Happy Holiday

OMBirthday Party! What a day, what a day :) My alarm went off at 6am, and I hurried to the fridge, grabbed the turkey, cut it open, took out the innards, put it in the cooking bag, put it in the disposable baking pan, and put it in the oven. By 6:11am, I was back in bed. Trying to go to sleep. I finally gave up at 6:45am. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to go back to sleep.

Andrea and I were texting, and realized that we'd forgotten to buy rolls! Crap! After I got the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door at 7:30am, I made up some roll dough. I tripled it. Yeah, maybe doubling it next time will be sufficient. It was SO much dough - LOL!

At 8:45am, Jimmy and I headed down to Andreas house, and we did last minute cooking/cleaning. We baked the rolls, and the sweet potatoes, and the green bean casserole. We cleaned the bathroom, and picked up the toys, and swept the floor, and got it looking beautiful!

At 10am, our friends started showing up. I hurried home real fast to grab the turkey, and brought Jake back with me. Lets see if I can remember everyone who came:

Andrea & I
Leslie
Leigh
Kayley
Katy
Adela
Laurie
Wanda
Karen
Kari
Mindy
Heidi
Christie

Yeah, I think I remembered everyone :) At one point, I took Andreas camera, and got a pic of me with each of my friends. It was funny, because I could only do it with my left hand. My right hand didn't know how to hold the camera while taking a "self portrait". I had to make my friends go to the other side. I know, I'm such a dork - hehehe.

Right as we were ready to eat, Andrea and I realized that we'd forgot the mashed potatoes. Sigh. That's kinda important. Oh well. Go with it, right? We threw the stuffing, and gravy together, so it worked. :)

We had SO much food. Seriously. It wasn't even funny! SO much food :) Turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, cheese & cracker plate, salad, pink salad, pretzels and dip, and these SUPER yummy pastry thingies with cheese and bacon. OMHeavens! It was my FAVORITEST thing :)

As for desserts, we had gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip muffins, truffles, cake balls, brownies, toffee, birthday cake, chocolate cream pie, and a few chocolate carmel covered apples. Hello, desserts!

I got a little plate of food, and seriously, I think my tummy had shrank. I was full SO fast. But it was SO good :) It was fun visiting with everyone, and laughing and playing and having a good time.

I got a couple of presents, which were VERY sweet. Leigh got me an awesome little book of quotes and a necklace. SO cute! Katy got me a shirt, very nice socks, and gum/diet jello. hehehe. Adela got me a candle, as did Karen. Candles ARE my favorite :) Kayley got me Christmas socks (LOVE and desperately need socks - mine always get holes in the toes). Wanda got me a VERY cute bracelet, that she'd made (with cut crystal beads, Aunt Sue!).

Laurie got me a cookie dough scoop, so that I could make PERFECT chocolate chip cookies. And the most hideous pants I've ever seen in my life. Backstory: Remember when I said that Lauire and I had gone shopping at Kohls? And I got a few shirts? Well, there was this nasty pair of pants that we kept seeing. Snake skin print. Skinny legs. Bunched up at the bottom. G.R.O.S.S hehehehe. Everytime we walked by, we were like, Hey Bethany, there's some pants for ya, or Hey Laurie, I think you need those. ROFL! Anyway, I opened up the present, and THERE it was! TOOOO funny. I just loved it. Hmmmmm, I wonder what I should get Laurie for Christmas.....

So by 11:45am, most people who were not going to the movies had gone home. At 11:50 am, we left Andreas house. At 12:05, we were at the theater. And we walked in and took our seats just as the New Moon title was coming on the screen. PERFECT timing :)

Andrea and I and Leslie and Katy and Keri all went to the movies. A few of the other people who wanted to come to the party and the movies were either sick, had sick kids, or had something else come up. Such it is. We missed ya, girls!

Anyway, the movie was PERFECT again. 3rd time, and I still love it. Seriously, I almost cried twice in it. ROFL! I just LOVE New Moon. And I especially like to read it when my husband is gone. I can really empathize with Bella, and "feel her pain". Sigh. Edward........

We were back in time to go back to Andreas house and straighten up a little (Andrea and Leslie and I), then drive up to pick up the kids. We came back home, dropped the kids off at my house, then continued to Andreas house to clean up. We did the dishes, dished up the food, finished carving the turkey, and got ready to go to the park at 4pm.

Well, when I got back to my house with my 1/2 of the birthday feast, I realized that I wasn't going to be going anywhere. My kids had TRASHED my house. Well, Jimmy had trashed the house, because Jake had let him. Sigh. Jake had called a few minutes earlier, to say that the kids were all fighting with each other, and I'd told him to put them in their rooms.

I was feeling a bit onery, so I made them stay in there. Until about 6pm. Until dinner time. But you know what, Jake and I cleaned most of the downstairs in peace and quiet without them running amok and causing havoc. I think we might do "mandatory room time" more often.

I decided to rearrange my furniture again. I do it about once a month. Now, I have the love seat by the window, with the tree right next to it (so you can see it out the window0, and the long couch next to that. I moved the hutch into the kitchen, moved the location of the entertainment center, and moved a computer desk from my room into the living room. Dude, I'm totally falling asleep as I'm writing this - if it sounds a bit wanky, that's why - LOL!

After hours of cleaning, it looked a bit better. My living room looks really good, my dining room is pretty good (I rearranged the computer desks and stuff too), and the kitchen is trashed. Maybe I can get another grown up to help me in the morning. For my birthday. Because that would be nice.....

At 6pm, I let the kids "out", and they came down for dinner. Turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and rolls. They really liked it, I think. Luckily, Eme and Tom went over to play in the nieghbor kids house, so it was just Jake and Jim and Joe and I. Jake was working on Merit Badge requirements for Scouts, so he didn't get to go.

Joe eventually fell asleep on the couch, and at 8:30pm, I put him to bed, and Jimmy too. I called Eme and Tom at 9pm, to tell them to come home and go to bed, which they did. Jake headed to bed at about the same time.

Captain America came home at around 9:30pm, and at 10:15 pm, we headed out to Walgreens and Target.
Captain America had called me from work at around 6pm, and said that we should make up a nice WordArt, digitally scrapbooked 5x7 print to go in a nice frame for the Batallion Commander's Christmas Party. Sigh. So I sat down and designed.

Anyway, we got the print, and a frame from Walgreens, and went to Target to look for a bag to wrap it in, and some ornaments and chocolates to go inside. It's gonna look good when it's all assembled.

We got home at around 11:15pm, and here it is, 12:24am, and I'm SO tired. I'm starting to mix my days. I keep having to delete things, because they don't make sense. LOL! I was gonna start blogging about putting Andreas kids to bed. ROFL! See, I'm really not coherent. :)

SO, Saturday is my birthday. Yeah me :) I think that Captain America and I are gonna go out to lunch at Olive Garden for Soup and Salad. Mmmmmm, love that one :) Then at 1:45pm, we've gotta be at the commanders Christmas Party. But it only lasts for an hour.

Then we'll see hwat happens with the rest of the night :)

So back to the WordArt I made for y'all. I can't sell it, since the font Stephanie Marie JF is NOT CU friendly, but I can give it to you all :) Hope you enjoy!

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks

4shared
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This is Ziggle Designs White Christmas and the sprig if from Megan Turnidge (I think), maybe the poinsettia too :)