Chirp!

Maggie as she was when she expected to be converting to ALL digital scrapbooking:
Maggie as she discovers that this is NOT the crock pot she was expecting:

Maggie who is now resigned to not giving up paper scrapbooking entirely

In other words Thank You to my in-laws who have helped me look at a money-sucking hobby in a new refreshing way!

Christmas Cookies!

Miriam sure likes to help cook. I'm glad we got her a kitchen for her birthday, but she's just as much rather be up helping with the "real" stuff!

More Huffin 4 Stuffin

I just checked the results page at the Huffin 4 Stuffin website. I placed 216 overall (out of 520 women) and 16th in my age group (I think there were 36 in my age group)!

While I was there - I snagged a few more pictures :)

Yes, I am in this picture. Maybe later when I am more awake I'll photoshop a circle :)

Having a House Party

Coming this January - party with Your Shape and Jello!

A few weeks ago my husband forwarded me an email (he always forwards me Wii game updates etc.) about this new Your Shape game. He knows I am interested in EA Active and that I love my Wii Fit Plus. Reading through the email I saw something about hosting a party to try out the game. Truth: I was really skeptical about this at first.

After reading about it a bit I decided it would be worth applying for, so I set up a free house party account and spent 15 or 20 minutes filling out the survey for my host application. Truth: During the survey I thought "oh yeah right, I get it. They are going to select those people who put that they expect 30+ people to their parties." I put that I expected 5-9. Do I even KNOW 30 women in GA?

After a few days-a week I went back to the website to check on my status as a host. As soon as I logged in it sent me to a page that said "Set up your party now." I hadn't received my "You're a host!" notification yet so I was slightly confused. After a little investigation I figured out that I had indeed been selected as a host. Truth: I went back and verified that the game did indeed come in the party pack because I can't expend all that money at the moment. It is Christmas you know. THEN I sent out some email invites. And P.S. it comes with TWO games.

The WHOLE Truth about House Party. YES - many people can get selected to host parties. YES - they are sending me a party pack with all sorts of stuff FOR FREE. YES - I get to KEEP the games. YES - there are awesome coupons and little gifts for the guests. NO - my name and info is not sold.

All I have to do is HOST the party. So that means a little expenditure on my part. We're having fruit kabobs (in addition to the Jello Mousse) and a low-cal punch (and water!).

I'm putting together goodie bags for everyone (and house party already did half the work with the things included in the party pack). Still trying to figure out how to do the games so that it is fun and everyone gets to play Your Shape. (any ideas in this arena would be great!)

Some examples of past and future parties: Windows7(wish I hadn't missed this!), Barbie, Shutterfly, Canon, Pull-Ups, Boca, Ziploc Home Organization

Not everyone gets picked for a party. But if you don't, maybe one of your friends will!

For those of you that asked: visit the house party website today and look for a party you are interested in. If it is accepting hosts it is easy to apply. You can also visit my party website. In the next week I will be uploading a video of opening the box and giving updates as I learn about the games.

P.S. There is a separate area for the "over 21" crowd - so you don't have to worry about seeing questionable material or parties you REALLY don't want to know about. You only get there if you click on the link!

Lights in the World

It's time to go see Christmas lights!!

It was too rainy to take Miriam to the park for a free train ride today, so we skipped that part and decided to go with my friend Kathy to see some Christmas lights!


Except, after what felt like a long time and backtracking a couple times we realized that we were missing the place because the lights were OFF. We still drove through and I could tell that, when they were ON, the lights were fun and amazing! For some unknown reason, they were off that night. Bummer.

Bust out the Boxes

We have a Christmas tree! Well...we've always had a Christmas tree. My husband and I bought it...our first year of marriage (?). It's an awesome fiber optic tree that is similar to the one I had at home with my dad and step-mom. While we've always thought once we got into a house we'd had a "real" tree, this year just has not been the year for it. So out the fiber optic one came! Miriam enjoyed putting out all the stuffed animals and the stuffed Santa and the candy canes and ornaments (especially the train with Santa on it). She didn't want to close up the box!

I love that she is aware of Santa Claus! She gets up in the morning, runs down the hall, points to the Santa night light my step-mom got us this year and says "Santa!" while turning him off. It makes me laugh. And we LOVE our night lights Dede!

Here Comes Santa Claus

We got to see Santa last weekend! (at a church christmas party)

Miriam was a little shy of him at first, but really warmed up (when I brought out the camera - what a ham!)
I love this picutre! It's a bit washed out but the look on her face is priceless!

We got some great smiles in the end

Taking a look back

A few days ago I was VERY ready to just hop into our holiday stories for the season. Tonight - I FINALLY got all of my pictures uploaded from my mobile phone, which is my default camera whenever I'm not hauling around the very nice version. And I'm behind. I had wonderful pictures to share with you from being on the go this fall.

Like - welcome home!



How I often found Miriam during the move in phase:



Our first major league baseball game!

Discovering new pumpkin patches:

And Miss Miri helping Daddy carry the pumpkin

AND the 700+ pounds of food my WW location donated during the Lose For Good campaign. Thats around 30 people over the course of 6 weeks! Amazing.

Back to the holidays tomorrow!

Holiday Mode

I just switched my blog into Holiday mode! It's amazing how much is going on for the holidays even when we are across the country from so much of our family! Tonight I am dry pack canning and tomorrow I am grocery shopping and going to the ward Christmas party. (If I had 20 EXTRA dollars I would be going to the Jingle Jog 5K. I'm bummed about missing it but what can you do? The tree lighting downtown is afterward but the same time as the ward Christmas party I think).

Next weekend is Bill's work Christmas party and Phineas and Ferbs Christmas special which is actually IN MY PLANNER people. I'm so excited about it. We'll also be putting out the tree around his mom's birthday. I have a whole box of Christmas stuff still waiting to be put out!

The week after I need to actually put my Christmas presents in the mail. See, you won't be hearing from me about any family get togethers, but you will be hearing about the lines at the post office and the prices of packaging.

I actually have no plans after that weekend.
What are you going to be up to for the holidays?