Friday, December 31, 2010

419 Coloring Pages

I was trying to come up with something for the kids to do while it is yucky outside.  I decided to create my own coloring pages.  These are just from the "Artwork and Effects" in Photoshop Elements 5.0.  Katie did add some images to the frames, and she picked her own images for some.  I like the "pigeon" that Kati drew ... though she called it an eagle.  I did doodle on a few.  Feel free to download and print.  Images sized 8.5x11
















Wednesday, December 29, 2010

418 Visiting Cleveland ... MS

The Christmas Chocolate Monster has struck again! Connor constantly has choclate on his hands and face. And if that is not enough, he managed to drop a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup into his new boots ... which Daddy happened to not notice when he was putting them on.... It took us a while to figure out what the brown stuff was on his socks. At least it was just chocolate!!
Sunday afternoon we headed down to Cleveland, MS to visit with Chip's family. The kids got to hang out with the grandparents, and we got to have a relaxing visit. Connor loves Mimi's touchscreen computer. I noticed he was being quiet and I wandered to the computer room and found these two playing drums.
Connor got a tee ball type thing for Christmas. Even though it was freezing we had to set it up.
Katie loved it, too. We may have to look into getting her signed up for softball, or whatever her age plays, next season. Connor didn't do too badly, but there were a few hiccups.

At least once the bat made it farther than the ball.

But Daddy was willing to demonstrate the proper method for hitting the ball.



Before we headed home we went for lunch with Mimi and PopPop. We hit a little place in town called Hey Joe's. You can follow them on Facebook HERE
The place had great ambiance, and the food was pretty good, too. Chip had a Big Kahuna burger that had a slice of pineapple on it. Very interesting. PopPop had a Lieutenant Dan. The kids cups were adorable (I know, but I am a mom). Our waitress was a sweetheart. All together a great experience, and we will definitely be stopping in the next time we are down that way. I suggest you do the same!
Sorry all the pics are off my phone...
 

I could use one of these signs ... in each room of my house ...


I <3 these chandeliers!

This picture is FULL of The Awesome!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

417 Tis the Morning After Christmas

Tis the morning after Christmas.
All the presents are unwrapped.
The kids are complaining.
They want Santa BACK!
Katie's Pillow Pet was a hit,
but he brought the wrong Bendaroos.
Santa watches infomercials at The Pole?!
There's something I never knew.

Connor seemed happy with his Imaginext cars.
And he played with them for hours,
but "Christmas come to my house again?"
Is the first thing he inquires.

Mommy wants more Monster High...
WHAT?! The dolls are really cute!
Sure it was for Katie,
but Frankie Stein is fun to shoot.



More, more, more is the cry.
We get to hear it all year through.
So Santa, you have 364 days left,
I sure hope you can come through.

On Christmas Eve I thought I had finally found my holiday spirit. Their excitement was starting to rub off on me. Cookies were made and left for Santa "(Connor thought Santa would prefer Diet Sunkist - though we went with milk at the last minute).



 Chip had to work, but Katie was wishing Daddy could come home. I told her that it just wasn't going to happen, but thirty minutes later the phone rang and Daddy was on his way home. She was so cute, "My Christmas Miracle came true!" It was wonderful. We were able to spend some family time together before we tucked the kids in. We tracked Santa on NORAD, and we got them in bed just in time.

.

Christmas morning came pretty early after a long night. But Santa had made his rounds, so we tumbled out of bed to see what he had brought. The cookie plate was empty, and the milk glass was mostly drained. He even took Katie's "to-go" plate of cookies. Presents were unwrapped. It all seemed to be going really well. Katie was excited about her gifts ... until she started opening clothes and boots (which she decided she loved later, but she was not excited about them being gifts). When she was being so unappreciative it made me really happy that I had played a little trick on her. We got Katie a Nintendo DSi XL. I wanted it to be fully charged and ready to go in the morning, so I plugged it up and wrapped the box for her to open. The manual weighs enough to make the box seem full, so when she opened it she was pulling stuff out and looking hard. We didn't let her wonder long, but there was a moment of disappointment. Silly, but that seemed just about fair considering how I felt at her reaction to the other gifts. It will be funny in a few years when the only thing she asks for is clothes.







We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas ... or at least an amazing December 25th. Happy Holidays! Now its time to resolve to burn off the fat from all the holiday eating!