Make a Smilebox slideshow

Remember my wrapping paper dilemma?

....problem solved!

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good-night!

I can't believe we finally got a white Christmas!

okay, now I'm really excited for Christmas...

I just found my favorite color wrapping paper...

turquoise!!!

Merry Christmas!

(but now, I don't want to wrap gifts, just the thought of it being ripped off presents and thrown away makes me shutter.....

I just want to sit and stare at it!)

Happy Sweet 16...

5 years without....

The grieving process is strange,

so much runs through your head and heart sometimes,

I miss Steve, we all miss Steve, when he was around, he made me a better person,

I think he made us all a little better,

the sun felt warmer when he was around,

it really did,

he was just one of those people,

did I mention that I miss him.... alot,

but, I'm grateful after 5 years my heart doesn't physically feel like it's breaking

and I can actually breathe,

now, I just miss him heart-wrenchingly normal....

5 years seems so long

but, on the other hand it seems like he's been gone for 6 weeks

and its time for him to make that drive back to Texas for a visit,

gosh,

I miss him!

z

Guess who had their first piano recital, and guess who did GREAT!

My "funky" tree is starting to grow on me!

When everything else fails .......blog!

It's a ridiculous hour in the morning,

I'm sick and keep waking myself up with a nasty cough,

and I hate when I can't sleep cuz I'll so pay for it in the morning.....

.

So after a week of my Christmas tree beckening me to decorate it,

I finally did....

I came home from work and decided once and for all,

this was it, I'd had it!

So, I threw some decorations on it and it took me a total of about 15 minutes

and I did it totally different than last year,

I've been in a funk with the Christmas decorating stuff

and really struggling to get in the spirit of it all,

do you ever have years like that where some years you go all out

and some years you can't muster

enough gumption?

well, this is my gumption year, I guess!

So, in my funkiness,

I just threw my tree together, all while Kurt went to pick up Caitlyn,

and when he got home he said

"nice tree, I think it's the best one we've ever had"!

Which is ironic considering my precisely placed ornament hanging in all the other years!

(the tree on my blog is NOT my Christmas tree,

mine is actually cuter!)

.

My emotion have been running wild as of late,

with Kurt losing his job and all,

there is never a good time to be jobless

but this time of year seems harder....

So, I've encouraged my kids to really earn and save their money

and buy each other gifts this year, they are old enough to do it and I want them to be thinking about giving to others instead of worrying about our situation and what they're going to receive,

plus, isn't it so much more funner

(I know you can't say "funner" in English, but you can in Italian!!! ha!)

to give than to receive....

So, of course, my little Lynzie gets right on that idea,

last night she made everyone a piece of paper and wrote a 'service' that she was going to do for them, sealed them each in an envelope and put every ones under the tree,

then today after work and before trimming the tree, I took her to the dollar store, I stayed up front, she got a shopping card and went to town,

do you know how thrilling it is to a 9 year old little girl to push a cart,

all over the store without her mom saying,

"come on, come over here, we have to go, no, we're not getting that today"..........

So, she picks out presents for everyone in the family, including the dog,

puts all her treasures on the belt at the check-out line, and hands the lady her money,

*I think that was the best gift of all for her!

she walked away with her shoulder back and the cutest twinkle in her eye,

she came home and wrapped all the gifts in cute Christmas shirt boxes,

taped them all up, put names on them,

and now they are all sitting under the "possibly best decorated tree we've ever had!"

.

As weird as this jobless thing is, I feel blessed in so may ways,

and grateful, grateful for the things we do have, it could be worse....

Sometimes I'm calm and sometimes I think what is the meaning of all this?

like I said, my emotions have been running wild as of late....

.

okay, now it's really even more of a ridiculous hour...I must be a slow typer,

according to my girls, I am! but, I don't necessarily think so...

Maybe I'll be able to sleep now that I've rambled on...and on.....aand onnn...

.

bah humbug.....

Just waiting for my Christmas decorating bug to kick in,

and it better kick real hard, cuz I don't have any desire to decorate yet,

which is weird cuz last year I started early and was done by now!!!!

Shhhh......it's a surprise!!!

We had a fun surprise birthday party for Candice and Caitlyn this weekend....

It's always fun when you can pull off a surprise, which we did!

but I can't believe

I have a sweet 16 & sassy 17 year old daughters....

We spent the day at the Fun Zone Park, and by the day, I mean 10 hours of birthday fun!

Happy Birthday Candice and Caitlyn!

C.j. turns 17....

We surprised Candice with decorating her car this morning before school...

the freeked out father...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDICE JEAN!!!

When Momma's away....

the kids & dog will play!!!

Another sneeky picture by Spencer,

and I'm quite impressed he could captured Sadie in mid-air!

altho, not so much that they let Sadie on the couch!

*if your going to take pictures...

at least don't incriminate yourself!

Two cute damsels in distress...

I love a girl

with a big heart,

a good eye,

and a great camera!

thanks Toni

we love ya!

11-3 to 12-24

I just wanted to share something pretty cool....

if you start reading the Book of Mormon today,

and read 10 pages a day,

underlining each time there is a reference to the Savior,

(ex: Messiah, the One, Jesus, etc.)

you will finish on Christmas Eve,

and literally it will be one of your best Christmas' ever!

.

One year my mom called me and said

"do you want to have the best Christmas ever"?

"like ya,"

I said,

I remember, I had little kids and money was tight and I wanted nothing more than to wake up on Christmas morning after Santa had come and have tonz of presents under the tree...

that's when she explained the

November 3rd-10 page a day-best Christmas ever thing-

okay, it sounded fun, so I took the challenge and did it!

and,

it really was the best Christmas,

I don't remember what Santa brought for us under the tree that year

but, I do remember the beautiful, calm, peaceful feeling I had that year and the love I felt for Our Savior and how grateful I was for Him, and what an honor it was to celebrate Him that Christmas season...

.

Now, some of my brothers and sister still do it,

it's a fun thing we look forward to...

I've skipped the last few years,

but

today we, (my little family) started the Best Ever Christmas Challenge,

we read our 10 pages tonight, and it felt good.

.

.

Hey, do you want to have the best Christmas EVER???

This is how I felt today...

Kurt's company merged and his job was dissolved,

and

I ate too much Halloween candy!

I finally did it....I hired a housekeeper!

Meet Maria Consuelos,

our new housekeeper...

you might be thinking to yourself....

she looks alot like my daughter Caitlyn,

why yes, yes she does,

BUT between the hours of 9 to 12 on Saturday mornings,

she will only answer to Maria,

or Maria Consuelos!

(I think one day in passing, she mentioned something about being married to Mark Consuelos, you know,

Kelly Ripa's husband!)

We love when Maria comes and look forward to it every Saturday...

this is her second week on the job,

and she is an excellent very clean conscious cleaner

and

she is worth every penny!

We love our Maria!!!

a patch of pumpkins...

Spencer informed us in the car on the way over to the pumpkin patch that he was alot stronger this year and has been lifting weights, (really? i must of missed that) so therefore, he was going to be able to pick up a heavier pumpkin this year.....and he did!

(good thing he did all that weight lifting!)

Our family tradition is to go to the pumpkin patch every year on Lynzie's birthday,

if weather permits, with all the rain this year, we only missed it by 10 days!

a riddle...

Why did Spencer take 3 fruit snacks to school yesterday?.....

1- he's a growing boy and was extra hungry?

2- he loves to share and swap food with other classmates?

3- he wanted to show his friends how well he could juggle?

yep, you guessed it, he has finally conquered his juggling skills!

I think Santa should bring him a unicycle!

what a week, and it ain't over yet....

husband gone on business,

worked a 40 hour week,

a big nasty dental visit which included;

a bone graf and 6 stitches, on my front teeth, (hard to hide)

with

free swelling and pain!

and it gets to carry over into next week too,

if it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not!

it just gets me one step closer to my goal of my new smile,

and to me it's worth all the swelling and pain,

you know what they say,

"beauty is pain", or "pain is beauty"

at least, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

Nine is fine...

Being NINE is fine,

when you get what you've always wanted for your birthday!

(even when your mom leads you to believe that your not)

a pink DSI,

and being nine is fine, when you're as high tech as your older brother,

and now you have some leverage to hang with him!

Happy Birthday Lynzie Lou, we love you!!!