Merry Christmas Baby

After staying up WAY to late on Monday night reading, 6:40am came WAY to early - LOL! I got up, printed out my shopping list, texted Andrea (half hoping that she'd still be asleep, and I could go back to bed - LOL), and got ready. She was up - hehehe.

We left the house at 7am, and went grocery shopping. My little ones were just waking up, and I put on some cartoons for them, and left Jake in charge, with my phone. I knew I had a few good hours of grogginess to shop through - LOL!

I think we were both half asleep, but we had fun! NO one was at the commissary at that time. It was a breeze! I got all of the stuff that I needed, plus some stuff for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Tacos, you know. On Christmas day. What? Doesn't everyone do Tacos for Christmas dinner? Hispanic? Nah, we just LOVE tacos. It's been a family tradition on my side for as LONG as I can remember. No, I'm not weird. It's called quirky, thank you very much! Besides, who wants to eat Thanksgiving food RIGHT after Thanksgiving. That makes no sense at all - hehehe. We JUST did that :)

Anyway, we got all our shopping done, then headed home. I had the kids help me put the groceries away, and I really wanted a nap, but it just wasn't happening. There were WAY too many other things that needed my attention.

At 11:15pm, Andrea and I headed out for lunch. I'd made my kids Homemade pizza, and they were SO excited about eating it, they didn't really care that mom was running out for a lunch date with her friend. See, you just have to present it in the right light, is all - LOL!

We did lunch at Applebees, having our favorite, Grilled Shrimp and Spinach salad. I HIGHLY recommend it. AND, I just ordered the water. See, aren't you proud of me? Well, you should be. I REALLY wanted a diet soda. Sigh.

After that, we went to get gas at the gas station (duh, like you could get gas someplace else.... sorry....) and look for Protein bars for Captain America. He has Staff Duty again tonight, and asked for those. I looked at the commissary, but they didn't sell them there. And they were out at the gas station. Poor Captain America. I did get his sunflower seeds (salted), Monster Drinks, and something else he asked for, though.

Next, it was off to the post office, then back home. The kids were doing fine, but my house was a little bit messy. We turned off the electronics, and cleaned for a bit. I fixed my products for the week, and got them all ready to go. I wasn't missing the deadline again this week - LOL! I am putting 3 bundles in my store, though. 3 Christmas Bundles. Each for $5, with 8 different WordArt packs in each. Here's your chance to score my Christmas WordArt packs at a very low price. Just a heads up for Friday :) Shameless plug over...

At around 3:00pm, Andrea and I and ALL 8 of our children headed off to the Bassett Center Mall. Ben and Sam wanted to buy Christmas Presents for each other, and Jacob still had to get a present for me (he drew my name). He was all grumbly about it. "Why can't you just take $6 and buy something for yourself". Sigh. He's SO much like me, it's not even funny.

SO, Andrea and I and our brood (ages 1,4,6,7,8,10,11, and 12) to the mall, and our first stop was Target. It was SO busy. We went to the toy isle, and it was a MADHOUSE. Good golly. People everywhere. Well, maybe it just seemed like that, because we had SO many people in our group - LOL!

Eventually, Sam found what he wanted to get for Ben, and Ben found what he wanted to get for Sam. I was starting to get really tired. And supervising kids wasn't a ton of fun. Next, we headed for the Jewlry box.

We decided it would be easier for just Jake and I to go in, and for Andrea to watch the kids at the "ride on machine" area. They LOVED it. I made Jake carry the basket (he was MORTIFIED) and look around with me. It was 6 items for $5.50, and after tax, it was 5 cents shy of my $6 limit. PERFECT! I picked out a hat, a winter scarf, a decorative scarf, a set of hoop earrings, a set of 2 fake hairs (LOL!), and a necklace/earrings set. Perfect! I made Jake pay for it (again with the MORTIFICATION), and we headed out. He quickly passed the bag to me, and tried his best to pretend that the "girl store" incident never happened. How funny. I didn't realize he was that "age" yet, where being seen in a "girl" store would embarrass him. How quickly they grow...

The kids were playing on the merry-go-round when we got back. Andrea put a dollar in, and ALL the kids rode it. It wasn't until after that we noticed the sign that said "135 lbs per rider, 3 riders max". Oops. We had Jake (175), Tom (125), Sam (125), Eme (80), Jim (55), Joe (50), Ben (45), and Luke (20something). I think we were over the limit..... AND, I got motion sick. From just standing NEAR the stupid thing. How is that even possible. I totally had to turn my head and look away.

When we got back to the truck, I knew it wasn't good. I felt just like I'd stepped out of Chuck E Cheeses. The noise and crowd and lights do it to me ever time. And so did the crazy busy mall with 8 kids and a merry go round. I know for next time, right? BUT, my Christmas Shopping is done. That's it. No more presents. If it's not here now, it's not happening :)

We got home, and Captain Americas present was on the doorstep from the leather company. Part of his horse tack. He'll be pleased to know it came, at last. Now I can wrap it, and put it under the tree :) hehehe.

I tried to lay down and nap, but I'm telling ya, those kids are SO loud. Crazy loud! They were playing on the computer, and in the backyard, and running through the house, and who knows what else. Needless to say, the nap didn't really work.

I got up, and fixed the kids dinner. Some sort of Taco creation. Yeah, they're never quite sure what mom's gonna make next. I took 2 lbs of burger, ground it, added taco seasoning and a can of black beans, and simmered it . I diced 8 flour tortillas, added it, and stirred. Then I added a HUGE scoop of sour cream, 1 cup of salsa, and a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Stir it all up, and serve. It was ok. Less messy than tacos. I also made some chocolate chip cookies. Those went over better than dinner, unfortunately. I used Mandi's recipe again, and FABULOUSNESS! They were SO good. I used Mint Chocolate Chips, and they were divine. We found the chips for $0.85 at the commissary, with a $1.00 off of 3 bags coupon. That makes them, what, like $0.50 a bag? Can't pass that up! I still have dough in the fridge that I'm gonna make tomorrow. We just did a small batch for after dinner.

At 7pm, we sat down to watch a family movie. I stayed awake for the first 1/2, but fell asleep for the 2nd half. I'll never know if it stopped raining food now - LOL! Tom enjoyed it, though. He was giggling like a little girl the entire time. He's the MOST fun person to watch a movie with. His whole body is happy or nervous or anxious or excited or scared or whatnot. It's the coolest thing to watch.

I woke up/movie ended at 8:30pm, and I put the kids to bed. I was supposed to go to Andreas house at that time and "play", but I was feeling like crap. She texted me at about that time and said that she didn't feel good, and wondered if we could cancel. PERFECT timing. Good friends are SO good to have. I just want to lay in my bed and go to sleep.

I took my decongestant, and my antibiotic, and 800mg of Advil, and my Tylenol, and I should be feeling better shortly. I hope. I think I overdid it today. Target DEFINITELY was overdoing it. A mistake that won't soon be made again, I can assure you - LOL! And it sounded like SUCH a good plan at the time. ROFL!

So as I was thinking of what WordArt to make for WordArt Wednesday this week, this song kept playing in my head, so I figured it was a sign - LOL! AND, I just have to say, that I LOVE this WordArt. Most of them that I make are ok, but I'm loving this one. I may even scrap something with it. Maybe. ROFL!

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!