2010--Here I come

There are reasons why I have been absent. Well, before December 25th anyway.


Last few days I have just been lazy. Well, not really lazy, per se, but bu-lazy. Thats lazy and busy mushed together. Does that make sense to anybody else but me? Probably not.


But before Christmas I was a mad woman. M.A.D. I tell you. All because of what I always bring upon myself. Sewing, cutting, mod-podging and then mod-podging some more. And some more. Yes, it was a MOD PODGE Christmas this year. Through and through. But the last thing I thought about when I was all done (FINALLY) was to take pix of it all. Well, okay I did think about it. But that was the end of it. And then it was pointed out to me by my love that the reason some pix were blurry was not because the camera was broken after having been dropped on the pavement two times, but that my lens was totally smudged. HMM.



Christmas loot at our house. Bro. Mo. had Santa wrap his gifts this year in order to do our newest tradition. We decided to leave the twins asleep while we read from the scriptures about the birth of our Savior and about the 3 Wise men and then explained that they were getting 3 presents each from us and from Santa to symbolize the gifts that Christ received. And then the girls got to hear their Daddy bear his testimony to them. THEN we woke up the twins and opened the gifts from us to them and then gifts from sister to sister, daughter to Mom, etc. Then we let them bust into Santa and stockings.


I still do not sleep well on Christmas Eve. I am like the mom on those radio commercials that is waking her kids up at midnight and telling them how well she did and to wake up because they are getting behind the people in Europe who are already opening their gifts and starts telling them what she got them as the kids moan with tired voices "I don't think you're supposed to tell us that."
Santa loot--the older girls got their Nintendo DS's and the twins got baby dolls and stollers.

My Dad kept the secret that my brother Trevor was bringing his older daughter--the one we haven't seen for 3 years because her other Grandma whom she lives with won't let us--and my Mom was thoroughly surprised to see Tabatha walk in. We all were. The only granddaughter missing is Trevor's girlfriend's daughter, otherwise they are all there. First time.

Chritsmas Day at my Mom's house (Trevor, Tiffany and the girls weren't there yet)

The annual Christmas Eve bash at my MIL's house

AJ kept insisting that this was the Santa hat that Emma was to wear to hand out gifts. But......I was pretty defiant. It's not a real Santa hat and never will be. :)

A shot of most of the gifts at my MIL's before the carnage began.

This is one of the Mod Podge gifts I worked on this year--Story Stones. Apparently, I made an extra unicorn. So I was able to take a pic. 49 of these got made for the cousin gifts and children of our friends. And each set went into a homemade polka-dot drawstring bag. There were unicorns, princesses, princes, castles, trees, (hey you gotta have some scenery) magic wands, frogs, and fire-breathing dragons. The one boy's set I made had a dinosaur, a tree, a prince, a sports car, a space ship, outer space, a Batman symbol and a dog. And one special set had a fox--because she loves them so.


Ceramic tiles were transformed into coaster sets with 6 personalized photos mod-podged onto each for each family. And a Michael's box was pulled apart and just the bottom painted to match and used as a holder. They went over much better than I had anticipated. For those who I did not have pix for, these were made. And I have to say, I liked them so much that I think we have next year's homemade gift. Sorry to ruin any surprises. (and these were the pix with the smudgy lens)

Also in my maddness I sewed two robes, made two skirts out of pairs of jeans and made a stuffed felt Mr. Potato Head for my baby niece with removable parts that all go in a zippered pouch on his back.

And now.....on to a new year. And not just any year. The year of my twins 2nd birthday (it's not possible) and my second daughter's baptism (that's not possible either--incidentally she turned seven 3 days ago and now I have an ice cream cake mulling in my mind to make for Saturday. But you should go here and see what Bro. Mo. did for her on her birthday on his blog.) A new decade--one which will mark our 10th wedding annivesary--I love that we were married in 2000--it helps me keep track of how many years; not that I need help in that area. BTW, what are we calling 2010 for short? You know--like, I graduated in "'98". But what do the kids who graduate in 2010 call it? Hi. My name is Larry and I graduated in the class of.....ten.

Anyone heard what the nickname is? 2000 was Y2K. Every other year has been called by the last two numbers. But '10 has only one syllable and it sounds just plain weird. Ok I'm weird.

'10 ----here I come. Let's hope it's the year the troops are pulled out and we pull out of this recession. Which coincidentally is what Bro. Mo. and I received from my FIL and his wife--a recession box. A huge Home Depot box filled with everything from paper towels and toilet paper to sponges and dish soap to pretzels and pop-tarts. Actually one of the best gifts we got. I loved it!