Happy New Year! 2008

I would like to wish all of you a happy new year! Thanks for all the time you have spent here with me at my blog in 2007!

Christmas 2007

Well, I guess I have not posted for awhile. I wanted to post some Christmas pictures and tell you a little bit about our holiday. My parents live about 3 hours away and they sent us money for gas to go and visit them. So, we set off on Sunday morning. We got about 35 minutes from home, when the car I was driving just died on me. So we spent the day getting the car towed back home and then my mom came and picked us up. We ate at Crackel Barrell, my favorite restaurant, my kids were starving and ate pancakes and sausage at 7 pm. We then spent the night with my parents and we got up the next morning and exchanged presents. My parents got all the kids some really nice gifts. Neil got this animal train and he loves it! They sell other parts to it so he may get some of those for his birthday. Nicholas got some military men and some boxers and a diary and sketch book with a special pen. Nicholas had been asking for a diary. Nathan got a remote control car and Katie Sue got a cash register. My parents also got them all a new outfit. They bought clothes for David and me too. They brought us home late the next night. We found out that our car that broke down, which by the way is not the one that a tree fell on, needs a new timing belt. I guess that when it rain's it pours and also, we for some reason did not get a rental on our policy so we can't get the other car fixed because it will be two weeks to get it fixed. But that is a whole nother story. Anyways, we got up on Christmas day and opened gifts with the kids. Nathan got up before we got in there, the little stinker and I had a hard time finding everything that had been laid out. Then we had a rushed breakfast and my dh's mother came and picked us up. We did not even get to light our fireplace. :( We got home late on Christmas night and to tell you the truth I am still tired! DH got me an mp3 player and I really like it. All in all, except for the car breaking, we had a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed! Here are some pictures, this was Neil's first Christmas!

Neil's gift from "Santa"

Nathan took over Neil's gift!lol

Nicholas's MP3 player

"Santa" brought Nicholas and the twins Scooters. The twins are my first scooters.

Katie Sue opening her talking Dora backpack.

Nathan and his Diego rescue pack.

Nathan's face was priceless when he opened his own computer! Katie Sue got one too.

Nathan tries out his new boots, Katie Sue got some pink ones but she did not want to try them on.

Neil and his baby computer.

Neil and his Elmo driving toy.

Nicholas and his Transformer Changing voice helmet.

Katie Sue and her doll.

Neil enjoying his computer.

Menu Plan Monday-December 31- Jan6

I did not do this last week and I hated not having a plan. so, here is my plan for this week.

1. Chicken Tenders, fries

2. Sweet and Sour Chicken, Oriental Rice

3. Chicken Fried Rice
4. Stroganoff, noodles

5. Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, green beans, soup beans, mac and tomatoes, cornbread

6. Fettuccine Alfredo, garlic toast

7. Leftovers?

Go here to see more plans

Happy Birthday to my Twins!

My twins are three years old today! It seems like yesterday that I was in the hospital with them and I already have another baby! Happy Birthday to my twins Nathan and Katelyn (Katie Sue)!

Merry Christmas!

Look what I made in photobucket...

I will be gone for awhile!

I probably will not be around for the next three days. Hope everyone has a great time with there families this Holiday Season. My parents sent us money to go visit them so we will be there tomorrow and then we come home and go to my dh's grandmother's. Christmas morning is spent at our house and we have a big Christmas morning breakfast and then open gifts. So, I think they will be so much fun. See you after Christmas!

My Car update

Well, I spent all morning cleaning glass out my car. The glass was everywhere! Dh cut his hand even in gloves. We vacuumed most of it up and then The glass people came and put our new back windshield in. The car seats were the worst with glass and several people have told me not to use them again because the huge tree limb actually fell on top of the car seats. But right now buying 3 cars seats really is not an option so we got one for Katie Sue and Nathan from somewhere else. So, now Neil is the only one who needs one and I think I will be able to find him one at least to use for now. Around the first of the year, we will have to buy some new ones. We also took the car and got the damage estimate. Can you believe it was $3,890? Yes a tree limb did that much damage! The insurance only told us to get one estimate and I was told that this guy is the cheapest? He also will work with us on paying the $500 in payments. So we shall see. But at least for right now my car works and has a window and if I needed to go somewhere I could.

Welcome to my House

I meant to put this up yesterday, but I have just been so busy! But welcome to my home. Grab yourself a mug of my favorite Steaming Hot Holiday Punch and enjoy the fire I made for you. My 3 older children love it!

This is the back of our front door we have a Santa that is made from a Clorox bottle always in the middle and then we hang up our Christmas cards.

Here is our tree.

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments:

This is my first son's choo choo. I collected one piece every year until he was 5 and each piece is dated.

This is my Dh's and mine's first Christmas Together Ornament! Note the very old photo.

This is Nicholas' First Christmas ornament. Notice his cute little photo.

This is Nathan and Katie Sue's first Christmas ornament.

This is my dog's first Christmas ornament. She is a miniature dachshund.

This is our Nativity Scene.

This is one of our four stocking holders, each has the child's baby picture in it.

I am keeping the fire warm for you so come and have a seat and continue to enjoy your punch and a few more treats.

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel cookies fresh from the oven.

And a Candy Cane Cake!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To see more Christmas homes go to BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes.

My First Cookie Exchange

Well I have always thought a cookie exchange would be so neat. I loved the fact that you could get some really neat cookies and only make one really neat one yourself. So I was so excited when our church said they were going to do a cookie exchange during our Christmas party. I looked for over a month for the neatest recipe even though I knew that it would be hard. I knew though that I would be getting some nice cookies without the work. So finally I settled on a cookie that I saw on The Food Network Cookie special. They were Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies. Now I have never made any cookie with this much work, but really it was not that hard and I think they came out nice. We were suppose to bring 4 dozen cookies and take 4 dozen home, but it really did not work that way. Turns out that there were only three desserts for the Christmas dinner so people started eating the cookies. I did bring some home, but I guess I was a little disappointed because I had worked so hard and the cookie exchange did not turn out anything like I thought it would. But I really think my cookies were good and I was really proud of myself for making the effort to try something new and a little more difficult.

Family Christmas Pictures

We tried forever to get a family photo but all the kids would not cooperate, but here are a few that I liked. None really came out great. We were using a delay so David could come in the picture, but the first one caught the table it was on.

Here Comes Santa!

Neil started waving and talking to everyone taking pictures. It was so cute!

Neil and Santa


Katie Sue and Santa. Granny got her up there she really did not want to go up there.

Nathan and Santa. Nathan would not quit talking to Santa.

Nicholas and Santa. He told Santa that he was too big to sit on Santa's lap, but Santa told him no way!

Menu Plan Monday-December 17-23

Here is my plan for the week:

1. Lasagna Hamburger Helper, peas, garlic bread
2. Pork BBQ Pizza, regular pizza for kids
3. Chicken Pot Pie
4. Soup and Sandwiches
5. Ham (my mil gave us one), mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls
6. ham leftovers
7. Eat at my parents house for Christmas

Go here to see more plans.

Car Update

Well I talked for about 2 hours with several different people today and they will fix the glass right now and I will not have to pay anything, right now. The car does have some bad dents in it so those will have to be fixed, but really we can't afford that until tax time, but at least I will be able to drive my car! Thanks for all the prayers.

My car was destroyed! :(

This is what I woke up to this morning. I just want to cry. Since there was actual car damage and not just glass we have to pay the deductible of $500. I just want to go cry! This damage was done be a huge tree limb that fell off during a wind storm last night.