Merry Christmas!!

Well, we braved the bitter cold and crazed, last-minute shoppers to go see Santa at the mall for our traditional Christmas Eve picture of the children....only this year, Alex decided he was too old to sit in a photo with jolly old St. Nick. I still love how this came out!

And I figured I could just get the four of them to sit together for a picture amid the Christmas scenery at the mall. It didn't have to have Santa in it to be a good picture, and I could do it myself, right?

Hmmm....for some reason, I can't get all four of them to look at me at the same time...

Man, the lighting in here is awful! I'm using the high ISO setting on my camera, and everything!

Okay, guys, now this is just ridiculous....

Ah, forget it! Merry Christmas, anyway! :)

We're Ready!

We've decorated, we've visited with family and have plans to do it some more, we've done our shopping, we've made snack mix and buckeyes.....

....today the kids will see Santa (a Christmas Eve tradition), I'll get the presents wrapped, and we'll make some more cookies to set out for Santa by the tree! Along with a note for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer, of course. I can't believe it's finally Christmas Eve!

This is my newest project that I'm planning to work on over the Christmas break...

...a new quilt for Maggie's bed! She doesn't want flowers, no rainbows or unicorns, no pink....no, my little princess/future zoologist wants an animal-print bedspread. So I've been looking for fabrics that won't make the finished product look like something from the set of a jungle-themed porno (a difficult task, let me tell you). And after much searching, these are the fabrics I found. Thankfully, she LOVES them. Can't wait to get started....but first, we need to get this Christmas thing out of the way! Hope your holiday is happy!

Fa la la la LAAAAA!!!

Just wanted to share a few pics with you before I scoot out the door...

Maggie on "Wear a Silly Hat" Day:


Jack and his cousin Ethan (we had some friends and family over for dinner this week):


Jacob and Jack sporting their fabulous new hats at the Dollar Tree:


This is the oven mitt and cookie-in-a-jar I made for each of the kids' teachers:


And my little brother Mark stopped by to say hello yesterday! I love that crazy kid! (Notice how Jacob is still wearing his silly hat? He and Jack are nuts about those things!)

It's almost Christmas...only five more days, if you've lost count. And today, I get to do some last-minute shopping! Keep me in your thoughts, would you? Maybe say a prayer that I don't get knocked down by some crazed lady making a desperate grab for the last lion Webkins.....oh wait, that lady might be me. :) Happy Saturday!