Wordless Wednesday

Two lucky kids were visted by Santa.

The Christmas Survey

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  wrapping paper! I love wrapping gifts.


2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial in our house. My sweet hubby has asthma and spent too many holidays as a child at the hospital or sick...real trees were always the culprit. So since I like having him around we will stick with the artificial. We've had our tree for about 10 yrs and need a new one but I am having a hard time letting it go.

3. When do you put up the tree?  the day after Thanksgiving!

4. When do you take the tree down? sometime in January when I am finally over all things snowy.

5. Do you like eggnog? I haven't had it in decades so I am really not sure but it sounds gross.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? scooter...not the razor kind the kids nowadays have. I had one that had rubber tires like a bike and handbrakes. I LOVED that thing.
7. Hardest person to buy for?  My hubby or maybe his mom...
8. Easiest person to buy for?  the kids of course!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  yes. My hubby got me the Willow Tree nativity a few years ago and I love it.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?  mail even if they are late. lol

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  back in my fat days my mother in law bought me a pair of pj pants. They were a size 3X. I have NEVER in my life been a 3X. EVER. I was humiliated. I didn't take the pants home either.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  A Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  This year it was July.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Probably.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?  hmmm... I am not real sure. I love to eat but I don't think there is just one thing I love each year. Hubby makes all kinds of yummy sweet treats and I do love getting into those.
16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? We have always done clear only but last year (or the year before) we added a couple of red strands and I love it.

17. Favorite Christmas song?  Mary Did You Know

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  We use to always travel (before kids) but now we stay home and only travel the 15 minutes to the inlaws on Christmas day. We do travel after Christmas to GA to see my family though. I'm kinda sad that this year we won't get to see my dad since he is in Cali but it's just too far and us poor folk don't have so much expendable cash that we can fly the 4 of us out there and back. :( One of these days though!

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?  haha I could try!
20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree?  Frosty the Snowman's hat!! :)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  We let the kids open the gifts we get them. usually it is just new pj's, but this year they have an additional small gift from us and then a gift they bought for each other. Hubby and I do ours to each other  Christmas Eve as well.

22. Favorite children’s Christmas song?  Frosty

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?  Rude people

24. Favorite ornament theme or color?  My tree is done in all snowmen, snow themed... I love the whole thing! In years past I have put shredded snow that you buy in bags but couldn't find any in the store. It was my favorite part of my tree but I am learning to live without it this year.

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day?  We are usually turkey and hammed out after Thanksgiving so the inlaws decided on meatloaf and/or pot roast this year.

26. What do you want for Christmas this year?  a Garmin Forerunner and a few other running items, but mostly I just want to spend the day with my little family.
27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa?   no
28. Age you discovered who Santa was?  I am not real sure. I had an older brother so I am sure it was sooner than my mom wanted me to. haha

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? I love hot apple cider but usually just stick with coffee.

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors?  My tree is red/green/white.

31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof?  no, after my hubby almost fell off a couple years ago we decided to forgo roof lights/decor this year! lol

32. How does Santa get into your house? Chimney or magic key? Chimney and thank goodness we don't use the fire place because otherwise Santa would burn his booty.....that's what the kids said tonight.
33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards? I do not turn down either. ;)

34. Favorite children’s Christmas Cartoon?  Charlie Brown, of course!!!

WW- Early Christmas

Last night we let the kids open one (extra) little gift we picked up for them. Annabelle was with us when we picked these up so really it wasn't a huge surprise to her, but because the Disney Store gave me boxes for wrapping I just HAD to wrap them. ;) And it was fun to watch the kids unwrap. Just check out how surprised Annabelle was....

I'm happy she knows how to at least act surprised for the sake of her brother. Or maybe she was just that excited! ;)

We got the kids these super cute tees while at the mall yesterday. I picked up the Jessie tee just to show Annabelle how cute it was. She had a fit over it too and of course when Daddy saw it he said, "Let's get that!" Then I walked to the other side of the table to see they had Woody. SOLD!!!  They are just the cutest. And they had Buzz tees just like these! I love Disney and I love Toy Story. I can't wait until Christmas morning because Santa told me he picked up Toy Story 3 for my Peanut boy! I haven't seen it yet but loved the other two movies. Can't wait!!!

Tuesday Randoms

~ Today we took Annabelle to Children's Hospital for a follow up with the sleep dr. Thankfully that went well and he told us what we are currently doing with our girl is working well. She is sleeping better at night. She still needs to sleep more. We still have some work to do on getting everything just right in her world and the whole sleep thing but I am confident that we can master it before our next visit in April.

~Our Christmas shopping is 100% complete. I can say that even if there are a few little things I want to pick up as extras for a stocking or two, right?! We had 2 gifts left to buy as of today and we knocked them both out in about 15 minutes! Now, I get to go home and wrap a couple more gifts and be done done done! Sweet!

~ Speaking of Christmas and gifts....hubby knows everything he is getting. He has the ability to look at a box and guess it's contents. And I suppose it is not so much a guess as it is a true statement. This year is no different than the last because he has already identified the contents of all the packages labeled for him under the tree. Nice. What's better is that he even knows the contents of his stocking. One of these days I will surprise him.

~We bought the cutest shirts for the kids at the Disney Store today. Just a little something extra we picked up because they were precious. We had Annabelle with us so she knows about them. Even so I plan to wrap them tonight and let the kids open them up. :) I will be sure to take a pic of them with their little goodies. I am soooo excited.

~I think I am going to have to have a mid afternoon Skinny Peppermint Mocha Latte, no foam. I need it to wake me up and as pre-run fuel. Notice I said need not want. ;) Seriously though, I do love me some Starbucks. And guess what!? I got $50 in gift cards at our work dinner the other night. Super sweet. I thought for sure they would carry me all the way through the holiday weeks but since the Starbucks in my area now has a skinny version of the Peppermint Mocha I have stopped a bit more often than I should. I don't feel guilty when I though because it is either done pre-run or post- run AND the best part... only 100 calories. I'm not usually the type to drink my calories and most people that know me know that! I refuse to drink anything over 100 calories unless of course it is a complete meal (drink) which use to be my morning smoothies but I cut those out when I realized that they were keeping me from dipping the scale. Anyway, where was I going with that? Oh yeah, I'm making an afternoon coffee run.

~ We went to the Fresh Market today after Belle's dr appt. I love the Fresh Market. We picked up all the meats we are cooking for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast as well as a few other items including a Christmas gift for one hard to buy for person on our list. I really wish my town/city/county would get a Fresh Market. We don't always go to Knoxville but usually always stop in at the FM while we are there and I just love it. It might not be a good thing if there was one closer though since it isn't the cheapest store in the area. lol

~I am caught up at work. What this actually means is that I have no new claims to be filed waiting on me in my basket. The only thing I have to do is update and close some old claims and file (in the filing cabinet) the newer completed claims. It is going to feel great leaving Friday knowing I am caught up. It makes taking a week off so much more enjoyable.

~Oh I forgot to mention, you know it is Tuesday. Betcha can't guess what our weather is like today! hahahaha Rain. Not the pouring down soak you when you walk out the door kind of rain but the just enough drizzle to make things ugly and slick and be gross kind of rain. Perfect for..... NAPPING! OH how I wish I was napping. I bet my hubby is or has napped today. Lucky him. He's home all week alone...with the kids! teehee I'm not jealous one bit because it means that he is the one breaking up fights, reminding the kids to be nice because Santa is watching and to clean your room NOW!!! I bet he is just having a ball.

~I've asked in years past but does Santa wrap gifts or just leave them sitting about? The last 2 years at the Emert house Santa has wrapped all the kids gifts. This year they requested no wrapping. Santa is very happy about that as well. Santa hasn't enjoyed doing so much wrapping this year which is just not like her but she thinks that maybe it is just the odd shaped boxes and such she has a hard time getting excited about wrapping in the first place. And believe me, some of those boxes the toys come in are tough to wrap and make look good. ;) So, does Santa wrap the toys at your house?

My family

I love my little family.

I haven't blogged a lot lately because we have been busy at Emert house. I thought things would slow down with football season being over but just like that the holidays hit and we are busier than ever!
I snapped a few pictures before church yesterday and thought I would share them with you. My only wish is that I was confident with my camera and knew how to use the auto timer and tripod so that I would have gotten a family picture of the 4 of us. I'm pretty pleased with the rest of them. And even if I have to say so, I do have a lovely little family. :)

They CAN be sweet!

My kids proved last night that they can be extra sweet to one another. I found them both snuggled (in their Snuggies no less) together on the couch. Perfect photo op!  They aren't always this sweet to one another but then again they were asleep! haha

These moments are VERY rare in my house. And let me assure you that even as sweet as they look here...
Today has been a completely different case. The fighting, arguing and screaming at one another commenced almost as soon as they were up...at 6am.. ON A SNOW/ICE DAY!!!! ugh. Will I survive Christmas break with these two?? ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Check out these super cute tees I "made" the kids for the holidays. Peanut wore his Rudolph shirt to preschool today for his class party. Too bad he picked off poor Rudolph's eyes. I'm going to have to come up with a way to get those googly eyes on there so little 4 yr old boys can't rip them off.. haha yeah right!
And sweet Annabelle's shirt was pretty easy. I just love the Gingerbread girl. It matched the hairbow I got from Belle's Bowtique  just perfectly!  The gingerbread applique came from here.  And cute lil Rudolph came from here. I like to think that *I* am pretty crafty but must admit that this was nothing more than me knowing how to use my iron, which is an easier task for me than say.... dishes. ;)

Random Thoughts Tuesday

I might have exaggerated slightly when I mentioned doing 18 loads of laundry yesterday. However, if you could have seen the laundry after it was folded YOU too would have sworn it was 18 loads. Seriously. It was a lot. I'm just crossing my fingers that the little fairy came today to put it all away.

I work in the city (albeit a small city in comparison to some of yours) and very near all the emergency centers (police, fire station, etc) so we here sirens A LOT. This morning, like the last 10 minutes, I heard many many sirens of many many different emergency vehicles as they passed my office. While I hate to hear them, I hate even more that I know hubby and Belle are suppose to be in the truck headed to preschool (which is also nearby) to get Peanut. I called his phone, no answer. Dislike. I know I probably have nothing to worry but still, it does make me stop and think. And hopefully, in about 5-10 minutes hubby will call to tell me how great Peanut's day at preschool was. Tomorrow is his Christmas party at school. He is looking forward to that and I made him the cutest Rudolph shirt last night to wear for the party. 

My work dinner is tonight. We are suppose to be going to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse tonight. Thankfully, the hubby is feeling better and has decided he will be ok to eat something other than popsicles tonight. I think he will likely makeup for yesterday and may even gain back 3 of the 13 lbs he lost since Sunday. I am not quite sure what I will be having. I have a weigh in Thursday and since I have not magically lost 13 lbs or even 3 since Sunday I do plan to eat wise.

I need to go to the post office today. I just know the lines will be horrible. I hate waiting in long lines unless of course it is Black Friday and I am getting some kind of great deal. haha  I couldn't even talk hubby into going to the PO for me. Bummer. Maybe that little postage machine won't have a long line and I can just go that route for today.

I made my first no sew blanket the other night. It's a two fold gift for my sister and her new baby. Kind of a baby gift/Christmas present since he should be here like next week. It's her 2nd boy so there was no shower. Anyway, I found some really cute fleece that goes along with the theme in the baby's room. Yay. I was going to post a picture but I don't have my camera with me at work and since I didn't upload them the last time I did have my camera with me, the pics aren't even in a file on my work computer. Bummer. But I was really glad when the blanket came out in a square shape like it should have. haha So excited that I even decided to make blankets for my kids to put under the tree as a little extra goody. :) 

Hubby and Belle got another snow day today. Nice, huh. I wish I could have gotten another snow day. If I did I would have.... gone to the gym, maybe shopped to finish up a few little things before next week, worked on another blanket, and just enjoy the day at home with my little family (all healthy today!). But I'm at work with a stack of files waiting for my attention. The plus side is that I actually have folders to holdt all the claims that were waiting on me last week. teehee

And now my copies are made, lunch has been eaten, and files are put away. SO, I am going to run a few little errands...ugh, fingers crossed the line at the PO isn't all that bad. 

If you are looking at a fun way to waste a little time, like I just did...head over to

The UnMom and be random.

Snow day

So we got a little bit of snow last night and by a little bit I mean that it was pretty much gone by this afternoon. This meant that the kids and hubby got a snow day today.  My original plan for today was to go to my orthodontist appointment and then head to work. Plans change though and of course MY plans were among those to be completely changed. Nice.
The hubby woke up a little after everyone else and said, "I am either going to puke or...." I went about my business of getting ready this morning despite the fact that the driveway as well as our road was icy. I had an appointment and really didn't think that my orthodontist office would close.

So, I was straightening my hair when I heard the most violent sounds from the kids bathroom. Poor hubby. I'm pretty sure he lost last night's dinner and the slice of chocolate cake. :(

He went to bed, I left for my appointment. I slip slided out of our subdivision onto the road that would take me to the highway. I was pretty nervous since the traction in my car was obviously not liking the road conditions. Once I was on the highway though it was smooth going. That was when I decided to call the orthodontist office to let them know I *might* be a few minutes late but that I was coming.

My call didn't matter. They closed due to weather.
Awesome.

So now what?

I needed to hit up the bank but they were opening a couple hours late today due to weather. Whatever is a mama to do? No way was I going to work with the hubby being so sick and my kids both at home. It wouldn't have been pretty at all by the time I got off at 5 pm had I decided to go to work. So, I did what any other mom would do. I pulled into the Starbucks parking lot, went in and got my Skinny Peppermint Mocha and headed over to Target.

YOU would have done the same, right??

I picked up a few stocking stuffers, NEW toothbrushes for everyone (just in case!), and some disenfecting items because you know some people never have enough of those things on hand when they need them. After walking around in Target and enjoying my yummy coffee in peace I decided to go on to the bank and head home.

All was well when I got home. However the kids were begging to go out in the snow. I let them but they were back in the house within 10 minutes because it was so cold! And they drove me crazy the rest of the day. So much so that at 5pm I felt the need to leave again. And the highlight of my day was a trip to Walmart for some other Christmas gifts and fleece to make another no sew blanket.

And that my friends is how this mama spent her snow day. 

Oh wait!!!!

I forgot to mention I did about 18 loads of laundry. Anyone wanna come over and put them away???

Tis the season

Ahh, holidays and baking.

The hubby made this beauty of a chocolate cake for our church Christmas dinner last night.

Almost any time he bakes a dessert the whole thing is gone before anything else on the dessert table. We brought 1/4 of this deliciousness home. I'm hoping by this time tomorrow it has magically disappeared. The holidays are THE hardest time of year for someone watching their waistline!  I admit to having had a small slice before (and after, ahem!) my 6 miler today. But I swear they were thin/small slices. Seriously. And I think my hubby totally missed his calling in life.  ;)

Don't miss this!!!!

I love love love The Vintage Pearl. They have some of the most beautiful custom pieces of jewelry from bracelets, to necklaces and even cute tees. You must check out this awesome giveaway going on over on the blog today. You can still order sweet gifts for some lucky person on your gift list and have it in time for Christmas! OR you could enter to win one of 5 gift certificates to shop their site!

Three Things Thursday

1. I'm still working on addressing my Christmas cards. haha I had hoped to get them in the mail. No luck just yet with that. In fact I think some of the ones going to family and church folk may just be hand delivered. Tacky? I can't deal with whether it is tacky or not. ;) I promise to mail them out by this time next week though.

2. I still need to make that fleece blanket I talked about. I'm planning on working on that AND wrapping a few gifts (even the one's the hubby has for ME from him to wrap) tonight. And yes, I promise you...the man laid 2 boxes in the living room, told me they were for me and asked if I would wrap them. I can't decide if that is pure torture for me or if it would be more torture for him to actually have to wrap them by himself. And about that blanket, a friend posted some pics on Facebook of some fleece scarves she made for her girls that are similar to the blankets. I am itching to make one of those too. Wonder who I could gift that too? Hmm.

3. I bought myself a gift and already gave it to myself. Hubby gave me a hard time about this a little last night. All I can do is laugh and thankfully he has laughed as well. I got some smelly good stuff. It's Philosophy Pure Grace. I had previously worn Amazing Grace but have decided to branch out and try a different Grace. They all smell great. Anyway, it was a nice gift and I needed some new bodywash. Last night I had a good run in the freezing cold (again!) and I was so excited to go home and shower with my new smelly good stuff. I tried to convince hubby it was as much for him as it was me but he wasn't buying my line. So, fine. I got myself a gift. ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Wanna take a guess as to which picture made the front of our Christmas card??

Random Thoughts Tuesday

You know I am going to start this post off with weather...

However, this Tuesday we did not see rain but snow (flurries). There was actual snow on the ground but it was barely a dusting and the consistency was nothing more than a little powdery fluff. It is freezing out. Still one of those days better spent inside. I made it a 2 cup of coffee morning. 

It doesn't make sense that I would even say one of those days better spent inside because yesterday at 5pm when I got off work I headed to the gym where the hubby and I RAN OUTSIDE a chilly 3 miler. Go ahead, call us crazy! I am still not convinced that running in freezing temps at dark thirty pm is all that invigorating BUT I have also not ruled out ever doing it again. So, I guess that's a good thing, right!? 

I unloaded my purse today. 

Random items I found in it:

~ 2 Matchbox cars

~ 1 pair of American Girl doll sized eyeglasses

~1 black Sharpie

~42 receipts (give or take a few)
What I really wanted to find in the bottom of my purse was $.50 to go buy a Diet Coke from the machine downstairs. Since I did not find the change I took that as a sign that I didn't need the DC.I just refilled my water bottle. 

I started this thread early in the day. Here it is 9pm and it still isn't complete or posted.

We had a rough afternoon.
Rough afternoons or mornings or nights are NO FUN!

I skipped the gym and was not feeling guilty. Then I had gingerbread man cookies at my Girl Scout meeting. Sigh. I feel guilty for missing the gym now, especially since the scale had been holding steady and slightly moving down since Thurs (last week's) weigh in. Ugh. The plus is that I plan to run tomorrow whether  it is freezing out or not.

Adult acne is ridiculous. There is NO reason for it to be a problem for me right now. It's not like it is close to that special time or anything. What gives? I haven't been gorging on chocolate or burgers n fries.

I love my Christmas tree.
I wish I could figure out my camera settings so I can get the perfect picture with the lights on. Make sense?
I have no patience with figuring out the different settings to get just the right shot. Here is what I have for now.

I am planning on making one of those fleece tie blankets as a Christmas gift. I've never made one before. I have yet to start on the one I plan to make. I sure hope after spending the money on the fleece that I am able to successfully make the darn thing. I love the patterned fleece I picked and think it will look great with the solid I picked. I hope the recipient or at least the recipient's mother loves it. :)

I started this post in my head last night. No kidding, as my head hit the pillow and I was trying to drift (back off) to sleep I thought about all the "random" things I could think of and was writing this post. I fell asleep. I can't recall a single thing I thought of that I considered for today's Random Thoughts. Funny how that happens. I do that often though...go to bed and think of things to blog about. I rarely remember them in the morning. haha

State Champs!!!!

The Tornadoes ended their season 15-0 and State Champions in 3A football here in Tennessee!!!

Great job, Tornadoes!!!

This is as exciting of a post as I can come up with for now. More to come about the football season and State Championship later! :)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas (MadLib style)

A Christmas fill in the blank tale

by Annabelle and Isaiah

courtesy of Family Fun

'Twas the dog before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a giraffe was stirring, not even a mouse.

The pigs were farting all snug in their beds,

While visions of smoked salmon dance in their heads.

Then out on the swimming pool there arose such a clatter,

I pooped from the recliner to see what was the matter.

When, what to my wondering bellybuttons should appear,

But a miniature peanut,

and 100 fat reindeer!

With a silly old Peyton Manning, so suddenly and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney Taylor Swift smiled with a bound.

He spoke not a pllllllllghghghhhhhh, but went straight to his work, 

And filled all the puppies;

then tapped with a jerk,

And laying his leg aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the garage he rose.

And I heard him catch,

ere he scooted out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!"