Christmas Wonderland

I've been to a Christmas Wonderland tonight!!! I couldn't wait to share a few pics of my friend's house with you. We had to hurry over this week because the decorations are all starting to come down on Monday! Dawn out does herself each year.

The pictures below show maybe half of her trees in her home. Not only are the 14+ trees amazing, but the entire house is breathtaking-tables, mantel, floor under the trees, counters, bathrooms...even the toilet gets a Christmas treatment. Oh...and the outside of her home is decorated beautifully too! It is truly AMAZING how this wonderful lady decorates for Christmas! Her hard work brings much joy to those who visit; and she helps you remember the true meaning of Christmas!

Dawn has a name for each tree displayed on a sign for guests to see. I should have her here with me to dictate all of the information for each tree, but I'll do my best:

Her new "Chocolate Delite" tree:

Her main tree on a rotating stand:

Here's the former-teaching team in front of her red tree....yes, a red tree!!! It's called "Merry Meadowland" with the green ornaments:

Here's my favorite--the Gingerbread Tree

The silver tree with pink ornaments:

Dept. 56 tree:

We got so tickled about the "Flocked Tree." Dawn was telling us about how she bought it flocked, but wanted more snow on it...so in September she was out in her driveway spraying more snow on her tree! Her neighbor later said she was wondering what she was doing!

Another favorite of mine--her Grinch tree in the bathroom!

Her white tree:

Her travel tree:

Here's a pic of under one of her trees...see what I mean about how she decorates even under the tree!?!?!?! Impressive!

The pictures just do not do them justice! Did you notice all of the tree toppers? Wow! Each time you visit...you see something new. It is truly a Christmas Wonderland. Thank you Dawn for all the joy you bring to others! You're the BEST!

Bread and Milk

We're expecting snow tomorrow! I hope I have enough bread and milk! Do you?

Yep--that's all I've got for today!

Well...here's a yummy salad recipe that goes well with a warm pan of lasagna and bread...and red velvet cake..and fruit salsa--that's what we had at our Kindergarten grade-level Christmas party. It was all yummy!

Apple-Spinach Salad
1 pkg. fresh spinach, torn
2 Granny Smith apples, chopped
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. celery salt
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large salad bowl. Combine sugar and next four ingredients; cover tightly, and shake vigorously. Pour over spinach mixture, tossing gently.
*You can chill the dressing before serving.

The Tooth Came Out

Praise the Lord! Our son lost his 1st tooth tonight. We put the kids to bed--early mind you--with this "back to reality" schedule. Then I heard our boy coming in our room saying, "My tooth is ready to come out." Well...that's all Mama had to hear! I've been waiting to get a hold of that thing! I pulled it with my finger and heard it pop, then he wasn't having any part of this tooth-pulling adventure! So...I had to get the 'ol Kleenex and reach in to get it (after about 10 minutes of coaxing). I yelled..."I got it!!!" I wish I had a picture of the look on his face...he was so surprised! I said "See...you didn't even feel it."

Ever since we pulled it, he's been saying..."January 5, 2010...first tooth lost." Here's a pic of his new grin--our boy minus one bottom tooth!

I'm sure my Mom is smiling now...she always gave me the line..."Just let me wiggle it" when it was time to pull one of my teeth growing up. I fell for it every time! Hopefully our boy will too!

Rude!!! and Have you seen it?

Let me just start by saying that my alarm clock was soooooooooooooooooo rude this morning! Oh, how I wanted to stay a little longer in my warm bed!

On other note, have you seen the new Princess and the Frog movie? It is soooooooooooooooooo cute!! We bought the soundtrack, and we've been singing and singing those songs! If you haven't seen it...you should. We also went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakquel over the Christmas break...I wasn't as big of a fan of that movie, but the kids liked it. Hard to believe we spent $60 on movie tickets over the break!

Just laid out the kids clothes for school tomorrow...it's really back to reality in the morning!

Writing

Our son does NOT like to write. This summer I had the kids keep a journal to remember our out-of-school events, but I haven't encouraged them to keep them up since school started.

Well...today I was working on organizing clothes in the drawers and closets in the kids' rooms (can you believe the organization around here??). As I was working, the kids were playing together nicely. Then I started hearing them get out paper and pens to write not-so-nice notes about each other.

They wrote and wrote...and hung them all over the house. Here are two of their notes and lots of notes that Hubby collected tonight for the trash:

I know they are hard to see, but this one below is from our son to our daughter: "You are going to jail. 2" He said the '2' means that he was really made at her?!?!?!?

This one below is from our daughter to our son: "You are fired." Then she drew a picture of him in jail below her words. I like how the cell is on wheels! :)

Well...I am glad that they were writing today!

Posts on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of January....check! Amy C. had a great idea to start a post close to midnight...then the post can count for 2 days! Love it! I should have made use of that plan over the past couple of nights, but now...it's back to getting up early. Christmas break is over--no more staying up late and sleeping in for me! There will be Kindergarten students coming back to my classroom eager to share their Christmas Break adventures. I'm ready--all except the getting up early!

How about it?

I'm thinking of setting a blogging resolution...blog every day in January to start the year off...hmmm...we'll see.

Yesterday I had over 600 4x6 photo prints done at Walgreen's. They had a special with 9 cent prints. I've been waiting and waiting to print our pictures from Disney is September. I bought the kids photo albums for their pics from our trip, and I was happy to see the 9 cent prints advertised! So...while I was at it...I had prints made of pictures to put in our various "memory books." We have a Christmas memory book, Anniversary memory book, Birthday books for our kids, autograph books from Disney--all that needed updating (for a few years). So...really that's only about 20 prints for all of those books. But, I also had my Christmas photos on my camera...so I decided to get all of those printed too. Those should keep me busy...here's to more organization in 2010!

Well...I'm off to a good start--blogged day 1 and day 2 of January! What will you do in 2010?

Happy 2010!

Can you believe it's 2010? Wow!

Here's how we celebrated ringing in the new year as a family...well...we actually rang in the new year at home, but we had fun at a local family venue the night of New Year's Eve:
Our kids have been wanting and wanting to try out one of these jumpy things. Hooray that they got to try one out for free. Our girl is more of a risk taker:

Hey...where did she goooooooooooooooooooo?

Our boy is our conservative one:

Hope you had a happy and safe New Year's Eve...and wishing you a great 2010!