Time to decorate the tree

Yesterday was Turkey day, today we decorated the tree. Well, trees! The girls get to decorate this one, and did a pretty good job. We didn't have to move hardly anything to even things out:) 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.

Would this be an addiction?

I was counting today:) and I have 5 Christmas trees. Believe it or not, they ALL have ornaments.

Tree #1

This would be the Barbie/Disney/Warner Brothers tree.
A close up of the Barbie tree, there are about 30 Barbies, and more to come after Christmas. I have so many Barbie's that they have to have their own tree, otherwise we would never get any other ornaments on the tree.
Tree #2

This tree holds all the Santa's that my Aunt Sue paints. You can see two of them pretty well, the one with the cowboy hat and the other that is in the shape of a mitten. Every year it is a different one. They are amazing. It also has a bunch of the ornaments that were on our tree when I was little. When my mom moved, she let us grab the ones we wanted.

Tree #3

This is the tree that is at the house. It has all Sean's ornaments on it. But I'm all about putting up all the trees if there is room, and there is, so we do. Sean thinks I'm crazy. Well, duh.

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:)

Black Friday:)

So who out there got up way too early in the morning and went SHOPPING?!!! Oh, yeah, you know I did:) I got up at 4, got to JcPenny's by 5, and the lines were sooooooo long that I put the stuff back on the shelf. Then I went to Kohl's, picked up a couple things and started looking for the end of the line. It wrapped all the way around the store. Uh, yeah, wasn't standing in that line either, so I put the stuff back on a shelf and went to JoAnn Fabrics. Got there about 10 minutes before they opened. Got all my fleece and stuff, went to the cutting counter, was outta there in an hour. Now I just have to make all the stuff that I got today. oy. I was back home by 9. Would have been home sooner but I had to go pick up Sabrina before her mom had to leave for work. After I picked her up, we went to Target to pick up a few things for Abby.

Thanksgiving guest

Our neighbors went away for the Thanksgiving holiday and needed someone to watch their dog. His name's Max and he's old:) He's lazy and loves to lay on the couch. and the bed. and, and, and:) Last night he jumped up on our bed, and I put him back in his bed, on the floor. He looked at me like I was crazy then jumped up again. We left him that time. Luckily he doesn't take up much room. 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.

Christmas Cat

I was making this Christmas snowman and made him a hat and scarf. I left them in the other room while I fixed the snowman's arms. Well, Sean thought the hat and scarf would look good on the cat. He looks like a cat from Dr. Seuss:) The cat was not happy, as you can see. But we couldn't stop laughing. It was too funny!!

The Dicken's Village

STAGE ONEI 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.

STAGE TWO

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:)

Ward Activity

I thought I had come up with an awesomely cool activity for the middle/end of November. Uh, nope, not quite. Our ward gathered up all this stuff to send to our service men and women. We got the names from the people in the ward, so that it would be alittle more personal. Everone was sooo generous with all the things we needed to put in the care packages. We had more than enough. 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:)

Christmas crafts

Nicole isn't the only one that has gotten into the Christmas mood. Don't know what is wrong with me this year:) I made this gingerbread man a while ago and decided to finish him up tonight, while listening to Christmas music. Nicole this is all your fault:) 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!

The end of the leaves, hopefully

Sean and Abby finished cleaning up the leaves in the yard last night. Abby did not want her picture taken, well she acted like it anyway. 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.

Growing up too fast

Abby and I went shopping on Saturday. I wore my fave red boots. When we got home I had to take them off. They were by the stairs and Abby decided to put them on. Too funny. She grew 3 inches instantly, well maybe not 3, but too many, too quickly. I missed her when she was walking around in them, but here she is sitting with them on, while drawing a picture.

Remind me again, Please

Someone please remind me again why I moved back to Pittsburgh! The temperature dropped yesterday and it started lightening and raining, right before the Steelers game. 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.

Happy Birthday Sabrina

Sabrina's birthday is tomorrow and we celebrated today. She is all of 11, and acts like she's 20:) I was lazy and baked a cake and frosted it, then wrote Happy B-day in chocolate "kissables." 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.

Confused Plant

I have a great Christmas cactus. It's supposed to bloom around Christmas. According to the stores, it is close to Christmas, so I guess it's okay. Don't ask how I got it to bloom so well. I have no idea. It does this every year, much to my surprise and delight. 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.

"Lady Washington"

Here is Abby's costume. When asked what she was going to be, she said "Lady Washington" because she forgot Martha Washington.I guess she was kinda right. Yes, I did make it. And at the last minute, as always:)