These boots were made for walkin....Part Deux

So there are a billion-gagillion things I need to do. I need to wrap some presents (I plan on doing that here in a while after the crazy one goes to bed). I need to wash about 3 loads of laundry and put away about 10. Maebree's room is a wreck as well as ours. Vaccuming is WAY overdo, and the kitchen could use a good clean-up. And I don't even want to tell you what our kitchen table looks like......

But instead what am I doing? Well, the girls and I made a batch of sugar cookies (store bought dough) with icing (homeade) and sprinkles and then decided to torture our dog some more. Since it's like 5 degrees outside, she doesn't enjoy going out, and I read somewhere that a little dog loses most of their heat from their paws. In my last-minute shopping today, I found some dog booties complete with a blinking light-up feature for those great night dog-walkers. (Im not one of those...probably why our pup is about 3 pounds overweight....that's huge for a dog that is supposed to be 5 pounds tops:o)

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure.... If I only had a video camera you could acutally see her trying to walk!

She finally decided to give up and beg me for mercy....

If she could speak, I know she would be calling me cuss-words. But I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, so totally worth it:o)

Dirty coats

Ok.....Winter is here. And it stinks. I love snow and coldness and pretty, white conditions, but only from like Christmas Eve through January 1...then it can become 70 degrees and sunny the rest of the time. But what I hate most, is that all the dirt and junk from the roads gets onto your car and then transfers to your coat as you are getting kids in and out of cars! What is with that! I have a lovely lime green ZeroXposure coat, and it is the snuggliest, best, warm coat that I got super cheap at Kohls (like $25 bucks I think!) and it just gets FILTHY! And I cannot get it out! I have washed and scrubbed and bleached and repeated twice tonight, and still, those dirty stains are around the bottom and the sleeves.....

So yes, I know that I haven't posted anything for a week, and yes, I know all of you were anxiously awaiting a life-changing post from me, but man alive, this coat thing is all I got right now!

Any ideas?

Christmas programs and hair color

This past weekend was pretty stinking busy. Friday was my big hair appointment. I decided to change it up and go with a different color. I have been blonde (and many variations of blonde) for my whole life. I hadn't had any color in my hair for a while now, and last year, Russ suggested red. I didn't want to go brunette because my whole family went brunette, and I wanted to be different, but red kinda scared me. So a whole year later, I decided I would try. At the salon, I discussed it with my greatly talented hair stylist Britt, and we decided on a mix of the two, brunette with red undertones.....so....I guess you would call it an auburn-ish. (don't mind the self-portrait.....its not that easy to do with my camera...and I'm not photogenic:o)

I think I want to go with more red next time. I will probably go back to blonde in the spring or summer, but for now, its fun. And it makes my eyes look bluer, so that is always good.

Saturday we worked at the Center and went through clothes with my mom, and I took the girls to buy Christmas dresses for their concerts the next day (thanks Aunt Marilyn!)as well as a gift for Russ's Christmas party. It was crazy! I couldn't even get down the aisle at Target without having a mini-meltdown due to the massive amount of people there, so I chucked the whole thing and went to Wal-Mart in Urbana where it was not quite as busy. My sister loving refers to it as the "Lonely Wal-Mart" which seems appropriate.

Sunday we had church in the morning, Emmy's Christmas program at 1:00, Faith's Christmas program at 5:00, and Russ's Christmas party right after that at Alexanders. The girls were adorable as usual in their new dresses......

...and they both did a super job at their programs. We rushed them to mom's soon after Faith was done singing, and went to Alexander's for Russ's turn. It was a good night, but I wouldn't probably frequent Alexander's due to the extreme cost of our dinner which was good, but not exactly worth $75 it cost to eat.

So how was your weekend?

Winter is here!

Winter is here, and with a bang I might add! We had a grand time at Thanksgiving (we actually had two dinners because Russ had to work on actual Thanksgiving) and even managed to get our whole family together for a picture....which is amazing because that never happens!

Anyway, Russ and the girls managed to make some snowmen outside that first night it snowed....by the way on a separate note, they say the day it snows for the first time is the number of big snows you will have all year....it snowed on the 30th...I hope that is not true!

This masterpiece is my husband's....notice the defanition in the abs....I thought it looked like an alien:

And finally the girls snowmen. What is disturbing is that the next night some dumb kids knocked theirs over..actually came into our yard and knocked over a 5-year-old and 8-year-old's snowmen....I wanted to hunt them down and stick them in a snowman for 24 straight hours. I get kinda violent when people mess with my kids stuff:o)

More pictures to come of our lovely decorated house!! It looks so pretty. Christmas here we come!

Jack Bauer Sunday

Yep....that's right. Jack is back in action tonight. I'm pretty excited to see Jack save some African kids from warlords and stuff. Better get my "Jack's Kill Count" spreadsheet out....gotta feeling its gonna be a long one!!! WOO HOO!!!

Did you know we actually thought about naming a kid "Bauer" for their middle name (Jack is already a name in the family)? I guess that's probably why God decided to give us another girl.

These are a few of my favorite things....

So I was thinking in the store the other day about different things that I am so very thankful for. There are the obvious ones like Jesus and my hubby and my kids and all that mushy stuff. But I thought I would make up a fun list of completely trivial stuff that I am so very thankful for!

So here goes...and these are in no particular order, just what comes to my brain first:

1. Air Wick scented plug ins, Harvest Spice scent. This is my favorite scent of all time. My whole house smells like it. It is only acceptable to use this scent from mid October through the end of January. Then I usually go to Febreeze's odor neutralizing scent. I pride myself on a good-smelling house....clean...not so much. As long as it doesn't smell like dirty diapers and cat litter, I feel I've accomplished something.

2. Car Heat. There is no better, more snugly feel than car heat. Nuff said.

3. Jack Bauer. He is back on Sunday, and I can hardly wait. There will be some sort of post about that later on to come. Terrorists....watch out.....

4. Holiday traditions. This is kind of a mushy one, but I am getting geared up for Thanksgiving and have been thinking a lot on it. We have so many family traditions around Thanksgiving and Christmas, it will take an entire blog to fill that one up. It's something that is very important to me and for me to pass down to my children. Some are very small, some are not. I will probably elaborate on these in blogs to come.

5. Christmas Stockings. This one can fall under the traditions category, but I feel it should have a life of it's own. I don't care if I get one present for Christmas, I don't even really care what is in the stocking so much, as long as I get one. My mom is the greatest stocking stuffer in the world. She personalizes each one and they are always great.

6. A roaring fireplace. As long as it warms you and doesn't make your house cold. We haven't figured out that happy medium with ours yet.

7. Swimming. I love summer, and I love to swim. I wish St. Joe had a pool, we would be there daily.

8. Day-after-Thanksgiving-shopping. Yes...I'm one of those crazy people. I love it. I hate crowds, and people and traffic and lines, and I generally get nervous and itchy if there are too many people around, but on that day, I just accept it. I will stand in line for 45 minutes for my meager two items. I love drinking loads of coffee on that day and acting like a crazy person. It's more for the fun of it all than to actually get the deals...(although don't get me wrong, I like the deals). My greatest victory was diving into a crazy mob full of exceptionally large people at Wal-Mart and coming out of it alive and carrying my prized possession over my head, a bike that would prove to be WAY to big for my daughter. The only thing missing was a battle cry.

9. CAKE. This should probably be #1. I love cake.....of all kinds, textures, and varieties. My absolute favorite is white wedding cake. You know, the kind that is really moist with that sweet, almost crispy, sugary frosting? I'm salivating as I type......mmmmm.......cake....... I even love the word cake and how it sounds. I can't watch that show "Ace of Cakes" because it always makes me hungry for cake.......mmmmmm...... I make a mean triple chocolate fudge cake for my hubby on his birthday every year. That is probably my second favorite cake......mmmm....cake....

10. LOST. Yeah, anyone who knows me, knows this one would be on here. I love that show. Jack Bauer and LOST. I don't really need to go into many details with this one, I will let the pictures do the talking. This is from our "First annual Season Finale Lost party". Way fun.....(remember, you can click on the picture to make it bigger).

Roll your eyes at me all you want public....but it was tons of fun getting together with friends and just being goofy for a night. We obviously dressed up like our favorite Lost characters and ate Dharma food and had a scavenger hunt and everything.

These only crack the surface of my favorite things. There are so many more, but time is not on my side today. So what are some of your favorite trivial things?

My new hobby............

I know, I know......not the greatest blogger lately:) It's simply pure laziness, that's it...no fancy excuses....just lazy:)

So here are a TON of pictures of my BFF Nichole and her family. I did my first official family shoot, and I added a logo which I really like. I had too many favorites, so I decided to just put most of them up here:o)

Here are some of the whole family........seriously, how cute and natural are they?

And right now, these boys heart's belong to their momma....as it should be:)

Mom and dad......

and their naturally photogenic children....literally....Peyton was posing himself for me:)

Thanks for letting me use you guys again! It was so windy and cold, and the kids did so good and were such good sports through all of it. Nichole....I think you should be capitalizing off of their cuteness. I know I'm hoping too.................................:)

Most of you know about the HUGE FIRE that occurred last Friday. Click on the link, and you will get all the info you need to know:) I was awakened that morning by my kids at 6:00 a.m. We had picked my dad up at the airport the night before and did not get home until midnight, which put me going to bed at 1:00 a.m. Haven't been up that late in a LONG time. Anyway, I was frustrated because I was SURE they would all sleep in a little due to them not going to bed until so late. I thought I would wake up, make a big breakfast for us all (the kids did not have school that day), and we would just have a family day. Well, they were obviously hungry at 6:00, but me being the awesome mom I am (yeah right!), made them go downstairs and watch t.v. until Russ got home, which would be around 7:30ish. Well, that time came and past, and I wondered what was keeping him. I rolled out of bed and started breakfast, and by 8:00, I was getting a little worried. He always called to say he would be late or if he was on holdover. I called his cell and got nothing. I thought "Hm......maybe I should check the news". It was then that I turned the t.v. on to see a pic of this blazing inferno:

(These shots were taken by a paramedic with her blackberry....a few clearer ones can be seen on the website)

In my state of fogginess, I didn't realize that these pics were from Champaign, I was thinking Springfield or something. Then I see on the bottom of the screen "Downtown Champaign". Knowing Russ was stationed downtown that night, I immediately starting screaming "Girls, LOOK! Daddy was on that fire! Daddy is there!" Then the thought came to my brain...hm....maybe I should make sure everything is ok before I start getting excited about some big structure fire my husband is at and start broadcasting to my children that he is there. Again....I was in a state of fogginess. Anyway, a few minutes later the reporters state that no one is injured and that they by this time had the fire under control. So then we watched the news all morning long hoping to catch a glimpse of daddy fighting the big fire. Unfortunately, we didn't see him there, but we did get a picture of him workin' the "Big Stick" on Ladder Co 161:

Now he wasn't on this particular ladder,

but he was on THIS ONE. Did ya see him coming down!? They were able to contain the fire to that one building when many people thought it would spread to others and take out the whole block. There was a little damage to surrounding buildings, but gotta give big props to Champaign Fire Dept, Urbana, and many volunteer departments that help contain and put out the fire. Yeah Firefighters!!!!

My new hobby....

So we have all been a little under-the-weather the past few days, hence the reason there have been no posts lately:) I thought I would post a few new pics of my new hobby to tide everyone over.

Introducing....The Batty Boys!

I have some GREAT pics of the BIG FIRE in downtown Champaign that my hubby got to fight:) Those are soon to come.........................

Well there ya go.....

So I haven't really been able to think of what to say about this whole election. It didn't go the way I wanted, that is for SURE! But it's over, and I guess I can be glad about that.

I know that God is not surprised about what happened, and I have to remind myself that He is my Comander and Chief, my Healthcare, my Protector, my Economy, etc.... I have to remind myself not to worry, He has a plan, He always does.

On another note, Russ did have to talk our 8-year-old future Young Republican off the ledge yesterday morning. She was so distraught, he had to pray with her before she went to school. I went to her Parent-Teacher conference later that evening, and her teacher informed me that she was involved in a discussion the day before with another kid in her class about the candidates. While still being respectful to the other kid, she was simply stating the facts as to why she didn't like Barack Obama. When I asked her about it, she told me she was telling the kid that "He will raise all our taxes and he does think it's ok to take babies out of mommies tummies before they are ready so that they die". She said "That kid just kept saying he didn't believe me, but I told him the truth" :o) Her teacher said she was secretly doing a "You Go Girl" and I just sat back and beamed with pride:) What a kid!

More baby Eli....

So I have a TON of picutres of the new little bundle of joy, I just thought I would share a few:)First up, I cannot stress how sweet and "insey tinsey" this little guy is....He is pretty much pure perfection in a little 4 lb body:o)

Ma is pretty excited about her new little grandbaby...

He truly is a snugly little monkey.....Didi agrees:)

I think this is the best pictures to show how little he is compared to Krissy's hand!

Here's the new little family.......

The nurse was really awesome......and she had really cute hair, so that makes all the difference right? She let my girls get involved with his little "check-up"........

He gets to go home today, so that is REALLY good news! God is GREAT!

"Eli's comin, hide your heart girls!"

Since we don't celebrate Halloween, we took the girls to see "Beverly Hills Chihuahua". As we were sitting down and the movie was getting ready to start, my mom called and informed us that they were taking Samantha in for an emergency c-section, about 4 1/2 weeks early! So I now have this precious, new little monkey nephew.....

All 4 lb 9 oz, 17 inches of him!! How precious is he?! Noah at first wasn't thrilled with the fact that he was going to have to share his parents....

But then his daddy comforted him a little and showed him his brother....

and then took him for a fun ride....

Even Mae-Mae was excited to see her new cousin...

More to come tomorrow!