Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Well the girls did end up getting one Christmas present early so far this year, bunk beds!!! They are very nice beds made of real wood and can be set up as two twin beds or as bunk beds. I was not so excited to get these beds I must admit. Tristen has slept with me since she was just a few months old and I was not looking forward to her leaving my bed. It is as if she is growing so quickly that I want to keep her my baby for as long as I can. Anyhow, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike came over on Saturday. Mike took Sean to pick up the mattresses for the beds....Thank You Mike! Then we had our Christmas celebration afterwards. I would like to say thank you so much Mike and Linda for all of our gifts, but especially for the book you gave us T'was the Night Before Christmas. This book is very special to me as a child and I love being able to share this book with my girls.The girls got their own bedding to go with their beds, Chloe got Little Mermaid and Tristen had Dora. Grandma and Grandpa also got them lots of books, which is great considering that Chloe loves to read stories to all of us. There were various other toys the girls received including stuffed animals which were stacked into piles all around the house throughout the evening hours. It took Sean and I six hours to put up these beds. Chloe gets the top bunk. All day Sunday I could not get the girls out of their beds. They would take their toys to their beds and play there. Chloe said " I love my bed and I am not getting down!" LOL
On Sunday we made a ginger bread house. I am absolutely thrilled about how it turned out. I have never done such a project before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It didn't take much talent which is swell considering that I am no artist. Basically the house was pre-built and all we had to do was make the icing and decorate the house with candies. Both the girls really loved this activity and I plan to make this a holiday tradition for years to come:)

Tomorrow night is the school concert that I have been waiting for. I am always delighted to go and watch the girls perform. I am hoping that the weather stays tolerable for this event.

I will be getting five days off this year for Christmas. I am thankful for being able to spend this holiday with my family.

Snow snow go away...

I reposted the following video as I noticed it was not working, hopefully all will be well now.

The last few days here in Iowa was awful with the ice and snow. I was unable to make it to work. Thankfully I have a great boss and awesome co workers who were able to cover my shifts. Also Chloe and Tristens concert at the school was cancelled, it has been rescheduled for Thursday the 20th. I am hoping that the weather will stay calm so I can get a good video of my stars performing.

We had a nice surprised today. In the mail the girls received Christmas presents from Auntie Sara, Cole, Carter, and Bill. Thank you guys!!! The girls were really impressed. They have never received a parcel in the mail and were very anxious to open the gifts. They took turns showing off their artwork as they drew pictures for each other on the dora the explorer aqua doodles. Tristen made a family with all her ponies and welcomed in the newest member. Chloe is excited to use her makeup, so she tells me, Now I have makeup like you mommy... LOL..
So once again Thank You guys!

Another video

I am really enjoying my new camcorder and taking these videos of the girls. This Thursday night is their school Christmas Concert, I am thrilled. I have their outfits all picked out and my camera ready to go. Hopefully I will have the video finished by Thursday night so that I can post it but, if not then I will have to wait to post until Monday.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

It was a terrific five days off of work. Thursday was quite busy with the cooking for turkey day. I made the turkey while Sean made all the fixings. Everything turned out delicious. My parents came down and ate dinner with us. I was very happy to get to see them and catch up on alot of the things that I miss in their lives. Mom stayed the night and the girls were all over her. Chloe had made a game at school called "pick a turkey" that kept mom and the girls busy for well over an hour. Then mom read them books of their choice. When it came to bedtime, Chloe slept with grandma and Tristen slept with mommy.
The next day was one of our favorite days of the year. Sean and I were up at 3:30 am with our advertisements and our list in hand ready to go. Oh the madness had begun!! We got to Wal-Mart around 4:30. It was jam packed and hard to get through the store. At five am the sale began. We were able to get every deal that we wanted there, which is a very hard task! Next we were off to Target. Target is one of the busiest stores during Black Friday. They open at 6 am and we were in line at 5:30 am. We were near the middle of the line, the line reached clear to Farm King. People were not very friendly and were set on getting their bargains. They even had the police there. The "big" deal we were wanting to get was a camcorder. I have always wanted one so that I could tape my precious babies during their events, birthdays, xmas, and so on. I must say that I have the BEST man ever!!! Sean took off through the store faster than I have ever seen him run, he gets to the back of the store where the cameras are, twists his knees badly, yet he still comes out with my camcorder!!! Sean wobbles through the rest of the store with me, gladly we didn't have very many items left to pick up. I was so happy to get my camcorder and Sean knew how badly I had wanted it, so he goes to every extent, including getting hurt to get it! I am a very lucky woman to have such a great man!! After Target I had to stop at Menards. They had comforters for only ten dollars. I picked up a few blankets and candles, quickly checked out and we headed home.
Later on that day I had decided to go in and get my massage. Oh my I had no idea what I have been missing out on all these years. Sean had purchased me a full hour of massage and it was lovely. I have never been so relaxed in all my 26 years. The lights were low and the music was soft and the masseuse was awesome. Thank You Sean!! Once I got home I told Sean that I am going to start getting massages once every couple of months because it is well worth the money. On Saturday and Sunday we basically rested. We were quite worn out from all the activities that had occurred over the past few days. Sean is still hurting quite a bit so he hasn't been able to do much:( He says it was worth it to get me my camcorder.. whatta man!!!

School Conferences

Sean had the girls parent teacher conferences on Friday. Both are doing really well in school this year. Tristen is adjusting to the school routine and plays well with the other students. Chloe's teacher said she "sparkles" in class and is a great student, but she does need to work on her talking and keeping her hands to herself. So to say the least I am a very proud mum. Tristen was very lucky to be able to spend a few hours with grandma and grandpa Parker. She tells me that she had a great time and enjoyed teasing grandpa. I really wish there were more hours in the day so both of the girls got time to spend with their grandparents because they do miss them immensely everyday.
This Thursday will be very exciting for the girls. My mother and father are coming up to spend Thanksgiving with us. We are going to have turkey, green bean casserole, scalloped corn, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and so on. Also my mom is going to be staying the night. The girls are thrilled to be having a sleep over with grammy. I am going to rent some new movies and pop some popcorn and we are having a jammy party.. Yeay!! It has been a little while since the girls have seen my mom due to the fact that she lives about two hours away, so this is quite a big deal to us.
On Friday Sean and I are going to be doing our once a year date!!!!! This consists of getting up at four a.m. to go shopping for the Black Friday. Obviously Sean and I don't get out much alone, but we make an exception for the busiest shopping day of the year. I am not sure what we plan on purchasing, and to be honest I don't really care, I am just looking forward to enjoying this time with my man.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic turkey day......gobble gobble....