Countdown to magic

The magic begins tomorrow...

Sneak peek of our very first North Pole Breakfast:

It's the little things

They say it's the little things in life that make you happy.

I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that's true...at least for me.

We spent an absolutely wonderful few days visiting the in-laws in Kentucky. Everything was excellent, 'cept the night I spent throwing up my guts. Not sure what happened-- one minute I was fine, the next I was in the restroom hugging the toilet and asking Craig to bring me a ponytail holder.

Other than that minor 12-hour inconvenience, the trip was lovely.

Craig's Aunt Barb came down from Northern KY to visit and when we spent time together on Friday, she gave us this:

I am ecstatic over this. I'm not kidding.

Barb works for a candy-decorating/wrapping company that packages treats. She gets to design the wrappings, containers, holder, etc for all kinds of stores (Target, Wal-Mart, Williams-Sonoma). This also means that just about anytime she visits, we get to enjoy the fruits (and sweets) of her labor.

When she handed me this most fantastic box of sprinkles, I literally jumped out of my chair in excitement. It may be because I was wanting Christmas sprinkles (to use with an upcoming Elf on the Shelf venture) and I refused to pay money for something I don't eat (I don't eat sprinkles, sorry Barb) OR because I know that once I've used all of the sprinkles, I'm going to have a fabulous tackle-like box to reuse as I see fit.

Seriously, as I'm typing this, I still have a huge smile on my face.

I'm also very happy, and thankful, for the PJs that the in-laws gave RJ. One tradition we're hoping to start is to give RJ a pair of winter/Christmas PJs on Nov 30th of each year so that on Dec 1st, when we're celebrating our North Pole breakfast, he'll look snazzy for the million pictures I'll inevitably take. Cute, huh??

While in KY, we had a wonderful "Friendsgiving" dinner with three of our favorite college couples, Aimee and Johan, and Tim and Emily, and Seth and Erin. Even though Em is NINE months pregnant, she still graciously invited us (and, collectively, our 4 kids- plus their singleton) into their home for a full course meal. Thankful doesn't begin to describe how I feel about having such special friends in our lives. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera and I'm terrible at carrying my phone with me, so I didn't snap ANY pics of the gathering.

The grateful spirit of the holidays, the anticipation of the upcoming magic of the season, and the gathering of family and friends makes for some of my favorite days of the year.

Oh, and Connie sent us our holiday bucket list. More to come on that.....it's fabulous.

This is my life

This picture makes me happy. It represents my usual Saturday or Sunday morning.

I've overtaken the kitchen table.

This morning is particularly happy for me for several reason:

1) My Starbucks Christmas tumbler made it's first appearance of the season
2) We accidentally got TWO coupon books in the Sunday paper
3) My iPad spontaneously started playing Garth Brooks' Beyond the Season Christmas Album

I'm working on my menu planning and grocery lists. I normally meal plan 2 weeks at a time, but I've decided to tackle the rest of Nov and all of December. Having meals planned ahead of time definitely helps me enjoy life a little more than usual.

Planning ahead also ensures I try new recipes every once in a while, like the French Toast Muffins I'm making for our North Pole breakfast on Sat, Dec 1st. I'm not spilling too many details about the big breakfast, but just you wait, it's going to be AWESOME!

I'm back :)

My last blog post is dated May 2012.

I quit Facebook back in June 2012.

Basically, I fell off the Internet Earth. Well, maybe not fell...more like bungee jumped because I'm back :)

A few updates:

I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom. It's even better than I imagined. You can read all about how much I love it here.

RJ turned TWO. I can't even believe it. Isn't he adorable?

Back in September he started going to school one day a week. Not surprisingly, he loves it. 

I'm still in love with Peyton Manning, even though he plays for Denver now. I also still follow the Colts. Have since the late 90's....no reason to stop now. 

I joined our local MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). By the 3rd meeting, I found myself responsible for the monthly newsletter. 

My life right now consists of planning the first edition of Elf on the Shelf. And I'm so freaking excited. Elf on the Shelf is one of the main reasons I wanted to have children right up my alley. The creativity and constant planning suit my Type-A personality well. I've promised several people that I'll blog about our Elf adventures. And I will. Pinky Promise ;)

Christmas planning is also in fully swing. I'm not someone who gets upset when the stores bust out the Holiday decorations in October. I start planning in August, so I'm excited when stores play along and let me get stuff done early.

This year, Connie and I are doing a Christmas Bucket list exchange. We're each coming up with five things for the other one to do this Holiday Season. I can't wait to get our list. I'm sure it'll be blog-worthy.  

That's it for now. Come back, though, I may have another post and you won't have to wait 6 months for it :)