Sugar & Spice & other things NICE!

Hello friends!

I hope that each of you are enjoying December! It's a busy one, isn't it!? Can I just tell you... I'm so thankful for my Christmas lights. They make me smile. I don't turn them off. I love to walk out to the den at 3 am and see my tree glowing with it's colored lights. Makes me so very happy! And Morgan has taken it upon herself to make it "snow" on our little Christmas village. Unfortunately, the stuffed animal she used to refer to as "Big Doggie" is no longer a "stuffed" animal. Oh well!

I've been meaning to update all week... but between school, play, dr appts, and house work I haven't been able to find the time. But all 3 are sleeping soundly... Lord willing I'll be able to hit "publish post" before they wake!

As I mentioned in my last post {which btw, I got Raiger's lipstick off with Aquaphor and a dry paper towel!} my friend Shireen came for a much anticipated visit. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME! She's a very magnetic person. Someone everyone enjoys being around. She's sweet, compassionate, thoughtful, kind, and I'm very thankful for her! She's also very pregnant and expecting a little man of her own in January!

She did a wonderful recap of our time together on her blog... you should go check it out! I'll leave the recapping to her but I will tell you that I truly feel like she is a gift to me from the Lord. A prayer partner, a friend, a sister, an encourager... loyal, loving, and wonderful to boot! Her husband, Russell, couldn't be with us but we all are looking forward to being together again soon! Thank you, Shireen, for venturing down on your own... I truly treasure the time we had together and I am already anticipating the next time!

I had a little project up my sleeve before she came and we had fun making these:

I think the most appropriate name would be "10 lb Gumdrop Wreaths". Seriously, they weigh about 10 lbs. I didn't think about how heavy they would be. I just thought they'd be cute.

Mine was cute... yesterday. Not so cute today. I hung it on our back door before we got 13" of rain. Now it's looking a little soggy. Our back door is covered but the rain wasn't just 'a little rain' and it was accompanied by gusty wind... so my beautiful 10 lb wreath was wet, soggy, sticky and left a pile of sugar syrup at the foot of the door. Lovely. Just what you want tracked in your house. I brought it in this morning and attempted to "dust it with more sugar". It's still drying but hopefully {once this blasted rain stops} I can hang it back out there soon! If you have time... and want a project to do with your kids... it was fun! Just don't hang it out in the pouring rain. I also used a hot glue gun so the girls didn't get to attach the gumdrops... instead they organized them by color and helped by handing me the color I needed next! Oh.... and they ate one gumdrop for every gumdrop they handed mommy! Hello, any dentists out there?

Speaking of other things nice. I had to go for a check up on Tuesday... and for being such a good patient I treated myself to one of these at Chick-fil-A... : Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake... go ahead, go get one... they're delightful and have real chunks of peppermint & chocolate... oh my... so good!! And FESTIVE!

Remember how I said I was going to make all my Christmas presents this year? Well, I haven't done that yet. And well... there are 14 days left. Hmm... better get busy. Y'all may not hear from me until after Christmas!

I have, however, managed to get most of my cards in the mail. I still have a few stragglers. I'm working on a digital card to post on here for all my blogging friends who I don't have mailing addresses for. My super talented friend, Lindsay, designed them for me again this year! Thanks, Lindsay... once again you blow me away! I'll post the cards after y'all get them in the mail! I'd hate to ruin a surprise! Well, that wraps things up around here! Hoping and praying each of you are enjoying the festivities!