that 3 bars of white chocolate isn't enough to make peppermint bark.

that making rainbow jello takes all day long

that fivefinger shoes are actually kinda comfy

that Arcadia's glasses were still under warrenty

that we bought the last copy of Guitar Hero 5 in all of Sandy City (as far as I can tell)

that is about it, but the day is not over yet.

My MIL embedded this on her face book... I wonder why our family was targeted.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/grQbOWuZylRGtAlM

But I do have my major Christmas shopping done! yay! at the moment my kids are all at a church activity, and I have the house to myself. Unheard of! I was thinking of doing a Christmas closet inventory, but instead I am updating blogs, and I may pop a movie in for a bit, then finish it when the kids go to bed.

December 1st! I do not have my tree up. If I get a chance I might drag it out of storage today.

The Elementary kids had choir rehearsal today. They will be performing at the festival of trees on Saturday, which is also our ward Christmas party. I need to think of something that "means Christmas to our family" and put it in a jar. I was looking for a cute jar to put either peppermint bark (if I can remember to make it) or those christmas taffy things with the trees in them, into. However, I can't seem to find a nice large cute jar. I will see if I can hit the craft store before Saturday, or just use one of the canning jars under my counter, maybe I can crochet up a jar topper to make it cute.

It's only 2 weeks until my kids go to visit my dad in Albuquerque, to take the Polar Express ride down in the Grand Canyon.

We had the movie "Polar Express" from netflix yesterday, so the kids could see it, as they never have.

I really wanted to keep up with the blogging. But Thaksgiving weekend, and Madeline's birthday really threw me.

Here is Madeline with her cake on Friday.



blowing out the candles



trying on the gift from her very exuberant friend Sam (it was a little small, so we exchanged it on Saturday)



cute wall hanging and a matching journal came with it.



wearing the cute bracelet from another friend, necklace from Cassidi, and a bow from the wrapping.

I missed a couple days of blogging, because of a busy weekend. Madeline had a sleep over Friday to Saturday. I took pictures, and plan on putting them up, but need to catch up. Maybe if I get a chance later today.

I was so busy yesterday, I didn't have time to post this. I was thinking about it so did take pictures.

My mom came over and I had already made the rolls,and started a batch of stuffing for the turkey. While she was here Madeline got her birthday gifts from the family. We gave her a tamagatchi (the one with music or something), some yarn she picked out a few weeks ago, some really fancy hard candy sucker molds, and some chocolate sucker molds, some duct tape (not all of it, she needs some for Christmas) pink white and some fancy green packaging tape that has a pattern. She also got a frog that Momo (my mom) made her out of minky fabric, just like she has made for all the other kids, and a dress that just fits now (I may need to add a zipper to it somehow).



We stuck the bird in the oven then went to k-mart where I heard there was a sale on board games. We came back home had some lunch then the kids and Momo made a puzzle while dad played some game on his computer and finished his lunch.



We then tried to play some games while the bird was cooking.





I think my mom was winning, but we had to cut it short, as the bird needed attention, an some side dishes needed to be made.

here is the bird out of the oven.



the meat was falling off the bone, so the best it looked all evening.

The table was lovely


even though Yvette was mad she didn't get to sit next to Momo

The desserts were delicious all except the one Hal had to order because he thought I would screw up the pecan pie. We may never have pecan pie again. I think I may make a sweet potato pie next year though.

to start mixing the rolls today at noon?

Ok....
Turkey in the fridge defrosting
bread is cubed and drying out in the oven
have purchased carrots, broccoli, broth, spices, etc. to finish the stuffing and veggies
I got canned yams to make the sweet potato casserole, because I am too lazy to try and cook some.
Mom is making apple and pumpkin pie, and ordered pecan pie from a local cafe
will probably make the sweet potato casserole and rolls tomorrow, so as not to worry about them thursday
Have sparkling juices to drink, and some hot pockets to eat for lunch.

I think I have it all under control.....

Oh wait Madeline's birthday is Thursday as well. I need to go order her cake for her party on Friday.

With a little snow on the ground it was a little cold. However, despite my desire to stay in my PJs all day, I took a shower then went out to Costco, picked Yvette up from school. went to the UPS store and sent an empty box to my brother in law to with packing materials and a pre-paid return label for him to send the cell phone back that Hal let him use for the past year and a half, sent stockings to someone who ordered them, got a birthday gift for a party that Yvette is going to tomorrow, bought sunday shoes for Yvette and Charlotte, and brought home donuts for the kids as the came home from school. Then I took Arcadia and a pair of glasses and a pair of glasses belonging to Madeline to the optical shop to get them repaired. Arcadia's were salvagable, but Madeline's weren't, so I had to take her back there later to pick out a new pair of frames to replace the ones that broke (no longer under warranty, and no longer carried the frames), but I only paid $24 for the new ones.

Then I came home and made dinner. Whew! Kids are in bed, I think I will sit and knit.

I have been recently been given the calling of Relief Society Chorister. I am really not all that musically gifted. I can pick songs to go with the lessons, and I can sort of wave my arm in time to the music. I really only follow the pianist. However, the current pianist always looks to me for the end of the verses and song. and I just know there are people out there laughing at me when I get off beat....

I am trying to magnify my calling, I promise. I even listened to the mp3's of the hymns yesterday and today, to try and get my timing right....

My oldest three daughters have been wanting to see the new Twilight movie, but it wasn't rated very well. We have all read the books, they are a light read, but we are not really "Fan girls". We don't do the midnight showing, or the t-shirts, or the swooning. All of us feel that the actor they picked for Edward isn't pretty enough, but who would be. I don't even think the actress for Bella is quite right. However, supporting the movie just so someone can make money, without even trying to make a good movie, sort of isn't right.

Anyway, we decided we wanted to go to a movie and found "Cirque Du Freak: the Vampire's Assistant" playing at the dollar theater, and we went to see it. I thought it was sort of fun. I think we should read the books, but Isabelle thinks that seeing the movie first ruins it. Haha, oh well, not for me. Guess I picked my next series.

I bought an 18.5 pound turkey today. It is in the fridge defrosting for next Thursday. I also got the rest of the fixings for the feast. My mom is bringing the desserts except for the pecan pie I ordered for Hal. He was afraid I would screw it up again.

Oh, and I think we are one of the few households that has not seen New Moon. The three oldest want to go see it, but I am waiting until the hype dies down. I was thinking next weekend, but Madeline wants to have a sleep over on Friday, for her birthday. So that pushes it back another week. I think.

Madeline has been entering the reflections competition the past couple years. Last year she crocheted a car for the theme of "Wow", this year she crocheted a fall tree for the theme of "beauty". She won 1st place for her school with the 3-D devision. It will go on to compete district wide in February. IF it places there the farthest it can go is state, I think the category is not recognized nation wide.

She did this free form.

I think I have just about all my Christmas shopping done. I still have my aunt to get something for, but I did get something for my grandma today, and I am almost done with the stuff for DH's brother's family. There are always stocking stuffers, but I usually wait 'till the last second for those.

but yey, almost done and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.!

I made a huge amazon order yesterday, and all items seemed to have shipped this morning.. I do believe I accidentaly ordered two each of the main items..... uh oh. I guess I will be returning the extras as soon as they get here. once again D'oh! I guess I shouldn't amazon shop first thing in the morning.

The year is moving along. Thanksgiving and Madeline's birthday are in a week and a half, then it's the downward spiral to Christmas. I tried to start early on my Christmas shopping. I think I have most of it done. Quite a bit was done online. A symptom of the economy. Brick and Mortar stores are not carrying exactly what I want, so I find it online much easier.

Madeline wanted a laptop for her birthday, but after some research on what is out and what will be coming out, Hal decided that it wasn't the time to get a laptop. So her second choice was crafty stuff. This involves sucker making supplies (both hard candy and chocolate) and yarn, and duct tape.... What she thinks she is going to make with duct tape, I don't know, but it does come in several fashion colors now.

I also took my friend Sherri out to lunch the day after her birthday. I made her somthing as well, I will be posting that in my yarn blog soon.

I hope everyone is doing well. We are all good, just extremely busy.

Yvette cut her bangs to the middle of her forehead a couple weeks ago. Not the best, but we could deal with it. It was right before picture day, but I tried my best to make her look cute. I think it was ok.

Then a couple days ago, she cut them again, all the wey uo to her head (well she had about half an inch) I went out and got her some of those soft stretchy headbands to cover it. Then for some strange reason Arcadia thought she would fix Yvette's hair. and her bangs were now just fuzz on her scalp, and other peices were cut shorter, making it necesary for me to take her in to get all her hair cut....

BEFORR







AFTER





You can see all her hair on the floor in the first "after picture".

I think alot of this behavior is because she is stressed socially in kindergarten. She was worried again this morning, because she thought her friends would think she looked stupid. I did my best to recreate the style the girl cutting her hair was able to get, with some mousse that I picked up just for her yesterday.

Eh, well see.

I decided I needed a pedicure on Friday, so here are the results, please ignore my ugly fat feet, toes are pretty now though.

Day two underway, so far so good.