December Daily: 12/4

He's a dancing machine!! Riley loves to dance and has perfected the use of jazz hands.
Play that funky music white boy...

December Daily: 12/3

We are big dog lovers in our house. Riley and I can sit and watch America's Funniest Home Videos and laugh until we are in tears at the silly dog antics. So when I saw this gem at the library, I knew it was one we had to borrow.

We giggled all the way through and will read it over and over before it's returned. Definitely one for the Christmas stocking this year!

December Daily: 12/2

I love new calendars. They are fresh, blank and give me hope that this will be the year when I get it all together. (A mommy can dream - can't she?) Imagine my delight when I stumbled on this very pretty one designed by Brenda Arnall:It's free to download on her blog It's A New Day. Almost too pretty to write on!

December Daily: 12/1

I heard a few friends of mine are doing the daily blog thing in December. And since I'm never one to be left behind - I want to do it too! I really have nothing blog worthy to write about. Today was a pretty busy day for us - preschool, the library, Target (also known as our second home), and Aldi's, then home for pizza and a movie (Thomas and the Magic Railway. Possibly some of Alec Baldwin's best work pre-30 Rock!)

No pictures from today, but here are some from a little while ago. Brenna climbed into Riley's dump truck so he spent a good hour pushing her around. They both had a ball. That's one load you can drop off at my house any day!
And here are the four reasons why my house never seems to stay clean:
But I wouldn't trade any of them for the world! Off to bed - I'll come up with something that has more substance tomorrow! (maybe!)

My Grown-Up Christmas List...

Of things to do! I LOVE this season, but I'm finding my to-do list filled with things that aren't so fun. So here is my FUN grown-up Christmas to-do list. I encourage you to make one of your own and make time to accomplish it!

1.) Take the kids sledding (weather permitting!)
2.) Browse the shops in Shipshewana - I live literally ten minutes from Shipshewana and have been there once! And that was a very brief visit. I can't imagine how beautiful they have it decorated for Christmas!
3.) Visit The Christmas Tree Shop in Mishawaka at least one more time. This is my new all-time favorite store.
4.) Learn how to make Mexican Wedding Cakes - I've heard these are super easy, but have never tried them!
5.) Dance to Christmas music with the kids on a regular basis. Dancing in the kitchen is a daily thing for us, so that shouldn't be hard. :-)
6.) Bundle everyone up and drive around to look at Christmas lights.
7.) Find a new Santa to visit. (as opposed to that creepy missing-finger Santa from the mall!)
8.) Make sugar cookies with Riley and let him decorate.
9.) Watch "Love Actually" a thousand times. My favorite movie ever!
10.) Build a snowman.

I'm sure I'll add many more...but I think this is a good start to my jolly holiday! :-) What are you planning on doing to enjoy this season?

Lilly & the Best Dad Ever

The puppy's official name is Lilly. We thought it went nicely with Lucy (our other dog). She is often called by many other names: Banjo, Charlie, and Little Dog. Brenna just growls at her. ;-) (Speaking of the Tiny B - she's walking!! We weren't sure she'd ever give up crawling, but she's fully mobile on two legs now. Look out!)

She fits in very well with our family and is HILARIOUS to watch! Everyone keeps telling us how much energy Jack Russell's have, but I swear all she does is sleep.
Jeff's boss GAVE us this Thomas the Tank Engine that the kids can ride on. Here is a pic of it in Jeff's car. We're planning on setting it up early Christmas morning so it's the first thing they see. I'm pretty sure they will go CRAZY! I'm not sure if we'll be able to wait that long to give it to them though! It comes with a big track, makes noises and plays music. God Bless you Mark!!! You just made Jeff the best daddy ever - as if there was any doubt of that already.

Liar, liar pants on fire

You know that last post where I said I would blog more because I have something to say?? Yeah, I lied. :-)

But I DO want to say that I went to the midnight showing of New Moon and it was worth every single minute of missed sleep!!