Sad

I had some cute videos to post and I lost them. I uninstalled the software from the computer because it didn't seem to be playing right not realizing that I had somehow deleted them off of my camera. I'm so sad about that. I did manage to save three pictures I took, so I guess I'll have to share those instead. Emma's class went to the nursing home today to sing Christmas songs to the Grandpas and Grandmas and she sang so nice and loud and did a great job. Sorry I can't share.

Better day

This morning when Scott went to wake Emma up, he asked her what she wanted for breakfast. She asked what there was to have. Scott gave her some choices. Emma answers, "I'll take whatever takes the longest to make so I can sleep a little longer." LOL! She's one smart cookie!!

Today was my second day this month of delivering Meals on Wheels. I wish I could say there were no problems. However, I can't. Scott decided that today would be the best day to take the van in to have it serviced before we head back to Iowa for Christmas. I told him I needed it to deliver meals, and he said it would be done in plenty of time. I wasn't quite as confident. At 10 I decided to call him and have him check to see if it was done. Nope. Just as I figured. So, Emily, et al, came to the rescue. She loaded up her three little ones, came to get Emma and I and we delivered the meals together. Let me tell you, that sure makes it go A LOT faster! I couldn't believe how quickly we were getting it done (but compared to last week, I think delivering them on foot might have been faster?). We were done at 12:45, as compared to 1:20 last week. The little old lady that was grouchy last week was nice this week, so I felt good about that. I made lunches for the kids so there wouldn't be any dying noises coming from the back. They all ate very well. I think that's the way to go, strap them in their carseats and they have nothing else to do but eat! :-)

This morning, since Scott took the van to be serviced, I had to walk Gage to school. It was UGLY out there! By the time I got home my eyebrows hurt! No kidding! I felt so bad when we got to school because no one was allowed to go inside until the bell rang. There is a mean old lady that stands at the doors shooing everyone back outside when they try to come in. Since I was with Gage, and I needed to talk to the secretary in the office, she left us alone. On our way back outside, this girl, I'm guessing a 5th grader, came in and was going to go down to the lunchroom for breakfast and the lady wouldn't let her in. She said it was too late, and that breakfast was over. Then, this little guy, who Gage knows, who is in another first grade class, was coming up to the doors when we walked out. He asked me if he was in time for breakfast. I told him that breakfast was done because I didn't want him getting shooed out from the mean old lady. The look on his face made me feel so bad. I could tell he was cold AND hungry. I was going to get Gage's snack from his bag and give it to this little guy to have something in his belly before school, but I didn't know if I should or not? I didn't end up giving it to him because his sister came to get him to take him down to the playground with her. I felt terrible. It was darned cold out there this morning, and I couldn't imagine having to stand out there in it with a hungry tummy. I may have to start packing 2 snacks?

Hockey

Today was then end of Emma's fall/winter session of hockey. They ended the session with a pizza party/potluck. Yesterday Emma's coach, Margaret, told Scott that she is doing great, and commented on how good her form was. I recall last year Margaret saying that Emma has a lot of natural talent and shows great potential. Today she told me that she thought Emma was going to cause me a lot of problems when she becomes a teenager because all of the boys are going to be after her. Maybe her little red-haired attitude will be a blessing when that time comes and she won't like the boys, or maybe they won't like her? One can only hope. I suppose I may not even have to worry about it, because her friend Silas (Emily's son) says he's going to marry her (so that he can be with Gage!) :-)

getting things done

Slowly but surely, I'm getting some things done. I'm getting closer to being done with my Christmas shopping. Scott's always the last person I have left. He's very hard to buy for because typically when there's something he wants, he just goes out and buys it. That makes it very hard for me to think of things to get him.

Emily and I are going to get together again next week to try and finish up Christmas cookie baking. It seems that the first batch is nearly gone, which is why I don't always get it done too soon, because it gets eaten too quickly. I always make a huge selection of Christmas cookies to take to Iowa to my parents. I know they like having the goodies around when we're all home for Christmas. I'm afraid Mom might burn the house down if she tried doing it! (Just teasing Mom!) I like trying something new each year to try out on all of them. A few years ago I found a recipe for Santa's Surprises and they are to die for! It's basically a peanut butter cookie wrapped around a miniature Snickers candy bar, then with Dove milk chocolate drizzled over the top with powdered sugar sprinkled over the top. Mmmm Mmmmm! I have waited on making those because I know I would eat them all if I had them done now. This year I have a new recipe from my friend Tonya. I don't know what it's called, but it certainly is yummy. It's a type of Chex Mix that is mixed with melted white chocolate chips. I'm sure everyone will love it.

I'm nearing completion of our Christmas letter. It seems that many weren't going to be satisfied with my Elf yourself message. So I decided I best get to work and get a Christmas letter out. However, I'm sure most of it will be "old news" to my faithful blog readers! Maybe I can think of something I haven't blogged about to write? I doubt it though. My brain is pretty much overloaded, so anything extra is probably out of the question.

Tired

Well, I certainly paid the price today for not getting the kids to bed early enough last night due to Emma's ballet recital. Thank goodness the day is over and hopefully they got to bed early enough for a better day tomorrow. I'm not certain what time they actually got to sleep as we had to have a babysitter tonight while Scott and I attended an open forum meeting at Corpus Christi church in regards to having Northridge Kindergarteners or 6th graders moving off campus to relieve some space issues for the next 2 years while they build a new elementary school in Bismarck. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but if you go by the pros and cons they have listed for either grade attending school at Corpus Christi, I would say the 6th graders will be going. There were alot of passionate people there voicing their opinions. I'm fine either way. I know Emma will get a great Kindergarten education regardless of where she ends up. It's also pretty certain I believe that it will be all day, every day Kindergarten. So, this will be Emma's last year of being home part-time.

I have not yet heard anything regarding my two weeks' notice, in case you were curious.

Here Comes Suzie Snowflake

Emma had her 1 min and 17 seconds of fame tonight. She did great at her recital dancing to Here Comes Suzie Snowflake. She said she was a little nervous, but you couldn't even tell. We were busy enough today that I hadn't even thought of dolling her up with makeup or curling her hair! (I wouldn't have been able to doll her up in makeup anyway, because I don't have any!). It was warm enough in the church that she ended up not even needing any makeup as her cheeks were already rosy! Our good friends Dave and Maggie, and Juanita and Kim were there to serve as family. They did a wonderful job! Emma really enjoyed having them there to watch. After the program, which was 1 1/2 hours by the way, they served goodies which were brought by all of the parents. They had it set up in "potluck" style. I think I need to go over proper etiquette when going through a line like that. I was standing off to the side talking with Maggie while Emma was in the line. I wasn't really paying too close attention, and when she turned around she had a napkin with 7 different things on it and she couldn't carry it all. She was about to drop them all and ended up catching them all with her shirt. I was a little embarrassed to say the least. She certainly isn't shy when it comes to sugar!

Gage for some reason had a hard time enjoying the recital. He didn't like it that they didn't talk while acting out the play of The Little Matchstick Girl. He had to keep asking questions of which I didn't know the answers. He was also hot and dying of thirst throughout the program. If he only realized how many things of his that Emma has to sit through, maybe he wouldn't have complained so much. I tried to tell him about that, but he was sure to point out that she gets to run around and have fun and play.

We finally got our Christmas tree(s) today. We were discussing what we were going to do after lunch, and I sent Scott to Target to get the tree. We decided we weren't going to spend $300 on a tree right now, since we don't really have it to spend in the first place. They had a much smaller tree in a pot that I liked for much less. He went to get the tree and called to tell me that they were all on sale. The $300 tree was now $209. We decided to wait on it anyway and see if they'll drop the price even lower the closer it gets to Christmas. It turned out to be a bonus when he got the smaller potted tree. It came as a set of 2 trees. Gage and Emma were thrilled to death, as they each have their OWN Christmas tree in the living room! Who knew? We ended up just getting out their own personal ornaments to put on their own personal trees. They decorated them themselves and are so proud of them. It turned out to be a win win deal. These trees were also on sale, so I think we ended up paying $25 for each of them. And, they are nice little trees that I will continue to use in the future. They could actually be up year round I think? I can now stop worrying about that. Now I must start worrying about getting Emma's stocking finished that I started when she was born!

To buy, or not to buy...........that is the question.

I thought I'd get another video uploaded for you all to enjoy. Gage is playing hockey and is green #5. He does a great job skating and gets a great workout at practice and games. I love to see his hair dripping with sweat when he's done. However, when you get 100's of boys, adolescents and adults sweating in the same place, it's not so great. It just reaks of body odor when you walk into the VFW hockey arena. I can't stand the smell. The hockey bags are just as bad when that sweaty gear sits there, I'm sure growing all sorts of bacteria. The other day I started wondering about Gage's mouthpiece. It sits in the hockey bag, attached to his helmet with all of that other stinky sweaty gear. I wonder if that could cause him to get sick? Gage hasn't really been sick yet, so I guess not?

Well, we did NOT get a Christmas tree today. We found a couple that I like, but they are in the $300 range! I have a hard time making decisions like that. I found one at Target that I really like that's $299. There's one at Lowe's that I really like and is $300. There's one at Hobby Lobby that I sort of like, that is normally $250, on sale for $179. I'm not sure if I should spend half of the amount to get a tree that I sort of like, or bite the bullet and spend the $300 on one that I really like. From past experience, I'm usually upset with myself for not getting what I really want. Scott wants a real tree. I like real trees too, but we have waited too long and I don't want to spend $80 for a real tree that we will get to enjoy for 2 weeks. We will be going to Iowa for Christmas, and a rule of mine is that the tree has to be down before we go. One reason is because it scares me having a dry tree begging for a flame in the house. I also have 2 cats that would have every needle knocked off the tree, and possibly have the tree knocked over and all of my ornaments broken. Anyway, the tree has to be down before we go if it's real. If it's artificial, it can stay up and we can take it down after we get back. So, with all of the activities and work that's been going on, I know it will add major stress making sure the tree is down before we go. So, the question is, do I want to worry less and be completely happy with the tree, or do I want major stress and spend money that we will be throwing out the door in 2 weeks? I vote less worry. So, now the question is, do I want to spend $300 for a tree I love, or $179 on a tree that's okay? Any suggestions??