Tuesday, December 31, 2013

monday afternoon babysitting.

Boy, I love Christmas Break...I can't emphasize it enough.

Ty's brother and sister-in-law are in town for the holidays, and today I got the chance to babysit my niece while everyone went to see the new Hobbit movie. I gladly volunteered to watch Lydia, because I despised the first Hobbit movie and would have found any excuse not to have to go!

I was really excited to get to spend some one-on-one time with this little booger. Normally my in-laws get to monopolize the "grandchildren time," so I was happy to finally get the chance to babysit!

It's been about 20 years since I've watched Barney. It was about time I got to catch up on my former favorite show!


I wouldn't typically let a child lay on the coffee table, but she looked soooo cute!




Eventually, she got all the dog toys out and laid down with them and her blanket to watch tv.
Now...I'm no toddler expert, but I took that to mean that she might be a little sleepy. 
So I got her bottle ready and we snuggled on the couch. Next thing I knew....

She even snored a little bit!

I let her sleep for an hour and a half before I woke her up. About a half hour after that, everyone got home and we went out for some dinner. I snapped this picture of our nephew, Caleb. He was playing a game while we were waiting for our food. Check out his new cowboy boots from Christmas...I'm not sure they "go" with his outfit....


Loved this day of hanging with the little ones, especially my afternoon with Lydia. Can't wait until their next baby joins the family at the beginning of May! (I kinda like being an aunt!)

xoxo, wife.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

five and six down.

1. Make gingerbread houses. See who's is better. (Mine.)
2. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies together.
3. Watch a Christmas movie marathon in our jammies.
4. Donate a toy to Toys for Tots
5. Get all bundled up and go for a walk in the snow.
6. Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
7. Get coffee and take it to someone who needs a little Christmas cheer.
8. Actually send Christmas cards this year....
9. Take a picture with Santa.

More items to cross of the Manifesto.

On Christmas Eve morning, we got out of bed, stayed in our jammies and watched Christmas Vacation. Ty hadn't seen it in years, so it was fun to watch together. We laughed and laughed. That's one holiday movie that never gets old. 

Then last night, on our way home from Family Christmas #2, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights.



While we were driving, we came upon a house with 2 fire trucks and an ambulance. Those are some lights that you DON'T wanna see on Christmas.

Christmas might be over now, but we still have 3 things on our list. We technically have until the end of the month to get the rest done, so we'll see. We got the majority of the things I was really excited about done, though!

xoxo, wife.




Tuesday, December 24, 2013

four down.

1. Make gingerbread houses. See who's is better. (Mine.)
2. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies together.
3. Watch a Christmas movie marathon in our jammies.
4. Donate a toy to Toys for Tots
5. Get all bundled up and go for a walk in the snow.
6. Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
7. Get coffee and take it to someone who needs a little Christmas cheer.
8. Actually send Christmas cards this year....
9. Take a picture with Santa.

Today was my first official day of Christmas Break. Can I get a Hallelujah?! I spent the day doing the Mount Everest of laundry and the dreaded gift wrapping.

The enemy.

I literally wrapped for 2 and a half hours. It was torturous. There are not words to describe how much I hate wrapping presents. It's not that I dislike doing something nice for others....it's that I'm so BAD at it. But it got done and now the tree finally looks complete (for 2 days.)

After Ty got home, it was time to cross another item off the list. It was Christmas Cookie Making Time.


Shhhh...don't tell Martha Stewart that these weren't made from scratch.





Here are my finished cookies.

Here are Ty's finished cookies.

Ty would like you to see the following cookies up close because he is proud of them.


He would like you to see this next cookie up close as well. This cookie is mine...and he made fun of it. 
It didn't turn out exactly how I'd hoped.

Who knows if these cookies will even be any good to take to Family Christmas #1. But we're taking them anyway. We'll probably be the only ones who eat any...and that's ok. At least they look cute!


xoxo, wife.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

three down.

1. Make gingerbread houses. See who's is better. (Mine.)
2. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies together.
3. Watch a Christmas movie marathon in our jammies.
4. Donate a toy to Toys for Tots
5. Get all bundled up and go for a walk in the snow.
6. Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
7. Get coffee and take it to someone who needs a little Christmas cheer.
8. Actually send Christmas cards this year....
9. Take a picture with Santa.

Today's mission: Gingerbread houses. 



Here are the finished products. House No. 1:




And here's House No. 2:



Take your guesses as to who's is who's. (And who's is better!)

Now onto the results. House No. 2 belongs to this guy.


And House No.1 belongs to this girl.


Now, as for who's is better...well that's up to you. We both agree that Ty's is better. Notice his little Christmas tree in the window? And his front porch area is pretty darn elaborate. Although I have to say that my bushes with lights on them are pretty cute too.


{I promise that immediately after this picture was taken, I cleaned that mess off the table!}

What a fun way to mark item number 3 off the Manifesto.

xoxo, wife.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

all they want for christmas...

Today we wrote Christmas lists during Writer's Workshop. I told the kids that if they worked hard and tried to sound out their words, I'd text Santa and tell him what they want. Here are a couple.

***No, their writing is nowhere near perfect. But I'll remind you that these kids didn't even know how to hold a pencil in August. They didn't know how to spell their own names. So to be able to hear the majority of sounds in a word and write those sounds down? That's pretty monumental for a mere 4 months of work.***

-Skateboard, phone, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a tablet, a LeapFrog, (not sure about the 2nd to last one), and a gorilla.

-A phone, a car, a puppy, a boots, a cup, a Mrs. Miller doll, a iPhone, a dogs, a How Rock (toy), a Mix Six (toy).

-A glass farm, princess dress, hula hoop, pogo stick, iPad, glasses, remote control butterfly, toy car, toy santa, and a nurse kit.

And just check out the last item on this little guy's list. I laughed so hard when we were reading his list together and we got to this one. He was laughing too, but also looked pretty embarrassed that I caught him!

And what does Mrs. Miller want for Christmas? 2 weeks off from these crazy kids!!

Merry Christmas, little ones. May God bless your holidays and keep you safe until you return in two SHORT weeks :)

xoxo, Mrs. Miller

Monday, December 16, 2013

two down.

1. Make gingerbread houses. See who's is better. (Mine.)
2. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies together.
3. Watch a Christmas movie marathon in our jammies.
4. Donate a toy to Toys for Tots
5. Get all bundled up and go for a walk in the snow.
6. Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
7. Get coffee and take it to someone who needs a little Christmas cheer.
8. Actually send Christmas cards this year....
9. Take a picture with Santa.

I haven't sent Christmas cards out since the first year we were married. So this year, I was determined to do it. I had originally planned for us to take a Christmas picture and do that kind of card. But then I decided (since I've been kinda sorta crafty lately) that I'd just make them on my own! I made several different kinds.





























I wanted them to be really simple, which they were. It was fun to sit down and come up with the different ideas. Then I set to addressing them all.


 And then I sent them off!

And now item number 2 is crossed off my December Manifesto!

xoxo, wife.