Officially done shopping for Christmas!!

Other than a few stocking stuffers (the traditional mini m&m tubes and a few small things) we are done!! Ty has been done (even though we still keep picking things up for him.....but we are putting things away for his birthday, which is a few weeks after Christmas) and as of this morning Chase is now done!! Yesterday morning I ordered a really cute pair of Mickey footie pj's for Chase and this morning I found a Mickey table and chairs set that I had been wanting to get him.....well, I wanted to get him a small table and chair set like Ty had years ago, but the plain tables were almost $30!! I got him a Mickey table and chairs for $20 shipped!!! We'll get our layaway out in a few weeks, and then i'll get the fun of wrapping all of it......I love wrapping!!!!

Today I got all of our Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail out. Some will go inside of some goodie boxes I hope to get out this week. I just love this time of year!!

Todays awesome mail!

Today I got Olay Regenerist micro-sculpting cream from their Facebook giveaway!! I am blown away that it is full size...I was expecting just a small sample!! And it is the limited edition pink box for breast cancer awareness......

Friday! :)

And it's Black Friday at that! We didn't dare try to get in on any of the Black Friday stuff. We did hit Walmart last night, but it was to just get some things we needed. We got there around 6:45 and there were actually people camped out in some of the aisles, waiting for the 10pm deals!! I just shook my head. They had all of the 10pm sales wrapped up in plastic, and employees actually had to stay near them all the time to stop people from taking things before the sale started. Crazy!! I'm actually glad we got there when we did, because there were only a few "regular" shoppers in the store. When we left, which was almost an hour or so later, there were even MORE people camped out in certain areas of the store!! Just too funny......I did get online this morning and found a pair of Mickey Mouse footie pj's on Walmart online that I ordered. Shipping was cheap and it was worth paying to avoid going to the store today! LOL

SO I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was just wonderful! I was worried it wasn't going to be all that good, as Z and I had gotten into a pretty bad disagreement the day before and things were still tense yesterday morning. But things seemed to work themselves out for the most part. Everyone was up early, unfortunately. LOL Chase hasn't been feeling 100% the past few days and has been getting up early. After everyone got up I went on a hunt to find a box of Christmas lights I knew we had (we put our tree up on Wednesday since Ty was off and every set of lights we had for the tree didn't work! I was so upset...:() and I finally found them!!! We usually do colored lights on the tree, but the box I found was all white lights. I didn't care as I was just happy to have lights!!! (although after Christmas this year I am buying new lights for next year! LOL) Z and I got the lights on the tree, then Ty and I got the garland put on. After a small break, we got the ornaments on the tree! Z gave the boys their new ornaments, and they both loved them!! Chase took his school bus and immediately pulled out his toy garage and played with it! Ty put his right on the tree. :) Here is the end result:



Obviously the bottom is a little bare because of Chase...and MeeMee! LOL

After we got the tree up Z decided to call the bank to see if his check went in early. (one of the reasons we got into a disagreement the day before....he was hoping (well, actually counting on it) his check was going to go in on Wednesday and it didn't) Low and behold it was in there!!! We quickly got everyone ready and went out for the day. We ended up at Bass Pro Shop to see Santa!!! The boys did so good....and the Santa there is just AWESOME!!!! He is so sweet and takes his time with each child, and lets you get more than one free picture!! I posted the Santa pic on Facebook. I also got some amazing pics of the boys throughout the store that i'll add to Facebook shortly. (i'd rather not share on here due to a lurker) But after seeing Santa they got to ride on a carousel, which was new this year. Ty got to ride a bear and Chase rode a moose!! Both boys had SO much fun looking at all the fun things there....especially the HUGE fish they have! We got some popcorn and some fresh roasted almonds, cashews and pecans (roasted with cinnamon....YUM!!!) and I actually got a super cute hoodie for only $10!!!



After BPS, we hit a few other stores near Pigeon Forge and then came home to cook Thanksgiving dinner. It was SO good! We had such a great day.

Well, I am off to add some pics to Facebook from yesterday. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and weekend!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving........

Worry....*edit*

So last week Z had a follow up CT scan to see if a second tumor he has is shrinking. Tomorrow we find out the results and the worry is just insane!! I've been praying like crazy, and to be honest I feel in my heart things will be fine, but at the same time I can't stop my mind from wandering and thinking the worst things. And then it's rough with not having family/friends close by to lean on.

If you all wouldn't mind keeping us in your throughs and prayers, it would be SO greatly appreciated.

**So the appointment got cancelled and rescheduled for next Wednesday. They will check his results and if they show something wrong they will call him, but if things are ok they will wait until next Wednesday to go over the results.....I hate waiting!!

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

11.11.11

Happy Veterans Day!!! I just wanted to say God Bless to all the wonderful men & women who have fought so valiantly for our freedom over the years and continue to do so. Saying Thank You just doesn't seem like enough.


At Ty's school last night they did a Veterans Day program, and they were all amazing! All of the children worked SO hard and it really showed when they performed. And I was so happy to see so many parents/family members there to support the kids. There were also some veterans who didn't even have children that attend the school, they just came to see the program!! How cool is that?!?!? And the very best part of all?!? I got the whole performance on video!! I'll try and get it uploaded on Facebook to share with everyone. (I don't want to post it here as I have at least one lurker on my blog who I would rather not see the video....long story)

Hoo are you?!?

Ok, so I stumbled on a really amazing blog called Night Owl Crafting and every week they do a Blog Hop, where you answer questions and link up to their site, then go to others blogs and comment! It sounds like SO much fun, so I want to try and do this.......here are this weeks questions!!

1. Do you type on a keyboard the correct way or do you peck like a cute little chick?

It really depends on what i'm typing out. If i'm just doing a quick post somewhere I usually do the peck typing, but when I do a long post (like to my blog) i'll type the "correct" way

2. Typically how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

Honestly, not long at ALL! During the week I get up between 6-6:30 to take my oldest to school. My routine is usually get up to pee, wash face and brush teeth, then get dressed and then work on getting Ty up and ready.

3. Do you prefer lip gloss or lipstick?

Most definitely a lip gloss/chapstick girl!! I don't like the way lipstick feels on my lips....(weird, I know!)

4. Do you take clothes to the dry cleaner or wash them yourself even if they say dry clean only?

I don't own anything that is dry clean only, thank goodness!!

5. Do you prefer Wal Mart or Target?

Target!! Actually, Super Target!!! I absolutely LOVE their dollar section...especially with Christmas around the corner!! They have so many cute things for stocking stuffers!! (and some super cute scrapbooking things for only $1!!)

Woohoo, that was SO much fun!! (I just hope I did it right! LOL)

"Monday, monday..."

Blah!! Actually, this weekend didn't fly by as fast as it normally does. I think the time change had alot to do with it. Plus the fact that Ty wasn't feeling all that great yesterday. He has been complaining about his throat hurting him since he got out of school on Friday. :( His tonsils aren't red or swollen and he has no fever, so i've been giving him Motrin and some stuff for sore throats. He went to school today (he gets his flu mist today at school) and I told him if his throat gets bad today to have them call me and I will pick him up. Hopefully it won't bother him too much.

So this weekend was nice. Would have been nice if Z would have been off at least one day, but what can you do?!? I've been really missing him alot lately. Yesterday I pulled the rest of the cookie dough out and made more sugar cookies. I'm hoping when we hit Sam's club later this week they will have the sugar cookie mix again! I also need to get some chocolate chip cookie stuff and stuff for peanut brittle so I can get started on getting some goodie boxes made up and sent out. I'm hoping more survey money comes in so I can mail out the boxes by the end of this month!

I've been feeling sort of "down" lately (just alot on my mind....I wish I had a switch in my brain that I could just flip to shut off all the bad/yucky thoughts I get! LOL) and i've been playing more and more Christmas music.....that has helped lift my spirits SO much!! And it's so weird.....I hate going into stores and hearing that music already....like they are rushing time by!! And yet here I am listening to it at home.....LOL! Ty asked yesterday about going through our Christmas decorations and I told him I still wanted to wait a little longer for that....but honestly?!? I would have LOVED to have gone through it!! But knowing me I would have wanted to put some things out and I don't want to be tempted with that!!!

This week at Ty's school they are having a Veteran's Day program during the day for the school and are doing a repeat of it Thursday night. I can not wait!!! Ty supposedly has 2 solo songs!!! I told Z I wished our camcorder worked, but i'm going to try and get it on video with my camera....fingers crossed it works, as I want to share it with everyone!!! He is so excited about it, and we couldn't be prouder. :)

Ok, I need to get up and get started around here......dishes have been sitting for far too long. I HATE dishes. I got so spoiled with the dishwasher we had before we moved. I told Z when we move again in a few months (and hopefully for the last time, YAH!!) the only stipulation I have is I want a dishwasher!!

Super fast!!!

On October 31st I placed an order with My Publisher for Christmas cards. I had gotten 2 emails (one for each account) offering 10 free cards, so I decided to just go ahead an order them. (I had ordered free mini photo books from them in the past) Well, I got them today!! I am SO impressed with how well they turned out!!! And at how well they were packaged! I had our return address printed on the envelope as well, and it was all for free!! I ended up with 20 total cards! It actually feels so good to have that part of the holiday to-do list done. :)

More sugar cookies!

A few days ago I made up the last of our sugar cookie mix. (we bought it last year and just now finished it up!) There was actually enough dough to make two batches, so I used it all up and put the dough in the fridge, hoping it would help with the dough sticking when trying to roll out. Now, i've done this before with different types of sugar cookie dough, but never this dough. In case you are wondering what kind i'm using.....



Why yes, that IS a 6lb bag of cookie mix!! And to be honest, I never thought a cookie mix could taste so darn good. I mean let's face it, most cookie mixes just don't come close to being as good as made from scratch cookies. Let me assure you, this is by far the best tasting sugar cookie I have ever had!! And not only is the sugar cookie mix good, but so are the Krusteaz Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle mix!! And all you do is add a stick of butter and one egg......SO SIMPLE!!! Everyone who has tasted the cookies I have made with these mixes has raved about how good they are and can't get over the taste. And many, many years ago my mom would bring these sugar cookies home that a a friend of her's mother would make, and they were almost as thin as a potato chip....and the taste was AMAZING! For years I have searched for a sugar cookie with that taste and I think I have finally found it.

Anyhoo, moving on. So I took some of the dough out yesterday afternoon and after dinner last night Ty and I made cookies. (Chase had no nap and was SO sleepy, he ended up in bed a little after 6:30) I decided to try using two pieces of wax paper again (one on the bottom and one on the top) to roll out the dough to see if that would help with it sticking. I had done it that way a few years ago with different cookie dough and it was such a mess. Well, it worked perfectly!!! In fact, I only put a tiny amount of flour down and that was all I needed!! And I actually managed to get several batches of cookies paper thin......OMW, they were heavenly!!!! A few of the thinner cookies stuck to the wax paper, but I used my cookie spatula (which is a HUGE lifesaver when it comes to making cookies....best $1 I ever spent!!) and they came right off the paper and transferred easily to the cookie sheet. I think the hardest part now is keeping Z and Ty (and myself!) out of the cookies!!!

Welcome, November!

It's SO hard to believe it's November already! This year has just flown by. Last night we took the boys to the mall for trick-or-treating and they had a ball!! We decided to go to a different, bigger mall this year and i'm SO glad we did!! The boys got so much candy, and not just tootsie rolls and lollipops! (at the previous mall we went to, that's about all the stores gave out....and that's if we made it on time to trick-or-treat!) They got some super cool stickers and little toys....they even got a Cars 2 card matching game from the Disney Store! The only down side to going to a bigger mall was more people, which honestly wasn't that big of a deal. The bad part was people that would just cut in front of people in the "line". Ugh, I swear I wanted to smack some of those people...they were SO rude!! Oh, and don't get me started on the older kids that were getting candy...and adults!! They had a sign up that had the "Rules" of the mall for TOT and it said it was only for kids 12 and under. There was one "boy" in front of us that had hair on his legs thicker than Z does!! And he sure didn't look like he was under 12. It was crazy!! Some stores did refuse to give candy to some of the older kids/adults and I like that they stuck to the rules. Ohhh, Godiva was giving kids samples!! Chase did good in the beginning with walking and saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you!" but after walking for a bit he was exhausted....I think mainly because he didn't get a nap yesterday. He LOVES to walk, but when I asked him if he wanted to get in his stroller and he4 said yes, I knew he was wiped out! LOL Here are my scary boys and their loot!! (Chase didn't wear the hat to his costume)



And what was even cuter was in the beginning when we first started out. Chase was SO excited when he saw people were actually putting things in his pumpkin!! After they would put something in, he would look in his pumpkin and get a huge smile on his face. And the more people who put something in there, the more excited he got! We made it to 4-5 people before he decided he was ready to eat something out of his pumpkin. It was just adorable seeing how much fun he was having now that he is old enough to "get trick-or-treating". I remember Ty being the exact same way when he got into it!!

Well, Z was off yesterday (and it may be his last day off for awhile ) so we decided to do some Christmas shopping for the boys. (well, a layaway, anyway!) After we dropped Ty off at school we headed to Kmart over in Pigeon Forge. We wanted to do a layaway there mainly because Walmart had restrictions on their layaway....like, it was only for electronics, toys and jewelry and the items had to be over $15. We were highly disappointed in Kmart. They had a horrible selection of toys and what few things they did have were WAY overpriced. We did pick up a few things, like Ty needed a certain color shirt for his program at school next week (he actually has a solo!!) and we found a sweater for him that I had been looking all over for!! It was marked $20 but was 30% off (I think? maybe 40%?) so we picked it up. When it rang up it was only $10! We also got a super cheap dvd player since we put our dvd player in Ty's room to help him sleep in there. We also ended up getting a $5 Kmart gift card back because we spent a certain amount!!

When we left Kmart we headed to Walmart and decided to just do the layaway there. I am SOOOO glad we did!! I found the Spongebob Lego sets I wanted to get Ty, AND I found the Lego Duplos for Chase!! (he loves trying to play with Ty's Legos but they are just too small for him still) I also found a HUGE plastic container for storing Legos that also came with the flat Lego piece that you can build on....and it was only $10!! We also got Chase a Tonka Chuck & Friends set (love those!) and for both of the boys (and to help keep mommy sane while Chase and I wait at Ty's school!) we got a dual portable dvd player for the van!! We got such an amazing deal on it. Z also found a pair of headphones for Ty (he is so hard on them and they break so fast). Well, when we went to do the layaway I remembered things had to be at least $15 and we had two things that were under that. The lady and man that were ringing us up told us Walmart dropped that and it can be any amount as long as it was in the three categories....so we got to put everything on layaway!! Ty is SO done as far as Christmas goes. I didn't realize how many things we had gotten for him!! There are still a few things we want to get Chase, plus we need to get stocking stuffers for both, but we'll get those when it's closer to Christmas. And thanks to some awesome deals, survey money and freebies, it didn't cost us much out of pocket!!! Now that Halloween is over, I can't wait until Christmas!!! (not that I am rushing time at ALL!! LOL)