'Tis The Season....

To give and receive goodies!
Every year at this time I try to get my act together so that I can think of something to give to my neighbors, since they are always so kind and generous in their giving.  I'm sure many of you have heard me mention how wonderful my neighborhood is.  It's overwhelming how kind and wonderful they are!  We love them all dearly, so this year I was determined to achieve my goal of giving goodies, because I have fallen short in past years.

This year I made a red velvet cake and a white cake mix and swirled them together in miniature cupcakes!  It was quite pretty if I do say so myself - but the amazing thing is that we actually delivered them too!

Tressa helping me make sure the red velvet cake turned out ok!

All the cupcakes.

Frosted and sprinkled with crushed candy canes.

Mmmmm!!!

Ready to deliver!

My 3 helpers!  

The generous treats we've received from our neighbors!  Not all at once, but they've accumulated over this week!

My kids and I came home one day to our 3rd or 4th goodie bag and they said incredulously, "Another one!"  I reminded them how lucky we are to have such good friends and I hope that since they helped me pass ours out that they know how fun it is to give as well!

We are so blessed!  While these goodies are yummy to eat, it reminds me of my many blessings I have and how thankful I am to be here.  It reminds me of the good people surrounding me and how thankful I am that I get to associate with all of you!  I hope that everyone will have a Merry Christmas and that you know how much we love you!

Life is NEVER boring with Kids!

Just when I think that life is hum-drum and everything is so ordinary, my kids come up with something new.  Yesterday Tressa drew a picture of her daddy - which is all fine and lovely, right?  Well, as she's showing her dad, he's pointing to things on the picture and he gets to one part and says, "What's this?"  And she just calmly says, "That's your pee-pee spot!"  I was not actively paying attention until that moment when I jerk my head around to see and yup, sure enough, she had drawn him anatomically correct!  LOL!!!!!!  I couldn't help myself, I just burst out laughing!  The funny thing is I KNOW she's never seen that part on her Dad and she sure doesn't have brothers, so how in the heck does she know what a guy looks like "there"?  (I can only hope it's from seeing a little guy getting his diaper changed!)  I just can't get over how hilarious it is and every time I think about it, I have to chuckle!

Oh, of course, we had a talk about how it's not really appropriate to draw "those" places on our bodies in our pictures, but oh how funny it was!

And last night, when I went up to bed, I found my little Anastasia asleep in the hallway, on the floor.  I have no idea how or why she got there, but she slept through me taking pictures.  When I showed them to her this morning, she also didn't know what had happened.  I guess I might have a sleep walker...  Not sure how I feel about that one?

Today is Crazy Hair day at school for Jessie and she wanted to do her own hair, so I let her at it and this is what came out!

Oh yeah!  Crazy hair for sure!  Man I love these kids!

Water Heater Problems!

The kids and I came in from the park yesterday, and I had every intention of getting one of them in the tub, however when we turned on the water, it never got warm....  My first thought was, "Here we go again."  This is the 3rd time our water heater has had problems....  Really?  I mean, really!  What are the odds?  I mean, should we be concerned that we've had the water heater for 5 years and it's already had so many problems, or are all of my neighbors having the same issue?

So the last time the guy who came was so nice, that we called the same guy - as it turned out he did everything today for free - I don't know why he did that, but he did.  He just kinda slipped out of the house, without saying much, but if you have problems let me know.

I mean he completely replaced our thermacouple (This is the 2nd time for that, the first time it cost us $150!) and just left the house without being paid!  When I asked him how much it would cost, he kinda shrugged his shoulders and said, "No, I got it."  This is a blessing for us, but I know he can't feed his family on nothing...  It made me feel bad for him.  So I guess the least I can do is pass on to friends and neighbors that if you need a good plumber, I know one!