13 Days Until Christmas

Life has been crazy busy for me. Last night was Paris' school's Christmas program, plus this Friday is another holiday party at my home. Then lots of soccer and dance rehearsals too this weekend. Plus I am almost done with my Xmas shopping, WHOO HOO!! I need to run and get some gift cards to finish up! Have a great Weds and remember only 19 days until 2008. So donate donate donate for those tax write offs!!

Our Family Xmas Cards

2 weeks until Christmas :) YAY!!! Here are the 2 cards I did this year. One for my family of 5 with the Leaning Tower of Pisa (in Italy), and the other for my dad's family of 15. Shows us in different places (Athens, Barcelona, Surprise AZ, Encinitas CA, Turkey & Lake Powell). Some of our 2007 travels. It's a "year in revue" of sorts. Happy Tuesday!!

The Heater is On!

It was 52 degrees this morning when I took my kids to school. To me (born and raised in Az) this is FREEZING! Now it is starting to rain at my house and the sky is gloomy grey. I LOVE THIS!!! Happy Monday.....

OH, here is pictures from Paris' Nutcracker performance this past Saturday. Actually backstage area, we can't take photos of the show. She was a baby angel is the snow scene (act 1). She has 2 more shows to be in the weekend of Dec 22nd.

Rain or Shine, It's Party Time!

The rain did not get in our way of having a surprise party for my grandmother's 70th birthday on Friday (which was also Pearl Harbor Day). It was great and she was sooooo surprised! The party was suppose to be outside with a dj and inflatable slide for the kids. But with the rain that got canceled, so the 60+ people were all inside. We were cozy and still had a blast! Good friends, food and best of all my grandmother was a queen for the night (look at her cake!!!)....

Happy Saturday

17 days left until Christmas....ho ho ho!

18 Days Left!

Christmas is almost here, yay! And tonight I host a surprise party for my grandmother's 70th birthday here at my house. Should be fun, I'll take pictures. OK, you have to watch this McDonald's commercial. I was laughing and my kids were loving this! Excellent commercial and I love the dad's face 1/2 way through it. He gets into it! ha ha ha ha.........I don't know how to add links, you may need to cut and paste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eN9KP6lOZs

19 days until Xmas

19 days until Jolly Old St Nick comes and pays us all a visit. Until then I am hosting 2 parties, then also am attending 1 party, plus 3 Nutcracker performances by Paris' ballet school. So a busy few weeks. Oh and I got to start wrapping presents. My closet is a mess storing them all until I get them wrapped. Today I have to go to Party City, the dry cleaners, Sam's Club, possibly the mall to get a cute shirt for Friday's party and Michael's. I also saw online it may rain this weekend, which always makes it feel like Winter in Az. Well happy Thursday!!!

20 days..........

The countdown continues....got some shopping done, blonde highlights added to my hair, Bible Study, ballet classes for Paris and the cleaning people came to my house (hip hip hurray) today. Sending holiday "ho ho ho's" your way!!

Happy Holidays!

3 weeks until Xmas...are you ready? I am not quite there yet...close but not quite!

22 days until Christmas!!

Deck The Halls.....

Our holiday decorations and trees are starting to go up....here is a few photos our 2 of our trees (the 15 foot and 5 foot). We usually have 8 trees, this year we may just have 5. Depends how busy I get this week. I have 2 parties happening at my house these next 2 weekends. Tomorrow I will work on my garland on the stairs and Robb needs to get busy out in the front yard!! Oh and how are you loving the rain....feeling like winter a little huh???? I wonder if Flagstaff got snow? I am SOOOOO there when it does!!!

PS~ Go rent the movie "A Mighty Heart" with Angelina Jolie....excellent movie!!!

Taking a Break

I am taking a break from the blogging world for the next week. I am having an inpatient surgery tomorrow morning, so hopefully I'll be up for blogging this weekend, or next week. Until then, enjoy the Christmas music I have on playing & have a great week!!!!

Thanksgiving Photos

We had 2 stops on Thanksgiving, a lunch and dinner. But I only took photos at dinner. It was just Paris, Aiden and I in town for the Holiday. So we did the rounds of seeing family in Peoria and Surprise. Robb and Evan went to San Diego for soccer. That big turkey is a cake! And of course I am taking the photos, so I am no where in them (shucks). I got to see if someone took any photos with me in them.

Holiday Statistics

I found this and am not sure how accurate it is.....thought I'd share!


Holiday spending

Here's a breakdown of what American families are spending on holiday items this year:

• Gifts for family, $469.14
• Gifts for friends, $90.13
• Gifts for co-workers, $22.79
• Gifts for teachers, babysitters and others, $37.45
• Flowers, $20.53
• Decorations, $49.76
• Holiday food, $94.69
• Greeting cards and postage, $32.21

Source: National Retail Federation



5 things Americans want for Christmas

The National Retail Federation says that most Americans hope to receive gifts that fall into one of five categories this holiday season. Here's a breakdown:


• Gift cards, 53.8 percent
• CDs, DVDs, videos and video games, 50.8 percent
• Clothing and accessories, 50.1 percent
• Consumer electronics, 36.4 percent
• Jewelry, 23.8 percent

10 things Americans are giving for Christmas
• Apparel - 69 percent
• Music CDs and DVDs - 62 percent
• Gift cards - 61 percent
• Toys and games - 56 percent
• Cash - 51 percent
• Perfume and cosmetics - 42 percent
• Books - 42 percent
• Jewelry - 38 percent
• Consumer electronics - 37 percent
• Housewares and appliances - 32 percent

Source: International Council of Shopping Centers' 2007 survey

Hot gifts for all ages

FAMILIES
• Large screen TVs
• Video game stations

KIDS
• Computer interactive plush toys and dolls that are computer interactive
• Dolls that play MP3 tunes

TEENS
• Notebook computers
• Video games

WOMEN
• Metallic handbags
• Big brightly colored jewelry

MEN
• Sweaters
• GPS navigation systems

Sources: International Council of Shopping Centers; National Retail Federation; Westcor.

Happy..........

Happy "Gobble Gobble" Day to you!!!!

I'll post pictures tomorrow.........was gone from 12:30pm-8pm celebrating the holiday with family. Now my pillow is calling me...and so the Christmas Season officially starts with "Black Friday" tomorrow (which I will avoid).

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!!

A little holiday cheer.....

My tree is up and not decorated yet...kids had a "Christmas themed" dress up day last week at school.....so everyone wore a Santa hat. 35 days until Xmas, ho ho ho!

A Whirlwind Weekend

Wow....my weekend actually started Thursday with the kids' last day of school before Thanksgiving break. Aiden and Paris had a Thanksgiving Feast at school (here is pictures, her preschool friend is Kory). Then Friday we stayed home and waited all day for a delivery, they said 8am-2pm well it did not come until 5:30pm....so my day was shot. But it was a 1 time appt then I'd have to pay for delivery, so I had to be home (it was a new 70 inch TV stand that arrive via pallet with a mini fork lift). Then Saturday we had 2 soccer games and Nutcracker rehearsals for Paris. Plus I made a Target, Michael's & Kirkland run...OH and I went to Razmataz and bought a BEAUTIFUL wall unit that will be delivered this week. Today (Sunday) was an all day move. I moved my mom from Surprise to 75th Ave and the 101. The move was wonderful, only an hour to load and unload...but the unpacking and organizing took longer. So she and Tyler are settled, right by my house and across from his school. Things were a whirlwind of driving and such, but everything worked out...oh and Robb got a surround sound system today at Ultimate Electronics (we were prewired), so he is in Heaven!!! So that is my weekend!! Now I have kids off this week, but thank goodness their school has organized fun (for extra $ of course), but my 3 are signed up Monday-Weds!! So Hobby Lobby here I come tomorrow!!!!

The Sky on Thursday

Paris took a couple of photos of the sky on Thursday as it was storming out......thought I'd share.

New Pets!

Well we got some new pets...ants! Yep, Paris and Aiden both have ant farms now. The kids love watching them, for me after about 5 minutes I was bored. Anyways, here are some photos of us putting the farms together the day the ants arrived in the mail.

PS~ Today was SOOOOOOO nice out. Feeling like Winter finally. A little wind, a little rain. So flippin nice!! Then at sunset the sky was so pretty!! Violet, blue, pink, yellow and orange...a true Az sky!!

I {HEART} My Family

I love my family so flippin much, it is almost criminal :) Here is us on the cruise. My grandmother is using this photo for her Xmas card this year. Everyone but the 2 babies (who were with babysitters at the time of the photo) are pictured. It was our 1st formal night of the cruise. We were somewhere between Rome and Turkey on the water!!

The Year I Was Born

I took this off April's blog and inserted my own year. Thx April :)

***In 1978 (the year you were born)***


Jimmy Carter is president of the US

US Senate votes to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999

Israel and Egypt reach a peace settlement at the Camp David Accords

The US and mainland China announce that they will restore full diplomatic relations

Members of Jim Jones' People's Temple commit mass suicide in Guyana

Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pope in centuries

Ted Bundy is captured in Florida

The first computer bulletin board system is created

Garfield debuts in newspapers

Ashton Kutcher, Kobe Bryant, Usher, Clay Aiken, and Nelly Furtado are born

New York Yankees win the World Series

Dallas Cowboys win Superbowl XII

Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup

Saturday Night Fever and Grease are the top grossing films

"Night Fever" by the Bee Gees spends the most time at the top of the US charts

Diff'rent Strokes and Mork & Mindy premiere

Just had to share....

This is Paris' first scrapbook page :) She had to do it for school with a family photo I gave her (taken this past July in Encinitas, Ca).....just had to share...

PS~ Hey CINCO, I added "Magic Carpet Ride" to my music play list for ya!!

Christmas 2006

I finally got my Xmas cards ordered. I do 2 cards each year. One for my family of 5 and then one for my father and our whole family of 15. They are now ordered and I'll be able to get them out in the mail after Thanksgiving!! Once I get them looking PURDY I'll post them...until that day arrives here is the photos from last year, 2006. My card has my 3 kids on it and my father's card had a collage I do every year. Kind of a "year in review"...here ya go!!