The Playroom

I'm sorry that these last couple of posts have been so "house-centric," but I don't have a ton of time to post, and these are quick little things that I can put up. Anyway, I just had to share with you our new playroom organization, because I was so proud of how it turned out.
We got quite a few bulky toys for Christmas, and even though I had toyed with idea of either putting some up in the attic, or giving them away to goodwill, I realized that because our kids are all different ages and stages, that we really couldn't get rid of anything.

So the upshot of the whole thing was that I got two more bookshelves, reorganized everything into plastic storage containers, and we now have the "Wall o'Toys". For those of you who might get the reference, it is similar to the "Sea o'Couch", but not as cool. :o)

I absolutely love to organize, and I'm thinking of ways to better organize stuff all the time. I'm just so excited about how this worked out, that I had to share. I also love how it makes the room feel wider, and, therefore, bigger. Because in our house, anything that makes it feel bigger is a good thing. Not a Martha Stewart "Good Thing," just something good. :o)

I love Christmas!!

I know that I have let you all know about my love of Autumn, but I also love Christmas. I think my favorite thing about the change of seasons is that I get to change our decorations too. Anyway, here's just a few (ha, ha) of the Christmas decorations that we have up at our house.

I should also mention that they are still up at our house. It took us a long time to recover from our week in Utah (in a good way, because we all had a fabulous time) and so Jeff and I haven't had a chance to get the boxes down from the attic, etc. But this weekend . . . watch out! :o)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy a little of Christmas at our house.

Our Holiday Activities

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).

I brought the kids by myself because Jeff was still at work. At first I wasn't going to go, but then I thought, that's just cowardly. My mom and my Aunt Chris would bring my sisters and my cousins to all kinds of things when I was little, and my dad or my Uncle Scott were hardly ever able to be there. So I girded up my loins (both literally and figuratively - varicose veins are a bear) and we went for an hour or so. It was fun for the kids, but since we did it right after school, with no break, we were all a little cranky. But I'm glad we did it.

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!!

That's Not Yummy

Soap, that is. We just finished all of our Christmas decorating, and as part of the details, put out our Christmas present from Jeff's brother and sister-in-law. Lis sent this really nice homemade (I think) soap in a soap dish, all wrapped in a cute Christmas towel. The soap was labeled "Christmas Spice," and it really did smell good.

I was in the kitchen making White Christmas (the holiday treat that I only make after Thanksgiving) when I heard Kelcey gagging in the guest bathroom downstairs. I rushed in there, afraid she was choking or throwing up, when I saw that she was spitting out little pieces of soap. She kept spitting, as she she started to cry, and said, "That's not yummy, Mommy!" I realized what had happened: the "Christmas Spice" soap had smelled so good that Kelcey decided to take a bite out of it. I looked closer, and yup, there was a little chunk missing from one of the corners. There were even teeth marks.

I vainly tried to keep from laughing (and miserably failed) as I explained that the soap smelled good, but it sure didn't taste good. I gave her a drink, and giggled again as she kept saying, almost too herself, "That's not yummy!" So funny!! How awesome is it that we get to have these kids forever? :o)

My Relaxing Day at the Spa

Ok, ladies, can I brag about my husband for just a second? Last Christmas for a big surprise gift Jeff got me a gift certificate to the Spa by Mitchells (the one in Triangle Town Center, by Moe's) for a massage, a pedicure, and a manicure, with lunch included. I made an appointment for sometime last March, but then our entire family go the flu, so I had to reschedule. Well, I got pregnant, and then I couldn't/didn't reschedule until last weekend. But it was a good thing, actually, because they had a mother-to-be massage, which I couldn't have taken advantage of until this month, or so. Jeff not only got me the gift certificate, but he took care of the kids for the afternoon so that I could be completely free.

Well, can I tell you, IT WAS FABULOUS!!! I admit, my experience with spas and massages has been fairly limited (only two other massages in my life, one was good, and one, not so much) but Mitchells really has got it right. Everything was quiet, clean, with low lighting, and soft music, and I just loved every minute of it. The changing room had very nice amenities, and their robes had a very nice snap closure thing, so there wasn't any embarrassment.

My massage was first. Because I'm pregnant the massage chick (is there a technical term?) had me lay on my left side supported by pillows from head to toe, almost like I was snuggling up to sleep. The bed was heated and there were just enough blankets that I was perfectly comfortable. She only moved the blankets off of the body part she was working, so I was never cold, or felt exposed at all. And even though I was lying on my side, she was able to get everything (appropriate, that is) except the left shoulder that I was lying on. And let me tell you, was she good! When we first started she told me that she was pregnant too, so I felt guilty having her do my massage, but then I realized that she was sitting in an office type chair, and moving it all around the table, so she didn't have to stand up. That helped me feel a lot better. :o) I tell you that I was so completely relaxed by the end of that massage, that I think I might have even drooled a little.

After the massage they gave me a heated neck pillow, and then brought me into this elegant little room with a table for my lunch. I had a grilled chicken wrap from the Twisted Fork (SO yummy! I definitely need to go there with Jeff) along with a fruit salad and a lovely goblet of cranberry/grape juice. I totally didn't mind being in the room and eating by myself. I can't remember the last time I've been completely by myself for so long. It was so quiet and peaceful and relaxing. Do you see a theme here? :o)

After that I got dressed and went for my mani/pedi. They did the pedicure first, and it was much more relaxing than the normal pedicures that I get in nail salons, because they were all about the "spa experience" and took their time with each of the steps. Plus, they didn't use that buffing block on the bottoms of my feet that always makes me laugh. Ditto with the manicure.

The whole thing took about 3 hours, but it felt like even longer. In a really good way. All I can say is that I have an incredible, wonderful husband, and I would love to do something like this on a semi-regular basis. I think every mom should. So, women, if you have the means and the opportunity, hie you to the spa!!!

For Your Enjoyment . . .

More Autumn Stuff

I know that I said I wouldn't be posting much in the next month, but I have repented of that sentiment, especially because I don't have to do my Dad's slideshow all by myself anymore.

Annnyyyyway, I realized that I never posted pictures of the kids with their pumpkins after we carved them. Ok, yeah, we carved pumpkins the Monday after Halloween, so what? :o) At least we got it done at all, right? And I got to make roasted pumpkind seeds . . . YUM!! It's one of my favorite treats, that I only get once a year.

Didn't the kids do such a great job? They designed them all by themselves: Jarom wanted a scary face, which he got with the big teeth, and Taran did extra big eyes on hers, which were so cute. We all had fun, and the pumpkins turned out great, so, good times all around.