Christmas.

This was one of the favorite presents this year. We played Incredibles' all day long =)

Elizabeth wondering what is going on!!!!

Not that you can see them without really looking, but I made two bright green bags for the girls to take their scriptures to church in. (one is on the far left of this picture next to Amanda's Cinderella doll) You can also see their quiet book on the far right ( another of my hand made creations....Mom I don't know how you did it =))

This is how everything looked when the girls came out Christmas morning. We have carried on the tradition of getting together to pray and give thanks before we go out and see what Santa has left for us.
I surprised Katrina and Amanda by finishing their dolls. They knew I was making one for Elizabeth but I told them that I would make them one after Christmas was over. I stayed up until 1-2 in the morning for the entire week before Christmas to get them done. Then I hid them among the gifts and it was a good 10-15 minutes before they noticed that they were there. They were pretty excited.
3 dolls in one week was a quite a feet but only Elizabeth got the cradle. There are just not enough hours in the day. Christmas was great! We missed being with family but had a wonderful time on our own.

Christmas Eve

There will be several posts over the next few days to catch up with everything , but I thought I would start with these of Christmas Eve. We had subs for dinner and then we made cookies for Santa before taking a bath and then opening presents. The girls loved the fur real animals they got and especially liked the Ariel and Cinderella pajamas and slippers and they pranced around as we read the nativity story and sang carols. Mom and Dad were up till after midnight finishing dolls and getting everything set out but I will post pictures of that later.
Here are dad and Trina...Notice how all the girls seam to want to do is eat the frosting =)
Here we are again digging into the frosting .......
Mom to the rescue... cookies are getting done at last!!!

See what a little bit of focus can accomplish! Merry Christmas Santa

This was funny

Tonight Steve went to put the girls in the bathtub and noticed it wasn't draining very well so he pulled out the "plug" to clean it off. He said "look at all this Crap" to himself as he was cleaning it. Then Katrina says "Dad whats crap?"I was in the other room listening and started to laugh wondering how he would explain it. He told her "crap was yucky stuff that we don't like" . I thought it was a pretty good answer until she said "oh you mean like Zucchini" I love kids!!!

Ugh!

I have been looking everywhere for a bag of stuff we bought over at Ensign Book on Saturday. We spent 85.00 on movies and gifts and it was on the counter Sunday. So I spent all day Monday looking for it, I look everywhere and realize that it must have fallen into the recycle can next to the counter. Unfortunately the garbage was picked up early Monday morning and my stuff is gone =( It was a setback but one that can be taken in stride right? Well Tuesday I go to mail two more packages and I cant find my phone and wallet. No big deal I do that all the time, until I realize that my wallet and phone were in the bag that got lost. Oh No!!! We called to see if the recycling center possibly found it but with no luck. They said it was probably smashed to smithereens and in the landfill because everything is automated. So here we go I now have to cancel all my credit and debit cards, get a new drivers license and a new Costco card. Just what I need this time of year is to spend my time on the phone and in lines WAITING. At least no one found them and used them =) I also found out that I am eligible for a new free phone Jan 30th. So don't try to call me on my cell phone until then!

Carmel Popcorn

Well just like I had hoped things have settled down around here. The packages and cards are all in the mail. I finally finished the quiet books, I don't think the dolls are going to be done. Lucky for me they were extras not the main event. I am still going to try to make 1 for Lizzy but not all 3 and with everyone being sick I am not even sure that one will get done. *sigh* But alas everything is wrapped and ready =) The best part is we stayed in our budget and the saving we had done throughout the year was enough (no credit cards this year =)). Anyway things are going well and I can concentrate on baking for the neighbors now. I think I will do popcorn balls since that is what I am craving. Here is the recipe for everyone who has lost it and is now craving it because of me.

2 cups Brown Sugar
1 cup Karo Syrup
1 cube of butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Bring to a boil for 3 minutes (soft ball for those of you who know what that means) pour over a big bowl of popcorn. I usually have 1 big Tupperware bowl and a large salad bowl. This makes a lot and it is sooo good.

Hustle and Bustle

How is it that you can plan all year for Christmas and now that it is only 2 weeks away feel like you are not going to be able to get it all done? Wow it has been a busy couple of weeks and we are enjoying every minute of it. On Saturday we took the girls to see Santa at the mall, Katrina was a little chatterbox as usual asking about the elves and Rudolph. She told Santa that she only wanted 1 thing for Christmas which I think shocked him a little. Amanda was so excited to see him until she was sitting next to him and then she just stared. She was able to squeak out that she wanted a Cinderella doll for Christmas, but then she was once again silent =) That's my Amanda =)
I thought I had finished all my holiday shopping when I realized that we still had friends and neighbors that we should do something for. Any cute (but inexpensive ideas)? As for me I think things will settle down by this weekend after everything is finally in the mail including my Christmas cards which are usually done and in the mail by now.
Next week Amanda is going to be in a play at preschool she is so excited for us to come and see, I hope she doesn't freeze when she realizes that all the other parents are there as well. I will have to start prepping her now I guess.
Well I guess that is it I will try to post again before the end of the month with some fun Christmas pictures. Love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!