FINALLY!... The moment you all have been waiting for...

Well, OK - more like the moment only one of you have been waiting for... either way... here it is!!!

AN UPDATE!!

Ok- So I am officially a slacker! With all the holiday shopping, decorating, baking, festivities, blah, blah, blah, excuses, excuses, spending time with friends and family, fighting through the snow and ice, and batteling against all the cold weather bugs... (ok- i'm not going to even go there... with my little bug obsession... an obvious poor choice of words!) OK- how's this one instead... and batteling against all the cold weather coughs and colds! - I should have used that one in the first place anyway... it is much more clear on what I was going for!

~ well, since I did already mention bugs... this is what I found while I was cleaning...

 No wonder I had bugs!!!??? What were those two hooligans of mine doing!!? Clearly they were not interested in eating the crackers... much less cleaning them up!!!

Anyway- putting all of that aside, I am finally able to sit down and pay some much needed attention and TLC to my blog! Going on nearly a month now since my last post is a little disheartening for me... I'm sure I've lost a few readers... which has put me back down to only one... still... again... Thanks for staying loyal and hanging on!! But, good news for the future!!! I am off of work for the next 2 weeks!!! YYYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!! CAN I TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM~!!!!!??? Is it that obvious!? So, needless to say- I will be doing all kinds of fun things with the girlies and will be dying to tell you all about it- so stay tuned... there will be (hopefully) several little posts throughout the next couple weeks!

As for this post...

Here is a taste of what we have been up to: Well, not really a taste... more like a SMORGASBOARD of things we have been up to... (how do you even spell that!? Is it even a word...) oh well- strap on your seat belt- I'm about to throw all kinds of pictures at you... I'll do you a favor and let them speak for themselves instead of explaing every last detail... neither one of us want to be tied up with this blog for the next 5 hours... so - I'm sure pictures will be just fine with you too!!


Here goes...
Thanksgiving was great! Spending time with our family and loved ones is always a blessing, especially during the holiday season!
Sloan's class luncheon was also a hit with all! (I particularly loved the placemats, and what they were thankful for on the bottom..."the beautiful world"? someone clearly was giving her options of things to put down! but still absolutely adoreable!)

The first snow brought much excitement! They both looked out the window screaming and  laughing at everything that was covered in snow!

The snow motivated me to decorate for Christmas and wrap some gifts...

even if it was only a couple little presents...

 Chaysie wanted to wrap a better present instead!

And decorate their tree's in their rooms... 

 Notice the heavy Belle ornament she wanted on top of the tree, completely weighing it down!  Well, nevermind that... whats up with the random piggy bank she grabbed off her dresser and wanted to pose with!?  But either way... it is Sloanie Balonie... so it all makes since now!

Caki made gingerbread men with the girls so Ryan and I could go out on date-night with some friends! However, they couldn't find the cookie cutters... 
So I guess they are just gingerbread cookies...?

We drove through the "drive through Bethlehem"

 

We made our Christmas gift baskets... 

And our other Christmas gifts...Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix: apparently this is a huge hit this Christmas.  I've noticed several people are doing this this year... Hopefully that means a lot of people like it!! Although I never realized there are so many different ways to make it! Every recipe I have seen from people making this are completely different... I'll add this recipe in another post ~ This post is quite too long already!!! 

 And of course we are always dressing up...

and sneaking off into mommie's lipstick! 

So there you have it! The basics on what we've been up to, and what has been stealing my time away from my blog!

And surprisingly enough the post was not too long after all... cutting back on what I say really helps out!! hhmmm... imagine that!? am I telling myself something?! nah!

Have a wonderful weekend! And don't be a stranger~ Check back soon... I'll be posting again shortly!

Hope everyone is ready for the Holidays!! ~ If not... we still have a few days!  

The cat's meow

I'm a sucker for Halloween! I love everything about it! Halloween has always been one of my favorite Holidays... but then again, I think I say that with every holiday that is being celebrated at that point in time! But Halloween is not like the rest.  Witches, Goblins, Ghosts, Haunted Houses and dressing up! What could be better!? And to top it off, you get to walk around your neighborhood and talk to all your friends and neighbors while passing out and receiving candy! It takes a lot to top this one! And I love to see all the different ideas for costumes and decorations. It's so much fun! 

It's such a great holiday too because it's the first holiday to really start off the holiday season! (I mean could I say the word 'holiday' one more time in one sentence?...)  I know everyone here knows their holidays, but really, after Easter, there's a drought. And then... Halloween comes around! Then Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly following, with New Years and Valentines day and Easter ending the celebrating frenzy! I mean it starts off the season of having a holiday once a month until Easter! So, its a great holiday just for that reason!
Anyway-  We have tons of dress up costumes in the basement, and so we just picked from the endless supply. I tried to save some money this year... while I still can at least, since they don't have any requests yet!  So, we went with the two cats that were in the stash.  (Of course, I had to be a little more persuasive so they would want the cats over the random and unknown princess dresses.) I really tried to sell the nemo outfit to one of them, while the other wore a cat- but if one has something, the other has to also... so we went for the two cats!

However, I was not as successful in getting a great picture of those little kittens...

Although I must admit... this one turned out to be rather cute! 

 But then they ran away as fast as possible to ride their cars... if I was going to get any more pictures, it was gonna have to be on these. 

Oh well - better luck bribing them with candy!

It worked for one of them! At least, long enough to capture a couple cute shots!

Here's the loot before I (as dad always said), 'go through it and make sure it's all ok to eat!'  

Thanks dad for teaching me such a great line! I can't believe I'm just now figuring out why you would always say it!

Ok- gotta go... those Skittles are completely calling me name! (If they are even still in there...)