Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since I posted anything, but, like all of you, I'm sure, we've been busy!!! We're leaving to go to Utah for a week on Saturday, but I wanted to post an update on our recent activities.
We had a great Thanksgiving, with a YUMMY dinner. We kept it simple, just the classics, and we enjoyed it completely. We also put up all our Christmas decorations that weekend, since Jeff had a couple of days off of work and could help his sad pregnant wife. :o)
One of the first things we did in December was to go to a holiday lights display out in Clayton, NC. It was really pretty fun, and (mostly) well done. You get on a tractor hay ride and they take you on a big circle through the farm, and through the woods, that lasted a little over a half-hour.
The first thing we saw was a Santa's workshop from H-E-double hockey sticks, with the most evil looking elves I have ever seen. Seriously, it was really kind of freaky. Jeff and I could not stop laughing hysterically about the fact that this was supposed to be all cute and Christmas-y, but instead there were these animatronic elves moving in scary jerks as they smiled demonically at everyone, all the while the music was telling us that "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake." The stuff of nightmares, I promise you. Luckily, the rest of the ride was much better and we all enjoyed it, especially the kids, which was the point. It was cold, but we were able to have a good time. Next year, I think we'll bring a blanket.
Then, for Family Home Evening, we went bowling as a reward for both Jarom and Taran having 2 solid weeks of not wetting the bed. Woo Hoo! The kids had a blast, and I scored one of my best games ever. I wonder if the bumpers had anything to do with it? :o)
We had our big Christmas party the next Saturday, which I think turned out really well. We had invited a lot of people from our ward, because we kept thinking of more people that we wanted to come, and pretty soon, it was almost all of the active couples, at least the ones around our age. Not everyone could come, of course, but we still had around 35 people. Quite a lot for our little house.
But I had planned a lot (several checklists, post-it notes showing where the platters of food were going to go on the tables, etc.), and my mom had some good suggestions for how we could make everything feel bigger. We put up tables in the playroom for the food, put the punch (yup, we had mom's slushy punch - yummy!) on the island in the kitchen, moved the kitchen table back into the bay window to put desserts on, and put chairs everywhere that we could in the living room. I had a lot of good food, and the guests brought the desserts, and everyone seemed to enjoy it all.
We had a white elephant game, which was fun and hilarious (Jeff tried to get everyone to steal our VHS copy of "Legacy" with out any success, and the Bishop ended up with a Stone Cold Austin cookie jar.). Mostly people just stood/sat around and talked while the ate. Which was exactly what I wanted. Everyone spread out between the three rooms downstairs, which they kind of had to do out of self-preservation, but I also think that it showed that they felt comfortable in our home.
The one snag to the evening was that the mozzarella sticks I made spread out into a big pool of melted cheese and breading, so I couldn't serve them. A big pool of cheese goo. Yuck. But as snags go, not a big deal at all. And we had plenty of food anyway. Our most successful party so far, I think.
I also took the kids to the "Holiday Express" at Pullen Park. We usually go to that park a few times in the summer, but this was the first time I had ever gone at Christmas time. They put up some Christmas lights up around the park, on the boats, the carousel, and all around the little route that the train goes around. They also have booths where you can buy food (we didn't) and meet Santa (we didn't do that either).
One of the really fun holiday activities we did was to make "Brownie Pizza," from a pre-Christmas gift that Jeff's mom sent. The kids had a blast, especially wearing the cute chef's hats that she sent along in the package. Unfortunately it was too hot for them to sprinkle the "toppings" (butterscotch chips, and other chocolate pieces that looked like pepperoni, peppers, etc.) on the "pizza" when it came out of the oven by themselves, but they enjoyed telling Jeff where to sprinkle everything.
Oh, and today Taran had a Christmas performance at her preschool. I was fairly disappointed, not because of the quality of the singing, but because they taught my daughter's class to sing a Mariah Carey song for their portion of the performance.
MARIAH CAREY!!!!!!
What ever happened to "Up On A House Top", or "Jingle Bells", or , dare I say it, "Silent Night"? They are a church-based preschool after all. But nooooooo, they sang Mariah Carey, complete with hand motions. If I can, I will post a video of the whole terrible thing later today. (And just so you know, the shaky camera work is either because I'm laughing, or because Kelcey is giving me hugs and kisses while I'm trying to hold the camera straight. ) Not that Taran was terrible. She was actually adorable, and was one of the only kids that knew all the motions, but I think it's terrible on principle to sing Mariah Carey in a chapel, even if it's not one of ours.
It may not sound like much when I write it down all together, but it sure felt exhausting!! The last few weeks have been a lot of fun, but now I need to gear up for our trip to Utah on Saturday. Starting yesterday I have been washing/folding laundry, getting last minute supplies, paying bills for the month, and packing for our early morning departure. Not to mention that I have two OB-Gyn appointments this week - including one for the glucose test (fun!). Just a couple more days and we'll be off for my parents house, and lots more holiday fun. Here's hoping it will be more relaxing than otherwise. See you next year!!
