can you guess what happened?

BEFORE


AFTER



Here are some before and after pictures. You may think I just posted them in the wrong order. But no, the empty tree and ornaments on the floor are the after pictures. Can you guess what happened this morning? First time in our 11 marriage. Just happy no ornaments broke and our tree topper made it out okay. I Love that tree topper. We bought in Disneyworld and it would be irreplaceable.

Now I await Ben's return so the tree can be replaced in the stand. It needs to be straightened out some, haha that is an understatement. That should be a lot of fun.

Decorating for the first time

My sister has not seen our "new" house. Now I know we have lived here for 7ish months so it's not really new anymore but she moved to Germany when we moved and she hasn't even seen pictures of our place. When we were first looking at the house I was thinking it would be a great house for them to come stay at during the Holidays but alas that will have to be put off a few years.


Anyway, I am slowly getting our decorations up and thought I would let her see my Christmas Living Room and you all get a peek into my house along the way.

We have not bought window treatments for this room yet. We bought them for 3 rooms and the rest will just have to wait. The Christmas village on the mantel is the LEGO Holiday sets. They are mine and I put them together and then away after Christmas. The kids want to play with them but they know they are Momma's!

On a side note. Every year when I pull out my stocking holders I reminisce a bit. I loved this set. Was really happy when we decided we were done with kids so I could go get the 4 letter NOEL from target. Then not 9 months later I was pregnant. It wasn't a planned pregnancy and one of the first things I thought of was how I was going to have to go buy PEACE to have 5 letters. We ended up losing that pregnancy and NOEL stayed. I rarely think of that miscarriage. But every year when I pull these out I can't help but think of it.

Christmas Spirit

So yesterday was one of those days we will remember when our kids are grown. Just a great family day full of Christmas activities. We got up and headed down to the annual Christmas Bazaar. Now I could miss this and be fine but the kids love going. Bought some treats and the kids bought some cheap junk and then we headed home. After we got home we played for awhile and then Grammy met us at our house to go get our Christmas trees. There have been many many years of getting our tree with Grammy. A tradition that occasionally gets broken. Anyway, this year we had perfect weather to go tree hunting. Found our trees and then onto their homes they went. Ben put the lights on the house while we got our tree lights up. Then we watched the first part of Indiana Jones while Ethan put ornaments up. Not a very Christmassy movie but it was on and the kids enjoy Indy. After this on to the local movie theater where they were showing Polar Express. Finally we watched our Christmas movie for the day and then headed home to put on layers of clothes. It was freezing outside (also incredibly foggy) and there was to be a first annual light parade here in our small town. We walked down to the fire department and watched the parade and then walked to Panzanellies for some dinner take-out. Walked on home for dinner and hot chocolates and finished our Indiana Jones movie before a late bedtime.

Ben and I talked in bed about how this is the days that the kids will remember. Full of family fun. We also felt like it should be closer to Christmas. Feels like a day that should be done after school is out for the break. But we were not the ones who made the city's calendar.

My daughter sent her first texts!

So Saturday I got to spend the day shopping with some close girlfriends. We had a great time catching up with each other and there were some really good deals. But I wondered through the day why Ben was not responding to my texts. Especially when I asked if he would like me to bring home his favorite dessert. Nothing. So when I got home that night and found the house thrashed and Ben in bed I was a little peeved. Until I found out that about 3 PM that day he started being violently sick! He said for near 4 hours he hugged the toilet and even now, 4 days later, his stomach muscles are very sore. Apparently the kids took care of themselves. We are both very proud that they got along all day while feeding themselves and getting themselves to bed. The next day, Sunday morning, I mentioned all my texts to Ben. Alicia said she had read them. Ben then checked all the messages and saw that she had tried to respond to my texts with messages like dad is sick. dad is barfing. But these were not sent to me, but to one of our friends. He wrote back saying he needed the Wilson decoder, as Alicia did not spell all the words correctly. He had no idea what was going on. Alicia said Ben's cell phone was hard to write on, I AGREE--hate his phone. We all had a great laugh. She sent her first texts out to her best friends father. So hilarious.

On a book hunt

It seems like about every year and a half to two years I am looking for something. Not for me but for Alicia. Looking for new authors, new books. I want her to be reading good, wholesome books. No reason, that I can see, for her to read what everyone else is reading. That time will be here soon enough. So right now she is reading a series by Frank Peretti for kids. It is a mystery series and she loves them. But there are only a few books left in this series so I am trying to be a step ahead of her. The bummer thing is she doesn't always want to read what I buy her. She has maybe 5-8 books upstairs that I don't think she will ever open. Books I know she would enjoy if she just opened them up and gave them a chance. But that is besides the point. Do you know of any good books for a 9-12 year old girl. I am looking for some Christian books or books that will teach her good character traits.

And she has already read the Narnia books, and Anne of Green Gables.

ringtones

I set up my Christmas ringtones today. I know that to some of you this is real early but since I am seeing Christmas commercials I decided to get into the spirit now as well. So I have White Christmas, The Sugar Plum Fairy and Frosty the Snowman ready to alert me to your texts and calls. Can't wait until I hear them!!!

If you have a song you would like to be associated with your number just let me know. :)

My sweet characters

BLACK CAT and a STORM TROOPER



One face covered with a mask and the other covered in makeup. :) She was worried whenever it started to rain that it would wash away her makeup but when we tried to take it off before bed last night it was very hard to get off. Glad this happens only once a year. Be a long time before she wears makeup everyday.