12 days of what?!?!

hey there happy holidays to all i miss my blogging world so very much!! but christmas is my national holiday and it lasts a looong time!! here is a house decorated by people who are crazier than me when it comes to christmas!! here is Santas mail box.. i am going to bombard you with a quick view of pictures just until christmas, tomorrow when i get on the computer, which everyone in the world but me has been using i will show you what we did after christmas!!!

see they even put baby Jesus in the manger on the roof!! these people have spent in the thousands, did i mention i thought i was crazy about christmas, i made 4 pumpkin pies, 1 lemon meringue, 1 batch of chocolate fudge, 1 batch of pumpkin spice fudge, coconut macaroons, chocolate chip cookies and not to mention the 3 christmas dinners for out of town guests and adopted families!!

here the girls are taking it all in, it was cold out but they needed to get up close..

this is the yard work, sorry it is blurry but just an idea of what is on the ground..

this is the same house by the way all these pictures were of the same house.. i said they loved the season!

these guys even captured Santa Claus!! the girls went nuts when they saw him up there in a glass case waving at the crowd!!

here on the porch they didn't want to leave the Christmas house. boy talk about excited for the big day!! my girls were wrapped in the season and hey so was i, i got my wrapping done before christmas eve!!! amazing i know usually i am up all night no sleep and just feverishly wrapping to get everything under the tree, nope not me i was ready and were we hoping for a white christmas we prayed and prayed!!!

here they are with daddy who had the two weeks off and using the computer a lot, between him and my sister and all the cooking i was doing there was absolutely no getting logged in it was impossible, but i did get some great pictures!!

i think they are both 3 years old in this picture the bean turned 3 on December 15th and Haley on the 28th. my girls are growing so beautifully!!

of course we had to host a party for my girls and the balloons and cake and ice cream and kids going crazy were just about everything i could handle but then i asked for more and invited my brother over to boot!! misery loves company as they say and maybe i guess i was praying for a little patience too.. we went and picked up Wes's mom after the party on the 23, the storm hit on the 24th his family, two brothers and their families, were supposed to come for christmas but the blizzard kept them both away, one in KC one in Dallas so we waited for them until this last week.

more birthday party with what else a chocolate cake of course!! and we got them a play tent with a tunnel and got a great picture of the bean going through it but to do that my "A" got stuck inside it!! her big body was too much and we heard a muffled "help pull me out of here!!" it was so funny...

did i mention 3 Christmas's all at my house, here is the family we adopted at the last minute we went shopping after we were done shopping on christmas eve in the snow storm for these kids who didn't get a christmas this year do to family circumstances and we had a big family party, about 15 people in a 900 square foot home with 3 pounds of al pastor (seasoned pork), 3 pounds of chicken fajitas, 2 pounds of beans and home made tortilla's and rice. awesome Mexican dinner!! lots of smiles and happy faces the season rings true for the looks on their faces!!

girls were shy, boys were excited!!

Haley kept trying to open everyone else's presents

here they are just hoping for Santa to bring them stuff because nothing was left under the tree!!!

did i mention cooking this is my grandmas book circa 1968. i use this for pie crusts and other things i got some pictures i wanted to show a blog about this would be a sneak peek in to a retro blog for the g-man!!

did i mention Santa came?

"A" got her snow boots, has not taken them off since she put them on Christmas morning.

more presents from Santa, we had Mom there my brother stayed the night and i was very impatient with him but i never lost my temper!! growth i tell ya!! save the rest of the story on that for another post, i know i will need it!! mom was sad the brothers couldn't make it but we waited until the 30th for them to make it out and then the one in KC couldn't make it but i met Wes's older brother and his lovely family!! they were awesome people loved the entire day's visit and totally worth the wait!!!

oh, look Santa brought candy!! hooray!!

more presents and more presents and grandma loved it, oh did i mention what i got Wes!! oh my gosh total surprise a hand held espresso maker that doesn't require a 'pod' it uses fresh coffee, something we are very big on here... it is called the "My Pressi Twist" they are amazing just came out this September and Wes had not heard of it!! I got something he had not heard of!! The gadget geek!! and i got it first!! actually he got it and the customer service is the absolute bomb!! they overnight-ed the package to me because i could not afford the 60 dollar shipping they ate that cost!! it was amazing they returned my email and actually called me and said as a Christmas present to me they would do that for me!! awesome. because i had called and asked about shipping costs and they were calculated wrong and i ordered the wrong shipping time and they fixed my mistake to get it here in time for Christmas!! anyway google it check it out it is a really neat product and makes a great double shot of espresso!!

did i mention we got snow? oh yeah

and they had some fun!!! then after clean up we all got dressed up and got a bit serious, seriously...

i mean doesn't that look serious?

So wow i missed two flash Fridays and a top banana award from cliff, thanks so much for thinking of me. you guys know there is a lot more going on but it is midnight, my sister just left a while ago she has been coming over to do her homework because she does not have the software on her computer. i had to confront a freind about her clean time, my 5 years is coming up, my brother is in acute renal failure, my sister and brother are not speaking at the moment, my uncle died of cancer so i sent my auntie some flowers for christmas, my sister is enabling an addict and her son missed christmas because he is in jail, on and on the list of my life and my gratitude shows in this blog because i cherished every minute with my girls and my Wes. Santa got me a camcorder!! wait until i upload video!! i know the kids are going to kill me!! can't help it they are too cute!! oh it feels good to blog, my freind cliff sent me a christmas card, it makes me marvel at this cyber community. and the difference it makes in my life today. todays thought; "When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves."- William Arthur Ward
this makes me pause because when i stop by and read your posts, i am seeking for the best of you and it brings out the best in me and for this i am truly grateful. happy new year everyone