advent activity - december 8

Go to a Christmas Parade

......

{Carly and I went to the local small-town Christmas parade. It was 41 degrees when the parade started and 38 when we got back to the car. Carly had taken her hat off to use as a sack to hold the candy and goodies they were throwing from the floats}

{there were lots of Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, churches, fire trucks (glad there were no fires in the county), police, horses, motorcycles, a couple marching bands and of course Santa}

{I had to take a picture of this guy. He cracked me up - he was geared up like he was at the Macy's parade selling his wares.}

2nd Annual

Girlfriend Christmas Party

......

{Carly and friends all dressed up for the"big-girl" Christmas party - everyone was dropped off at 6 and ready to party. I heard lots of questions like "are we going to do ...... like last year?"}

.......

{lot of sticky fun making decoupage ornaments - the ornaments turned out great. The girls were able to do them independently and were all very proud of them. I'm glad I covered the table because they got glue everywhere.}

{pancakes, sausage, & fruit for dinner which was a huge hit! I finally had to cut them off because I was scared they would all end up with tummy aches.}

{tried to have some lessons on "big-girl" table manners - this was interesting. I think they eat too many meals in the school cafeteria.}

{played Christmas bingo, swapped ornaments, and were big silly}

I sent them all home jazzed up and me exhausted. Carly had a fabulous time and didn't want everyone to leave. I think it was a hit and as much fun as last years. She told me several times "thank you" and then asked "can we do this every year?". We'll see.

jingle bells

wordless wednesday

november reads

1. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte...another classic that has been on my list for a while. It is probably a little shameful that it took this long for it to make it to my 'have-read' list. I really enjoyed it (even though it took weeks to read) and loved Jane Eyre...she is such a spunky character. I found my self cheering her own hoping she was going to make the right decisions.
2. Santa fe Dead - Stuart Wood....are you seeing a pattern here? For the last few months I have been making my way through Stuart Woods' books. I like having a series to read through without having to wait for the next one to come out. This one is from the Ed Eagle series. His ex-wife (who has tried to kill him and stole some of his money) escapes from jail. There are some good extra characters mixed in.
3. Phantom Prey - John Sanford.....another good book in the Lucas Davenport series. A typical "who dun-it?", full of twists and turns that keeps me enjoying it until the end. Lucas dives off into the goth culture to solve the case.
4. Growing up in Mississippi - multiple writers, all who were born in Mississippi, wrote short essays. They were more like glimpses of memories from their childhoods. And of course some were more interesting than others. Overall it was just "okay" and possibly only "okay" because I too grew up in Mississippi?

making teachers smile

Carly's teacher happies are wrapped and ready to deliver tomorrow. We decided on these super cute personalized Christmas flat notes from Doodlebugs. I want to go ahead and give them so they can use them to write thank you notes.

who knew

that a $20 dollar pink Christmas tree

some funky multi colored garland

and a box of lime green Christmas balls

would make my child so happy?

I need a drink

What the H.E. double L was I thinking?

Obviously I wasn't.

Kenny and Carly took off this afternoon for the woods so I decided to take my detailed list and go to The Heart of Darkness (WalMart) and finish up all those little odds and ends. You know, like batteries and such.

There has always been a rule not to go to H of D on the weekend. Heck, I have gotten where I don't go to H of D at all. SO WHY, did I think this was a good idea? No clue.

But, I was determined to make the best of it and get it done. Now, maybe I won't have to go back there before the first of the year or maybe the spring!

dear santa

{today's note and stamp from Carly's countdown box}

{Carly wrote a letter and used all her Christmas stamps to decorate}

On the list (amazing enough no surprises):

clay, Nancy Drew books, iTunes Gift Card, games, American Girl Doll stuff, coloring books, movie, and surprises. And as usual she didn't forget Gabby "P.S. My dog would like some bones and treats. NO squeaky chew toys" .

wordless wednesday