CA Girl

Each year at Christmas time,  I write up a newsletter for the family about the things we did through out the year.  About our successes, our stumbles, and our funny stories.  Kind of like a one blog rolled into one.  Except I mail it out.  And then, my good friend Emmy came up with a fantabulous idea!!     What is the 2010 Review Extravaganza?   It is your chance to write up some posts and recap what happened during the year.  You can put your favorite pictures, tell your favorite stories, link back to your favorite posts, however you want to do it.   Just in case you had some slow months, we will be reviewing three months at a time. Then starting next Friday- you can come here or to any of the other bloggers hosting this extravaganza (who I will list here soon) and link up with your post.  You only need to link up at one location as it will show up on each of the lists. So- next Friday the 10th , you will link up with your recap about January, February and March. F

It's back to school with Alphabe-Thursday over at Jenny's place.  And today the letter is J.  J just so happens to be the letter of the week in Ryan's class.  J is his middle initial and mine.  Hey, and J is my dad's middle initial too!  And I have a nephew named Jason.  Ryan has a book about the letter J.  It goes like this: The Jeep has wheels. The Jet has wings. The Jacket has pockets. The jungle has animals. The jar has jellybeans.  How many? Each page has a picture to go with it.  He rarely colors them, but he does circle the letter as I am sure he is instructed to do.  Another thing that starts with J is jewelry.  No reason.  Just thought I'd throw that out there! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now back to two truths and a lie!  Do you remember what mine were?  It was two weeks ago.  I said:  I will not put cranberry sauce on my turkey.  Candied yams are my favorite.  And I will gorge myself on rolls. Well I could

So what comes to your mind when I say 24?  Is it the famed TV show that came to an end last may? Perhaps it simply means the number of hours in a day.  Maybe you have a special day on the 24th of a given month.  Maybe you have $24 in your wallet.  Wow I wish I did!  More like 24 cents.  Wait.  I am getting off track here.  The 24 I am referring has nothing at all to do with Jack Bauer.  Shhh... don't tell him though.  He might get angry.  And if you think the hulk is scary when he is angry....what?  Oh yeah....right.   The 24 I am talking about is the number of days before Christmas.  That's right folks.  TWENTY FOUR!  I am listening to Christmas music every chance I get because I love it.  I bought me some nice smelly candles(pine and cinnamon) yum!  The tree is beautiful.  The stockings are hung by the chimney with care.  But I'll be darned if I can believe it is Christmas time!  Where is that sweet feeling?  Is it because it seems like we just did this?  I am startin

As we come to the end of the month, it is a time to reflect on those good things that happened to us.  So link up with Emmy and share with everyone ten simple things that made you smile this month. 1.  Three very good report cards. 2.   Thanksgiving with family, good food and lots of laughter 3.   Taking Kristin Christmas shopping with her own babysitting money 4.   Decking the Halls while listening to Christmas music 5.  Christmas music...I love it. 6.   Listening to Ryan's wild stories.  (I will have to make a video...if he'll let me!) 7.  Sleeping in for a week while the kids were on vacation 8.  No homework battles while the kids were on vacation 9.  The kids going back to school 10.  Getting a nice warm bath These are just ten simple things that made me smile in the month of November.  There is much more.  What made you smile?

It is that time of year when our favorite Christmas specials start appearing one after another.  And if you are anything like me, you have your favorite must sees!  Now let your inner child out for a moment.  It's okay...the kids are in school.  They won't see.  ;)  Personally I have many.  I realized this when I went searching for them.  I am only going to share a few clips of my faves, then some pics.  I don't want to overwhelm anyone.  Plus we must remember to put the inner child back. *Ahem* First on my must see list is:  A Charlie Brown Christmas.  For some reason this one comes to my mind first.  I've watched it every year since I was a little kid.  Maybe the reason it is my favorite is because it actually puts emphasis on the birth of the Savior.  Therefore, my favorite clip has to be this one, where Linus explains what Christmas is all about. Then on the complete and total opposite end of the Christmas Spectrum, the very next in line is Rudolph The Red-Nos