The Diva.

Yesterday I went up to Charlotte's bedroom to see what she was doing in there so quietly. I went in and found her dressed in her dress-up clothes and she was looking in her little hand mirror while putting on her very best Snow White lip gloss. I asked her to jump up on the bench for me (I have to seize an opportunity when I see one) and after about two pictures she plopped down and whined; " But I don't waaaaant to get my picture taken, I only want to look in the mirror." Oh, good Lord. Seriously?

Is this what I have to look forward to? I'm not ready for all that.

I hope the rest of you had a DRAMA-free start to your week!

Sledding Party::

Just wanted to share a few pictures from the Sledding Party at my Uncle's house on Sunday. I went outside and quickly snapped a few pictures before I hurried back inside-it was probably in the single digits yesterday, which is just way too cold for me! Remember how when you were younger you could go up and down the hill over and over and you didn't care how cold it was or that you really couldn't feel your face anymore? Those were the days. After  the outdoor fun everyone went inside for cookies, brownies, apple pie and hot cocoa.......the best part of the day.

During a short break from "Cops & Robbers" I had some of the cousins jump up on the bench in the hallway for an impromptu Bench Monday shot where Wyatt replied; "Ummm...hello mommy, it's Sunday!" I told him it's okay to cheat sometimes. Happy Monday!

Today.

We had Christmas/Holiday obligations from last Tuesday-Sunday so I promised the kids that we would stay home and not go anywhere at all today. Our deal includes the kids getting to stay in their pajamas all day, eating lots of snow "ice cream" with sprinkles and whip cream and playing with all of their new stuff. The deal also requires ME to stay in MY pajamas all day, too. I think I can handle that. The kids also get to make a big mess and have all of their new toys out in the living room today and I won't start putting it away until tomorrow. Gotta love these cold, lazy days with nowhere to go, this is my kind of deal. Happy Monday to you! Hope you are all having a nice, relaxing day, too!

Happy (Bench) Monday!

Today is my Baking Day, The Baking Day of the year. I am making all of my Christmas goodies today with a little help from Wyatt. My plan is to be completely done by tonight and out delivering with the kids tomorrow morning. That's my plan anyway and I think I'm going to be able to do it because I have back-up this week. Eric is off work all week, what a difference that makes! Yesterday I  finished my shopping, I am completely done. This is by far the earliest I have ever been done and it feels so good. Seriously. I am looking forward to enjoying the next few days and not being stressed out over all I still have to do....well, shopping-wise anyway.

*Here's what we're making today:

Chocolate (and white chocolate) covered pretzel twists
Chocolate covered pretzel rods rolled in Christmas sprinkles
Peanut Butter Blossom cookies
Chocolate chip cookie bars
Peanut butter sandwiched between Ritz crackers, covered in chocolate (not sure what to call these?)

Time for me & my little helper to get our aprons back on and get the Christmas music cranked back up. Happy Baking! Happy Monday!

 I was able to get so much done today without the kids, it was sooo nice. I mean-love the kids to pieces but they are not so easy to shop with-I mean really shop-and you can't blame them. Here's where I went:
Walmart, Target, bank, Post Office, dollar store, Walgreens, Starbucks, grocery store. All by myself.
I love Judy. Love, love , love her. When I called to tell her I was on my way she told me not to come yet, they still had a few more things to do (!) so I did my grocery shopping and then took the groceries back home before picking them up. The kids painted, made Christmas ornaments and had a great day. Oh yeah, I did have to buy a little something for myself, I've been wanting to watch it since last week so I bought myself Love Actually today. Oh and in all my excitement this morning over my shopping day I almost forgot about Bench Monday so I had the kids jump up and take a quick picture on the way to the car. We got a teeny, tiny bit of snow last night and you can just barely see it here. The kids were so excited though.

 

Hope you had a great Monday!

Monday...

Another Monday. Actually I was pretty happy to have a lazy, yet productive, day around the house with the kids today. We didn't even leave the house at all, not even to go to the grocery store, which I REALLY needed to do. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  After such a long, busy weekend I think we needed to stay home and clean, play, organize and rest. We did start to get the Christmas stuff out, just two boxes though, and will do the rest tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week.

And Happy Bench Monday!

It's Monday. Happy  Bench Monday!  And yeah, it's really a chair, but they count too.

So I found out this morning that my alarm actually WORKS! It really does, it works. I was up early, took a walk and ran to the grocery store before 7:00 a.m. Imagine that!

Well, it's a start anyway.

Other highlights of my day included:

making homemade blueberry and chocolate chip muffins

having an old work friend over for lunch and to hang out with me and the kids

lots of cleaning, laundry and organizing

finding Charlotte's lost doctor kit, she was thrilled!

an evening walk with the kids and the dogs after supper, it was dark so they got to carry flashlights and loved that.

That was my Monday.

Busy week ahead with something going on every day!

Trying Not To Lose Our Marbles.....

Happy Bench Monday! It's a rainy, dreary Monday around here so this is probably how the kids will be all day today; at home,  cozy in their pajamas. I love Mondays. We have nothing to do, nowhere we have to go and today is a perfect day to stay in, plus we all had a busy weekend so we've earned a day to just be lazy. I had a great time shopping in Chicago, the kids had lots of fun with daddy and Sunday we celebrated my sister's birthday at my mom & dad's which means all the cousins got to play together all afternoon. A great day. A great weekend.

Today I have so much I should be getting started on besides just the usual laundry, cleaning, scrubbing the bathroom, etc. I have some projects I am really itching to get started on and I know I should begin going through toys and other stuff around the house--time for out with the old and in with the new.

I think I'm going to have to come up with a few fun crafts and projects for the little ones later on since there will be no going outside today and possibly for the next few days if the weather man is right.

Hope everyone else has a great day and a great week!

A Little mOnday Love...

I love Mondays. I really do. I haven't always loved Mondays, but I do now. There is no work on Monday, no preschool and nothing going on for us regularly, it's a"free day". We can do whatever we want and today we visited the Apple Orchard near us. It is a gorgeous day here, the weather in the upper-60's...we got to pick apples, play on the playground, jump on the hay fort, try to catch monarch butterflies and eat apple donuts. Oh and it is Bench Monday so we got to take pictures, too. A great day so far! Hope you are having a Happy Monday!

Bench Monday #4

Bench Monday Week #4: My Two Little Chefs. This is our fourth week participating in the Bench Monday group on Flickr. Wyatt re-named it "Mustache Monday" and insisted on wearing this fake mustache until his dad got home from work, he said he "just knew daddy was gonna crack up when he saw it." Charlotte said Wyatt looked like a gentleman with it on but that was right before she popped him on the head with the wooden spoon for calling  her "his assistant".  Happy Bench Monday and Happy regular ol' Monday everyone! We have a busy week ahead of us being that we have a BIG Birthday for a special little boy this weekend. Lots and lots to do....but the first day of the week? Monday? A great day and starting the week off on the right foot is a good sign!