We're on the Island of Misfit Toys Here we don't want to stay

With the Utah Pass of all Passes we were able to go to the Winter Princess festival for free....and thank goodness. The usual cost is $15 and I just can't imagine paying that much for it. The total run time was 15-20 minutes tops. It took place in a rented out space at the Provo mall. You basically immerse yourself in a high school drama/choir production that has hints of Dungeons and Dragons type live action role playing (or LARPing for those of your in the know). The girls really enjoyed themselves, but Kim and I just smirked at each other and rolled our eyes. The girls loved playing with the "princesses" afterwards, and Kim and I got some free babysitting time, while we sat at the craft table and talked..so all was not lost. But boy was it super cheesy.

all of the lights all of the lights

Last weekend we headed down with Kimmy and crew to the Riverwoods area to see the lights, talk to Santa, and ride the free horse carriage. Q has become obsessed with lights this year, so it's super fun to let her gaze at all the cool lights adorning the trees.

Q had no qualms about getting up on Santa's lap and was anxious to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Sometime it can be embarrassing that she isn't shy, but most of the time I'm pretty happy that she's such an outgoing girl.

We also headed up to Salt Lake last weekend as well to eat out, ride the Trax, and check out the lights at Temple Square. They don't light as many trees as the used to on the temple grounds but it was still pretty, and Q loved it so it was worth it. Plus we got to hang out with Kimmy and crew and Jeff/Nicole and family so that is always fun. What wasn't fun, was my rough and extremely embarrassing fall I took on the escalator. Still haven't quite figured out how to work the stroller on the down escalator....and my butt sure took the punishment for it.

where do you come from baby...

So I'm getting the ol' Christmas Card list put together. I do have a lot of your addresses already, but if you want to make sure you're on the list email me your address. 

Thanks!

ab98837@gmail.com

This picture is not featured on the card...but some other cute ones are. :)

 

(p.s. this is Q doing her best "Annie" impersonation...."who's next?")

This is the way I live...

What we've been up to:

a lot of this:

these girls just love to play together!

and the end of this:

It didn't turn out super perfect (yes I see the imperfections-but it does look better in person), but I still think it's pretty cute.

And, guess what? I love you, I love you, I LOVE YOU!

This year is the first year that Q is really getting into each holiday. So christmas is going to be a big deal this year, and I finally have to step it up and get some fun traditions going. Q and I really enjoyed putting up the christmas tree, and Q was super excited to see all her ornaments and help me put up mine (the ones I trusted her not to break...best believe she did not get anywhere near the awesomest miss Piggy angel ornament ever). She has also enjoyed peeling off the advent card each day and seeing the little surprise each morning. And the glowing heart musical bear that has been in the family since Mitch's first heart operation as a baby now has a permanent place in her bed and she affectionately calls it "Mitch's bear".
But I wanted to start a new tradition. So we adopted an elf.
George joined our family at the beginning of December, and will stay with us through Christmas Eve (when he returns back to the northpole with Santa).
For anyone not familiar with "the elf on the shelf" ( I wasn't until this year). Here is the idea. The elf watches the child throughout the day, making note if they are bad or good. Then each night he/she magically flies back to the northpole and reports back to Santa about the child. When the elf returns the next morning he usually lands himself into funny situations or areas around the house, so when the child awakes they get to go look around and try and find the magic elf. There are websites all around that give fun ideas of things you can do with the elf, and it's been fun to see Q get super excited to find George each morning.
On December 1st, the first morning of George's magic, Q found him like this....

George not only got caught playing on the christmas tree, but he also brought back a new ornament for Q. "Alice in Wonderland" is Q's new favorite movie, so it was only appropriate that a falling Alice ornament join our tree in 2011.

George has also been found sleeping in a hanging stocking, hiding up on the chandelier in the kitchen, putting together a puzzle, with puzzle pieces thrown about the floor from Q's room to the family room, and this morning George was found sitting on Q's windowsill along with all her other babies, dolls, and stuffed animals. 

a turkey for me and a turkey for you

This year's Thanksgiving was a different situation then in year's past, but it turned out pretty nice and laid back. I was super spoiled last year being with all my siblings, and surrounded by enormous amounts of awesome food (mostly due to Mitch), But new traditions are always good.
Q and I spent the day with Kim/Aaron/Elsie, Aaron's parents Gary and Sylvia, and Aaron's brother's families (Jeff and crew for lunch and Greg and crew for games and lounging later).
Our bellies were full of thanksgiving food courtesy of Mimi's cafe. and it was delicious. Plus I got to end the meal with apple crisp and ice cream (I am not a fan of pumpkin flavored things---although I do love pumpkin scented candles) and that made my tummy extra happy. Q was excited just to be able to hang out with Elsie, and kept moving chairs to be close to Kim, Aaron, or Elsie...pretty much anyone but me. haha.
After lunch we headed over to the Wise's to hang out and play around. I had found a couple cute thanksgiving activities on Pinterest for the kids, and they quite enjoyed themselves. We played a game called turkey hunt in the backyard, where the kids had to find 8 different colored turkeys posted around in the yard. We even played twice cause the kids thought it was fun.

We also played a turkey drawing game involving rolling a di to see what you had to draw, and a coloring page filled with different types of leaves.

Then the kids got to run around and play. At one point they were all cuddled up in their own blankets in a room watching a movie.

it was super cute!

Q had so much FUN with everybody, that when it was time to go she threw the biggest fit. She does not like the party to end (hmmmm....wonder where she gets that).
While the kids ran amuck, the grown ups snacked on some yummy snacks. we had a spinach artichoke dip and chips, summer sausage/cheese/crackers, pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie, and these little bits of heaven. When it was just down to Aaron, Kim, Gary, and I we broke out the "ticket to ride" and got our game on. I have been obssessed with playing this game on my phone, and thought the practice would help in real life..it did not. But I had fun anyway.
It was a good day.

Alright, already the show goes on

Here are some more of my Christmas crafts. Although., I still have one more wreath to make, I am quite proud that it's not even the end of November yet and I have finished my crafts, all Christmas decorations are up, and Christmas shopping is done. yeah me! 

I have quite enjoyed being crafty. It's a good way to spend my time, and the feeling of accomplishment is quite awesome. Plus, when Kimmy is my crafting partner it becomes so much fun. 

This is my muffin tin advent calender. Inside is some candies and little things for Q. The muffin tin really brought out the OCd side of us. Trying to make sure the colors all matched and that the distribution of patterns and colors were even was quite a feat, but it was worth it. 

All throughout my childhood we had this hanging advent calender that my mom had made at some enrichment night (it was one of two projects that my mom actually had completed from enrichment...she was quite proud). The advent had these wooden ornaments that velcroed to a big felt tree. The calender had taken a beating through the years, and many of the ornaments had seen better days. At the end of the christmas season last year, I made the decision to finally get rid of the advent calender, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of the ornaments that were still useful. I thought I would keep them, and try and use them again. Well it paid off! I decided to make three mini yarn wreaths to hang on my wall, and put the ornaments on those for decoration. I think they turned out so cute, and even though it isn't the advent calender from my childhood the nostalgia is still there. 

Then of course I had to make another wreath for my front door. This wreath was a little more complex than the last one I made, and took a lot more time, but I do love how it turned out. it's just so festive. 

Happy Holidays.

O christmas tree...o christmas tree

And the crafting continues. Pinterest has seriously been such a blessing. what a great way to find so many fun, easy, cute ideas in one place. I love it.
This is my newest craft.

I am so in love with it. It was took a long time to cut out about 200 felt circles, and pin them to the foam tree, but it was worth it. As I was taking pictures of the tree, Q wanted to join in the photo shoot.

This project is one of many christmas decorations that I am working on. (I am making a yarn wreath for my door, an ornament wreath for my wall, a muffin tin advent calender, and three small yarn wreaths decorated with old ornaments from my mom's advent calender).

Think of a wonderful thought, any happy little thought...

Ever since our trip to Disneyland, I have had a serious craving for all things Disney. Q and I are both obsessed. She talks about it all the time. I consider every day how long we have to wait to go back again. Lucky for us, Disney on ice came to town, and we were able to get a little Disney fix. Kim, Elsie, and Aaron came as well and it was a great day.

We ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory (delish), then headed up to the Energy Solutions arena (it'll always be the Delta Center right?). The girls were both so excited, and I loved it.

The show was super fun, and I was a fan. Q is loving "alice in wonderland" right now, so the show starting off with that performance just put Q in such a happy mood. 

Then they had snow white, lion king, aladdin, peter pan, and little snippets of a lot of the princesses. Gotta love Disney!

This is definitely a new tradition!

Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart.

This year for Halloween we got invited  to hang out with Kim, Elsie, Aaron, Aaron's parents (Gary and Sylvia), and Greg and Piper and their kids (cannon and harper) up at Piper's house. It was super fun. we had delicious baked potatoes and chili for dinner (yummmmmm), then headed out with kids to do some trick or treating.

Aren't these little princesses just the cutest thing? 

Cannon, was Indiana Jones, which still fit in with the Disneyland theme, so we let him in the picture hahaha. just kidding.  

I actually had bought this dress for Q a couple months ago, thinking she could wear it one day to disneyland, but we never got the chance to wear it, so instead I kept it for her halloween costume. I was too cheap to buy her the official Tiana crown, and although I found a crown at the dollar store that I was going to have her wear, I couldn't get past the fact that it didn't really look like the original crown. So one night I just looked in my craft supplies, and came up with this completely homemade crown. But I think it turned out just perfect, and Q couldn't stop smiling, 

The weather was just perfect this year, and Q really got into the festivities. She loved going to each house, holding out her bag, saying trick or treat, and happy halloween as we left. No matter how heavy her bag got, she refused to let me help her carry it, and instead insisted that I hold her hand the entire time. She was so excited every time she got a "trick or treat" in her bag.

Yep, I can't resist taking pictures with weird things. 

i think the flash scared her more than the creepy decorations did. 

Q, with her stash, one happy girl.

After trick or treating, we came back to Piper's house, scoured the kids bags for yummy treats for the adults, and decorated cookies with the kids. 

Horrible picture of me, but I love Q's "concentrating" face

Hopped up on sugar the kids ran crazy around the house for a little but, while the adults talked, and then it was time to head home. It was such a perfectly fun evening!