Dinner at The Coster's

A happy boy to see me!

Messy boy!

We haven't seen the boys in awhile so it was nice that Emily & I were able to go over to the Coster's after school today and play with them. Heather had also invited us to stay for dinner. She made some yummy veggie spaghetti and we brought the bread. It was funny to see how excited Dylan was to see me. He kept coming over to me off and on all night for some love! I definitely miss seeing the boys on a regular basis but enjoy the times we still get too! Not too mention it was nice to have one on one time with Heather to sit and have girl talk. Jeromy was out of town and Mike also had other plans, so it was a perfect night for girl talk while the kiddos played :)

Putting Up the Tree

Hanging Peyton before Daddy leaves for the Colt's Game

Frustrated with the hooks

Showing off her "E" ornament

The finished product

Strawberry Shortcake

Mommy & Daddy's 1st Ornament

Princess Belle

Emily had no idea what this was and was very curious! LOL

Backyardigans...of course!

Our First Schnauzer....Jasmine

The tree is all Daddy's thing. Mommy puts up the rest of the house and Daddy does the tree. That because he is soooo picky! LOL Emily really enjoyed helping this year and for the first time had alot of questions about certain ornaments. We have 18 years of collection (mostly) Hallmark ornaments, so there were tons to ask about. I highlighted the ones she was delighted to see and the 3 she was most curious about. She always refers to Jasmine as her first dog but Jasmine had been 3 years before Emily was even born. She was delighted to see an ornament with her pic in it.....What fun it was to go thru the ornaments with her this year! Even if the tree did take a few days to actually get up this year because we were busy this year.

Decorating for the Holidays

Emily showing off her Snowbabie Collection (both views! LOL)

Mommy's Favorite Exhibit :)

Now that the playroom is complete...it was time this weekend to get out the Christmas stuff and put away the Fall! Emily had a blast helping me do this. She was very eager to show off some of her favorite things. She says she cant wait to see what Snowbabie that Daddy & I pick out for her this year to open on Christmas Eve....

"Cre Cre's Girls Night Out Birthday

All of the these pics were taken off of my Iphone and are pretty horrible. But since no one else had a camera we still tried to get a few shots with it. It obviously doesn't do well in dark places even with a built-in flash. Oh well...we still had fun celebrating Crissy's Birthday out....Hope you had a great one! Love ya!

Colt's Themed Playroom "Done"!

Well our playroom.... A.K.A - Matthew's old room :( is now finally done! This project took a little longer because Mike decided to use the opportunity to put some long overdue duct work in. He had to get under the house thru a hole that he cut out in this floor and install all the "stuff" that's way over my head. Plus he had to cut some new registers in all the back bedrooms. This is basically what was holding up the playroom. But now it's complete with blue & white walls and blue carpet. The only thing missing is all the toys and some Colts stuff on the walls. Well and some curtains once I figure out what I want to do with the window :) Some day when all the toys are gone...this will be Dad's "Mancave" with a couch, flat screen and maybe air hockey table :) But for now we are excited about this for the kiddos and I am loving all the new shelving that just opened up to sort craft stuff, puzzles, playdoh, etc!

Black Friday

I had no plans of venturing out this year for Black Friday. One reason is that besides of a couple of parents gifts...I am done! I really haven't shopped on this day for a long time. Normally we would be getting our Christmas stuff out today but my hubby is laying carpet in the new playroom. So....to distract Emily's attention away from him, we decided to head out and see what the Mall was like. Emily has really been wanting to get the new Rapunzel doll but Mommy was going to get it for her for Christmas. Well.....we got her today with a 20% off coupon and stood in a very large long in Disney. I guess this is one way to pass the time :( The pretzel line for Auntie Anne's was almost just as bad. But we waited for my buy one get one free pretzel coupon! LOL Oh well....Emily's first shopping experience on black Friday!

Thanksgiving Day

Just a little nickle & dime poker :)

Emily & Ava doing art stuff in Olivia's Room

Catching some of the boys at dessert

The girls putting on a show for us!

Emily & James enjoying the drumset

Once again not too many pics were taken on Thanksgiving Day. We were having too much fun to bother with the camera. I am hating that I didnt even get a pic of our lovely host Brandi though. She really put out a LOVELY dinner. I can't even begin to name the spread she made....everything from mac & cheese, green bean & broccoli casseroles, dumplings, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, some kind of awesome vegetarian rice dish, and her Robert Redford dessert along with many other pies! YUMMY! Thanks for the awesome day of memories!

Make A "Wishbone"

Daddy won....

Finger licking good anyway!

Before heading out to Ryan & Brandi's we had to fry and cut the turkey. Mike & Emily broke the wishbone. Daddy got the bigger half but both made a wish anyway in hopes to come true! Daisy was also looking for scraps. Not too worry Mommy took care of her! They licked their fingers and we were on our way with one delicious bird!

Meet Clifford

Meet Clifford...the Red Elf on the shelf! LOL He arrived this morning wrapped on our doorstep before the parade started. Emily got up to get breakfast and the doorball rang! Santa had delivered him to watch over Emily's behavior everynight and fly back to the North Pole and give a report. Every morning he will be sitting in a different spot in the house. His lastnight with us this year will be Christmas Eve...then Emily will find out the next morning how her report went :)

Turkey #2

Since we have plenty of practice under our belts...Turkey #2 was easy! He was a little bit smaller. The other one weighed in under 22 pounds and this guy is under 14. We are heading to my Brother Ryans's tomorrow and his family is vegetarian. But they understood that we wanted real "turkey" so this along with my Paula Deen Peach Cobbler recipe is what we brought :)