Disneyland

My conversation with Blake the other day...

Blake: hey momma, I wanna go to Chuck E Cheese for my birthday when I turn 5.
Me: we'll see Blake
Blake: then for my 6th birthday I want to go to Disneyland
Me: i don't think so Blake
Blake: why not?
Me: it's too expensive, Blake
Blake: no its not mom. It's free when it's your birthday
Me: (under my breath) damned commercials!!

Canning & Pressure Cooking

Couldn't help but snap this shot when Cora made herself at home in the canner!  I made a huge batch of cabbage soup last week and am looking forward to canning some more chicken this week!!

I have also had fun experimenting with some other homemade goodies lately.  Over the past few months, I have made homemade laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, dish soap, febreeze spray, wrinkle release spray...I think that's it.  I was going to make some handsoap as well, but I'm still pretty stocked up!  I'm pretty sure I won't be buying any of the above items for a very long time.  The savings is unbelievable and the quality is excellent as well!!

Alvin Sightings....

Over the holidays, our elf "Alvin" was a little more creative than last year.  However he is always sure to stay where little hands can't touch him, because if they touch him....he loses his Christmas magic.  The story of our elf..he arrives once we put up our Christmas tree and each night he goes back to the North Pole to report to Santa how the kids have been behaving.  When he comes back, he is always in a different spot the next morning.  The kids love coming downstairs in the mornings to find out where Alvin might be.  However, at their ages...if they don't find him right away, they get bored and forget about him.  He leaves Christmas Eve when Santa arrives and goes back to the North Pole until next year.  Each Christmas Eve morning he brings the kids a farewell gift of new Christmas pajamas.  Blake named the elf Alvin (he was really into Alvin & The Chipmunks at the time).  The kids just adore him and it keeps the Christmas magic alive in the Arbaugh household!

Christmas morning 2011

The kids actually "slept in" a little on Christmas morning, until about. 6:30am. They enjoyed opening up gifts and wanted to play with everything right away! Blake's favorite gift was his remote control helicopter (which lasted about 3 days before crashing into the wall and breaking! Cora's favorite gift was her Chapstick (which was accidentally flushed down the toilet within 24 hours) and her bike helmet (or space helmet, as she called it).

We spent Christmas day at home. My mom came by in the morning for a bit, and John and Florence came for a lasagna dinner. Dad and Lyn came over on the 26th to see all the kids goodies!! A great holiday overall!!

We went to Christmas Eve service in Argyle with mom (see pic of mom and Blake below).

Making Christmas cookies for Santa

It seems to be coming a tradition to make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve morning. The kids had a great time decorating the cookies and could not wait to taste them!! The kids left Santa a couple cookies and chocolate milk!!

Christmas at Dad & Lyn's

We celebrated Christmas with Dad & Lyn on Sunday, December 18th.  Jody and Brian brought the cheesecake bites again this year, but they didn't get eaten up quite as quick as they have in the past years. :-)

The Grandkids!!



Cora & Brianna.  Brianna told me that she can't wait to be able to babysit for the kids!




Cora loving her Grandpa time!



My Christmas Gifts

Tom bought me a Nook Color for Christmas and I haven't been able to put it down!!! I am absolutely enjoying it. Of course, I have been sitting around doing too much reading, but hey, we all deserve a break, right?!?

I also got a pressure cooker for Christmas, a gift I got for myself!! I tried it out this weekend and I'm loving it! With moms help, I canned homemade chicken noodle soup, chili, and carrots yesterday. Today, I canned boneless, skinless chicken breasts all by myself, and so far it appears as everything has sealed!!! Ah, it's the little things that excite me!!

Christmas with the Arbaugh's

We celebrated with the Arbaugh's on Saturday, December 18th.  The kids had a great time playing together and Blake even spent the night at Gramma's house with the boys.  They got Zhu-Zhu pets from Gramma and Grampa and had fun playing together!

 The Grandkids!

 Florence's gift to us girls were "A few of her favorite things"....including dish soap, toothpaste, gardening gloves and boxed cinnamon roll mix!

Me & my boy

Blake's Pre-School Christmas Program

Blake's Christmas Program was held on December 8th at Peace Lutheran Church.  The kids sang some Christmas songs, put the letters of the alphabet on the Christmas tree, and then enjoyed cookies and punch with classmates and family afterwards!

 Love this one!! So innocent!

 Yes, I have him trained well!

 Blake's letter was "T"

 Blake and his bud Hunter Garza enjoying a cookie!

The whole clan!

Christmas with Mom

The "Eye Phone" that Tom created! (the kids had a blast playing with this old phone, played with it more than their new toys!)

The "bra purse" that I made!

Jody's Homemade "sandals"!

Robbie, Cora, Brianna, Kelsie & Blake


Blake & Kelsie

We celebrated Christmas with Mom a little early this year due to everyone's busy schedules. We had a Chinese dinner prepared my mom, on Saturday, December 10th. We did something different this year - a white elephant gift exchange! Some of the gifts included flip flops made out of feminine napkins, an "eye phone", and a homemade bra purse! We had a great time!!