Merry Christmas - early

Hi!  I know I haven't posted since Malissia's birthday, but I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know how things are going.

Since my last post Ryan turned 19, Macy got married, Thanksgiving came and went, the church banquet happened and last night was the Christmas Program. 

I must admit, my church family rocks!  We had a group of 10 men and women sing Ringing of the Bells acapello and it was FABULOUS!  My only complaint is that it didn't last long enough.  Perfect pitch and tone - unbelievable.  No music was needed! 

A group of church members also put together a 1 hour version of It's a Wonderful Life.  Fantastic!  For amateurs, they did so well!  They were entertaining, the costumes and props were very professional.  It amazes me how much talent one church can hold! 

Did I mention the food?  No.  But I will!  Cookies - many, many cookies.  Amber would have thought she was in HEAVEN!  Sandwiches, chips, cake, punch and wassail!  MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm!  You should have been there!

Last Thursday, I had some of my closest friends from work come over for some delicious chicken and sausage gumbo.  We also had potato salad, buttermilk pie and apple pie.  We were soooo stuffed when it was over it was hard to move from the table to the couch!  The comeraderie we all share is amazing.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful women to work with.  You should be jealous!

Saturday the triplets turned one!  Happy 1st Birthday, Kael, Kolten & Kaleb!  They are the MOST adorable babies ever!  If I had to have 3 boys, I would want them to look just like these boys!  PRECIOUS!

This Thursday is the Ladies Cookie Swap and Ornament Exchange.  I am looking forward to it!  I'm baking iced sugar cookies and will probably get Malissia to bake spritz cookies.  Kirstyn won't be participating in it because she has a school function, but she'll get there as soon as she can.  We always have SO much fun - I love our ladies.  They are planning soups and salads and there will be several comical skits for our entertainment!  Can't wait.

After that, I still have the Children's Church Christmas Party Wednesday night, the Youth Christmas Party this Friday, my work Christmas Party this Saturday and the Sunday School Christmas Party Sunday morning.  Whew!  THEN it'll finally be over.  I'll be able to sit back and enjoy the rest of my Christmas - the few days that are left.

If I can scrounge up some photos of the banquet and the program, I'll post them.

Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  How shocked would you be if I confessed I haven't even begun?  I mean, I have my lists made out and I know what I'm getting, I just haven't actually GOT the gifts or wrapped them!  The tree's up, house is decorated, and I'm otherwise totally ready for the holiday.

I know what I want for Christmas, too!  Don't laugh!  It's all very worldly and materialistic!  New cookie sheets, a Kindle, a laptop, AND - (I said DON'T laugh) - Bruno Mars, Adele & Daughtry CD's!  Hilarious, no?  Well, I could probably live without the Daughtry - I don't like ALL of his music, but the others?  I'd LOVE them!  Quit laughing!  What's on your Christmas wish list?

If I don't talk to you guys before then, I hope and pray you have a VERY Merry Christmas!

K.  Bye, now.

A great time was had by all

The birthday bash was a huge success.  There was lots of food, fun and frivolity!  The cake was beautiful, the punch was delish!  The cake balls were the success of the night!  Many thanks to my friends without whom I could not have pulled this off.  Brittany made the cake, Rhonda made the cake balls, Michelle made the punch, and Daina, Lisa, Stephanie, Jamie, Rose & Sis. Hammer helped me with the food.  Corrina and Tamara are the creative ladies behind the candy buffet.  My talented and creative co-worker, Crystal and her daughters are totally responsible for the name cards they made for all the food and candy.  Great job, everyone!

A big thanks to Colby for filling all the balloons, even though he probably had more fun than he should have when he started inhaling the helium for our entertainment!

Thanks to Reba, Mom and Gerard for printing and framing the Storybook phrases for our game!  They were soooo cute!  You can see one in the photo below!

A big thanks to Jill, who not only was one of the judges (see below), but made the Sweet Sixteen banner.  She also made the crepe paper curtain, with Mom and Colby's help!  It turned out PERFECT!

Then there were the judges of the costume contest.  They were the most adorable witches ever!  What do you think?

Unfortunately I did not get a good photo of the winners of the costume contest.  Wade won for his Grinch costume.  Kirstyn won for her Fiona costume.  Everyone did such a good job.  Even Ryan came dressed as a cowboy - although I didn't get a picture.  I'll post a few of the pics I do have for your enjoyment.

To top it all off, my brother, sister-in-law and the cutest niece in the world came to the party, too!

I wish you all could have been there.  We all missed you.  You missed out on a lot of fun.  However, I am glad it's over.  I'm tired and in need of LOTS of rest.  I'll leave you with one last photo of Cinderella and her loving, devoted slave, yours truly. 

K.  Bye, now!

Happy Sweet 16 Malissia

16 years ago I gave birth to my youngest daughter, Malissia.  After the most horrible pregnancy ever (for me, anyway), I had the worst ever labor (again, for me)!  I almost had a miscarriage at 11 weeks and had to go on bed rest for a couple of weeks.  God performed a miracle on the way to the hospital.  I had already had one miscarriage a year before and didn't think I had the strength to make it through another.  I asked God to give me strength to survive if I miscarried or to save the child.  I promised that I would raise him/her to live for Him if he spared the child's life.  He answered my prayers, but He did not give me an easy time.  I had indigestion for the rest of my pregnancy!  Not a big deal for some - but I've never had morning sickness or anything - so this was quite inconvenient for me!  Poor me!  Malissia would twist around in positions where I could not move - couldn't sit, couldn't stand - NOTHING!  She was horrible.  I knew I was in for it!  Then to top it all off - 13 HOURS of INTENSE labor pains!  It was awful.  Did I mention that she was 9 DAYS LATE?  AWFUL!

And then she was born!  She was beautiful!  7 lbs, 14 oz, a head full of blonde hair (enough for a tiny pony tail on the top of her head!), blue eyes that eventually turned green.  We named her after my great grandmother, Malissia Maxwell, and angel herself!  For all the trouble she was during pregnancy, she more than made up for it.  From the night she was born she slept from 7pm until 7am.  She always woke up and cooed and played until someone came in to check up on her.  She never cried unless she was sick.  AND - when she was sick - she had to have DADDY!  It was AWESOME, I tell you!  She loved her big sister and brother.  She loved EVERYBODY!  She was always good, smiling and well behaved.

I never had problems with her at church.  She would sit on the pew like a good little girl while her brother and sister tried to drive me insane!

She has come a long way - and she is far from perfect, but she is still my good little girl.  And so, her party is tonight and we are all excited about it.  I hope to have pics for you guys Monday or Tuesday.

I am proud of you, Malissia!  I love you bunches!  I hope you have the most wonderful birthday ever today!



K.  Bye, now!

Eve of Sweet 16

OMW!  It's almost here!  The event of the year!  Well, for us anyway!  :)  I have been planning Malissia's Sweet 16 Birthday Party for more than a year and it's finally here.  Everything is under way and we are going to the church to begin decorating tonight!  WOO-HOO!  I can't contain my enthusiasm!  YIPEE! 

Cake is ordered, food is doled out, candy is taken care of, decorations and supplies are purchased and waiting to be put together, games are set.  I have to attach the skirt to the top on Kirstyn's Fiona costume, insert the zipper and hem the skirt and sleeves.  That'll get done tonight.  I'll hand sew the trim on tomorrow after lunch.  TA-DA!  Finis!

I can't think of anything else!  It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!  I can't wait.  I hope you get to come.  I want EVERYONE to have fun!

K.  Can't blog - I'm too excited.  Bye, now!

Things are starting to fall into place

Last night I paid for the birthday cake, brought the baker the rock candy crystals that will adorn the cake, and cut out Fiona's dress.  Now I need to ask 3 ladies to be judges, decorate Malissia's wooden letter M, find 20 picture frames, print out the questions for the game that will go in the frames, decorate and make the food.  Oh, and finish the Fiona dress!  Whew - not much, huh?  Hahaha.  It sounds worse than it is. 

I was really getting worried that I wouldn't get much done last night, I had a migraine coming on.  But 2 Excedrin Migraine's and I was all better!

I don't have any more to post today.  You guys have a great Tuesday, K?  Bye, now!

Cinderella Dress

I finished the dress!  I have pictures to post!  Woo-Hoo!  Tell me what you think!  Also, I have submitted these photos to the BurdaStyle.com BERNINA Halloween 2011 contest.  If you go to the website and click on projects, scroll through all the photos until you come to the Cinderella Ball Gown under StephanieB.  The front photo doesn't look like much (I didn't know how they would show up on the website) and the photos are all sideways (I did good just to get them on the site!), but they are there!  If you become a member (free), you can cast a vote between 10/25 and 10/30.  VOTE FOR ME!  Thank you for your support!  :)

The craft sale was a success from everything I could see.  We have such talented people.  Beautiful crafts galore!  And the food was delicious.  The baked goods were such a hit we had a hard time keeping the tables stocked.  Yesterday we had an afternoon service at church with a fish fry and auction afterwards.  We auction off the left over craft items to the church family.  I missed the whole day!  :(  Malissia woke up about 7:00am with diarrhea and vomiting!  Not a good Sunday at all!  She got better through the day, but is still weak and tired, but she made it to school.  Keep her in your prayers - she needs some strength.  She is playing the GAME ON diet with me this time!  If you see her, encourage her!  I know she can do this.

I've started the fourth round of GAME ON!  This round is gonna be better, I just know it.  Last round was not so good for me.  I haven't figured out why, but it doesn't matter any more.  I'm gonna shed those pounds and collect those points.  There's only one new member this time (Malissia), so there's some stiff competition out there.  We have 8 players this time.  It's gonna be a tough round, but we can do it. 

I'm going to start on the Fiona dress for Kirstyn tonight.  I've got the pattern cut out and ready to go.  I've read through the instructions and it seems to be pretty easy.  Here's hoping it is because I have too much to do on Thursday to still be sewing!  Wish me luck.

Updates

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've been soooo busy.  The Cinderella dress is almost complete.  All that's left is to hand sew some trim work on the top and finish the petticoat.  Then I'll be taking pictures so I can submit it to the Burda Style contest and hopefully will be able to post them on this site. 

I'm finally finished sewing for all the weddings!  Yipee!  Craft sale is this Friday!  I ran out of time to sew, so I'm kinda sad about that.  I've decided to bake.  I know I want to make several pies and a few cakes.  Maybe some loaf cakes would be good.  Soooo, tonight my oven and I have a date.  We're gonna be out together all night!  ;)

I finished the Hunger Games books.  They are delightful.  I totally recommend them to kids and adults alike!  Go out and get 'em today!  Or download them on your Kindle!  Whatever rocks your boat.

In other very important news - MY TEAM WON THE GAME ON DIET!!!!!   WOO-HOO!!!!!  However, I must admit, it was no thanks to me!  Thank goodness for Rhonda and Tori.  We barely won - by 3 points!  I was ecstatic.  I had been so disappointed that I wasn't going to play the game again (at least not on a team where I could drag anyone down).  This has boosted me up and I'm already signed up to play the next round. 

Malissia's Sweet 16 Birthday party is next Friday, the 28th.  We're soooo excited!  The cake is ordered.  The candy and all the supplies have arrived.  I've got the helium tank taken care of.  I've started getting people to help with the food.  All that's left is to DECORATE - how fun is that?  Oh, and I have to make Kirstyn a Fiona dress.  I hope Colby gets to come - he's supposed to be Shrek.  Ryan is going to get to come - I'm so excited.  Hopefully he'll get to stay the whole weekend.  He'll probably come as Chick Bowdrie, the famous Louis L'Amour Cowboy.  I'm not dressing up because I don't have time to make me a costume.  Instead, I'll just sit back and watch them all have fun and take loads of pictures.

Hope to see you guys there!

Bye, now.