Merry Christmas!!

We hope you have had the merriest Christmas!

Love,

Sarah, Joey, & Gracie

Cookies for Santa!

Today was a tough one. Now, I do realize that there are lots of people worse off than me today, but i can't help but want to be near my parents and sisters on Christmas. This is the first Christmas in all of my 26 years that I haven't slept in my childhood bedroomon Christmas Eve. I have never spent Christmas away from my parents or sisters and aam the first of the four girls to ever be away on Christmstmas. So, I am sad, but trying to make it a great Christmas for Joey and Gracie.

Joey had to work all day, so I took advantage of the time and did some Christmas cleaning, wrapped some presents, and sang Christmas carols. Gracie and I danced the day away. So much so that she thought we were supposed to dance while singing Christmas carols at church. She was so cute and innocent as she spun in circles to Silent night.

Church held a special treat for us tonight. We were suprised to see that Jason Castro (from American Idol) was the special guest singer tonight. He sang Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and played the Eukilele ( i don't know how to spell it).

While at church, Joey was called into the E. R. to treat a lady who damaged her foot in a car accident. So Gracie and I had to make our Christmas cookies without him.

Mom's Famous Holiday M&M Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp of salt
• 1/2 cup of margarine
• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 Tsp of vanilla
• 1 large bag of m&ms

Recipe:

1. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set it aside.
2. In a seperate bowl, beat the margarine and shotening on Medium speed for 30 seconds.
3. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat til fluffy.
4. Add the eggs and Vanilla and beat well.
5. Add the bowl of dry ingredients a little at a time until mixed.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 to 10 minutes.

While Joey was in surgery, Gracie finally conked out! I wrapped all of the presents and helped Santa put together a tricycle. Joey finaaly got home tonight at 2:45 AM.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Be Safe!

R.I.P.

I didn't realize how addicted to my phone I had become. She had become my best friend, my only line to the world outside my home. My little pink phone has survived many water related accidents. She survived being tossed in Gracie's swimming pool, dropped in the toilet, and even survived an entire wash in the washing machine, but with a very sad heart, I must tell you that shes has finally passed away.
My little phone succumbed to death by accidental drowning. I accidentally dropped her in the bath tub earlier this week. I have not replaced her since phones are just so expensive and I am standing on principle. I refuse to replace a phone that I have owned for several years with her identical sister for close to 300 dollars. That is rediculous!
It has been a tough week, I am going a bit stir crazy. Our home phone line isn't working, even though I have continued to pay the bill since April. (It has never worked!!) I have been basically stranded without a phone. I was able to use my onstar phone in my car, but have now run out of minutes.
So, all of you who are my beloved friends, don't think I am mad or just not talking to you... I am just phoneless and If Idon't talk to you before, Merry Christmas!

Pretty!

We went shopping with daddy today. Gracie had a great time picking out her Christmas gifts! Its easy shopping for her right now, she forgets about it once it goes in the back of the car. Anyways, I wanted to show off her precious outfit and enormous bow.
Katy gave her the frog prince onesie and the matching bow. I paired those withe a jersey knit bubble skirt and some baby legs. Gracie kept saying ,"pretty". She was proud to wear this outfit!

Kids do the funniest things!

Gracie has a new favorite thing to do when she gets out of the bath tub! She loves to do like mommy and put on mommy's panties! I couldn't pass up posting this, I hope it makes you laugh! I just thought it was too cute!!

Shoes, Shoes, and More Shoes

Ladies, My little Gracie has a shoe fetish!! She and I went shopping for a new pair of tennis shoes about a week ago and we came home with these little beauties!

I was feelin' fairly glum the other day and decided that Gracie and I needed a quick "pick me up"! So, I packed her up in her carseat and we drove into town. I new that if we went into T*rget I would do some unnecessary damage to my bank account. Feeling guilty I just drove by, trying to feel the exhileration of shopping without going inside. Note: You must be inside the store to feel the "Shopping High". Thats when I saw a Payless next door.

Gracie needed a new pair of tennis shoes anyway, so we went inside. I must say, I have never seen Gracie's face as bright as it was when we entered the shoe store. I had to coax her past the shoes that distracted her upfront, to her size section on the back wall. She wanted to touch every pair on her way to the back.

I found her a pair of tennis shoes that would suffice for the next month or so, but she found a pair that she will cherish for the rest of her life! She initially grabbed these little sparklers in a size that was much to big for her, but we eventually found a pair closer to the size of her feet.

She held them up to me and in her broken english said, "mommy, Shoes! Pretty!"

We had to have them! She wore them out of the store and didn't take them off for two days! She slept in them the first night!

Christmas Decorations

We have been decorating our house for the holiday season. Of course, they are all only half way done since I tend to lose momentum half way through. LOL! I hope that I will eventually get the hang of decorating as the years go by. I have been looking forward to putting up a tree all year long, since Joey and I have never even put up a tree since we have been married. But, it gets expensive and I struggle with putting my creativity into action.

With all that being said, we DID get the tree up. We started our new traditions this year. We put some Christmas music on, drank some hot chocolate, and decorated the tree. Gracie had a great time, but didn't understand why the bells have to stay on the tree. There has been a lot of No! No!s thrown around and a few tears, but she has now gotten the meaning of Look, but DON'T Touch!

I even made a wreath to go over our fireplace.

Now if I could just finish hanging the lights on the house. I have lights hanging on only the left side of my roof. There is a tall peak in the center of our house that I didn't feel safe climbing over unless Joey was home to call 911 if fell. So we have the most pitiful house on the block. Ahhh, maybe next year we will do better.