Christmas week recap#1

So, since I haven't blogged in like forever; I thought I'd inundate your readers with posts today.

Here's a little Christmas catchup from my family to yours.

Boredome buster number 2 last week was the Ethel M. Chocolate factory here in Henderson.

We've been there several times over the years, but I think it was the first trip for the boys.

 posing out in front of the factory before we went in

It was so nice to actually see them making stuff for a change. In the years past whenever we've gone, those conveyor belts have been empty and barren.

 look at those bins of chocolatey goodness....

It's a very short tour really, but you get a sample at the end, and then of course you get to visit their shop.

 look close, you can see chocolate dribble on Justins chin...

 Outside the chocolate factory is a huge, beautiful cactus garden. Ethel M lights it up every year at Christmas.
We walked through and admired the beauty of the desert, and captured a few prime photo ops.

I thought this was just too pretty. A saguarro skeleton. I took a pic of the description for your reading pleasure.

 We went back later in the week to see the garden all lit up. It was quite lovely. But dang! Was it cold!

 another photo op with the kids and an extra cute little guest that we took along with us.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas week!

The homes on Gingerbread Lane

Figured I'd put in an appearance over here in blog land.

I really can't believe just how fast Christmas has crept up upon us.

I mean seriously.

Where did 2011 go?

I have quite a bit of time off this week, and since the kids are out of school, I've been hoping to do a decent job of involving them in some fun activities that hopefully don't cost an arm and a leg.

I've been trying to think back over the past few years and pinpoint traditions that we've kept for the holidays.

I'm not sure if there's any one thing we've done consistently over the years, but  a few of our favorite Christmas activities have included looking at Christmas lights, baking, taking the kids to shop for presents, visiting the Magical Forest here in Vegas, and perhaps the occasional craft.

Tonight we made gingerbread houses.

It was fun, and just a wee bit messy.

Haley's masterpiece.

Ashley's....

( I just love how two points of the star behind her head were in the exact position a couple horns would be in. Eerily significant!! lol

Proud little artist.

Perhaps the messiest crafter. He just wanted to keep adding to it.

A closeup of Jason's completed house. Lots of marshmallows!

Justin's

Ashley's, sadly after the roof collapsed.

and Haley's. I'm digging those chocolate hedges lining the walkway.

And of course, I had to try my hand at it too.

Fun, fun, fun.

Why is it that they don't really taste quite as good as they look?

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Catching up is hard to do!

 Just some quick pics to play a little catch up into our life lately.

I believe my last post was about this lovely birthday girl...

Let me share with you some of her twisted little personality.

She got a fun little kit for making special effects makeup. Here's one of the things she had fun creating...

Seriously, she didn't cut herself. It's like food coloring and karo syrup I think. Completely edible.

Yum!

Here she is after playing with some of her Halloween make up...

Remember her pretty blonde hair????

Yeah, I caved.

She wanted to dye it black.

I thought that was a little extreme, but figured she could start out as a brunette, and kind of ease me into it. lol

I figure if the worst she wants to do is color her hair, then go for it. Better than a tattoo or body piercing.

 I miss her pretty blonde hair though.

sigh

She wanted a graveyard birthday cake. I'm not sure if you can tell that's what this is supposed to be. I thought it was a little morbid writing  rip Ashley on a birthday cake for my thirteen year old, but she got a kick out of it.

crazy girl!

And of course, there was Halloween.

 Meet Deputies Jason and Justin...

(they really don't look very happy do they?)

 And of course, cowgirl Haley.

They really did have a good time over the course of a week or so. I think they got to dress up three times beteween the ward's trunk or treat, our apartment complex's Halloween bash and of course the big night itself.

So, that pretty much sums up October. Now I just need to make up for July, August and September!

It's official! Let the fun begin.

I canNOT believe I now have a teenager!

Yup, thirteen years ago today, this little girl entered our world.

My, how thirteen years have flown right by!!

You're not a little girl anymore!!!

Ashley is pretty awesome.
She rocks some amazing talent.

Look what she created on the computer....

 She loves anime', and is currently perfecting her ability to draw it. This blew me away, because I just think it was amazing she created this on the paint pad on the computer. Wow!!!
Ashley is in love with vampires and werewolves and zombies. She likes to play with make-up, but not in your typical teenager kind of way. She likes special effects makeup, and so likes to zombify herself. I'll have to post a photo one day. I'm thinking I'll let her do all of our Halloween make-up this year.
Her favorite group is My Chemical Romance, and she's dying to dye her hair black. I'm still debating the issue. I might let her go brown. We'll see.

Happy, Happy Birthday to my amazing and talented young woman. I'm excited to see what the future holds for you Ashley. But, I'm in no rush!!!!

Just two things....

One.

The first turned leaf of the season (at least the first one to fall on my doorstep).

And two.

I just adore those freckles (not to mention the cute little face that goes with them)!

Happy Monday

(that's like an oxymoron isn't it?)

thoughts on home decor

I canNOT wait to move! We put our application in for the condo on Friday. The lady called yesterday and said everything looks good. I'm super excited.
Now my mind is spinning with ideas to decorate the new place. The kitchen isn't huge, but there's definitely more space than we have in the apartment. It's got pot shelves, which I love. We had them in our house, but the apartment doesn't and I've missed not having them. I love decorating them for the holidays. We'll be moving in in early December, so I'm pretty sure Christmas decorations will be the first thing I unpack. lol

The dining room wall is what I've been thinking about a lot lately. I think I want to do some kind of collage with family photo's and "family" themed things. I've seen those awesome letter art items on various websites

Saw this in my email this morning, and I'm seriously thinking I love it:

What a great deal! It's only available til Friday though, so click on my linky here if you want to take advantage of it:  http://www.broadcastbloggers.com/deal.php?i=96&a=1068803


I think I would love the family one in my dining room, and I like the idea of the love one over my headboard in the bedroom.

I think the thought of moving is rejuvenating me. I feel like I'm finding some sense of purpose again. I have been missing it since we moved.

a little help, please!

So, I have a little dilemma....

Hopefully, at the end of November we will be leaving this dive we call home. Ok, it's not really that bad, it's just too small. I hate not having a bigger kitchen, a separate dining area and a few other little things about this apartment.

Someone from church is moving away about the same time and they want to rent out their condo out for considerably less than we're currently paying (our rent here will jump $200 when the lease is up--there is NO way I'm gonna' pay more to be unhappy!). So, it will work out perfectly.

The condo is still an apartment (and on the THIRD floor--yikes!), but it's SO much nicer than this place. So, I'm uber excited at the prospect.

Here's my current dilemma.
I need to start packing up the stuff I'm not gonna' be needing.

So, I'm going through stuff, trying to weed out more unnecessary items.

Enter these two little characters:

These little girls were given to me after the passing of my grandma(s).

I think each one is from a different grandma, although I can't even remember for sure.

I don't love them.

Any other thing,  and it would be no problem. Into the donation box you go.

But, they're really the only little memento's of my grandma's that I have.

They don't necessarily remind me of my grandma's--other than I know they belonged to them.

So do I get rid of them, or hold onto them?

Opinions please.

are those sharks in the sky?

Got up to take Ashley to the busstop this morning.

She pointed out the the clouds looked like triangles...

 trippy right?

I thought they looked like upside down sharkfins.

 a whole sky full of them.

I wonder what makes them form that way?

tap, tap, tap....hello?

Anybody still out there? I can hear crickets chirping in the background of my blog.
Pretty sad, it's been like three months since I last posted. Pathetic.
Wish I could say I was getting alot of stuff accomplished in that time, but alas---not so.
Don't you just love my grammar?

I'm still searching for my mojo. It high-tailed it out of here way back in January I think, hasn't so much as called to check in.
I did find a job. Whoohoo. MGM Las Vegas. Hate it.
But, it's a job.
I'm on call, which means that I get a weekly schedule but it varies. So my days off are never the same, and I'm not guaranteed any set number of hours. I've been averaging about 30 a week, which is ok. This past week has been rough though. I only got 25 hours, which frankly didn't bug me too much, cause I'm exhausted and I don't get to see my girls much these days. It's just that the shifts this week were 6 pm to 12:30 am. Kind of rough when I get to bed by 1:30 in the morning and have to wake up four hours later to get the kids off to school. So, I'm truly enjoying my days off this week. Three of them, in a row. Yippee!
Course, I'm so cranky right now  the kids probly' wish I was at work. lol

Well, I'll wrap it up for tonight. Just wanted to say hey, and let ya'all know I'm still kicking. Miss visiting your blogs. Hopefully I'll stop by a little more frequently.


hugs,