I love New Years Eve.......

AAAHHHHHH...........I love the promise that comes with the New Year. I love resolving to make changes, and sometimes failing (it builds character, right) and all that comes with it. I love that it feels like the perfect time to start something new, forgive and forget, or just clean your house really good. I have ALWAYS loved the whole New Year's resolution concept, though I haven't always shared these because I didn't want pressure or people to know I failed. But really, I don't care anymore. Nobody's perfect! (I have learned that from Hannah Montana- did you know I met her?) So this year I am going to share my resolutions on this blog. But that post will be tomorrow........because todays post is my simplified "what I will do different during the holidays next year" list: 1. have cuter Christmas cards that do not have a typo on them (holdiays? are you kidding me, I proofed it like 100 times) 2. have an advent calendar 3. make gingerbread houses 4. make tree prettier 5. have a tree in the playroom that girls can put all their ornaments on 6. make the Christmas light cross bigger and better 7. decorate more 8. bake more (i'm being serious) 9. get shopping and wrapping done earlier 10. have a small tree in each girls room (at their request) 11. read the Christmas story to my girls several times during December 12. watch Miracle on 34th street with my family (we got it this year and never watched it) I better stop there, I'm getting overwhelmed. So, anyway, I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year's Eve. We have some tenative plans, and my mom is watching our kids!!!! yay!!! so who knows. How long has it been since we have done something on New Years Eve without our girls?...........um..........I can't think of a time, ever! (seems like I've always been working or on call or something-darn hospital won't close down for New Years eve!) Not that it is a big deal, just means the possibilities are endless. We could drive somewhere and stay the night. That would be fun. But we will probably just hang out with friends. That will be more fun. HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!! Love to the peeps! hrk

Doggie Makeover..........

It's shameful....I know. We have let poor Dixie's beautiful looks go. She hasn't had a haircut since.......maybe August. And, to say the least, she hasn't been feeling good about herself for months. So what's a girl to do.....perhaps, a day at the spa! Here is the"before" picture. God love her, she ain't lookin' so good.

Here is a full body "before" so you get the whole shaggy effect.

And after a relaxing day at the spa (not really, scares the crap out of her), here is the

"after"!................

From shabby to chic in less than 5 hours!

Can't you just see the new confidence exuding from her!

Working the fireplace hearth in a pink and cream WalMart special!

And I can't leave this little fella out of my Doggie post. He's so handsome, he doesn't need a makeover! (Rachel, I knew you'd be disappointed if there were no pics of Brother). Show some love to the animals, peeps!

Here's a little commercial......

Tin cans, ribbon and decoupage = 7.99 Apron, ribbon, material for pocket = 5.99 Two sisters with gifts they will cherish FOREVER = Priceless Ok....taking time to do this with my girls is by far the most meaningful thing I did this whole Christmas season. The girls had sooooo much fun making the gifts for each other and the pride they felt was amazing. They have already been talking about what they want to make next year and asking if they can do it for birthdays, too. They couldn't stand waiting so they opened them Christmas Eve morning. It was the best. The screaming and excitement was so priceless and they seriously have enjoyed these two gifts better than any other. It made us all feel very good. I highly recommend doing this if you have older kids. If I find the blog that I found the idea on I'll post it because she had a lot of neat ideas for things to make. She had younger kids, too, and she included them by letting them go to the store to choose something like new toothbrushes or a fun box of bandaids for each of their siblings, so you really can do it with all ages. So. Worth. It. hrk

I swear, she hasn't had this apron off for more than an hour since she opened it. She even slept in it last night (not to my knowledge,until this morning).

She. LOVES. these.

I sooooo love this picture! I am going to frame one for each of their bedrooms to remind them of what they accomplished for the sake of their sister!

I'm Back...with the 2008 Christmas tour!

Ok...after my little blog hiatus, I'm back with a buzillion pictures of random Christmas moments at all the places we went. We had a great Christmas and had so much fun visiting with all of our families. The girls were so good and very gracious and made us very proud. And as much as I love Christmas and all that goes with it....I am glad it's over. My tree is down, the decorations are put away and man, it feels good! The "santa came" run into the living room!

Enjoying a little milk in her new bath robe.

Enjoying a little Cooking Mama on the DS in her new spongebob bathrobe!

Guess who showed up at my dad's house......the Incredible Hulk! (aka..Blake)

Evan was a little excited!

Ella and I took some pictures of ourselves.

Brad and I took some pictures of ourselves.

Has anybody seen Waldo?

Ella is now preparing for UFC with her new punching bag and boxing gloves.

Me and my Momma with my girlys! (love this picture)

It was all loads of fun and now it's time to start making some RESOLUTIONS!

hrk

And I leave you with this......

This is video of a new band in town, "sassy girl and tomboy". They cannot contain their excitement and have taken to writing songs about Christmas and performing on the stage (aka. gymnastics mat) in the playroom. Merry Christmas.....HO HO HO......Feliz Navidad.....Jesus is the Reason......Joy to the World......It's the most wonderful time of the year! (really, it is)! Love to all my peeps and best wishes for the Merriest Christmas, EVER! hrk

A New Tradition.......

Somewhere in blogland, a mom was blogging about how it is a tradition in their home for the children to make gifts for their siblings, rather than buying something. I usually take the girls on separate shopping trips and let them pick out a gift for each other, but I thought this idea was so much more fun and meaningful. So......we got busy. For Evan's gift, we got an apron at Hobby Lobby and we sewed a pocket on, then embroideried her name on it. Ella had so much fun doing this. She cut the fabric for the pocket, cut the ribbon for the trim, and her favorite part, she helped with the actual sewing. Then we put the name on with the embroidery machine, but she pushed all the buttons on that. So all in all, she made it herself and is very proud. Evan is always wearing an apron, so it will definitely get a lot of use. For Ella's gift, we got some of those big tin cans and made stilts. She hot glued SpongeBob ribbon around the top and bottom of the can, the we printed SpongeBob and Patrick pictures of the internet and decoupaged them on top of the cans. We tied some twine through them and there you have it.....tin can stilts. (Ella loves all things SpongeBob, so these will be perfect.) The best part was the fun they had making them, and both of them were describing what they thought the others reaction would be when they opened it. This is definitely a tradition we will continue..............

hrk

the finished product

Silly me, I didn't get a picture of Ella's completed stilts, but I'll post one when she opens them.

Blessed..........

I came home from work this morning all tired and stressed, looked in Ella's room, and saw this..........................

My sweet 5 year old baby girl and snuggled up in bed, butt high in the air. It has been so long since I have seen her sleep like that. Tiredness....gone. Stress....gone. Melt. My. Heart.

hrk

I. Am. Proud!

Wow! Last night, we had a Christmas recital featuring my beautiful, sassy girl on the piano. Evan has been taking piano lessons for about a year and a half and lately, she has just started to shine. We decided to have a recital for her here at our home, and invite family over to listen to her play some Christmas. We served refreshments and had a GREAT time. She got really nervous before it started and decided she didn't want to do it. But she went through with it and she did amazing. After it was over, she felt so good about it and I know it was the big confidence boost she needed to keep moving forward with her piano playing. I could not have been more proud of her. I even got a litte teary eyed when she started, I was overwhelmed with how proud I felt of her for all her hard work and for being brave enough to perform in front of all her guests. hrk

Oh-No-I-Dit-N........

Oh-yes-I-DID dress Dixie in feety pajamas. Ya know, it's so cold, and the girls were getting all snuggly in their feety pj's, so................here ya go!Obviously, she loved it!

Got any pictures of your animals dressed in people clothes? Let's see em'!

And check this out! http://kristenscreationsonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/funny-dog-pictures.html

Don't think my next dog is not gonna be a Portugese Water dog!

hrk

Country Dancin' as a Family.......(ok, an elf family)

Well, it looks like our country dance lessons have paid off! Don't miss hubs big cartwheel at the end!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Theme Song for my Blog (and my life).......

You may have seen this before, but if not, you MUST watch it. We can all relate, I'm sure!

Hold up, girls, I'm back to Crafting!

Uh-oh! I'm back at it. How fun are these ornaments? We've all seen these for sale at stores around town for $10.00-$20.00. Well, hold up, sistas, because these are so easy to make. Just a paint pen or two and a box of $2.50 ornaments from Hobby Lobby and you've got a fun little gift. (do I sound like i'm teaching craft class?)

What a fun addition to a teacher gift!

For my nephews! And a cute first christmas ornament for.....

Ms. Landy Lou!

So fun and easy and anyone can do this!

I totally expect you will all get crafting and post your creations.

Hooray for craft class!

Love ya,

Ms. Heather

(that's what you have to call me during craft class) heehee!

(do you all know I really wish i was a teacher?)

BEHOLD....................

The Christmas light cross!

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting this post. (admit it, girls, you haven't slept for all the anticipation). So, like I said, not quite the impact I was going for. I guess it probably won't cause any traffic accidents, but it's an effort, at least. No one can say I'm not keeping Christ in Christmas! No 'mam! It all about Jesus at my house!!!

Here is the underwhelming view from the street!

One more close up! This is what is next door. A beautiful life-size nativity! I think my cross compliments it nicely!

(Nuns live there, so we really are working the spiritual thing in my 'hood)! And here is the inspiration! Sweet Baby Jesus! Try to contain your jealousy, peeps!

Introducing.....................

The future of the WNBA! Well, a mom's gotta dream, right? Today, the girls had their first basketball games. It was fun (Ella's game) and stressful (Evan's game). Of course 5 year olds running around the court with the ball is all cutesy and fun. Eight and nine year old- it gets a little serious and way stressful. You have to keep in mind that Evan has never even really watched a basketball game, let alone participated in one. She was VERY nervous and bit her nails the whole time (and so did I, typing is painful right now because I'm typing on nubs). She was very unsure of how it all worked, one minute your on defense and everyone is screaming "gaurd your girl" "stay on your girl", then in the next minute it changes to offense and the whole concept changes, but Evan would run down there to the offense side and "stay on her girl". It was hard for her to switch gears and keep everything straight, especially because a lot of the girls on her team and the opposing team have played basketball, so they were quicker on their feet. All that said, by the end of the game, she pretty much had it figured out. The stress on her face was so obvious, though, and I hate that. I am so not competetive and I hate all the pressure they feel when they are playing a sport. (ok, ella doesn't feel any pressure-i don't think) I was so proud of them both, but especially Evan because this was her first ever game in any sport and she hustled and did her best and already showed improvement. Who knows, she may get it figured out and be pretty good by the end of the season. (remember, a mom's gotta dream) As for Ella, well it was so funny watching them. All was peaches and cream until she fell on the rubber court and tore her knees up, the she ran off the court mid-game straight to me. She did good and she made her free throw at half time. My camera battery went dead so I didn't get to much video. Not like I don't have seven hundred more games to video. hrk

that look on her face is STRESS!

this. is. precious.

Hey....Did you know I met Hannah Montana?

OH-you bet I did! And two years later, I finally got the picture to prove it. This picture has been on someone's cell phone for the last two years and today, he decided to send it to me. YAY! hrk

(angie-this post was just for you)

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree..........

Well, it was a three day process, but the tree is up and decorated. We put it up on Friday. On Saturday, my stepmom, Melody, came over and put the ribbon around it, and finally, after Ella literally driving me crazy about it, we put the ornaments on it tonight. Don't tell the girls, but tomorrow, I am going to buy some new ornaments and "tweek" their decorating a little. I have never done that. I always let them decorate it with the ornaments they want and I never rearrange it, but this year I think I will. It is way past time for some new ornaments. And it is a new tree, after all. $40.00 from Big Lots! Quite the bargain, if I do say so myself. I am not all pretty and fancy about Christmas decorating, so don't think I am showing this picture of the tree thinking it is all Fabulous. I am all about a homey tree with ornaments that are meaningful. It does have several SpongeBob ornaments, afterall! We buy an ornament almost everytime we travel somewhere and that's always fun for reminiscing (?dont know how to spell that). OH- and we put up a Christmas light Cross on our fence outside. We have never done outdoor lights and I have had this vision for a cross on our fence since we moved into this house. I was thinking it would be one of those things people would drive by, then go home and call all their friends and be like, "OMG. You have to drive by that house and look at the Cross they did. It is Beau-Ti-Ful! I am so recomending them for an Orchid award or something!" BUT-only thing is---it's not that great. Not quite the vision I had. I am going to try to refine it tomorrow, also. So, no pictures of the life changing Christmas light Cross, yet. I know- you are dying to see it. Tomorrow, people! Tomorrow! OK- enough! Here are some pictures! hrk

How 'bout this Christmas ambience. You feelin it? Ella seriously couldn't leave it alone. Like having a toddler!

The girls were trying to act like reindeer.?.

All my babies *Evan & Brother, Ella & Dixie* Can you say "I look like my aunt Jenna and my dog is possessed?"

Happy Christmas decorating to all and to all a good night!