Cookie Decorating Party!

I, voluntarily, had 11 children (8, plus my 3) in my house decorating sugar cookies & gingerbread men! :o) That's right, I asked some of my friends to bring their kids to get hyped up on sugar to ring in the Christmas season! :o) Those of you who know me may be wondering if I've lost my mind... maybe :o) But it was so much fun!!!!

I was up late last night baking sugar cookies, and then early this morning baking the gingerbread men...

Then, at 5:30 this evening the first of our guests arrived! :o) A fellow COVA mom, Laurie, and her 3 girls. She and I have chatted on Facebook for the last year or so, but we've only met maybe twice! :o) I had so much fun getting to know her, and her girls! They are all pretty close in age to my three, so that was very cool!

Oh my gosh, Laurie, this picture just makes me smile!!!

They were followed by a new friend, Ivy, and her daughter. We go to church together and met through our 'anchor group'. It took Laura a little bit to feel free enough to run like a maniac (like my children were/are), but she LOVED making the cookies! :o)

And, last, but in no way least, my friend, Cheryl and her 4 kids arrived! By this time, all the kids were running amok and watching Veggietales Christmas movies in between. :o) Some of them had eaten all their cookies (my kids!), others were working on it LOL

The kids played dress up, they ran around, the jumped off the walls (well, maybe that was just my girls LOL)... in all, I think they had a great time! :o)

And you may be wondering where MY youngest midget was during all this manic running and dressing up was going on...

She was eating frosting... from the containers! And later, she was eating sprinkles! Every time I'd turn my back, I'd hear the sprinkle containers LOL She was SNEAKING around the table trying to get to the shakers as I was picking them up... I was in stitches watching her! Believe it or not, she went straight to bed... I know! I was surprised, too! :o)

Such a fun way to kick off Christmas; hanging out with friends and letting our kids go crazy :o) Thank you Laurie, Ivy & Cheryl for joining us... we had a blast!!

Christmas has come and gone...

and while I'm sorry that the feelings associated with Christmastime are going away (though I'm trying really hard to keep them with me!!), I'm quite glad the non-stop activity associated with the 'family Christmas' is done! Phew!

We live VERY CLOSE to all of Rick's immediate family, except his younger brother and HIS family. They live in Victorville, Ca. Well... they flew in Christmas morning with their newly foster/adopted son, Isaiah. That was super cool! But oh my gosh the plans started flying and being thrown out!!!

Christmas Eve, it was planned that we would open presents at my MIL's house with ALL the grandkids... there are 6 here (my 3 girls and my SIL's 3 boys) ranging in ages from 2 to 12. It was LOUD, and crowded! Fun, but in all there were 17 of us crowded in my MIL's apartment living room... wow! Rick had to leave at 6PM to go to work... that sucked.

Christmas Day, we got to do our present opening at our own home. We were incredibly blessed by a local church that 'adopted' our girls for presents. My oldest got like 4 pairs of sneakers, and all of them got lots of jeans and t-shirts. They also got about 4 toys each from the church. From us they got 2 toys each. From MY momma they each got 3 presents (1 was clothes... they were TOTALLY burnt out on clothes! LOL).

Christmas Day NIGHT, we went to my SIL's house where she made Swedish pot roast. Oh man, it was SOOOOO good! There were 21 of us, including 7 grandkids (my BIL had made it in, remember?) and my SIL's ILs :o) That was also loud, but we were all having fun falling in love with Isaiah. :o) Rick had to leave at 6PM to go to work... that sucked... again.

Day AFTER Christmas, we got a phone call from FISH (which, I believe, is an extension of Loaves and Fishes, but I'm not positive) wondering why we hadn't picked up our gifts. Huh? I thought the church WAS the gifts from FISH (they were in connection, I was told anyway)! So we went to FISH to pick up our gifts... there was a bag for each girl (each with at least a pair of shoes, shirts, pants and toys!) and a bag for Rick and a bag for me AND an extra bag! Oh my goodness!! God REALLY blessed us this tight Christmas! (Did I mention that my MIL bought us our tree???) In my presents, there were 6 new bath towels, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Oddly, I loved it! :o) And the sweater I got? A beautiful, fuzzy red one... LOVE IT!!

Day AFTER Christmas NIGHT, we went to dinner with Rick's parents, his brother (and his wife and Isaiah), his younger sister (and her husband) and all of us. So eleven of us descended upon Red Robin :o) That was fun! And loud :o)

Don't we look happy? The midget in the front is my youngest, Abigael. Then going clockwise its me, Emmie (my middle girl), Kiera (my oldest), Richard (SIL's husband), Amanda (SIL), Bryan (BIL), Brittany (BIL's wife), Isaiah (BIL's son), Ray (FIL), Sue (MIL) & Rick (my honey!). It was so cool of the waitress to take our picture, we left her an awesome tip :o) She deserved it!!

I'm now unwinding (while washing all the new clothes and towels!!!) after everyone has gone back to 'normal'. Until New Years anyway, I'm sure! :o)

Rudolph: Real nose or fake nose?

That is the discussion my almost-10-year-old daughter and my 6-year-old daughter were having as I was putting them to bed tonight. :o) My oldest holds that Rudolph really WAS born with a red nose. My middle girls says no, that when its foggy, Santa just puts a blinking red light on the lead reindeer's nose.

That was such a funny conversation. My oldest seemed to really be mad that her sister didn't agree with her, and she really seemed to still believe in Rudolph and Santa! More power to her! :o)

So how about you? Is Rudolph real, and does he have a red nose? Or does Santa put a fake nose on whoever is leading the sleigh? :o)