The girls put together a huge pile of limbs that we (yes, I helped, this is totally my kind of thing) tried to weave in such a way that you can't see inside the clubhouse. It's not weather proof, but it should stay up for a while. The girls play in it every chance they get. We probably won't be able to keep them out of it once summer gets here. 
This would be the tree with gifts before the grand event! It looked so nice! Yes, that would be a garbage bag with a bow, compliments of my husband:) The present was too big to put in anything else.
Here is the start of the chaos! The girls go through the presents to find theirs and rip into them.
This is the present that was too big for normal wrapping. He would be "George."He's our Bernese Mountain dog, for now, until we can get a real one!
The aftermath. All presents were unwrapped, and the girls had already started to play before Sean and I cleaned up:)
This is right next door. I found that if I stood at just the right distance the flash didn't wash out the lights but the picture wasn't completely black either. dumb camera:)
So this is how he turned out. The first one was a mess, and took lots of seem ripping to finally get him right. This is actually snowman number 2, he's much better than number 1, but I don't think the kids here will notice that the numbers are a little off in our house:) Number 2 also took LOTS less time to put together, cause I actually knew what I was doing on the second one, I had the process down. Now I just have to make 3 more! Oh, and the original one at JoAnn's, didn't have feet or hands, just a string coming from the back with an ornament type thing on it, to stick in the pocket. So, not only did I make it cheaper, I made it lots better! Yes, sorry, I am bragging. forgive me:) :)
When I got home I had to shovel the driveway or there was no way we were going to get out tomorrow, even though there isn't much. The ice would have killed us.
It looks pretty for the moment. It won't last long. The weather report says it's going to rain by next week. Gotta love the Burgh.
While they are growing too fast, they're still too short to reach the top of the tree, so they have to stand on the couch.
This would be the Barbie/Disney/Warner Brothers tree.
Tree #2
Tree #3
Tree #4
This one I found in the attic. I'm guessing it's my mother in laws:) But it was a tree, and it already had decorations on it, soooooo, it had to go up:) 
Tree # 5
This is a small one that some friends gave us a few years ago. I have found some great minature ornaments that fit great.
This does not include the trees that I have that aren't decorated, like the candles and the glass ones, stuff like that. Some people collect Santa's or angels at Christmas, I collect trees:)
For some reason he likes to lay on Sean's legs. We were taking the required Thanksgiving Day nap after dinner and Max crawled right up and fell asleep on Sean's legs, so Sean wasn't able to sleep. Luckily I didn't have that problem and slept well:)
Max is great to have around and makes us wish we had another dog. Although we won't be getting a little dog, we'll be getting a big dog, and probably not anytime soon. 
The cat was not happy, as you can see. But we couldn't stop laughing. It was too funny!!
I was feeling the Christmas spirit again today and decided I needed to decorate. My mother-in-law has this awesome set of Dickens Village houses. Hope you don't mind mom, but I set them up this year. First I had to remove all the jars and antiques stuff from on top of the cupboards. 
Since there is a lip on the cupboards I had to figure out a way to make the houses stand up aso we could see them. Sean doubted my abilities:) So I used a bunch of books that happened to be the perfect height and wrapped them in foil so they wouldn't get ruined on top of the cupboards.
STAGE THREE
Unpacking all the stuff!! I was like a kid in the candy shop! I had so much fun finding all the cool people and the great buildings. And me being the perfectionist that I am, I had to set them all out before they got anywhere near the top, so I could figure out exactly where they would go.
STAGE FOUR
Starting to put the buildings up. They had to be just right. I moved them at least 5 times:) And then, I thought I had them all up on top, I turn around and there is the Music store. AURGH. So I had to move them, no biggy, it was fun:)
THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
My camera sucks so you can't get the whole affect thing going on. It looks awesome. All the buildings have lights in them and I added a string of miny lights around the village. I also have greenery in the back. The funny part is, I have it all plugged in on top of the cupboards and the extension cord is wound around behind the microwave. Uh, yeah, so I'm not sure when the lights are going off! I will have to climb on a chair to turn everything off. Hmmm, maybe this wasn't such a cool idea:)
I'll have to post pictures of Scrooge and the ghosts, cause we have them to. I've put them in the village, somewhere:)
However, the above picture would be the extent of the people that showed up to the activity. Mind you, there are over 200 people in our ward. Only about 30 showed up. Thanks. Okay, so I'm probably PMSing and a little bitter, but still. We were able to make 15 great care packages for our service people, with lots left over. 
Tomorrow after church we are going to have to have cake. Nothing like desert before dinner to get the kids good and wound up, but I have 2 HUGE sheet cakes that I bought cause I thought people might actually show. AAARGH! That is what they get for not coming to the activity, their kids are going to be outta control:)~ Besides venting..... I was wondering if anyone knew of any service men and women overseas that would appreciate a care package. Like I said, the ward came through on the goodies, we have LOTS and LOTS!!!! I'll stop venting now:)
The reason I took a picture of the two blank gingerbread men is cause I need some ideas. They are filled with cinnamon sticks and cloves, and smell wonderful. I'm kinda bored with the decorations and need some clever ideas on things to put on them. Once done they will become presents and will hopefully decorate someones mantle, tree or shelf, while smelling up the room. Any ideas, let me know!
I raked everything up into a huge pile on Thursday so the girls could jump in it, but they never had time. Sean was lucky, all he had to do was put the leaves from the pile into the trash can and carry it out back to the compost pile. 
There was a small section that they actually had to rake. Here Abby is raking that small part. 
I missed her when she was walking around in them, but here she is sitting with them on, while drawing a picture. 
While at home, I heard this really loud noise, like someone beating on a drum. I looked up at the sky lights and what do I see? Hail!!!! So of course I have to take a picture:)
It was only pea sized or smaller, nothing major. I tried to get a better picture of it, but of course, my camera focused on the wrong thing, but you get the idea. Today I was sick, thanks to Abby's cold she passed on. Anyway, Sean and I were laying on the couch watching a movie and we looked outside and it was SNOWING!!!! I guess I should be expecting it, it is November after all. Nothing stuck, thank goodness, but I'm sure there is more coming. ugh.
Sabrina has had so much cake in the last 2 days between her Mom's her Grandma's and ours, she didn't even want any once she blew the candles out. O well.
I guess I tied the ribbon a little too tight, she had a small issue getting it untied, so Abby had to help.
Littlest Pet Shop diary, with guard dog, instant hit. Although I have no idea if she will actually use it.
A close up, so you can see the flowers. Due to the warm weather I was able to keep it outside a lot longer than I usually do, don't know if that had any affect on it or not. But it looks good.
Luckily Abby didn't actually say that to anyone, although we did make sure she knew the entire phrase:) She got pretty good at saying "trick or treat" and Thank you!!! At first she had to be reminded, but about the 5th house, she had it down.
This would be Sean and Abby sorting the candy. The girl cracks me up, cause she only likes candy without nuts. So Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, ring pops, suckers are all okay. Sean and I got the Baby Ruths, Kit kat, and Butterfinger. Abby's mom got the Snickers and Twix, we all came away happy:)
I missed most of the pile in this picture but it was quite a stack!
This is the after. I made 5 huge piles of leaves. I would have jumped in them, but since they were in the front yard, I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I refrained. You will notice that this tree is naked, completely. This is also the same tree that was full of red leaves at the beginning of the week, that I posted earlier. Doesn't take long, does it?!
