Holiday prep

Made Shepard pie last night for dinner.  I dont recall ever having it before, and i definitely have never made it.  Its pretty easy!  And it was such a hit!  I found a couple recipes on pinterest and then just went with my own, combining a couple different recipes.

I didnt have block cheese to shred so i just broke up some of my pre-sliced Tillamook cheddar cheese.  Turned out great!

 Last Sunday, my friend Rachel came over.  We enjoyed just hanging out with the kiddo's.  Watched a movie and made some snowflakes to decorate the front windows with.  Now you would think with us being grown up women that we would be able to make snowflakes with no problem.  WRONG! lol  Rachel couldnt even make full ones, she kept opening them to be half snowflakes LOL, and mine were always messed up too.  They looked like rectangles or werent cut very good.  Finally after finding a couple different directions on Pinterest, on how to fold the paper, we got it!  By then it was already a couple hours into cutting them.  I let the girls help but it was to hard for Madisen to make little cuts on folded paper.  Julia figured it out right away though and will soon be better than Rachel and I! lol  Here are some of Julia's creations!

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This one is mine, once i figured out how to fold it the right way lol

Kinda hard to see, but here they are on the windows :)

So now the winter season is apon us.  Im getting into the holiday spirit, especially because we have a house to decorate now and not a townhouse that was 3 floors.  Not that i like this house very much, but it is, none the less, a house.

And of course we cant forget about my Santa mug to fully be in the spirit of Christmas! :)  As well as Julia's school doing a number of holiday inspired activities.  Which of course we just find out about and they are all really really soon.  One of which is the giving tree.  They want you to bring in gift cards from a selected number of stores to go to families in need.  If you do that, then you can pick an ornament off the tree in the front office. They are also having a book fair the same week.  As well as horse drawn carriages around the neighborhood for a small price, that includes hot chocolate and cookies.  Jer doesnt really care to do that one but said i could take the girls, so im just going to pay for me and the two oldest.  Kinda a fun little mom and daughter time, so im all for it!  Then also in the same week, we are to bring a white shirt in for Julia to make for her 1st grade musical they are putting on in 2 weeks.  But the shirt has to be in by monday.  So lots going on here for us!  To add to the chaos, Madie has a ballet recital Dec.15th, which is the same day as Julia's soccer orientation.  Which was also a day i was invited to a gathering at my friends house that i have to pass on because we are so busy.  Life of a mom i guess.  On a side note, Julia has a girl scout meeting this friday that i know nothing about yet, but i know she will have fun like she always does!

When the next few weekends finally slow down, i think we will go see the zoo lights here.  Thats a tradition we have done since Julia was born, and even though its a different zoo, we can keep the tradition :)  We are even thinking about taking a couple hour drive up to where there is SNOW and letting the kids play in it for awhile.  They really really really want to make a snow man!  I still need to find the time to make some winter/christmas crafts with the kids.  SOON!

A note on Ella's potty training.  She is doing really great!  We are still training obviously though.  She has many days where she stays dry all day!  I take her hourly, sometimes longer than an hour.  Im working on her telling me when she has to go.  She tells me a couple times a day she needs to potty.  But everytime i ask her, she says "no".  Even if she just said " i needa go potty" and then i say, "what? you need to go potty?" and she immediately says "no" lol.   Um whatever, im taking you to the potty, and she goes right away.  Guess i should be working on what NO and YES mean lol.  Only got her to go #2 on the potty once.  She still likes to disappear and concentrate really hard on going in her underwear with out being caught.  Hahaha.  Then she comes and finds me and says "eeeeww, P-U, uh-oh and NO NO" followed by some jumbled words while she grabs the back of her pants and says "poopoo goes on potty"...YES, YES it does! lol

not so sure about a singing Christmas decoration

Silly face!

Aubrey is getting so big!  She can roll all over the floor now, she grabs at her toys and pulls them off her play gym.  She loves her exersaucer and is totally outgrowing the swing already, just out of boredom! lol  I swear i give birth to toddlers and not babies.  She wont even be 4 months until Dec.1st!  She is teething like crazy, so shes constantly drooling, putting her hands in her mouth and making crazy faces because she likes to bite her tongue haha.

Was supposed to be sleeping!

Silly face!

 I have to add a little about Madisen because she has been such a helper these days!  While Julia is at school she has gotten to be quite the big sister!  Always helping with Aubrey and Ella and picking up toys, even though Ella is the main one that has dragged them all over the house.  Ella likes to clean up most of the time though, shes going to be a good cleaner upper like Julia was when she was little :)  Also, the lazy walker that madie used to be, is No more! lol  The walking to Julia's school and back and really gotten her muscles up lol.  She jogs half way there and back now.  Unless of course, i want to jog too, then she stops behind me and whines so we end up walking lol. 

Julia is julia.  Emotional, loving, smart, beautiful and did i mention emotional? lol  She is doing great though, all the kids in her class want her number to have play dates.  Oh joy. lol  And all the boys like her too, GREEEEAT. haha.   

Well mom duties are calling...more like whining.  So until next time...