only one in the whole Church doing a class Christmas party. How come no one does them anymore? Anyway, we are going to color Shrinky Dink nativity pieces to make ornaments while we watch the Liken The Scriptures Christmas movie and get sick from too much sugar. I promised them I'd ruin their dinners and they are expecting it! I cheated and bought cookie dough...already divided. I am giving each of them a bookmark with their name cross-stitched on it.

So this means that I need to clean some places of the house that have been neglected for a while. (Darn!)

Yesterday morning was spent on Christmas cards. Some people really frown on mass-produced, printed Christmas letters. If any of them are on my Christmas card list, they'll have something to grumble about in the next couple of days. I try to make up for it by writing something to each family in the actual card. Otherwise, the first 4 people would get a really newsy card and the last 4 would get a "Merry Christmas!" (if even that) And the remaining 20 cards between those? They probably wouldn't exsist. So if you aren't on my holiday greetings list, here is a picture that was second choice for the card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(A little insider information for loyal blog readers. The girls' pajamas aren't finished. The bows are pinned on, the backs don't close yet and the bottom ruffle still hasn't been made. I started cutting the pajamas out about 2 hours before this picture was taken. I got as far as I could, as fast as I could.)

The boys have matching pants on that you can't see, which is why this was second choice.

And I would love to blab on and on, but Rebekah is apparently going to die from starvation. I guess it's time to go be a mom.

Christmas Rush

The Christmas season is upon me. My list of things to do is large and looming. I feel like I jump from one project to another, with hardly anything to show for it. Add to that, Christmas activities and concerts, etc. and I'm feeling this time between now and Christmas as more and more threatening.

I haven't lost sight of the "reason for the season." We are trying to keep things several notches below the "gimme" stage around here. But I do have a lot of special gifts I'd like to make and that is where I'm feeling the pressure. I have to consciously remind myself that it's important to stop work in Santa's Workshop to hug and hold my kids or even actually feed them.

We had an Enrichment activity this past week to go to an assissted living center to sing songs for the residents. I had a medley of songs prepared, but a slow, killer cold had hit it's peak that night and cancelled my number (and my voice). So all that practicing and for naught!

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional was this past Sunday. We suffered through it with the rest of the people around us. It seems "someone's" kids were feeling their 5th hour of church of the day and letting everyone around them know it! (If you can't tell who's kids they actually were, you haven't read many of my blogs.) I spent most of the meeting in the Young Women's room with the speaker turned up as Rebekah patrolled the hallways. I heard something about cracked shortbread in Pres. Monson's talk.

Tonight we went to a Stake musical program. The Primary had a couple of numbers. We watched Rebekah roam around making friends with most of the people sitting in the overflow and tried to convince the kids that it was worthwhile to sit on the hard, slippery folding chairs. We gave up at 7:45PM and left 3 songs before the end of the program.

Chad's in Las Vegas tomorrow. Thursday is full from morning to evening with events, including the company Christmas party (and bonus check). Friday is the Ward Christmas party, held concurently with Daniel's dress rehearsal for Saturday night's big TaVaci Christmas Concert. See? My week is already gone before it's half over!

Meanwhile, Chad is updating the bathtub plumbing in the main bathroom. It's a mess in there. We have a nice view of moldy insulation and a mountain of tools. Anyone want to join in a tiling party?

So if it seems that I haven't been blogging very much (for the three of you that are keeping up), it's because I don't have time! It should be much calmer around here after the 25th. :)