Countdown to Christmas!!!

Can you believe there are only 27 more days until Christmas? Where has this year gone???

I am unfortunately feeling a little under the weather. Shannon was snotting and sneezing all weekend and now I have a cough and feel like my chest is burning up. Yuck! I swear he only got out of bed about three hours total on Thanksgiving! I am going to try the humidifier tonight when I go to bed. My mom swears by it!

I am waiting for my list of wants from Brock, Amy and my Dad. John Malkin said he would rather be surprised. I told Amy if I didn't get her list soon it would be 100 items from The Dollar Store, or I could go shop for her at Big Lots!!! (Big Lots does have great kid toys!) She kind of needs to hurry. I am ready to get this Christmas shopping adventure over!!!

Oh well, off to humidify myself. Wish me luck and send good health wishes my way!

Love ya,
Shell

The End of a Long Weekend

Well, it's Sunday morning, Thanksgiving is over, and I am almost looking forward to going back to work tomorrow! Almost.

The past couple of years we went camping for Thanksgiving weekend, but this year our friends we usually go with Sharon and Shane could not make it so we decided not to go. So then the question is what do we do? We thought about going to see Bodhi, but Alison and John had already made plans. We decided to go down to Orange County and go to Steve's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We were going to have Turkey dinner Friday night (afternoon) at Amy's house and then go see The Glory of Christmas at The Crystal Cathedral. I have never been! Well Shannon came down with a pretty bad cold, I had a sore throat, and David had a cough so we stayed home. My friend Sharon invited us over to all the meals at their house this weekend and we went for a couple. They have a smaller Thanksgiving dinner on the actual day and then a big ol all of the family for miles around dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We did both. They also get up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday and go shopping. This year they went out at 5am. I passed!

Shannon has spent most of the weekend in bed. I hope he is feeling better! He seems almost human again and there is not copious amounts of snot coming out of him! He did get out of bed long enough to go see George Lopez at the Arena with me on Friday night. I really enjoyed it. He was very funny. I think Shannon did not feel good enough to really enjoy it, but I was grateful he went with me.

I also spend some time this weekend cooking! The boys and I made fun-fetti cupcakes with vanilla fun-fetti (little sprinkles) frosting. I also made a pretty easy lasagna, enchiladas, crock pot chicken, and Eggs Benedict. I went to the store Friday morning and bought all this chicken intending to make chicken in the crock pot and then shred it and make all kinds of casseroles with it, but when I got home I remembered we threw out the old crock pot because the lid had broke (I didn't, Shannon did, he does not have the gene where you keep everything no matter if you have all the working pieces or not!) So at 10:55 pm after George Lopez there we were at Target, getting the $15 on sale crock pot. I will make a few more casseroles today with my shredded chicken and put them in the freezer. I am so grateful Shannon likes casseroles. They are so easy to make up and freeze. I found a web site http://www.pioneerwomancooks.com/ and she has some great recipes and step by step directions with pictures. That is where I got the lasagna recipe and a great really easy recipe for spaghetti chicken. She also has a recipe on her site for cinnamon rolls I might try if I ever get brave enough!

So this year for Christmas we are going to try something different. We picked names. We did our big family and then our little family and then we will all buy for the kids. I think this is good. I has really shortened my list! I got both of my brothers in law. Brock and John. Shannon got Amy and my Dad. I will now have to get going on my shopping!

Well, I think I will start breakfast. Biscuits and gravy today. Shannon is so funny. He loves weekend breakfasts so we go out to breakfast, but it is so much easier to buy the ingredients and make it at home. I was totally impressed with my poached eggs yesterday and Shannon said they were better than the restaurant! Cooked perfectly! I truly love cooking!

Oh well ~ off to the kitchen.

Happy Sunday,
Love ya,
Shell

FALLING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!

Wow, did I ever fall off the face of the earth!

Life has been so busy. I have been working a lot. Evenings, weekends, it is just crazy. And trying to fit home life in with work life. . . this can be challenging.

So much has gone on in the last two months. I will get my camera and try and tell you all about it this afternoon!