All I want for Christmas

I was thinking about gifts...mostly because I'm pretty much done my shopping...and I thought, not for selfish reasons, I would put mine up here. I am a huge list person and I love to shop from lists. My friend has a "favorite" etsy list and I think that is such a good idea. So the things I enjoy or like are:

1. Bath and Body works soap-gentle foaming or moisturizing NOT the deep cleaning kind. Betcha some of you didn't know there was a difference...lol

2. Brown/tan brads for my card making

3. Zip up Hoodie in any color

4. One of those winter hats that covers the ears and has the tie dangling down.

5. Movie passes

6. Any Church movie (I really enjoyed Forever Strong)

7. High School Musical #1, the Re-Mix

8. Taco chips and cheese sauce (for nachos and cheese) it's a weakness

9. Mini Wheats (brown sugar) because I am slightly addicted...lol

That's about all I can think of.

I'm really looking forward to doing our first Christmas together as a family here at home. I have list of 24 different activities to do during the month of December. some of them I used from Megan's blog from last year.

Some of them include: A Jerusalem dinner, go for a drive and look at the lights, go to the old fashioned Christmas downtown, go to the ward party, have a $5 dinner, watch Christmas movies after making a Christmas treat, sleep under the tree (or really close to it) as well as some other things.

Some of them have to be placed in certain places (ie the ward dinner or the old fashioned Christmas) but I'm going to have to make up some sort of calendar to put them all in. Sadly, I do not have an advent calendar.


(The Advent Calendar I made)

My sister made one for the little boy she nannies last year and I asked her if she would make one for Tanner this year. She didn't make one for his birthday so maybe for his Christmas gift she made him one...who knows...one can hope. If not, I am going to make a permanent one in the new year. I'll have to make a temporary one this year.

I've been SOOOO crazy busy making Christmas cards to sell. Matt asked me today if I was done and I replied "I hope so". So that's why I haven't gotten around to making an advent calendar. I would love any ideas or if any of you have one, could you let me know how to make it.

It doesn't really feel like Christmas because there is no snow yet. Matt said he heard on Friday we're suppose to have snow. I love the snow, but I'm enjoying the snowless weather right now.

So in other news...Tanner had his 6th birthday! I invited 9...yes NINE children over to our little house. We were so very lucky and had great weather. Matt and I took them over to the park and played there and Matt started a game of 'what time is it mister wolf'. Everyone seemed to have fun. He got too many gifts. He got a beautiful Nativity from my Aunt. He really loves my Mom's nativity from when we were kids so it's nice for him to have his own. It's an adult type one. Porcelain and a really fancy, moss covered stable. Matt and I don't even have a stable for our nativity. He got 7 new backugans, 3 new transformers, some monster tonka trucks, sugar cereal (he LOVES, by the way) and some bionicles and dress up clothes. He got more than that (I KNOW!!!!! SERIOUSLY!?!? totally ridiculous the amount he got) but that was the main part of what he got.
My sister Melany got him this pressure nerf ball gun...it is soooo much fun. Matt and I use it A LOT! I told her I would like another one so Matt and I can have gun fights. It's just a gun that shoots balls. I know, I'm such a bad parent...encouraging gun fighting...lol. It is so like Melany to get something like that. I can't wait to see what she gets him for Christmas. I didn't do a fancy cake this year (making cards, remember) so I bought these Wall-E cake decorations. Tanner loved them. For his friends party, I did a caterpillar cake. Sharon lent me her jumbo cupcake pans and I made one for each child and they got to decorate the cupcake and take it home for their treat. They all had fun with that. Well, that's probably more than what everyone cared to know about his birthday, but we had a good time...even though he fighting a cold AGAIN!



















Matt is still looking for a permanent job. The Fed-Ex thing...well, we haven't heard back from them at all. So we're back at square one. He has some odd jobs that he's working on, but nothing to bring in the income we need for our bills. He counted the number of places he's applied to right now and he told me it's 27 places. And that's just in the last week. So hopefully something will come of it. I'm not too stressed this time round. We've been through this before and the main thing I learned is that I can't force someone to hire Matt so there's no point in stressing too much about it. Obviously, I'm a little concerned, but we're praying and Matt is doing the best he can. We know that we're doing all we possibly can to put figure out what to do. But that's enough of that.

We just got our new ensign today so I'm excited to read that today. I love the ensign and it really makes me feel so grateful and appreciative of what I have. It really helps re-set my priorities every month or re-affirms that what I'm doing is what I should be doing. Tanner uses the 'Friend' to do Family Home Evening lessons. He will usually read the picture stories (the ones that have pictures for words) or read the 'Matt and Mandy' story. He would teach FHE every week if we let him, but I have to put him into the rotation in the new year. I would like to make a FHE chart because right now I just have it on our calendar who's doing what.

Well, sorry for the LONG winded entry. I had a lot that I was thinking about and wanted to share. I hope everyone is enjoying their day and has a great week!