Friday, December 28, 2007

I have been making scarves like crazy as Christmas gifts and then today the coolest thing happened... I took 3 orders for 3 more scarves... So, it looks like I am in business...Cool...

Last night Kelly and the kids came over for pizza and to get a key since they will be checking in on the house and the hamster while we are on vacation... Sean was so cute... he always wants the play with the hamster but Samantha won't let him... I told him he could play with her all he wants while we are gone because Samantha won't be there to say anything to him... Well, he is all set to come over the second we leave to get the hamster out... Her name is Hally but it was too cute how he kept calling her Holly...

While Kelly was over Tammy called... I saw it was her on the caller ID and didn't answer, I'd call her back later... then she called again and again I didn't answer... by the third time I figured something must be wrong so I answered... She wanted John to come over until the police arrived because someone tried to break into her house... They threw a rock through her sliding glass door!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

We had a lovely Christmas and pictures will be posted soon. After work on Christmas Eve I went to to buy some yarn to make Samantha a blanket. That should be a good project to do on our trip. Then we all went in to Rose's house to do our gift exchange.

Rose had a little Santa hat for Rocco the dog but he wouldn't wear it... He did however wear his monkey on his back... I so wish I had gotten a picture because it is the funniest thing... He has one of those stuffed monkeys with the long arms and legs that have velcro on the paws... Rose raps it around his neck and is body so that the monkey part is on his back and he will walk around with it like that for hours... it is too cute!

Once it got dark on Christmas Eve we went to Gahanna to walk along the creek and look at the lights... It was freezing cold but lovely... the ducks were on the creek and one swan... The swan was as big as Samantha... I knew they were big but this one was on steroids or something because it was freakin huge! Then we drove downtown to look at the Nativity Scene they have every year... It shows not only the manger scene but Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem and the wise men's journey... It is beautiful... They hadn't put the baby Jesus in the manger yet and we joked that it was probably in the trunk of the security guards car...

Samantha didn't want to take a bath with me like we do every year on Christmas Eve... Instead she played with her 2 new Webkinz on the computer... Before bed she left Hershey Kisses and a glass of milk for Santa... she signed the note she wrote: "Your Friend, Samantha"... And, she was asleep around 9pm...

On Christmas morning Samantha and John were up around 6am but I slept in until 8am... Samantha made me coffee while I was in the shower and then we opened presents... John and I had agreed not to get each other gifts since we are about to leave on vacation but he and Samantha went to Nordstroms and got me earrings... I love them but I feel like a dope for not getting John anything... I told him the slippers I got him last week are his present... Samantha loved the doll house furniture Santa brought her... We moved her doll house out into the living room in front of the tree so she could set everything up... Her favorite gift is the digital camera Santa brought her with the cute carrying case... she clipped the carrying case to her purse and brought it to dinner at Rose's house and took pictures all day...

We had Christmas dinner at Rose's house with Linda, Ray and their kids... John and I commented how we can't get over how the boys are all adults now... And, how Shawn and his girlfriend Gia remind us of how we were when we were dating... We had a lovely time, dinner was yummy and afterward we all played bingo... Everyone won at least one game but Samantha was the champ winning 5 games...

Samantha got Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly... we had the best time playing it with her... we played in the living room with the tree lights on and a fire in the fire place... John and I both ended up broke, Samantha won with tons of properties, pet carriers (their version of houses) and money...

It was a beautiful Christmas and I am thankful for all our family and friends...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

These are some of the girls in Samantha's class. Samantha has her hands on Olivia's shoulders. Olivia is one of her good friends who is in her class.

Samantha and Tara with their reindeer at Skyline Kid's Night...

This is the blanket I made Mom for Christmas. It is a super soft green wool with a rust colored border...

And this is the blanket I mad Dad. His is brown yarn with a center stripe of a jewel toned yarn and the matching border.
Thursday was our work holiday party. I didn't take any pictures. It was very nice. Everyone was there, even Chris who was sick and Racheal who lives over 2 hours away. Oops, Jeff wasn't there but he was in Puerto Rico for work... Carla made her artichoke dip and Kim made her meatballs. Both are my favorites. Arlene made cookies and her marzipan macaroons are definitely on the list of favorites. We ate and then did our gift exchange. We gathered in Carla's living room where she had a fire in the fire place. Her house is great, she has the greatest colors, teal in the living room, gold in the entry way and rust orange in the kitchen. Anyway, Cary liked the scarf I made her. Lisa commented on how she'd like one of those so I will have to find out when her birthday is and make her one. Sue drew my name and gave me a gift card to STARBUCKS and some CHOCOLATE... my favorites. I left a little before 8pm. And, it was just in time too, I guess Stacey got really drunk and made a spectacle of herself.
On Friday I only worked a couple of hours, just enough time to hear all the stories from the party, and then I went to Samantha's class holiday party. On the way I stopped off at Starbucks for a peppermint mocha, yummy! Her Party was fun. They combined her 2 classes and there were all kinds of game and craft stations manned by the parents. I did the "pin the ornament on the tree" game which was a version of pin the tail on the donkey. There was one girl who hung around a talked to me a lot... remember these are third graders... and when we were leaving I wanted to make a point to say good by to her. I gave her a hug and she picked me up! It was the funniest thing, I was stunned... She picked me up! Samantha gave her teachers a candle we made and some cinnamon sugar pretzels she made. She was cute giving them her gifts. It was a really nice party.

Oh... and here is a Polly Pocket hotel turned Littlest Pet Shop house... I love the roof top pool and Christmas tree...





Thursday, December 20, 2007

Last night we went to kid's night at Skyline. The girls made reindeer puppets. Tacey wasn't there this week but she had left a gift for Kelly and me, the prettiest pair of earrings that she made. I still can't believe it is Christmas next week! So, for 3 years I have ordered the exact same thing every single week at Skyline: a small 3 way and cheese fries... But, last night I changed my order and have found a new favorite thing. When we got there I passed by a table where a woman had a chili burrito with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. It looked so good and I told Ciera that is what I wanted. She was so surprised to see me change my order after all this time.

Samantha had told me that she hasn't ever been the star student in her music class and it seemed like everyone else had. I sort of felt bad for her but didn't want to jump in and solve something that a) wasn't a problem and b) that I didn't have all the information about. I really want Samantha to learn to get all the information, process it and then be able to solve the issue herself or ask for specific help if she can't solve it herself. Anyway, she told me she is finally star student! She was very excited and the wait made finally being star student that much more special.

Tonight is our holiday party for work. We draw names for a gift exchange every year and this year I drew Cary's name. I finished her scarf last night. It is out of some super soft rust colored wool and I can't wait to give it to her. I also am giving her one of the candles we made.

The candles are a whole other story... We made them over the weekend and when they dried all the way they had big dips / holes in the middle. So, yesterday I heated up more wax and set about pouring it in to fill the holes... But, the wicks then sank into the new, hot wax. I had to pull them out and try to prop them up so they wouldn't fall back into the wax. They were already cut though which made it really difficult. But they are finally done and ready to be wrapped up!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

How horribly embarrassing... I got up from my desk at work and fell down. My shoe got caught in my long skirt and I went down. I skinned my knee and twisted my ankle. We all laughed but it was rather embarrassing.

And, this morning Samantha spilled an entire cup of coffee all over the Element. I wiped up most of it but the little cracks and crevasses will no doubt be sticky. So I guess it is just one of those days...

Over the weekend we finished up my parents Christmas presents and I got them off in the mail yesterday. Samantha finished her calendar complete with lots and lots of glitter. There was glitter everywhere... even in her peanut butter sandwich in her school lunch yesterday. Along with the glitter there is also wax everywhere from our family craft project: candle making. They came out great except for the few holes we have to go back and fill in with more wax. we will definitely do the candle making again.

last night I was in the bathtub and Samantha came in and asked if she could make the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kisses in the center. I said yes and she made them all by herself. They were really good. i brought some to work today and everyone there liked them too.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Today is PJ day at school. The kids got to wear PJ's and slippers. Then this afternoon they are going to have hot chocolate and watch "The Polar Express". So, yesterday I realized Samantha does not have a pair of PJ's. She has PJ bottoms but not a whole set. I went by Target and got her a pair, really cute purple with snow men. She tried them on and said the medium pants were too big. (They really weren't but she's 9 and has strong opinions...) So, we went to Target, returned the mediums and she tried on the smalls. The small top was way too small but she said she liked the pants (which were kind of tight). We ended up finding a pair of bottoms only in small and we got those. This morning rolls around and Samantha comes into the bathroom while I was getting ready and says that her butt crack shows in the small bottoms when she sits down... Oh my God! So, she ended up wearing the old bottoms from the thrift store that she already had with the tee shirt I got her from the thrift store the other day and I think I will just stick to shopping at the thrift store! She also took her sock monkey slippers and her stuffed sock monkey, Holly, that grandma made her a few years ago for Christmas.

After we went to Target last night we went to Applebees for dinner where we saw Charlie from our days at City Center. It was really nice to see him but for the life of us neither John nor I can remember his last name. It is driving us crazy...

I am so glad that it's Friday! Kelly, Tim and the kids are coming over tonight for John's birthday. We are having pizza and cheesecake and will probably play charades. Then "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is on at 8pm so we will probably watch that too. Then this weekend I have to finish the blanket I am making for my mom and then get all their presents ready to take to the post office on Monday. Since I am in a time crunch this year with all the blanket making I decided to not make any Christmas cookies... But, this morning while I was on the phone talking to Mom she said she wants me to make her cookies to send this year... so, I guess I will be making cookies this weekend too!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

John's 40th birthday was yesterday. We took him to Old Bag of Nails for dinner. He loves Rubens and they have a great Ruben. I wouldn't know as I don't care for them but he says it's good. They are totally remodeling the down town Gahanna area so it took us forever to find a place to park. So, after dinner we were walking back to our car and we found the coolest display of Christmas lights along the creek. We were all tired and decided to come back another evening to walk along the wooded creek trail and look at them.

I've mentioned the annoying little girl at school who waits with us in the morning. Well, I've recently discovered that she has a really bad home life. (So, even though she is annoying I have to realize that it is not her fault...) The other day we were all waiting at school and Paul had on a pin that said: I am loved. Paul had gotten a few at church and he gave one to the annoying girl and I pinned it on her. She smiled and it was quite touching. I hope it really did make her feel loved... It's not her fault her family sucks...

The other day John said they had to go to the high school because there was a report of a kid who had brought a gun to school. He said it's pretty weird walking down the halls of your alma mater carrying a rifle.

Today we celebrated Cary's 10 year anniversary at work. We had lunch and Carla read a poem she, Kim and Ellen had written and then everyone told funny stories about Cary. It was really nice.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Icky Sick





The pictures are from Dad's trip to Ireland. They went to a bird sanctuary. I just think the eagle and the owl are amazing. And, I can't believe how close they got to the birds.

John is going to take Samantha to the doctor tomorrow, she is really sick... complete with green snot.
We decorated the tree last night. I felt bad for Samantha because she really didn't feel well so she wasn't quite into it. I didn't take pictures because she looked so pathetic.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

We had our second snow day on Friday. So Samantha is having a 5 day weekend because she was home sick on Thursday. She is so congested that she is choking on it, gross, I know...

I am having a purse crises. I want a new one, a black one because the one I carry now is brown. It's actually more of a brown leather tote bag that is nice and wide on the bottom. Anyway, I got one at Target the other day but it wasn't quite right so I returned it. But, the second one isn't quite right either so it will go back on Monday. Maybe I should just stick with the old one...

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Snow Girl

Samantha wanted to go out and play in the snow so we got her all bundled up...

You couldn't make snow balls as it wasn't packing snow but she didn't care...


I gave her Jello to mix in the snow like my mom did when I was a kid. She had watermelon flavored...


"Mommy, I'm done, my hands are frozen... Let me in!"


Snow Day





John woke me up this morning to say that school had a 2 hour delay but when we woke up around 8:30am they had decided on a snow day! And, there is a Law & Order: SVU marathon on all day today, what could be better.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Samantha had her class visit to the school's holiday shop yesterday. She went to school with her envelope of money and her list of who she wanted to get presents for and she came out of school with a big brown grocery bag. She showed me what she got: a pen for Grandpa, a Santa ornament for Grandma, an angel ornament for MaMa and a golf ball engraver for BaBa. I just love how big she is and how she puts thought into things.

Monday, December 3, 2007

It's been a while! Every free moment I have had has been spent working on our hand made Christmas presents. I am almost done with the throw I am making for my Dad and am about to start on the one for my Mom. Samantha is busy making calendars and John is going to make candles. Actually, the candle project is going to be a family activity. I went to the thrift store and got lots of cute containers for candle holders.

I have recently discovered that I have an addiction to yarn. I see beautiful yarn... I buy beautiful yarn. Oh my!

John got the bid sheet for his shift next year and for the first time there was an opportunity for him to go to day shift and he took it. It has been different having John home in the evenings but not as big an adjustment as we thought.

This past Friday Samantha and I went to see "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Columbus Children's Theater. It was great. The Herdman children were perfect, exactly as I had imagined them in my mind after reading the book. Samantha loved the play and started reading the book over the weekend.

On Saturday we all set out for our town's Christmas in the village. It was sleeting a slight bit but it was still fun anyway. They had Santa ride in on an antique fire truck to light the Christmas tree. There was a bon fire and a guy carving ice sculptures and all of the shops were open with games and refreshments. We had fun even though we froze our little noeses off. Afterward we went to dinner and warmed up.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Samantha was looking at the things on John's dresser. She was asking about all the stuff that he puts on his uniform. The next morning John called me in to look at how she had lined everything up. Too cute...