MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dan surprised me with this shirt for Christmas:

So, I guess I need to blog what I did while wearing this shirt :)

We had a fabulous Christmas! I was really excited this year b/c Carson was so excited for Christmas to come. We had a fun time opening gifts (which we had in abundance this year, probably a few too many). The kids came downstairs to tons of presents under the tree. One thing was not wrapped though, Brynlee's baby doll and stroller. She immediately went over to it and starting pushing it around...so cute! Then she took the doll out and gave it hugs; just the reaction I was hoping for :)

We started opening presents and the kids just LOVED that! Here are a few pictures of them:

(look at that cute kid...when did he get so old?)

(Princess Brynlee)

(Bryn with her "purse")

(Soooo excited!!!)

(hanging out in their hooded towels)

These next two pictures are my favorite from today. While Carson happily opens his gift, check out Bryn's cute expressions....

And what did Dan and I get? Some cool stuff....hard drive, family stories, CD of fam pictures, blanket, shirts, ties, slippers. Thanks everyone!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!!!

Sitting on Santa's Lap

Carson has sat on Santa's lap several times this season. What does he ask for??

Ironman guys (check!)

a Tiger (does an orange hooded towel count? check!)

a Vampire or Vampire Teeth (any help with this one?? I think his aunt got him a plush Count from Sesame St...that'll have to do..thanks!)

What does Brynlee ask for??? I sure hope it's a baby doll with a little stroller....check!

Christmas here we come!!!!!!!

Check out...

...this fun pillow!

Wisconsin Trip in numbers

*2 times on the plane, one going, one coming back.

*1 good plane trip.

*1 absolutely terrible plane trip. (Let's just say it including sitting on the plane an extra hour+, a bloody mouth, and screaming kids, well, really just screaming Brynlee)

*8 mornings where Brynlee woke up totally soaked through b/c she had slept so long.

*10 morning that Carson would crawl in to bed with me and go back to sleep. (So sweet and something we don't do at home)

*1 super cool sister to hang out with.

*two fun cousins to play with, Gwen and Claire.

*2 blow-up beds

*1 pack-n-play

*1 cold basement :)

*1 very cool laundry shoot that Carson couldn't get enough of.

*512: the number of times Brynlee body-slammed poor Claire

*3 domes visited

*2 Santas seen

*2 sick kids

*6 pukes; Gwen x 2, Bryn x 4.

*689 loads of laundry done

*1 time singing in church with Katherine

*2 Christmas parties

*2 Birthday parties.

*5 stores visited to find stinking plain barrettes to make bows for Gwen. (still never found them)

*1 bag of bugs purchased at the Dollar Tree

*1 binkie lost at the dollar tree

*25 breadsticks eaten at the Olive Garden

*1 snowstorm with 1 stuck car

*1,498 times I talked to Dan on the phone :)

*1,498 times I complained to Dan about crazy kids on the phone.

*1,489 times I should've said 'sorry' or just not complained at all...sorry Dan...and cute kids of mine!

*4 crazy new hair-do's we did on Gwen's hair.

*12 burp cloths made for Claire.

*2 cute towels made for the girls.

*2 snowflake dresses made for the girls.

*240 hours of fun!!!

***As you can see, we had a very crazy, exciting, and FUN trip to visit Katherine and her girls in Wisconsin!!! We miss you guys already...and your eyeballs!!

And here is a cute video of Claire-bear laughing. Carson said she sounds like a mummy. Whatever she sounds like, she was super cute laughing!!!

I don't think we're in MD anymore...

....We've been in Wisconsin for a few days now. Let's just say, I don't think we're in Maryland anymore!!! I shoveled my sister's driveway this morning and by the time I was done, it looked like I should start shoveling again....argghh!!! My sister shoveled it a few hours later and then got her car stuck halfway down the street....double argghhhh!!!! On happier note, Carson made a REAL snow-angel (not just pretending on the carpet or a "leaf angel") and we are all having a great time hanging out. More to come from snowy WI later!

This ward ROCKS!!!

Last night I went to our Christmas Enrichment activity and it was great! The little program was great and made me feel all warm inside, the catered BBQ dinner was YUM, and the great conversation with awesome friends was the BEST!!! I tell you, this ward has the funnest, funniest, awesomemest, coolest (i better stop before i keep making up words that aren't really words) people ever! I have never had sooo many truly good friends (some of you who I've met in this ward, but have since moved...you know who you are!) in one single ward! This ward really is something else! We had some awesome dinner conversation...or pretty much just constant laughter! After the activity was over, 5 of us just couldn't shut our traps and kept on talking...and I loved every minute of it. Last nights enrichment was just what I needed! Thanks ladies!!

Great times had by all

We had a fabulous trip up to NY to visit my family! We left the house in spotless condition (just in case someone wanted to see our house while we were gone) at 6am on Wednesday morning. The kids were great on the car ride up and we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' house in the mid afternoon. Carson was soooo excited to see them and both him and Bryn LOVED being with them all weekend. We enjoyed the evening with my parents and started making some food for the following day.

Thanksgiving Day was great!! We awoke to hearing Carson on the baby monitor saying "Brynlee...it's time to wake up!". I quickly went and got him so she could sleep a little longer...good thing too, she didn't wake up till 9:30am! The first thing Carson asked me when he got up was "are my cousins here?". He was sooo excited to play with his cousins. They came a little later and he played with them NON-STOP! He loved building "caves" with McKee and Seth and jumping on the trampoline with Brooke and Tyler...too bad we all don't live closer to each other! That morning my dad took some pictures of the kiddos in their Christmas outfits. Taking pictures of one kid, let alone TWO, drives me bonkers!! Bryn would NOT SIT in the cute little white rocking chair for more than a second, so we only ended up getting ONE picture of her alone. After NUMEROUS attempts to get a cute picture of the two kids together, we surrendered and sat down with the kids (to hold them down!) and got a cute family picture. I like the way they turned out though....thanks dad, you're great!! Thanksgiving meal was fabulous as usual. I think I could eat turkey, potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes and rolls EVERYDAY! Thanks mom for such a scrumptious meal! The rest of the evening we lounged and talked...it was perfect! I am soo thankful for my family, friends and life!

Friday morning my mom, Crystal, and I woke up bright and early for a second annual black friday shopping at Joann Fabrics. It was awesome!! We got there a little after the store opened at 6am and didn't leave till close to 10am! I bought TONS of fun flannel at only $1.49/yd and I also bought a SERGER!!! I've been wanting one and this one was 50% off, so I got the last one...yippee!!! Here's hoping I can figure out how to use it! That afternoon, we took my parents out to Friendly's for lunch and then Dan took Carson to see his first ever movie in the theater. They saw Madagascar II and apparently Carson LOVED it! While the boys watched the movie, Bryn and I roamed the mall. After dinner, we went to visit Alison and her family. Her little daughter is getting so big and is absolutely adorable. We had fun chatting and the kids LOVED playing with her dog, Mia. It was soo fun seeing you Ali! Later that night, when the kids were tucked into bed, Dan and I went to see Twilight, which we both liked. Lucky Dan...he saw TWO movies in one day!

On Saturday, we hung out with Jill and Carlos for lunch and a little Rock Band. We had a ROCKIN' good time and decided that we definitely should live closer to each other :) Later we enjoyed another yummy dinner my mom made with Mike and Crystal's family.

The drive back on sunday was pretty uneventful, thank goodness. Although, we did stop at the Harrisburg mall (like usual) and Carson and Bryn got a free picture with Santa...so cute! Unfortunately, no one came to see our beautifully clean house while we were gone....well, no one until we barely got home! We literally had just walked in the door from driving all day, brought ALL of our stuff in from the van, and the phone rang! Someone wanted to see our house in an hour. So, we had to put ALL of our stuff back into the van, pack up our over-tired kids, and leave our house. I couldn't believe it!!! What TERRIBLE TIMING!!!! I'll forgive the person if they BUY MY HOUSE!!! Here's hoping. Anyway...we had a fabulous long weekend in NY! Here are some pictures!

crafty blog

So, I've been thinking about doing a little crafty blog and I finally did! I just need a place to organize ideas and pictures. Feel free to check it out if you're ever in a crafty mood!

http://getyourcrafton.blogspot.com

SO FRUSTRATING!!!

Okay, I'm trying my very best to be patient with the whole selling our house thing...but it is getting harder by the day!!! I have been so good at keeping my house clean and getting it spotless whenever someone wants to see it. I try to be patient and just keep telling myself that it will sell when the time is right...but why can't the time be right now?? After almost three months, we finally got an official offer. I was super excited until I heard what the offer was....$45,000 less than we were asking....argghhh!!! It felt like a slap in the face. We, counter-offered higher than that, but a little less than we were asking, but they couldn't do it. It is soooooo frustrating!!! Any bit of interest in our house, or even a showing, I get my hopes up thinking that maybe this is the "one". Oh well! I'm also super frustrated b/c I find all these cute houses online that I love and wish I could go see, but there's no point until we have a contract on our house. I guess I'll just keep trying to be patient...wish me luck!!

Let it SNOW!!!

While leaving preschool yesterday, it started to snow...well, barely snow. But enough that Carson and his best bud, Lindsey could notice it....and they LOVED IT!!! They were so sad when only minutes later the little flurries were no where to be seen. Later that afternoon it flurried a bit more and I showed Carson the snow on the back deck (see picture above), to which Carson replied, "Wow, look at all that snow, there's so much of it!". Poor kid born in Maryland, where THIS is a lot of snow and people cancel school and work for just a forecast of the fluffy white stuff. Oh, if he only understood what REAL snow was...maybe this year we'll get a couple big storms :)

This one goes out to Aunt Janet!

My awesome aunt posted this video clip a while back of her new favorite song. I too fell in love with it and listened to it often...maybe a little too often. Carson started picking up on it...here is his debut....

I'm almost ready!!!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I think I'm almost ready for Christmas! Besides the fact that I've been listening to Christmas music for months now, and that Carson has already sat on Santa's lap at the mall, but I think I'm just about ready with all the gifts for the kids too! We don't go crazy with the gifting, but we do a decent job. I have several smallish things for Carson and one big thing (a VSmile thingie that was handed down to us). I'm also making some small gifts for the kiddos. Here is a little preview to what Brynlee's Christmas will be like this year....I think the dolly will go great with the toy stroller Santa is bringing her. Who said Christmas colors HAVE to be red and green...maybe sometimes they should be pink and zebra!

SYTYCD!!!!!!!!!

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance show last night and it was freakin' AWESOME!!!! I was pretty dedicated to watching it this past season and definitely had some favorite dances....can I say BRIEFCASE?? They did all my favorites and more I had forgotten about! Each of them did a little solo dance too and Gev's was amazing! It was such an AWESOME show...really....AWESOME!!!!! The girls we were sitting next to were hilarious too! They were around our age, but were so into it, they were cracking us up! When the very last dance started, one of them jumped up and climbed over our knees to get out to the aisle and "let loose"...she was dancing...singing...going CRAZY! We were dying laughing...as were her friends. The only problem I have with going to fun shows like this is that afterwards I just can't contain myself...I WANT TO BE A DANCER!!! I really think about me up there dancing...or at least taking a hip hop class! I always dream big, ever since I thought I would be a singer after seeing a Milli Vanilli concert. And I looked up law schools after watching "Legally Blonde". What can I say? I just love this stuff....I think I'm going to go busta move now!

This is Halloween!

We had a fabulous Halloween! Carson was sooo excited (for the last month or so) to go trick-or-treating. We had absolutely PERFECT weather for it and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As expected, Carson LOVED going door to door and saying "trick or treat!". It was so fun to see how excited he was! Brynlee, on the other hand, totally surprised us....she LOVED trick-or-treating too. You may be thinking...but she's just one....yeah, that's what I thought. I totally thought she wouldn't care at all, but she did! She would not loosen her sticky grip on her Elmo bucket (unless she fell over and dropped it, which she did a lot), and she wanted to walk most of the time and would walk her cute little lion self up to every door and grab candy from them! She really was getting in to it and it was cracking us up! She would get mad if we didn't let her go up to the door or walk on her own from house to house. She's a crazy little girl! It was a wonderful Halloween and it just proves my point that holidays are so much more fun with kids...i love it!

Ken, Punkins, and Hair OH MY!

On tuesday my brother Ken flew in from Indy just to have lunch with me and the kiddos!!! Okay, maybe he had a job interview too, but I'm sure the real reason he came was to see me, right? We had a great 3 hours together...you can come any time Ken, but next time bring your cute wife and kid too! Here are some pictures documenting him being here...i love the look on the kid's faces in the last one.

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Today we went with our preschool friends to a pumpkin patch. It had a nursery rhymes theme and a fun little petting farm. Carson loved feeding the sheep and playing on the big rainbow slide. He is sooo excited for Halloween tomorrow!

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And on a side note, Bryn's hair is getting long enough to do little piggies...so fun!