Our Annual Christmas Get Together (Dec.22, 2022)

It's my last day of work then Christmas vacation begins!

Looks like Molly is doing some last minute gift wrapping.

 

Haylee got her hair done and I think it looks great.

I don't normally do Tik Toks by myself but this one cracked me up.

It was a pretty good morning.

We ordered breakfast sandwiches for everyone from the coffee shop in town and we all visited while we ate them.

Then we all finished up our work and headed home early to start our holidays.

I dropped off a few more things I made at the store on my way home.

Things don't really seem to be moving for some reason.

We are having a few friends over tonight for our annual Christmas get together and a few of mom's friends are coming as well.

Jason was busy making all kinds of goodies to eat so when I got home, I got busy doing the cleaning.

I put on some tunes and got busy.

Freya was still over and she was excited that we were having people over.

She wanted to have a bath, put on a nice dress and she specifically asked for two buns in her hair.

I love this hair do on her, it looks so adorable on her.

Ha ha - still a pro at the evil eye.

We were ready on time and everything looked great.

Jason made this spinach and artichoke pastry tree.

This was Lorraine's favorite.

Surprise dip, cheese and crackers and lots of other goodies.

The surprise dip actually all went which doesn't normally happen - I think it was a particular favorite of Darlene's.

Jason made this dish that had a pastry on the outside then it had brie, cranberries and pecans.

It was delicious.

He made a homemade sausage then a ground bacon and blue cheese mixture rolled up like a sausage roll in a pastry.

He makes jalapeno poppers every year and they are a big hit.

Bonnie and Nadine both love them.

I always use the top of my garbage bin as a serving station for this as we are a bit tight on space.

I made the usual Christmas punch.

In years past I've ended up throwing a lot of it away at the end of the evening but not today, it was all gone right down to the last drop.

Jason also made three different desserts but I forgot to take pictures of them.

He made Dr. Pepper cake which he served in the little Dr. Pepper cans.

He also made a smores dessert and and orange mousse dessert that he made last year that was a big hit.

It was just as fabulous again this year.

Mom's friends Darlene and Lana.

Karl and Lana's husband Larry.

Bonnie and June.

Jason and I.

Nadine.

Mom and Lorraine.

It was a really nice evening.

We said we weren't going to exchange gifts this year but we did end up getting each other little gifts.

I just gave the girls chocolates, Bonnie got me some orange spice hand cream and soap.

Nadine gave me a cute little jug and some reindeer crack.

At the end of the evening Kody and Haylee dropped by - they always do just to check out all of the food and help eat some of it.

We always have a ton of leftovers.

Lana brought a hostess gift, some wine and she brought olive oil for Jason.

It was in a bag that you could record a message on then when you opened the bag, the message would play.

That was a big hit with Freya and she and Jason kept recording new messages.

The evening was really nice, everyone loved the food and they liked my decorations.

I always think that I'd like to play games at this get together but we really don't have a lot of room for that.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Tik Tok Fun (Dec.21, 2022)

Daily check in with Molly.

Looks like she got herself into a pickle.

Our favorite Christmas treats got dropped off at the office today by Secure.

They are home made by someone (not sure who) and the peppermint chocolate cookies are YUMMY!

The shortbread ones were pretty darn good too.

Freya was at the house with Jason and they made cupcakes.

I usually make these Haystack cookies each year (they go by lots of other names) but this year Morgan is going to make them so I sent her my recipe.

Freya was still there when I got home from work.

She stayed the night with us again and she & I did some Tik Toks tonight.

Doing the Wednesday Adams dance.

(I had to sub in some different music due to a copyright claim on YouTube but it the Lady Gaga song she's dancing too so just have to use your imagination on that).

She just loves this drawing Tik Tok.

Yup, she is fierce so it totally fits.

Creepy.

Cool.

She makes a pretty cute grinch.

Tomorrow is my last day of work before the Christmas holidays start - Yee Haw!

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Doctor Appointment and Christmas Shopping Complete (Dec.20, 2022)

 Molly check in.

Looks like she was creating DIY Pop its!

Mom had an appointment with her doctor, Dr. Jane, in Whitecourt today so I had to run her down there.

I just wanted to go over the results of her blood testing she did a few weeks back.

They were checking her iron levels and they were also going to test for celiac disease.

Plus she had that incident where Jason had to call the ambulance so I just wanted to make sure all was good.

Mom and I waiting to see the Dr. - she was right on time today.

It was super cold out there today (-36C) so you can see we are all bundled up, even in the Doctors office.

Turns out her iron levels are actually really good, higher than they were which was a surprise as she's been tired lately.

Dr. Jane suggested trying Vitamin D and B12 to see if that helps.

They didn't do the Celiac test even though it was mentioned on the requisition so she'll have to go for that testing again.

As for the incident with the back pain, Mom is good now so she said there isn't much else to do as far as that goes except to just keep an eye on things so that is what we'll do.

After the appointment, Mom and I ran all over Whitecourt trying to finish up the last of our Christmas shopping.

Mom was pretty tired by the time we finished up.

When we got home, I got to work on the sign I'm making for Morgan's father in law.

It actually wasn't as hard as I was expecting.

I had to make one tweak after this, I just switched spots for Morgan and Donald's names.

Got that all done now and I split it into two projects so I'll be able to cut it out.

I'll do that tomorrow night and hopefully get it done.

The clay I let the kids use the other night was supposed to have been to make handprint ornaments like these.

Since they used it up and I won't be able to order more in time, I think I'll go ahead and make some dough at home to use because I'd still like to make these.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Freya's First In Person School Christmas Concert (Dec.19, 2022)

Weigh in day - Ugh.

I am just so disappointed in myself - I'm totally going the wrong way.

I was 210 lbs.

That's up .6 from last week.

I started the year in the low 190's and wanted to go down and instead, I'm up nearly 20.

Each morning I think I'm going to get control of it but then I don't.

It's really truly hard but I know I can do it and I'm not giving up on myself.

Adrien shared this memory of Hunter - Aww, he was so cute.

I took my new signs down to the hardware at lunch time.

Things don't really seem to be moving.

I don't think I'll make anything else now for the rest of this year.

I would like to get a jump on next year though and start a whole lot earlier.

Freya spent the night at Crystal's place Saturday night and looks like they made ornaments over there too.

Love her little ballerina pose.

They also made and decorated cookies.

And a gingerbread house.

They were busy.

Kody's car was ready to be picked up today and both Haylee and Freya had doctor appointments in Barrhead this afternoon so I gave them a drive down there.

Haylee has a bump on her arm she wants to get checked out and Freya has been getting little bumps on the back of her knee and now they are showing up on her shoulder and armpit.

Turns out Haylee's bump is just a cyst, nothing to worry about and Freya has eczema.

I stuck around until they were done then followed them home just to make sure they made it ok.

Kody's car still has an issue with the timing chain or something that needs to be fixed in the next couple months but you never know and it was super cold out there today (-29C) so not a good day to break down.

The kids Christmas concert was tonight - it's been a couple years since they had one in person and this will be our first time seeing Freya perform in one in person.

Jason got the night shift guy to come in early so he could come too - the guy kind of forgot so we ended up getting there just as the concert was starting.

First up was the bells and Alivia is part of that group.

She is looking so mature and grown up these days.

Then it was time for the Pre-K group.

Freya was acting shy.

Getting the group all situated.

I think she was scanning the audience for Mom and Dad.

They didn't really do a whole lot of singing but they were doing the actions.

Next up were the Kindergartener's.

The little ones are so much fun to watch.

Then the grade 2's were up.

Both Zepplyn and Hunter were in this group.

Hunter actually sang and did the actions - I was impressed.

He is such a serious little guy.

Zepplyn looked pretty serious about what she was doing too.

The bell choir came back out for another performance.

After the pre-k's performed, all the kids came out and sat with their parents in the audience.

Freya had Grandma Crystal's phone and she was taking a lot of pictures.

She bopped around and sat with Jason for a bit then with me then she took my phone and went and sat by mom and dad and watched YouTube videos and that kept her occupied.

Which was good because the last group, the grades 4, 5 & 6 performed 8 songs and it was Looooooong.

Too long if you ask me.

I think 3 would have sufficed but anyway.

Freya wanted to come to our place for the night but we both work in the morning so she couldn't.

We headed home and it was almost 9 pm.

We had some snacks and watched an old Bing Crosby Christmas special then headed to bed.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Christmas Signs (Dec.18, 2022)

I got up when Jason left for work this morning, made myself a coffee then got to work making signs.

Jason is cooking them a Christmas dinner out there today - doesn't this ham look delicious.

I made another Merry Christmas sign - this time in green.

I also made a larger sign.

And a little shelf sitter.

I think they turned out cute.

I really need to work on the sign I'm going to make for Morgan to give to her Father in Law.

She wants one similar to this and I keep putting it off just because I've never done a circle one before and I'm not exactly sure how to do it.

I do need to get it done though - just going to have to sit down and do it!

I started watching this movie this morning - it was cute.

I did stop it to go out and shovel.

Then I decided I'd watch the rest of it while I worked out on the treadmill.

I decided to try to run 5k.

It was tough but I stuck to it and made myself do it.

I had to lower the speed a few times down to 3.0 and 3.5 but I managed to get the 5k done and nothing was in pain afterwards so I was feeling great about that.

I feel like I lost a lot of the gains I made running since I haven't been able to the last few months and I'm ready to get back at it now.

I actually worked up a sweat and that felt wonderful.

Meanwhile, Jason was having a delicious turkey and ham dinner.

I hope he brings home some leftovers for me!

After my workout, I finished up the kids trees they made last night.

I added starts and trunks and I think they turned out pretty good.

I flipped all of their ornaments too so the back sides could dry.

Alivia made this little squirrel too and I love the details she added, the fur and the scarf.

She's so artsy that one.

I found an old movie to watch, from 1996.

It was pretty good actually.

I love it when the kitties cuddle together.

It was quite a productive day actually and I got lots done.

I did all my laundry, I got the new lights put up on the archway outside.

I got hangers put all my signs that I made and I priced them so they'd be ready for the store tomorrow.

Just chugging right along!

Just one more week to do until Christmas - it's coming up fast.

When Jason and I got home we watched an old Christmas special on Tubi.

Christmas with the King Family.

I love old specials like this - mainly a lot of singing but we found it entertaining.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!