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Christmas movies

We have so many Christmas traditions that some I kind of overlook when posting on the blog but I decided to share this one because Gigi and I had so much fun watching Kylan! We always watch a couple of Christmas movies like The Grinch, The Nativity Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas and my sister and I love A Christmas Story but this year the only ones that we could watch were Home Alone and Home Alone 2 because Kylan insisted they were the only ones to watch! He laughed and laughed and watched those movies over and over and over and laughed as much the last time as he did the first time. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Christmas fun!

This year Santa (now they know if was mom and dad) brought the kids Rock Band for the Wii! We have been having so much fun playing it...Gigi, Kevin, and Grammy are even joining in on the fun!

Aunt Kat emailed me earlier in the year and asked for measurements for the kids and I told her that if she wanted to make Makenzie something I had a great idea. The idea was from when we went to Little House on the Prairie Makenzie was really wanting one of the Prairie outfits but I don't well enough to make a cute dress, bonnet and apron but Aunt Kat does! She found an adorable Holly Hobby pattern and used it to make Kenzie, Paige and Brooke prairie outfits. Makenzie was SO excited and can't wait to wear it! Kenzie has some girlfriends that also have prarie outfits so she wants to get together with them and play sometime soon!

Another tradition is that I make sausage souffle every Christmas for breakfast it's such a yummy recipe that I got from my mother in law.

Christmas traditions

We always have gone to a Christmas Eve service at church and this year they had a candle light service, we sang Christmas songs, had communion and our Pastor gave a short talk about Christmas...it was a beautiful service and I am SO happy that we have decided to join Discovery it's a perfect fit for our family. We weren't sure if Kevin would be able to make the service since it was early at 5:30 pm and this year was so busy for UPS since DHL is going out of business but Kevin walked in wearing his UPS uniform and only about 20 min late. After church he told our pastor he was sorry for wearing his uniform but Derk said he was just happy to see Kevin and didn't care what he wore and that God doens't care either!

After playing with some friends this past week they told her that Santa wasn't real and Makenzie asked me about it so I had to tell her the truth that Santa isn't real. I was so sad because we always have so much fun putting out the Santa key (we don't have a chimney because our fireplace is gas), leaving him milk and cookies, leaving reindeer food, and calling to talk to Santa on Christmas Eve. She has told Kylan now so both of them don't believe in Santa anymore....they are growing up so quickly and I just wanted this one fun childhood thing to last a little longer but no such luck. At least Makenzie waited to tell Kylan about Santa until AFTER Christmas was over.

We also have a tradition of the kids opening 1 gift on Christmas eve and it ALWAYS just happens to be new PJ's. This year was no exception! Kenzie got cute penguin PJ's from Justice (her favorite girls store) and Kylan got Star Wars ones...I think almost everything he got this year was Star Wars!

We also make sugar cookies every year and decorate them. This year Kylan helped make them but didn't want to decorate so he was the photographer while Gigi, Kenzie and I decorated them. I can really tell that Kenzie's decorating skills are getting better since learning cake decorating at Girls Club!

Visting Santa!

Today was a cold, nasty day but we braved the weather and stood in line for 40min to visit Santa in his little house.

Kylan asked for a purple light saber from Star Wars and Kenzie asked for a surprise. Mrs. Clause gave them each a yummy cookie and then we were off!

Mommas Darlins giveaway

If you have a little girl in your life that likes dolls you have to check out this adorabe little doll that Mommas Darlins is giving away! I love her clothes too they are super cute and would make any little girl happy.

Elite gymnastics

We are so blessed to be friends with Mom of two girlie girls and she invited us to join her homeschool group at the gym today for a fun playtime and in one of the pics you can see her daughter climbing the rope and she was almost to the top when I took the pic...she climbed all the way and rang the bell many times (that girl can climb)! Makenzie was so excited because she hasn't been cheering for almost 1 1/2 yrs so she doesn't get to play on a springfloor anymore. I wasn't sure if she would be able to still do her tuck or back handspring but she went out and did it like she had never stopped practicing. She had such a great time playing with her friends and then went home for a playdate with 2 of her dear friends. Poor Kylan had night terrors last night and was up until 3am so he stayed home with Gigi and didn't get a playdate.

Flashback Friday

I took a whole roll of film before I got one good photo for our Christmas card this year. Makenzie was 3 and Kylan was 2. Notice that she's holding him down in the bottom pic because he kept moving around and in the first pic she trying to reason with him and tell him that we really "need" a picture for our Christmas card...it didn't work because he was only 2 and didn't care about a card! Wow they sure have grown up a lot!

I'm a Jackie...what are you?

Do you ever take a little quiz and then wonder why you did it? Oops I did it agian and here are my results. Leave a comment when you find out what you are.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Jackie!

You are a Jackie. "I do everything the right way."

Jackies are realistic, conscientious, and principled. They strive to live up to their high ideals.

How to Get Along with Me

* Take your share of the responsibility so I don't end up with all the work.

* Acknowledge my achievements.

* I'm hard on myself. Reassure me that I'm fine the way I am.

* Tell me that you value my advice.

* Be fair and considerate, as I am.

* Apologize if you have been unthoughtful. It will help me to forgive.

* Gently encourage me to lighten up and to laugh at myself when I get uptight, but hear my worries first.

What I Like About Being a Jackie

* Being self-disciplined and able to accomplish a great deal

* Working hard to make the world a better place

* Having high standards and ethics; not compromising myself

* Being reasonable, responsible, and dedicated in everything I do

* Being able to put facts together, coming to good understandings, and figuring out wise solutions

* Being the best I can be and bringing out the best in other people

What's Hard About Being a Jackie

* Being disappointed with myself or others when my expectations are not met

* Feeling burdened by too much responsibility

* Thinking that what I do is never good enough

* Not being appreciated for what I do for people

* Being upset because others aren't trying as hard as I am

* Obsessing about what I did or what I should do

* Being tense, anxious, and taking things too seriously

Jackies as Children Often

* Criticize themselves in anticipation of criticism from others

* Refrain from doing things that they think might not come out perfect

* Focus on living up to the expectations of their parents and teachers

* Are very responsible; may assume the role of parent

* Hold back negative emotions ("good children aren't angry")

Jackies as Parents

* Teach their children responsibility and strong moral values

* Are consistent and fair

* Discipline firmly

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at

Ice skating fun!

For the past couple of days we have been iced in and haven't made it out because the roads are slick and iced over and I don't want to drive on that mess. It took my husband 2 hours to get to work on Monday and it normally only takes about 20-30 min depending on traffic. Poor guy works for UPS so he's been driving on this all week and I KNOW he's sooo ready for it to warm up and melt away. Our kids aren't ready for it to melt though because they asked if they could go out and ice skate on our swimming pool, now you and I know it's not safe because that ice isn't very thing but in their minds it's totally fine and they want to ice skate so I told them to get on the trampoline and see if they could skate on it. They loved it! Nice and slick and ready to skate on but much safer then the swimming pool!

The Blog Frog

I am so excited to learn about The Blog Frog...it's a way to find friends blogs and make new friends. I have found people that I have many common links with like the number one person on my list has 8 links in common with me but I don't know her. I have seen her posts on some friends blogs. Anyway, it's a neat site and can help you find old or new friends...so check it out and let me know what you think!

The Shakey man

I found these great books about Shakespeare and decided that this would be a great way to introduce the kids to Shakespeare. The first book is A Child's Portrait of Shakespeare and it rhymes so my kids just loved it and then we got Shakespeare an Eyewitness book so the kids could look through it and see everything from that time period.
Yesterday morning Kylan gets up and says, "I want to learn more about that Shakey man" I look at him, "hummmm what are you talking about?" Kylan said, "you know that shakey man that wrote the plays and wears the funny clothes" so to us Shakespeare is now called "The Shakey Man"

Turnpike blowout!

Does anyone know how to download pics from your phone to your computer? I have a Razor phone and haven't been able to figure it out yet. We had a great Saturday going to OKC to visit friends and we delivered gift baskets for my mom's business. We spent the day with our friends Mika and Jim and we were talking about what a wonderful day it had been (as we are rolling down the turnpike) when all of the sudden BOOOM our tire blows out and we are going about 75-80 MPH. The kids are screaming and scared but you know my husband is a "professional" driver because he works for UPS so he gets us to the side of the road and we are fine except that for some reason we have NO flashlight in the suburban and we can't see anything and it was VERY windy and getting colder. We are just trying to get the tired lowered so Kevin can change it but semi's are driving by and won't get over and it's the drivers side front tire which is so dangerous on the Turnpike. I get back in the car and start praying that someone will stop and help us and all of the sudden I see 2 flashlights walking toward us and it's 2 teenage boys that had run out of gas and were walking back to their car. Well, one of them happens to work in his dad mechanic shop and knows exactly how to the tire lowered and changes the tire for us. What an answer to prayer they were! We are going to take them back to their car when a highway patrol shows up and helps us out by taking them back to their car. WHEW what a nasty experience that was...it took us about 2 hrs total to get it changed and back on the road. I was going to take a picture of the tire but Kevin took it in and had it all fixed before I could even take a picture. Although we do have it on our cell phone if anyone knows how to get it off a razor phone please comment and I will post it (it's horrible).

Martial Arts

The kids have been involved in a martial arts program that's held at our church on Wed. nights. We were told that the kids would be getting their awards this past Wed. night and we were so excited because they both got an award for making it to every class, and a medal for learning certain kicks and punches and breaking 2 boards. They also gave out a yellow belt to one student that they felt was deserving of the honor and it was Makenzie! They were then invited to join the Thursday night class that is 2 hrs long and Kylan was told that he could test for his yellow belt in a few months. They were both very happy and excited and on Thursday night they started the class and really enjoyed it and have learned a lot!

Polar Express Party

One of our new friends from church was talking about a tradition they have and it's a Polar Express Party. We decided that would be such a fun family traditionto start so we had cousins coming over after dance class on Monday and the date was planned. We told everyone to wear their PJ's and to plan on having a Polar Express day. We watched the movie, had hot chocolate, cookies, popcorn and fun with cousins!