We Made It

We made it home safely on Saturday. We made great time too! The blowing snow was pretty bad til about Mitchell, South Dakota (about 5 hours worth of bad driving) but after that roads were clear - just super cold.
Now we are enjoying some family time!!!! I love being at mom and dad's! It's just home. Jodi and I did a little Walmart shopping which is the norm when I come home. We also took facebook pictures of ourselves - which I will of course post when I get back to Omaha. You know what I am talking about - those super ridiculous photos you see on teenagers facebook pages - like the sexy look, the party face, anywho we amuse ourselves greatly Played a little bingo with the girls - Maggie won - and she was super excited. Had some coffee and a good visit with Grandma - and she made us a huge batch of waffle iron cookies - heaven!!!!!!!! And I have already had a paco and some Airport Inn pizza and a Eggnog Latte from Kafe Utza!! :) Life is good. (cause of course food makes life good)
Anywho...my little sister Jamie and her hubby and his daughter will be here tonight! Woohoo!! I will make sure to get her super ridiculous facebook pictures as well.
Suzy - Steve's mom - will be here tonight or tomorrow. I will feel better after everyone who is traveling makes it safely.
Mom's making her carmel rolls for Christmas morning - can't wait - Xander is helping! Last minute shopping tonight with the sisters and then last minute wrapping while watching The Family Stone.
As I said life is good - of course life is good when we are in Omaha - but being home is well HOME!!!!
Macey is having a nice time too hanging out with Megan and Kyle. Kyle and Macey met at a summer camp outside of Sheridan a few years ago - and they have kept in touch over the years - it's nice to have Friends as well as family to hang out with. They did get into an accident last night which was a tad stressful for them - I am just so glad they were ok. Connor is helping papa this morning clear the walks at their home, grandmas and their rental. Connor is in charge of the snow blower. My Xander man is vegging and helping nanny - waiting for the girls to come over so they can play. They love nanny and papas hot tub so they have used that a couple of times.
Tomarrow the festivities start - Christmas Mass at 4, then festivities at Jodi and Brady's after mass, and then if it isn't too yucky - we will take the kids for a drive to try and spot Santa and his reindeer and to look at lights. Then of course Christmas Day - starts early with gifts then a fabulous feast in the afternoon. What do you and yours do for the holidays? I'd love to hear about your traditions! Leave a comment here and link back to your blog post. Here is my top 10 of favorite traditions:
10. Carmel Rolls
9. Waffle Iron Cookies
8. Pazzelles
7. The Family Stone on Christmas eve
6. One Santa gift on Christmas eve
5. New Christmas jammies for the whole family (will post pictures after Christmas)
4. Christmas Eve Mass with the whole family
3. Opening stocking stuffers super early
2. Cavatelles
1. Being with family
I guess this post was a lot of rambling - mostly a journal for me so I can read and re-read what a great time we had.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Holiday! Travel safe!

Ummmm...please no more snow til after the new year....

I so want to make it home safely....we are scheduled to leave tomorrow for our 12 hour trek across South Dakota and into Montana. It snowed 3 - 4 inches last night. And let me tell ya what a weird evening - we had lightening, thunder, rain, sleet and finally snow. Lightening in December? That was a first. Kids school was cancelled (calls came in last night) - think just to be safe - not that much snow. Think it has something to do with the buses....
NO snow scheduled for today (yeah I said scheduled) but tomorrow - looks like there is snow and blizzards and dangerously low temps. It is supposed to be a high of 5 below in Rapid City tomorrow, 35 - 45 below with wind chills. And we have to travel through there.
I just wanna go home....and I whined a little when I said that. I miss my mom and dad and my sisters, brother in laws, sister in laws, nieces, nephews, my mother in laws, grandma, aunts and uncles and cousins. And a lot of them will be in MC over the holidays. So I just want to make it safely back home tomorrow - latest Sunday. So we can drink my mom's homemade Tom and Jerry's, eat some Airport Inn Pizza, play games, laugh, visit, and relax!!!
So please no more snow until after the new year!!!
If you are traveling this holiday season I wish you the safest travels. Enjoy your loved ones!! And have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

New Pages

And just so everyone knows - I openly "scrap-lift" a great amount of layout ideas. I post my pages here for my family and friends to enjoy not because I want fame and fortune. I love my Page Maps book (and Becky's site) - so a lot of my pages are based on her sketches. And I get a ton of ideas from magazines and internet sites also. These are my pages - I tweak them as I see fit or I don't. I don't site the designers - not cause I am trying to steal their ideas - but because I don't have their names - I cut up sketches and pages from my magazines and add them to a binder - I don't keep the designers names. So if one of these designs are yours - thank you for the inspiration - I truly do appreciate it and love your work - as they say.....imitation is the best form of flattery!!! Just thought I should address this because I have read a ton of post about people "stealing" ideas or about no credit being given. I just want to say it's hog wash - if I was making money I could see it upsetting the designer to not get credit - but I am not making any money off of scrapbooking (just ask my husband). I do it cause I enjoy it - because I want something to pass down to my kids and then their kids and their kids, etc...
If I do submit any of my pages - they will be my own designs.
Oh and by the way if you do want to copy any of my ideas please do I am so glad it offers some form of inspiration!!

A Little Somethin.....

OK you can see my kettle is not red yet - so let's help the Salvation Army and donate! I know that you all probably give a lot all year round but if you want to give a little bit more that would be awesome. I just thought this was a really cool way to offer a little help....Thanks everyone!!!

Dynamic fundraising meter for your Red Kettle campaign.

Friends new business

A friend and one of her friends started a new eBay business. They buy unwanted inventory from local stores to help them clear up space and give them (two stay at home moms) a part-time job! You'll also find a few of their personal (or friends or family!) gently used items.

They will be listing TONS of new stuff over the next few days. Be sure to check back often, you might just find something that you CANNOT live without.
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/outdoorgearfinds

Happy Happy 8th Birthday to my baby...

Ok so he is SOOOOO NOT a baby anymore - but he is our baby - right? Makes me sad how quick they grow up.
But yes it is true, our Xander is 8.

Xander's top 10:
10. Snuggling with his mom (ok I picked this one)
9. Bedtime Stories
8. Playing with his family
7. Playing with friends
6. Art Projects
5. Ball Tag
4. Nerf Gun Tag
3. Drawing
2. Video Games
1. LEGOS - he just can't get enough. For his big day he recieved 4 new lego sets - and he is so excited. Plus he received two target gift cards and I have a feeling he will be using them to buy some Indiana Jones Lego sets.

He had a party with his friends last night. They ate pizza and a Madagascar 2 cake. They played "old school" games like pin the top hat on the snowman, the clothespin drop games, drawing a face while blind folded, and the one where you blindfold the kids give them a spoon and a bowl and they have to try to scoop all of the cotton balls up. They had lots of fun. I will post some photos later.

New

Loved this!

Make sure you pause the blog music on the right and listen to these performances. Such a fun mix. Love it!!!

Happy Holidays!

All jewelry is now 40% off at Star Hitched Wagon! Come on over and check it out!