Our Fabulous Christmas
Santa brought the girls stuffed animals to sew, stuff, and dress. Rachel has been wanting to sew because she has been watching me cross-stitch. She really did a nice job with her bear. She only needed help threading the needle and tying knots. The needle was plastic--very kid-friendly. The fabric was pre-punched so it was very easy to stitch. Erin Joy needed a lot of help. Hers was a big mess of fabric, thread, and stuffing. I ended up doing most of her project. It was a nice quiet project that took them a couple of hours. (I can't figure out why it is underlined....sorry....)
Rachel with Billy the Bear.
Erin Joy with Tallulah the monkey. Tallulah is the monkey on Barbie Island Princess. Rachel was very upset that Erin Joy named her monkey a girl's name because her monkey is a boy (according to Rachel).
| You Are Prancer |
 You are the perfect reindeer, with perfect hooves and perfect flying form. Why You're Naughty: Because you're Santa's pet, and you won't let anyone show you up. Why You're Nice: You have the softest fur and the sweetest carrot breath. |
| You Are Donner |
 The most loveable and sweet reindeer, you're also a total dork! Why You're Naughty: You keep (accidentally) tripping the other reindeer while flying. Why You're Nice: You're always smiling, even if you've fallen flat on your horns. |
| You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree |
 For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year. |
| You Are a Bright Christmas Tree |
 For you, the holidays are all about fun and seasonal favorites. You are into all things Christmas, even if they're a little tacky. |
Thanks Stace for keeping this site active. I promise to do more after Christmas. blogging has been the thing I have let slide this Christmas. but I did get treats out to neighbors and friends on Dec. 1st! (though I still have one neighbor's plate to hand out. shucks)
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Erin Joy is finally starting to dress herself once in awhile. She is going to be a trend-setter for sure. Check out her latest fashion statements:
How about the two-right-mismatched-shoes-no-socks look?
How about the one-blue-one-black-on-the-wrong-feet look?
How about the upside-down-coat look?
One of my students handed me this plate of cookies and said, "Ms. Simmons, these are for you. There used to be more, but I got hungry on the bus." I have had some great gifts this year!
I can't blame my students though. This is what is left of a can of Almond Roca that Santa was going to fill my stocking with. Ooops. Santa is not going to buy any more Almond Roca. He will have to find something else to fill my stocking with...maybe carrots or something healthy to balance all the junk I have been eating.
This is a cute picture of Rachel in her cute reindeer hat that she made today in kindergarten. She is wearing her pajamas because it was "Pajama Day" today. They had cookies and hot chocolate in their class.
YIPPEE!!!! Today was the last day of school for two weeks!!! I wish it was longer....
When are we going to play Spades? You ought to make a poll for that one Becky.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!
The missing pieces have been found! Mary, Jesus, and a Wiseman that I didn't even realize was missing were all found in a pile of Polly Pockets. The girls have LOVED playing with this nativity set. Last year, I bought one that was kid-friendly so they could play with it and play with it they certainly do. I don't know why I worry when they lose pieces because that means they are playing with it.
OK...I'm going to try to link it: click on this word and see if it works: Nativity.
Here is what I have been doing instead of posting. well one of the things I have been doing. Merry Christmas!
This is my coveted fountain that I paid too much money for. This is my special spot full of my favorite things: a picture purchased in China when I adopted Erin Joy, a shelf with etchings of my girls also done in China, Grandma Nina's music cabinet, and my Chinese fountain. I can't tell you how angry I was when I saw the silly cat sitting in the fountain, knocking out all the shells from the Marshall Islands, eating the bamboo, digging in the dirt, and drinking from the waterfall. I took a quick picture before I not-so-nicely banished the cat from the fountain.
To change the subject completely, Christmas can't come until we find Mary and baby Jesus who seem to be missing from our Nativity scene. Argh...
sorry I haven't been around lately. i've been tied up with christmas and a new calling. and I do understand, too, stace about wanting a clean house for christmas. i was going to take pictures of all my piles to reply to your post as well...the clean clothes thrown off the bed by mallory so she could take a nap...the clean clothes thrown off the bed by doug so he could go to bed...and the clean clothes thrown in the air by me hoping that miraculously they would find their way into the drawers or onto hangers.
Mellisa and Baby Laura at Temple Square
....is a clean house. Remember when Mom used to say that? I thought she was just being nice and giving us an option that didn't cost any money. Nope. She was serious. My house is a wreck. I know some of you think I am neat and clean and organized....nope...not now. It is easier for me to be clean when I am home all day during the summer. The kids are home all day too, but I have more energy to make them clean up. After work, I am too exhausted to make them clean up so the piles get bigger and bigger. Yes, I know we should clean up every day before bedtime, but when it's bedtime, I just want to go to bed and not fight with children about cleaning up. Santa won't come to a messy house. We have to get this mess cleaned up. We have three days of school next week so Thursday will be dedicated to cleaning the house (after we make Christmas cookies...why clean just before another mess, right?)
This is a pile of toys and blankets on the couch in the TV room. Both are necessary when watching movies.
Rachel loves playing school. Here are her piles of necessary teaching materials.
More school supplies mixed with shoes and various toys...
Parts of the toy Nativity scene. I bought this a few years ago so the kids would have their own Nativity to play with. I hope they don't lose any pieces. Their mother ought to make them pick it up...
This is what is under the table. Erin Joy likes to cut. She will sit under the table and cut while I make dinner. Rachel constantly tattles about her making a mess. I just say, "I don't really care. I'm just glad she is happy and not bothering me while I cook."
Gross...those are tooth paste spots. Yes, we really shouldn't walk around the house while we are brushing our teeth. If we do walk around the house and tooth paste accidentally spills out of our mouths, we ought to clean it up before it becomes crusty. We have several spots like this around our house.
This is a pile of clean clothes. This would be my mess. I tell the kids to look through the pile to find something to wear. I suppose I ought to put it away?
There you have it....the state of my house.
I finally took a picture of our cat in her favorite place...under the Christmas tree. She doesn't sleep with us anymore. She sleeps under the tree. She loves the ornaments, climbing the tree, and chewing on the cord. Good thing she has nine lives...remember the Chevy Chase movie?
Becky, how did you make these posts go to Mom and Dad? I never post anything really important on this site. Anything important, I post to my personal blog. Actually, the things I post there aren't really important either... It would be nice if the posts on my other blog could go right to Mom/Dad. It will take me six months to figure it out and by that time they will be home.
I love the Marshall Island Santa picture.
I'm going to post it here so I can see it easily. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Mom and Dad. We'll certainly be thinking about you. We sure have a lot of wonderful ornaments from the Marshall Islands hanging on our tree. I should take a picture and post it. I should also take a picture of what we have been doing with the shells you sent us. Can you see pictures when you get blog emails? Maybe I'll just email a couple of pictures. On to take pictures...
this is a post to check how i have set up notifications for updates. there appears to be two ways to do this. one is everyone would have to sign up for google groups...which wouldn't be to hard since you should have a google account to post to this site. but, then it wouldn't update mom and dad automatically. mom and dad you would have to have a google account and sign up for the google groups as well. so i don't know how that would work, since when you tried to sign up for my blog it was in Spanish?
the second is you would have to sign up for blogarithm. it is another hassle and another account you have to sign up for. but it should hopefully email you updates on this blog, and you can add other blogs that you might want to read, such as Stacey's and I's (is that correct grammer? I can never tell.) blogs. and mom and dad you wouldn't have to do anything, because it would still email you automatically.
I have set up a blogarithm account, and this is also a test post to check it out.
happy birthday Laura!
I thought this was so funny and I just have to share…
This morning, one of my lovely students brought me the piece of chocolate in the blurry picture posted above this post. He said, “I brought this for you Ms. Simmons, but I accidentally dropped it and then I accidentally stepped on it. Merry Christmas!”
I love my students!
While I watch the river rise instead of sleeping, I'm enjoying Mr. Bean on You Tube and thought I'd share. The river has crested and is now going down. Phew! The flood waters didn't reach my house. The worst of the storm is over so we should be fine.
If you look really closely, you can see the snow that fell last night. I hope it doesn't keep people from Rachel's birthday party later today. You know how we are in the NW...a little snow and we all panic. We have a dance performance today too.
Check my blog for a little video of Rachel's Adoption Day. That's today too, but we celebrated last night because today is so busy. Today I'm wearing the same sweatshirt I wore to China on that memorable day to remind me of how happy I was five years ago and how happy I am today!
I hope you have a good one! Mallory does too, but right now she is just watching baby signing time. "look at THAT cute baby, Mom!"
Miller's Brewing Company's in Milwaukee sure know how to have a great show. I loved the fireworks too.
We can have a New Year's Eve party here if anybody wants to watch Ted blow stuff up. LOL. We can't wait to see everyone at Erin's. We are planning on bringing Erin's Christmas gift then. I think they should have to wait until Christmas to open it. :) I am also bring lots of clothes to pass along so save room in your car (Especially Becky!) Here's a cute pic of Eli doing cartwheels. I should post some video. I can't believe he can do a cartwheel. I don't know why it didn't upload the right direction. Sorry. I don't have anymore time to mess with it right now.
i have it set up that whenever you post on this blog, it sends your post to Mom and Dad by email. they said that they get the emails, but sometimes some of my pictures don't come through.
so this is also a test post to see what's going on...I post pictures by two methods. one by using blogger, the image link you see when you are posting. and one by sending pictures by a program on my computer, picasa. so i am going to try each method on different posts and see whats happening.
this picture was uploaded using blogger:
I think this picture is really funny...probably because it is too early in the morning. Why am I awake so early on a Saturday?
Anyway, I don't trust Erin Joy with my camera very often so she hasn't taken many pictures. Here is her latest attempt... She took a picture of Rachel and I hugging. Apparently, she hasn't learned the importance of including heads and moving your finger away from the lens.
