The Day Before Christmas Eve

Wednesday I took the kids shopping to buy for each other.

Note to self: Wait until Christmas Eve to do this ever again!

They absolutely drove me insane! For the 15 hours or so that they had these in their possession it was non-stop when can we open the presents.

So Thursday I said, "Fine FINE open the presents you are giving to each other."I thought this would give me hours of time to do my thing, but NO... these cute little Build A Bear kits made for an 8 year old to sew and build. It's not so easy and I was stuck creating them. Not so bad except that I had other things I needed to do.

When I asked the kids to give the presents they bought to the other I really didn't mean to smack them upside the head with it.
(By the way they were HAPPY to recreate the scene so I could get a picture.)
Aussie has wanted this Webkinz owl ever since he saw it. It is the mascot for The Night Owl Club that he and Mason are in.
Mason was surprised to get a Moose Webkinz from Ashley. The Moose is his favorite animal.

So after they opened presents they were playing with their Build A Bears. And I don't think you will be able to tell by the picture but Hello Bunny is pregnant with twins.

She gave birth to this sweet little bunny. And then I had to run an errand. So about 3 hours later she gave birth to a little pink bear that I had to finish sewing quickly. (Oops I missed getting that picture.)

Then we went to Gabriel's house for a little while to play. Ashley and Mason play so well with him. They played hide and seek and Legos. Aussie just goes off into a world of his own and usually plays the Wii.
Then we rushed home so we could Skype call my parents. (I didn't even think to try and get a picture of my parents on my computer. That would have been kind of cool.)That way they could see the kids open their presents from them.

Ashley LOVES her unicorn pillow pet.

Aussie didn't care to have a pillow pet. So he was very happy with his giftcard for Nintendo points.

Here is Mason with his Moose Pillow Pet.

Then they opened up the karaoke machine. I have to admit I was surprised at how big of hit it was. I didn't think Aussie would get into it, but he actually did.

Before they sang, Ashley always introduced the person or song. Ok so even though it is blurry I love the next picture.

Ashley asked Gramma how she knew what she wanted and Gramma said, "A little bird told me." When they were about to open presents from Nana and Papa the next day, Ashley asked me, "Did a little bird tell Nana and Papa what I wanted?"

What made me laugh and laugh... Mason and Aussie sang Feliz Navidad. They were totally getting the rhythm wrong. Greg kept trying to correct them, but I got tickled by it. What drove me crazy was when they would say ano with a long A instead of the ah sound.

I even got in on the fun of the karaoke machine. I found that on this machine you can change the key that you can sing in, which is way awesome!!!

I have so very many pictures to share, but I need to go to bed early tonight. So you will have to wait til later to see how the rest of our Christmas unfolds.

Honor Roll!

My baby made the honor roll in Chinese again!

However, he is sick today. He went to class for their end of the year party and to get their awards, but he left early to come home. He is really pitiful. My night owl was in bed by 10:00 and asleep by 10:30. That is early for him. (Which is why I'm typically up to wee early hours in the morning. Because I need that alone time- which sometimes doesn't start until midnight.)This is his honor roll certificate. At least that's what they tell me. ;-)
And here is his perfect attendance award.

On another note, I am having a terrible time with my outside lights. If any decorating occurs in our household it is done by me. Greg doesn't care a thing about decorating or Christmas. So what I can do it pretty limited. I can't climb up on the roof and string lights even though I would love that. I would totally be that Lampoon's Christmas house if I could. You know the house you could see from space? So I do what I can.

So I put a few things out. And the next day half of the lights go out. I found that one had blown a fuse and I was luckily able to fix it. Also that same night the deer's antler lights went out (which I haven't figured out how to fix.) The next night I put a few more lights out. And it is like this for a whole night. The next night they won't come on at all.

So finally I figure out it is the outlet where I have them plugged in. It is not working at all. I have NO idea where the fuse box is that operates that outlet. It's not the typical one and I looked at one outside the house and it didn't seem to be it. So I added 2 more extension cords and plugged it in elsewhere. I'm not real happy about it. I'm afraid it is a fire hazard. So I'm hoping to figure out how to fix that outlet really soon.

So anyway, the lights are on and I went out last night and took these pictures.

And now tonight the other half of the lights are off. I'm not even sure where anymore fuses are. I'm afraid I should just give up.

We haven't been doing what our advent boxes have said to do. Oh well we are staying busy anyway.

Please pray for Aussie to get well. The kids have a birthday party they are going to tomorrow night and he will be extremely disappointed if he can't go.

A silly little play we went to...

And that brings us to today...

Today we had another Girl Scout event. We met at Chaffin's Barn to see a children's play. I can't remember the name of it. That ought to tell you how good it was.But it was fun being with our friends!!!

Before the show began they had the kids write a letter to Santa. Of course Aussie rolled his eyes. I thought they might do something cute with them during the show, but they didn't. Anyway here are our letters, I will try to translate...
Dear Santa, I am not naughty.
I would like a Kung Zhu pet, a Build A Bear, Pokeballs, Wii game Kirby Epic Yarn, DS game Pokemon Ranger, a trampoline and other stuff.
Love, Mason Greene

Here's Aussies:
Dear Santa,
I am not naughty. (Ha! I just realized he wrote that too.)
I would like a Build A Bear, a trampoline, Wii game Kirby Epic Yarn, Wii game Sports Resort, Mason Matic 3000, and love from my sister.
Aussie

I asked him what a Mason Matic 3000 was. He said he just made it up. Aussie and Ashley always fight. Aussie really wants things to be good between them and Ashley has been a real brat lately. Anyway, it kind of breaks my heart that he wrote that he wanted love from his sister on his letter.

And here is Ashley's letter:

I wasn't sitting with her, but I can pretty much guess what the pictures mean. OK I can only identify 3 of them. 3 that she is NOT getting! 1. A horse (that would be a real live one.) 2. A playground for our back yard. and 3. A kitten ( a real one.)
Oh I know the first picture now. It is a picture of Teddi Ursa, which she is getting. She actually saw it and I bought it with her with me, so she knows she's getting that.

And then I had to get in on the fun. Here is my letter to Santa...
Dear Santa, I would like my kids to get along. Please bring something special for Mason. He is the peacemaker of the family. What I would REALLY REALLY like to have is a clean house and if that is not possible then I would like to have a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse.
Thank you!
Chelle

*
After the play we got our pictures taken with the cast.

And here is one of the whole group minus a few.

After the play, one of Ashley's friends came home with us to play for the afternoon. While they were playing I made Ashley and her doll a chef hat that matched the aprons I made earlier. It's a bit too difficult to make for all the girls- I'm glad I didn't try.

*

Here is Sarah in her chef attire. I wonder what will happen to Sarah when Samantha arrives this Christmas????

Then when Ashley's friend went home I decided to get my haircut. A couple of ladies from co-op recommended a girl who typically works in Murfreesboro, but was in LaVergne today. Since she was close by I decided to try and get in with her today.

Anyway, I like her A LOT! And she is cheap too! The boys got trims as well. We kept them shaggy, because that is what they like and I kind of like it too. Aussie got a lot of hair cut off. I know it is hard to tell, but he had a lot of THICK hair. Mason only got his bangs cut. I simply HAD to see those beautiful eyes!

I like my haircut. I kept the length and got long layers. I love it and I can still put it up in a ponytail if I need too.

I can't believe the time! I'm not even tired. I better go to bed.

HEY GREG... I'M SLEEPING IN in the morning!

Ooohhh....I'm caught. He just woke up and came down and said, "You know what time it is?"

Yep it's 3:30.

I'm coming!

Just a little tea with those COOKIES

How oh how could I have forgotten to tell you about my deals I got this week?

Wednesday I went to Publix. They have tons of things you can get free this week by couponing and shopping the sales. I only got the things that I knew we would use. I got 24 grocery items and paid $18.33. I saved $53.20!!! The grocery clerk and the male bagger were amazed!!!

Also on Wednesday I went to Sears with a coupon that was good for $10 off a $20 purchase. I got Ashley an outfit with a matching doll outfit for $13.

And Tuesday I was able to get a Lego set at Border's for half price. They had a rare coupon for 50% off anything to be used Tuesday or Wednesday. I was surprised and happy that they let me just show them the coupon from my phone. I didn't have to print it out.

Thursday was Ashley's girl scout Christmas party and Mother/ Daughter tea.

Ashley is not the only one who gets excited over girl scout meetings.

A girl scout meeting means...

Aussie gets to see his girlfriend. The child is smitten! It's really cute though.

Anyway, I dropped Ashley off and left my camera for Amy to take a few pictures.

At the beginning of the meeting the girls prepared treats and made cards for their Moms.

Then we came back a couple hours later and they served us. It was so cute.

Here was my plate with the card she made me.

Then she served me these special cookies she made and decorated.

Here are the girls with their aprons on that I made them. One of the girl's Mom embroidered their names on them. But for security I smudged their names off in Photoshop. I left my daughter's name on there- everyone knows who she is anyway.

It was really sweet!

The girls did a great job and we all had fun!