Got Mud?

 

    

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Other Photo Shoot

This was our first attempt at a Christmas card photo but it just wasn’t our day.  A few cute ones nonetheless: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our Christmas present from my sister.  It’s been so rainy we decided she’s an inside bird!

 

How About That Holiday Spirit?

So I went to the craft store for like the eighth time this week.  As I was standing in line, (which was about a mile long, but that is another rant altogether,) a young gal was looking through the $1 bins while two gals (both of whom should have been checking us out, which would have solved both the line problem and the customer service problem) were stocking them.  She asked one of the gals if they had anymore of the stamps like the one she had just found.  The stocker looked at her and said,”I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine.”  Is it just me or have we lost some of that old-fashioned customer service?

I also hit the post office again.  I went twice last week and just whipped in and out and then went today, which apparently is the busiest day of the Christmas holiday season.  There was no whipping of any kind.  I was kind of shocked hearing the federal employees wishing people a “Merry Christmas”.  In fact, I have been wished a “Merry Christmas” by more store employees this year than in any I can remember.  So now I just read a ‘news’ article that some employees were told they couldn’t say “Merry Christmas” because it made some people feel left out and I just want to say that this is directly related to removing dodgeball from our elementary schools, giving everyone a trophy for everything they do, and making kids invite their whole class to their birthday parties.

There’s an Elephant in the Room

Last night was our annual white elephant party.  This was the lovely gift I so generously gave away:

 

 

 We had a fun visit with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys got to open their presents with them, which was much more fun.

 

 

 

We finally finished our monthly quilt.  I think it turned out super cute.

Need an Armed Soldier?

 

         

 

 

 On Monday night we went to a live Bethlehem performance.  Ryan loved it and has performed his own over and over again.  He even designed his own soldier costume! : )

 

 

You can also make one of these cute ornaments with only three trips to the craft store.  This was another cute craft I found in Disney’s Family Fun magazine.

Lumpy

Poor Ryan, and me because I got to be woken up and it was still dark, woke up this morning with a huge lump on the side of his neck.  It was super tender to the touch, hence the screaming and crying.  Fortunately, Erik had already woken up crying for Harvey.  Overall, super fun start to the day!  I wasn’t able to get him in to the doctor until 5 tonight.  Apparently, the ‘zit’ under his nose and the one on his chest that I popped (whoops!) was not a sign of horribly premature adolesence, but of a bacterial infection.  His lymph nodes are not happy.  So he is now on antibiotics.  Can I just say how happy I am that I took their Christmas photos the day before he woke up with the aforementioned blemish!  I have enough of those Christmas photos coming in the future.  

Gingerbread Houses!

 This afternoon we went to a friend’s house to decorate our gingerbread house:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta-da!!