Yankee Candle

Going to the Yankee Candle store is an annual trip that the girls and I take.

This year, we just happened to go at Christmas time in order to do a little Christmas shopping and in hopes to find the right spot for our Christmas picture.  Mission accomplished. Both were a success. 

December Highlights

This month is just about gone!

This year is just about gone!

I'm positive that time goes by at a more rapid speed as we get older.

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I had a semi-crisis with this blog a month or to ago. I went to update with pictures and blogger would not let me.  It said that I was at capacity for space on Picasa- the web host that holds all of blog photos.

I had no idea what to do to fix this issue so I pretty much just stopped blogging.  I missed it so I determined to start a new one in order to post more pictures.  Long story made short, I found that I'm only at 19% in Picasa, not the 99.9% that I was at in November. I am not sure why the change and I am not questioning it, just counting it a blessing. 

Enjoy the collages of some of our December activities.

Emily had a role of a sassy girl named Ashley in the children's Christmas play.
It was her last year of being in the play, and I'm glad she was able to have a part.
It was hard knowing that it was her last year and that Rebecca was on the cuff of turning 13.
My babies are growing up way too fast!

Our local homeschool group Christmas party

My sweet girl turned 13.
We have a teenager in the house = mind blown
She had a great party that I think she will remember for years to come.

Keeper/Contender Meeting

Making salt/dough ornaments

 making Christmas trees out of ice cream cone, icing, and candy

Some did not make it long enough to go home with the kids.

Eating it while making it was the best part anyways, right?

Christmas morning was the best!

The girls let us sleep in until after 9:30 am.

We prayed before going downstairs and worshiped the true meaning of Christmas.

The girls had a bunch of great gifts that for the most part, they opened one at a time.

*We started that from the begining to 1. see what the other person got 2. reduce chaos 3. take longer so the magic of Christmas morning isn't over in a matter of minutes.

The girls were very thoughtful in making sure that Jay and I were included in the gift opening, not wanting the focus to be solely on them.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning with some of their favorite gifts:

bb/pellet gun, American Girl dolls and accessories, razor skooter, and Kickers attire.



December Slump

Is it just me? 

I know that there is so much that I need to do that I end up doing nothing.

Forget school.

Forget shopping.

Forget decorating.

Forget baking, crafts, or anything else Christmas-y.

Maybe if I could get a few good nights of sleep. 

Maybe if I didn't have a bunch of running from one place to other.

Maybe if I had a personal shopper so I could avoid any type of store.

I am just plain worn out.  I want to ...

Sigh... that will have to wait.  Time to run to the next scheduled activity.